After the officers had their fill of the drama and finished watching the spectacle, they cracked their whips twice and continued driving the group forward.
They had traveled another two li when Jiang Xia suddenly cried out.
She fell to her knees with a thud, begging the officer: “Sir, please save my son! He’s dying!”
The officer pried her hands off and kicked her aside.
“What’s your son’s death to me? Get up and keep moving! I think you’re just trying to slack off!”
Jiang Xia shook her head frantically. “My son is burning up! Please save him!”
“Sir, I have silver! I’ll give you all my silver! Please save my son!”
The officer weighed the broken silver pieces in his hand and smiled with satisfaction.
He walked over and glanced at Mu Shicai, clicking his tongue.
Mu Shicai lay in his father’s arms, his face flushed red and his consciousness unclear.
“We’re in the middle of nowhere here, where do you expect me to find a doctor? Might as well just bury him and be done with it.”
“No!”
Jiang Xia’s eyes turned red. She turned and lunged at Shang Yueli.
“Yueli, I know you still have silver. Please save Shicai! He’s your brother!”
Shang Yueli took two steps back. “Auntie, didn’t you say earlier that I was an outsider? How come Mu Shicai is suddenly my brother now?”
“Yueli, I’m begging you…”
“I don’t know any medicine, begging me won’t—”
Before Shang Yueli could finish, Jiang Xia fainted and collapsed to the ground.
Lin Zhiman said: “Shang Yueli, even if we’ve separated households, you can’t be so heartless to your aunt!”
“She knelt and begged you, but she didn’t even get a single copper coin!”
“Then why don’t you help her?” Shang Yueli glanced at her disdainfully before turning to check on Mu Shicai.
Flushed cheeks, burning body—clearly a fever.
In ancient times, even a minor cold could be fatal, let alone in such a remote place with no people around.
Mu Tai Qi’s voice trembled slightly: “Niece-in-law, how is my son?”
Shang Yueli shook her head.
Her space only contained some special medicine for treating external injuries—she was truly helpless against colds and fevers.
But…
Remembering something, she walked a short distance away, plucked some yellow-flowered grass from the ground, and said to the officer: “Sir, could I have a pot of water and a cooking pot?”
The officer looked at her but didn’t move.
Shang Yueli said: “I have silver. I’ll give it to you later.”
Only then did the officer reluctantly move to fetch the items from the flatbed cart.
“Oh, and also give me a flint and some dry grass and firewood.”
“Husband, could you help me start a fire?”
Mu Yunsheng didn’t ask questions, just rolled up his sleeves and came over. “Alright.”
After the water boiled, Shang Yueli broke the stems of the grass and put them in the water to boil.
Lin Zhiman asked puzzled: “Shang Yueli, what are you doing? How can wild grass from the roadside cure illness?”
“Don’t try to bluff your way through this! Be careful Jiang Xia tears you apart when she wakes up!”
Shang Yueli ignored her. When the decoction was ready, she had Mu Tai Qi feed it to his son himself.
Shang Yueli: “Feed him slowly. Don’t give him too much at once. He’ll be fine once he sweats.”
When Jiang Xia woke up and saw them feeding her son something unknown, she rushed over and overturned the pot, nearly setting herself on fire.
“What are you doing? My son isn’t dead yet!”
She snatched Mu Shicai away, clutching him tightly in her arms.
“Shang Yueli, even if I’ve usually treated you poorly, you can’t poison my son!”
Shang Yueli: “I wouldn’t stoop to harming a child.”
She acknowledged she wasn’t a particularly virtuous person, and while Jiang Xia had countless flaws, the child was innocent.
She couldn’t stand by and watch the child die of illness in this desolate wilderness.
“Prove your innocence by drinking this soup yourself, or who knows if you’ve poisoned it!”
Shang Yueli nearly laughed in exasperation at Jiang Xia’s accusation.
Who even came up with such a ridiculous test?
It was utterly absurd.
Mu Yunsheng tried to speak several times, but Shang Yueli stopped him each time.
With his scholarly, overly polite demeanor, what biting retorts could she expect from him?
Shang Yueli scoffed contemptuously, locking eyes with Jiang Xia as she enunciated clearly: “I won’t drink it. What are you going to do about it?”
“You!”
Jiang Xia, unable to outargue her, turned to the escorting officers:
“Sirs, this venomous woman dared poison my son today – tomorrow she might poison you all!”
Jiang Xia opened her mouth to continue berating, when the child in her arms, Mu Shicai, suddenly stirred.
“Mother, I’m so hungry.”
“Shicai, are you alright? Tell mother, are you feeling unwell anywhere? Does anything hurt?”
Mu Shicai considered for a moment, then shook his head honestly.
“I feel much better, just very hungry.”
“Mother, when are we eating?”
Jiang Xia wiped the sweat from Mu Shicai’s forehead, weeping with relief: “Good boy, we’ll eat right away.”
Lin Zhiman, surprised that Shang Yueli had actually cured him, shrank back without speaking.
Mu Taiqi bowed his head apologetically to Shang Yueli, “Niece-in-law, thank you for earlier. My foolish wife was impudent and offended you – please don’t take it to heart.”
Shang Yueli: “I won’t take it to heart.”
Before Mu Taiqi could sigh in relief, Shang Yueli added: “Such trivial matters aren’t worth remembering and dwelling on daily.”
“Pfft—” Lin Zhiman couldn’t suppress her laughter, but immediately stopped when Mu Taiqi glared at her.
Jiang Xia, knowing she was in the wrong, softened her tone: “If only she had been willing to drink that soup, I wouldn’t have misunderstood her.”
“Aunt, it’s not that sister-in-law refused to drink the soup – she couldn’t drink that particular soup.”
Shang Yueli was surprised to see Mu Yunshu speaking in her defense.
Mu Yunshu was the eldest daughter of the second branch’s first wife, chronically ill since childhood, and Mu Changge’s twin sister.
She rarely spoke normally and maintained low visibility within the group.
But… unsolicited kindness always hides ulterior motives.
She wanted to see what Mu Yunshu was really up to.
Jiang Xia: “What do you mean by that?”
Mu Yunshu: “The herb sister-in-law used to make cousin’s soup is called ephedra. Proper dosage can treat colds, but ephedra stems have stimulant properties that can easily cause miscarriages in pregnant women.”
“If sister-in-law had drunk that bowl of soup, the child in her womb might have been lost.”
Then she turned to Shang Yueli, speaking softly: “Sister-in-law, am I correct?”
Shang Yueli nodded.
She’d learned about ephedra’s use for colds and fevers from her grandmother.
Her grandmother had specifically emphasized that soup made from ephedra stems must never be consumed by pregnant women.
Learning the truth, Jiang Xia offered no apology, simply acting as if Shang Yueli didn’t exist.
Lin Zhiman seized the opportunity to sidle up to Shang Yueli: “Yueli, I told you not to save her son. See? She turns on you the moment she’s gotten what she wanted.”
Shang Yueli took two steps back. “Am I that familiar with you?”
“Huh?”
Shang Yueli had no mind to deal with her at the moment, as chaotic static had been buzzing in her head since earlier.
Pretending to be tired, she let Mu Yunsheng carry her as they walked. Suddenly, a mechanical electronic voice rang out in her mind.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for activating the Merit System!]
[Healing Mu Shicai, merit +1. Congratulations, host, for unlocking the Spirit Spring!]