Xu Zifan focused intently on bandaging Zheng Chuan's shoulder and back wounds, neglecting the other minor bleeding wounds. The environment here was rudimentary, and there were no medicinal herbs; the bandaging was only a temporary measure. They needed to hurry down the mountain to clean the wounds and apply medicine.
The stench of blood was too strong and would easily attract other wild beasts. Xu Zifan sat on the ground to recover before preparing to carry Zheng Chuan away. But seeing the dead tiger, he didn't want to give it up. In modern times, tigers are protected animals, and tiger bones and penises are extremely rare. Now these were right in front of him, and they had killed the tiger themselves; to abandon it would be a terrible waste.
Xu Zifan surveyed the surroundings, laboriously dragging the tiger into its cave. He then cleared a space at the cave entrance, gathered some dry firewood, and started a fire. Wild animals fear fire, so a fire at the cave entrance served as a protective barrier. Xu Zifan wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and hurriedly carried Zheng Chuan down the mountain. With Shao Hua scouting ahead, they navigated safely, avoiding dangerous animals and people digging for wild vegetables, and made their way down to Zheng Chuan's house, where he placed her on the bed.
Xu Zifan went to the kitchen to boil water; a large pot of water would probably take a long time to boil. Zheng Chuan was covered in blood and definitely needed a good wash. If she were a man, he would have taken her directly to the hot spring to wash, but she was a woman, so he would have to find a way to wake her up later and let her wash herself.
Xu Zifan rested while tending the fire. Once the fire was burning brightly, he quickly washed his face, found a straw mat and rope in the yard, and hurried into the mountains to drag the tiger away. Xu Zifan extinguished the fire at the cave entrance, and after some effort, he managed to wrap the tiger in the straw mat, tie it tightly with the rope, and drag it down the mountain, placing it in Zheng Chuan's yard. His two bamboo baskets were still on the mountain; it was almost dark, so he hurriedly went back up to retrieve them, as they contained the medicinal herbs he had dug.
Fortunately, his bamboo basket was placed not far from the entrance to the deep mountain, where there were few animals and no one went by, so it hadn't been touched at all. After running back and forth for so long, Xu Zifan was exhausted. Following the map, he found the cave with the hot spring, went in, and soaked comfortably for fifteen minutes, taking a good bath and washing his clothes. However, he didn't have any changes, so he had to go down the mountain in his wet clothes.
After descending the mountain, Xu Zifan went home first. His mother was shocked to see him soaking wet. "What happened? Third son, did you fall into the river again?"
Xu Zifan hurriedly said, "Mom, don't be afraid. I just took a bath, it's nothing. Mom, I bought a badger from Zheng Chuan last time. He said the pelt is ready. I'm going to go see it. We'll eat at his place tonight."
Xu's mother helped him take down the bamboo basket and urged, "Go change your clothes first. It's autumn now, and it gets chilly at night. How can you wear wet clothes? That's ridiculous! Come inside quickly, don't let the wind blow on you."
When Xu Zifan entered the house, he brought a basket of medicinal herbs with him and instructed, "Mother, please keep an eye on them for me. Don't let anyone into my room. These are worth a lot of money."
"Mother knows, don't worry." Xu's mother didn't care much about the money, and helped him close the door, urging him to change his clothes quickly.
Xu Zifan quickly took off his wet clothes, applied some of his homemade ointment to the wound on his arm, wrapped it twice with a strip of cloth, and changed into clean, dry clothes. His injury was minor, just some superficial cuts, but carrying someone on his back and dragging a tiger had made the wound a bit bigger from the exertion. Luckily, his mother hadn't noticed his torn clothes earlier because she was worried he'd catch a cold; if she did, she'd have to give him a good explanation.
Moreover, his undergarment was torn in several places and was no longer wearable. Thinking that his undergarment was now wrapped around Zheng Chuan's body, he couldn't help but facepalm. Aren't the female characters in TV dramas who disguise themselves as men very obvious? They can be recognized at a glance. How come Zheng Chuan's disguise is so sophisticated, almost like A'Zhu in "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils"? He is completely covered up without any flaws, and he doesn't even have pierced ears.
No wonder Zheng Chuan has lived a secluded life all these years, avoiding contact with the villagers; she was afraid of being exposed. It makes sense; she's only a teenager, and living under her true identity would certainly be very inconvenient—it's not as free and easy as being a male hunter. Moreover, Zheng Chuan killed two wolves alone at the age of 15 to avenge her master; the villagers' reaction must have hurt her deeply. Instead of praising her for avenging her master, they were all afraid of her and distanced themselves from her—quite disappointing, isn't it?
Regardless, Zheng Chuan went into the mountains to save him, so he had to hurry and treat Zheng Chuan's injuries.
Xu Zifan hid the wild ginseng under the clothes in the wardrobe, slung his small medicine box over his shoulder, and went out the door. His mother frowned upon seeing him and asked, "Why are you taking the medicine box? Is Zheng Chuan injured?"
Xu Zifan nodded. "He inevitably gets scratched and scraped while hunting. I happen to have some medicine, so I'll take it to him to check on him and let him practice. Mother, I'll be going now. I might be back a little late, so don't wait for me."
"Ah, okay, I understand." Xu's mother quickly went into the kitchen, took out four boiled wild eggs and handed them to Xu Zifan, saying, "This is your first time eating at Zheng Chuan's house, so bring something with you. I didn't prepare anything in such a hurry, so just take a few eggs."
"Okay, I'm off then." Xu Zifan left with the eggs in his pocket. The second wife and her husband had just returned from selling snacks. He nodded to them and quickly headed towards Zheng Chuan's house.
Su Qianyun asked, "Mother, why is Third Brother going out so late? Isn't he pushing himself too hard?"
"Oh, he went to Zheng Chuan's house for dinner. I've never seen him get along well with any other kid before. I didn't expect him to get along so well with Zheng Chuan." Xu's mother said casually before going to cook.
Su Qianyun glanced at Xu Zifan's retreating figure a few times, feeling a little worried. She had been turned away when she tried to talk to Zheng Chuan that morning, and then Xu Zifan went to Zheng Chuan's house for dinner that evening. Would Zheng Chuan tell Xu Zifan about this? She had acted impulsively, but she really hadn't expected Zheng Chuan to be so cold, refusing even the pastries she offered, showing no consideration whatsoever.
However, it is precisely because of this that
She needed to be different from the ordinary farmers in the village to be considered a male lead. She decided to give it another try. With Zheng Chuan's qualifications, it would be very difficult for him to marry a virgin in this ancient era. She was beautiful and good at making money, so she was better than others, right? She could let Zheng Chuan join the army later, and maybe she would become a general's wife in the future, and she would no longer have to go out to do business in the wind and sun!
Zheng Chuan was completely unaware that her disguise as a man had earned her the appearance of a male lead. She had just woken up and recognized the familiar furnishings of the room, knowing she was in her own room. She hurriedly sat up and pulled open her collar, only to find her armor missing and white strips of undergarment wrapped around her shoulders and chest. She was immediately horrified. Just then, Xu Zifan opened the door and entered the room. Zheng Chuan instantly grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around herself, looking at Xu Zifan warily before shrinking into the corner of the bed.
Xu Zifan paused, tried to smile, but then realized it was inappropriate. He quickly coughed a few times and pointed to his first-aid kit, saying, "I brought some medicine for external injuries. It works very well. You..."
"Get out of here! I have medicine!" Zheng Chuan hissed, her head bowed and her heart pounding like a drum. She felt no shame, only endless embarrassment and fear. She had been discovered disguised as a man! And a man had seen her body. This had happened so suddenly, she was completely unprepared and at a loss for what to do.
Ever since discovering Zheng Chuan's true gender, Xu Zifan had been preoccupied with what to do. Seeing Zheng Chuan, who had remained calm even in the face of a tiger, so flustered, he calmed himself down. He placed the medicine box on the table, opened it, and while taking out the medicine, said, "Thank you for coming into the mountains to save me. I will keep your disguise a secret and won't tell anyone until you decide to. Zheng Chuan, I will take responsibility..."
"Get out! Get out now!" Zheng Chuan frowned deeply, burying his face in his knees. This conversation was too strange. She was huddled under the covers, her clothes disheveled, while Xu Zifan... Xu Zifan was someone she had only known for a short time, how could things have turned out like this?
Xu Zifan also felt that saying something like "I'll take responsibility" sounded like something a scumbag would say, so cold and emotionless. It was truly embarrassing for whoever said it, especially to the girl he'd once considered as a brother-in-law. Xu Zifan took two steps forward, threw the medicine onto the bed from about two meters away, and said, "I...I'll get you some water. If you keep doing this, your wounds will reopen. You...cough cough, clean it up and then apply this medicine."
"you--"
"I'm going out right now!" Xu Zifan raised his hands, turned around and walked out immediately. He stopped at the door and said, "I was serious just now. Think it over carefully."
After saying that, he quickly closed the door and went out. He stood at the doorway, took a deep breath, shook his head, and hurried to the kitchen to fill a bucket with boiling water. Zheng Chuan lived alone, so a large bathtub was placed in a small room next door, where she usually took baths. It had a door and a lock but no windows, so it was quite safe.
Xu Zifan went back and forth several times, filled the large bathtub with water, tested the temperature and found it was just right, then put a bucket of boiling water and a bucket of cold water on the ground. Then he went to knock on Zheng Chuan's door and said awkwardly, "Zheng Chuan, I've filled the bathtub with water. Go... go wash yourself. You need to take good care of your injury. Don't delay."
Relieved by the noise inside the room, Xu Zifan went over to the tiger on the ground and squatted down to figure out how to skin it. A moment later, Zheng Chuan came out with a cloth bag, wearing a large cloak that covered her completely. Seeing Xu Zifan, she stopped and said, "Thank you. You can go back now. I'm fine."
Xu Zifan glanced at her face, waved his hand, and said, "I'm a doctor, let me take a look at you later. I don't know what's on your face, so I can't tell how you look. You're badly injured. I'll take your pulse and prescribe some medicine so you can recover as soon as possible. Don't think about anything else for now, getting better is the most important thing. There's no one else here, and I guarantee no one else will know what happened today."
Zheng Chuan took a deep breath and lowered his head, saying, "You don't need to repay me like this. It wasn't me who saved you, it was you who saved me. You weren't even caught by the tiger back then."
"You came into the mountains to save me, so let's not talk about that. Go wash up and remember to apply the medicine." Xu Zifan said with a forced smile, "Well... anyway, I know you're a woman now, so don't pretend to be a man later. That way, I can diagnose you more accurately and you'll be more comfortable."
This time, Zheng Chuan didn't say anything. He lowered his head, hugged the cloth bag, and quickly walked into the bathroom, closing and locking the door.
Shao Hua suddenly spoke up: [Zheng Chuan's face and ears were hot; it's likely she was just shy.]
Xu Zifan smiled: [I didn't ask you to monitor this, shut up!]
[You should propose to her. According to ancient customs, a man who sees a woman's feet is responsible for her. You not only saw Zheng Chuan's feet, but also her shoulders and back. And when you were bandaging her wounds, you even touched her...]
[Shaohua! I know, okay? But now isn't the right time. Zheng Chuan is so independent, how could she agree to marry me because of something like this? Today's events were too sudden; she hasn't recovered yet, and I'm still in shock too, okay? We need some time to get to know each other.]
[Okay, Zheng Chuan's information has been updated. I'll be focusing on her from now on. She's your favorite person in this world and could very well become your partner. But after she becomes a woman, will you still like her?]
Xu Zifan was stunned for a moment, then said speechlessly, "[How should I know? I used to treat him like a brother! Okay, okay, let's not talk about this anymore. You'll understand as you spend more time with him.]" He glanced at the closed bathroom door and shook his head, "[But I really didn't expect to meet a woman like this in ancient times. She's different from all the other women; she's very special.]"