Wang Xiuxiu supported Lu Jingze, but Lu Jingze dared not lean his entire weight on her frail body, and only tried his best to support himself.
The biting wind lashed my face like a knife, bringing waves of piercing pain.
Lu Jingze's strength gradually gave out, and he felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, then he collapsed straight onto the cold snow.
Caught off guard by his sudden movement, Wang Xiuxiu fell to the ground.
Terrified, Wang Xiuxiu disregarded her own injuries and scrambled towards Lu Jingze, her hands trembling as she checked his breathing.
CPR, pinching the tiger's mouth (a traditional Chinese medicine technique), and all available first aid methods were used.
After a period of panic, Lu Jingze managed to regain some weak breathing.
Just then, a heavy snow began to fall from the sky, as if draping the whole world in a silver shell, resembling a scene from a painting.
But Wang Xiuxiu had no heart to appreciate the beautiful scenery at this moment.
She looked up and around, and in the reflection of the snow, she could vaguely see what appeared to be a cave ahead.
Wang Xiuxiu gritted her teeth and used all her strength to lift Lu Jingze, who was a size bigger than her, off the ground.
Her body was already numb from the cold. After struggling to move forward a few steps, she finally managed to steady herself.
They stumbled and trudged toward the cave entrance, each step requiring all their strength.
As they approached the cave entrance, she gently placed Lu Jingze against the side, while she herself leaned closer to the entrance and peered inside.
Fortunately, the cave was not a den of wild animals, but rather showed signs of human habitation.
Although the cave was simple, there was some dry firewood piled up in the corner, like a place where mountain people would temporarily stay when they went into the mountains to hunt.
Wang Xiuxiu was overjoyed and quickly dragged Lu Jingze into the cave.
She reached out and touched his cheek, only to find it was ice-cold to the touch.
The weather is cold right now, and Lu Jingze has lost a lot of blood due to his previous injuries. If they don't start a fire to keep warm soon, they might freeze to death here before anyone comes to rescue them.
Wang Xiuxiu didn't dare to delay. She searched around in the cave and found a flint.
She forced herself to calm down, arranged the firewood into a small pile, and then repeatedly rubbed it with a flint and steel.
However, her fingers were already frozen stiff, and she failed to succeed after several attempts.
Wang Xiuxiu was both angry and anxious. Large beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, mingling with tears in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks.
"Why can't I light it..." Wang Xiuxiu murmured to herself, her voice filled with despair and helplessness, her voice trembling with tears.
In that corner she had overlooked, Lu Jingze, hearing the crying, struggled to open his eyes.
His once strong and powerful hands trembled slightly before falling limply to his sides as if he had exhausted all his strength, and he fell back into a coma.
"If only I had some paper..."
Wang Xiuxiu muttered to herself as she looked around.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she raised her hand and took the ironwood hairpin off her head.
She gently turned the hairpin, and the hidden mechanism inside instantly popped open, revealing the silver notes concealed within.
Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Xiuxiu decisively tore it into pieces and scattered it among the sawdust on the side.
After a long while, a tiny flame flickered among the firewood.
Wang Xiuxiu carefully protected the flame, lying on the ground and gently blowing on the sparks.
His face flushed red with nervousness, and even his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.
When she looked up again, Wang Xiuxiu's face was covered in sweat and mud, and she looked utterly disheveled.
Wang Xiuxiu straightened up and hastily wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve.
Wang Xiuxiu moved the unconscious Lu Jingze to the fire, bringing him as close to the warmth as possible.
His wounds were shocking, especially the deep gash on his chest, which exposed the bone. Although the blood had congealed, the exposed flesh was still a sight too painful to look at.
Remembering that Lu Jingze always carried medicine with him, Wang Xiuxiu hurriedly reached out and touched his waist.
Sure enough, I touched a small, cool medicine bottle.
Wang Xiuxiu took out the medicine bottle, but realized that she didn't know how to use the medicine, and she was very anxious.
They had no choice but to pour out a pill, pry open Lu Jingze's mouth, and stuff the pill inside.
However, Lu Jingze remained unconscious, the pill in his mouth, unable to swallow it.
Wang Xiuxiu was so anxious that sweat beaded on her forehead. She looked around and suddenly caught sight of some pots, pans, bowls, and chopsticks left behind by hunters in a corner of the cave.
She walked quickly over, picked up an iron pot, ran outside the cave, scooped up some clean snow from the ground, returned to the cave, and placed the pot on the fire to cook.
The wait for the snowmelt to melt seemed exceptionally long. Wang Xiuxiu squatted by the fire, her eyes fixed on the water in the pot.
Finally, the water began to bubble and boil.
First, she ladled out a bowl of food, let it cool, and fed it to Lu Jingze.
With no cloth around, Wang Xiuxiu had no choice but to tear a piece from her clothes and boil it in a pot.
Once the fabric had cooled down a bit, they began cleaning Lu Jingze's wounds.
She tried hard to control the trembling in her hands, afraid of hurting him.
However, Lu Jingze's wound was so deep that every time she wiped it, Wang Xiuxiu's heart trembled.
He's so badly injured, and the weather's so cold, he's probably going to get a fever.
Clenching her fist, Wang Xiuxiu crushed another pill and carefully applied it to his wound.
"Lu Jingze, you must hold on..." Wang Xiuxiu murmured softly.
---
Sure enough, by midnight, Lu Jingze developed a fever, his forehead burning hot.
Wang Xiuxiu's heart sank; her cloak had long since disappeared during their escape.
At this moment, he only had a cotton coat on him.
But with lives at stake, Wang Xiuxiu couldn't worry about herself and had no choice but to take off her cotton coat and cover Lu Jingze with it.
She repeatedly soaked the cloth strips in cold water and applied them to Lu Jingze's forehead.
Every touch revealed the burning heat emanating from his skin.
Wang Xiuxiu's fingers were frozen red, but she never dared to stop.
It wasn't until late at night that Lu Jingze's body temperature gradually decreased, and his breathing became much more stable.
Wang Xiuxiu finally breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.
My body felt like it was about to fall apart; every part of me, from head to toe, ached.
She forced herself to stand up and walked with difficulty toward the fire, adding more firewood to make sure the flames wouldn't go out.
After doing all that, she could no longer hold on and leaned limply against the cave wall.
That night was truly unbearable; the north wind outside howled and roared like a ferocious beast.
That fire was their only source of warmth, and it could not be extinguished for even a moment.
Every now and then, Wang Xiuxiu would have to struggle to open her eyes, add some firewood, and then reach out to touch Lu Jingze's forehead.
I finally managed to fall asleep for a while, exhausted, just before dawn.
As for Lu Jingze, he was completely exhausted and weak, as if he were immersed in icy water, with a chill that seemed to seep out from the depths of his bones.
Not only that, the pain from his injuries was unbearable, as if thousands of ants were gnawing at his flesh.
Just as Lu Jingze was struggling between the alternating hot and cold, he vaguely felt a gentle hand occasionally stroking his forehead, bringing a brief moment of comfort.
Gradually, Lu Jingze's brows furrowed slightly, as if he had regained some consciousness.
He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze still somewhat unfocused, but it quickly settled on Wang Xiuxiu's face.
She was covered in dust, her hair was disheveled, and her once pretty face now looked very haggard.
At this moment, he was tightly hugging his knees, curled up into a small ball, and in his hand, he was still tightly gripping a crossbow.
Lu Jingze struggled to raise his hand, using all his strength to try to put the cotton coat that was covering him back on Wang Xiuxiu.
However, the movement aggravated the wound, and the excruciating pain made him gasp and clench his teeth.
Wang Xiuxiu was startled awake, opened her eyes abruptly, and quickly sat up.
After seeing him clearly, she breathed a sigh of relief. "You're finally awake! How are you feeling? Are you still cold?"
Lu Jingze gently shook his head, his voice hoarse and weak: "I'm fine..."
He tried to sit up, but Wang Xiuxiu pressed him down: "Don't move, you're badly injured and need to rest."
Wang Xiuxiu suddenly remembered something and hurriedly picked up the medicine bottle, asking, "By the way, take a look, how exactly should I use these pills? Yesterday was an emergency, and I didn't know if it was right or wrong, so I fed you one first, and then crushed another one and applied it to your wound. Will there be any problems?"
Lu Jingze forced a smile: "It's nothing... You did a great job... This pill... can be used both internally and externally."
Hearing this, Wang Xiuxiu finally breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, that's good!"
After a long pause, Lu Jingze finally asked, "Where are we now?"
“It’s probably a place where mountain people temporarily stay,” Wang Xiuxiu pointed to a corner of the cave. “There’s a small jar of rice over there. You just woke up and haven’t regained your strength yet. Let’s borrow some to cook some porridge.”
Lu Jingze nodded, his gaze falling on her thin undergarment. "I'm not cold anymore, you should put on your cotton coat first."
Seeing that his complexion had improved and he was no longer as pale as he had been the night before, Wang Xiuxiu nodded and put the cotton coat back on herself.
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