Jiang Liao straightened up, his tall figure completely casting a shadow over her.
He glanced at the sky, which was growing darker by the moment, his brows tightly furrowed.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
Lin Suier tried to push herself up with her hands, putting weight on her left foot while barely touching the ground with her injured right one. She managed to stand, but a sharp pain shot straight to her head. She couldn’t take a single step—her body swayed, and she nearly fell again.
Jiang Liao reacted quickly, reaching out to grab her arm.
The heat from his hand seeped through her thin sleeve, burning against her skin.
He clicked his tongue.
Bending down, he picked up the scattered wild vegetables and stuffed them back into the basket.
Then Jiang Liao turned his back to her, lowering his broad, solid frame slightly.
“Get on.”
Lin Suier froze, her face instantly flushing red.
“N-no need… Brother Jiang, I… I can manage…”
Jiang Liao tilted his head, his dark eyes flicking toward her.
“It’s getting dark. The forest isn’t safe at night. You want to stay here and feed the wolves?”
Frightened by his words, Lin Suier glanced at the dim forest. In the end, fear overcame her embarrassment.
Biting her lower lip, she trembled as she carefully climbed onto his back.
Once she was settled, Jiang Liao reached back with both arms, supporting her legs. With a slight lift, he stood up steadily.
Lin Suier was very light—she barely weighed anything on his back.
Yet his muscles tensed instantly.
Her body inevitably pressed tightly against his back.
The softness of her figure was compressed against him, fitting closely.
Under his palms were her slender legs.
Jiang Liao could almost imagine how they would feel held in his hands…
It was dangerously distracting.
Lin Suier didn’t know where to put her hands. In her panic, she could only lightly clutch the rough fabric at his shoulders.
Her breathing grew uneven from both nervousness and pain, her warm breath brushing against the back of his neck.
A faint scent of soap drifted into his nose.
Jiang Liao’s Adam’s apple bobbed sharply. A fierce heat surged from his lower abdomen, spreading through his limbs.
His mind buzzed, and his body reacted before he could control it.
Fortunately, with her on his back, it wasn’t visible.
Damn it.
He cursed under his breath and forced himself to move, striding down the mountain.
Along the way, neither of them spoke.
The only sounds were Jiang Liao’s steady footsteps, the wind rustling through the treetops—
and the increasingly obvious rhythm of their breathing and heartbeats.
Lin Suier lay on his back, not daring to move.
The scent of the man enveloped her completely.
It was entirely different from the faint ink smell that clung to her husband.
This was something wild—like an invisible net tightening around her, leaving her breathless, yet bringing a faint, dizzying pull.
She suddenly remembered his burning gaze at the well that morning.
A secret tremor crept over her like creeping vines, making her body inexplicably weak.
Jiang Liao walked quickly, his steps firm, but his breathing gradually grew heavier.
Every bit of softness against his back, every unconscious, slight movement—
felt like tiny hooks scraping against his already taut body.
The heat within him burned stronger, the tension in his lower abdomen becoming harder to endure.
He could only grit his teeth and focus entirely on the path ahead.
Yet his arms tightened unconsciously around her legs, almost pressing them into his waist.
“Why did you come all the way out here alone to dig wild vegetables?” Jiang Liao suddenly asked, his voice hoarse.
Lin Suier, already in turmoil, was startled by the question. After a moment, she murmured softly, “There’s… not much food left at home.”
Jiang Liao fell silent for a moment.
Chen Wenqi—that pretentious scholar—spent his days buried in books, unable to carry or lift anything, putting on airs of refinement.
Yet he couldn’t even provide for his own wife, forcing her to risk herself in these deep mountains!
A spark of anger flared in his chest.
“Where’s Chen Wenqi? He just watches while you suffer like this?” he said with a hint of mockery.
Hearing the edge in his tone, Lin Suier instinctively tried to defend her husband, though her voice lacked conviction.
“My husband… he needs to study. Passing the exams is what matters…”
Jiang Liao let out a cold laugh.
“Studying until the household can’t even eat, letting his own wife climb mountains and nearly die—that’s what those sage books teach him? Nonsense.”
Lin Suier’s nose stung, and tears nearly fell again. She bit her lip tightly and said nothing.
Because what he said… wasn’t wrong.
Sensing her stiffness, Jiang Liao fell silent as well.
But the nameless fire in his chest only burned hotter.
By the time night fully fell and a few scattered stars appeared in the sky, the low earthen houses of Apricot Blossom Village came into view.
As they neared the old locust tree at the village entrance, Jiang Liao suddenly stopped.
With a somewhat stiff motion, he lowered Lin Suier from his back and helped her lean against the rough tree trunk to steady herself.
“This is far enough. Make your way back slowly on your own. Don’t mention that I carried you down.”
As soon as her foot touched the ground, pain flared again, but Lin Suier understood what he meant.
Even a widow could attract gossip—let alone a married woman being carried back from the mountains at night by another man.
Even if nothing had happened, the rumors would drown her, impossible to wash away.
“Th-thank you… Brother Jiang.”
Jiang Liao didn’t respond. He only placed the basket by her feet.
He hesitated for a moment but didn’t give her the wild chicken.
If she took it back, there would be no way to explain.
“Next time… don’t go deep into the mountains alone.”
Leaving those words behind, Jiang Liao walked away as if fleeing.
Leaning against the tree, Lin Suier felt her thoughts tangled beyond sorting.
A gust of evening wind passed, and she suddenly shivered, snapping back to herself. Her cheeks burned as if on fire, her heart pounding wildly.
After steadying herself, she endured the pain and limped back toward her courtyard.