Madam Zhan and her son had landed in two different places, and both had fallen unconscious.
After examining them, Cheng Yao couldn’t help frowning.
Madam Zhan was the more seriously injured of the two. She had not only broken two ribs, one leg bone, and her ankle, but had also suffered ruptures to her heart and spleen.
Zhan Haochen had multiple fractures as well, along with internal injuries.
With injuries this severe, recovery would have been difficult even at home, let alone while they were in exile.
So she had no choice but to use the spirit spring water again.
She entered the space, crouched beside the spring, and cursed Zhan Qingrou eight hundred times.
If it weren’t for her, would this mother and son have had to suffer like this? Would she have had to waste her precious spirit spring water?
Still simmering with anger, Cheng Yao glanced toward the spring—and instantly widened her eyes.
Earlier, there had only been a puddle about the size of her fist. She had used some to save Zhan Haoting, then added more to the ginger soup so the entire clan could drink it. There had barely been any left.
But now, there was twice as much as before!
Had the spirit spring replenished itself? Or was this a reward from the space for the merit she had accumulated by saving people?
Either way, it was a delightful surprise!
Cheng Yao excitedly lay down beside the spring and, with an almost reverent attitude, scooped up the water with both hands and drank it in one gulp.
She knew that the spirit spring could heal injuries and purge toxins. It could also nourish the body and strengthen one’s foundations.
But after living two lifetimes, she still couldn’t bear to drink even a mouthful unless she was injured herself!
Damn it. All that talk about saving lives and healing the wounded was nonsense. Her own spirit spring water came first. She needed to nourish her own body before anything else.
As the water slid down her throat, it instantly transformed into a warm current that spread from her organs to every inch of her body.
The soreness brought on by walking for so long gradually faded, as if she were soaking in warm water.
Her heavy eyelids suddenly felt light, and the world before her eyes became clearer.
Her chest felt wonderfully open. Even her breathing seemed tinged with sweetness, and her heartbeat became deep, steady, and powerful, filled with vigorous life.
Her body began to sweat as well. Her pores seemed to open gently, allowing minute impurities to seep out with the sweat and form a greasy layer of grime.
Yet beneath that grime, her skin had become luminous and fair, like jade carefully polished free of dust.
Cheng Yao touched it. Her skin felt smooth and delicate, even the roughness around her elbows gone. It was as though she had been thoroughly cleansed from the inside out. Her entire body felt fresh, light, and utterly comfortable.
A sudden thought occurred to Cheng Yao. Could this spirit spring water awaken her special ability?
After hesitating briefly, she drank several more mouthfuls.
However, her body showed no obvious change.
Apparently, she had been imagining things.
In her previous life, she had lived through the apocalypse, when all things under heaven had mutated. That was why she had been able to awaken her ability. This world simply did not possess the conditions needed for that.
She could only hope that the space would recover its vitality soon, allowing this little world to nourish itself.
In high spirits, Cheng Yao brought Zhan Haochen and his mother into the space, then went to bathe.
Since time was frozen inside the space, she rested for a while before tending to the two of them.
Zhan Haochen had torn off most of his clothes to make a rope for climbing down the cliff. Only a few strips of fabric still hung from his body—nowhere near enough to cover him—so he needed a change of clothes.
She quickly stripped him and rummaged through the clothes she had previously stored in the space, finding a slightly worn set of short garments for him.
Madam Zhan had been wearing the same set of underclothes she had put on when they first went into exile. They were so dirty and tattered that their original color could no longer be made out. Cheng Yao changed her into coarse-cloth clothing as well.
Then she drew spirit spring water into a syringe and fed it into their mouths, not wasting a single drop.
Zhan Haoting’s injuries were severe. She couldn’t heal him all at once without exposing her secret.
But no one knew how badly injured Zhan Haochen and Madam Zhan had been. She could let them recover seventy or eighty percent, then put on an act for the remaining injuries.
The only problem was that this meant giving them far more spirit spring water than she had given Zhan Haoting. Cheng Yao’s heart ached so badly it practically twitched.
As a final step, she tore their clothes and casually bandaged the minor wounds on their bodies.
Once she was certain there were no loose ends, she brought them out onto a patch of grass only a hundred meters or so from the main group.
A little while later, Zhan Haochen and his mother slowly regained consciousness.
It was pitch-black all around them, and they had no idea where they were. The memories from before they fell off the cliff came rushing back.
“Haochen!”
“Mother!”
The mother and son panicked at first. But when they discovered that the other was right beside them, they each checked their own bodies. Finding no serious discomfort, they finally relaxed their tense nerves.
Just as they were wondering where they were, they heard Cheng Yao’s voice.
“You’re awake?”
Zhan Haochen stared at her in disbelief. “Sister-in-law?”
“It’s me.” Cheng Yao nodded and lit a small branch, then approached with a smile.
In the firelight, her skin was whiter than snow and her lips vividly red. She looked like a spirit who had wandered out of the mountains.
Zhan Haochen looked at her, then at the unfamiliar surroundings, his face filled with confusion. “Sister-in-law, what is this place...?”
“An old hunter saved you and Mother.”
Cheng Yao recited the story she had prepared beforehand.
She said that when she reached the cliff, she had happened to hear the sound of him and Madam Zhan falling. Shao Yutong had run away, leaving her completely at a loss. Fortunately, an old hunter who lived in a nearby cave had appeared, and she had begged him for help.
The old hunter was kind enough to carry them back up the cliff, set their bones, treat their wounds, and give them medicine. He had even brought out clothes belonging to his family for them to change into.
It took Madam Zhan and her son quite some time to digest her words. The whole thing sounded like a story and hardly seemed real.
But the clothes they were wearing and their properly treated injuries left them with no way to explain what had happened otherwise.
Cheng Yao didn’t care whether they believed her. She added one final sentence.
“The old hunter carried you both back here before leaving.”
Lady Zhan couldn’t figure out what had truly happened, so she had no choice but to believe her daughter-in-law.
“If we’re fortunate enough to survive, we must repay this benefactor twice over. But I wonder, what is his name?”
“His name is Lei Feng.”
“Lei Feng...” Lady Zhan repeated the name carefully, engraving it in her heart.
...
Shao Yutong had only just returned to the group.
When she saw Zhan Qingrou, she burst into tears of joy.
“I’ve been looking for you for so long. I searched this entire area. Thank goodness you’re all right.”
As for Madam Zhan and her son falling off the cliff, she didn’t mention it at all.
The less trouble, the better. She didn’t want everyone to know that she had fled on her own.
If that mother and son were dead, then so be it. They still had Zhan Haoting.
As long as she took good care of him and helped him turn the tables, he could still be of use to her.
Zhan Qingrou said, “I was bitten by a snake, and Sister-in-law saved me. But she tricked me and said I was going to die, which scared me into crying nonstop. Sister-in-law is so mean.”
“What? How could Sister-in-law do that?” Shao Yutong held her hand and looked her up and down. “It’s all my fault for not finding you sooner and letting you suffer so much.”
“You suffered even more.” Zhan Qingrou’s eyes reddened with emotion.
Shao Yutong was covered from head to toe in scratches. Her clothes had been snagged and torn by branches, and she had even lost her sash. She looked so disheveled, all because of Zhan Qingrou.
Everyone began praising and comforting Shao Yutong as well.
“Yutong, you’re just a young girl, yet you dared to go looking for someone all by yourself. That’s incredibly brave.”
“That’s right. It was pitch-black outside, and you could even hear tigers roaring, but you didn’t cry or panic. You did wonderfully.”
“You searched for a long time, too. None of the men and elders here can compare with you.”
“Listen to you two. You’re making me blush.” Shao Yutong’s pretty face flushed bright red. She took Zhan Qingrou’s hands again and said, “I wasn’t thinking too much about it. I just wanted to find Rou’er as soon as possible. I was so worried about you.”
“Yutong, you’re so good to me.” Zhan Qingrou was deeply moved.
