Meng Ping’an was pushed by the crowd into a small alley. She wanted to leave as well, but as more and more people rushed toward this direction, she couldn’t squeeze her way out.
She decided to forget it for now. She could wait until there were fewer people before leaving. Seeing several bamboo baskets nearby, she picked up one that looked relatively clean, crouched down, and covered herself with it.
Just as the sound of footsteps gradually faded and she was about to get up to check the situation outside, she suddenly heard the rapid sound of horse hooves.
“Search! Bring me the person alive or the corpse dead! Don’t let that person escape!” a rough voice shouted from nearby.
Meng Ping’an held her breath. Seeing the light in front of her gradually dimming, she hurriedly hid inside her space.
Inside the space, she patted her chest.
That was terrifying! She had almost been discovered.
Fortunately, she had her space. Meng Ping’an sat down beside the table, picked up the steamed buns and water on it, and began eating.
Whatever. She would hide for a while. She could worry about everything else after she had eaten her fill and drunk enough water.
About half an hour later, when Meng Ping’an came out of the space, there was a blood-covered person beside her.
“……”
This person looked so familiar!
That’s right. He was the young master who had saved her before. Over the past few years, she had also seen him several times at the academy. Every time, he would give her some money, and sometimes he would even bring her food.
Meng Ping’an remembered that her teacher had once called him “Young Master Jin.”
“Young Master Jin? Are you all right? Wake up.”
Meng Ping’an anxiously checked his breathing.
“Thank goodness! He’s still breathing.”
Meng Ping’an picked out a few of the better baskets and stored them in her space before helping Young Master Jin to his feet.
Seeing that the street was completely deserted, she bent down and carried the unconscious man on her back, heading toward the abandoned temple in the eastern part of the city.
The city was unsafe now. It was better to return to the abandoned temple first.
If she left him here alone, he would certainly die.
He had saved her life before and had also helped her many times, giving her silver and delicious food. He had treated her like a caring older brother.
There was no way Meng Ping’an could abandon him here to fend for himself.
Meng Ping’an had grown taller by now, and she had also become stronger.
Still, carrying a grown man of sixteen or seventeen years old was quite difficult.
She didn’t dare rashly put him into her space. For one thing, she had never tried putting a living person inside before. For another, she didn’t want anyone to discover the secret of her space.
Thus, Meng Ping’an struggled all the way back to the abandoned temple. She cleaned his knife wound and applied medicine to stop the bleeding.
While he was unconscious, Meng Ping’an went into the city once again.
She gained quite a lot.
After the wealthy households had fled, there were still plenty of things left behind in their homes. Furniture, kitchen utensils, and all sorts of other supplies—she stored everything in her space.
Fortunately, her space was infinitely large, so there was enough room for everything.
She also searched several underground storage cellars and found quite a lot of provisions: old rice, pickled vegetables, sweet potatoes, potatoes, dried vegetables, cured meat, and more.
All in all, this trip had not been wasted. She had gathered almost everything she could eat or use.
She didn’t even spare the medicine shops, collecting many of the medicines that had been abandoned.
On her way out of the city, she even happened to find a box of jewelry.
There were quite a few pieces of jewelry and hair ornaments inside. Judging by their appearance, they were probably worth a great deal of money.
She had no idea which family had dropped them while fleeing. They must have been heartbroken over losing them.
She had originally planned to make another trip to the county government’s granary, but then she remembered that there was an injured person in the abandoned temple.
Forget it.
She could go there again when she had the chance. Besides, she couldn’t guarantee that she would even be able to enter the county granary.
When Meng Ping’an returned to the abandoned temple, Young Master Jin was still sleeping.
She touched his forehead. It felt a little hot.
Could he have a fever?
Meng Ping’an took a packet of fever medicine from her space. She had previously asked a physician at a medical clinic to prescribe it, keeping it on hand in case of emergencies.
Fortunately, she also had a small medicine stove in her space. She had just picked it up from the medicine shop.
She took it out as well, placed it beneath the eaves of the abandoned temple, and started a fire to boil the medicine.
Once the medicine was ready, she fed it to him.
Meng Ping’an then took out a set of bedding and spread it over the dry grass in the eastern room. She helped him lie down on it.
After making sure he was sleeping comfortably, Meng Ping’an also entered her space and prepared to lie down for a nap.
Earlier that day, she had collected a Huanghuali wood canopy bed from a wealthy household in town. It was exquisitely crafted.
Meng Ping’an spread her usual bedding over it and lay down.
It was incredibly comfortable.
“Ah, rich people really know how to enjoy life. This bed is way too comfortable!”
Meng Ping’an reached out and touched the carved patterns on the headboard.
The craftsmanship and the quality of the material were extraordinary. It was probably worth at least a thousand taels of silver.
Meng Ping’an fell asleep with a smile on her face, as though the war raging outside had absolutely nothing to do with her.
Meanwhile, the young master in the abandoned temple slept with his brows tightly furrowed. Even in his dreams, he murmured,
“Young Master, hurry and leave. Don’t worry about me!”
The next morning, when Meng Ping’an woke up, she found herself lying beside Young Master Jin’s legs.
She rubbed her eyes, sat up, leaned forward, and checked the forehead of the unconscious man.
“His fever is gone!”
Meng Ping’an looked at the man lying there, took a bowl of spiritual spring water from her space, and fed it to him.
Only then did she leave the abandoned temple and go beneath the eaves to the stove to prepare breakfast.
The sky was somewhat overcast today, and it looked like it might rain.
Meng Ping’an went behind the nearby building and picked a handful of wild greens. She planned to make some wild vegetable porridge and then take two steamed buns from her space to eat.
Young Master Jin was injured and unconscious, so he probably couldn’t eat steamed buns. She would just give him a bowl of wild vegetable porridge.
She used spiritual spring water to cook the porridge, as it would be beneficial for his injuries.
Later, she would also heat a basin of spiritual spring water to clean his wounds. That should help him recover faster.
After feeding him the porridge, she waited a quarter of an hour before giving him his medicine.
Once everything was cleaned up, Meng Ping’an went into town again.
The town was even emptier today. Aside from enemy soldiers patrolling back and forth, she didn’t see a single civilian.
Meng Ping’an didn’t dare stay for long. After collecting some useful things, she returned to the abandoned temple.
The person lying on the bed still showed no signs of waking.
Meng Ping’an was always afraid that he might die just like this, so every so often, she would touch his forehead or check whether he was still breathing.
In the meantime, she also changed his small bedding twice.
The unconscious man couldn’t hold it any longer.
Fortunately, he had only wet the bed rather than soiling his pants.
…….
Meng Ping’an took off his pants with her eyes closed.
Although she was currently a young girl who was still underage, her soul belonged to a woman in her twenties. She had even had a boyfriend before.
She was a very innocent person, okay!
As for washing the clothes……
Well, Meng Ping’an also kept her eyes closed when she took them to the mountain stream behind the temple, casually rinsed them a few times, then hung them up to dry in the western room.
She really didn’t feel comfortable washing a stranger’s clothes, especially his underwear that had… an odor.
Thinking about it, Meng Ping’an shuddered again.
Wake up already!
If he didn’t wake up soon, what if he…
She didn’t dare think about it anymore!
To be safe, she made several small pads out of cloth and cotton and placed them beneath him.
That way…
If she didn’t want to wash anything, she could simply throw them away.
And so, the person on the bed remained unconscious for five days, while Meng Ping’an anxiously took care of him for five days.
That night, for some unknown reason, Meng Ping’an suddenly popped out of her space and landed beside Young Master Jin’s legs.
“Who… who are you?”
A hoarse voice sounded in the darkness, startling Meng Ping’an.
She opened her eyes and finally realized that she was in the abandoned temple.
The man who had been unconscious in front of her had somehow already woken up.
“Young Master Jin, it’s me… I’m the little beggar!” Meng Ping’an said excitedly as she grabbed his arm.
“You… You’re that little beggar from the academy?”
Jin Ze looked at the small figure in the darkness in surprise.