Chapter 203 The Scholar Appears Again
The night was as dark as ink, and the wind in the mountains carried a biting chill.
Jiang Ling helped the immobile Fang Shijie as they struggled along the rugged mountain path.
After a whole day of fright and running, coupled with not having eaten or drunk anything, both of them were nearing their physical limits.
Jiang Ling felt as if her legs were filled with lead, each step was extremely heavy, her stomach was empty and she was constantly feeling dizzy.
Although Fang Shijie was holding on, the effects of the snake venom and the injury to his leg meant that most of his weight was on Jiang Ling's thin shoulders.
Sweat soaked her temples, and a gust of cold wind made her shiver.
"Miss Jiang...please put me down..." Fang Shijie's breath was weak, his voice filled with apology.
"You're alone, so you might find a way out faster."
"Don't talk, save your energy," Jiang Ling interrupted him.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, just when Jiang Ling felt she was about to give up, she suddenly felt that her field of vision had widened considerably.
After clearing away the last patch of bushes, a fairly flat official road finally came into view.
Jiang Ling was overjoyed.
Great! Reaching the main road means we're not far away.
If Cheng Fang and Zhao Jingxing send people to search for them, they can find them quickly.
Who's there?
A slightly wary voice came from the side.
Jiang Ling looked in the direction of the sound.
In the distance, beside the official road, there was a simple donkey cart, and around it sat seven or eight ragged people, warming themselves by a small fire.
Judging from their attire, they appear to be refugees.
Jiang Ling breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, they weren't bandits!
However, just as hope was rising, vigilance followed.
Now, one of them was wounded, and the other was a woman with no strength to even kill a chicken. They had been hungry all day and had been running all day, so they had no strength left to resist.
Yet, he was dressed in fine clothes.
Now all we can do is pray that these refugees don't harbor any ill intentions.
Otherwise, it would truly be like escaping one wolf's den only to fall into another.
Jiang Ling originally intended to leave silently with Fang Shijie.
Just then, a man in blue robes who had been resting against the shaft of the donkey cart suddenly stood up and stared straight in Jiang Ling's direction.
He was taken aback at first, then quickly stepped forward.
Jiang Ling's heart jumped into her throat.
Fang Shijie seemed to sense something and grabbed Jiang Ling, ready to run away.
"Shopkeeper? You're the owner of Jishui Village Noodle Shop?" The man stopped in time, his voice filled with surprise and uncertainty.
Jiang Ling was startled and stopped in her tracks. She carefully examined the object by the dim firelight.
Although the man was pale and thin, his eyes were clear and bright, and he had a scholarly air about him.
And... the more I look at it, the more familiar it seems.
It was the scholar who had eaten noodles at her shop, and also the scholar she had treated at the thatched pavilion on her way to the capital who had been injured by an animal trap!
"So it was you!"
Jiang Ling breathed a sigh of relief, and the panic in her heart dissipated.
Fang Shijie looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Jiang Ling explained, "It's alright, these are people I know. There's no danger."
I've done him a favor, so I shouldn't repay kindness with enmity.
His action immediately attracted the attention of the other refugees, who gathered around and, upon seeing Jiang Ling, all showed surprise and gratitude, bowing respectfully.
"This is the young lady!"
"It was the medicine given by this young lady that saved Zhou Langjun's life."
"We will always remember your kindness, young lady!"
The man in blue paled upon hearing this. "Uncle Li, are you saying that this young lady is the benefactor who treated me that day?"
It's no wonder he didn't know; he was unconscious at the time, burning up so badly he was barely conscious.
After waking up, Li Bo and the others told them the details, but their knowledge was limited and they could not describe what Jiang Ling looked like.
The six people were talking at once, each giving a different description, which made it impossible for him to imagine the exact appearance of his savior.
Naturally, it's impossible to connect this with Jiang Ling.
Among the group, the older man nodded;
“Young Master Zhou, it is indeed this young lady! Haven’t you been saying you wanted to repay her? Now that she’s right in front of you, how come you don’t recognize her?”
Zhou Zhongliang paused for a moment, then strode over and bowed deeply to Jiang Ling, saying excitedly:
"I, Zhou Zhongliang, am deeply grateful to my benefactor for saving my life that day!"
Jiang Ling quickly offered a gesture of support: "Young Master Zhou, please rise. It was nothing but a small favor; there's no need for such a grand gesture."
"If it weren't for my benefactor that day, my life would have ended there! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him my second parents."
Jiang Ling saw the sincerity in his eyes, and her nerves, which had been tense all day, finally relaxed.
My nose tingled, and I felt a sense of meeting an old friend in a foreign land.
Looking at Jiang Ling's disheveled appearance and Fang Shijie, who was clearly injured under the shadow of a tree behind her, Zhou Zhongliang's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise and doubt.
"Why is my benefactor here? Has he encountered some danger?"
He remembered that when Uncle Li described his benefactor to him, he said that she was always accompanied by guards and thugs, so she must be a rich girl. How could she have fallen to such a state?
Jiang Ling didn't care about anything else at the moment and said briefly:
“We encountered bandits and barely managed to escape. My friend was even bitten by a poisonous snake.”
Uncle Li immediately said, "There is indeed a Black Wind Stronghold nearby, and they are very arrogant. Don't worry, young lady, we know this area well, and the Black Wind Stronghold can't reach this place! I also have some herbs here that can clear heat and detoxify, you can apply them to relieve the symptoms first."
He gestured for his companion to help Fang Shijie up, then checked Fang Shijie's wound and nodded, saying, "It was treated very promptly; the toxin did not spread over a large area."
Zhou Zhongliang took a water bag and some dry rations from the donkey cart. "My benefactors, please eat something and drink some water to regain your strength. There is a hidden path from here that leads directly to the southern suburbs of the capital. It is much faster and safer than taking the official road."
Jiang Ling was extremely grateful. She accepted the dry food and water and sat down against the donkey cart.
Although the food was simple, it was as delicious as a delicacy at this time.
Zhou Zhongliang also sent Fang Shijie some food and water.
Seeing that he was still having some difficulty moving, Jiang Ling asked, "By the way, how's your wound?"
Zhou Zhongliang added some more firewood to the fire. "Thanks to my benefactor's medicine, the wound is healing very quickly. Although it is not fully healed yet, it has not damaged my bones and muscles and does not affect my mobility."
After being treated by Jiang Ling that day, his fever subsided that night, and he woke up slowly the next day.
I consulted a local doctor, who, although unable to identify the ingredients of the medicine, marveled at its miraculous effects!
The wound has now scabbed over.
"Don't call me your benefactor. We're about the same age. Just call me Jiang Ling."
"Okay, Miss Jiang."
Jiang Ling warmed herself by the fire and ate a few more bites of dry rations, and had recovered.
"By the way, Young Master Zhou, didn't you go to the capital to take the imperial examination? How did you end up as a vagrant?"
Mentioning the imperial examination, Zhou Zhongliang's eyes instantly dimmed, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice deepened:
"...I failed the exam."
Jiang Ling thought about it and didn't understand why students who failed the exam would be associated with becoming refugees.
He paused, a deep pain and resentment flashing across his face. "It's not that I'm not talented enough, it's that someone impersonated me and took my place!"
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