In the moonlight, the crisscrossing wounds on the young man’s thin back were fully exposed. His cloth garments were torn beyond repair, the wounds a bloody mess—just one glance was enough to chill the heart.
What was this person suffering for? He clearly didn’t need to get involved!
Qin Yining gritted her teeth and tore her skirt hem into strips, tightly binding his wounds to temporarily stop the bleeding.
She had brought the medicines Bingtang had given her, but the long dragon of lights in the distance was drawing ever closer. Qin Yining hurriedly bent down to help the person up, holding the young man’s bamboo blade in one hand and supporting him with the other, struggling to take him somewhere to hide.
Looking left and right, all the buildings in this village were visible. Hiding in an alley would obviously be discovered immediately—the only plan now was to try reaching the distant forest to hide.
But the pursuers had already entered the village, and the dragon of lights was approaching at a visible speed. Qin Yining alone could barely escape, let alone while bringing someone else?
Qin Yining frowned, only able to drag the person toward the shadowy corner where he had wanted to hide her earlier.
But in the blink of an eye, Qin Yining realized something was wrong.
The young man had lost too much blood—there were bloodstains on the ground!
As long as the pursuers looked down, discovering them would take no effort at all!
Qin Yining felt somewhat at a loss for a moment.
It seemed she had to mentally prepare to be captured. Those commoners might use her as a hostage to force Pang Xiao to write a guarantee.
And to bring her out of the encirclement, the young man had killed so many commoners. The people of Danfu County would probably use their own methods to punish the young man—he would surely die!
What to do?
At this moment, Qin Yining truly hated that she didn’t possess martial arts skills like Mu Jinghu!
“Creak—”
A slight sound unique to opening doors came from beside them.
Qin Yining looked up in panic to see a man of about forty, with refined appearance, walking out of the large residence. He too was looking down at her and the unconscious young man.
The man’s brow furrowed.
Qin Yining’s heart was also full of helplessness and defeat.
It was over—they had been discovered!
Although Qin Yining felt helpless and fearful, when faced with danger, merely worrying and being afraid was useless. She began outlining several different scenarios in her mind and thinking of ways to respond.
“Quick! Quickly bring him inside to hide!” the middle-aged man said anxiously.
Qin Yining was stunned.
She had thought of several possible outcomes, but had never imagined meeting someone who didn’t care how many people of Danfu County the young man had killed!
Seeing the pursuers about to turn onto the street where she was, Qin Yining had no other choice but to temporarily trust the middle-aged man.
Qin Yining supported the young man toward the residence, carefully wrapping him in her outer robe to temporarily stop the bloodstains.
The middle-aged man supported the young man’s other side, and together with Qin Yining, left and right, they carried him through the gate.
The middle-aged man immediately closed the main gate upon returning.
At the same time, Qin Yining heard a series of mixed footsteps approaching from far to near.
There was no more time to hide elsewhere. Qin Yining quickly hid with the young man in the shadows behind the main gate.
Separated by only a wall, she heard quite a few people stopping in front of the door, with some continuing to run forward.
“Look quickly, there are bloodstains on the ground! The person seems to be nearby!” Indeed, someone sharp-eyed discovered the blood on the ground, and immediately someone said, “This person might intend harm to Great Benefactor Wang! No, we must tell Great Benefactor Wang.”
The main gate was immediately knocked upon.
After it rang four or five times, the middle-aged man who had been standing by the door—Great Benefactor Wang—slowly answered.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
Great Benefactor Wang pretended to be puzzled as he opened the courtyard gate. “What’s happening outside? Has Prince Zhongshun agreed to our demands?”
Qin Yining nervously held her breath and covered the unconscious young man’s mouth with her other hand.
They were now very close to the pursuers—if the pursuers became suspicious and took two steps into the courtyard, they would be discovered immediately.
But clearly, the people outside had no intention of entering to search.
“Great Benefactor Wang, the matter with Prince Zhongshun hasn’t been resolved yet. They’re still surrounding the government office and negotiating. You must be very careful—that wolf cub is actually a person with superior martial arts! He’s already killed over a hundred people in our county!” The speaker gritted his teeth. “That dog! When you spared his life back then, he became even worse!”
“There’s actually such a thing?” Great Benefactor Wang was dumbfounded. “He still doesn’t know how to repent!”
The messenger said: “You mustn’t be too naive. The Yuan, Liu, and Yu families have all sent word that even if they risk their lives, they must catch this wolf cub. We’re afraid the wolf cub harbors resentment toward you and might come here for revenge. You must be vigilant!”
Great Benefactor Wang nodded repeatedly: “Good, good, I understand. Thank you for making a special trip to inform me.”
“Not at all.” The messenger smiled. “When you see Old Master Yu later, please give him my regards.”
“Certainly.” Great Benefactor Wang nodded.
After sending away the pursuers, Great Benefactor Wang quickly closed the door. He pressed his ear to the door panel, listening to the activity outside. The entire village was now in chaos, but he actually breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back and nodded to Qin Yining, gesturing for her to follow him inside.
Several young servants then came forward without a word to lift the unconscious young man and carry him inside.
Seeing this, Qin Yining could only follow.
Qin Yining already had some guesses in her heart—this Great Benefactor Wang was probably the one whose wife was killed, yet who didn’t immediately severely punish the murderer.
Looking at it now, this great benefactor didn’t seem to harbor much hatred toward the young man!
So either Great Benefactor Wang had no feelings for his wife at all, or there might be hidden circumstances behind the wife-killing incident.
As Qin Yining’s thoughts raced, she had already followed Great Benefactor Wang to a side room.
The servants placed the young man on the bed and withdrew upon receiving instructions.
With no outsiders present, Great Benefactor Wang respectfully bowed: “This commoner pays respects to the Princess Consort.”
Qin Yining’s brow twitched slightly. Upon reflection, all the county’s people had gone to make demands of Prince Zhongshun, so it wasn’t strange that he knew who she was.
“You may rise. I must also thank Great Benefactor Wang for saving our lives.”
“Not at all. This commoner is merely a merchant and cannot bear such thanks from the Princess Consort. Moreover, the one in trouble is him.” Great Benefactor Wang looked at the unconscious young man on the bed, his expression extremely complex. “Princess Consort, please forgive me. This residence has no maidservants, only a few rough servants whose strength lies in martial arts and agility. We cannot invite a physician right now. This commoner will go prepare some hot water first, and we’ll give him simple cleaning and bandaging shortly. Princess Consort, would you like to rest a bit and have some food first?”
With the city in chaos over the siege of the government office, this person actually didn’t plan to help the local people capture her to threaten Pang Xiao?
However, Qin Yining had never been one to fear trouble. This Great Benefactor Wang’s behavior was strange throughout, but no matter how strange, right now it didn’t compare to the urgency of the young man’s condition.
The young man had fainted from excessive blood loss—if handled poorly, it could cost him his life. Regardless of how the young man bringing her out of the encirclement had disrupted her plans, just considering how he had suffered so many injuries to protect her, she couldn’t ignore him.
“I’ll treat his wounds. I have some medicine with me. Having no maidservants in the residence doesn’t matter. Please prepare some salt water and sugar water—we’ll give them to him to drink shortly.”
Qin Yining immediately took out the small medicine packets she carried with her, searching for suitable medicines according to Bingtang’s previous instructions.
Seeing that Qin Yining actually planned to personally save the person, Great Benefactor Wang was stunned for a moment, then sighed with emotion: “Meeting the Princess Consort is his good fortune.”
Such a familiar and emotional sigh made Qin Yining even more certain that there must be some hidden circumstances between these two people back then.
Qin Yining said calmly: “What good fortune is it? I merely gave him one full meal, never expecting he would risk his very life for it, determined to bring me out of the encirclement no matter what. If he hadn’t brought me along, he wouldn’t have suffered so many injuries. Just for his sincere heart, I cannot ignore him.”
“You are a good master.” Great Benefactor Wang placed a wooden basin filled with hot water beside the bed, then silently went to prepare salt water and sugar water.
Qin Yining found his response somewhat strange.
She and the young man could only be said to have met by chance—it couldn’t be considered a master-servant relationship. She had never conveyed such information to Great Benefactor Wang, yet he immediately made such a comment.
Qin Yining found two types of external medicine powders and a packet of usable pills, then began treating the young man’s wounds.
Her movements weren’t particularly skilled—certainly incomparable to a physician’s—but in her early years surviving in the wilderness, she had been injured many times. She wasn’t afraid of treating wounds and understood something about it.
The hemostatic powder Bingtang had given her was particularly effective. The longest wound on the young man’s back, deep enough to see bone, stopped bleeding in just moments after the powder was applied.
Seeing this, Qin Yining became even more generous, using all the useful medicine powder and bandaging him with the clean white cloth Great Benefactor Wang had prepared.
At this time, Great Benefactor Wang entered carrying a tray with two large bowls on it.
“The sugar water and salt water are here.”
Qin Yining nodded and smiled: “Thank you for your help.”
“Oh! I wouldn’t dare accept such thanks.”
Great Benefactor Wang came forward to help turn the young man over, letting him lie on his side, feeding both the sugar water and salt water spoonful by spoonful into the unconscious young man’s mouth.
Although he was unconscious, his swallowing ability remained, and he quickly finished both bowls of water.
Qin Yining took out another packet of pills, removed three and crushed them, mixing them into half a bowl of warm water and giving it to Great Benefactor Wang to feed to the young man. She explained: “This is medicine to clear heat and cool the blood. With his injuries so severe, the wounds will certainly cause high fever.”
Great Benefactor Wang nodded and began feeding the young man the medicine again.
Qin Yining watched Great Benefactor Wang’s patient movements from the side, her doubts deepening.
For a wife-killing enemy—one hated so much that he wouldn’t give him a quick death but instead broke his limbs and made him beg for four years, feeding him pig slop to maintain his life during those four years—wasn’t Great Benefactor Wang’s patient treatment somewhat too suspicious?
After the medicine was administered, Great Benefactor Wang sat to the side and never left.
Qin Yining was somewhat worried that if she left, this Great Benefactor Wang might do something to the young man, so she also didn’t leave.
Before long, the Wang family’s servants came to report: “The people outside didn’t find anyone and have all gone to search elsewhere.”