Chapter 4

Gu Jiao went out to collect firewood. On the one hand, they were really short of firewood. On the other hand, she wanted to go into the mountains to find something to fill their stomachs.

Even though the family wasn’t poor enough to have nothing in the pot, it wasn’t far from it. The family might still be able to support it for a few days if Xiao Liulang ate alone, but if they counted her in, they would somehow be unable to make ends meet.

It was already late autumn.

Not only was there no pollution here, but Gu Jiao felt that the sky above her was especially blue, a sight she had never seen before. The air was also fresh and clean, causing one to feel free and relaxed.

She came here inexplicably, and she didn’t know if those bunch of madmen in the research institute would miss her. Most of them were probably gnashing their teeth, blaming her for suddenly disappearing without sending them the latest research results.

But she was just a medical doctor at M University’s Research Institute on the surface. In reality, she was a secret agent. She joined the organization at the age of eight, and all her experiences since then were only to cover up her true identity.

Of course, she didn’t plan to live such a dangerous life forever. She and the organization agreed that this was her last mission, and she would part ways with them for good after completing it. Unexpectedly, something happened to her plane...

Now that she thought about it, the plane crash was a little too coincidental.

But there was no point in talking about it now. She was already dead there, and it was impossible to go back to take revenge.

No one would feel sorry for her death.

Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and then they started their own families and had new children. To them, she had always been an unnecessary existence.

In a sense, her fate and that of the original soul were indeed similar. The original soul’s parents had passed away early, and she was someone unneeded in the Gu Family.

No one would really feel sad for the death of the original soul.

Gu Jiao smiled mockingly, her eyebrows exuded a slight chill.

Fearing that the rain might start pouring soon, Gu Jiao didn't go too deep into the woods. Still, she found a lot of good things: fungus, mushrooms, and wild wood ears growing on tree stumps.

The wood ears were so fat and thick that they almost covered more than half of the tree stumps. Gu Jiao picked up the big ones.

It was obvious that this area had been felled by the villagers. There were a lot of tree stumps like this that had grown a lot of wood ears.

Gu Jiao picked them piece by piece, and in a short while her back basket became heavy.

Seeing that the harvest was almost done, Gu Jiao stopped in time and cut some dry wood. She tied the dry woods to the back basket with a rope and carried it on her back then prepared to descend.

However, as soon as Gu Jiao turned around, she suddenly heard a snap as if she had stepped on something.

Then she heard a muffled groan. It was very faint and weak.

She blinked her eyes and slowly moved her legs away.

"What bad luck is this..."

She took a deep breath, looked down, and saw a white-bearded grandpa trampled unconscious by her amongst the weeds...

Gu Jiao, "......"

Seriously. Why would anyone lie down in a ditch? And she also happened to step on him?

Gu Jiao's conscience was able to handle it though as she stepped over him.

But within two seconds, Gu Jiao came back with a straight face.

"Let’s just say, I didn't save you out of conscience."

"Cluck, cluck——"

The pheasants inside the tight sack beside the grandpa let out a cry and fluttered their wings.

Gu Jiao raised her eyebrow and glanced casually at the sack, which stopped moving in an instant. Then she looked at the white-bearded grandpa in front of her. A large footprint could be seen on his face from being trampled by her foot, and it looked terrible.

Judging by his clothes, he looked like an ordinary villager, but his face exuded an indescribable noble air.

Gu Jiao put down the dry wood on her back and began to check the pulse of the other party.

She studied Western medicine at college, but later in order to carry out a very special mission, she lurked for as long as five years in the home of a divine physician on the grounds of recognizing him as a teacher and learning Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Judging from his pulse, there were no serious illnesses in his body. Gu Jiao speculated that he was infected with a cold and suddenly got a high fever, then he accidentally fell in the ditch and dislocated his left arm.

Gu Jiao took out her small medicine chest from the basket, grabbed an ice pack and put it on his forehead. Then she held his arm up, cut a piece of wood, tore off the hem of his coat, and braced his arm.

After doing all these, Gu Jiao checked his temperature again and found that it was still high, so she gave him an intramuscular injection of a dose of antipyretic.

Not far away, there was a small straw shed for villagers to rest on the mountain.

Gu Jiao moved the other party there.

Seeing that his fever had gone down and he was about to wake up, Gu Jiao got up and went down the mountain. Before leaving, Gu Jiao left him her umbrella.

"Well, I don't really treat people for free." Saying that, she took a sack of pheasants.

As soon as Gu Jiao arrived home, the rain began to fall and soon became a torrential downpour. The mountains far away and the village shacks were all shrouded in the rain and mist.

Gu Jiao went straight to the kitchen.

Xiao Liulang had already cleaned the bowls and chopsticks, tidied up the kitchen and put away the clothes.

Gu Jiao put down the firewood and the sack, opened the cupboard and looked at it. She wondered, "It’s all eaten?"

She left a lot of the food.

That thin-looking boy actually had a not-so-small appetite.

Was it because he was in his growth phase?

Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow and found a cage to keep the pheasants.

Gu Jiao separated the small firewood from the big ones and picked out the pieces that still needed chopping.

It was already dusk by the time she had finished chopping the firewood. The rain hadn’t stopped and it was moist and cold inside the house. Gu Jiao found a brazier and was going to light a fire for herself when she suddenly thought of something. She walked to Xiao Liulang's room and gently knocked on his door.

"Do you want to warm yourself up?" She asked softly.

There was no response in the room.

She called again, but there was still no response.

Gu Jiao saw the door ajar and gently pushed it open. When she looked inside, she saw that the thin figure had fallen asleep on the old and shabby table under the dim light of the oil lamp.

He also held an unfinished book in his hand. The pages of the book were visibly yellowed and the torn cover was pasted together with oiled paper.

Things were very hard for scholars in the countryside, especially Xiao Liulang, who had been squeezed dry by the Gu Family and the original soul for a long time. He could not even attend a private school and had to rely on self-study.

Gu Jiao hesitated but ultimately walked over to him, took a cotton-padded coat from the cabinet and draped it over him.

Xiao Liulang woke up in the middle of the night.

He hadn't slept well in the past few days and hadn't expected to fall asleep at his table. When he opened his eyes, he found a cotton-padded coat on his body. He furrowed his brows and there was a trace of vigilance in his eyes.

As he frowned at the book in his hand, he suddenly heard a crackling noise. He turned his head and saw that a burning brazier had been placed on the floor for some time.

The fire warmed up the cold room.

Xiao Liulang's eyes fell on the brazier with a thoughtful look.

There was only one brazier at home. After it was given to Xiao Liulang, Gu Jiao was left with nothing.

Gu Jiao hid the medicine chest and quickly got into the bed, wrapping herself up like a small silkworm.

Probably because she had too much activity during the day, her little body was quite exhausted, thus she soon fell asleep despite the coldness.

Gu Jiao hadn’t dreamed for many years, but tonight she had a dream.

In her dreams, a physician came to the town and Xiao Liulang went to see him to treat his leg. As a result, a medical disturbance occurred in the medical hall where the physician was at, and many people were accidentally injured.

Xiao Liulang, who was crippled on one leg, couldn’t run as fast as anyone else. As a result, his other intact leg was slashed in the midst of confusion.

The injury did not kill Xiao Liulang, but it caused him to miss the exam three days later.