Inside the dilapidated woodshed, the smell of blood mixed with dust in the air.
Su Jinxiu held her breath. There were no surgical lights, no nurses handing her instruments—only a pitiful sliver of moonlight leaking through the cracks in the roof tiles, barely illuminating the tiny area beneath her hands.
The needle holder in her grip moved swiftly as catgut thread passed through flesh and skin.
This was no ordinary stitching job, but the artistry of a top-tier surgeon.
Debridement, bone trimming, repositioning, vascular anastomosis, layered suturing.
Every step was precise to the millimeter. To prevent infection, she even used some of the limited high-concentration antibiotic powder stored in her space, carefully sprinkling it over the festering wounds.
By the time she finished, Su Jinxiu felt as if her spine were about to snap.
This body had suffered from long-term malnutrition and simply could not withstand such intense exertion.
Nearly collapsing from exhaustion, she slumped onto the ground, gasping for breath. Sweat had completely soaked through the patched coarse cloth on her back.
“This is seriously killing me…” she muttered softly.
Using the cover of darkness, she tossed the bloodied gloves and medical waste back into the medical disposal bin inside her space, cleaning everything up thoroughly.
Then she turned to look at the straw bed.
Huo Chen was still unconscious, but his brows remained tightly furrowed, an icy chill lingering around him.
Su Jinxiu sighed, resigned to her fate. She got up, found a slightly cleaner rag, dipped it into cold water from a chipped clay bowl, and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
“You’re only alive because you ran into me. If it had been anyone else, you’d already be lying in a mass grave waiting for wild dogs to tear you apart.”
She extended a finger and poked his face irritably. Even covered in grime, his sharp features could not be concealed.
After an unknown amount of time, the crowing of a rooster scattered the last traces of darkness from the horizon.
Huo Chen woke amid a strange tingling sensation.
The feeling was peculiar—waves of numb itching came from the cracks of the bones in his right leg. The agonizing pain he had expected never arrived. Instead, there was an unfamiliar numbness tinged with warmth.
His leg… was still there?
He suddenly opened his eyes. The murderous aura forged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood became almost tangible, lowering the temperature of the woodshed itself.
Yet what entered his sight was not hell, but an enlarged face sleeping defenselessly before him.
Su Jinxiu was leaning against the bedside, her head bobbing sleepily. She seemed to sense movement; her eyelashes trembled before she groggily opened her eyes.
The instant her gaze met Huo Chen’s dark and sinister eyes, her body instinctively shrank back in fear—the natural reaction to danger.
But in the next second, the actress within her took over.
“Husband!”
The terror in Su Jinxiu’s eyes instantly transformed into overwhelming joy, her expression changing with incredible speed. She grabbed Huo Chen’s hand tightly, tears already shimmering in her eyes.
“You’re awake? Do you know how badly you scared me last night? I thought… I thought you were going to leave me all alone!”
Huo Chen said nothing.
His gaze slowly shifted from her bony hand clutching his to his own leg.
The wound had been wrapped neatly with clean white bandages. The fabric was so fine and breathable that it clearly wasn’t something this impoverished place could possibly possess.
And that strange, impeccably clean knotting technique—even the old physicians in the Imperial Medical Bureau, who fancied themselves masters, could never manage such crisp wound treatment.
“Water…” he rasped, his throat dry and hoarse.
“Ah! I’ll get it right away!”
Su Jinxiu scrambled to her feet and hurried to the broken water jar.
She lifted the lid.
Empty.
Unwilling to give up, she checked the rice jar next. It was completely barren; even the mouse holes had spiderwebs growing over them. The original owner had emptied the entire household just to please that pretty-boy scholar.
Facing away from Huo Chen, Su Jinxiu cursed under her breath.
How was he supposed to recover without food? The tyrant was extremely weak now and couldn’t handle the slightest strain. Besides, she was still counting on him to recover and become her shield.
Gritting her teeth, she used her body to block his view while her consciousness swiftly sank into the 【Merit Medical Space】 in her mind.
【Current Merit Points: 0】
【Detected ancient currency in host possession: twelve copper coins (found hidden in the lining of the original owner’s old clothes).】
【Exchange rate calculating… Eligible for purchase: one bottle of 50% glucose injection solution, two aspirin tablets.】
“Exchange!”
Su Jinxiu’s heart bled with pain. Those twelve copper coins were her last remaining assets!
A flash of light appeared, and an exquisite ampoule along with two white pills materialized in her hand.
She quickly snapped open the ampoule, poured the liquid into the broken clay bowl, added some cooled boiled water left over from yesterday, crushed the tablets, and stirred everything together.
“Husband, there’s no rice left at home. Drink this first to fill your stomach a little.”
Holding the bowl, Su Jinxiu walked back with the appearance of the most virtuous wife imaginable.
Huo Chen eyed the slightly cloudy liquid with suspicion. His nose twitched, but he could not detect any familiar scent.
“What is this?”
“It’s… sugar water. I begged Auntie Wang next door for ages before she finally lent me a little,” Su Jinxiu lied smoothly without changing expression. “You lost so much blood. Your body is weak—you need nourishment.”
Sugar?
In this remote, impoverished mountain village, sugar was a rare luxury only seen during holidays and festivals.
Huo Chen looked at her deeply. Seeing no flaw in her expression, he lowered his head and took a sip from her hand.
The moment it touched his tongue, he froze.
It wasn’t the rich caramel fragrance of brown sugar, nor the sticky sweetness of malt syrup, but an overwhelmingly pure sweetness completely free of impurities. The sweetness slid down his throat into his stomach, quickly turning into a warm current that forcefully washed away the exhaustion in every part of his body. His body, which had been on the verge of collapse, unexpectedly regained a trace of strength.
This was definitely not ordinary sugar water.
He lifted his head, his complicated gaze falling on Su Jinxiu’s face. The woman was sallow and thin, with heavy dark circles under her eyes, clearly someone who had suffered from long-term hunger—yet she had given all of this precious thing to him?
“Is it good?” Su Jinxiu looked at him expectantly. Right on cue, her stomach let out a loud growl.
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment.
Covering her stomach, Su Jinxiu laughed sheepishly. “Um, I’m not hungry. Husband, you should drink more… I just don’t like sweets.”
Huo Chen lowered his eyes, concealing the suspicion surging within them. Didn’t like sweets? The way she had stared at the liquid in the bowl while swallowing her saliva earlier definitely didn’t look like someone who disliked sweet things.
Was this woman hopelessly foolish, or was her acting simply flawless?
Just as this warm and tender moment (one-sidedly so) settled in, the already unstable broken door was kicked flying.
Boom!
With a loud crash, the fragile wooden door was completely kicked apart and slammed heavily onto the ground, sending dust everywhere. Several burly men barged in. Leading them was a dark-faced middle-aged man carrying a greasy shoulder pole, the flesh on his face trembling with every heavy breath.