Chapter 70 Illness "Don't cry, come up here."
"Xie Lanzhou! This earthen bed can't withstand such movement from you, get up now!"
"Then I'll be gentler."
"Waaaaah, you're lying! You didn't go any lighter!"
"Don't cry, come up here." Xie Lanzhou said, kissing away her tears and helping her sit down.
Su Panyue moved around a couple of times, then groaned and bent over, lying down.
Xie Lanzhou chuckled and said in a low voice, "You should get some exercise; your stamina isn't what it used to be."
"What 'before'?" Su Panyue asked, puzzled.
“It’s not like when I was unconscious,” Xie Lanzhou said, lifting her up with both hands.
Su Panyue recalled some indescribable memories, pursed her lips and remained silent, but soon she couldn't hold back anymore.
She gripped the man's muscular arm tightly, her mind blank, with only a strand of her long hair swaying slightly.
...
As noon approached, the group continued their journey, heading north along the path.
The midday sun was warm and pleasant, so none of them sat inside the carriage. Instead, they sat on the carriage shafts to get some fresh air and chatted idly, except for the usually silent guard, Seventeen.
The ghost uncle leading the way suddenly stopped, squinting as he looked around.
Seventeen immediately became alert, drew his long sword from his waist, and instantly protected Su Panyue and Xie Lanzhou.
"What's wrong, Uncle Ghost?" Su Panyue asked.
Uncle Gui stroked his beard and pondered for a moment before saying, "Uh, after this snow, I can't remember which road it was."
Su Panyue said speechlessly, "You, didn't you say you had been there?"
Uncle Gui chuckled twice, took out a compass from his pocket, muttered "Don't panic," and spun the compass around.
After circling around two or three times, he suddenly exclaimed, "I've got it! This way!"
"Are you sure?" Su Panyue looked in the direction he pointed, but all she saw was a vast expanse of white, nothing at all.
"Trust me, at worst we can just turn another corner if we go the wrong way." Gui Bo spurred his horse in that direction.
Su Panyue glanced at Xie Lanzhou's calm expression and sighed helplessly.
After traveling for half a day, we didn't see anyone on the road. All we could see was snow. As darkness fell, the setting sun hung in the sky, bringing the last warmth of the day.
Su Panyue leaned on Xie Lanzhou's shoulder and asked in a loud voice, "Uncle Gui, where are we staying tonight?"
Uncle Gui scratched his head, squinted at the distance with one eye, and said after a moment, "Let's just find an open space. There's no village or shop in sight, so there's no other way."
So before it got completely dark, the group found an open space, parked the three carriages in a circle to block out most of the cold wind.
Seventeen and Feixue went to gather some firewood and started a fire.
Xie Lanzhou, accompanied by Su Panyue, each carrying a bow, searched for prey in the surrounding area.
Their footsteps crunched on the snow as Su Panyue clung tightly to Xie Lanzhou's coat, following behind him.
"Are you cold?" Xie Lanzhou turned around and asked, taking her hand.
Su Panyue shook her head. She was wearing a fox fur cloak today, wrapped up tightly, and wasn't cold at all. She was just a little afraid of the feeling of being all alone.
As the two were talking, Xie Lanzhou suddenly stopped, nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and squinted to aim at the distance.
With a whoosh, the arrow left the bowstring and struck a wild rabbit.
"I won!" Su Panyue ran over to pick up the rabbit with joy, and Xie Lanzhou followed behind her with a smile.
"Ahhh!" Su Panyue, who had just squatted down to pick up the rabbit, suddenly screamed and sat down on the ground with a thud.
In the blink of an eye, Xie Lanzhou was there, pulled her up from the ground, and hugged her.
Looking to the side, next to the rabbit was a skeleton, half of which was covered by snow and not very noticeable from a distance.
Xie Lanzhou patted her back and gently comforted her, "It's alright, she's been dead for a long time."
Su Panyue buried her face in his chest, still feeling shaken. Was it a question of how long he had been dead? This was a complete skeleton!
She lost interest in hunting, and Xie Lanzhou picked up the rabbit, so the two returned to the campfire.
The seventeenth had an even better harvest; he hunted a small wild boar, which was already roasting over the fire.
Smelling the aroma of roasted meat, Su Panyue couldn't help but exclaim, "You managed to kill a wild boar in such a short time? That's amazing!"
Seventeen seemed a little embarrassed and nodded slightly.
Xie Lanzhou frowned and glanced at him, then tossed the rabbit in his hand over and ordered, "Go and deal with it."
Seventeen left with the rabbit, and Xie Lanzhou sat down to continue grilling meat.
Perhaps it was because she was back by the fire that Su Panyue felt much more at ease. She sat down next to him, warmed her hands by the fire, and watched him skillfully slice off pieces of meat and place them on a plate.
Curious, he asked, "How come Your Majesty is so skilled? Did you perhaps study cooking?"
Xie Lanzhou smiled but remained silent, yet his inner thoughts were conveyed:
Both are forms of slow slicing; pigs and humans are no different.
Su Panyue had heard of the extreme punishment of slow slicing. She raised an eyebrow and glanced at the man who was focused on grilling meat, her face full of disapproval.
Realizing that her true feelings had been exposed again, Xie Lanzhou frowned slightly and asked, "If you hear these evil thoughts of mine, will you be afraid of me?" Her tone was actually a little cautious.
"You won't hurt me, so why should I be afraid of you?"
Su Panyue blinked, and in the firelight, her beautiful face looked even more charming.
Xie Lanzhou seemed so engrossed in watching that he forgot to flip the meat over. A drop of oil dripped from the roasting meat onto the fire, making a crackling sound.
He then came to his senses and handed over a plate of sliced meat.
Su Panyue picked up a slice and put it in her mouth, immediately squinting her eyes with delight, "It's really good, Your Majesty, you should try it."
As she spoke, she picked up a piece and held it to Xie Lanzhou's lips, which he naturally ate.
Just then, Seventeen returned and, seeing this scene, couldn't help but remind him, "Your Majesty, the poison hasn't been tested yet."
Xie Lanzhou raised her eyes and gave him a cold glance, and the latter immediately fell silent, not daring to say anything more.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, they returned to their carriages to rest.
As night fell, it started snowing again, and the carriage was no warmer than the house.
Even with the heater burning, the biting cold wind still blew in through every crack, whimpering like a child crying.
Su Panyue slept in Xie Lanzhou's arms. It wasn't too cold, but her sleep was extremely restless.
Some old memories entered her dream: those days of struggling to survive in the snow, the feeling of her limbs being frozen stiff, enveloped her whole being, as if she were trapped in a cocoon from which she could never escape.
Intermittent ramblings came from his sleep, and unconscious tears soaked Xie Lanzhou's chest. He immediately opened his eyes with alertness.
He moved closer to Su Panyue and heard her mutter softly that she was cold. He tightened his arms around her, pulled the blanket up, and hugged her even tighter.
But when Xie Lanzhou touched her forehead, she realized that her face was burning hot, as if she had a fever.
The north wind was still howling outside. Xie Lanzhou wrapped her tightly in the quilt, then slipped out of the car and grabbed the snoring Ghost Uncle.
"What are you doing in the middle of the night?" Before he could even put on one shoe, Xie Lanzhou grabbed him.
"She has a fever, could you take a look at her?" Xie Lanzhou's expression was calm, but his speech noticeably quickened.
Gui Bo glanced at Su Panyue, who was wrapped up like a ball, and said speechlessly, "Why don't you take her hand out? How am I supposed to take her pulse?"
Xie Lanzhou was so anxious that he forgot about this for a moment and hurriedly pulled her wrist out from under the covers.
Uncle Gui was still a little sleepy, and he began to take the pulse while half-closing his eyes and yawning.
Xie Lanzhou said in a deep voice, "Be serious!"
The ghost uncle was startled by his chilling tone and finally came to his senses. After a moment, he stopped.
"How is it?" Xie Lanzhou asked.
“It is indeed a fever, and it seems to be a symptom of convulsions,” said the old man, then asked:
"Did she suffer some kind of fright today?"
Xie Lanzhou immediately thought of the skeleton in the snow, nodded, and recounted what had happened.
Uncle Gui nodded, "That's right. She was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, and then she was exposed to the wind, which is why she's like this."
Xie Lanzhou frowned and asked, "Then how should it be treated?"
Uncle Gui fetched his medicine box and rummaged through it for a while, muttering, "Oh no, I forgot to bring it."
"What did you forget?" Xie Lanzhou pressed.
"I only brought some basic medicinal herbs with me when I came, just in case. But this girl's convulsions are not common. The most important ingredient in the medicine is Scrophularia, which I didn't bring with me on this trip."
As Gui Bo spoke, he had already reached the carriage door when someone grabbed him and pulled him back. "Think of a way!" Xie Lanzhou said, suppressing his anger.
"Alright, alright, I'll prescribe some fever-reducing medicine for her first. We'll go to the mountains tomorrow and look for some; maybe we'll get lucky and find some Scrophularia." Uncle Gui finally loosened his grip on the man's hand, allowing him to catch his breath.
Gui Bo ran off to prepare the medicinal herbs. Xie Lanzhou hugged Su Panyue, who was wrapped up like a rice dumpling, into his arms. Her brows were furrowed, and she kept muttering things like, "Don't kill me, I can't breathe."
Xie Lanzhou recalled the dream she had mentioned earlier, in which Seventeen had killed her, and fell into deep thought.
After taking the medicine, Su Panyue finally calmed down. Xie Lanzhou stayed by her side until dawn, when he woke everyone up.
After explaining Su Panyue's situation, Xie Lanzhou instructed, "Feixue, stay and take care of her. If there's any problem, immediately sound the signal. The rest of you, come with me into the mountains to find Xuan Shen."
With everything arranged, everyone went their separate ways. Gui Bo gave them a general description of the shape and appearance of Scrophularia ningpoensis. Like Blood Coagulation Flower, Scrophularia ningpoensis grows on mountains and cliffs.
However, it snowed heavily again last night, and the ground was covered with thick snow, making the mountain roads even more difficult to traverse, let alone find medicinal herbs in the snowdrifts.
Xie Lanzhou used his sword as a crutch, exploring and walking through the snow. The higher they went, the colder it got. By the time they reached the halfway point, even their eyelashes were covered in frost.
Uncle Gui carried a jug of liquor and kept drinking it to warm himself up along the way. But as he went further up, even the liquor in his jug froze, and the road was covered with a thick layer of ice. If he wasn't careful, he would fall down.
"I'm too old for this. If I climb any higher, I'll freeze to death," Uncle Gui wailed.
Xie Lanzhou glanced at him, then took off his cloak and handed it to him, saying, "We haven't found the medicine yet, don't die."
Uncle Gui took it with trembling hands, muttering that the young people these days really don't know how to talk, but he still kept climbing up the ladder.
As they neared the summit, all three were exhausted. Xie Lanzhou and Seventeen, both seasoned martial artists, could still endure the strain, but Gui Bo was completely worn out.
The group stopped searching until the sun began to set, when they finally found the Scrophularia ningpoensis in a crevice in a cliff.
Seventeen wanted to pick it, but Xie Lanzhou beat her to it. Without hesitation, Xie Lanzhou walked to the top of the cliff, used his internal energy to stand up, and then instantly plunged his sword into the cliff face to pick the ginseng.
As he turned to turn back, he discovered a flower deep inside that resembled a lotus but had eyes as red as blood. In just one glance, he knew that this was the Blood Coagulation Flower.
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Author's Note: This book is expected to finish within 300,000 words. Please add it to your favorites! [dog head with rose in hand]
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