Chapter 852 - 854: Okay, I Agree to Your Terms_1
At that moment, a whistle sounded from the direction of the giant stone, and Jiang Yichun, accompanied by guards who seemed like heavenly soldiers, leapt across from the giant stone with the fire partially extinguished, running towards them.
Bai Ruozhu looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears that she couldn’t hold back anymore, spilling down her cheeks. She herself didn’t notice, still trying to offer him a smile that was somewhere between crying and laughing.
Jiang Yichun’s heart clenched suddenly. He hadn’t protected her after all; he had been too careless. He hadn’t expected that the enemy would prepare such a giant stone and even tamper with it, dousing it in an ample amount of kerosene.
The whistle was the assassin’s signal; the killers had lost their advantage and were now retreating in defeat. But having been poisoned, their speed was reduced; many were killed or injured, and some were captured, only to immediately take poison and commit suicide.
"Take them alive!" Jiang Yichun commanded, but he ran toward Bai Ruozhu, disregarding everyone else, pulling her down from the carriage and holding her tightly in his arms.
"Just now, when I saw the giant stone hit your horse carriage, I..." He paused there, having been truly terrified, almost to the point of wishing for death—she and the children had been in that carriage.
Bai Ruozhu sniffled, her voice tinged with a crying tone, "I’m fine. Let’s hurry and check on Tu Bai; I’m afraid he might be..."
Jiang Yichun turned his head and saw Tu Bai with a long sword stabbed into his abdomen, lying in a pool of blood while Tu Ying, beside him, was crying hysterically as she hugged him.
Jiang Yichun picked up Bai Ruozhu and in a few leaps reached Tu Bai’s side.
"Tu Ying, don’t panic just yet. Let me try to..." Bai Ruozhu’s voice faded as she saw that Tu Bai’s wounds were too severe.
But she did not dare to say more, afraid of overwhelming Tu Ying. She quickly took out a needle to treat Tu Bai, aiming to control the bleeding in his internal organs. By this time, Tu Bai was already vomiting blood profusely, indicative of massive internal bleeding.
Bai Ruozhu couldn’t help thinking back to when her second brother was shot with arrows. She had been powerless to save him. The medical facilities of ancient times made it very difficult to treat internal injuries. If only she had a powerful medicinal pill, perhaps Tu Bai could be saved, but where could she find one?
For the first time, Bai Ruozhu realized just how ordinary she was. Whether it was her medical skills or the resources at her disposal, she had too little of everything. She had only been coasting on the benefits of transmigration and the knowledge from the Poison Scripture, yet she was complacent, unable to save even her friends and family.
Last time, if not for the medicine pill provided by Princess Diao Bin, she would have been unable to save her second brother!
It was also the first time Bai Ruozhu felt she must truly commit to studying medicine. She couldn’t always expect to live in peace, because without progress, one would be eliminated. Regardless of where one lives, the law of survival of the fittest applies.
Suddenly, Diao Yao produced a medicine pill and handed it to Bai Ruozhu, saying, "This was the reward for my Sect’s competition. Miss Bai, you use it for him. It should save his life. All I ask is..."
Stopping there, Diao Yao blushed slightly, feeling somewhat embarrassed. It was like taking advantage of the situation to make a request, but...
"Fine, I promise to help Chu Hai detoxify. I may not be able to right now, but I will find a way as soon as possible," Bai Ruozhu replied without further delay, placing the pill into Tu Bai’s mouth. She didn’t check the reliability of the pill; at this juncture, she had to take a gamble.
After Tu Bai swallowed the pill, the bleeding in his organs lessened. Bai Ruozhu looked up at Jiang Yichun, saying, "Go check on the others. Mr. Zhang has been poisoned, and there are many others who need medical attention. Go tend to them first. I’ll take care of Tu Bai."
Jiang Yichun nodded, then turned to look at Chenfeng and Muyu, instructing in a low voice, "Take good care of Madam."
"Yes," the two responded in unison.
Bai Ruozhu carefully felt Tu Bai’s pulse and noticed a bit of improvement in his body, letting out a great sigh of relief. Tu Bai could be saved.
The pill from Diao Yao was not as effective as the one from Princess Diao Bin, but it was enough to save Tu Bai’s life.
Diao Yao, Diao Bin? Bai Ruozhu suddenly realized the similarity in their names, but then thought it impossible. Diao Yao was a disciple of the Bihai Sect from the Western Regions of the Wulin; how could she be related to Diao Bin? She cast aside her messy thoughts and concentrated on treating Tu Bai.
Tu Bai’s wound was not minor and needed suturing. Bai Ruozhu looked around and saw that Tu Bai did not need to be moved. She simply applied some Golden Wound Medicine first, thinking to find a secluded place to stitch him up later.
Seeing her brother’s life was saved, Tu Ying suddenly knelt down before Diao Yao and even started kowtowing, "Miss Diao Yao saved my brother’s life. I, Tu Ying, will remember this great kindness. If you ever need anything, just ask our Tu Family."
Diao Yao, frightened, kept stepping back, repeatedly waving her hands and saying, "It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, it was Sister Ruozhu who saved him. I even made a request."
Tu Ying, not one to be overly sentimental, got up from the ground and wiped the tear marks from her face, "I will not forget the kindness from you and Sister Ruozhu."
On the other side, Bai Ruozhu wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up at Tu Ying, saying, "Watch your brother, his condition is temporarily stable, but don’t move him for now. I’m going to check on the others."
As Bai Ruozhu left, Chu Hai followed her. She turned and glanced at him, and he said indifferently, "I can also detoxify."
"Thank you," Bai Ruozhu remembered, the detoxifying abilities of Chu Hai were not negligible, and there were quite a few people who had been hit by the assassins’ poisoned darts.
Following behind her, Chu Hai spoke again in a very soft voice, "How did you manage to administer poison without affecting your own people?"
Bai Ruozhu paused in her steps, turned back to look at him, and said, "I heard this morning that there might be danger on the way today, so when the troops gathered together, I had already given everyone an antidote beforehand."
Chu Hai’s eyes lit up, "No wonder when I met you earlier, I smelled a faint scent of tea."
Bai Ruozhu did not say much more to him and went straight to where the poisoned were, with Chu Hai following closely behind. Jiang Yichun, noticing this, was very displeased, but he said nothing. Considering the recent help from Chu Hai and Diao Yao, he decided not to quarrel with him for now.
The poisoned ranged from ordinary soldiers to dark guards. Bai Ruozhu instructed everyone to use their inner strength to suppress the poison first. She took out some medicine pills that could relieve the toxicity and counted them—there were only enough for about half of the people.
"The medicine can only alleviate the poison, and since there isn’t enough for everyone, I will give it first to those with lesser inner strength, lest anyone die of poisoning," Bai Ruozhu said.
Those with lesser inner strength were the ordinary soldiers, naturally not comparable in status to personal guards and dark guards. So, when Bai Ruozhu mentioned there wasn’t enough medicine, they all felt a bit despairing. Even if Bai Ruozhu were to save her own dark guards and ignore them, they knew they had no right to complain. But the next second, they were stunned. Did the Lady just say she would give the medicine to them first? Had they heard wrong?