Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter 51: Torrential Rain

The sky grew increasingly dark. The two huddled side by side under the oil-paper umbrella, where a cold wind occasionally blew. Lu Yu took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders, then put his arm around her shoulder.

The clothes still held his warmth, and Ji Meiqing felt a flutter in her heart, her gaze fixed on his profile. After a while, she turned her head and whispered, "Thank you."

Lu Yu didn't say anything, and the two went home together. As soon as she entered the house, she went to her room and changed her clothes.

Thinking about what had just happened, Ji Meiqing was somewhat dazed. It wasn't until a cold wind blew that her reverie was snapped out of her reverie.

Ji Meiqing then changed her clothes and came out. In the kitchen, Lu Yu was squatting in front of the stove, coughing painfully. Ji Meiqing heard the noise and ran over, becoming even more anxious when she saw his uncomfortable appearance.

"What's wrong?" She patted his back, then turned to look at the dark stove, a plume of black smoke shooting straight up. Ji Meiqing couldn't help but cough as well.

Lu Yu stopped and pulled her outside. Once they were out of the kitchen, she felt a little better, coughed twice more, and almost burst into tears. Ji Meiqing looked at the person in the kitchen and could still vaguely hear a few suppressed coughs.

After a while, he came out from inside, carrying a bowl of light soup.

"Drink this quickly to warm yourself up." He handed it to her.

Ji Meiqing stared at the sleeve beside him, thinking about how he had protected her with one hand when they came back together earlier, so that sleeve was completely wet.

"You should drink it. Your clothes are soaked. If you don't get rid of the cold, you might get sick." Ji Meiqing said anxiously, her eyes fixed on his sleeve. Lu Yu turned to the side, trying to wipe the wet side, but he couldn't. Ji Meiqing stared at him stubbornly, as if she wouldn't leave until he drank it.

Lu Yu was at a loss for words because of her antics, and could only say softly, "Stop fooling around. Hurry up and drink it."

“I don’t want to drink it, but you drank it. If you don’t drink it, don’t expect me to drink anything you cook.” Ji Meiqing insisted, “Or I can make a bowl myself, and you can drink this one first.”

Lu Yu had no choice but to drink the still-warm ginger soup clean, and then reluctantly returned to the kitchen. While it was still hot on the stove, he made another bowl.

Ji Meiqing squatted outside, and after a short while, he came out carrying a bowl of hot soup, which smelled very comforting.

Ji Meiqing didn't need to guess what was in there. She had already seen Lu Yu drink the ginger soup, and now she obediently drank it all herself.

"Alright, go and rest first. We can do whatever we need to do after the rain stops," he said. He wanted to touch her hair and treat her like before, but for some reason, a strange feeling welled up inside him.

Ji Meiqing watched, not knowing what he was going to do, only watching as his hand trembled.

"It just so happens that the rain isn't going to stop anytime soon. Is there anything else, Brother Lu?"

She spoke, her eyes filled with expectation. Lu Yu hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's nothing."

"Alright, let's play cards together. Or how about chess?"

Ji Meiqing looked at him excitedly.

Lu Yu shook his head. "I can't."

"It's okay. I can teach you." Ji Meiqing simply dragged her forward. Lu Yu wanted to say something, but was stopped.

Ji Meiqing looked at him, then pulled him to the front hall. She had originally planned to set up a small square table in the corridor next to the courtyard, but seeing that the corridor was almost flooded like a small river, she gave up the idea.

The two sat by the window. Lu Yu was pressed into a chair by her. He watched Ji Meiqing run into the room. There were only a few sounds inside. After a while, she came back with tea.

"Come on, let me teach you how to play cards. It's a pity we don't have mahjong tiles, otherwise we could get two more people to play." She sighed regretfully, but quickly recovered and laid out the cards on the table.

Those strange pieces of paper were covered with odd symbols. Ji Meiqing taught him to recognize each symbol one by one.

“The characters above are numbers, and they were popularized a thousand years earlier than this place…” She suddenly shut her mouth, obediently took the teapot, and poured him some tea.

Lu Yu looked at the tea in his cup and asked in confusion, "What do you mean, a thousand years?"

"It's nothing, just familiarize yourself with the symbols on these cards." She smiled and continued shuffling.

After he got familiar with the game, Ji Meiqing pulled him along to play. She explained the rules along the way, and then they began.

Lu Yu was a novice, and his first game was a complete disaster. Ji Meiqing happily put away the cards, shuffled them, and came back for the second round. Ji Meiqing lost terribly.

She looked at the cards in her hand, completely bewildered. The cards she had were absolutely terrible.

In the end, Lu Yu won. Ji Meiqing was unconvinced and continued shuffling and dealing the cards. Lu Yu won again the second time. She clutched the last few cards, her teeth practically grinding to pieces.

"It's ready." Lu Yu casually put down the cards in his hand, and Ji Meiqing stared wide-eyed.

"Did you cheat?" Ji Meiqing gave him a fierce look, then deflated. "A beginner like you can't possibly be that good."

"No." He denied it very seriously. Ji Meiqing looked him up and down several times before sighing in frustration.

"Never mind, I was just not good enough." She put away the cards and returned them to her room. The feeling of constantly losing was not pleasant, so Ji Meiqing collapsed onto the bed.

With her eyes closed, weariness slowly crept in, and the sound of wind and rain outside intensified her drowsiness.

She got out of bed, but before she could take two steps, everything went black. Luckily, she managed to grab a pillar in time to avoid falling.

A feeling of exhaustion welled up from the bottom of her heart. Ji Meiqing sat on the bed, and the feeling of weakness in her body became more and more obvious. She then lay down on the bed.

I fell asleep soon after, and in my dream I suddenly felt hot, my body was so hot it felt like I was being grilled in a pancake.

Lu Yu noticed something was off about the voice and pushed the door open to come in. Seeing her writhing on the bed, Lu Yu immediately became anxious.

Touching her forehead, he found it scalding hot, aside from the sweat. Lu Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly went to the kitchen to brew ginger soup for her. There were no other medicinal herbs in the house to treat her illness. Besides, with the wind and rain, it was impossible for her to leave the house.

This was all he could do, taking the simplest precautions with her. He took the wine from the cellar and wiped her body with it, trying to cool it down.