Chapter 53

Zhao Danqing suddenly rushed over, and his abrupt words left Jiang Xingchen somewhat dazed: "Save someone, save who? Your old man is the doctor, not me!"

Before his thoughts could settle, two burly men from the carriage brought down a man covered in blood.

"It's them!" Seeing the two men, Jiang Xingchen was taken aback again: "Aren't they from the mercenary group that sold the fanged rabbit? Do they know Zhao Danqing?"

"Hurry up, brother! Hurry, he's badly injured, and the wounds are special; we can't stitch them!" Seeing Jiang Xingchen dazed, Zhao Danqing hurriedly approached, pulling him into the courtyard.

"Okay!" Jiang Xingchen snapped out of his daze, entered the courtyard, and asked Meier to quickly fetch the needle and sheep gut thread.

Inside the house, two chairs were joined together, and Zhao Danqing had the two men lay the injured man face down on them. Only then did Jiang Xingchen see the wounds clearly, and his face turned pale, his heart racing.

The wounds were on the injured man's back, near the lower waist, two large wounds very close to each other, as if two daggers had been drawn side by side, almost cutting out a strip of flesh. The wounds were deep, and Jiang Xingchen could faintly see the internal organs.

"How could such wounds be caused? This is definitely not from a fight..." Jiang Xingchen's mind raced, he took a deep breath, and tried to control his tendency to faint at the sight of blood.

"Brother! You can't handle blood..." Meier, after bringing the needle and thread, saw Jiang Xingchen's face and was very worried. Such wounds made her want to vomit, and she was terribly afraid.

"It's fine! Don't look, go inside!" Jiang Xingchen forced a smile and waved his hand.

Meier pouted, unwillingly hiding in the far corner of the room, truly afraid that something would happen to her brother.

"They encountered a Level 10 beast, the Clawed Tiger, in the Vast Mountains. These wounds were caused by the Clawed Tiger's claws! The two wounds are too close together; stitching one would affect the other. Only your skills can handle this!" Zhao Danqing explained.

"Master Jiang! Please help!" The two burly men bowed deeply to Jiang Xingchen.

"Clawed Tiger, what a beast, truly capable of tearing a person apart!" Jiang Xingchen sighed, took a deep breath, and without further words, changed his breathing method, picked up the needle, sterilized it with fire, threaded it, and began to stitch the wounds.

The two wounds were side by side, and the strip of flesh in between had to be preserved. Jiang Xingchen dared not stitch blindly; any mistake would tear the flesh between the wounds.

The room was silent, Jiang Xingchen's hands were covered in blood, and his face was frighteningly pale. Stitching this wound was several times more difficult than a regular knife wound, and the process was abnormally complex. If not for the breathing technique, he would have given up long ago...

After a full ten minutes, he finally finished stitching the wounds, preserving the strip of flesh between them.

"Done!" Jiang Xingchen exhaled deeply, turned, and collapsed on the bed.

"Brother!" Meier cried out, hurriedly helping him onto the bed, then glared at Zhao Danqing with resentment.

"Um... I thought Jiang brother could stitch without looking at the wound..." Zhao Danqing felt embarrassed under Meier's gaze, not realizing that even Jiang Xingchen found it so difficult. He thought Jiang Xingchen could stitch without looking. By the time Jiang Xingchen started, it was too late to say anything.

The two burly men, after applying medicine to their leader, turned to look at Jiang Xingchen, who was lying on the bed, with puzzled faces.

However, when they heard that Jiang Xingchen fainted at the sight of blood, their mouths twitched. Then, their eyes filled with deep gratitude...

In the evening, Jiang Xingchen woke up, and the first thing he saw was Meier's worried face.

"Brother! You're awake, how do you feel? Are you still uncomfortable?" The little girl asked eagerly as soon as she saw her brother awake.

The girl's concern filled Jiang Xingchen with warmth, and he smiled, shook his head, and patted Meier's head: "It's fine, brother just has this weakness, a good sleep will do the trick!"

"Phew~" The little girl exhaled deeply, a heavy burden lifted: "It's good that brother is fine, I'll go cook!"

"What about Zhao Danqing? Tell him the injured man shouldn't be moved... let him stay here for a couple of days!" Jiang Xingchen said. The man's waist was injured, and if not properly cared for, he might suffer from aftereffects.

Meier pouted and said: "Big Brother Zhao and the others have already cleaned out the storage room, and the new things we bought are in the stable!"

"Ha ha! He's not being too formal!" Jiang Xingchen laughed. He was always very sincere with his friends, helping whenever he could. This was why, in less than a month, he had befriended people like Mo Hongxian and Wan Rou.

Sometimes, Mo Hongxian, Wan Rou, and the others would think about it and be surprised. They had only known Jiang Xingchen for less than a month, but it felt like they had known each other for years.

"Creak!" The door opened, and Zhao Danqing walked in, looking apologetic: "Brother, I didn't expect..."

"Enough! Don't talk about it!" Jiang Xingchen smiled and waved his hand, then asked Zhao Danqing how he knew them.

Zhao Danqing scratched his head and stammered out the reason.

Recently, the Zhao family had received supplies from the Seventh Legion and collaborated with the army to establish a specialized workshop, making the young man somewhat arrogant. During a drinking session with some noble sons, he boasted that the Zhao family's medicine could treat any external injury except for broken arms and legs.

His boast spread quickly among the nobles and major pharmacies the next day.

The three major pharmacies, like the Spirit Grass Hall, knew they had stitching techniques and didn't comment. But other major pharmacies felt that Zhao Danqing was blowing his own horn too much. Even if the Zhao family's medicine was thriving, they shouldn't be so arrogant. Claiming they could treat any external injury was like saying others couldn't.

As a result, when this difficult injury occurred, they directly brought it to the Zhao family's pharmacy. "Can't you treat any external injury? Fine, treat this one! If you can't, how will you face people?"

Seeing Zhao Danqing's slightly red face, Jiang Xingchen was both amused and exasperated. It turned out this trouble was caused by the young man's arrogance!

"A lesson, a warning! Arrogance indeed has no good outcome..." Jiang Xingchen reflected, got up, walked to Zhao Danqing, patted his shoulder, and said solemnly: "Brother Zhao! See? Don't be arrogant, it will get you struck by lightning!"

"Chuckle!" Meier couldn't hold back her laughter and quickly covered her mouth! Although she hadn't heard the term before, she understood it by connecting the dots.

Seeing Jiang Xingchen and Meier leave the room, Zhao Danqing blinked and stammered: "Arrogance... I... What does it mean... It doesn't seem like a good word..."

Jiang Xingchen went to the storage room to check on the man. He was much better but still too weak to speak. Jiang Xingchen also saw his face; he was the leader of the mercenary group, the one who had traded the fanged rabbit with him!

That night, after Zhao Danqing left, Jiang Xingchen and the others had a simple dinner and went to bed early.

The next day, the injured man regained some strength and thanked Jiang Xingchen profusely, then struggled to leave. But Jiang Xingchen didn't let him. If he hadn't come for treatment, it would be one thing, but now, he had to treat him fully to keep his promise to Zhao Danqing. The whole city's pharmacies were waiting to see the outcome.

The other two men also tried to persuade him, saying his sister was being taken care of by other team members and that they had plenty of medicine. Jiang Xingchen didn't fully understand but managed to convince the man to stay.

Then, he called to Meier: "Wear more clothes, brother will take you fishing outside the city later!"

The man was too weak to rely on medicine alone; he needed to be nourished. So, Jiang Xingchen planned to make some fish soup to help him recover faster. He wasn't used to having strangers in his house!

In his previous world, he wouldn't have done this. With the wound not fully healed, it was best not to eat foods that could cause inflammation. But this world was different; the warriors' recovery abilities were strong, and they could draw in elemental energy to aid recovery. Mo Hongxian could eat beggar's chicken with elemental energy the afternoon after stitching in the morning!

Most importantly, it was time to take the little girl out to play. These days, they were either busy with dance and song auditions, making drums, or preparing supplies for their return to their territory. He had promised to spend time with her, but hadn't fulfilled it yet.

"Ah?" Hearing about fishing, the little girl was surprised: "Brother! It's winter, the river is frozen, where are the fish?"

"Ha ha, brother has a way, hurry up!" Jiang Xingchen patted Meier's head.

"Okay!" Seeing her brother's confidence, the little girl became excited and ran back to the room to get dressed.

While Meier was putting on more clothes, Jiang Xingchen went to the kitchen to heat a pot of water on a small stove to drive out the cold.

A short while later, Meier, dressed in several layers, waddled out like a little penguin.

Jiang Xingchen chuckled, led Meier out, and found Qian Feng and Zhou Xiong waiting with the carriage, as he had instructed them the day before.

Outside the city, by the river, Jiang Xingchen started working on the ice in the middle of the river.

Seeing her brother create a square hole in the ice, then hang fish food made of flour and oil on the hook and throw it into the hole, Meier asked doubtfully: "Brother, will it work... can we really catch fish this way?"

Zhou Xiong and Qian Feng also looked puzzled. They had never heard of, let alone seen, fishing through an ice hole in winter.

"Ha ha! You'll see!" Jiang Xingchen smiled and patted Meier's head.

Without a fishing rod, float, or sinker, the sensitivity array and clear mind array allowed him to easily perceive the tension and subtle vibrations in the animal sinew line.

After a moment, Jiang Xingchen's eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly pulled the sinew line, shouting: "Meier, come quick!"

"Caught it!" The little girl cheered and helped her brother hold the sinew line...

Meanwhile, as Jiang Xingchen and Meier were fishing, an old man in a tattered cotton robe, holding two large buns, walked into the Seventh Legion's branch, smiling and eating.