Shen Baizhi raised an eyebrow and said meaningfully:
“Don’t worry, I have nowhere else to go anyway!”
She was speaking the truth, but Jiang Yanli didn’t see it that way. He thought she was saying that just so he wouldn’t feel burdened.
What a kind and considerate girl!
While he was lost in his thoughts, Shen Baizhi had already brought out the food. She had turned the enamel basin she had used yesterday upside down—making it serve as a simple table.
She poured a bowl of porridge for Jiang Yanli, ready to hand it to him, and then remembered that he had been seriously injured yesterday. She wondered how he had managed to eat alone in the cave today.
“Is your hand still hurting?” she asked.
“I’m fine. I can manage myself!”
Jiang Yanli moved his wrist slightly to take the bowl. Strange as it seemed, he knew the severity of his injuries. Based on past experience, wounds that deep would have become red, swollen, and infected by now, possibly even causing a fever if left untreated.
Yet today, after checking his leg wounds, they were far better than he had expected. Although still gruesome, there were no signs of swelling or redness, and they even looked like they were starting to heal. This was entirely abnormal.
From the surface, the wounds didn’t appear to have been treated with any medicine. He couldn’t figure out what had caused this all day.
He took a silent sip of the porridge, and his eyes brightened immediately—it was perfect for his taste.
The texture was soft, the rice fully cooked, seasoned just right. The minced meat in the porridge was tender, not dry at all. One spoonful, and his stomach felt warm and comfortable.
Seeing him look satisfied, Shen Baizhi quickly urged him to try the side dishes:
“Don’t just drink the porridge—try these braised ribs too.”
Jiang Yanli picked up a rib. The taste exceeded his expectations.
“You made all this?” he asked.
Shen Baizhi paused for a moment, then nodded vaguely. She had used the space kitchen—of course, it counted as her cooking.
Actually, she herself was a bit surprised when tasting the ribs—they were exactly like what she had made in her previous life.
Back then, she had studied cooking for two years to work as a housekeeper for the Lin family. Perhaps she had some natural talent in cooking, because after formal training, her dishes were already highly praised by her teacher.
She guessed that the flavor from the space kitchen was linked to her own culinary skill.
Jiang Yanli’s eyes flickered with admiration. It was rare to meet someone whose cooking suited him so well. Should he “take her back”? If he only found her a job, he would probably only get to enjoy her cooking every now and then.
He had always been picky about food, but due to his status and frequent missions in harsh conditions, eating was mostly just a necessity. Rarely did he find any enjoyment in it.
For the next while, neither spoke. The cave echoed only with the sound of chewing.
After finishing, Shen Baizhi rubbed her stomach, feeling a little full.
Glancing at Jiang Yanli as he finished the last spoonful of porridge, she began tidying the bowls and said:
“Your wounds haven’t been properly treated yet. Should I help you with that?”
The effect of the spirit spring water seemed quite good—he had been unable to move yesterday, but today he could eat on his own.
Jiang Yanli frowned and asked:
“You treated my wounds yesterday? How did you do it?”
“I… just washed them with water!” Shen Baizhi said, feeling guilty and slightly annoyed at herself for being careless. She hadn’t checked his wounds afterwards—what if they healed too fast? How would she explain that?
Jiang Yanli frowned. “Just cleaned them?”
“Yes… can you help me clean them again?” he added.
He wasn’t sure whether the abnormal healing was related to this girl, so he wanted to check again.
“Oh! Okay!” Shen Baizhi replied vaguely. She decided she’d just use warm water to clean the wounds this time, maybe a little spirit spring water to prevent infection.
But when she finally looked at his wounds, she felt uncertain—they still looked quite scary!
The smaller wounds on his back were okay, but the deep gashes on his arms were open, the flesh curling back.
So, without thinking, she added a bit more spirit spring water to the basin.
While washing his wounds, she tentatively asked:
“These… your wounds look pretty deep. Should I take you to a hospital?”
A glimmer shone in Jiang Yanli’s eyes, but he answered calmly:
“No need. Actually, considering the situation, this is already good. In the past, if I got wounds like this and didn’t treat them, they would be swollen, inflamed, and even cause a fever by the next day.”
He chuckled. “Well, you must be in good health now if you can manage on your own. Otherwise, I’d have to take you to a hospital.”
She wanted to fish the spirit spring water back out!
“Hmm… I don’t know what it is this time. Maybe I’m just tough and lucky.”
He was certain that the enemy had probably already planted spies in the local hospitals. If Shen Baizhi had really taken him to a hospital while he was unconscious, he might have been captured again.
He had encountered a kind girl who saved him and avoided infection—what luck!
Still, he kept the anomaly of his body in mind.
After finishing the upper-body wounds, it was time for his legs. Shen Baizhi placed the basin on the ground beside him.
“Do you want to handle the rest yourself?”
The two wounds were on his thighs. Every time she looked at them, she thought of yesterday’s embarrassing moment, so it was better to let him do it himself.
“Okay, I’ll do it myself. Thanks!”
Jiang Yanli replied calmly, but the slight redness at the tips of his ears betrayed his inner unease—he clearly remembered last night.
The atmosphere in the cave was peaceful, but at the Shen household, it was gloomy, as if the air itself was dripping.
Shen Laosi and Tang Yumei had been sent overnight to the commune hospital by Shen Laoda. There, an experienced Chinese doctor set the arm and applied a splint.
As for Tang Yumei, aside from her swollen, bruised face, her unborn child was unharmed.
Shen Laoda ignored the doctor’s advice, bought several bottles of safflower oil, and returned home with them. According to the doctor, one bottle could last a long time—but who cared about that? With so many injuries in the Shen household, one bottle wouldn’t even last a day.