It hurts...
It hurts so much...
He Muhao felt as if every bone in his body was broken. It was as if thousands of red - hot steel needles were traveling through his veins.
With great difficulty, he forced open his sticky eyelids. All he could see was a hazy mist of blood in front of his eyes. Broken shards of light flickered in the dark - red forest, gathering and dispersing erratically.
Upturned soil, broken branches and leaves, grass clippings everywhere, and deep gullies...
Wan Mo...
Where was Wan Mo?!
Suddenly, it dawned on him.
Ignoring the excruciating pain in his body, he struggled to his feet. Only then did he see the horrifying sight in front of him.
A bear as large as a small hill was lying prostrate on the ground. A blood - stained silver spear was stuck in its abdomen, tearing open a wound half a foot long. Its bluish - purple intestines were trailing on the ground...
This ferocious beast that had chased him halfway up the mountain was already dead.
The woman lying beside the bear's corpse was in no better condition. She hung her head like a broken porcelain doll. A lock of her once - neat black hair had been ripped out, stained with thick blood.
The skin on her right arm was torn and bloody. Her calves, arms, and chest were all covered with wounds of various sizes. The most terrifying was her left shoulder, where a whole piece of flesh had been torn off, exposing the bright red meat. Three deep claw marks were engraved into the flesh, and the white bones were faintly visible.
"My lady!"
He Muhao let out a startled cry and lunged forward.
"My lady, what's wrong with you?"
"My lady, wake up!"
"My lady, don't leave me..."
He Muhao shrieked in terror.
"...Leave... just leave... You can... marry a good one later..."
A weak voice sounded.
He Muhao's sobs caught in his throat. He wiped his face and asked, "My lady, are you okay?"
"I won't die..." Wan Mo lifted her heavy head and forced open her heavy eyelids to look at him. "A... grown man crying like this... Aren't you ashamed..."
"No, I'm not ashamed!" He Muhao desperately wiped the tears from his face. "As long as you're okay, it's worth it even if I cry ten vats of tears!"
Wan Mo's lips curved slightly, then she suddenly hung her head and fell silent.
He Muhao was terrified. He quickly reached out his hand to Wan Mo's nose and was slightly relieved to find that she still had a weak breath.
The silence in the forest was so oppressive that it made his eardrums ache.
The noon sun poured down like molten gold through the gaps in the tree crowns, making the intestines that had flowed out of the bear's abdominal cavity emit a nauseating stench.
He Muhao suddenly stood up and shook his head. Wan Mo's life was hanging by a thread; he didn't have time to be afraid.
He pushed aside the broken branches and weeds in front of him and stumbled into the depths of the dense forest.
"Notoginseng... palmately compound leaves, tuberous roots, cross - section gray - green with a tinge of red..." he murmured to himself, his fingers urgently rummaging through the grass. "This is not it! Nor is this one!"
"Dark reddish - brown rhizomes, oval leaves, purplish - red spike - shaped flowers... Sanguisorba officinalis..."
"Pinnately compound leaves, yellow flowers in clusters, the whole plant covered with fine hairs... Agrimonia pilosa... The holy medicine for stopping bleeding..." His voice became more and more urgent. "Why can't I find it?!"
In the past few days, he had taken care of the wounded in the medical hall with Wan Xin. He thought he had recognized quite a few herbs.
However, now that he was in the forest alone to collect herbs, he realized how ridiculous his little knowledge of pharmacology was.
The grass and leaves in the forest were lush. Thousands of vines and wild grasses were swaying in front of his eyes. Each one looked similar but different, making it difficult to distinguish.
He Muhao racked his brains, searching for the little knowledge of herbs in his mind, trying his best to distinguish each plant he saw.
His palms were cut by the sharp edges of the grass leaves, but he didn't care.
The golden silk and brocade that had wrapped him for twenty - six years seemed to be cracking bit by bit at this moment, revealing the unrefined weakness inside. It turned out that without the luxurious clothes of the Earl's Mansion, he was just a useless person who couldn't carry a load or even distinguish a hemostatic herb...
Since he could remember, he seemed to have never done anything on his own.
From childhood to adulthood, his stepmother had arranged everything for him and taken care of all the details.
When he didn't like to study, his stepmother found a new teacher for him; when he drank in the tavern, his stepmother paid the bill; when he behaved absurdly in the brothel, his stepmother covered for him in front of his father... Even later, when it came to getting married and taking concubines, his stepmother took care of everything for him, and he didn't have to worry about a thing.
His stepmother had said, "Although the Li family's status is a bit low, girls from small families are gentle - tempered. They will surely not bully your concubines and maids in the future..."
Gentle - tempered?
Humph! She was so damn gentle - tempered!
On the second day after Wan Mo married into the family, she smashed the Earl's Mansion and knocked off his hair crown with a single spear!
He still remembered clearly how his stepmother had covered her chest, trembling all over and turning pale with fright. "You... You are the new bride of the He family. How dare you disregard the etiquette and disrespect your in - laws...?"
"Etiquette?"
Wan Mo stood there with her spear across her body, her eyes and eyebrows full of disdain. "One can only talk about etiquette with people who understand it! On the first day the new bride enters the family, you can't wait to bring in a maid as a concubine. What kind of etiquette is this! In my opinion, even the turtles in the river are more sensible than you!"
His stepmother was so angry that she fainted.
The whole Earl's Mansion was in an uproar.
However, He Muhao felt as if a window had been opened in his heart.
At that moment, he seemed to see a beam of light penetrate the stuffy carved window lattice of the Earl's Mansion.
He had never seen a woman as bright as the rising sun.
She was so free and easy, so strong - willed. She was like the wild and gritty north wind blowing from the border, like the proud eagle hovering over the desert.
But now, his rising sun, his north wind, his eagle... was about to die.
The nights filled with the smell of makeup in his memory suddenly became blurred. The crisp sound of his stepmother's vermilion nail tapping on the rosewood table, the charming laughter of the concubines like warbling swallows, the clear sound of the dice hitting the jade cup on the gambling table... All these were now replaced by the thick smell of blood.
He Muhao wiped away his tears fiercely and dug out every suspicious wild grass like a madman.
No, I can't give up...
My lady is still waiting for me to save her...
"I found it!"
He Muhao was overjoyed. He quickly picked up the thin purplish - red grass stem in front of him and brought it to Wan Mo. He chewed it up and applied it to her wounds.
Wan Mo unconsciously frowned and let out a soft groan.
He Muhao tore a cloth strip from his clothes and carefully bandaged the wounds on Wan Mo's body. Then he slowly helped her up and carried her on his back.
"Let's go... Let's go home..."
The forest was extremely quiet.
So quiet that it made one's heart panic.
The gentle breeze blew through the forest, sounding like sobs, which made one's hair stand on end.
He Muhao felt that the weight on his back was getting lighter and lighter, so light that it made his heart tremble.
"Don't... don't fall asleep..." His voice was trembling so badly that his staggering steps shattered the light and shadow on the ground. "You... didn't you say... you still wanted to divorce me when we got back? You... can't fall asleep..."
Tears streamed down his face.