After the sunset, the cave was plunged into darkness, with only a few rays of moonlight filtering through the cracks in the inner stone walls, allowing glimpses of human figures. Because of his injuries, Yan Zheng had been made to lie down and rest early by Jiang Xi.

She herself felt a little restless and tossed and turned. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she suddenly heard a pattering sound, which startled Jiang Xi so much that she sat up.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in the cave, followed by a deafening roar of thunder rolling down from above, the crackling sounds growing louder.

It's raining.

Jiang Xi didn't have time to think too much. She hurriedly got up, put on a sweater, and rushed out the door. The pottery was still outside, and if it got wet in the rain, all her work would be for nothing.

The rain was pouring down, and the storm was violently attacking every inch of the valley. She dared not delay and ran up the hillside, guided by the flashes of lightning.

It was dark and the road was slippery. She could no longer tell whether her feet were on grass or in wet puddles. She just kept running up the hillside. Suddenly, she tripped over something and lost her balance, falling forward.

The dense raindrops pattered on the leaves in the forest, and the water on the mountain flowed down the slope. She fell heavily into the cement pit.

The wind, carrying rain, lashed against her already pale face, making it impossible for Jiang Xi to see anything clearly. Perhaps she had bumped into something; her abdomen felt like it was being gripped tightly by an invisible force, twitching and draining her remaining strength. Her legs felt numb as if being pricked with needles.

She thought she was doomed, but just then, a figure suddenly rushed out from the dark rain.

The wooden door rattled in the strong wind. When Yan Zheng woke up and couldn't find Jiang Xi beside him, he rushed out without thinking when he heard the sound of the wooden door banging.

Using the flash of lightning, Yan Zheng ran over and helped her up. Jiang Xi saw that he was shirtless and wearing nothing, with rain pouring down on him. She hoarsely shouted in the rain, pushing and shoving him, "Go back quickly, the rain is too heavy."

She kept calling out, "Go back quickly."

Yan Zheng seemed not to hear her, and rushed into the cave with her in his arms. Before Jiang Xi could stop him, he turned around and rushed back into the rain. He ran back and forth three times before he finally brought all the pottery back from the hillside.

However, the bottom of one of the plates and jars was so soft and limp from being soaked in water.

Jiang Xi ignored the dead objects and stumbled to her knees on the stove, grabbing a handful of firewood and throwing it in to start a fire.

By the light of the fire, he hurriedly tried to untie the belt around Yan Zheng's waist. Blood kept seeping out from under the belt, mixed with mud and rainwater, making it filthy beyond recognition.

It is said that when people are afraid, their hearts contract rapidly and they involuntarily shed tears.

Jiang Xi felt a tightness in her chest and her whole body felt like it was soaking in ice water, a bone-chilling cold.

Perhaps because it was so cold, her hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't even untie the knot in the ribbon.

"I can do it myself, your hands are too cold."

Yan Zheng held her hand and rubbed it, as if to warm it and to comfort her.

Once she calmed down, I helped her take off her wet sweater and let her warm herself by the fire.

By the light of the fire, he bent down and untied the belt around his waist.

Jiang Xi's brain went blank the moment she saw the wound. What she had expected to be a bloody mess was now covered in a grayish-yellow scab. The yellow tissue fluid mixed with the blood made the wound look gruesome.

The wound is infected.

No wonder he was in so much pain all day; she hadn't even considered that possibility.

In her panic, Jiang Xi used the firelight to clean the dirt off his waist and abdomen with warm water.

"It's all my fault." Her voice trembled and trembled with a hint of sobbing.

Yan Zheng's face turned pale from the pain. He took a deep breath and said, "I wore my nails down to the bare end just to get this little bit out. Luckily you woke up quickly, otherwise all my work these past few days would have been for nothing, and I would have taken this blow to my back for nothing?"

"You've been in pain for so long, I should have realized sooner that the wound was infected." Jiang Xi blamed herself.

He clenched his teeth and braced himself with his arms behind him to minimize the spread of the wound: "Don't even mention you, I didn't even notice it myself, I thought it was just normal pain from an external injury."

"Tell me, what can I do now?" She panicked, but tried her best to calm herself down.

The pain aggravated his wound, and Yan Zheng groaned, gritting his teeth as he said, "Scraping the bone to treat the wound."

"What time is it? You're still joking." Perhaps because she was too scared, her tone was stiff and hesitant.

"I'm not kidding, it's just not that exaggerated."

"First, clean the dagger, burn it with fire, then disinfect it with iodine, and break open the scab." He paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "Scrape out the pus and necrotic tissue, then disinfect and bandage it."

"It will hurt a lot," she said, unable to bear it.

Jiang Xi shook her head: "I don't know if I can do it."

Yan Zheng looked into her eyes: "Jiang Xi, I definitely can't operate this myself. It's all up to you now." After saying that, he bit a wooden stick and lay down on his side facing the firelight: "Come here."

Jiang Xi's mind went blank, but she still subconsciously rushed into the inner room, took out the leaf bed, and placed it not far from the stove so that Yan Zheng could lie down on it again.

She took two deep breaths, her whole body trembling violently, holding the knife, unsure where to begin.

Seeing that this wouldn't work, Yan Zheng simply spat out the stick and began to guide her step by step.

"First, disinfect the dagger and the wound with iodine solution, then make the cut boldly and clean the wound carefully."

"The longer it drags on, the more it hurts for me."

He told Jiang Xi to do it step by step. The initial disinfection was bearable, but when they actually started cleaning the wound, the muscles in his waist, abdomen and even his entire upper body began to twitch uncontrollably. The wound felt like it was being roasted by a raging fire, and the pain accompanied every breath as it squeezed his nerves frantically. Yan Zheng was in so much pain that the veins on his forehead bulged.

Even so, there were only intermittent gasps in his throat, no shouts or cries of pain. Throughout the entire wound cleaning process, he was like a dying fish on the beach, forced to breathe heavily to relieve the pain.

Jiang Xi didn't dare to look at him; she just kept her head down, staring at the wound, forcing herself to stay focused.

Be more careful, be faster.

Despite the biting cold wind outside, her forehead, neck, and palms were covered in cold sweat.

The flames in the stove rose and fell as she cleaned, removed pus, rotten flesh, disinfected, and bandaged. She did it all in one go, and Yan Zheng fainted from the pain after she finished.

Jiang Xi threw away the dagger and sat on the ground as if all her strength had left her. She hugged her head and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

She knew that the broken plates and bowls weren't enough to make Yan Zheng take such a big risk, but because she was in the rain, because she cared about those broken plates and bowls, he rushed into the rain despite his injuries.

But at this moment, she truly felt that nothing was more important than his life.

In the first half of her life, she had never stolen anything or done anything wrong. At this moment, she only hoped that God would have mercy on her one more time and not let her send this man away in this desolate wilderness.

After her emotions calmed down a bit, she leaned on Yan Zheng's chest and listened carefully until she confirmed the strong heartbeats before she finally relaxed.

After cleaning up the mess, Jiang Xi washed him again, took out his down jacket and covered him with it, shook him awake and gave him some anti-inflammatory medicine before helping him to sleep.