Ghost Marriage Horror Part 4
Salt grains leaked through the gaps in the coarse cloth, making it impossible to hold, so Sanya simply handed her the earthenware jar.
When Wang Pan'er returned to the mourning room with the pottery jar and coarse cloth clothes, Mu Chuan was already curled up on the straw mat, trembling, his cheeks burning red.
The brazier was still on the fire, the water inside still boiling hot. She poured the excess salt onto larger leaves to preserve it, and then poured the hot water into the earthenware jar to wash Mu Chuan's wounds.
After rinsing and washing my hands, I finally used strong liquor to disinfect the wound.
The alcohol made Mu Chuan shudder and wake him up. He instinctively bit his lip to suppress a groan, and forced his tightly closed eyes open a crack: "What did you give me!"
Wang Pan'er shook the bamboo tube, the smell of alcohol was pungent: "This is strong liquor that Sanya stole from her father's wine cellar. It's over 60 degrees and is worth half a dose of wound medicine."
As soon as he finished speaking, Mu Chuan began to struggle, but he was weak and powerless and could not succeed. He cried out, "I have never seen a doctor pour wine on a wound!"
Wang Pan'er dipped herself in the liquor again, touching up the stains that Mu Chuan had shaken off during his struggle: "Strong liquor disinfects, that's common sense, don't you know that?"
Mu Chuan shuddered again from the pain, and said shakily, "I've never heard of it..."
Rubbing salt into a wound hurts, but sprinkling alcohol on it is even worse. Mu Chuan's knuckles clenched so tightly they turned white, and the straw on the bed was scratched with deep grooves.
Unfortunately, he had no choice; if Mu Chuan hadn't suffered this ordeal, his life would have been in grave danger.
If only we had iodine solution.
Wang Pan'er sighed, lovingly reapplied the herbal medicine, and then grabbed a towel to wipe away the beads of sweat from Mu Chuan's brow.
Mu Chuan was delirious with fever. After lying down again, he felt as if he was being sucked into a bottomless abyss, endlessly falling and spinning inside, unable to break free. All he could hear was the woman's soft sighs.
He used all his strength to push against her wiping hand: "Am I going to die?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"If a soldier is wounded on the front lines and develops a fever, his chances of survival are slim..."
Wang Pan'er interrupted, "What nonsense are you thinking? Those in the army who are missing limbs are indeed beyond saving, even if you were a celestial being. Although your shoulder has been pierced, which looks scary, it didn't even touch the major artery. As long as the inflammation is treated properly, it won't be life-threatening at all."
Mu Chuan was not entirely convinced. The woman before him had become so gentle and good-tempered, as if she were having a good meal before going to the guillotine: "I know this strong liquor is your last resort. My fate is like this, I don't blame you. If I die, please give my jade pendant to the manager of Lanruoting Restaurant on South Street in Shangjing. My mother... I am really worried about her."
She's a filial and good child.
Wang Pan'er couldn't help but shut his incessantly chattering mouth, and then rubbed his flushed cheeks: "I've seen the King of Hell. I want to save you, but the King of Hell definitely won't accept you."
"You woman, how..."
Wang Pan'er didn't want to hear his nagging, so she grabbed his hand again after just letting go. Mu Chuan's once handsome face was now comically disheveled: "Look, you can still talk back to me. Can the Black and White Impermanence sway you?"
Mu Chuan turned his head away from her grip: "If you touch me again..."
Before he could finish speaking, Wang Pan'er mischievously touched his Adam's apple with her fingertip. "What? Trying to bite your tongue and commit suicide?"
Mu Chuan, unperturbed by the teasing, seemed to swell up with energy after a few jokes, and couldn't resist the urge to play.
She leered at Mu Chuan's bare, good skin, saying, "I've never seen anyone more handsome than you. I was even thinking of marrying you after you recovered. Then I'd go and take over a mountain stronghold, marry you as my husband, and we'd live a happy life together. But if you don't recover, no matter how handsome you are, you'll just be thrown into a mass grave and left to be devoured by hyenas and bald wolves. Tsk tsk, it's unbearable to look at!"
"That's utter nonsense!"
"Is it allowed or not?"
"Utterly absurd."
After two days, Mu Chuan had fully witnessed Wang Pan'er's true nature. He felt like there was a needle stuck in his head, constantly being poked, causing him a throbbing pain. So he simply closed his eyes, enduring no amount of provocation and refusing to react.
Seeing that the injured man was no longer concerned about whether he would live or die, Wang Pan'er picked out the best-quality plantain and dandelion and brewed them into an anti-inflammatory drink for Mu Chuan.
Although it can't compare to properly prepared herbs, it can still have some effect.
Finally, she picked out a few pieces of firewood that had been burned to charcoal, put them into the brazier, and pushed them under the bed. Then she shook out her coarse cloth clothes and lay down on the side of the bed that was not against the wall.
She lay down, but Wang Pan'er couldn't fall asleep. She stared at the charred rod that flickered under the bed, thinking about what Mu Chuan had said about never having seen strong liquor used for disinfection, and how soldiers in the army had a near-death experience when they caught a fever.
The world depicted in the book was largely characterized by extremely backward medical practices, and spices were not yet widely available. If one were to compare it with the history she had studied, Wang Pan'er, with her limited historical knowledge, deduced that it would probably be before the Tang and Song dynasties.
She has only a superficial understanding of medicine; her grandfather's medical knowledge was lost long ago because of his reliance on diplomas and certificates.
Moreover, this society discriminates against women. If a woman were to become a doctor by apprenticeship, she would almost certainly be instigated to commit immoral acts and then kicked out of the house.
While practicing medicine is certainly respectable, it doesn't allow one to hone their medical skills. As someone who can't even properly diagnose a patient's pulse, she would never dare to take lives so lightly.
Let's just focus on making medicinal cuisine. Hopefully, in this world where medical technology is underdeveloped, there's still some information available about medicinal cuisine.
Whether it was the alcohol, the salt water, or the medicinal liquid that had the effect, Mu Chuan opened his eyes after the rooster crowed on the third day.
The gauze bandage Wang Pan'er used wasn't perfectly neat or pretty, but it was quite standard. It could be used to apply herbal medicine and also to bind the joint, restricting movement and preventing the injury from being pulled.
Mu Chuan unwrapped the bandages. The wound on his shoulder had completely scabbed over, with only occasional dull pain reminding him that he was an injured person.
The charcoal fire under the bed still emitted residual warmth, a small crack was left in the window, and the table was covered with clean earthenware pots and many bamboo tubes; everything was simple and clean.
Even he himself felt refreshed and clear-headed. This comfort was thanks to his daily resistance against Wang Pan'er's attempts to cleanse him.
Now, apart from his unhealed wounds, he feels like an inexhaustible ox, and the unbearable pain of the night and day after his injury seems like a distant memory.
The person who had taken such good care of him was now sprawled out on the ground, fast asleep without any regard for ladylike manners.
Mu Chuan sat up and gently nudged Wang Pan'er's elbow with the back of his foot.
"It's so noisy, the alarm hasn't gone off yet."
While Wang Pan'er was still half asleep, she was full of energy and instinctively thrust forward, giving Mu Chuan a hard blow to the ankle.
Mu Chuan chuckled. Although he couldn't understand what Wang Pan'er was saying and had even been elbowed, he was inexplicably in a good mood as he watched the person on the ground gurgling around.
This is not Wang Pan'er's fault. She didn't even have a makeshift bed on the floor. Even the original owner's body, which was used to hardship, would be worn out and her back would ache terribly after sleeping on the floor for three days straight.
After being woken up, Wang Pan'er could no longer sleep soundly. Holding her back, she groaned and got up from the ground.
After getting up, she saw the handsome Mu Chuan sitting upright on the edge of the bed. He was expressionless, but he looked incredibly well-behaved. Wang Pan'er smiled and said, "Beautiful Mu, you're awake!"
"Thanks to you, young lady, the King of Hell didn't take you. I don't even know what name you believe in."
"I, Wang Pan'er, am not a good name. You can call me whatever you want." Wang Pan'er said, glancing at the bed behind Mu Chuan. "You don't need to sleep, right?"
Mu Chuan shook his head. Wang Pan'er, as if she had been granted a pardon, threw herself into the straw pile that served as a cushion, disregarding her image.
Ever since Mu Chuan removed his mask, and after her daily struggles with him had been fruitless, Wang Pan'er completely ignored the fact that Mu Chuan was male.
She rolled around on the bed like a child, saying, "The floor is no place for a human to sleep. Now that you're better, Mu Chuan, let's head to town as soon as possible."
Mu Chuan nodded in agreement: "That's exactly what I was thinking."
"Alright then." Wang Pan'er rolled out of bed, skillfully picked up the now-damaged sword, and turned around to ask, "Shall we set off immediately after we've had a hearty meal?"
After feeling refreshed for only half an hour, Mu Chuan felt his forehead tighten up again, as if it were about to snap.
On her last meal in this remote mountain valley, Wang Pan'er still couldn't find the rabbit nest. She thought angrily that when she got to town, her first meal would definitely be a pot of stir-fried rabbit pieces, and a couple of spicy rabbit heads to satisfy her craving.
Adult rabbits are wary and difficult to catch, while young rabbits are clever at hiding. These past few days, she has been scrambling around in the mountains, and the small animals have become alert.
In the end, Wang Pan'er only managed to spear one fish.
Wang Pan'er used the tip of her sword to pry open the fish's belly, and the entrails slid into the stream, attracting a group of silver fish to fight for the food. Her scale-scraping technique was extremely skillful; the fish scales, as thin as cicada wings, drifted in the wind and shimmered with iridescent light in the sunlight.
Wash away the blood and mucus from the fish, then marinate it with spice powder to remove the fishy smell, and roast it over a fire until golden brown.
The water in the brazier was bubbling and churning. Wang Pan'er threw the grilled fish into the brazier, stirred it with a small twig, and magically, a rich, milky white liquid appeared.
Mu Chuan watched in stunned silence.
Before placing the basin on the table, Wang Pan'er said to Mu Chuan in an unprecedentedly serious tone, "Watch me perform one of my specialties for you."
Mu Chuan's gaze shifted from the pot to Wang Pan'er, who then pinched a pinch of salt between three fingers, rubbed it, and raised her elbow. The salt grains fell onto the inside of her fair forearm, scattering and finally falling into the pot like snowflakes.
Mu Chuan didn't know the meaning behind this action, but the aroma from the pot was irresistible. He swallowed hard and exclaimed, "Wonderful, wonderful!"
Seeing his support, Wang Pan'er became extremely proud. She picked up a clean bamboo tube, filled a bowl, and said, "I'm giving you the first sip."
Salted fish and bland meat, enhanced by salt, tasted even more delicious than the mushroom and chicken soup he had on the first day.
Mu Chuan maintained a proper posture, but his throat moved rapidly as the fish soup entered his mouth, gurgling and gulping, and in an instant, the entire bamboo tube of fish soup was gone.
Not only fish soup, but also roasted potatoes, peeled and steaming hot, with a carb aroma that was simply irresistible.
Before he could finish eating, Mu Chuan suddenly stood up and leaned out the window with a serious expression.
Wang Pan'er, being very perceptive, mouthed, "What's going on?"
Mu Chuan responded, "Someone is coming."
Holy crap!
Wang Pan'er poured the remaining fish soup onto the fire to extinguish it, and then, like Mu Chuan, pressed her head against the window.
At the distant village entrance, a group of pedestrians could be seen.
Wang Pan'er exclaimed that martial arts practitioners have such good hearing; they can hear sounds from so far away.
As they drew closer, they saw two aunties with two little girls, followed by two burly men, walking from outside the village.
Wang Pan'er knew this group of people very well.
They're just those damned matchmaker and nanny from the landlord's family.
Wang Pan'er's temper flared up instantly.
Seeing Wang Pan'er's murderous aura, Mu Chuan quickly grabbed her wrist and whispered, "Don't be impulsive. That strong man has a short blade stuck in his boot. He is no ordinary servant. I am injured and cannot fight them."
Wang Pan'er's fingers cracked as she clenched them: "It was these bastards who killed me. I want to see what they're up to now."
Seeing that she had no intention of giving up, Mu Chuan dared not let go: "Prevention is the best policy, caution is the next best policy. No matter what, life is the most important thing."
"I know, I won't act impulsively." Wang Pan'er said with a forced smile, "Don't light a fire, just stay here and wait for me to come back."
Mu Chuan continued to dissuade him: "As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn."
"A gentleman takes his revenge even after ten years. I will never confront them head-on. It's not worth trading my life for theirs. You should believe me."
After a few days of getting to know her, this does indeed seem to be Wang Pan'er's way of doing things.
Mu Chuan saw that Wang Pan'er had regained her senses and let go of her hand.
"Don't worry, once I get back, we'll head to town."
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