Marrying the Crown Prince

Zhou Zhou was woken up. When she opened her eyes, there was a large group of people in front of her bed. She tried to speak, but her throat felt burning.

Du hurriedly handed over the water glass, and Zhou Zhou lifted half of his body and swallowed the water in large gulps from her hand.

"You should have said so earlier if you weren't feeling well. What's the point of dragging it out?" Du put the cup back and moved the soft pillow to a different position so that Zhou Zhou could sit and lean against it.

Zhou Heng and Zhou Rong nodded in agreement, "Yes, Eighth Sister, she really scared us."

“It’s nothing serious,” Zhou Zhou said with difficulty, her voice soft and nasal, as if she were being coquettish, “but it’s kept you all busy.”

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhou Heng pouted and brought over the perfectly warm, dark-colored Chinese medicine. "Quick, drink it and shut your lousy mouth up."

The medicine is a dense, dark black color; you can smell its bitterness even without drinking it.

Zhou Zhou took the bowl, held her breath, closed her eyes, and gulped it down in one go.

As soon as the water ran dry, her face contorted in a grimace, and Zhou Zhou only recovered after Zhou Rong stuffed a piece of honey into her mouth.

Because bitter medicine is good for the body, Zhou Zhou is not afraid to drink medicine, but that does not mean she is not afraid of bitterness.

After finishing the bowl of medicine, Zhou Zhou finally felt the emptiness in his stomach and asked, "What time is it now? Is the meal ready?"

It means, I'm hungry, when will the food be served?

"It's past 5 PM, are you hungry?" Du replied, "The doctor said your spleen and stomach are weak, so you should eat something light for now."

“Okay.” Zhou Zhou had no objections. She hadn’t been picky about what she ate all day, so she wasn’t picky about anything anymore.

Even though Zhou Zhou is sick, she is still so well-behaved. Du Shi's heart softened. She ruffled Zhou Zhou's hair and looked at Zhou Rong and Zhou Heng. "Zhou Zhou is fine. It's getting late. You two should go back first. I'll take care of things here."

Seeing that Zhou Zhou was alright and having received Du's instructions, the two women left.

At the same time, Madam Du instructed her maid, "Take half a string of cash to the small kitchen and ask the cook to make a bowl of shredded chicken noodles. Tell him not to be perfunctory; the noodles must be pulled into thin strands, as thin as hair, to make them taste good."

Upon receiving the order, the maid quickly withdrew.

Zhou Zhou blinked her big eyes, and then Du Shi pulled the blanket up to cover her from her feet to her neck.

After finishing, Du touched Zhou Zhou's forehead and thought to herself: Not bad, it's not hot anymore.

Just then, she met the child's round eyes and explained, "You're still sick, don't catch a cold."

Soon, the shredded chicken noodles were served. Zhou Zhou finished a bowl of noodles, then played cat's cradle for about half an hour before finally getting sleepy again.

Because of a cold, Zhou Zhou felt dizzy and disoriented, so he decided to spend the next day sleeping.

Finally, on the third day of her illness, Zhou Zhou saw a handsome prince by her bedside.

The drowsiness vanished instantly, and Zhou Zhou sat up abruptly. He then shuffled towards the wall, creating distance between himself and the person in front of the bed, waving them away, "Your Highness, you...you stay away from me. I'm sick, don't let me pass on my illness."

Li Ziyan said with a hint of helplessness, his voice gentle, "Knowing you're sick, how could I just sit idly by and do nothing?"

So that's why it appeared here.

"Little sister, are you feeling better?" Zhou Cheng'an chimed in from the side.

However, although Li Ziyan and Zhou Zhou were engaged, it was impossible for him to come alone. Therefore, the important task of bringing the Crown Prince to visit Zhou Zhou was handed over to Zhou Cheng'an.

“Much better,” Zhou Zhou replied with a smile. “Brother, please take His Highness out quickly.”

It wasn't out of concern for his delicate health or anything like that; the main reason was that the news of Li Ziyan's frail health was simply too deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Before Zhou Chengan could answer, Li Ziyan nodded in satisfaction, "It's good that you've recovered, but you're not fully healed yet, so you still need to be careful."

At this point, he looked at Jufang and said, "Quickly, Zhouzhou is awake. Go and have Physician Zhang come in to take her pulse."

That's right, Li Ziyan's status as the Crown Prince and fiancé wasn't enough to convince Old Madam Zhou to let him in to see Zhou Zhou, but adding an imperial physician would be enough.

Physician Zhang carefully took Zhou Zhou's pulse, asked her a few questions, and examined her tongue. He then said, "Miss Zhou was overworked and didn't get enough rest, which allowed the evil spirits to enter her body. She is almost fully recovered now."

Jufang brought over the prescription for the medicine she had been taking for the past two days. After examining it, Physician Zhang said, "These herbs are just right. If it were me, I wouldn't be able to prescribe a better one."

"However, now that the young lady's condition has improved, the dosage of these medicines can be adjusted."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Cheng'an immediately said, "Please come with me, sir."

As she spoke, she turned back to call out to Zhou Zhou, "Sister, please take good care of His Highness."

Zhou Zhou: "..."

Didn't I tell you to take him with you? You left, but why did he stay?

Li Ziyan looked at Zhou Zhou's speechless yet somewhat helpless expression and laughed, "Alright, my body isn't that weak. Besides, you just have a cold, it's not contagious."

Zhou Zhou gave a soft hum, accepting his reason, and her furrowed brows relaxed. "How did Your Highness know I was ill?"

Speaking of this, Li Ziyan's lips drooped, her long eyelashes blinked, covering the moisture in her eyes, like a pet abandoned by its owner. "Zhouzhou, you didn't even tell me you were sick. If I hadn't been writing to you at the right time, I wouldn't have known you were sick."

Zhou Zhou reflected: Hmm, it was Jufang or Sizhu who told him.

Seeing that her beloved's expression remained unchanged, Li Ziyan sighed inwardly and gritted her teeth—why didn't the pitiful act work anymore?

It wasn't that it was ineffective; it was because Zhou Zhou's nose was congested, which made his observation skills less sharp than before. He couldn't detect the change in Li Ziyan's expression at all, even though Li Ziyan was pretending.

"What did you write to me?" Zhou Zhou asked curiously. "Those two girls didn't tell me you wrote a letter."

“I just wrote something casually, don’t worry about it,” Li Ziyan replied. “Knowing you were sick, I had someone bring the letter back so you wouldn’t have to bother reading and replying.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he frowned in displeasure. "I'm right here, why are you still reading letters?"

Zhou Zhou was both amused and exasperated, and wanted to punch him, "What are you thinking about?"

At this moment, Zhou Cheng'an returned and immediately told everyone to leave, "Your Highness, it's getting late."

Nonsense, we've already been generous by giving him this much time to spend together. What? Are you planning to live here any longer?

"Your Highness, please go back quickly." Zhou Zhou also urged them to leave.

So Li Ziyan could only leave, looking back every few steps, which made Zhou Zhou laugh uncontrollably.

She's always been in good health, and this illness wasn't serious. After five days of rest, she's fully recovered.

The day after recovering from her illness, Zhou Zhou got up very early, and Ju Fang helped her with her hair and makeup.

"Keep it simple," she said.

"Yes."