Du Ruo was shirtless, treating his wounds, when a voice rang out from outside the courtyard. It was Yang Chenguang, whom he hadn't seen in a few days.
"Why are you here?"
"You have the nerve to ask? My dad called me. I was in a meeting, and he insisted I come over to check on you. What is your situation? Which woman scratched you up?"
Yang Chenguang was still outside, complaining as he entered the courtyard. Seeing the wounds on Du Ruo's limbs, he couldn't help but ask.
After all, a normal person wouldn't end up like this. And honestly, the wounds on his limbs really did look like they had been scratched by a woman's fingernails.
"You came at the right time. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up to help me buy some breakfast. Meat is best, at least for three people."
Du Ruo was at his hungriest right then. Seeing Yang Chenguang walk in, he didn't waste words and immediately ordered him to go buy breakfast.
The massive energy expenditure from the morning, combined with the drain from the Add Points feature, had left Du Ruo with a stomachache. However, since he hadn't finished treating his wounds, it was inconvenient for him to go out.
"Fine, just wait... Seriously, you should have called me earlier. Otherwise, I would have brought it with me."
Seeing that Du Ruo only had superficial wounds, Yang Chenguang muttered to himself as he walked outside.
Du Ruo was left alone, feeling very awkward as he applied medicine to his own wounds. It was quite inconvenient to treat himself; he couldn't see many of the areas, let alone apply medicine to them.
"I'm afraid iodine alone isn't enough for these wounds of yours."
Du Ruo had been thinking about waiting for Yang Chenguang to return to help him, but he didn't expect another voice to ring out from nearby.
"Oh, Boss's wife, you live upstairs?"
Du Ruo looked up and saw Xiang Yuanyuan on a small balcony nearby, holding a beer bottle and watching him. He struck up a conversation.
"Mm, wait there. I'll bring some medicine down for you."
Xiang Yuanyuan finished the beer in her hand in one gulp, then turned around, looking like she was going inside to get the medicine.
Seeing this, Du Ruo decided not to struggle with applying the medicine himself anymore. After all, he had ready-made help.
Before long, Xiang Yuanyuan walked down carrying a small bottle.
Today, Xiang Yuanyuan was wearing silk pajamas. They were quite loose, but they couldn't hide her proud figure.
"It might sting a little. Bear with it."
Xiang Yuanyuan said this first, then opened the small bottle. A faint scent of medicinal wine wafted out. She used a cotton swab dipped in the medicinal wine to clear away the iodine Du Ruo had previously applied.
When the cotton swab touched Du Ruo's arm, he immediately got goosebumps, though they quickly faded away.
The pain was one thing, but it was mostly due to the cold sensation of the cotton swab.
Xiang Yuanyuan's movements were very light. Sometimes, when she encountered thorns still stuck in his skin, she would use tweezers to pull them out.
"Tsk tsk..."
Soon, Yang Chenguang returned. He placed the breakfast he was holding on the table in front of Du Ruo. Seeing Xiang Yuanyuan helping Du Ruo treat his wounds, he didn't say a word. He just sat to the side, clicked his tongue twice, and then looked at the two of them with a complex expression.
That look was as if he were questioning Du Ruo: "Your relationship progressed this fast? How come I didn't know?"
Actually, it wasn't just Yang Chenguang who didn't know; even Du Ruo didn't know why Xiang Yuanyuan had suddenly come downstairs to help him with his wounds today. He had never realized before that Xiang Yuanyuan lived on the second floor of the tavern.
"Alright, these wounds of yours aren't serious. They're just superficial injuries."
After a while, Xiang Yuanyuan put away the small bottle and said this to Du Ruo, though she didn't look like she intended to leave.
"What are you staring at? Brew some tea. Boss's wife, have you had breakfast? Want some?"
Du Ruo told Yang Chenguang to brew tea, while he picked up the breakfast on the table and stuffed it into his mouth, not forgetting to ask Xiang Yuanyuan if she wanted to eat.
"Thanks, I've already eaten."
Xiang Yuanyuan shook her head, showing no intention of eating the breakfast on the table. Du Ruo remembered how she had been holding a beer bottle on the second floor earlier and wondered if she had just had a beer for breakfast.
"What is going on with you? My dad called and said you seemed to have rolled down the mountain? Why were you idling on the mountain early in the morning?"
Yang Chenguang casually brewed a pot of tea, then frowned and asked Du Ruo. He had been startled that morning; it had been a long time since anything happened on the mountain. Not to mention Du Ruo, if anyone else in the village had an accident, he, as the Deputy Secretary of the village, would be in a lot of trouble.
"I've been practicing martial arts lately, going up the mountain to train my body. I didn't roll down; I was scratched by thorns. I'll be careful next time."
Du Ruo said it quite nonchalantly, and he wasn't lying.
"..."
After hearing this, Yang Chenguang only felt that Du Ruo had become somewhat like a stranger. The old Du Ruo would never stand if he could sit; he had never touched anything related to sports since he was a child. He didn't expect him to be able to say something like "training my body" today, leaving him speechless for a moment.
"You still want a next time? You... forget it, just be careful. Also... just wander around the edge of the mountain, don't go deep inside. Last year, there were rumors that someone found a Cloud Leopard in the mountains, and there are plenty of Wild Boars too. If you run into them by accident, it could cost you your life."
Yang Chenguang wanted to say that he shouldn't go up the mountain from now on, but looking at Du Ruo, he knew such words would be useless. In the end, he could only offer a warning.
This wasn't alarmist talk; as a Village Cadre, he was the most well-informed about such news.
"Alright, alright..."
Du Ruo replied casually. It wasn't that he wouldn't listen to advice, but he only went into the mountains because he was confident. Today was just an accident; he hadn't expected that small hillside to have been untraversed for so long, resulting in dense thorns.
The three of them fell into silence, with only the sound of Du Ruo eating breakfast.
"Boss's wife, the medicinal wine I bought last time is almost gone. Please prepare another bottle for me."
Seeing the atmosphere was a bit dull, Du Ruo changed the subject.
"So fast?"
Xiang Yuanyuan raised an eyebrow after hearing this. That medicinal wine should have lasted an average person half a year. One had to know that medicinal wine was only used for bruises and sprains, or to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis when doing heavy exercise to avoid injury.
However, she thought about how Du Ruo had just said he went up the mountain alone to train his body and ended up with such injuries. It was clear that he might really be putting in hard work for his martial arts practice.
"The medicinal wine is no problem; I'll bring it to you later. But medicine is three parts poison. Using it so frequently isn't a good thing. Physical damage cannot be repaired by medicinal wine alone. With continuous, high-intensity training, let alone using Snake Wine, even if you used Tiger Bone Wine all the time, you would inevitably suffer irreversible damage."
Xiang Yuanyuan thought for a moment and finally gave Du Ruo a warning. She didn't understand martial arts, but she understood medicinal wine.
"That's true. Thank you for the reminder, Boss's wife. As for the wine, don't bother bringing it over. I'll go to the tavern to drink tonight. Chenguang, want to have a drink tonight?"
Once Du Ruo heard this, he realized what she said made sense. Perhaps he had been too anxious and forgotten that balancing work and rest was the key.
He now felt extremely exhausted, both physically and mentally. Perhaps tonight wasn't suitable for martial arts practice either. Since he had already obtained the experience and Attribute Points for the day, he would just rest tonight. As for subsequent training, Du Ruo didn't plan to stop yet. He hadn't been practicing martial arts for long, so he wouldn't reach the point Xiang Yuanyuan described yet.
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