Liang Qi felt the frail woman in his arms trembling uncontrollably. He found Xiaoyue's arms and gently pulled her into his embrace.

Xiaoyue was still trembling, but she raised her head and said to Liang Qi, "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Liang Qi felt even more sorry for the woman in his arms. While comforting her, he murmured in Xiaoyue's ear, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, I'm here. You won't be able to find us. Be good, don't be afraid."

Xiaoyue opened her large, frightened eyes, speaking rapidly. She tried to keep herself from trembling, but no matter how hard she bit her tongue, she couldn't stop herself from shaking.

Liang Qi held her tightly as she whispered in her ear, "It's all temporary. Once I'm better, I can take you away."

Liang Qi recalled his previous impression of Xiaoyue: a capable, bold, fearless, and somewhat shrewish woman who often fought alongside him. Even when they were being robbed, they managed to tie up one person and injure two others, but he had never seen Xiaoyue like this before.

Liang Qi kept comforting Xiaoyue, but Xiaoyue felt Liang Qi's embrace gradually weaken, like a fire in a trap slowly dying out. The voices above became clearer.

"Centurion Li, we've searched the entire village, inside and out, but there's not a single person here," a soldier said in a booming voice.

Xiaoyue trembled again upon hearing the voice, and Liang Qi held her tightly in his arms. Only now did Liang Qi realize that Xiaoyue wasn't fearless; rather, she had simply built a hard shell around herself.

Then, the man above, with a rough, hoarse voice, ordered, "Wen San, Zhao Si, you two take a small team and go to the nearby mountains to see if everyone has gone up there. Kill them one if you see one, and kill them in pairs if you see two. They dare to play this game of cutting off our supply lines, and they will pay the price."

The voice that said "Yes" was loud and clear, resounding with its impact.

The rough, hoarse voice said again, "We'll spend the night here."

The sound of the soldiers' footsteps running away, and the rough sound of the man's military boots entering the house, followed by the man shouting, "Tian Wu, go and arrange for the rest of the people. Carefully search each household to see if they still have any food, especially the families here. They all like to dig cellars in their houses. Tell the soldiers to search every cellar. Those who come with us cannot go without food."

"Yes," another person outside was heard leaving.

At this moment, the rough, hoarse voice spoke again: "Scholar, come in, and Hei Zi, come in too. Let's discuss what to do next. Let's find a local soldier." Then came the sound of people entering the room.

Xiaoyue and Liangqi didn't dare to breathe. Once the noise subsided, Xiaoyue quietly left Liangqi's embrace and, by the light of the tinderbox, picked up the firewood scattered on the ground.

Xiaoyue had only gathered half a bundle of firewood when she caught a glimpse of Liang Qi, who was sitting on the quilt, slowly collapsing. Xiaoyue hurriedly crawled to Liang Qi's side, not daring to call out, and could only gently shake him.

Liang Qi was shaken twice, weakly opened his eyes, smiled at Xiaoyue, and then closed his eyes again.

Xiaoyue suppressed her fear and heartache, and in the dim light of the fire, she continued to pick up the broken firewood from the ground. Just as she was about to light the firewood, she heard a voice from above: "Report."

Startled, Xiaoyue dropped the tinder and firewood she had lit to the ground. A voice came from above, saying, "Come in."

The person standing at the door said, "I've brought the firewood over."

After opening the door and entering the house, he said, "The main room is more spacious than this one, and it has a large wardrobe, a kang cabinet, and a loom."

The soldier named Xiucai said, "It's safer to sleep in the side room. Have you found any food?"

The soldier who had brought the firewood added, "The centurion was right; we found a sack of cabbages in the cellar."

The soldier then pointed to the sauerkraut jar in the kitchen and said, "Look, this is sauerkraut. It's what ordinary families in the village eat in winter."

"Alright, burn the firewood, then you can go down now."

Just then, a rough, hoarse voice came from inside the house: "Still haven't found any food?"

The soldier said, "No, I don't know if we've found the villagers yet."

The scholar patted the soldier on the shoulder and said, "Go to the village and ask about the situation, then come here and report to the centurion. I'll gather the firewood."

The soldier responded and left the house. Just then, they heard the crackling of firewood. Xiaoyue picked up the tinderbox and lit two pieces of firewood at a time.

She set up the medicine pot, poured the water from the gourd into it, and started brewing medicine for Liang Qi. To prevent the smell of the medicine from spreading outside, Xiaoyue placed the medicine pot at the farthest point from the house and squatted there to brew the medicine for Liang Qi.

While brewing the medicine, he glanced sideways at the weak Liang Qi, took a deep breath, hugged his shoulders, and squatted there to brew the medicine.

Then came the sound of footsteps from above. A soldier reached the door and called out, "Report!"

The scholar inside spoke up again: "Have you found any grain?"

The soldier said, "We couldn't find any food, so Da Zhao cooked a pot of potatoes that he had collected from various households, and also cooked a pot of cabbage soup. He served some to the centurion and you."

"No...no...no...no good..." The soldier stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Seeing that the soldier was so indecisive, the scholar kicked him, sending him sprawling. The soldier got up and grabbed the scholar's leg, saying, "Something bad has happened...something bad has happened...a family in the village has found six red boxes."

"Speak properly, what's wrong with the box?" the scholar said anxiously, grabbing the soldier's collar.

"There are four big men sleeping on the kang (heated brick bed)," the soldier said in a trembling voice.

At this moment, the two people inside the house also came out. The one with the hoarse voice said, "Let's go and take a look at that family's house."

Without paying any attention to the soldier, she strode out of the house. The man called Xiucai closed the door. As the footsteps faded into the distance, Xiaoyue quietly pushed open the lid and poked her head out.

Upon discovering that the stove was still burning, Xiaoyue quickly darted out of the hole, grabbed a bundle of firewood and threw it down, then filled a gourd with water, picked up a water pine tree filled with water, and lifted it up.

Finally, they put the lid back on, and with firewood and a pot available, they started a fire and cooked a large pot of rice. They also relit the fire under the medicine pot.

Xiaoyue fed Liang Qi the medicine she had prepared, and Liang Qi's spirits improved slightly.

Xiaoyue served Liang Qi another bowl of rice, and Xiaoyue also served herself a bowl. The two of them ate two bowls of white rice, sitting by the flickering light of the firewood, each treating the other as if they were food.

They would exchange a smile after each bite of rice, feeding each other bites of rice.

Then the two smiled at each other, and the atmosphere around them was sweet.

A spark flew from the wood in the fire, and the two of them seemed as happy as if they were watching fireworks.

"Centurion, centurion," the scholar called out urgently, indicating the rank of the officer.

Several more men followed, shouting, "Centurion, centurion! Tell Tian Wu to find a few men to go find the doctor, quick, very quick!"