His consciousness was somewhat blurred, the scenery before him spinning in circles, making his head ache terribly.
What kind of cursed treatment was this?
Inserting needles, drawing blood from the wound—after over an hour of nonstop work, Chu Lingzhi finally took out some powder, sprinkled it on the wound, bandaged it up, administered one more needle, and pulled it out.
By this time, Nangong Yehen was drenched in sweat. Chu Junyu, being sensible, took a cloth and crouched beside him to wipe his sweat away.
Nangong Yichen also helped out, both of them behaving obediently.
Afraid that Nangong Yehen might fall asleep and never wake up, Chu Junyu kept telling him stories.
Chu Lingzhi took out a thermos filled with herbal medicine, which had been brewed at Fu Chunyan’s place before they set out.
She had Nangong Yehen take the medicine along with a piece of snake venom antidote.
Watching him suffer, Chu Lingzhi felt uneasy herself.
"How do you feel?" she asked him with concern.
"What do you think?" Nangong Yehen’s voice was weak.
He’d lost quite a bit of blood—how could he not be weak?
And this woman had the nerve to ask how he felt?
Could he say it was worse than death?
Chu Lingzhi pursed her lips. She was just genuinely concerned about him, but the way she phrased it came out a bit... off.
"You’re tough, not passing out," Chu Lingzhi said, giving him a thumbs-up.
After constantly draining his blood and inserting needles, she was tired too, so she sat down beside him.
Occasionally, she wiped the sweat from his face.
Her attentive care toward Nangong Yehen didn’t go unnoticed by the two little ones.
Nangong Yehen also took note of it.
Seeing the fatigue between her brows, Nangong Yichen walked over and stood before her, his childish voice carrying concern for her.
"Go sleep in the tent for a while. I’ll take care of him."
Chu Lingzhi smiled. With their care, this bit of exhaustion was nothing to her.
After sitting down, she did feel somewhat tired.
She looked at Nangong Yehen lying on the ground, seeing how weak he was—it would probably take about four hours before he could stand.
"You go rest in the tent," she said.
"No," Nangong Yehen refused. He needed the fresh natural breeze and air.
"Let me check your wound," Chu Lingzhi said, asking him to turn over.
She lifted his clothes. The wound on his back wasn’t as shocking to look at as yesterday.
With the cold poison expelled from his body, his resistance and immunity were recovering, so the wound would heal quickly.
Given his injury, resting here for a few days would lead to improvement.
"You shouldn’t get up and move around now. You need to lie down and rest for at least four hours..."
Before she could finish, Chu Junyu suddenly cut in: "Four hours, then two hours to go down the mountain—that’ll be evening already."
"We can spend the night on the mountain," Nangong Yichen said, glancing at him coolly.
Hearing this, Chu Junyu found the idea exciting.
He blinked his bright eyes at Chu Lingzhi. "Mommy, are we really going to stay here overnight?"
"There are wolves in the mountains," Chu Lingzhi said, glancing at the wild boar. "And wild boars might show up too."
As for whether there were other beasts, she didn’t know.
For their safety, she certainly wouldn’t agree to staying overnight in the mountains.
"A mere wolf? I’m not scared at all," Chu Junyu said, hands on his hips, chin raised, his expression both proud and amusing.
Nangong Yichen also strongly agreed to stay overnight and added, "I’m not scared either!"
"Just because you’re not scared doesn’t mean there’s no danger. For our safety, I disagree," Chu Lingzhi said.