Shi Hontu and the others, who had been watching, immediately turned their heads away, not daring to look anymore. Fu Tinghan leaned in close to examine, seeing fingerprints on the wound, and knew Wu Yongfu had used great force at the end.

There was still fabric stuck to the wound from blood. He carefully tore the fabric away. Seeing blood flowing out again, his brow furrowed deeply. “This won’t do. You’re very active—the wound is too large. Every movement will tear it open, making it very difficult to heal afterward.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and said, “Stitch it closed.”

Fu Tinghan agreed, but, “We don’t have a needle, not even thread.”

Zhao Hanzhang gestured with her chin toward the refugee crowd. Fu Tinghan immediately said, “Fu’an, go borrow a needle and thread.”

Fu’an: …How to handle this—feels like even my toes are curling.

Fu Tinghan seemed to sense this and, putting himself in the shoes of his social anxiety, immediately said, “You can also buy them.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked him, “Do you have money?”

Fu Tinghan fell silent. He had forgotten—his purse had been stolen, and he had forgotten to retrieve it just now.

Zhao Hanzhang chuckled lightly, pulled a money pouch from her bosom and tossed it to Fu’an. “Go buy from Awei. While you’re at it, buy some food and water too. If there’s a water skin, buy one—we’re in urgent need of water now.”

Fu’an looked at this unfamiliar money pouch in his hand. Zhao Hanzhang’s purses, handkerchiefs, and such were all prepared by Ting He. This pouch looked like something a rough man would use—not even their young master would use such a thing.

Could it be the lady picked someone’s pocket?

Zhao Hanzhang seemed to know what he was thinking and said, “Go quickly. This is General Shi’s money pouch.”

Mentioning General Shi, Zhao Hanzhang remembered and sat up slightly straighter, leaning forward to look at Shi Lei. “Is General Shi still alive?”

Shi Lei lay on the ground, stubbornly refusing to pass out. He felt that if he fainted, this life might end right here.

Sure enough, after Shi Hontu and the others put him down, they ignored him. He kept making weak groaning sounds, certain that Shi Hontu sitting by his head had heard them, but the other party turned a deaf ear, even deliberately blocking Zhao Hanzhang’s view.

Shi Lei mentally noted this against him. His ears caught Zhao Hanzhang’s question, and he immediately gathered his strength, struggling to make a sound, finally drawing Zhao Hanzhang over.

Seeing he was still alive, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t know whether to feel relieved or regretful. She turned to Shi Hontu and said, “Apply medicine to him.”

Shi Hontu said, “This subordinate’s medicine pack was dropped.”

In Zhao’s army, all officers from squad leader and above carried a small medicine pack for emergencies.

After all, a thousand soldiers were easy to find, but a good general was hard to come by.

Zhao Hanzhang also had one. She had already given half to Shi Lei earlier, leaving only half now.

She looked down at Shi Lei, who was nearly dying, weighed her own injury, and still sighed, handing her medicine bottle to Shi Hontu. “Apply medicine to him.”

Having observed the entire scene, Shi Lei was deeply moved. His spirits improved somewhat. He propped up half his body and said to Zhao Hanzhang, “Administrator Zhao’s kindness—Shi will never forget it.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled at him. “You are now my subordinate. Protecting you is also my responsibility.”

Zhao Hanzhang sat down by the fire, contemplating. Without medicine, there was now only one method to stop the bleeding.

She tapped her dry, itchy throat, pulled out that short blade, and glanced at Shi Hontu and the others. Her gaze still settled on Fu Tinghan. “Can you help with something?”

Fu Tinghan looked at her, rummaged in his sleeve, found an inner pocket, and took out his portion of the medicine pack.

Zhao Hanzhang was astonished. “It wasn’t stolen?”

Fu Tinghan said, “I always kept it in the inner pocket. They didn’t search our bodies.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked relieved. “Thank goodness, thank goodness. No need to burn the wound closed.”

With this relaxation, Zhao Hanzhang felt the hunger in her belly. Just then, locusts attracted by the firelight flew over, flapping their wings as they landed by the fire, with some flying directly into it.

Zhao Hanzhang’s hand moved quickly, pinning down a locust that had landed by the fire and was struggling to escape. She twisted off its head, removed the wings, then tossed it on the edge of the fire to roast.

After preparing one, she went to catch another.

There were quite a few locusts landing nearby. Attracted to light, they flew from the grass and fields toward the brightness. Others tending fires found them annoying and kept shooing them away.

Zhao Hanzhang found them annoying too, so for every one that came, she would twist off its head and wings, then toss it by the fire to roast. In no time, she had lined up ten of them neatly.

Shi Lei was being helped into a sitting position. Shi Hontu, not very gently, treated the wound on his ribs—mainly removing the clothing stuck together and cleaning out the dirt.

He was directly facing Zhao Hanzhang, so he watched as she picked up a locust, smelled it, then tore it open and directly put it in her mouth to eat—ate it!

Shi Lei’s eyes widened slightly. Zhao Hanzhang not only ate it herself but also gave one to Fu Tinghan. “Very fragrant, just lacks salt.”

Fu Tinghan accepted it and carefully tasted a bite.

Zhao Hanzhang still peeled off the shell and directly tossed it in her mouth, crunching and chewing it. A locust flew past the corner of her eye into the fire, then rolled around trying to escape. Zhao Hanzhang pinched it with two fingers, very smoothly twisted off the head, removed the wings, then placed it neatly by the fire.

When the young man Awei and Fu’an arrived, they saw her eating locusts, catching locusts, twisting off heads and removing wings—a whole series of actions—and froze in place.

Zhao Hanzhang looked up and, seeing another one roasted, was about to carefully peel open the shell when she spotted Awei and Fu’an returning. Her eyes lit up immediately. “You’re back? Do you have water and needle and thread?”

Fu’an immediately came to his senses, stepping forward with a water skin and a set of needle and thread. “Yes, we do.”

Awei held two bamboo tubes, also filled with water. “Master Gongsun found a water source nearby, but there were too many people, so my family only drew some. This is the remaining water. Lady, see if it’s enough. If not, I’ll go borrow more from others.”

Fu Tinghan accepted the bamboo tubes. “Thank you very much. These are sufficient. We mainly wanted to borrow containers—we can draw water ourselves.”

The young man glanced at him and said, “There are many people drawing water. You, sir, being physically weak, might not be able to push your way in.” He puffed out his chest as he spoke.

Fu Tinghan’s eyes held a smile as he nodded. “Then I’ll trouble you.”

The young man: …Even less happy now.

Fu’an also borrowed a pot and several bowls from them, specifically for boiling and holding water.

Once the water was boiled, not only could Zhao Hanzhang use it, but Shi Lei could as well.

Fu Tinghan poured out two bowls of boiled water, then dropped the needle into the pot to boil.

He took a small piece from his medicine pack’s roll of hemp cloth, dampened it with water, and cleaned Zhao Hanzhang’s wound.

The young man saw Fu Tinghan directly pull down her clothing, exposing her shoulder, and immediately frowned, turning his head aside. He waited a moment, then couldn’t help rotating his eyeballs to look elsewhere. Then he saw Shi Lei staring unblinkingly at Zhao Hanzhang and immediately became furious. “You—how rude! Don’t you understand ‘See no impropriety’?”

—