Xu Dong hadn't walked on such a mountain path in a long time. He felt as if the road beneath his feet was a knife, stabbing painfully into his feet.

Even with frequent stops along the way, I was still exhausted and had to gasp for breath.

When they rested again, Xu Dong sat down on the cliff by the roadside and glanced at Li Laoshi, who was slumped beside him: "Li Laoshi, are you sure we can find that cliff ahead this time? We haven't gone the wrong way?"

Li Laoshi got lost yesterday and climbed the mountain all day, exhausted. He was almost scared to death after being tied to a tree last night. He finally made it back to the village this morning.

Because he hadn't returned home all night, he was caught by the furious Zhang Juntou and almost beaten to death, with the military stick hitting his buttocks before it stopped.

When he explained that he had been detained by villagers in the mountains and even showed them the wound on his bearded head as proof, his biggest disaster struck again.

Unexpectedly, without a moment's rest, Zhang Juntou demanded that they immediately lead the way up the mountain to find the villager's family.

Two of the three collapsed as soon as they returned, while the one who was hanging from the treetop ran away overnight.

Li Laoshi was not only physically exhausted, but also mentally exhausted. This time, he was really going to die!

The money hidden in the corner of my clothes is gone. It's five taels of silver. It must have been lost on the mountain.

Even though his legs were so weak he didn't want to take another step, he still wanted to try to find his way back, hoping he might just find his way back.

However, this wish is not easy to fulfill.

Yesterday, the four of them wandered aimlessly in the mountains because the road was blocked and they had to take a detour. As they wandered around, they lost track of where they went and only knew that they were heading up the mountain.

On the way down the mountain, they ran, stumbled, crawled, and rolled without ever looking back.

Not only did they not know where they had lost the money, but they also had difficulty finding their way around.

Wufeng Mountain, with its many peaks and valleys, is largely the same, with tall oak trees blocking the view, and the group wandered aimlessly inside.

Fortunately, Xu Dong also needed to rest, so he would mutter to himself about a certain herb from time to time, which took up a lot of time.

Hearing Xu Dong ask this question, he quickly replied, "I've seen it myself, Doctor Xu. The road here collapsed and has been cut off for a long time. We only found that cliff yesterday by wandering around aimlessly."

"It's up ahead, right ahead, this time it's for real."

Li Laoshi wasn't lying; the hill in front really was the one that was discovered on the slope yesterday.

It was not yet dusk, and the sorghum and vegetables on the slope were as usual. There was no smoke from cooking fires or night fog like yesterday; this was just an ordinary low-lying area in the mountains.

This time, Li Laoshi and his group didn't go into the woods, but instead took a path along the slope.

A narrow path led them to the edge of a cliff, where they soon saw a neat house and an old man sitting solemnly at the door, his face pale and sallow, his clothes patched upon patched.

Seeing the old man with a cane, Li Laoshi breathed a long sigh of relief: he had finally completed his mission.

Xiaomanye stared indifferently at the line of soldiers that appeared before him, without moving.

Xu Dong walked over and called out, "Old man, is this your home? Can I have some water?"

Master Xiaoman looked up and said, "Please come in!"

What's meant to come, and what's delayed, will eventually come.

Inside the house, Jiang Zhi and Xiaoman's grandmother were both dressed in old clothes, their faces sallow.

The two carried the brewed tea out in earthenware bowls.

Li Laoshi and the soldiers were really thirsty, and they drank the water in large gulps.

Xu Dong picked up the bowl and saw that the tea inside was slightly yellow and had a faint fragrance; it was not tea leaves.

He put down the bowl and looked at Xiaoman: "Old man, what kind of tea is this?"

Grandpa Xiaoman said, "In the mountains, people don't drink tea; they just boil some herbs to cool off in the summer."

Xu Dong's eyes lit up. He checked that the soldiers who had finished drinking the water were alright, then took a small sip and tasted it. It was slightly bitter at first, but had a sweet aftertaste.

He recognized the smell and immediately recognized the herbs: "It's honeysuckle and sophora japonica!"

Xiaoman nodded: "Physician Xu is a truly skilled person. These are indeed honeysuckle and locust flowers!"

When his name was called out, Xu Dong stopped pretending. He put down his tea and snorted coldly, "Since you know that I am a physician, you should know why we are here."

How should you compensate Li Laoshi and the others for the injuries you caused yesterday?

Xiao Man asked in surprise, "Doctor Xu, did you really send someone to steal something?"

These conversations had been planned by the group beforehand; once the people from the foot of the mountain came up, they would definitely confront them and demand an explanation.

Xiaomanye's response was aimed at getting the clinic to admit that it had sent people to steal.

"Steal? Steal things? Our medical tent has military rations and supplies, and we also need to maintain the peace of this area. How could we possibly steal?"

Xu Dong's expression changed. He was now a medical officer in the new army, and if he got involved with this group of refugees, it would ruin the reputation of the new army.

Xu Dong immediately ignored Zhang Juntou's threats to intimidate the villagers and turned to glare angrily at Li Laoshi.

Li Laoshi waved his hands repeatedly: "Doctor Xu, you know I'm an honest man. I definitely didn't steal anything. It was just a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"

Down the mountain, Zhang Juntou had already found out what had happened and knew that the fact that these refugees had broken into someone else's territory and been tied up and beaten could not be explained by a simple "misunderstanding".

However, the fact that these refugees were able to return safely shows that the villagers in the mountains had no intention of harming them.

Upon seeing the medicine on the bearded man's head, Xu Dong said that the medicine had a strong aroma and was a very good powder, which prompted him to go up the mountain to find the medicine.

While casually checking the details, using words to reprimand is merely a routine practice to show off one's power.

These things were irrelevant to Xu Dong. Whether Li Laoshi and the others had misunderstood or were beaten for stealing, he only cared about the medicine.

If you see this family using honeysuckle to make tea, then they must be gathering medicinal herbs.

"Old man, you know how to gather herbs, could you take out some other herbs from your home so I can take a look?" Xu Dong wanted to quickly take any herbs he could find down the mountain.

Jiang Zhi had been waiting to the side, and took out the herbs she had collected: "Doctor Xu, these are the herbs we usually gather. Yesterday, those people came up the mountain saying they were collecting herbs for the medical shed..."

Xu Dong's face turned serious.

While hiring people to collect herbs at the medical clinic isn't exactly a military secret, it's still not something that should be publicized.

He didn't look at the medicine, but instead looked around the room, got up and walked away, gesturing to a soldier to have a private conversation.

By this time, the soldiers who had accompanied him up the mountain had already scouted the surrounding area.

They not only thoroughly examined the sheds at the foot of the cliff, but also searched Jiangzhi's medicine shop on the cliff.

Soon, Xu Dong learned about the situation from the soldiers: two elderly people, a patient, and the woman.

The two young men that Li Laoshi mentioned yesterday were nowhere to be found.

After Xu Dong left, the room fell silent. Jiang Zhi looked at Xiaomanye, then at Xu Dazhu, who was still lying down.

The three exchanged glances without speaking. Although their expressions were still tense, they also conveyed a sense of relief.

Today's situation is different from what I expected. I originally thought that Zhang Jun would come up the mountain to investigate the assault incident and then bring up the medicine.

Unexpectedly, it was the physician who arrived; it seems the shortage of medicine is extremely urgent.

This change is definitely a good thing for Jiang Zhi. She is not afraid of people coming to her door asking for medicine; she is afraid that people will look down on her.

Xu Dong said a few words to the soldier and then returned to his original seat. He handed over the earthenware bowl and casually asked, "Another bowl of tea, please. Where are those two young men from yesterday?"

This is what Zhang Juntou demanded: to find out who the assailant was.

Jiang Zhi said angrily, "We were gathering herbs on the mountain, and a group of you came. We were so scared that we didn't dare to come back."

She acknowledged that Xiaoman and Errui were there, but they wouldn't be coming back.