The Foolish General's Mute Spouse - Chapter 95

95: Miss You So Much

He stayed outside, blowing in the night wind for half the night, and by the next day, he couldn’t get up.

Siqi brought him breakfast in the morning and found him nearly delirious with fever.

He almost dropped the tray, overwhelmed with guilt.

He shouldn’t have brought up the general. Did the young master care about him that much?

What was so good about that man, anyway?

He quickly called for a physician, soaking a cloth to place on his forehead.

As the maid went to prepare the medicine, he stayed by his side, carefully feeding him some porridge.

Fortunately, the fever hadn’t lasted long. After cooling his forehead with the cloth for a while, he became slightly more lucid.

Siqi helped him sit up and tucked the blankets tightly around him.

“The weather’s been cold lately—how could you sit outside for so long? If Sister Xiaozhu found out, she’d worry herself sick!”

Fu Yu’an coughed lightly, speaking with difficulty, “It’s nothing. I’ll be fine after taking the medicine. I’ve been falling ill every winter since I was a child. There’s no need to worry.”

Siqi frowned deeply, his heart aching.

Just yesterday, he’d told General Qi he would take good care of him, and now he’d made him sick with fever.

I’m really the worst.

He only managed to drink some porridge all day. The pitch-black medicine he forced down had little effect—the fever persisted well into the evening.

Even the physician couldn’t pinpoint the cause, stroking his beard and shaking his head.

“Perhaps it’s a matter of the heart? Logically, the fever shouldn’t have lasted this long!”

“Then what should we do?”

“Luckily, it’s only a mild fever. Add two more blankets tonight to sweat it out. This old man will prescribe a different formula. No need to worry too much.”

Siqi knew he must be pining for Qi Ren, which was why he’d become so fragile. He couldn’t understand why the two of them were torturing each other like this.

As instructed, he added more blankets for Fu Yu’an, but even after a whole night, the fever remained.

His day off was only one day long. Siqi considered asking the Imperial College for leave but ultimately decided against it.

He dabbed a bit of stove ash under his eyes—just a light layer, but the effect was striking.

The teachers at the Imperial College had always been particularly kind to him. Now, seeing the boy looking so haggard, they couldn’t help but express their concern.

Siqi brushed off everyone’s questions, saying he was fine. Only during the afternoon archery class did he deliberately cough heavily under Qi Ren’s suspicious gaze.

As expected, Qi Ren was drawn in by his odd behavior. Too embarrassed to ask him directly, he resorted to subtly probing others for information.

Song Cang had a loose tongue, and Qi Ren soon learned the reason.

Apparently, an elder at home had caught a chill and had been feverish for three or four days without improvement.

This was a slight exaggeration, but the more dramatic it sounded, the more likely Qi Ren was to take the bait.

Qi Ren knew immediately that this “elder” could be no one else but that sickly Fu Yu’an.

His brow furrowed deeply, and he kicked a roadside willow tree in frustration, glaring at Fu Siqi with an almost terrifying intensity.

“Saying he would take good care of you—and this is the result of his ‘good care’?”

He turned and slipped into a dimly lit alley, using the fading twilight as cover as he secretly followed Fu Siqi all the way home.

Four days of fever… Who knows if he’s even still sane by now.

Qi Ren’s heart pounded with unease. He lingered at the doorstep for a long time, unable to bring himself to knock.

What if he refuses to see me? What if he drives me away again?

But… I didn’t even do anything wrong!

No, no—he’s still feverish. I can’t upset him. Last time, I made him faint from sheer anger.

Qi Ren pressed his lips together, still hesitant to disturb him recklessly.

He kept watch on the rooftop for half the night. One room remained lit, and Fu Siqi had even carried medicine inside—it had to be his room.

Glancing down at the alley below, he plotted his escape route in case he was thrown out, ensuring he could vanish into the night without alerting anyone.

A dog in the neighboring yard spotted him peering around and began barking furiously.

Not wanting to stoop to a dog’s level—and fearing exposure—Qi Ren could no longer afford to hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he leapt down from the roof.

He deliberately circled to the rear window and pushed, but it didn’t budge. It was probably latched from the inside to keep the cold out.

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Qi Ren suppressed his impatience and returned to the front, cautiously testing the door.

The door, at least, wasn’t barred—it swung open at his touch.

Qi Ren frowned in surprise, but then a soft click sounded behind him—a window being shut. He whirled around and realized, with a jolt, that the noise had come from Siqi’s room.

That little brat… I’ll deal with you tomorrow!

Fu Yu’an lay weakly on the bed, his face sickly pale. The moment Qi Ren saw him, a flood of tangled emotions surged forth—

Longing. Resentment. Confusion. Desire. Heartache.

Their reunion was like an invisible hand clutching his heart, squeezing until it bled.

Fu Yu’an’s cheeks were flushed with fever, his frail frame even thinner than it had been two years ago. He looked pitifully delicate, vulnerable in his suffering.

Qi Ren sat gently on the edge of the bed, removing the damp cloth from Yu’an’s forehead and dipping it back into the cold water.

Yu’an had been drifting in and out of restless sleep, too feverish to rest properly. The movement roused him, and assuming it was Siqi tending to him, he rasped hoarsely,

“Go… rest. Don’t you have… school tomorrow…?”

Qi Ren straightened his back, facing away from him, the cloth in his hand dripping water.

Fu Yu’an hadn’t recognized him yet and was about to say something more to persuade him when “Si Qi” turned around with a dark expression, wrung out the cloth, and pressed it against his forehead.

Fu Yu’an let out a muffled sound, only then realizing that the figure before him didn’t match.

Though Si Qi had grown quickly over the past two years, he certainly didn’t have such broad shoulders or a burly frame.

Qi Ren leaned down and called out softly:

“An’an.”

“!!”

His mind reeled in shock, so startled he nearly forgot to breathe. His face flushed even redder as he rolled over to the edge of the bed, coughing uncontrollably.

The cloth fell to the ground, staining with dust and dirt.

Qi Ren patted his back gently, displeased. “Am I really that terrifying?”

Fu Yu’an couldn’t answer, coughing so violently he seemed on the verge of passing out, tears streaming down his face, looking utterly drained.

Qi Ren’s heart softened. Despite telling himself repeatedly before coming that he would hold Fu Yu’an accountable, seeing him in such a state made his heart ache just as it had two years ago.

He had thought his heart had hardened, but the moment he saw him, all his defenses crumbled.

The coughing lasted a long time before finally subsiding. The fever had slowed his mind, leaving only that initial jolt of bone-deep fear. Now, being cared for by him, feeling that familiar presence and voice, Fu Yu’an could no longer hold back.

He threw himself into Qi Ren’s arms, no longer suppressing his pain, sobbing and murmuring, “I missed you so much, I really missed you so much.”

Qi Ren’s heart ached for him, but he was the one who had been abandoned. Now Fu Yu’an was clinging to him like this—what did that make him?

A servant to be summoned and dismissed at will?

He had never cried in front of others before—this was the first time.

Perhaps those who were ill were always more fragile. Seeing Qi Ren, Fu Yu’an’s heart could no longer bear any other thoughts, so he simply followed his instincts, like a moth drawn to flame, willingly embracing destruction.

Qi Ren’s eyes burned with suppressed malice—the urge to forcibly take him back, to lock him away by his side forever.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

Qi Ren resigned himself. He still couldn’t bring himself to be cruel to Fu Yu’an.

“I missed you so much, really missed you so much. A’Ren… Qi Ren…” He rubbed his tears against Qi Ren’s chest, his nose red from either crying or the friction.

Qi Ren was at a loss.