After returning from Mother Yan's funeral, Zhu Yaya fell ill.
She was running a high fever, her eyes tightly shut, her forehead burning hot, as if trapped in an endless nightmare. She mumbled incoherently in her delirium. Zhu Jianjun leaned in to listen, catching only scattered words like "die" and "go back."
Zhu Jianjun and Zhao Jing were frantic with worry, blaming themselves terribly.
Zhu Yaya had gone straight to her room upon returning home. If Zhao Jing hadn't checked on her before going to bed, they wouldn't have discovered her fever. It startled Zhu Jianjun wide awake. Neither parent went to sleep, staying by Zhu Yaya's bedside, focused solely on caring for their feverish only daughter.
"How did she get sick so suddenly?" Zhao Jing added another thick quilt on top of Zhu Yaya.
"Could she have gotten a fright?" Zhu Jianjun frowned, his face full of worry. He wanted to smoke to relax but was concerned it might harm his daughter, so he just held an unlit cigarette between his lips for the sensation.
Zhao Jing muttered discontentedly, "I told you not to let her go, but you wouldn't listen! Now look, Yabao is sick."
"Maybe she caught a chill; it snowed yesterday. She'll be fine once the fever breaks!"
"But the key point is our daughter's fever hasn't broken yet! Zhu Jianjun, do you know? A persistent high fever can easily cause brain damage!"
...
"Water, water, thirsty..." The unconscious Zhu Yaya suddenly spoke up. Zhao Jing stopped arguing with Zhu Jianjun, and Zhu Jianjun dropped the unlit cigarette, rushing to the kitchen to fetch a cup of hot water.
Zhao Jing glared: "She needs warm water! Hot water can raise her body temperature."
"Alright, alright." Zhu Jianjun hurriedly went to pour a cup of warm water.
Zhu Yaya was unaware of her surroundings, drinking water purely by instinct. Zhao Jing had covered her with two thick quilts; she felt terribly hot and was sweating from being smothered.
Seeing this, Zhao Jing grew anxious, quickly tucking Zhu Yaya's arms and legs back under the covers, pushing her exposed hand back inside: "You have a fever, yet you're still moving around like this."
After a whole night of struggle, Zhu Yaya's high fever finally subsided. As she lifted her heavy eyelids, she saw Zhu Jianjun, unshaven and with a chopstick between his lips, and Zhao Jing, her eyes bloodshot.
"Dad? Mom?" Zhu Yaya looked dazed.
Zhu Jianjun and Zhao Jing answered in unison. But they didn't expect Zhu Yaya to burst into tears, wailing uncontrollably like a child, leaving both of them flustered.
Zhao Jing held Zhu Yaya, gently stroking her hair: "Yabao, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Tell Mom and Dad, okay?"
Zhu Jianjun chimed in beside her, asking Zhu Yaya if she wanted anything.
Between sobs, Zhu Yaya said, "I want cake and chocolate."
"Okay, Dad will buy them for you!"
"I want to read novels."
"Okay, Dad will download Tadu for you!"
"I want to go to the amusement park."
"Okay, our whole family will go this weekend!"
...
After comforting Zhu Yaya, Zhao Jing, who couldn't get away from the hospital, left for work first, leaving Zhu Jianjun at home. Before leaving, she still worriedly felt Zhu Yaya's forehead: "Mom and Dad have already asked for sick leave for you. Just rest well at home. If you get bored, you can use Tadu to listen to novels."
"Okay!" Zhu Yaya, curled up under the blanket with only her little face showing, answered very obediently.
This stirred infinite tenderness in Zhao Jing's heart: "Yabao, be good." Then, after stepping out the door, she yelled at her incessantly ringing phone: "All you know is to nag! It's driving me crazy!"
After Zhao Jing left, Zhu Yaya drank a bowl of the eight-treasure porridge Zhu Jianjun had carefully prepared and fell into a deep sleep again.
As drowsiness set in, she asked the system in her mind: "System, I actually can't go back, can I?"
The system remained silent.
Zhu Yaya lazily yawned: "I know I can't go back." She reached out and pulled the blanket up over her head.
She had had a terrifying dream yesterday, but unfortunately, she forgot all about it upon waking today, though she still remembered the despair and helplessness from the dream.
Later, she felt her consciousness was already awake, but something seemed to be shielding her senses from the outside world. She was trapped as if under a glass dome, struggling in vain to break free, so she simply let her thoughts wander aimlessly there.
She thought about everything that had happened since she transmigrated into the book, about Zhu Jianjun, Zhao Jing, Yan Heng, and so on. Because of her arrogance as a transmigrator, she had treated everyone in this world as NPCs. All events and characters were just strings of text in her eyes. Until she witnessed Mother Yan's death and cremation, until she saw Yan Heng's tears.
It was too real! As if this wasn't a fictional world, but a real one!
Moreover, here, the pain she felt from injuries was also real.
If she didn't complete tasks and earn life span as rewards, then... in three years, she would face real death!
She was terrified, shuddering. Then she suddenly felt the restraints lessen, and then she opened her eyes to see Zhu Jianjun and Zhao Jing.
Upon seeing Zhu Jianjun and Zhao Jing, who had stayed up all night caring for her, she felt a sense of release.
If she can't go back, then so be it! Staying here is fine! In her previous world, she had only endless loneliness. Here, she has parents who love her, classmates who care about her, and... and Yan Heng!
She had promised that pale-faced boy, promised him she would stay with him forever.
Zhu Yaya fell asleep once more.
When she woke up, the entire morning had passed. She lay half-propped up in bed, with Zhu Jianjun giving her a pillow to lean against.
Because she was sick, Zhu Jianjun didn't dare make anything fancy, only preparing a bowl of vegetable noodles, striving to make up for the lack of various seasonings with his superb cooking skills.
After finishing the noodles, Zhu Yaya lay half-propped up in bed, her phone placed on the bedside table beside her, playing a novel from Tadu.
She listened with her eyes closed, and soon felt sleepy again, curling up under the covers.
She thought things would just be boring like this, but unexpectedly, Xu Baoying, Gu Tao, and some other classmates from their class came to visit.
Zhu Yaya was somewhat surprised: "What are you all doing here?"
Xu Baoying smiled and said, "Our Class One, Grade Ten's Minister Zhu is sick, how could we not come visit? After all, our class's diplomatic activities still rely on you in the future!"
Zhu Yaya smiled, her pale face showing little dimples.
Li Hao came too, shouting loudly, "Junior, I'm here too."
He then sneakily leaned closer, showing Zhu Yaya the red handprint on his left cheek: "Hehe, I knew I trusted the right person. The method you taught me for chasing Shen Wandan really works, look, look, she slapped me today!"
Zhu Yaya: ... Never been so speechless in her life.
"Hehehe, as long as you're happy."
They came noisily and left noisily. Once they were gone, the room fell quiet again.
Just as Zhu Yaya was about to burrow back under the covers, she saw Yan Heng.
