What Gu Zhao said in that long string was like a solemn oath, but Zhu Qingyu didn't understand a single word. She only knew that he was acting crazy again.
Zhu Qingyu tried to push him away, but when it came to physical strength, she had always been no match for even one of Gu Zhao's hands.
Gu Zhao was tall, strong, and had great strength with hard - muscled body. If he didn't want to move aside, she simply couldn't push him.
What she was good at was always convincing people with reason, and her main skill was to coax others.
Unfortunately, today, her throat was injured, and the skill of speaking was disabled. Otherwise, she would definitely try her best to coax and deceive Gu Zhao back overnight.
Then there was only one last skill left: feigning illness.
Zhu Qingyu touched her neck still wrapped in gauze, gasped for air, and frowned, looking as if she had been touched on the wound and was in excruciating pain.
Sure enough, Gu Zhao, who had just looked fierce as if he wanted to devour someone, immediately changed his expression. He was no longer fierce or angry, but looked extremely nervous. He asked remorsefully:
"Sorry, sorry. I chased you on horseback for a whole day. The horse was almost run to death before I caught up with you. I was really too excited. Did I bump into you just now? Where does it hurt? Does your neck hurt?"
This time, when Zhu Qingyu put her hand on his chest and tried to push him away, she was just expressing a refusal and didn't even use any force. Vice Minister Gu immediately let go of her.
Zhu Qingyu opened the door and pointed outside. The meaning was obvious: she wanted to go to sleep and asked him to leave.
Worried that her refusal wasn't obvious enough and he might misunderstand, Zhu Qingyu used her almost - useless throat to squeeze out a few words with difficulty:
"Get out and go back."
Gu Zhao selectively pretended not to hear. Instead of leaving, he walked over to her bed and sat down on it. He even patted the inner side of the bed and said very naturally and considerately:
"Did anyone change the external medicine for you today? And was there no one to take care of you and boil the internal medicine? It's too late today. Go to sleep first. You have to set off early tomorrow. I'll figure out how to boil the medicine for you on the way tomorrow. Otherwise, your injury will heal very slowly and you'll suffer in vain."
Zhu Qingyu had imagined a physical separation where the two of them would be thousands of miles apart. They wouldn't see each other for at least a few months. Each would be indulged in their work, too busy to even eat and too tired to sleep. No matter what kind of romantic feelings they had, they would surely fade away.
When one didn't even have time to think about the other person, those feelings would naturally disappear like the wind and vanish into thin air.
In reality, after they had been separated for less than twelve hours and the farthest distance between them was no more than sixty miles, Gu Zhao came openly overnight, took over her place, and even wanted to sleep in her bed.
She was supposed to have a physical separation from him. How could she achieve that if they were sleeping in the same bed every day?
This Vice Minister Gu was really outrageous. In the past, he just left work early or at most skipped half a day of work. Now, if he followed the Grand Princess's carriage to the northern border and added the time for treating the epidemic, it might be several months. Just taking the salary without doing any work and neglecting his duties, wasn't he afraid of being impeached by the censors?
It was a pity that her throat was injured, which affected her ability to argue. Otherwise, she would definitely scold him back.
Since she had already made the decision to keep a distance from him, she had to be firm in her refusal.
Zhu Qingyu didn't buy Gu Zhao's act of pretending to be stupid. She walked over again, grabbed his sleeve with one hand to make him get up, and pointed outside with the other hand again:
"Get out and go back!"
Gu Zhao seemed like a different person today. Even though she had made her refusal so obvious, he didn't get offended at all. Instead, he just threw caution to the wind. He took off his outer robe, lay down on the bed, and even covered himself with the quilt. He said firmly:
"I rode a horse for a whole day. To save time, I haven't eaten since lunch. I've neither eaten nor drunk, and I haven't rested for a single moment. Now I'm hungry, thirsty, sleepy, and tired. It's so late. You can't drive me away, and I'm not going back. Traveling at night will be life - threatening. I need to rest."
Zhu Qingyu knew that Gu Zhao was just playing the victim, but the problem was that even though she knew it, when she heard that he hadn't even had a meal, she really thought he was quite pitiful.
After Gu Zhao finished speaking, he even closed his eyes, turned to the inner side of the bed, and went to sleep with his back to her.
His sudden thick - skinned behavior really left Zhu Qingyu, whose coaxing skill was disabled, at a loss for a moment.
Forget it. It was too late today. Just make do for now. She couldn't let him go back overnight.
If he really went back overnight in the dark, what if something happened on the way?
Anyway, it didn't matter for half a day. Let him rest first, and she would drive him away tomorrow morning.
Zhu Qingyu convinced herself so reasonably, closed the door, walked to the bed, climbed over Gu Zhao, and lay down on the inner side to sleep.
Almost as soon as she lay down, Gu Zhao reached out to hug her. He disliked that she was lying too far away, so he moved a step further inside, pulled her into his arms, kissed her hair naturally, and then slept close to her.
On the way here, Gu Zhao had been worrying and having all sorts of wild thoughts. He was worried that by the time he arrived, she might have disappeared. Now that he had her in his arms, he felt at ease, satisfied, and finally could sleep peacefully.
As for Zhu Qingyu, since it was really late and she had to get up early tomorrow, she was too lazy to argue with him anymore. She didn't move even when lying in his arms.
Gu Zhao's body was like a heater. With this warm person beside her, the cold weather that Zhu Qingyu had just felt didn't seem so cold anymore. The hard bed board didn't seem so hard either, and even the thin quilt in the post - station began to work. It actually got warm inside the quilt.
Perhaps because it was really too late and she was too tired, Zhu Qingyu, who couldn't fall asleep before, actually felt sleepy. Soon, she fell into a dream.
In a half - awake and half - asleep state, it seemed that someone was saying in her ear:
"Want to drive me away? Dream on!"
Zhu Qingyu was really already dreaming. There was a buzzing sound in her ear. In her half - awake and half - asleep state, she thought it was a mosquito and slapped it with a "pop".
This slap immediately dampened someone's arrogant attitude, and the ear became quiet.
After a while, the person who didn't learn his lesson came closer again. With his chin resting on her hair, he said pitifully:
"Don't drive me away. Don't disappear. Okay?"
