Xia Tian patted her chest and took a breath. Following the sound, she saw that the villagers who had just been digging for wild vegetables were all running in that direction.
"Nothing bad happened, right?" Xia Tian muttered under her breath. She quickly snapped out of it and hurried after the people around her toward the source of the scream.
When she got there, she learned that a young wife from the village had gotten a scare.
While digging for wild vegetables just now, the young wife's back had started to hurt, so she wanted to stand up to relieve it. But as soon as she stood up and turned her head, she came face-to-face with a snake in a nearby tree.
The young wife was instantly scared out of her wits. Fortunately, her loud scream had probably startled the snake as well, and by the time everyone arrived, it had already slithered away.
Now, the crowd was gathered around the young wife, chattering and asking questions.
Xia Tian squeezed through to take a look. The young wife was only about seventeen or eighteen years old, and her face was still pale, likely not yet recovered from the shock.
One of the aunties, who looked to be in her fifties, joked, "Xiaoqing's Mother, you're so useless. What's there to be afraid of? If it were me, I'd have snatched it up, and we'd have meat to eat today."
Xiaoqing's Mother was the young wife who had been frightened by the snake.
To think that she looked so young but was already a mother.
Xia Tian was secretly amazed.
Hearing the aunty's words, the crowd gradually relaxed. Although the villagers did eat snake meat, not many of the women dared to catch one with their bare hands.
Since the villagers often went up the mountain to gather firewood and dig for wild vegetables, encountering snakes was quite normal.
But usually, everyone would take precautions beforehand, such as carrying a stick to tap the ground while walking to scare away snakes in the grass, or tying their cuffs and trouser legs tightly to prevent insects and ants from crawling in.
An abrupt encounter like the one Xiaoqing's Mother just had was indeed enough to scare a person to death.
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm. Xia Tian thought that if she had encountered it, she probably wouldn't have fared much better.
After that scare, no one was in the mood to continue digging for vegetables, so they all packed up and headed down the mountain together.
By the time she got home, it was a little before one in the afternoon.
Xia Tian placed her things under the shed, went to the kitchen to drink a bowl of cool boiled water, and lifted the pot lid to see that the rice was still in the pot. Shen Nian hadn't eaten yet.
Arriving at the door to the main room, she was just about to lift the door curtain and peek inside to see what Shen Nian was doing.
Before she could move, a series of suppressed coughs came from inside the room, only stopping after a long while.
These past two days, she hadn't seen him take any medicine, and his appetite at meals was fine. She had assumed he was just a bit weak and coughed occasionally, and that it wasn't as serious as the villagers claimed.
But hearing his coughs today, one after another, she feared he might develop pneumonia.
After Shen Nian finished coughing, Xia Tian went to the kitchen, poured a bowl of warm water, and brought it in. "Brother Shen, have some water!"
Shen Nian was leaning against the bedding, his face still a little pale, a thin layer of fine sweat on his forehead. The veins on the hand clutching his chest were bulging. He took a moment to recover before accepting the bowl and taking a sip of water.
Xia Tian watched Shen Nian finish the water, took the bowl, and went back to the kitchen to mix some warm water in a wooden basin. She carried it to the main room, took Shen Nian's towel, rinsed it in the water, wrung it dry, and handed it to him.
Shen Nian took the towel and slowly wiped the sweat from his forehead. The coughing fit had left him somewhat weak.
Seeing Shen Nian's slow movements, Xia Tian knew he probably hadn't recovered yet.
She stepped forward, took the towel from Shen Nian's hand, rinsed it again, but didn't give it back to him. Instead, she said directly, "Brother Shen, let me help you wipe it."
Shen Nian truly lacked the strength. He gave a slight nod, and only then did Xia Tian place one hand behind his head and gently wipe the sweat from his face and neck with the towel in her other hand.
Watching Xia Tian's actions, Shen Nian's body stiffened slightly. No girl had ever been this close to him before.
Xia Tian also sensed Shen Nian's discomfort and shifted her body slightly, thinking to herself that she had never taken care of someone like this before.
In her past life, she had been determined to be single, which was why she had remained unattached well into her thirties.
She never expected that after transmigrating, she would be so adept at this caregiver role.
It really was a case of singing whatever song suited the mountain. Her adaptability was top-notch!
After silently mocking herself, Xia Tian rinsed the towel again. Seeing how much Shen Nian had sweated, she figured his inner clothes probably needed changing.
She hesitated for a moment before saying, "Brother Shen, let me wipe your back too. After that, you can change your inner clothes. You'll feel more comfortable that way."
Shen Nian paused, likely not expecting Xia Tian to say such a thing.
After waiting a moment and seeing no response from Shen Nian, Xia Tian thought he might be unwilling.
Just as she was about to say forget it, that she wouldn't wipe him, she saw Shen Nian slowly take off his outer garment. Clad in his white underclothes, he turned and lay face down on the Kang.
Xia Tian froze. Did that mean she should wipe him or not?
Staring at the back of Shen Nian's head, Xia Tian resignedly stepped forward. With one hand, she lifted his underclothes, and with the other, she quickly reached in with the towel and wiped his back.
Letting go, she pulled his clothes back into place and said, "Alright, you can change your clothes now!" Then she immediately picked up the wooden basin and hurried out of the room.
Standing in the courtyard, she took a deep breath before carrying the basin to empty the water.
Why did it feel like she was more nervous than Shen Nian just now?
How ridiculous. She was a mature woman; what kind of scene hadn't she witnessed?
Xia Tian shook her head and prepared to make lunch.
She sorted through some of the Ku Cai she had dug on the mountain, washed it, blanched it, and made a cold salad.
Then she chopped up the handful of Xiangchun and scrambled it with eggs. She reheated the shredded potatoes and rice from the morning and carried everything to the table in the main room.
Watching Shen Nian eat calmly, Xia Tian finally couldn't hold back. "Brother Shen, we should really go see a doctor. Even if it's just to take some medicine for relief, you'll feel more comfortable."
Seeing that Shen Nian remained unmoved, neither speaking nor nodding, Xia Tian felt a little discouraged. "Then eat more of this cold Ku Cai salad. I heard it can also clear heat, detoxify, and relieve coughs."
Shen Nian gave a slight nod and picked up a mouthful of Ku Cai, chewing it slowly.
It wasn't that he didn't want to be treated. It was just that he had been poisoned since childhood, and over the years, the poison had seeped into his five major organs. He was beyond the help of medicine.
He was merely clinging to life now…
Xia Tian's heart ached. Although they had only been together for two short days and Shen Nian always had a "stay away from me" air about him, he had never made things difficult for her.
He ate whatever she made, and he never interrupted her when she chattered. By all accounts, he was a very good partner to live with.
Forget it. She would just take better care of him while they were together. They were both ill-fated people; her own situation wasn't much better.
The two finished their meal in silence, and Xia Tian cleared the dishes.
After lunch, Xia Tian took the clothes Shen Nian had changed out of to the river to wash. As she turned the clothes over, she found faint bloodstains on the collar. The fabric was dark, so they were barely visible without close inspection.
No way. Could it be that Shen Nian had already started coughing up blood? That's how it always went in TV dramas, and in the end, they all…
Xia Tian was startled by her own thoughts. She had just gotten married; she didn't want to become a widow so soon!
Jinx! Jinx! Jinx!
It couldn't be. She must be overthinking it!
No, she had to find a doctor to check on Shen Nian. No matter what, he was her husband in name. She couldn't let him continue on so passively.
Having made up her mind, Xia Tian decided to go to the clinic in town to ask around during the market day two days later.
The next day after breakfast, Xia Tian planned to check out the bamboo forest she had spotted yesterday.
She told Shen Nian where she was going, then slung the back basket over her shoulder, took a hoe, a bag, and other things, and headed for the mountain.
Sister-in-law Yao had to help in the fields today, so Xia Tian planned to go alone.
She soon reached the mountain and followed her memory toward the bamboo forest.
The path was difficult. Xia Tian first found a rope to tie her trouser legs tight, lest there be snakes or other creatures. As she walked, she used her wood-cutting knife to chop away obstructing branches and weeds.
It took her over an hour to reach the edge of the bamboo forest.
She looked around and confirmed that very few people came here.
The bamboo forest looked quite large. Walking inside, she could see places where the dead leaves were pushed up, with the sharp tips of bamboo shoots poking out.
Xia Tian didn't rush to dig. She first did a rough survey of the surroundings and, finding no danger, found a spot to put down her back basket, took out her small hoe, and began digging for shoots.
The shoots were buried quite deep and were not easy to dig. It took Xia Tian a great deal of effort to dig out just one.
She thought that her hoe was too small and not very easy to use.
If she dug up a lot of bamboo shoots, she could stew them in a soup with chicken, stir-fry them, or eat them as a cold salad. They were all delicious.
Whatever she couldn't finish could be dried into dried bamboo shoots and saved to be eaten slowly.
As Xia Tian dug, she thought about all the ways to eat bamboo shoots, her mouth nearly watering.
The only problem was how to carry so many shoots back. If only she had a Space.
Other transmigrators got systems, or a Space, or at the very least, a special skill like plant identification or superhuman strength. But when it came to her, whoops, no benefits at all.
Just as Xia Tian was mentally complaining about the unfairness of the heavens, a rabbit suddenly darted past from the side.
Xia Tian pounced on reflex, but unfortunately, she caught nothing but air.
She hadn't eaten meat in days. How could she let this rare opportunity go? She immediately scrambled up and chased after the rabbit.
Seeing someone in pursuit, the rabbit darted left and right, leaving Xia Tian panting for breath, but it still managed to escape.
Half-dead, Xia Tian stopped, leaning on her knees and gasping for air. Suddenly, she felt something was wrong. She turned her head and, my god, a large wild boar was only about a dozen meters away from her.