“If I were experienced, I wouldn’t have vomited so badly this afternoon.”
Jiang A Yao forced herself to calm down, pretending to complain irritably, “It’s only because you held a knife to my neck that I had to do it even if I couldn’t.”
Her face showed genuine annoyance. Scarface looked somewhat embarrassed, closed his mouth awkwardly, and stood up.
Only when Jiang A Yao saw from the corner of her eye that he had left did she secretly let out a sigh of relief.
In this remote backwater, her ability to read and write already made her a special case. If she aroused their suspicion, her fate would likely be dire.
After the medicine was brewed, Jiang A Yao poured it into a small bowl, let it cool, and then gave it to the man to drink.
After drinking the medicine, the man fell into a drowsy sleep. They searched the house for a quilt to cover him, then lit a fire outside, placing the smokeless flames in a charcoal basin and setting it beside the man.
Jiang A Yao initially sat in the corner, but eventually, as the cold became unbearable, she moved closer to the charcoal basin.
Scarface seemed worried she might freeze, so he tossed a cloak to her.
Jiang A Yao said thank you, but Scarface turned his face away without a word.
As she pulled the cloak to cover herself, a pungent smell assaulted her throat, nearly making her vomit.
The odor of blood mixed with sweat rushed straight to her senses—she had thanked him too soon.
She knew she shouldn’t be picky, but the smell was so overpowering that she couldn’t bring herself to cover her body with it. Instead, she draped it over her legs and warmed her hands over the charcoal basin.
Jiang A Yao sighed inwardly; it seemed tonight would not be a good one.
Just then, A Long entered, carrying a quilt.
He walked directly to Jiang A Yao and placed the quilt beside her. “Your husband sent this for you.”
It was Lu Da!
Jiang A Yao was slightly startled. She hadn’t expected Lu Da to be thoughtful enough to send her a quilt.
As she touched the quilt, before she could speak, Scarface snatched the cloak from her legs and said with a laugh, “Say what you will, but newlyweds are always the most considerate.”
At his words, the other men in the room chuckled.
Jiang A Yao didn’t dare to laugh or make a sound.
She had been so busy cooking and preparing medicine for the severely injured man that she had overlooked her own perilous situation.
It was at this moment that she suddenly realized she was surrounded by a group of men—like a lamb among wolves, in extreme danger.
Moreover, all of these men were skilled in martial arts. If they wanted to do something to her, it would be effortless, as she had no means to fight back.
Though she had been somewhat sleepy earlier, this realization jolted her fully awake.
Now, her mind was calmer than ever.
Afraid to lie down, she draped the quilt over her shoulders, sat by the charcoal basin, buried her head in her knees, and pretended to rest to conceal her panic.
She didn’t dare ask to use the restroom, nor did she dare move a muscle.
Only when the night deepened and everyone was dozing off did she dare shift her stiff legs slightly to change her position.
Her neck was unbearably stiff, so she lifted her head and shook it. But that slight movement allowed her to catch a glimpse of the man.
His face was a bit red…
Flushed?
Startled, she hurried to check on him, but her legs were too numb. She failed to stand up immediately, and her knees hit the ground hard.
The pain made her vision blur, and the noise alerted Scarface.
“What’s going on?”
Jiang A Yao didn’t answer him. Ignoring the pain, she crawled over to the man’s side and reached out to touch his forehead.
So hot.
“He’s developed a fever. Quickly fetch water and find some clean cloth.”
Though panicked inside, Jiang A Yao’s tone remained calm.
Scarface immediately complied.
At this, the few people dozing off in the room all woke up, looking on with dazed eyes and unanimously showing worried expressions on their faces.
Soon, water was brought.
Jiang A Yao wrung out the cloth and placed it on his forehead, then used another cloth to wipe his chest, neck, and underarms.
Watching this, Scarface’s eyes filled with concern, “Will our master be alright?”
Without pausing her movements, Jiang A Yao replied gravely, “He’ll be fine as long as the fever breaks.”
As long as there was no fever, the wounds could slowly heal.
But if there was an infection and fever developed, it would be troublesome.
“Water… water…”
The man groaned painfully, murmuring for water. Scarface immediately shouted, “Bring warm water!”
“He can’t drink it. He just took medicine and shouldn’t have too much water now. I’ll just moisten his lips with some water.”
Jiang A Yao sharply stopped Scarface, then turned to him and said, “Find ginger. Get some ginger.”
Scarface didn’t argue, barking at his subordinate, “Hurry up!”
Soon, ginger was found – not much, and somewhat wilted.
Jiang A Yao asked Scarface for a dagger, sliced the ginger into pieces, and rubbed them on the man’s forehead, behind his ears, and neck.
With her movements, the men in the room hardly dared to breathe.
They continued this process intermittently, back and forth, until just before dawn when the man’s fever finally broke.
Jiang A Yao felt as if her arms were about to fall off, her vision darkening intermittently.
She collapsed on the ground, eyes slightly closed, her entire body numb with exhaustion.
In a place without modern medicine, trying to treat someone was truly difficult.
“Have some hot water.”
Scarface brought her a bowl of hot water. Jiang A Yao glanced up at him, then straightened up and reached for the bowl.
She couldn’t care about potential dangers now – the water temperature was suitable, and she drank it all in a few gulps.
But after drinking, a new problem immediately surfaced.
She put down the bowl and slowly stood up. “I… I need to go to the backyard. Could you not send anyone to follow me?”
Standing there, though her face appeared calm, her hands hanging at her sides betrayed her emotions.
When nature calls, one really can’t be blamed.
Scarface’s expression changed slightly, and he immediately said, “Don’t worry, miss. I’ll have them all go to the front courtyard right away.”
With that, he quickly walked to the doorway to count heads, sending everyone to the front courtyard and leaving only two people to watch over their master.
Seeing this, Jiang A Yao felt somewhat relieved and quickly went to the backyard to take care of her business.
After dealing with her ‘urgent business,’ she returned, boiled water to wash up. Her clothes were stained with blood and quite dirty, but there was no way to change them now – she had to make do.
When the time came, she continued preparing the medicine, quietly sitting in the room fanning the stove with a palm leaf fan.
When it was time for the medicine, the injured man woke up. Worried he might move around, Jiang A Yao had Scarface bring a chair, padded it with cotton quilts, and had the man lean diagonally against the chair leg.
“The medicine is ready.”
The man appeared clear-headed, so Jiang A Yao did not presume to feed him on her own initiative but first sought his opinion.
“Thank you, I appreciate your trouble.”
His voice was faint, but the implication was clear.
Scarface looked at Jiang A Yao and said, “Miss Jiang, please feed our master the medicine.”
Jiang A Yao gave an acknowledging “oh” and slowly moved closer, feeding him small spoonfuls.
The man lowered his gaze to drink the medicine, but out of the corner of his eye, he was watching Jiang A Yao, observing her appearance.