Chapter 5: Saving Someone
Grandpa Ling asked nothing, picked up a dry branch from the ground and tossed it, then pulled Jinsui and crouched down, walking in the direction the dry branch pointed.
“Hurry, go this way.”
Jinsui found it both funny and speechless, “Is this how Grandpa does divination?”
At this moment, sounds of fighting came from the ruined temple, and both constables and bandits rushed out, covering their mouths and noses.
They could faintly hear the bandits shouting, “Where’s that stinky Taoist? He must be behind this!”
The grandfather and granddaughter dared not linger for a moment, fleeing as if from a place of trouble.
After passing through the forest and crossing the wilderness, they heard the sound of flowing water. They were already very far from the Earth God Temple, and the grandfather and granddaughter finally collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
Grandpa Ling used his sleeve to wipe away blood, tears, and snot. After a hearty cough, he said, both angry and fearful,
“Didn’t I tell you to hide and not come out?”
Jinsui retorted without hesitation, “If I had to watch Grandpa be killed by them, I’d rather risk my life.”
“If I can’t save Grandpa, then we’ll go to the Bridge of Helplessness together, so we won’t be lonely on the road.”
Grandpa Ling stared at her blankly, his expression gradually changing from anger to kindness, and he laughed heartily,
“Suisui has gotten braver! Good, from now on, whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”
He then quickly asked, “Why did you come all the way to this desolate place alone? Did something happen to the Jiang family?”
Jinsui didn’t hide anything. After all, the original owner had died so pitifully. She was worried that if she didn’t tell the truth, Grandpa Ling would send her back.
After hearing her account, Grandpa Ling was furious. His anger towards Jiang Youzhi was different from his anger towards the bandits; this was Jinsui’s close relative!
He actually did such a heartless thing!
I was truly blind to have believed Jiang Youzhi’s words and almost harmed Suisui.
Grandpa Ling, filled with anger and regret, held Jinsui’s hand fearfully and said,
“Let’s go, we’ll go back and find him. If I don’t break Jiang Youzhi’s dog legs, I won’t be surnamed Ling!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he coughed violently again. Jinsui quickly comforted him,
“A gentleman’s revenge is never too late. We’ll find him later; escaping is the priority right now.”
She didn’t mention poisoning Madam Zheng into silence, fearing that Grandpa Ling would notice the significant difference between her personality and the original owner’s, and become suspicious.
Grandpa Ling also understood that revenge against the Jiang family was not the most important thing at the moment. He took out a compass from his sleeve to identify the direction and then took out three copper coins to divine.
Jinsui suppressed a smile, “Why didn’t Grandpa divine when he kept me at the Jiang family? And he forgot to divine before being captured by the bandits tonight?”
“By the way, why did Grandpa become a Taoist?”
Grandpa Ling glared at her, “How do you know Grandpa didn’t divine? The fact that we both survived is a good omen!”
Jinsui sighed inwardly, pity that your biological granddaughter is already dead. This one who survived is merely a soul from another world, a substitute.
“Your grandpa was originally a Taoist. I returned to secular life many years ago, got married and had children. I still have the Taoist robe and the certificate of conversion.”
“Now, I don’t know what’s going on, but even entering a town requires a travel permit. It’s easier to travel the Jianghu disguised as a Taoist.”
“Head towards the water. This divination is very auspicious for water. Let’s take the water route to Jiangnan first, and then travel to Yandi with a merchant caravan.”
Upon hearing the word Jiangnan, Jinsui gave a self-deprecating smile. “I should have just not escaped and let the matchmaker send me to Jiangnan before escaping. It would have been so much easier.”
Grandpa Ling led the way, following the compass’s guidance under the moonlight, heading towards Jiangnan.
Jinsui followed closely, testing how to enter the laboratory.
She had to get some medicine for Grandpa quickly; he was not lightly injured.
Pressing her left palm, her palm instantly felt hot, and a colorful light spot flickered on her palm. Then, her vision blurred, and she indeed entered the laboratory.
It was so easy to enter!
Jinsui felt relieved. She had been worried that some special condition was needed to activate it!
She quickly took some anti-inflammatory medicine and external wound medicine, and also grabbed a bottle of mineral water and a few energy bars.
Fearing that the sudden appearance of the items would startle Grandpa Ling, she put them in a black bag and tucked it into her embrace.
If she hadn’t been afraid of being caught by the constables or bandits, she would have really wanted to drag Grandpa Ling to find a place to rest and study the laboratory properly.
Grandpa Ling was old, and he had been injured by the bandits. By the time they reached the riverbank, the sky was already showing the first light of dawn. He gratefully slumped down to rest.
Jinsui took the opportunity to take out the food and medicine, and lied,
“Fortunately, I kept the things I bought in the small town with me. Grandpa, please eat something.”
It was still dark, and Grandpa Ling had no suspicion that his granddaughter would harm him. He took whatever she handed him and ate.
He was surprised when eating the energy bar, “This dim sum is really sweet!”
Fearing he would be surprised by the transparent water bottle, Jinsui wrapped it in a black bag and handed it to him to drink.
As the grandfather and granddaughter were seizing the time to rest, a strange sound suddenly came from the reed bed by the river embankment.
Jinsui was startled, and Grandpa Ling quickly picked up a long stick to poke the reed bed. A wild duck flew out, and the two breathed a sigh of relief.
But soon, Jinsui noticed that where the wild duck had flown out, there seemed to be a person lying there.
Grandpa Ling also noticed and was about to go down the river embankment to rescue him.
Jinsui calmly stopped him, “It might be bandits.”
Grandpa Ling said, “If it’s bandits, they pushed him down!”
Jinsui had no choice but to follow him down the river embankment. With the grandfather and granddaughter working together, they managed to drag the person from the shallow water to the riverbank.
It was a man dressed in fine silk, very tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He had wounds on his shoulders and abdomen, and a cut on his cheek.
Grandpa Ling wiped his face with his sleeve. Under the faint morning sun, a handsome face, like a jade carving, appeared in Jinsui’s eyes.
“Still breathing,” Grandpa Ling said, and was about to take off his clothes to bandage him.
At this moment, a flock of birds suddenly took flight from the small forest in the distance, and the sound of horse hooves grew closer. Regardless of whether the arrivals were bandits or constables, they had to escape quickly.
Jinsui quickly pulled Grandpa Ling, “Based on my past experience, men who collapse by the roadside like this cannot be saved!”
Grandpa Ling: “…What experience do you have?”
Uh, casually saving men in the wild never ends well!
If you don’t believe me, look: He Yan saved Fu Shenxing, Xiao Feng saved Li Chengyin, Jie Geng saved Ghost Spider…
Looking at this man’s clothes and belt, he is either rich or noble. He has knife and arrow wounds all over his body, clearly a troublesome person.
We, grandfather and granddaughter, are being chased by constables and robbed by bandits. How can we be so saintly to save a stranger!
Grandpa Ling also heard the horse hooves. Although he was kind, he knew how to choose between saving a stranger and his granddaughter’s safety.
He put the man down and pulled Jinsui, “Let’s go, walk quietly along the river. We’ll be safe when we encounter a boat.”
After walking a few steps, the grandfather and granddaughter both turned back to look at the man lying on the ground, exchanging a glance.
They saw reluctance in each other’s eyes. If they truly abandoned him, they would both feel guilty.
Grandpa Ling gritted his teeth, “Bandage him, push him into the reed bed. Whether he lives or dies depends on his fate.”
Ling JinSui was, after all, a physician. It was truly hard to bear not saving a life, so she agreed,
“Okay! We need to be quick.”
She quickly tore off the hem of her underwear, fed the anti-inflammatory medicine she had prepared for Grandpa Ling into the man’s mouth, and forced him to drink a few mouthfuls of water.
She quickly sprinkled some external medicine on his wounds and wrapped them with cloth strips. In such an emergency, she couldn’t worry about anything else.
If this were in her previous life, he would need to be in the intensive care unit, but in this situation, he could only rely on his fate.
The two of them carried him back to the reed bed and erased any traces nearby.
As they were leaving, Jinsui whispered in the man’s ear, “Believe in yourself, you will live.”
She then unwrapped an energy bar and stuffed it into his hand. This was all she could do.
She and Grandpa Ling could not possibly take this stranger with them to escape.
