Chapter 42: Sacrificing For The Fort
“Dong dong dong~”
“Elder Brother, are you in there?”
The sound of knocking on the door rang out, accompanied by Er Hu’s rough, loud voice.
More than an hour had already passed, but Li Xiao still hadn’t returned.
Er Hu couldn’t sit still any longer, so he went out to search courtyard by courtyard.
Finally, in a relatively spacious courtyard, he found Li Xiao’s horse.
According to the people of Hou Village, this was originally where Hou Tiancai and his wife lived, the best courtyard in the village.
But at this moment, the room door was tightly closed. Er Hu shouted a couple of times with no response, and immediately became a bit anxious.
It seemed he was worried that something had happened to Li Xiao, so there was only a ‘bang’ sound, and Er Hu rammed the door open.
After entering, Er Hu was somewhat dumbfounded.
Li Xiao was standing perfectly fine in the main hall, not a thing wrong with him.
“Elder Brother, I shouted several times and you didn’t respond. Why didn’t you open the door?”
“I thought something had happened to you!” Er Hu said guiltily.
Taking advantage of the moment while talking, Er Hu’s gaze turned toward behind Li Xiao.
He happened to see a woman hurrying past, looking panicked, covering her mouth as she ran into the inner room.
Then, the sound of dry heaving came from inside.
“Hou Tiancai’s woman?”
Er Hu’s eyes suddenly widened, as if he had discovered a new continent.
“Elder Brother? You two~”
Er Hu looked incredulous, pointing his finger at Li Xiao, then at Huang Xiuer in the inner room.
He felt like he had been fooled by Li Xiao.
Just yesterday, Li Xiao had told him it was best not to lose virginity before the age of sixteen.
But how to explain the scene right in front of him?
Li Xiao felt a bit uncomfortable under Er Hu’s contemptuous gaze, and was even more annoyed inside.
The good thing had been interrupted.
So he pulled Er Hu out of the room, walked to the courtyard, mounted his horse, and said in a firm tone:
“We are innocent.”
“Her husband died, and she was feeling upset, so I came to comfort her.” Li Xiao explained.
The situation at the time was like this: “Madam Hou, you don’t want your husband to be cut into a thousand pieces, do you?”
But what Li Xiao didn’t expect was that Huang Xiuer’s answer was actually ‘I do’.
Hou Tiancai abandoning her and fleeing alone had already deeply hurt Huang Xiuer.
From love turned to hate, she could even bear to watch Hou Tiancai be cut into a thousand pieces.
This woman’s change in attitude completely stumped Li Xiao, not knowing how to continue.
After being stunned for several seconds, he finally spoke: “Madam Hou, such thoughts are wrong.”
“You and your husband are one, how can you watch him suffer torment?”
Li Xiao believed that Huang Xiuer still cared about Hou Tiancai deep down, but women are naturally inconsistent in words and heart.
So, Li Xiao decided to give this woman a proper lesson, to correct her bad habit of saying one thing and meaning another, and to make her remember what it means for husband and wife to be of one heart.
So the two were really innocent; Li Xiao was just educating a woman who had lost her husband to return to the right path.
Faced with Li Xiao’s explanation, Er Hu clearly didn’t quite believe it. Riding on his horse, walking outward, he squinted his eyes at him.
“Yesterday you said before sixteen years old~”
Li Xiao directly interrupted him: “My nominal age is already sixteen.”
Er Hu was choked speechless, shocked by Li Xiao’s shamelessness.
But it seemed he also understood.
His elder brother wasn’t pretending to be pure and chaste; he just genuinely looked down on Geluolu women, with high standards, that’s all.
“This woman is indeed much prettier than Geluolu women~” Er Hu muttered.
Seeing Er Hu’s convinced expression, Li Xiao didn’t want to explain anymore.
People’s mouths are on their own bodies; let them say whatever they want!
As long as he himself believed he was innocent, that’s fine—after all, he really hadn’t had time to cross the moral line.
“Has it already been an hour?”
Li Xiao looked up at the sky; the moon had already risen very high.
Unknowingly, so much time had passed.
“Almost an hour!” Er Hu gave Li Xiao a resentful look.
The four of them had been foolishly waiting there for half a day, not expecting Li Xiao to be comforting a young widow.
“Just in time.” Li Xiao chuckled and said.
So, the two sped up their horses and soon returned to the previous courtyard.
First, they checked on Li Erjiang’s condition. Because Da Hu and Er Hu had wiped his body with a wet towel, his temperature had dropped somewhat, and his complexion looked a bit better.
“It seems to have some effect.”
Li Xiao nodded happily and said. Next was dealing with the wound.
This was the root cause; if the rotten wound wasn’t treated properly, the temperature would only rise higher soon.
Next, Li Xiao began the final production of allicin.
First, he found a piece of clean cloth to plug the jar mouth and filtered out all the alcohol inside.
At this point, the garlic paste was no longer needed; what was wanted was the alcohol, as the allicin had already dissolved into it.
Second step: pour this alcohol into the distiller and heat it for distillation.
Soon, the alcohol in the distiller decreased, and after cooling, it turned back into alcohol, flowing into the wine jar.
After all the alcohol had evaporated completely, a thin layer of pale yellow crystals remained at the bottom of the distiller.
This was the final form of the simply produced allicin.
“It’s done.”
Li Xiao looked at this thin layer of pale yellow crystals, a joyful expression on his face.
He had finally made an antibiotic.
Although the allicin he produced still had quite a few impurities, and its effect was far inferior to penicillin.
But on this ancient battlefield with extremely high infection rates, having a low-quality version of an antibiotic to use was already good enough; who had the right to demand better?
Little did he know, this tiny amount of allicin could save the lives of how many Han officers and soldiers on the battlefield?
And spare how many officers and soldiers from the pain of amputation?
Li Xiao carefully scraped out the allicin crystals from the bottom of the jar and divided them into two parts.
Half for Second Uncle to dissolve in water and take orally, the other half to apply to the wound.
In reality, allicin shouldn’t be applied directly to wounds easily, because garlic’s spiciness would irritate the wound and cause swelling.
But there was no choice; Li Erjiang’s injury was too severe—even swelling was better than continued infection.
Moreover, after returning to Hexi Fort, the wound would still need deep treatment: digging out the rotten flesh, re-suturing, and using allicin to eliminate the infection.
Early the next morning, Huang Xiuer opened her eyes and looked at the familiar furnishings in the room, but things had long changed.
Slowly getting up from the bed, she only felt her head dizzy and unsteady, her whole body weak, and most importantly, her cheeks very sore.
From exhaustion.
Too many things had happened yesterday; Huang Xiuer’s fate had already changed that day, leaving her mind in turmoil, full of anxiety about the future.
So after Li Xiao left, Huang Xiuer had no trace of sleepiness at all, and only fell into a drowsy sleep when the sky began to lighten.
Less than an hour later, she was woken by the noisy sounds outside.
So she got up, enduring the fatigue of body and mind, and began packing things, bundling up everything usable to take away.
In no time, Da Hu and Er Hu came over.
“Madam Hou~”
Seeing Huang Xiuer, Er Hu subconsciously wanted to address her as ‘Madam Hou’, but was immediately interrupted by Da Hu.
“Madam Huang, you rest for a bit first. We’ll help you pack.” Da Hu said with a gentle smile.
Then the two began helping Huang Xiuer with the work.
“You two~”
Seeing their actions, Huang Xiuer suddenly felt a bit at a loss.
But she also knew that these two were that guy’s younger brothers, definitely sent by that guy to help.
Thinking of her own situation, Huang Xiuer didn’t refuse Li Xiao’s kindness and nodded lightly: “Thank you.”
Before long, all the valuable and useful things in Huang Xiuer’s home were packed up.
There was a lot of stuff, requiring at least a dozen horses to carry.
“As per my elder brother’s instructions, you can keep these usable things, but we can only leave you half the cattle, sheep, and horses.” Da Hu said.
According to Li Xiao’s meaning, it was to confiscate the portion of the couple’s property belonging to Hou Tiancai.
The remaining portion belonging to Huang Xiuer was left for her to continue living on.
Of course, if it weren’t for what happened last night, Li Xiao would definitely have confiscated everything in her home.
“Thank your Elder Brother for me.” Huang Xiuer said.
Life is hard for a woman who lost her husband; even if she returned to Huangsha Village, she would have to live under the watchful eyes of her family.
But with half of the cattle and sheep property, whether in Hexi Fort or Huangsha Village, she wouldn’t need to rely on others’ charity.
“Mm, you can thank him yourself.” Da Hu smiled gently, helping Huang Xiuer drive the cattle, sheep, and horses out of the courtyard.
Preparing to take her and the many people of Hou Village away from here to start a new life.
Da Hu was clever-minded, thinking a bit more than Er Hu.
He guessed that what Li Xiao coveted wasn’t Huang Xiuer’s beauty, but surely her status and background.
The daughter of the Huangsha Village Master.
Although Huangsha Village was a bit smaller than Hexi Fort, if it could be pulled onto Hexi Fort’s war chariot, it would greatly strengthen Hexi Fort’s power.
So, in Da Hu’s view, Li Xiao’s actions were completely selfless for the fort, considering the greater cause of the entire Hexi Fort.
After Da Hu and the other drove out the cattle and sheep, the courtyard was completely empty, leaving only a solitary house.
Huang Xiuer stood at the courtyard gate, taking one last look, sighing softly, then silently turned and mounted her horse.
Hou Tiancai was already dead, the Hou Family gone, and she could no longer be considered a woman of the Hou Family.
This place would have nothing to do with her from now on~
