Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

The day passed uneventfully.

Li Lizhi went out all day, saying she was going to pay her respects to Empress Zhangsun, and didn't return until evening.

Lu Chen took advantage of her absence to get a good night's sleep—he barely slept a wink last night.

After waking up, I made a bowl of noodles, and after eating, I looked up a lot of information about asthma treatment.

It wasn't until late at night that both sides quieted down.

Lu Chen turned off the light, lay on the bed, and stared blankly at the ceiling.

In the palace opposite the dividing line, the candlelight had gone out, leaving only faint moonlight filtering in through the cracks in the window.

Everything was quiet.

It was so quiet that he could hear Li Lizhi's soft breathing.

Then--

"cough."

A very soft cough came from behind the curtain.

Lu Chen opened his eyes.

"Cough cough..."

The second tone was slightly stronger than the first.

She was probably covering her mouth with the blanket.

The voice was muffled.

Lu Chen turned over, facing the direction of the dividing line.

He didn't move.

Just listening.

The coughing was intermittent, coming in bursts.

It's like wanting to stop but being unable to.

Each sound felt like something was stuck in my throat.

His breathing became heavier and heavier.

It was no longer normal, steady breathing.

Rather, it was a kind of panting with a distinct hissing sound—

The airway is spasming.

Lu Chen suddenly sat up.

At that moment, Li Lizhi felt an invisible hand gripping her chest.

The more you pinch, the tighter it gets.

Every time I try to inhale, it seems like only a tiny bit of air can get in.

It felt like my throat was stuffed with cotton; I couldn't inhale or spit it out.

She curled up in the blanket, her hands clutching her collar, her knuckles white.

She was all too familiar with this feeling.

She has experienced countless times since she was a child.

Every time, I felt like I was about to die.

Each time, we managed to pull through in the end.

The imperial physicians called this "an attack of qi disorder".

When it flares up, there's no medicine that can stop it immediately; you can only endure it.

Sit up, try to breathe more easily, and then slowly wait for it to pass.

Li Lizhi struggled to sit up.

But tonight's attack came with exceptional ferocity.

She had barely propped herself up when she started coughing violently, curling her body into a ball.

"Cough cough cough—"

The panting turned into a whistle.

Like the wind passing through an extremely narrow gap.

She opened her mouth and tried desperately to breathe, but it felt like something was tightly squeezing her chest, and she couldn't get enough air.

My vision started to go black.

Consciousness began to fade.

In that instant, a thought flashed through Li Lizhi's mind—

This time, it seems to be more serious than ever before.

Just when she was about to give up—

Hurried footsteps came from the other side of the dividing line.

With a "bang," the curtain was pulled open.

Lu Chen rushed over.

He himself didn't know how he got through it.

One second he was on my side, the next he stepped on the dividing line and instinctively braced himself for being bounced back—

But that resistance did not appear.

He walked right through it.

It was like stepping through a door that didn't exist.

There was no time to think about why.

He had only one thought in his mind—she was having trouble breathing.

Lu Chen took three steps to the bedside.

Under the moonlight, Li Lizhi curled up in the brocade quilt, one hand tightly gripping her throat, her face deathly pale even in the dim light.

The lips aren't purple—they're bluish.

The breathing sounds were all sharp, whistling sounds.

Severe acute asthma attack.

The blood oxygen saturation level is estimated to have dropped to a dangerous level.

"Don't be afraid."

Lu Chen's voice was low but steady.

He knelt on one knee beside the bed, supporting Li Lizhi's shoulder with his left hand to help her sit up straight, while his right hand had already unscrewed the cap of the salbutamol aerosol.

He grabbed the little blue jar from the floor and put it in his pajama pocket as he was leaving.

It's not about being a prophet.

It's an instinct of someone who has studied clinical medicine.

Asthma patients must always have emergency medication on hand.

at any time.

Open your mouth.

Li Lizhi was so out of breath that she couldn't speak.

My consciousness began to waver.

But she heard those two words.

Driven by suffocation and the instinct for survival, she did not resist.

Lu Chen aimed the aerosol nozzle at her lips.

"When I count to three, try to take a deep breath."

"One, two—"

Press.

A fine mist of medicine was sprayed into Li Lizhi's mouth.

"suck."

Li Lizhi instinctively took a breath.

The medication mist enters the lungs through the trachea.

Salbutamol is a receptor agonist that acts on bronchial smooth muscle.

It takes effect in three to five minutes.

But the improvement in subjective feelings is even faster.

A dozen seconds later.

Li Lizhi felt the lump in her throat loosen a little.

The invisible rope in the trachea began to loosen.

Air—real, plentiful air—filled her lungs.

She took a deep breath.

Like a drowning person finally surfacing.

"cough--"

A violent cough brought out the phlegm that had been blocking his airway.

Then came the second breath.

The third bite.

Each breath was deeper and smoother than the last.

The whistle was fading away.

The hand that was gripping her chest finally loosened its grip little by little.

Li Lizhi gasped for breath, her whole body leaning forward.

Her forehead was almost touching Lu Chen's shoulder.

She was trembling all over.

It's not cold.

It was the trembling feeling of someone who had survived a catastrophe.

Lu Chen did not move.

He still had one hand on her shoulder, and the other hand was clutching the aerosol can.

He waited until her breathing gradually calmed down. After about two or three minutes, he spoke softly.

"Are you feeling better?"

Li Lizhi did not answer.

She slowly straightened up.

Moonlight streamed through the cracks in the window and fell upon the two people.

Her eyes reddened.

It wasn't because I was so out of breath that I cried.

It's because in her eighteen years of life, she had never had an attack that subsided so quickly.

In the past, every time her illness flared up, she would have to endure it for half an hour, or even one or two hours.

In severe cases, I would sit on the bed all night, panting, until dawn.

Even when the imperial physician arrived, all he could do was give her the medicine and let her wait.

Wait for that invisible hand to loosen its grip on its own.

Nothing could ever make her breathe smoothly again in just a few breaths.

there has never been.

Until tonight.

The bedchamber was very quiet.

The moonlight was faint.

The two people were very close.

Li Lizhi was so close that she could see the bloodshot veins in Lu Chen's eyes. He clearly hadn't slept well all night either.

Lu Chen could see the tear stains on her eyelashes that were still wet.

Li Lizhi's gaze fell on the small blue jar in his hand.

It's the thing she rejected during the day.

She opened her mouth.

His voice was a little hoarse, with the roughness of someone who had just coughed.

But every word is very clear.

"What...what kind of elixir is this?"

Lu Chen didn't offer much explanation.

Li Lizhi had just experienced a severe attack and was completely exhausted; she couldn't remember anything else.

He only gave the most crucial instruction: "If you can't breathe again, just press on your mouth and inhale."

Li Lizhi leaned against the headboard, wrapped in a brocade quilt, listening quietly.

There was no rebuttal, nor were there any further questions.

The attack just now frightened her.

To be precise, it was that little blue jar that shocked her.

In just over ten breaths, he went from being on the verge of death to breathing smoothly.

This is something that hospitals can't do.

No one can do that.

She had to admit it. This man from a thousand years in the future did indeed possess some skill.

After a moment of silence, Li Lizhi suddenly spoke.

"How did you get here?"

She looked at Lu Chen with genuine doubt in her eyes.

"You said yourself that you wouldn't go, so neither will my guards."

"Why were you able to do that just now?"

Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.

To be honest, he himself didn't understand it either.

The moment I rushed over was a completely subconscious act; before my mind could even process it, I was already standing by her bedside.

"I don't know," he said truthfully.

"It could be triggered by some condition. Or the rules could have been different from the beginning."

Li Lizhi frowned.

"May I go over there?"

Lu Chen looked at the invisible dividing line and said, "You can try."

Li Lizhi hesitated for a moment, then stretched out a hand towards the dividing line.

The moment my fingertip touched that spot—

A gentle yet firm resistance pushed it back.

Unlike the guards, they weren't thrown away.

It was more like a layer of cotton, gently stopping her.

She tried twice more.

The same result.

"It's impossible." Li Lizhi withdrew her hand, her expression somewhat complicated.

"It seems only you can come."

Lu Chen nodded.

This rule is strange, but at least for now. He can enter the Tang Dynasty, but she can't go to his side for the time being.

Things may change in the future.

But now is not the time to dwell on this.

"It's almost dawn." Lu Chen stood up. "You rest first, just call me if you need anything."

He turned and walked towards the dividing line.

He took a couple of steps and then stopped, took the salbutamol from his pocket and placed it beside the bed.

"Place this next to your pillow. So you can easily reach it."

Li Lizhi glanced down at the small blue jar and remained silent.

But she didn't push him away.

Lu Chen returned to his side.

As I lay down, the sky was already beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

……