The lamplight glowed, while beyond the door lay cold, utter darkness.
Inside the little wooden cabin, a charcoal brazier burned brightly.
Liu Danaodai lay fast asleep on bedding spread over the floor.
Lian Youming opened his eyes groggily and turned his head with difficulty. But the moment he lifted his eyelids, a small, weary face came into view, its chin resting on a roll of bedding. Thick, curled lashes still trembled faintly, as though she were having a nightmare, and her delicate brows were knitted together.
Perhaps sensing the hot breath spilling across her cheek, those already trembling lashes suddenly lifted, revealing a pair of eyes as clear as autumn waters. Their gazes met.
Seeing Lian Youming awake, Xie Ruomei immediately stood up, overcome with excitement.
"Thirsty!"
Hearing the murmur from the bed, the girl hurried out, then hurried back in, holding a bowl of sugar water. She carefully brought it to his bedside. A slender length of bamboo rested in the bowl, hollow inside and just right for drinking through.
Lian Youming moistened his lips, took the bamboo between his teeth, and sucked hard.
Beside the brazier, Liu Danaodai woke at the noise too, yawning repeatedly. At the sight before him, he first grinned happily, but when he looked at Xie Ruomei beside the bed, he sighed softly.
Although he too had kept watch in this room for two days and three nights, at least he had managed to close his eyes and get some sleep. This girl, however, had hardly even blinked, staying beside the bed to care for him the whole time.
And Liu Danaodai had seen it with his own eyes: at first, Lian Youming's lips and teeth had been clenched shut, his injuries so severe that he could not even open his jaws. It had