Even though the ministers were spouting high - sounding words about being worried for his safety, he would never abandon Dongfang Yi. So he must go into the forest himself to search for her.
This royal hunting ground in the eastern suburbs was heavily guarded. There were layers of guards on the periphery. Once there was a suspicious person trying to leave, it would be reported immediately.
Since there was no news of anyone leaving, it was likely that they were still trapped somewhere in the forest.
Having thought this through, he slipped out of the tent and rushed into the forest.
On the other side, in the forest.
Dongfang Yi, who had fallen into a pit and lost consciousness, finally woke up slowly. By now, it was completely dark. The pit was eerie and pitch - black.
The moon, which should have been there, was nowhere to be seen.
She quickly took out a fire starter from her bosom. With a trembling hand, she opened it and blew out a spark. Then she stood up and held it up to look around.
After walking just two steps, she felt as if her foot had been tripped by something. Immediately, she fell forward, and the fire starter in her hand also flew out.
She let out a cry of pain, picked up the fire starter on the ground, and turned back to shine it on the "thing" that had tripped her.
To her surprise, it was a person!
Dongfang Yi felt a cold sweat break out on the back of her head. She never expected that there would be someone in the same predicament as her in this deep pit. It was a pity that he couldn't wake up.
Thinking this, she reached out to check his identity and found that the man's body was still warm. She shone the fire starter on his face.
Wasn't this He Lianrong, the King of Nanping?!
At this thought, she couldn't help feeling a burst of joy. After all, in such a place, it was good to have someone for company, especially someone she knew.
So she shook the man in front of her, but he didn't respond no matter how hard she shook. Then she saw his purple - blue lips, which were an obvious sign of poisoning.
Immediately, she picked up the fire starter and shone it around. As expected, she saw the corpses of snakes all over the ground.
Seeing this, her brows furrowed deeper, and a feeling of gratitude welled up in her heart. She thought to herself that it was fortunate that He Lianrong had killed all these snakes, otherwise she might never have woken up.
Without further delay, she quickly checked his body to find out where he had been bitten by the snake. Finally, she found a bloodstain on He Lianrong's calf. After tearing open his trouser leg, she saw two snake - bite marks, which were already turning black and purple and spreading upwards.
Fortunately, he was bitten on the calf, and because he hadn't moved, the snake venom spread very slowly.
Fortunately, Dongfang Yi had learned some wilderness survival skills in modern times and knew a little about how to clean snake venom.
So she tore off a strip of her sash and tied it above the wound on his calf to prevent the snake venom from spreading.
Then, as if making a firm decision, she bent down to suck out the snake venom for him.
This time, she was determined to save He Lianrong's life. She owed her survival to his fight with the snakes, so how could she abandon him now?
After sucking the snake venom for a while, Dongfang Yi's lips turned a bit blue. It seemed that the snake venom had also seeped into her body.
But the man on the ground still showed no sign of waking up. Seeing that her treatment had no effect at all, her brows furrowed even tighter. Then, as if thinking of something, she bit her lips.
Since that was the case, she could only take a desperate measure.
Thinking this, she picked up a dead snake from the ground. After estimating, she found the location of its gallbladder. She drew an arrow from her back and pierced the snake's skin, then dug out the gallbladder.
Since the snake had been dead for a while, its gallbladder was cold.
Without hesitation, she mashed the gallbladder with the arrowhead and then applied this disgusting - looking stuff to He Lianrong's wound.
The venom of a snake bite was extremely poisonous. Although the snake gallbladder also contained toxins, it could be used as medicine. Now she hoped that the toxins could counteract each other and save his life.
At this thought, she felt a dizziness in her head and a chill on her body. In this late - autumn weather, combined with the mild poisoning and being in this dark cave, she felt that all her strength had been exhausted, and her eyelids were getting heavier and heavier.
Then she seemed to hear a sound. It seemed that someone was shouting above the pit. The voice sounded like that of a child, but she no longer had the strength to look up and see who it was. She just tilted her head and fainted.
Above the pit at this moment, there were indeed two people, one big and one small. The child was the one Dongfang Yi had met not long ago.
"Mother, I saw that sister this afternoon," the little boy said.
The woman beside him frowned slightly. She didn't remember when there had been a trap here. Looking at the two fainted people in the pit, for some reason, the man looked very familiar.
Sighing, she thought that since they had been seen by her and her son, it was a kind of fate. There was no reason not to save them. Immediately, she told the boy beside her to go back and get a strong rope, while she herself carried a ladder.
Then she climbed down the ladder, telling her son to hold one end of the rope above, and she went down to tie the other end of the rope around the man's waist.
After reaching the bottom of the pit, she shone the fire starter on the two people's faces. The woman was very unfamiliar, but the man looked more and more familiar.
Without much hesitation, she climbed back up and with great effort pulled the man out of the pit. Then she used the same method to pull the woman out.
After they were all rescued, the woman noticed that their lips were black. Frowning, she said in a deep voice, "They've been poisoned."
Then she said to her son, "Go and call Uncle Liu quickly!"
Soon, a man in his fifties ran over. After seeing the two people lying on the ground, he quickly ran over and felt their breaths. Seeing that they were still alive, he let out a long sigh of relief and said, "Madam, there's a hunting competition going on in the forest recently. Judging from their clothes, they must be either officials or nobles. Why do you have to get involved and invite trouble?"
The old man spoke earnestly, with a touch of sadness on his face.
But the woman called Madam remained calm, "Since they've been seen by me and Yi'er, how can we not save them? Stop talking nonsense and quickly carry them back home."
After saying that, she led the little boy called Yi'er in front, while the old man named Liu could only sigh helplessly and then told the servants behind to carry He Lianrong and the others back.