Chapter 44: A Warm Sensation

Tong Xiaoman let out a muffled sob and simply rolled over, burying her face in the pillow as she decided to ignore him. However, the recurring, cramp-like pains caused her body to tremble involuntarily.

Nalan Che reached out a hand to stroke her, but stopped midway in the air. Muttering a low curse, he abruptly stood up and strode out of the room.

Clutching the bedsheet tightly in her small hands, Tong Xiaoman heard his departing footsteps, and an inexplicable sense of loss welled up in her heart.

He found her annoying after all and had left in the end.

Pouting her lips, she felt an inexplicable grievance, an unprecedented sense of stifled distress flooding her heart.

Before long, however, the steady sound of footsteps echoed from outside the door once again.

She held back and refrained from turning around.

He walked to the bedside, placed a hand on her shoulder to turn her over, and said with a somewhat softened voice, "I brewed a cup of brown sugar water for you. Drink it, and you'll feel a bit better."

Tong Xiaoman was stunned. She slowly sat up, looked at the cup in his hand, and asked in surprise, "You went out just now to make this for me?"

A trace of unnatural embarrassment flashed across Nalan Che's handsome face. He deliberately lowered his voice and said, "You said it yourself, I was the one who forced you onto the boat. Whatever happens to you is my responsibility."

He brought the cup close to her lips and fed it to her.

Hearing this, the corners of Tong Xiaoman's lips curved slightly upward, and her watery eyes crinkled into crescents as she couldn't help stifling a giggle inside. What a pretentious man—if he was worried about her, he could just say so instead of beating around the bush.

Her mood brightened instantly. She opened her mouth and sipped the warm brown sugar water, feeling the comforting warmth travel straight to her heart.

Silence. An eerie silence, broken only by the sound of Tong Xiaoman drinking.

Seeing her drink the brown sugar water and watching her complexion gradually regain a hint of rosiness, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

He lowered his voice and said, "I have already instructed Su Ji to dock the ship. We will be arriving at a nearby pier very soon."

"Mmm," Tong Xiaoman nodded.

Once she finished the entire cup of brown sugar water, he helped her lie back down, furrowed his brow slightly, and asked, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Much better, thank you." She flashed him a grateful smile, but it froze almost instantly as she stared at him reaching his hand straight under the covers. She let out a startled gasp, "What are you doing?" His palm slid directly beneath her pajamas and rested on her lower abdomen, his rough fingers massaging her flat stomach in a slow, rhythmic, and unhurried motion.

"Shh, don't make a fuss, go to sleep like a good girl." He gave a domineering command without offering any explanation. Heaven knows this was the first time he had ever done such a thing for a woman, and a flush of embarrassment inevitably crept up his neck and face.

The courage it had taken for him to go outside and tell Su Ji to dock the vessel—only he knew how much effort it had required.

As for brewing the brown sugar water and massaging her lower abdomen, those were things Su Ji had taught him with a teasing, knowing