Chapter 271

271 High Fever

When he woke up early today, the outside was covered with a thin layer of white frost, as if it had snowed. However, it disappeared when the sun was about to rise into the sky.

Nie Yuansheng walked into the house in the middle of the courtyard with a bowl of steaming millet rice covered with freshly stir-fried wild vegetables and cured meat.

“Mother, eat your rice first. I will braise the rest in the pot. At noon, you can eat it after heating it up a little. I’m going up the mountain now.”

The old woman lying on the bed propped herself up and said worriedly, “Yuansheng, it’s not easy to walk in the mountains these days. Why don’t you not go? Don’t we still have some millet, mountain products, cured meat, and so on at home? It’s enough for us to get through the winter.”

!!

“Mother, it’s getting cold early this year. It looks like it’ll be very cold in winter. We have to prepare enough firewood and food. Otherwise, when the snow seals the mountain, the situation will be difficult.”

Nie Yuansheng didn’t want to leave his mother alone in the mountains, but winter was coming. He wanted to take advantage of the time to pick as many herbs as possible and hunt for some prey to exchange for money.

His mother had just undergone a major operation, and he had been busy taking care of her, so he had not been able to store enough supplies for the winter. Now, he could only make up for it as soon as possible.

“But…”

The old lady wanted to persuade him again but was interrupted by Nie Yuansheng. “Don’t worry, Mother. I won’t go deep into the mountains. I’ll be back before dark.”

After he finished speaking, he turned around and left the house. He took the basket, chopper, and a piece of yellow rice and flour cornbread that he had prepared on his back, and then hurriedly walked out of the house.

However, a few hours later, he regretted not listening to his mother and making the decision to go up the mountain.

“Don’t, don’t come over!”

Nie Yuansheng used both his hands and feet to move backward. His eyes were staring straight ahead, and his mouth was subconsciously begging for mercy.

His bamboo basket was thrown not far away, and the herbs inside were scattered all over the ground. A huge furry paw stepped on his chopper, and then slowly approached him.

It was a huge white-fronted tiger. Its brown eyes were full of cold and brutal killing intent. Nie Yuansheng seemed to be able to smell the stinky hot air from its mouth, which represented the smell of death.

Who would’ve thought that the cold of winter would cause the tiger, which usually appeared during the day and at night, to appear in the day earlier than expected?

In such a deep mountain, even if he cried for help, no one would be able to hear him and arrive in time. It seemed that he would die in the tiger’s mouth today.

It was a pity that his mother had to endure the torture of the illness, but she was still unable to move. After his death, he did not know how she would live in the future.

When Nie Yuansheng saw that the tiger was about to pounce, he could only turn his head and close his eyes tightly, waiting for death to come.

However, the pain he had imagined did not appear. There was only a muffled sound beside him, as if something had hit his feet.

Nie Yuansheng mustered up the courage to open his eyes and coincidentally met the tiger’s eyes.

The tiger, who was still cruel and cold just now, was lying at his feet. It opened its bloody mouth and stuck out its tongue, but there was no sound. It was dead.

Not far away, a man in black had appeared. He held a pair of strange weapons in his hands. There was a string of blood dripping from them, and a pool of blood had quickly formed under the tiger.

The man in black seemed to be focused on the tiger and didn’t even look at him. He staggered as he walked over and sat down beside the tiger’s body.

Nie Yuansheng looked at the man in black’s actions in shock. It was only then that he realized that most of his clothes were extremely dark in color, as if they had been soaked through by something.

The man in black pulled out a sharp dagger from his waist and gestured at the tiger’s back. He seemed to be looking for a suitable place to cut it, planning to skin the tiger right there and then.

Nie Yuansheng wanted to remind him that if he wanted to completely peel off the tiger’s skin, it was better to cut from the claws. He had never seen anyone cut from the tiger’s back. Only those who had no intention of taking the tiger’s skin would do so.

However, the man seemed to have lost all his strength. He couldn’t even hold the dagger in his hand, let alone cut the fur on the tiger’s back.

Nie Yuansheng noticed the man in black’s strange behavior. He didn’t care that his hands and feet were still sore and weak. He quickly crawled to his side and asked, “Benefactor, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

When he reached the man’s side, Nie Yuansheng noticed that his body was also emitting a strong smell of blood. It turned out that his clothes were actually soaked in blood. It was only because he was wearing black clothes that Nie Yuansheng could not see it at first.

“Bones, medicine…”

The man in black suddenly opened his mouth and said a few words before he fainted on the tiger’s corpse.

Nie Yuansheng touched his forehead and realized that his body temperature was frighteningly high.

From what the man said, he wanted to take the tiger’s bones to make medicine. However, when he caught the tiger, he had lost too much blood and had a high fever. Even if he successfully killed the tiger, he would not be able to take out the bones.

No matter what, this black-clothed man was his savior. Nie Yuansheng was lucky to have escaped death, so he naturally couldn’t sit by and do nothing.

Leaving such a big tiger in the mountains would only benefit the other beasts. Although it was a pity, there was no other way.

Fortunately, Nie Yuansheng had been a butcher for a few years. He first moved the man in black to the side and sat down against a tree. Then, he used the man’s short knife to completely peel off the tiger’s skin and separate the tiger meat and bones.

He picked up his basket and put the tiger’s bones and fur into it. He could only abandon the mountain of meat next to him. After all, he had to bring a living person out of the mountain and could not take more things.

He tied the basket tightly with a hemp rope and tied the other end of the rope to his waist. He dragged the basket on the ground. Then, Nie Yuansheng half-supported and half-dragged the unconscious man up and moved him down the mountain with great effort.

He didn’t know how much time had passed since he left the mountain and finally saw the small mountain village hidden by the trees. It was already late, and smoke began to rise from the chimneys of every household.

“Oh no, Mother must be worried sick after seeing that I haven’t returned for so long.”

Nie Yuansheng wanted to speed up, but the man he was supporting had not woken up since he fell unconscious. Now that he was leaning heavily on Nie Yuansheng, the speed at which he was dragging him became slower and slower.

“Yuansheng, is the young man you brought back still not awake? If his fever continues like this, it’s very easy for him to get into trouble.”

The old woman asked worriedly as she allowed her son to wipe her face and hands and feet.

“Mother, I was thinking, why don’t we send him to the Qin Village tonight? We can’t treat our benefactor’s injuries. In all the villages in this area, only Lady Qin can save his life.”

Although Nie Yuansheng did not want to travel in the cold wind in the middle of the night, the black-clothed man’s condition was not good. He could not let his benefactor die because of his injuries.