Chapter 177 Not a second out of sight

Chapter 177 Not a second out of sight

I don't know how much time passed.

Tangli awoke in a state of chaos.

My throat was so dry it felt like it was on fire, and every breath was stinging.

She moved her heavy eyelids, and her vision gradually cleared.

What came into view was the familiar military tent ceiling, and... a dark head lying by the bed.

Pei Yunjing fell asleep.

He didn't go to sleep on the soft couch next to him, nor did he even take off his outer robe. He sat awkwardly on the footstool, his upper body leaning over the edge of the bed, one hand still tightly holding Tang Li's hand that was sticking out of the quilt, his sleeping posture stiff and defensive.

Even in his sleep, his brows were tightly furrowed, and the dark circles under his eyes were frighteningly heavy, clearly indicating that he had exhausted himself to the limit.

"fool……"

Tang Li's heart softened, and she tried to pull her hand away, but found that he was holding it too tightly and she couldn't move at all.

She was extremely thirsty, and her gaze swept to a table not far away, where a teapot sat.

It's not far, only two or three steps away.

"If we don't wake him up..."

Tangli carefully held her breath and tried to prop herself up with her other hand.

She moved with the utmost subtlety, like a little mouse stealing oil, trying to step over Pei Yunjing, or even just reach for the cup.

She slowly, little by little, pulled the hand that was being held away from her.

One inch, two inches.

Just as her fingers were about to slip from his palm.

"Smack!"

A crisp sound.

Pei Yunjing, who was still asleep, suddenly opened his eyes like a beast whose mechanism had been triggered!

Those eyes held no bewilderment of someone just waking up, only extreme terror and violence.

"Where are you going?!"

He let out a fierce roar, his voice even cracking and trembling.

Before Tang Li could react, a large, iron-like hand gripped her wrist tightly with the force to crush bones and pulled her back sharply!

"ah!"

Tang Li gasped and fell heavily back onto the bed.

Pei Yunjing instantly lunged forward, pressing his hands firmly against her shoulders, trapping her beneath him.

He was breathing heavily, his whole body trembling violently. His handsome face had lost its usual composure, replaced only by heartbreaking panic and helplessness.

"Don't go...don't go..."

He stared intently at Tang Li, his eyes vacant as if he were looking at a phantom that might vanish at any moment:

"Tang Li! Don't leave me!"

"I was wrong... Don't go... Don't die..."

He was trembling; that was the extreme manifestation of separation anxiety.

In his brief nightmare, he dreamt that as soon as he let go, Tang Li fell into an abyss and became a cold corpse in the Valley of Broken Souls.

The moment he woke up, he felt the warmth slipping from his palm, and his reason completely collapsed at that moment.

He thought she had disappeared again, or... she was dead.

"Your Highness! Pei Yunjing! Look at me!"

Ignoring the bruises on her wrists from the tight straps, Tang Li reached out and cupped Pei Yunjing's terrified and distorted face, forcing him to look at her.

"I'm not leaving! I'm not going anywhere!"

Tang Li's voice was gentle yet firm, carrying a calming power:

"I'm alive! I'm hot! Look!"

She took his hand and pressed it against her heart, letting him feel its strong beating.

"Thump, thump, thump."

Feeling the vibration coming from his palm, Pei Yunjing's wildly trembling pupils finally slowly focused.

He looked at the person beneath him.

It's a crabapple.

A living, talking crabapple.

"...You didn't leave?"

His voice was hoarse, tinged with a hint of uncertainty and caution.

"They didn't leave."

Tang Li sighed helplessly and pointed to the table:

"I'm just thirsty and want to get a glass of water."

"I'm thirsty..."

Pei Yunjing was stunned for a moment, then, like a child who had made a mistake, he quickly released his hand from her shoulder.

But he did not let his guard down.

"Lie still. Don't move."

He commanded, his tone stiff, yet unable to conceal a hint of panic.

Pei Yunjing got up, and even though it was just a short walk to the table to pour a glass of water, he kept turning back every few steps, his gaze fixed on Tang Li, as if afraid that she would disappear into thin air in the blink of an eye.

He poured the water, tested the temperature, blew on it, and then went back to the bedside.

"Open your mouth."

Instead of giving the cup to Tang Li, he helped her up and fed her himself.

"I can do it myself..."

"Open your mouth." Pei Yunjing repeated stubbornly, his hand trembling slightly.

Tang Li had no choice but to take small sips of the water from his hand and finish it.

After finishing the water, Pei Yunjing immediately put down the cup, sat back down on the edge of the bed, and grabbed her hand again, their fingers intertwined, as if only in this way could he feel a sense of security.

"What else do you want?" he asked.

Tang Li shifted her body somewhat awkwardly: "Um... I need to use the restroom."

There was a chamber pot behind the screen.

Pei Yunjing remained silent for a moment.

"Go."

He let go of her hand and helped her out of bed.

Tang Li had just breathed a sigh of relief, put on her coat, and walked behind the screen. When she looked up, she found a tall, dark figure blocking the entrance to the screen.

Pei Yunjing stood with his back to the screen, like a guardian deity, just a step away from her.

"Your Highness?"

Tang Li's face turned green: "Could you...could you stand a little further away? Or go back to the bed and sit down?"

This is so embarrassing!

"no."

From outside the screen came a man's resolute refusal:

"It's too far away, I can't see it."

"..."

"But you can't just stand here and listen!" Tang Li exclaimed in despair.

"I will not look."

Pei Yunjing's voice was low, yet it carried a morbid stubbornness:

"But I must listen."

"I want to hear your breathing, to hear the sound of your clothes rubbing together."

"All I could hear was movement..."

He paused, his voice lowering, carrying a hint of heartbreaking vulnerability:

"I only just realized you were still here."

Behind the screen, Tang Li was completely speechless in the face of this suffocating reason.

She looked at the tall silhouette reflected on the screen.

The man who once remained unfazed even when facing a thousand troops has now become a cowardly man plagued by fear of losing her.

"……All right."

Tang Li sighed resignedly:

"Then listen carefully, and don't get distracted."

"I am here."

Outside the screen, Pei Yunjing relaxed his grip on the sword hilt, leaned against the pillar, and closed his eyes.