Chapter 1121 — Valentine's Day Special: Xiao Ning's Story, Part 6

What gave him the right? Even if he had been sent to assist the Yu family in these negotiations, there was no need for him to act so high and mighty, was there?

Having smashed the snowman to bits, Yu Ning felt a pang of regret. She had spent half the day building it with her own hands, and in one fit of temper she had ruined it. What a waste!

The Yu family was based in Yanjing, where it hardly ever snowed, and Yu Ning had rarely seen white snow in her life, which was why she was enjoying herself so recklessly. Though the snowman was ruined, Yu Ning had no wish to build another one; instead she turned to other games, stamping footprints across the snowy ground.

Cold as it was outside, Yu Ning played on without a care, her little face flushed red with the chill. Yet it was the first time in her life she had ever played so freely, so utterly without a worry. At home, her days were given over to the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, or else to lessons in managing the family sect. She had simply never had time to play.

Wei Zhao ate next to nothing, merely stuffing into his mouth the scraps of bird meat Yu Ning had left behind. In any case, while cultivating, one had little need of food.

Before she knew it, evening had fallen. Darkness gathered outside, and from somewhere in the distance came the howls of wolves. Yu Ning grew frightened and ran back into the cave, though by then she was frozen stiff.

"So cold..." Yu Ning held her hands out over the fire to warm them.

Wei Zhao opened his eyes and casually picked up a few branches, tossing them into the fire, which blazed up brighter.

Watching Wei Zhao's cool, poker-faced expression, a sly little smile flickered at the corner of Yu Ning's mouth. So he did care about her after all. He had chosen that particular moment, while she was warming herself, to add wood to the fire - he must have been afraid she was too cold.

In truth, Wei Zhao did care about her. He simply had no wish to show it.

"This is the first time I've ever spent the night outdoors by myself..." Watching the blazing fire, Yu Ning found it all so novel and thrilling. In her sixteen years of life she had never once imagined she would spend a night in a cave.

Wei Zhao started, pointed at himself, then shook his head with a bitter smile. By herself? Was he not a person, then? The thinking of these great-family young misses really was peculiar.

Seeing Wei Zhao's astonished expression, Yu Ning realized her words had been somewhat amiss, and she corrected herself with some embarrassment. "What I meant was, spending the night with a stranger... no, that's not right either, he's not a stranger... I mean spending the night together with a boy..."

Watching Yu Ning flounder, so flustered she could not string two words together, Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

Lit by the firelight, Yu Ning's pretty face was even more delicate and alluring than it had been by day; it set the heart stirring. The scene was indeed romantic, and Yu Ning's words invited all manner of fancies. Wei Zhao gave a soft sigh, and only after a hard effort to master himself did he say, "It's nothing. Are you hungry?"

"No. I'm a little sleepy - I want to rest awhile." Yu Ning shook her head.

"Awoo—" Just then, from somewhere not far outside the cave came the howl of a wolf. By day the frontier was a silent place, but once night fell, every sort of wild beast came out to roam.

"I... I'm a little scared. You'll stay by my side and watch over me, won't you?" Instinctively Yu Ning shrank back a little before the fire. She was, after all, only a sixteen-year-old girl - when had she ever faced anything like this before?

True enough, spending the night in a cave before a fire was thrilling and romantic - but if there were wild beasts about, then the romance turned to terror.

"There's a fire here. The wolves won't come in," Wei Zhao said coolly.

Unless something drove them to it, or they were desperate with hunger, wolves would not lightly approach a fire. Wei Zhao had survived in the wild before and knew this well enough.

"Oh..." Yu Ning nodded.

Wei Zhao never slept at night. He remained in a state of cultivation throughout, so that if any beast did enter the cave, he could react at once and strike it dead.

Yu Ning sat before the fire and sank into a deep sleep. She was truly exhausted - first the harrowing flight, then the madcap play, both of which had drained her strength - and so she drifted swiftly into her dreams.

She did not know how long it had been when she began to feel wretched, her whole body cold, so cold, shivering uncontrollably. Had the fire gone out? Yu Ning's eyes flew open of their own accord.

The faint stir of Yu Ning's movement had already drawn Wei Zhao back from his cultivation to the world of the living. Seeing that it was Yu Ning waking, he paid it no mind and closed his eyes once more.

"So cold... I'm so cold..." Yu Ning had noticed that the fire had not gone out, yet her body simply would not stop shivering with cold.

Wei Zhao opened his eyes again and gave Yu Ning a rather puzzled look. He himself felt no chill; on the contrary, with the fire burning, he felt quite warm indeed! But precisely because of that, something struck him as not quite right.

"What's the matter?" Wei Zhao rose to his feet and walked over to Xiao Ning's side.

"I'm so cold..." Xiao Ning was shivering so violently her teeth chattered.

Wei Zhao looked at her closely. Seeing an unusual flush upon her cheeks, he at once knitted his brows and reached out to touch her forehead.

Cold and miserable as Xiao Ning was, her mind remained clear. The instant Wei Zhao's hand touched her brow, her whole body gave a faint tremble, and a shyness and quickening of the heart such as she had never known spread through every limb...

"Hot as a coal to the touch?" Wei Zhao frowned. He had not expected Yu Ning to come down with a fever at a time like this!

Thinking back on the day, Yu Ning had been playing about in the snow for the better part of an afternoon; it must have been then that she caught a chill! At the time Wei Zhao had paid it no mind, but on reflection, Yu Ning was no cultivator. Out in the bitter cold, Wei Zhao might be unaffected, but for an ordinary person, catching a cold was the most natural thing in the world!

Wei Zhao grew anxious at once. Apart from wound medicine, he carried no other remedies on his person; the common medicines were all packed away in the luggage of Yu Ning and her party, and his silver needles were in that same luggage. Even though Wei Zhao was thoroughly versed in the healing arts, there was nothing he could do!

A cold and fever could not be cured by mere massage and manipulation. Had he his silver needles at hand, he might have brought the fever down by needling a few acupoints.

"Cold..." Yu Ning felt colder and colder, her whole body trembling, her teeth chattering without cease!

Wei Zhao hesitated, torn within himself!

Yet seeing Yu Ning shiver so, Wei Zhao crouched down, drew a deep breath, and then reached out both arms to hold her tightly, hoping by this to help her!