Fish Meat – Chapter 138

The Second Year of Zhao Wu

Morning Like Blue Clouds (2)

A fierce tiger attacked, causing chaos among the carriages and horses. The carriage Wei Tingxu was riding rushed towards the cliff.

            

“Lady!” Xiaohua tried hard to pull the carriage back from disaster, but the frightened horse was wild and unstoppable. Xiaohua grabbed the back panel of the carriage and forcefully tore it off, yet the carriage still fell uncontrollably down the cliff.

After throwing away the wooden panel, Xiaohua was about to follow Wei Tingxu down, when the fierce tiger pounced on her, pressing her to the ground. Its claws, like iron hooks, scratched her back. Zhong Ji, who had been following behind, suddenly rushed forward and blew a dart with a “whoosh” sound, hitting the side of the tiger.

The dart was coated with an anesthetic, which Zhong Ji had refined herself. Although it wasn’t as powerful as Sai Mafei, it was enough to paralyze a strong adult man instantly. However, it was weaker against the tiger. The dart did not cause much damage to the tiger’s actions but instead angered it, making it even more frenzied.

            

Xiaohua held the tiger’s head with her bare hands, preventing it from biting her neck. In doing so, the tiger’s sharp claws were freed and it scratched Xiaohua’s body wildly.

“What happened? Why is everyone running back?” Mengda Khan, who was just about to enter the rainforest from the rear, saw the hired coachmen running back and grabbed someone to ask. They said there was a fierce tiger up ahead.

“A fierce tiger?! Quick! Hurry up!” Mengda Khan shouted, “Quickly take this king to see what the fierce tiger looks like!”

            

The soldier was stunned for a moment but could only obey the order.

“Why has the king been acting so strangely recently, different from before?” a soldier whispered.

“The king has always been strange,” another soldier whispered even more quietly in his ear, “He changes his mood all the time, and no one can figure him out.”

            

Without proper weapons, the soldiers were hesitant to move forward. Xiaohua was covered in blood from the tiger’s claws, and Zhong Ji, worried, shouted, “If not now, when will we save her?”

However, Xiaohua, concerned about Wei Tingxu, shouted to the people around, “I’ll deal with this big insect! You go save the lady!”

With a loud “boom,” the carriage crashed down the cliff, sending a shock through Xiaohua’s heart.

            

Lady!

Zhen Wenjun clung to a wet tree branch with one arm. The branch was covered in moss, making it very slippery and hard to hold onto as she kept sliding down.

“Hold onto me, Zizhuo!”

            

As Wei Tingxu’s carriage was about to rush down the cliff, Zhen Wenjun, disregarding everything, pulled Wei Tingxu out of the carriage. Unable to maintain balance, both of them were dragged down with the carriage. Zhen Wenjun held Wei Tingxu with one arm and desperately reached for something to save them with the other. Her arm was scratched and in a mess, but she finally grabbed a life-saving tree branch and stopped their fall.

Wei Tingxu clung tightly to Zhen Wenjun’s waist, her face showing an undeniable expression of shock and fear. When Xiaohua failed to stop the carriage, seeing the bottomless cliff below, claiming she had no fear of death would be a lie.

But she knew Zhen Wenjun would definitely come to save her, and indeed, Zhen Wenjun appeared and truly saved her life.

            

“My dear Zizhuo, are you alright?” Even as her own arm was still bleeding, Zhen Wenjun’s primary concern was for Wei Tingxu.

“No problem.”

“Good, if you’re okay. Hold tight to me, we’re going up!”

            

Hearing the sound of the carriage crashing, Xiaohua was deeply shaken. The strength she used to fight the fierce tiger vanished completely without a trace.

The narrow mountain path blocked the way, making it impossible for the soldiers to rush forward all at once. They could only team up in small groups, but their efforts were weak and thin. Each attempt to kill the raging tiger was repelled, and one person’s face was badly scratched. No one dared to approach easily again.

Zhong Ji noticed Xiaohua was distracted and grew even more anxious.

            

She was actually distracted! In a life-and-death moment, she was thinking about something else! Zhong Ji just wanted to rush up and slap Xiaohua awake.

“Roar!”

Someone suddenly rushed out from behind Zhong Ji and roared at the fierce tiger.

            

At first, the tiger ignored the person, only focusing on the food it was about to eat. It was so hungry that it had no choice but to take a desperate risk, fighting for its life to find food.

“Come back!” Zhong Ji saw that the one who just shouted was actually a little girl. The child, holding two sabers almost as tall as herself, pushed aside the hesitant soldiers and charged at the tiger. She drove both sabers straight into the tiger’s back, nearly piercing through its chest.

Zhong Ji was shocked. Where did this little girl come from? Her appearance and dress didn’t quite look like someone from Da Yu.

            

This person was actually Xiao Xiao!

The fierce tiger, in intense pain, went wild and moved several times faster, lunging at Xiao Xiao. Xiao Xiao moved like a rabbit escaping, rolling to the side to dodge and taking the opportunity to pull out the saber. The tiger roared at her furiously, and Xiao Xiao, with both sabers at her sides and a stable horse stance, roared back, not yielding an inch. (The “horse stance” is a common martial arts position symbolizing readiness and stability.)

The tiger, bleeding heavily, circled Xiao Xiao cautiously, much more wary. Xiao Xiao gave a signal with her eyes to the soldiers behind the tiger.

            

Attack!

Originally, the plan was to hurry and reach the Nanya border today. If they entered Da Yu, Zhen Wenjun would feel much more at ease.

Unexpectedly, they didn’t see Nanya but instead, very unfortunately, encountered a crazed tiger, suffering heavy losses.

            

Seven or eight carriages, all loaded with goods, overturned. The tiger’s carcass lay nearby, and a group of people discussed skinning it and roasting the meat for dinner. After settling Wei Tingxu, Zhen Wenjun stood at the cliff’s edge looking down for a while. Unwilling to give up, she gathered people to find strong vines, tying them together, intending to go down to the bottom of the cliff to retrieve the goods.

The soldiers said it was too dangerous, warning that if the vines accidentally broke, she would fall to her death.

“I want to go too!” Xiao Xiao squatted at the cliff’s edge looking down. Seeing Zhen Wenjun tying knots in the vines, seemingly about to descend, she shouted excitedly.

            

“You? Can you do it?” Zhen Wenjun ignored the opinions of others who were timid and tied the vines securely one by one.

“I can do it!” Xiao Xiao gave Zhen Wenjun a thumbs-up.

“It’s really too dangerous, my lady,” someone said to Wei Tingxu. “You should persuade Lady Zhen not to take the risk. Lost goods can be bought again, but a lost life is a true loss.”

            

Wei Tingxu asked Zhen Wenjun, “Are you confident?”

Zhen Wenjun replied, “I’ll only know if I try going down.”

“Go ahead.”

            

“Ah Mu! I want to go too!” Xiao Xiao said as she was already hanging onto the vine.

“Don’t be silly!” Zhen Wenjun pulled her aside.

“I’m not being silly,” Xiao Xiao said unhappily, her eyes welling up with tears.

            

Zhen Wenjun had no choice: “Are you sure you want to go down?”

Xiao Xiao quickly nodded.

“Follow behind me. I’ll go down first, and once it’s safe, you can come down.”

            

“Ah—”

“If you call me Ah Mu again, you stay here.”

Xiao Xiao quickly swallowed the last word.

            

Zhen Wenjun and Xiao Xiao, like two monkeys, successfully descended to the bottom of the cliff using the vines. They managed to bring up most of the jewels, minimizing the losses. The soldiers and coachmen who had died from the fall were buried on the spot. This incident delayed them by one day, and traveling in the middle of the night was too dangerous, so they had to set up camp in the rainforest for the night.

Zhen Wenjun found the coachman who was supposed to guide them. He said that he had lived here for many years, and although this path was not an official road built by the government, it was still frequently used by people and vehicles. Normally, wild animals would avoid areas with human activity, so it was indeed strange for the fierce tiger to appear here and even hurt people immediately. When the soldiers cut open the tiger’s stomach, they found it completely empty.

“How long has it been starving?”

            

“No wonder it went mad.”

As Zhen Wenjun bandaged her wounds, hearing them say this left her with an uncomfortable feeling.

Xiaohua was seriously injured, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. Inside the tent, the oil lamp shone brightly, and around Zhong Ji were piles of blood-soaked cloth. Xiaohua lay on a blanket, her face completely without color.

            

“Why won’t the bleeding stop?” Wei Tingxu knelt beside her, keeping watch, thinking that this time Xiaohua would recover like she had countless times before—after being bandaged and getting some sleep, she’d wake up strong as usual. But as the blood kept flowing and Zhong Ji couldn’t stop it, Wei Tingxu knew this time was different.

“She’s been surviving on other poisons just to keep breathing. The Ghost Dove poison could take her life at any moment, and it’s already a miracle she’s lived this long.” Zhong Ji brought a bottle of medicine to Xiaohua’s lips. “This potion can help gather your strength for a while, and it has some numbing effect. I need to stitch you up, so hold on.”

“You’re going to… what?” Xiaohua weakly opened her eyes and asked.

            

Zhong Ji unrolled a piece of leather, revealing needles and threads neatly arranged in rows by length and thickness.

“Stitch up.” Zhong Ji picked up the needle and thread, as if about to mend clothes.

“You can stitch up?” Wei Tingxu had read in ancient texts about the legendary doctor Hua Tuo, who could use needle and thread to sew flesh and intestines, even close up an open head, which was incredibly amazing. She had always wanted to witness it firsthand, but in the present time, very few people knew this art. She didn’t expect Zhong Ji to be one of them. (Hua Tuo is a historically celebrated physician known for his surgical skills in ancient China.)

            

Zhong Ji, busy preparing, didn’t even look up: “I can, but I’ve only practiced on pork before, not much on humans. She’s the first.”

Xiaohua: “You…”

“Stop talking.” Zhong Ji casually stuffed a piece of rag into Xiaohua’s mouth to keep her quiet. “Since you’ve taken the medicine, I’ll take it as your consent to let me stitch you up, so save your strength. I’m going to start. Lady Wei, could you wait outside for me?”

            

Zhen Wenjun lifted the curtain and came in, seeing a roll of silver needles and black thread laid out beside Xiaohua. She paused slightly, asking, “What is this for?”

“Zhong Ji is going to stitch up Xiaohua,” Wei Tingxu said, standing up and leading Zhen Wenjun out of the tent. “Come wait with me outside.”

“Stitch up?” Zhen Wenjun stopped for a moment, turning back to stare at the needles and especially the black thread on the leather.

            

Zhong Ji looked at her, as if urging her with her eyes to leave quickly.

“Wenjun?” Wei Tingxu called her name, and only then did she snap out of it and leave the tent with Wei Tingxu.

“Are you not confident in Zhong Ji?” Wei Tingxu asked her after they exited the tent.

            

“No, I… I’m just curious about her stitching technique. It’s said that nowadays, you can count the number of people who can save lives with this skill on one hand. I didn’t expect Zhong Ji to know this secret technique at such a young age.”

Wei Tingxu moved closer and said, “You must have noticed too, Zhong Ji’s real age definitely doesn’t match her appearance.”

Zhen Wenjun nodded.

            

“This person is mysterious, and seems to be hiding many secrets.”

Threading the black thread through the silver needle, Zhong Ji checked Xiaohua’s pulse. Once she was sure Xiaohua was numb, she began stitching.

The stitching process went very smoothly, and in less than an hour, all of Xiaohua’s wounds were sewn up. However, her hands were covered in poisonous blood, so she needed to wash it off quickly; otherwise, the toxin could enter her body, potentially causing difficult-to-heal sores.

            

“When I was sixteen, I was in Beilou.”

Just as Zhong Ji was about to leave to let her rest, Xiaohua woke up much earlier than expected.

Hearing her weak voice, Zhong Ji stopped all her movements.

            

“Saved a lady.”

Li Yanyi didn’t come to have dinner with Empress Dowager Geng, but Guang’an Palace received another guest. It was Empress Dowager Geng’s elder brother, Geng Bai.

After Geng Bai arrived, Empress Dowager Geng dismissed everyone and asked him, “The matter I entrusted to you before, brother, how is it progressing?”

            

Geng Bai replied, “Empress Dowager, don’t be anxious. That Xie family is far away in the northern border, and to eliminate them requires careful planning. Right now, there is something even more important that cannot be delayed.”

“Something more important?” Empress Dowager Geng slapped the armrest and stood up: “What could be more important than the imperial lineage?”

“The Wei family’s demon woman, Wei Zizhuo.”

            

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