“See if there’s any medicine for fever and inflammation.” As Chen Yuheng placed the thermometer back in the box, he felt weak in his limbs. His muscles and joints were aching from the high fever.

Gu Anbao rummaged through the medicine box. Paracetamol… Ibuprofen… As long as the medicine had some use, she took it out of the box.

The poor thing had lived her whole eighteen years of life under the care of her family. Even though it was not to the extent of living off their labor, she was more or less dependent on others. She, therefore, had no idea of which medicine to give him at all…

The man was running a high fever and so, he lacked the energy to flare up at her. He could only patiently teach her. “Look at this column; the main treatment symptoms, then pick out the most appropriate medicine according to them… Take this box for an example, read it out to me.”

She softly read, “… Suitable for relieving the common cold… uh… and influenza caused by fever, headache, nasal congestion, and sore limbs…”

“Okay. The earlier green box can also be used; it’s for inflammation and pain. You can keep the rest…”

“Okay…”

She obediently put the medicine away, leaving behind only the two boxes he had selected. She then pored over the usage instructions before carefully getting the gel capsule out of its blister pocket… She pulled out a paper napkin, placed a white and a green capsule on it, and got up to head to the kitchen to pour a cup of warm water.

When she returned to the room, he was resting against the headboard with his eyes closed. He was so tired last night he hadn’t even changed out of his clothes and had just headed straight to bed. The white shirt had become wrinkled and some places were drenched with sweat… He was probably feeling hot since he had the top few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. It revealed his collarbones… and firm chest…

She inexplicably got nervous…

If she still had a heart, it would surely be thumping hard unceasingly…

She stole a glimpse at him—He’s… really hot…

His slightly messy fringe was unlike how it was in the day—clean and refreshing—but rather, there was an alluring feeling to it…

How stylish…

The contours of his side profile, his slightly knitted brows, his languid posture, deep voice… and that occasional irritated expression; she was struck to the heart by all of these.

There seemed to be an electric current coursing through her body. Holding the cup of warm water in her hand, she silently approached him at the bedside and whispered, “…There you go, you can take your medicine.”

Struggling to open his eyes, Chen Yuheng swept a glance at the capsules on the table and then continued his teaching. “Western and oriental medicine can’t be taken at the same time; they need to be taken separately with at least thirty minutes in between.”

Ah…? There’s oriental medicine inside?

She picked up the instructions from the table to read it. Both seem to be… western medicine, though?

The man had already got the medicine in his hands. “These are western medicine, so they can be taken together.” With that, he popped the capsules into his mouth, followed by the warm water…

His words left her dumbfounded. Then… why are you telling me this?

Even after downing a cup of water, he was still feeling restless and warm, so she poured him another cup.

While he drank mouthful after mouthful to moisturize his throat, he sensed that the robot beside him… was starting to eye him again…

Is it because my impression value is rising?

He thought.

The man once again fell into a slumber after taking the medicine.

Seeing how he still seemed very uncomfortable in his sleep, Gu Anbao found it a little worrisome… However, she was truly inexperienced… in matters of taking care of people…

Uh… Should I go online and seek help?

She turned to the direction of the study. While searching for the thermometer… she saw a computer there.

Let’s just use it for a bit.

Surely… he won’t find out…

She looked past her shoulders to check the person in the bedroom; he was sleeping soundly.

As she carefully closed the door, she then worried that she might not be able to hear him should he wake up and call her. So, she intentionally left a gap, then crept into the study, and switched on the computer…

Woah, the desktop icons are a mess…

She intended to open a browser to look up on how to take care of someone with a fever, but she caught sight of the QQ¹ icon, instead…

There’s a QQ application here…

The nervous robot glanced past the doorway before turning back to the screen and clicking on the QQ icon as she gritted her teeth in determination. It displayed the last logged-in account number—

She quickly jotted it down and changed it into her QQ account number. Then, she logged in to her account, searched for friend by keying in the number that she had jotted down, and sent a friend request…

The entire process was completed without a pause.

… It was nerve-wracking for her. The thought of her friend request popping up when he logged into his account filled her with apprehension!

Will it pass…? Should I have added a name like Chen Yuheng, for example? It will then be easier to pass, right…? Should I… try adding again…? Can I? Will it seem too deliberate? What should I do if he gets upset and rejects my friend request straight away?

Her imagination ran wild as she sat in front of the computer while the QQ icon at the bottom right corner flashed non-stop. It took her quite a long while before she snapped out of her daze, noticed the flashing icon, and clicked on it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh— Out popped a bunch of dialog boxes!

BigPinkPeach: Ruan-sama! I’m begging on my knees for an update!

Colorofthesky: Upstairs +1

FirstMeetingBetray: @DameGoldFish, there’s nothing worth yearning for in this life. I desperately need a cure.

Oldheartdifferentbone: Didn’t Ruan-sama previously say that she won’t be updating in the near future since she’s recuperating? Don’t you all disturb my Ruan-sama! ╭(╯^╰)╮ Get lost, scram!

FirstMeetingBetray: @DameGoldFish, there’s nothing worth yearning for in this life. I desperately need a cure.

FirstMeetingBetray: @DameGoldFish, there’s nothing worth yearning for in this life. I desperately need a cure.

Spinningwindmill: Administrator! Someone’s spamming in here! Is there anyone moderating this chat at all?!

System prompt: FirstMeetingBetray is silenced for 30 seconds.

…

She stared blankly at the chat box for a while and then checked today’s date…

So, it’s update day today… No wonder there are so many people urging for an update…

Most of her time was usually spent at home, and she did not have a particularly favorite hobby. Somehow, though, she had begun raising goldfish as a pastime… She reared a variety of species and had both expensive and cheap fish. And when her interest for them gradually grew, she expressed her thoughts on this hobby into a comic and posted it online. The comic was titled ‘The Everyday Life of Dame Goldfish’.

She initially intended it to be a daily log of how her goldfish eat, sleep, swim, and interact with her… It was actually quite boring, but somehow… somehow… the comic got popular…

Oftentimes, there were retweets on Weibo¹ with titles such as: ‘Comic for the soul’, ‘There’s a type of comic that’s suitable for solo quiet reading’, ‘Blood resurrection in place! Love your goldfish, love your life more!’, etc…

Her enthusiastic fans set up a QQ group for her, and it was that kind of super huge group whereby it had over two thousand members in it… Since she published her comic under the pen name ‘Ruan Ruan’, people would usually address her as Ruan-sama or Dame Goldfish.

She clicked to open the rest of the conversation dialogue, which was sent in by netizens to consult her on the matters of rearing goldfish. She had no desire to reply to them now, though… As she closed the chats one by one, she inadvertently noticed that one of the messages mentioned ‘purple dragon-robed phoenixes’ and so, her gaze fixed on that message for a moment.

It was from a temporary chat session from ‘Family of Fish Friends’.

Zero: Do you own two purple dragon-robed phoenixes?

She found this to be bizarre. She did own two of the said goldfish, but… she had never mentioned this to outsiders. Even her family only knew that she had a lot of goldfish but they knew nothing about their species.

How strange…

This person probably is interested in purchasing them. After all, this species is a rare find on the market.

Nonetheless, she currently had no intention of selling them off. In fact, those two goldfish were her treasures…

And so, she closed the chat and went to check out the fan page of her comic. After hesitating for a while, she typed a string of words and clicked ‘send’.

Ruan Ruan: How do you take care of a friend with a fever?

[0] -sama is a formal honorific suffix used by Japanese, and can be used to flatter people.