Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 80.1

Why?

Why, even though Huai Xu's breath was already scorching hot, did she refuse to take their relationship to the next step?

As invisible sparks flew, Song Yingshi caught Huai Xu's wrist and forcibly moved it aside. Then, she said softly, "Just once."

After saying so, Song Yingshi pressed down again without waiting for Huai Xu to answer, her long hair covering their faces like a curtain. However, as their lips were about to make contact, Huai Xu tilted her head at the last moment.

Huai Xu avoided the kiss again.

When Song Yingshi realized that her lips were pressed against Huai Xu's neck, she bit Huai Xu out of frustration. Just as she was about to interrogate Huai Xu, she heard Huai Xu hissing in pain and whispering, "You're really willing to hurt me."

Song Yingshi: "..."

Song Yingshi felt that Huai Xu was pretending to be pitiful. After all, she hardly put any strength into her bite, so how painful could it be?

Unfazed by Huai Xu's reaction, Song Yingshi used Huai Xu's own words against her, saying, "Even if it hurts, you deserve it."

After saying so, Song Yingshi gazed down at Huai Xu.

The room was dimly lit, so Song Yingshi could only vaguely make out a silhouette. However, she had no trouble imagining a red bite mark appearing on Huai Xu's snowy-white skin, and she couldn't help but regret her actions.

After hesitating momentarily, Song Yingshi gently licked the spot she bit. But shortly after she started, she heard Huai Xu calling for her to stop, "Little Shi, stop licking."

Song Yingshi ignored Huai Xu.

Huai Xu waited for a moment but heard nothing from Song Yingshi. Instead, the tongue scraping against her neck began to move with greater force, and a wet, sticky feeling slowly permeated her whole body. She moved her body under the blanket, pushed up against Song Yingshi's shoulders, and said with lowered eyes, "Song Yingshi, I'm going to get the thermometer."

Song Yingshi was momentarily stunned before her mind suddenly regained clarity. Immediately, she got out of bed, turned on the lights, and said quickly, "Are you sick? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Song Yingshi pulled out the simple medical box provided by the production crew, found the electronic thermometer, and handed it to Huai Xu.

Huai Xu accepted the monitor and hummed, "I wasn't too certain before."

It wasn't obvious before as the lights were out, but now that the lights were on, Song Yingshi could see that Huai Xu looked sluggish and sickly. Huai Xu's face was abnormally flushed, though Song Yingshi wasn't sure whether that was due to a fever or their previous nonsense.

Song Yingshi touched Huai Xu's forehead with the back of her hand.

Song Yingshi: "..."

Even without looking at the thermometer's results, Song Yingshi could conclude that Huai Xu had a high fever.

Song Yingshi pulled the blanket over Huai Xu, tucking Huai Xu in snugly as she said, "I'm going to call the staff and have them move you to the infirmary."

After saying so, Song Yingshi left the dormitory in a hurry. There were staff members on duty throughout the night. After contacting one of the ladies from the logistics team and informing her about Huai Xu's situation, the two of them accompanied Huai Xu to the infirmary.

There was always a doctor on duty in the infirmary precisely to handle abrupt situations like this. The doctor measured Huai Xu's temperature again and confirmed she had a high fever.

The doctor required Huai Xu to stay in the infirmary tonight for an infusion to lower her temperature and avoid delaying her training too much.

After settling Huai Xu, the logistics member returned to work while Song Yingshi sat by Huai Xu's bed.

As Song Yingshi looked at Huai Xu, whom she had forced to go to sleep, and the flowing IV drip, she breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against the chair. At the same time, she couldn't help but find tonight's development to be incredibly bizarre.

—No wonder Huai Xu's breath felt scalding. It turned out that she was genuinely burning up.

After this incident, Song Yingshi thoroughly erased the charming thoughts in her head. After all, she'd be worse than an animal if she kept having such indecent thoughts toward a recovering patient.

Song Yingshi wryly smiled and shook her head at her situation. After verifying that Huai Xu was fast asleep, she went downstairs to the 24-hour convenience store to buy a thermos. Then, she filled it with warm water and left it beside Huai Xu's bed.

Perhaps her frequent trips in and out of the infirmary had disturbed Huai Xu's rest, but when Song Yingshi turned from setting down the thermos, she found Huai Xu awake and watching her.

When the two met gazes, Huai Xu said hoarsely, "You should go back; there's a doctor here to look after me. You still need to lead the others in practice tomorrow."

"How are you feeling?" Song Yingshi asked.

"Not bad," Huai Xu replied, smiling.

"Do you want some water?" Song Yingshi asked as she picked up the thermos and uncapped it.

Huai Xu sat up and drank half a cup of water. After refilling the thermos with warm water, Song Yingshi asked, "I'm going back now. Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself?"

"I've survived all these years alone," Huai Xu replied indifferently.

When the usually inviolable person said such words while sitting on her sickbed, their calmness only served to pierce deeper into the listeners' hearts.

Song Yingshi smiled. She leaned forward and pinched Huai Xu's chin, asking, "You're intent on keeping me here, aren't you?"

Huai Xu smiled as well, though her lips looked a little pale.

"What should I do? I really can't bear to let you leave. Also…" Huai Xu said, letting her words trail off.

"Also?" Song Yingshi looked at Huai Xu curiously.

"Isn't taking care of patients one of your few hobbies in life?" Huai Xu said.

Song Yingshi: "?"

Song Yingshi looked at Huai Xu's smug face for a moment before she retracted her hand, pulled over the chair she had previously set aside, and huffed, "I won't leave, then. I'll take, care, of, you, here."

However, Huai Xu suddenly changed her mind again, saying, "After thinking about it, I think you should go back. For my sake."

Song Yingshi narrowed her eyes at Huai Xu, demanding, "What do you mean?"

There was a noise outside the light blue curtains. It seemed like the doctor had left to answer a phone call.

Huai Xu reached out and grabbed Song Yingshi's hand. While gently stroking the back of Song Yingshi's hand, she said casually, "What I mean is…if I wasn't afraid of passing on my fever to you, I would've been the one to kiss you first just now."

Song Yingshi's fingers reflexively twitched but were quickly suppressed by Huai Xu's hand.

Huai Xu softly chuckled at Song Yingshi's reaction. As if speaking a fact, she said slowly, "How is my fever supposed to subside if the person I didn't get to kiss keeps lingering before me?"

The clock in the infirmary ticked loudly, knocking on Song Yingshi's heart.

A moment later, Song Yingshi regained her wits, retracted her hand, and said, "You want to kiss me? Who do you think you are? What kind of relationship do we even have?"

"What kind of relationship?" Huai Xu repeated.

Song Yingshi didn't answer Huai Xu. Avoiding the IV drip, she stuffed Huai Xu under the blanket and poked Huai Xu's chest through it, one time after another. Then, she put on an arrogant expression and said in a long, drawn-out voice, "You, settle down and recuperate. As for me, I have to stand in as team leader tomorrow, so I'm going back to sleep now."

Song Yingshi retracted her hand and stood up. Then, she continued condescendingly, "You'd best recover from your fever quickly. Don't hold up my third public performance, got it?"

After leaving these two sentences behind, Song Yingshi turned around and walked out of the infirmary, shutting the door on her way out.

Song Yingshi felt that if she didn't leave now, she would soon lose the heart to leave completely.

However, Song Yingshi couldn't afford to stay behind. If she showed up to practice in low spirits while Huai Xu remained out of commission, the team's practice efficiency would be negatively impacted.

When Song Yingshi met the doctor outside the infirmary, she gave the other party a few obvious reminders before looking back in the infirmary's direction.

When the doctor saw the concern on Song Yingshi's face, she said, "Huai Xu will be fine once her fever subsides. But looking at you, it seems you won't be at ease until she fully recovers, haha."

At the doctor's teasing, Song Yingshi explained, "I'm not particularly worried…" I'm just wondering if I had said too much.

Considering Song Yingshi's self-esteem, the doctor tactfully said, "Mhm, mhm. I understand. You're just teammates." It's just that your 800-word reminder feels a teeny bit suspicious. But don't worry, I understand! Snow-Kissed Rose forever!

Song Yingshi: "..."

…

After Song Yingshi left, Huai Xu reined in her expression, a sense of weakness gradually eroding her body. She felt like a piece of burning firewood, a dull, dry heat lingering between her lips and teeth.

Huai Xu closed her eyes. She could vaguely tell the doctor had entered the infirmary and looked at the infusion bottle. Then, the lights on her side were turned off.

As Huai Xu sat amidst the darkness, she began to immerse herself in the images in her mind.

Shortly after Fu Shu appeared, a series of familiar images barged into Huai Xu's consciousness, similar to her experiences with Zheng Qiyi and Song Ming. This made him the third person to have caused her to inherit memories from her past life, and it was enough for her to realize a pattern, such as Song Yingshi being with her during these events.

However, Huai Xu quickly remembered that Song Ming was there the first time she met Song Yingshi. Yet, she never received any memories at that time. Hence, she speculated that there might be more detailed conditions to trigger these memory events, such as Song Yingshi needing to harbor sufficient hostilities toward the other party. It was also possible that Huai Xu needed to unleash her hostility toward these men in person.

Prior to tonight, Huai Xu had received three memories from her past life. Zheng Qiyi triggered the first and second memories, while Song Ming triggered the third.

Although Huai Xu's body suffered from illness, her soul remained rational. It detached itself from her body and processed everything with the calmness and indifference of a bystander.

The first time Huai Xu inherited her past life's memories was during her confrontation with Zheng Qiyi in the Initial Rating Performance. The memories were related to Zheng Qiyi, and they allowed her to learn that she had reincarnated. They also gave her skills in music and dance.

The second time happened when Huai Xu went to threaten Zheng Qiyi. The memory she inherited then was a more complete version of the first memory. She got to know more details about her past life. Her singing and dancing also became more refined.

The third time happened when Song Ming interrupted Huai Xu's intimate moment with Song Yingshi in the carpark of the office building where Fu Qi's studio was situated. The memory she inherited this time was completely different from the previous two. She also learned from this piece of memory that Song Yingshi shared some sort of connection with Song Ming, or possibly even all three men.

When Fu Shu interrupted her kiss with Song Yingshi at the banquet hall tonight, Huai Xu received the fourth piece of memory from her past life. Unlike the past three memories, the emergence of the fourth one flooded her mind with many images. The information overload was so unbearable that she came down with a fever.

Huai Xu had a vague feeling this was the last piece of the puzzle and that this framework of memories would finally be completed tonight. And with the advent of "completion," she would usher in a true sense of—

Reincarnation.

Huai Xu felt incredibly weak. She also felt like invisible flames were burning her body, as if she were a phoenix experiencing a rebirth. Yet, despite the strong discomfort, she inexplicably found pleasure in it. She arched her body into a bow, her mouth letting out soft gasps as her eyes gazed into the darkness in anticipation.

Besides her approaching reincarnation, Huai Xu took note of two other matters after receiving her past life's fourth memory.

The first matter was that Zheng Qiyi and Song Ming had designs on her. And judging by Song Yingshi's apparent hostility to Fu Shu, it would seem that Song Yingshi had mistakenly assumed that Fu Shu liked her. However, Huai Xu clearly saw that Fu Shu's focus was entirely on Song Yingshi.

Fu Shu's behavior was out of the norm. More importantly, the thought of Fu Shu coveting Song Yingshi disgusted Huai Xu even more than the idea of him coveting her.

When Huai Xu thought of this, her expression grew even colder.

The second matter was that she had acquired two memories because of Zheng Qiyi, whereas Song Ming and Fu Shu had only allowed her to gain one each. Perhaps…she could also gain a second memory from each of them.

Regardless, she would take back everything that belonged to her.

Also, Zheng Qiyi's abrupt physical torment might be related to her acquisition of the second memory.

In that case, Huai Xu looked forward to the day she claimed more memories from Song Ming and Fu Shu…