Chapter 286: Beardy (2)
The bearded man’s appearance was just too shocking for her. When she thought back to the events of last night and looked at the man’s hands, even though his fingers were thick and rough, the back of his hand was smooth and his fingers were long. Someone with skin like that should be a young man; why did he look like a rough and unshaven old brute?
The people of the Great Wu Dynasty loved beauty, so even the men cared for their outer appearance. Chu Lian’s own father, Chu Qizheng, was completely clean-shaven despite his age! The young man by her side, on the other hand, didn’t look older and thirty, yet he touted such a thick beard around- what was up with that?
Chu Lian was only stunned for a moment. She quickly realised there was something wrong with the man beside her.
Her heart thumped and she reached out to touch the man’s forehead- it was burning hot! She turned her attention to his thin lips and realised that they didn’t have the distinct pink of health. Instead, his lips had lost all colour and were peeling.
By this time, Chu Lian couldn’t care about the reservation between men and women in this dynasty. How could she place those fusty customs above the life of her own saviour?
Chu Lian started checking if the man had any wounds on his body, her brows tightly furrowed as she worked.
The man’s armour was still fine, so other than any internal injuries she couldn’t check for, then there was only a single wound she had to attend to: a cut on the side of his neck that was also turning pale.
Chu Lian did have some sort of knowledge in dressing wounds in the wild.
She knew that she couldn’t leave him just like that. The brows of the unconscious man were drawn together. Judging from his terrible expression, he seemed to be in a large amount of pain.
Chu Lian took a deep breath and pushed harder at the arm encircling her waist before finally escaping from the man’s embrace.
She checked over the supplies she carried with her and heaved a sigh of relief. Luckily, the things she had on her hadn’t been lost in the fall down the hill.
Chu Lian untied a small gourd from her waist.
She lifted the seal and carefully poured some of the honey water into the man’s mouth.
Although the man was currently unconscious, he still managed to swallow the honey water in his mouth out of reflex.
It seemed like her saviour had been poisoned. However, that was where her knowledge ended. She couldn’t tell what kind of poison he was suffering from.
Even though there was no harm in drinking honey water, Chu Lian didn’t dare to give him too much of it.
Chu Lian kept the small gourd and stood up to check the lay of the land around them, before tearing up the overly long hem of her dress and shoving it into her waistband. She then bent down, took in a deep breath, and used every single bit of her strength to drag the tall man into the shade of a pine tree and let him lean against the trunk.
She pulled out the skirt length she had torn off and covered the man with it. She made a marking nearby before hobbling off to find some herbs in their surroundings that could help clear the poison from his system.
Although she didn’t know the exact herbs that could cure his condition, she did know of a few common herbs that could stop bleeding and alleviate the poisoning.
Right after Chu Lian had left, the comatose He Sanlang suddenly mumbled, “Chu Lian…” Unfortunately, Chu Lian was already gone by then.
He was still worried for Chu Lian’s safety, even though he was comatose. Who knew what he would feel when he woke up and found out that Chu Lian didn’t even recognise her own husband?
It was already winter now, and this area was close to the northern border, so it was much colder than the capital. Chu Lian hugged her sore arm and ran about the forest for about an hour before managing to gather a few herbs.
By the time she returned to her saviour, she found out that his body was trembling even though he was still in the throes of a high fever.
