“Your tent?” Du Lai laughed despite himself.

He pointed at the branches. “I cut these.”

He pointed at the leaves. “I gathered these.”

He pointed at the vines. “I found these.”

Du Lai looked Fu Miaoxue up and down, then gave a cold smile. “You rework the materials a little, and suddenly it’s your tent?”

Fu Miaoxue also laughed despite her anger. She pointed at Du Lai and snapped, “And where did the wood, leaves, and vines come from?! Without the knife I gave you, would you have chewed through them with your teeth?!”

“Fine, fine……” Du Lai nodded slowly. With one arm still wrapped around the fruit, he pulled out the knife and the steel wire chain and dropped them both on the ground.

“All of that is yours. Go cut and gather it yourself. As for me, I at least contributed my labor, so the tent is at least half mine. But the fruit — you did neither the work nor provided the tools. If you want to eat, go pick your own.”

Fu Miaoxue was nearly beside herself with rage!

When in all her life had she ever been treated like this?!

Watching Du Lai tuck his armful of bright red fruit and duck into the tent, Fu Miaoxue let out a cry and launched herself straight at him! She shouted furiously, “I want fruit! I want it right now!!!”

Du Lai was thrown off balance by the impact and went sprawling to the ground. He cursed, “Are you insane?!”

If he hadn’t been weakened by the fever and unsteady on his feet, how could she possibly have knocked him over with one shove?!

“Get off me!” Du Lai shouted. “Get up!”

By now Fu Miaoxue had completely abandoned any pretense of being a refined young lady. The moment she tackled Du Lai to the ground, she pinned him down with all her weight. She looked less like she was trying to grab fruit and more like she was in a fight for sheer dominance.

Du Lai finally understood why she’d had a personal tutor travelling with her — because this woman was simply unhinged. Completely and utterly unhinged.

“Let go!!!” Du Lai roared, summoning all his strength to flip over — but his vision went dark again, and he couldn’t manage it.

Fu Miaoxue noticed that something was off with him. She reached over and pressed her hand to his forehead, then burst out laughing as she sat firmly on top of him, utterly triumphant. “Oh, you’ve got a fever? Oh, you’ve got no strength? Oh, weren’t you acting so tough just now? Come on then, be tough~! Be tough~!”

She kept up a running taunt as she lightly patted him on the cheek, insufferably smug.

Du Lai couldn’t bear the indignity of it. He summoned one last surge of strength — grabbing Fu Miaoxue by the hair and flinging her sideways onto the ground!

Fu Miaoxue screamed in pain and instinctively threw both hands up to protect her hair. Du Lai seized the chance to scramble upright.

But before he could get his footing, the woman behind him leapt at him again.

She kicked him. She shoved him. She clawed at him with her nails. She even pinched him.

Du Lai had reached the absolute limit of his patience. He spun around and delivered a hard kick that sent her stumbling back. “Fu Miaoxue! Are you even a woman?! You’re like a rabid dog!!!”

He was still feverish, so the kick wasn’t that powerful. Fu Miaoxue only staggered back a few steps before catching herself. She glared at him with murderous intent. “You’ve got some nerve, don’t you. You dare lay hands on me, and now you’re calling me a dog. Du Lai, it seems like you have a death wish.”

She clenched her fists and bore down on him through gritted teeth, launching herself at him again for another full-scale brawl, all dignity completely gone!

The wild fruit scattered across the ground. The tent was knocked half to pieces in the chaos. The monkey stretched its arms through the bars of its cage, reaching desperately toward the fruit that had rolled within reach.

Before the monkey, the two people were locked in a furious, all-out fight.

The heavy black sky rumbled with muffled thunder, rolling and reverberating overhead.

The little monkey clutched the fruit to its chest and looked up at the sky with anxious, frightened eyes.

Lightning snaked through the dark clouds like a flickering serpent, flashing in and out. Then a tremendous crack of thunder exploded directly overhead. The little monkey flinched and cowered — and then, with a patter of sound, fat raindrops began to fall.

The rain intensified in an instant.

The monkey let out a few low, fearful whimpers from inside its cage.

Du Lai, barely running on his last reserves of strength, pressed Fu Miaoxue down and growled, “Stop! Do you want to get drenched to the bone and end up with a high fever like me?! Get up and rebuild the tent!!!”

—