After receiving Zhao Hanzhang’s letter, Ji Yuan and Zhao Ming immediately dispatched people to transfer troops from various locations, then gave all the remaining forty thousand-plus troops in camp to Ji Yuan to bring out, dividing into three routes to meet Zhao Hanzhang.

Ji Yuan brought ten thousand soldiers and had already encountered Wang Ni ahead, learning that Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t completely broken with Gou Xi. He breathed a long sigh of relief but still hurried forward.

The two met halfway, both looking greatly relieved. Ji Yuan saw his lord’s haggard face with dark circles under her eyes and hurried forward, asking with concern, “My Lady, where is the Young Master?”

“In the carriage.”

Fu Tinghan had woken for a while midway but soon fell back into drowsy sleep. His wound was very large, and his condition wasn’t very good.

The military physician was accustomed to such things. Many soldiers were alive when they left the battlefield, but gradually died during treatment. The vast majority died from wound deterioration.

Zhao Hanzhang consulted a traditional Chinese physician about his prescription, but she really didn’t understand traditional medicine. After anxiously running around in circles, she began wasting food.

She requested many steamed buns from the cook, wanting to make them moldy so she could extract penicillin.

Unfortunately, the weather was cold now. After leaving the buns for a day, they had no smell at all, showing no signs of molding whatsoever.

Zhao Hanzhang was nearly worried to death watching them.

When Fu Tinghan occasionally woke, Fu’an told him, “Miss Zhao has become obsessed with curing your illness, Young Master. She went to the kitchen and requested many steamed buns, placing them in a clean jar, saying she wants to make a medicine for you.”

Fu’an said, “Young Master, please get better quickly, or I think Miss Zhao will go crazy.”

When Zhao Hanzhang came to see him, Fu Tinghan made an effort to stay awake and told her, “With the weather this cold now, you’ll probably have to wait a long time for the buns to grow blue mold.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “I’ve already sent people everywhere to look. Blue mold from other foods will also work.”

Fu Tinghan just smiled. “In this era, which household would have leftover food that could sit long enough to grow moldy?”

True enough—even in wealthy households, if the masters couldn’t finish eating, there were still servants. Beyond servants there were tenant farmers. In any case, there would be no moldy food.

So Zhao Hanzhang had been dedicated to making it herself.

Fu Tinghan said in a low voice, “You can create a humid, warm environment for it to mold faster.”

Zhao Hanzhang’s eyes lit up, then she felt somewhat apologetic. “At a time like this, I’m still making you think about these things.”

“It doesn’t take much thought. I’m in too much pain to sleep anyway, so it’s just talking.”

Those were the words, but Fu Tinghan’s medicine had sedative effects, and this medicine seemed very effective on Fu Tinghan. After just a few sentences teaching Zhao Hanzhang how to create a humid, warm environment for the buns, he began to feel drowsy again.

Zhao Hanzhang stared blankly at his thin, pale face and couldn’t help asking in a low voice, “At that time… did you know that exposing your back to the enemy was very dangerous? You almost died. Was this because you like me, or would you do the same for anyone else?”

Fu Tinghan’s drowsiness receded somewhat. After thinking seriously for a moment, he said, “If it were Qiu Wu or Fu’an, I would be anxious, but I probably wouldn’t turn around and expose my back, taking the risk to save them.”

“If it were Erlang, I probably would try to save him.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Because your bond with him is deeper?”

Fu Tinghan smiled and nodded slightly, saying, “Also because of you.”

After a long daze, Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Do you really like me that much?”

Fu Tinghan softly hummed in agreement.

Zhao Hanzhang stared at him fixedly, and after a long silence said, “Have you ever thought that I’m actually not worth you liking me this much?”

“Whether you’re worth it or not isn’t for you to decide,” Fu Tinghan raised his eyes to look at her. “I like you, which means I like you. I don’t think my affection for you can be measured by worth, because I’m not asking you to do anything—I want to do things for you.”

“If one day I no longer like you, it won’t be because you’re not worth it anymore, but because I changed my mind. That would be my problem, not yours.”

Zhao Hanzhang stared at him blankly before asking after a long while, “When would you stop liking me?”

Fu Tinghan also thought seriously, then shook his head. “Probably that day will never come. I’ve already liked you for fourteen years, and we were separated for several years during that time. Even that didn’t change my heart. It will be even harder to change in the future.”

“Moreover,” Fu Tinghan looked at her and said, “In this world, only you and I are the same, yet different. If you died, I would truly be alone in this world.”

“I’m here like rootless wild grass. If I lost you, I probably wouldn’t live alone,” Fu Tinghan said frankly. “You are my reason for existing in this world.”

Zhao Hanzhang heard it—this wasn’t sweet talk, but merely a declarative sentence.

She then became serious too, looking at him with a solemn expression. “I will try hard to stay alive, and you must try hard to stay alive too!”

Zhao Hanzhang reached out to grasp his hand and squeezed it hard, even making him feel pain. “You said it yourself—in this world, only we are the same. You feel lonely, and so do I!”

Fu Tinghan squeezed her hand back, ignoring the pain from his shoulder wound as he gave her a gentle smile. “Don’t worry, I will survive.”

Whether it was his strong will to live that took effect, or the medicine prescribed by the military physician finally working, Fu Tinghan, who had been running an intermittent high fever, finally gradually stabilized, and his wound also began to improve.

The military physician breathed a great sigh of relief. Zhao Hanzhang placed extreme importance on Fu Tinghan, and he was truly afraid that if something happened to Fu Tinghan, Zhao Hanzhang would do something drastic.

After changing Fu Tinghan’s medicine, the physician stood up with a beaming smile. “The wound is healing quickly. Young Master, if you continue to watch your diet and take medicine, it will scab over in at most ten days.”

At this time, they had already returned to Chen County for three days.

Fu Tinghan could already walk around, though he rarely went out to avoid friction on his wound.

Just as he pulled on his inner garment, Fu’an came running with quick steps. “Young Master, the medicine Miss made for you has finally developed blue mold.”

Fu Tinghan’s hand paused in dressing. “Is there much?”

“Quite a lot,” Fu’an was very puzzled. “But how do you use moldy steamed buns? Are you going to eat them, Young Master?”

With a horrified expression, Fu’an said, “Young Master was fine before—won’t eating those buns make you…”

Fu Tinghan glanced at him. “What are you thinking? That’s not for eating.”

He picked up his robe to put on. Fu’an quickly reached out to take it and carefully helped him put it on while asking, “If it’s not for eating, then how do you make medicine from it?”

Fu Tinghan asked, “Did you get the craftsmen to make what I asked for two days ago?”

Fu’an said, “The glass workshop is in Shangcai. The message probably just arrived there now. How could it be ready so fast?”

Without transparent glass products and tools like measuring cups, operations could still be carried out, just more troublesome.

But Fu Tinghan wasn’t afraid of trouble. He took Fu’an to see the jar of moldy steamed buns.

—