Shang Yueli remembered his name was Gu Mang, the leader of these government officers.
Saving him would not only increase her merit but also earn the officers’ goodwill, making future interactions more convenient.
Wasn’t this killing two birds with one stone?
Shang Yueli: “May I trouble you officers to let me examine his injuries?”
The officers, having seen her heal Mu Shicai at noon, assumed she had medical skills and quickly made way for her.
Shang Yueli had Mu Yunsheng help untie the newly bound ropes and went to check Gu Mang’s wounds.
The wounds weren’t deep, but covered a large area, making them look frightening.
His body was burning hot with sweat beading on his forehead – clear signs of fever.
Shang Yueli breathed a sigh of relief.
“How is it? Can our leader still be saved?”
“Fortunately it’s just external injuries with fever. He can be saved,” Shang Yueli affirmed.
Though not a professional doctor, her experience with frequent injuries during missions in her previous life made her quite skilled in handling such wounds.
She pretended to retrieve items from her bosom while actually taking iodine and special medicine from her space, transferring them into white porcelain bottles before producing them.
After preparing everything, she remembered something and looked around.
“Sister-in-law, are you looking for this?”
A gentle voice spoke up – it was Mu Yunshu.
Shang Yueli glanced at the ephedra in her hand and nodded.
“How do you have this?”
Mu Yunshu explained: “I saw some along the way and thought to bring it for emergencies.”
“Time is urgent. Sister-in-law, you tend to his wounds first. I’ll brew the ephedra tea for you.”
The other officers quickly set up a pot to boil water.
Watching Mu Yunshu skillfully peel the ephedra roots, clean them, and boil them in the pot, Shang Yueli felt surprised:
How did she know the correct way to use ephedra?
But there was no time to ponder – saving lives came first.
The officers watched as Shang Yueli rolled up her sleeves, used a dagger to cut away excess fabric, poured a reddish-brown liquid onto Gu Mang’s injured arm, and slowly wiped around the wound with a white cloth.
Then she took out a bottle of medicinal powder from her bosom and evenly sprinkled it over the wound.
Then she pulled out a white gauze from her bosom and wrapped it layer by layer around the injured arm.
The officers rubbed their eyes in disbelief – was her stomach a treasure chest?
It seemed even more capacious than the flatbed cart they were pulling!
Lin Zhiman had already grown accustomed to this and accepted it calmly.
Though in the past, she would have stepped forward to mock Shang Yueli for overestimating her abilities.
But today’s noon humiliation had come too early and hit too hard, causing great trauma to her tender heart!
After painful reflection, she decided not to provoke Shang Yueli’s displeasure during this period!
By the time Shang Yueli finished bandaging Gu Mang’s wounds, Mu Yunshu had finished brewing the tea.
While nobody was watching, Shang Yueli secretly added some Spirit Spring water to the tea.
The officers took the ephedra tea and hurriedly fed it to their leader sip by sip.
“Officers, it’s so late already. When are we eating?”
Only after everyone had finished their tasks did Jiang Xia dare to speak up.
Her son was starving, but without the officers’ permission, she didn’t dare take out jerky for Mu Shicai to eat.
The officer glared at her irritably. “Now!”
Saying this, he took over a dozen steamed buns from the cart, giving one to each person, while specially giving Shang Yueli and Mu Yunshu an extra pot of water.
Jiang Xia burned with jealousy, but consoled herself thinking that while others could only eat dry steamed buns, she and her son could eat jerky.
“I’m telling you all, since we’ve separated households, don’t even think about sharing our family’s jerky!”
Jiang Xia turned around and ate the jerky with her son and husband, afraid they might see it and come snatch it out of envy.
Shang Yueli shook her head helplessly.
What’s so good about jerky? It’s dry and tough.
What they were about to eat later would be ten thousand times more delicious than jerky!
……
Jiang Xia chewed the shriveled jerky expressionlessly. To show off that she had meat to eat, she occasionally made loud smacking sounds.
She thought to herself how much she should charge if the first and second branch families came to buy jerky from her later.
As she chewed, she suddenly caught a whiff of something burning.
She saw those people building a fire and roasting cleaned wolf meat over it.
Jiang Xia couldn’t help but swallow hard, her eyes filled with intense craving.
After giving instructions, Shang Yueli cleared her mind and returned to her space.
[Ding! Host has helped everyone escape from the wolf pack – virtue +3!
Treated Gu Mang – virtue +2!
Cumulative virtue +5!
5 more virtue points needed for next upgrade. Please keep up the good work!]
Shang Yueli smiled with satisfaction.
Five virtue points were equivalent to two and a half million taels of gold.
It seemed she needed to reform her ways and do more good deeds from now on!
Hehehe—
Wait, she wasn’t really a bad person to begin with, why was she making herself sound like a villain?
Shang Yueli shook her head to dispel the strange thoughts, then withdrew her consciousness and returned to reality.
“Madam, are you hungry? The roasted wolf meat will take a little longer.”
Mu Yunsheng, seeing she was awake, immediately asked with concern.
Shang Yueli hummed in response, looking at the sizzling roasted wolf meat as her stomach betrayed her with an audible “gurgle.”
If there weren’t so many people around making it inconvenient, she would have long taken out delicacies from her space to feast on!
But she had never tried wolf meat before, and was genuinely curious.
In her previous life, she had been a law-abiding citizen. Aside from occasionally skirting the line in her work, she never committed any crimes.
Let alone eating wolves, which were second-class protected animals in the country?
Shang Yueli’s eyes reflected the firewood flames. The wood crackled beneath, roasting the wolf meat until it was crispy outside and tender inside.
“It’s ready.”
Mu Yunsheng took a piece of fresh leg meat and gave it to Shang Yueli to eat first.
Shang Yueli took a bite from Mu Yunsheng’s hand.
It was somewhat tough to chew—not exactly delicious, but not bad either. Definitely not a meat that would make it onto her regular menu.
“Is it good?”
Shang Yueli gave an ambiguous response, watching wide-eyed as Mu Yunsheng put his mouth where she had bitten and took a big bite.
“You… I bit there!”
“Mm, I know.”
“Then why did you…”
Shang Yueli watched the tips of his ears hidden beneath his hair quickly turn red. Her heart beat “thump-thump” wildly, leaving her momentarily at a loss for words.
She stood up.
Mu Yunsheng quickly grabbed the hem of her clothes. “Are you angry?”
Shang Yueli paused mid-step, not daring to look back at Mu Yunsheng.
She was afraid she might not be able to resist kissing him forcefully!
Ahhh, Shang Yueli, have some restraint!
She patted her burning cheeks and explained with difficulty: “No, not at all. It’s too hot here, I’m going to get some breeze over there.”
Wang Shi noticed the situation and asked worriedly: “Yueli, what’s wrong? Did Yunsheng bully you? Let me talk to him for you!”
“Mother, I’m fine. I’m going to check on that person.”
Having said this, Shang Yueli fled the scene as if escaping.
She walked over to Gu Mang, who had just woken up.
Gu Mang: “Mu-furen, I’ve heard from others what you did earlier. From now on, if you encounter any difficulties, feel free to ask. If it’s within my capabilities, I’ll spare no effort!”
Shang Yueli: “You’re too kind, Lord Gu. There’s no need to address me as Mu-furen. Just call me by my name.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Mang suddenly laughed heartily.
“Hahaha—”
“Very well, very well! Mu… no, Miss Shang, you truly have character. I like that!”
Shang Yueli was startled.
Wasn’t this person previously taciturn? Had he been possessed?
Gu Mang explained: “I’m usually quite reserved, Miss Shang. Please don’t mind it.”
“You saved my life today, and your personality suits my taste. How about you call me ‘big brother’ from now on? During this exile journey, I’ll watch over you!”
Shang Yueli’s face lit up with joy. “Really?”
“Truer than genuine gold!”
“Then can you return the silver I spent earlier to buy water?”
Gu Mang: “…”
“Haha, just joking.”
Shang Yueli quickly waved her hands and added: “Brother Gu, actually there is one thing I’d like to ask of you.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Shang Yueli: “It’s not particularly difficult. It’s just that…”
After hearing her request, Gu Mang’s face turned ashen, but remembering his bold declaration moments earlier, he could only brace himself and agree.
Shang Yueli smiled triumphantly.
“Brother Gu, from now on, if I get to eat meat, you’ll definitely get to drink the soup!”
Having said this, she darted back in a flash.
Gu Mang remained in the distance, pondering for a long while before he finally realized.
“Damn, she gets to eat the meat while I only get the soup?”
The bystanders who hadn’t dared to interrupt: “…”