thefictionvixens Chapter 23 Mimi Has a Fever
Chapter 23 Mimi Has a Fever
After finishing their meal, the five of them sat in front of the cabin and chatted for a while.
Yang Mimi had regained a lot of energy and, once she started talking, she couldn't stop. She recounted her experiences over the past two days from beginning to end, interspersed with various complaints and jokes, making Lin Shishi and Fan Yubing laugh non-stop.
"When I woke up, I was lying face down on a rock with my mouth full of sand. I thought I was having a nightmare. Then I looked up and saw two suns in the sky, and I knew it wasn't a dream. Dreams wouldn't be this far-fetched."
"And then?" Lin Shishi asked.
"Then I started looking for food! A food blogger's instinct is to find food, even if the sky falls, I have to eat my fill first. I dug around in the crevices of the rocks for a long time and found a few small crabs and clams, which I ate raw. Those crabs were so fishy, it was really hard to eat them without garlic sauce."
Fan Yubing rolled her eyes: "We didn't even have any crabs on the first day. We drank coconut water and ate square coconuts that we didn't even know if we could eat."
"A square coconut?"
"Yes, the coconuts on this island are square."
Yang Mimi nodded, because she had also drunk it and thought it tasted pretty good.
Qin Chuan listened from the side and thought that the conversation of these women was more lively than a vegetable market.
But this liveliness is quite nice. With laughter in the camp, the days aren't so hard to bear.
Qin Chuan found a moment and pulled Yang Mimi aside.
"Yang Mimi, here, everyone will take responsibility. From now on, all the cooking in the camp will be your responsibility. I'll get the ingredients, and you'll be in charge of the cooking. How about that?"
Yang Mimi tilted her head and thought for a moment: "Sure, cooking is my forte. But you'll have to make me some seasonings. With just wild ginger and sea salt, I can only make a limited number of dishes."
"Okay, I'll figure out the seasonings."
.....
The afternoon sun was scorching, with two suns hanging in the sky, one on each side, baking the entire beach to a scorching heat. The heat waves on the sea distorted the distant scenery, and even the air carried a humid, muggy atmosphere.
Qin Chuan sat at the door of the wooden house, munching on a mango and pondering his plans for the afternoon.
A team of five needs to plan their food, drink, and even their bathroom needs carefully, otherwise they'll go hungry after a few days.
Yang Mimi was just helping to organize the ingredients in the yard, chatting and laughing, looking quite energetic. But not long after, she plopped down on the ground, her head drooping, looking completely dejected.
"Yang Mimi, what's wrong?" Lin Shishi was the first to notice something was wrong, and she put down what she was doing and went over.
Yang Mimi's complexion was not right. The rosy glow she had regained that morning had disappeared, replaced by an unhealthy pallor, and fine beads of sweat were seeping from her forehead.
"I feel a little dizzy..." Yang Mimi's voice was weak as she pressed her temples. "I might have heatstroke."
Lin Shishi squatted down, reached out and touched Yang Mimi's forehead, but withdrew her finger as soon as it touched her.
"It's burning hot. This isn't heatstroke, it's a fever."
Lin Shishi's nurse instincts kicked in immediately. She told Yang Mimi to lie down on the bed in the cabin first, and then quickly ran to Qin Chuan.
"Brother Chuan, Yang Mimi has a fever, and it's very high, probably around 39 degrees Celsius."
Qin Chuan put down the mango in his hand and stood up: "Fever? Wasn't she fine just now?"
"It's probably because they were exposed to seawater on the rocks for too long, and their bodies were most vulnerable to infection when they were weak."
Qin Chuan frowned and followed Lin Shishi into the wooden house.
Yang Mimi lay on the wooden bed in the innermost bedroom, her orange hoodie soaked with sweat and clinging to her body, clearly outlining her figure.
She huddled up, hugging her arms, her lips slightly pale.
Qin Chuan walked over and reached out to touch her forehead.
It was indeed extremely hot; the moment my palm touched it, I could feel the scorching heat, as if I were touching a stone that had been baked by the sun.
"Is there any way to bring down the fever?" Qin Chuan turned to ask Lin Shishi.
Lin Shishi shook her head, her expression helpless: "We can only use the most basic methods: physical cooling and hydration. Wipe the body with a damp towel to lower the surface temperature. Also, feed the baby more water to help them sweat and dissipate heat."
Qin Chuan nodded: "The towel is in my suitcase, I'll go get it."
Qin Chuan rummaged through his suitcase and pulled out the white towel, then went to the water reservoir to fetch a handful of fresh water from a coconut shell. He soaked the towel, wrung it out, and handed it to Lin Shishi.
Lin Shishi took the towel, hesitated for a moment, and glanced at Yang Mimi's soaking wet sweatshirt.
"You have to take off your outer clothes, otherwise it won't cool down."
Yang Mimi groggily opened her eyes, and upon hearing this, weakly said, "Okay, take them off, I'm dying of heat..."
Lin Shishi helped Yang Mimi take off her orange-red hoodie, revealing a black sports vest underneath, which was also soaked with sweat and clung tightly to her body.
Yang Mimi has a very thin waist, but she has plenty of curves in the right places, and the sports vest makes her upper body curves very obvious.
"Brother Chuan, you can go out first, I'll wipe it," Lin Shishi said.
Qin Chuan hummed in agreement and turned to leave the room.
After waiting at the door for about ten minutes, Lin Shishi lifted the banana leaf curtain and came out.
"It's cooled down a bit, but it's still hot. It's best to keep wiping it down and change to a cool towel every now and then."
Fan Yubing walked over from the side, crossed her arms, and leaned against the doorframe: "Then who's going to clean it? Are you going to keep watch the whole time?"
Lin Shishi thought for a moment: "I can't manage it all by myself, I also need to go and gather herbs. This kind of fever can't be managed with physical cooling alone for long, I need to find some herbs that can reduce fever to use in combination."
Qin Chuan thought for a moment and said to Lin Shishi, "Okay, you go find the herbs, I'll use the towel to wipe you down."
Fan Yubing raised an eyebrow: "You? You're going to wipe her body?"
Qin Chuan glanced helplessly at Fan Yubing: "Then you do it?"
Fan Yubing opened her mouth, thought for a moment, and then closed it again. She had only known Yang Mimi for less than a day. Although she wouldn't abandon her in her time of need, she simply couldn't handle this kind of personal care.
"Go ahead, but don't get physical," Fan Yubing said, then turned and left.
Qin Chuan thought to himself, "What time is it? Why are you still worrying about this?"
Lin Shishi gave a few instructions and then went to the edge of the woods to find herbs.
Liu Yifei wasn't at the camp; she must have gone into the forest to collect dry wood.
Qin Chuan went back into the room, poured some water out of the coconut shell, soaked and wrung out a towel, and then sat on the edge of the bed.
Yang Mimi had her eyes closed, was breathing rapidly, and her face was covered in sweat.
Qin Chuan first wiped her forehead and cheeks with a towel. When the towel touched her skin, Yang Mimi shivered, but did not open her eyes.
"hot……"
Yang Mimi mumbled something, her voice so soft it was like a mosquito's buzz.
Qin Chuan wiped the towel from his forehead down his neck to his collarbone. Yang Mimi's neck had a beautiful line, and her skin was delicate, glistening with a thin sheen after being damp with sweat.
Qin Chuan paused for a moment when his hand brushed down to his collarbone.
The neckline of the sports vest wasn't low, but it became semi-transparent after being soaked with sweat, and the outline of the bra underneath was vaguely visible.
Qin Chuan looked away and focused on wiping his arm.
Yang Mimi's arm was still wrapped in bandages that Lin Shishi had given her, and thin scabs had formed on the abrasions on her fingers and wrists.
Qin Chuan wiped the towel from his shoulder down to his wrist, then switched hands and wiped the other side.
"Brother Chuan..."
Yang Mimi groggily opened her eyes a crack and glanced at Qin Chuan.
"Yes, I'm here."
Am I going to die...?
"Don't worry, it's just a fever. You'll be fine after a few days of rest."
"Will you abandon me?"
Qin Chuan: "How could that be? You think too badly of us. I'd be the first to object to anyone abandoning you."
Hearing this, Yang Mimi felt a warmth in her heart. This was also what she was most worried about. On this isolated island where resources were scarce, survival was already difficult for everyone, and now they had to take care of a patient as well.
"Thank you, Brother Chuan. There are still many fish on this island that we haven't tried yet. I want to cook delicious food for everyone... It would be such a waste if they died..."
"Okay, okay, there are lots of delicious foods waiting for you on the island, and everyone is waiting for you to get better."
"Hmm..." Yang Mimi closed her eyes again, mumbled something, but Qin Chuan couldn't hear it.
Qin Chuan continued wiping.
The towel quickly warmed up from his body heat and had to be soaked again. He repeatedly soaked the towel, wrung it out, and wiped the area, over and over again.
Yang Mimi's body temperature is indeed slowly decreasing, but very slowly.
About an hour later, Lin Shishi returned.
Lin Shishi held a handful of green plants in her hand. The leaves were long and thin with serrated edges, and they smelled strongly of bitterness.
"Found it! This plant looks very similar to the mugwort from Blue Star. The smell and shape match up perfectly." Lin Shishi squatted by the bed and spread the leaves out in her palm for Qin Chuan to see.
Qin Chuan scanned it with his pupil technique and, sure enough, a message popped up:
[Otherworldly Artemisia, Level 1 Herb. It has the effects of clearing heat and reducing fever, as well as anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Recommended for internal use: Crush and extract the juice, then drink with warm water.]
"No problem, it can be used." Qin Chuan nodded.