Bella poked half her head out from behind the cushion. She opened her mouth, her voice so weak it sounded like it would dissipate at any moment:
"This fairy... needs... fairy medicine right now."
"Fairy medicine?" Ye Jinzhi turned around, his brows slightly furrowed. "What fairy medicine?"
"Cough, cough... I encountered an accident when descending to the mortal realm. I am gravely injured and urgently need medicine to stabilize my condition."
Bella spouted this nonsense with a completely straight face. She was in so much pain she wanted to roll on the floor, but she still had to put on airs. "Mortal painkillers... can also serve as a medium, barely sufficient for use."
"Fairy..."
Ye Jinzhi leaned close to her. His fair little hands cupped Bella's face, as if admiring the visage of a deity, but his voice suddenly turned dark. "Then what about the fairy's magic powers from descending to the mortal realm?"
"If I don't give you the medicine, will you use your magic to punish me?"
Stared at by him, Bella felt a wave of guilt and forced herself to keep making things up:
"Cough... fairies are bound by heavenly rules and cannot harm mortals at will. My magic has been... temporarily sealed. Unless absolutely necessary, it cannot be forcibly unlocked."
"Temporarily sealed?"
Hearing her answer, the corners of Ye Jinzhi's mouth slowly curled up into an unfathomable smile.
He let go of her without saying another word, picked up the tablet, and quickly typed a few lines on the screen.
Putting down the tablet, he turned to look at Bella, his expression obscure:
"Since you can't use your magic, you'll just have to rely entirely on me, Fairy Sister."
Bella originally just wanted to spout a random excuse to fool this kid, but seeing his somewhat eerily serious little face, her heart skipped a beat. Did this kid actually believe it?
Ye Jinzhi gently carried Bella back to the dining table. "Then does Fairy Sister need to eat?" he asked softly, his bright black eyes staring straight at her.
Although Bella was also hungry, the cramping pain in her lower abdomen was a much more pressing matter.
She nodded weakly, putting on an unfathomable posture:
"Cough, cough, cough... I still need to eat."
Hearing this, Ye Jinzhi frowned.
At this moment, footsteps approached.
Bella immediately changed her expression like a Sichuan opera face-changer. Her eyes grew hollow, staring straight ahead, turning back into that exquisite, innocent doll.
"Young Master, everything is ready."
"Set it all up and light it."
Bella didn't dare turn around, so she could only prick up her ears to listen to the movements in the room.
She wondered if she had gone deaf. It was so quiet she couldn't hear anything, until finally, there was an extremely clear click of a lighter flicking open.
Soon, a scent drifted into her nose.
Hmm?
This smell... why does it smell so much like burning incense in a temple?
What the hell was this kid doing?
"You may all step down. Do not come near here without my permission."
Hearing the fading footsteps, Bella couldn't hold back anymore. She abruptly turned her head, only to be picked up by Ye Jinzhi and placed right back on the table where she had just been.
After getting a clear look at the setup in front of her, Bella was so shocked she even forgot about her stomachache.
On the large mahogany dining table, items were neatly arranged:
An incense burner with three lit sticks of incense planted inside;
Two rows of brightly flickering red candles;
White porcelain bowls filled with who-knows-what, perhaps wine, and a few cups of tea;
Stacked nearby were fresh bamboo shoots, seasonal fruits, and pastries. She even saw a chicken, a duck, a fish, and a pig's head...
Bella: Oh wow! Is he... performing a live ritual?!
Ye Jinzhi placed Bella steadily right behind these "offerings." His pretty little face was extremely sincere, even bearing a smile that seemed to ask for praise:
"Fairy Sister, I looked it up. This is basically the standard procedure for us to worship deities."
Bella: "..."
Staring at the curling smoke from the incense burner, then looking at the two rows of flickering candles beside her, she simply closed her eyes.
Seeing Bella sitting stiffly and even closing her eyes, Ye Jinzhi tilted his head slightly and pursed his lips in slight unease.
He leaned in a little closer, the candlelight dancing in his pupils, making his gaze look exceptionally fervent:
"Fairy Sister, why aren't you eating? Do these not suit your taste?"
As he spoke, he reached out his little hands, extremely earnestly picked up a whole chicken, and offered it to Bella with both hands.
Bella looked down at the chicken, whose rear end was facing her, and then smelled the incense nearby that made her want to sneeze.
"Cough... cough, cough!"
Bella coughed lightly and spoke weakly, "Fairies... fairies are particular about their meals. Your arrangement of the food... uh, the formation is wrong, it offends this fairy."
While spouting this nonsense, she extended a trembling hand over the pile of candles, pointing straight at the medical kit on the sofa.
"Are those mortal elixirs? Go, fetch them for me. I need to use this medicine to heal my severe internal injuries. As for these..."
Bella turned her head away, refusing to look at them. "Just leave them be for now."
Ye Jinzhi obediently dragged the heavy medical kit onto the table.
Bella figured a young master of his age definitely wouldn't know the first thing about the medicine she needed to take, so she abandoned any pretense of ethereal grace. Both her hands frantically dug through the medical kit like little rakes.
When she saw the familiar ibuprofen, her eyes instantly lit up. Digging further, she also spotted compound paracetamol.
[Great... thank goodness the names of medicines haven't changed much here!]
Bella immediately turned into King Rush. Not even waiting to pour water, her trembling fingertips popped out two pills. She shoved them directly into her mouth, tilted her neck back, and swallowed them raw.
With that impatient look, where was there even a hint of a fairy's demeanor left?
Meanwhile, Ye Jinzhi had remained quiet the entire time.
He stared motionlessly at Bella, his dark eyes flashing in the candlelight.
After clearly reading the names of the two boxes of medicine, a faint smile appeared on his tense little face, disappearing in a flash.
Ye Jinzhi slowly reached out and considerately handed her a cup of warm tea, his tone soft and sweet: "Since Fairy Sister isn't eating, can you keep me company while I eat?"
He blinked his big, innocent eyes. Before Bella could even open her mouth, he domineeringly reached out his little hands, picked her up entirely, and placed her back on the dining table.
Bella: "..."
Then what was the point of asking me?
Fine, seeing as it's quite pitiful for you to eat this whole table of food all alone, this fairy will show mercy and sit here as a mascot.
However, in less than a minute, Bella regretted her bleeding heart.
"Mmm, Fairy Sister, look, this piece of skin is stewed so soft and sticky, it melts in the mouth."
Then he picked up a small piece with a fork and waved it around less than three centimeters from Bella's nose.
"And this steamed grouper, cooked to perfection. The fish meat is white and tender, so savory it could melt your tongue..."
Bella clenched her fists tightly. The hunger in her stomach and the cramping pain intertwined, as if two groups of people were having a gang fight inside her internal organs.
She could even hear the sound of herself swallowing saliva, which seemed exceptionally clear in the quiet dining room.
This guy actually went even further, scooping up a spoonful of rich matsutake chicken soup, bringing it to her mouth to gently blow on it, and after drinking it himself, he provoked her:
"Does the food in heaven really taste a hundred times better than ours? Is that why you won't eat anything, Fairy Sister?"
Bella: "..."
