Chapter 191: Chapter 193: Catching the Snake

She placed her hand on his leg. At the moment, he was wearing a camouflage suit covered with mud. Even though camouflage suits tend to be dirt-resistant, you could still tell that there was blood on it and her fingers felt damp where they made contact.

She turned around and dug a few herbal plants out of her bamboo basket. Placing them in her mouth, she began to chew. This was a unique hemostatic grass native to the mountains. Everyone in the village knew about it. When children cut themselves or got wounds, adults would apply this hemostatic grass to their injuries and the bleeding would stop immediately. This grass also had anti-inflammatory properties.

There was a smell of blood about the hemostatic grass.

Human saliva has certain disinfectant properties; she resolved to sacrifice herself a little.

She carefully rolled up Gu Ning’s trousers. His calf bore a long gash from which blood was still flowing. Quite unlike Tang Yuxin from her past life, who only knew to stanch blood, she in this life had become really professional. She could handle such a wound perfectly. There would be no further infection or inflammation.

She took out her water bottle and poured the water on Gu Ning’s wound. After gently cleaning the wound, she applied the hemostatic grass to it, making good use of its antiseptic and analgesic properties.

However, Gu Ning’s wound was too severe for the hemostatic grass. It needed to be stitched up. For now, this was not feasible due to limited conditions. She knew how to do suturing, but it was not realistic to request her to do this with a sewing needle. Moreover, improper sterilization could result in infection or tetanus – responsibilities she could not bear.

“Perfect” in her context meant effectively stopping the blood flow before stitching the wound.

She was doing her utmost within her means.

She plastered the hemostatic grass onto Gu Ning’s wound. This hemostatic grass could help stop the bleeding, which, at this point, could save his life. If he bled even a little more, he wouldn’t die from the pain or from tetanus, but from a multi-organ failure due to excessive blood loss.

What could save his life right now was not something magical, but few simple Hemostatic Grass plants.

She placed her water bottle in front of Gu Ning.

“Come, drink some water.”

Gu Ning didn’t move. Water dribbled down from the corner of his mouth.

“What should I do now?” Tang Yuxin shook her water bottle. There wasn’t much water left, most of it had been used to clean his wound.

“Oh well, I’ll sacrifice myself again.”

She placed the water bottle to her lips and drank some water. After some hesitation, she leaned over him and pressed her lips to the corner of his chapped mouth.

She felt his mouth move as droplets of water flowed into it. He now seemed like a parched fish that had long been deprived of water, sucking at her lips with remarkable intensity.

He even attempted to lick them.

At over forty years old, Tang Yuxin, who had never been kissed in this life, blushed and her heart raced as though she was holding a cat which was now scratching her.

She lifted her face and placed the water bottle to his mouth again. This time, he seemed to understand that he needed to drink. Most of the remaining water was swallowed down, poured into his stomach by her.

Tang Yuxin tossed her water bottle into her bamboo basket and removed the necklace from around her neck. She put it around Gu Ning’s neck and tucked the pendant into his shirt.

What could she do? She looked at the unconscious man before her. She wanted to say a lot of things. But, regardless of what she spoke, he couldn’t hear anything.

She wanted to say:

Every woman deserves to be treated with care.

She wished she could also say:

You treat her like treasure, but she treats you like a blade of grass.

She sat there, wondering who was it that took Gu Ning away in the earlier life, until she heard a disorderly sound in the distance with faint voices.

“He should be nearby, there are signs he left behind, pointing in this direction. Let’s keep looking, but stay cautious.”

The sound of voices ceased, footstep sounds seemed to get messier and closer.

Tang Yuxin picked up her bamboo basket and hid behind a large tree.

Shortly after, several people wearing camouflage suits ran over. As soon as they saw Gu Ning, they hastened their steps.

“He’s here and injured. Quickly, bring the stretcher over.”

Then, all hands on deck, they carried Gu Ning away like a gust of wind. All that remained was a faint smell of blood, gradually dissipating in the wind.

She resumed her herbal gathering, carrying her bamboo basket again. She had repaid her debt to humanity and that was it.

When she just dug up a bunch of herbs, she discovered a bright red snake in the underbrush.

The more colorful the snake, the more venomous it generally is. She was considering whether she should capture it and take it back home to soak in liquor for her father.

It’s great nourishment.

Yes, let’s capture it.

In her previous life, she was quite afraid of such things. But since she started learning medical skills from Chen Zhong, such fear was gone. Instead, she saw them as nothing but another type of herb.

She swiftly tapped the snake’s vital spot with her small hoe and pinched it up. The snake hung limply in midair, not even twitching its tail.

She skillfully tied the red snake into a knot and dumped it into her bamboo basket. Although the snake was still alive, it was just knocked out.

When she went down the mountain, she bumped into Zhang Yindi, who was at the entrance of the village.

“Hey, Yuxin, are you hurt?”

Zhang Yindi jumped upon seeing Tang Yuxin in this state.

Tang Yuxin looked down to find blood on her clothes. “Where am I injured?” She glanced at the blood on her clothes – it seemed to be Gu Ning’s blood. She got smeared while treating his wound.

“Where did you get hurt?”

Zhang Yindi asked concernedly, examining Tang Yuxin from head to toe.

“It’s not my blood,” Tang Yuxin took a step-back. She had a strange feeling in her heart. In her past life, she experienced something similar, and she realized she had been overlooking something.

Then, she encountered the same man, Zhang Yindi, standing at the entrance of their village, just like before.