CHAPTER 108: CHAPTER 106: AMONG THEM WAS MR. XIE

Moreover, she meticulously crafted the bait using the innards of wild muntjac, and it didn’t take long for the fish to bite after the rod went down.

Ruan Qingsong was slightly surprised and quickly went back to fetch a wooden basin.

Later, the task of fishing was handed over to Ruan Qingsong and Yun Xiu.

Shaoxi was beside them handling the fresh fish, while Cui Zhu and other family members helped start a fire and prepare the stove. As the oily grilled fish sizzled, the aroma was mouth-watering.

Especially the children with Mr. Xue, who gazed longingly at the fish.

Ruan Mian grilled the fish until both sides were crispy and sprinkled them with spices and salt, and the aroma burst forth.

The crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside fish filled the mouth with a salty fragrance.

While grilling the fish, she also prepared a small stove to make hot fish soup for the injured in the team, and her sister-in-law.

Among them was Mr. Xie.

It was also Xie Huai’an’s first time tasting this kind of grilled fish, and he couldn’t help but quip, "If you hadn’t been exiled, you could open a restaurant in Capital City and make a living."

Ruan Mian smiled and said, "Opening a restaurant doesn’t necessarily have to be in Capital City. As long as I want to, anywhere could be my stage."

"Oh?" Ruan Mian thought he didn’t believe her, so she tentatively said.

"If, if Wuheng rebelled and we couldn’t go back, and moved to deep mountains or some deserted place, how about setting up my own domain?"

Xie Huai’an didn’t expect her to have such ambition.

Had it been someone else, he would have dismissed it as a joke, but with her, Xie Huai’an couldn’t help but feel intrigued.

"With so few people and nothing at all, how would you set up your own domain?"

Just as Ruan Mian was about to speak, Xie Huai’an’s expression suddenly darkened!

"Don’t move! There seems to be someone behind us."

At that moment, Ruan Mian also sensed footsteps behind them on the slope.

The two exchanged a glance, and Ruan Mian silently grabbed a nearby stone and hurled it fiercely at the hill!

Only to see a shadow hiding in the bushes suddenly run away!

Vice Minister Dong saw this and immediately followed.

Ruan Mian was worried and didn’t wait for Xie Huai’an to speak before quickly pursuing uphill.

The others were clueless, only Yun Xiu ran after them upon receiving a look from Xie Huai’an.

If they were pursuers, Ruan Mian wouldn’t let them get away.

Having barely escaped the war, how could she let these people bully them?

However, after running a few steps, she saw Vice Minister Dong had already caught the person.

The person was scrawny, with a bleak expression, and Ruan Mian noticed his clothing right away.

"Are you from the Jinsha Clan? Do you know Bai Lun?"

Last time when she met Bai Lun and others, they wore similar animal skin attire, and their earrings and ornaments were all made from polished deer horns and teeth.

Upon mentioning Bai Lun’s name, the person’s expression changed slightly.

The previously fierce gaze softened a bit as he asked in broken Capital City dialect, "You know Master Bai Lun?"

Ruan Mian took a deer horn from her pouch, a gift from Bai Lun for saving the Little Deer.

Seeing the deer horn, the person’s expression changed dramatically, as if seeing a revered faith, and he immediately knelt.

Soon he looked at Ruan Mian with pleading eyes, hoping eagerly as he spoke.

"Are you... the Medical Woman, Miss Ruan, who saved the Divine Deer?" Ruan Mian didn’t expect her reputation to have spread within their clan.

Once she nodded, the person repeatedly kowtowed: "Miss Ruan! Please save our Master Bai Lun!!"

Ruan Mian frowned slightly, puzzled, and asked, "What’s wrong with him?"

...

Half an hour later.

The person led Ruan Mian and the others to a hidden cave.

There was a worn-out tent pitched there, and upon entering, the smell of strong blood was overwhelming.

Ruan Mian sensed something was wrong and was about to ask, when she suddenly saw Bai Lun lying on an animal skin rug.

At this moment, his face was pale, devoid of any color on his lips, and his small body had visibly lost weight.

The cave wasn’t crowded, but for Ruan Mian and others, faced with wary eyes.

Not until the person explained in the tribal language did their gazes gradually soften.

A woman with swollen eyes led Ruan Mian to Bai Lun.

Her voice was hoarse, her hands clasped before her chest in greeting: "Miss Ruan, Bai Lun mentioned you saved his Little Deer. You possess great medical skills; can you help Bai Lun?"

Although the Golden Feather Clan is merely a tribe, they have been settled in Longchang Mountain for years as indigenous people.

Why do they now seem to have suffered a major upheaval?

She couldn’t believe there wasn’t a healer within the tribe.

So she looked at the woman and asked, "Have you encountered any misfortunes?"

The woman suddenly burst into tears, and seeing her unresponsive, Ruan Mian didn’t pursue the matter. The priority was to check Bai Lun’s condition.

Fortunately, he was only suffering from a high fever and temporarily unconscious.

Ruan Mian had some cold medicine in her pouch, along with a flask containing Spiritual Spring water.

She gave him some Spiritual Spring water mixed with fever-reducing medicine, and covered him tightly with an animal skin blanket.

Soon sweat began to seep out.

At the same time, Ruan Mian treated their other injured tribesmen.

Apart from a few with external injuries, several showed symptoms of colds.

Ruan Mian noticed their diet was monotonous, mostly some muntjac meat. Even fish were directly put over the fire to roast, filled with a strong fishy smell.

How could one have an appetite to eat in this way?

She simply asked Yun Xiu for help: "Ashu, do you still remember the way back?"

Seeing him nod, Ruan Mian asked him to return and get some "wild vegetables" and millet from Cui Zhu. The "wild vegetables" were ostensibly harvested along the way but were actually spinach grown in her special space.

She also told him to assure the others back home and asked them to wait for her return.

Then she prepared a pot of fish soup for the Golden Feather Clan people by simply frying the fish, mashing it, and boiling it with some Spiritual Spring water.

As for the muntjac meat, it would be better suited for stewing.

They only had basic animal oil and salt, and some even preferred eating raw meat. Many were trying the taste of spices for the first time.

"This way, you can reduce many diseases and recover faster."

Seeing several women watching her, Ruan Mian showed them how to make fish soup, stew, and gave them all the spices from her pouch.

She sensed their gratitude, and only then did the woman willingly speak up about their misfortune.

"A few days ago, our tribe was poisoned by people from the Lanqiang Kingdom, killing many able-bodied men."

"Two days ago, Wuheng rebelled, Lanqiang Country soldiers raided Longchang Mountain wanting to wipe us out. That’s why we’ve been hiding in different places, and other clan members are separated, resisting foreign enemies, so..."

Unexpectedly, it was related to the rebellion.

Moreover, if enemy troops directly raided Longchang Mountain to find their residing place, it was certainly not a spur-of-the-moment act; this conspiracy might have been conceived a long time ago.

Even Vice Minister Dong couldn’t help but comment.

"The Lanqiang people have been plotting for a long time, waiting for this snowstorm moment to seize Wuheng in one fell swoop."

The woman frowned and shook her head: "To find our tribe, there must be a spy within Wuheng. Otherwise, how could the Lanqiang people locate us in such a short time?"