Ch 7: The Regent’s Farmer Husband

The man on Jiang Ji’s back was limp and heavy from unconsciousness. Gasping for breath, Jiang Ji finally staggered home under the weight.

“Brother! Mother, Brother’s back!” Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei, who had been waiting by the gate, shouted the moment they saw him.

“Move aside, both of you—someone’s hurt!”

At once, the two little ones jumped aside to let their brother through.

“Xiao Ji, you’re back—” Zhao Ru and Jiang Xia were standing at the kitchen door. When Zhao Ru noticed the figure on his back, she blinked in surprise. “What happened?”

“I found this man hurt,” Jiang Ji said, carrying the stranger inside. “Picked him up in the small grove by the village entrance. Take a look, Mother—maybe you know him? I’ll take him home afterward.”

Since it was near the village, Jiang Ji had assumed the man was a local.

“Injured?” Zhao Ru grabbed the tung-oil lamp and hurried over. She looked carefully, then frowned. “No… I don’t recognize him. He’s not from our village.”

“Huh?” Jiang Ji was stunned. “Then maybe from the next one over?”

“Not them either. I’ve never seen this person before,” Zhao Ru said.

If even his mother didn’t know him, then no one else in the household did.

So there was no home to return him to.

“Forget it—saving him comes first.” Jiang Ji carried the man straight into his own room. “Jiang Nan, go get the doctor! Tell him someone’s badly hurt and unconscious—quick!”

“Got it!” Jiang Nan dashed out like the wind to fetch the old village physician.

Zhao Ru followed with the lamp, lighting the way, while Jiang Xia hurried ahead to pull back the blanket on Jiang Ji’s bed. Jiang Ji set the man down with a heavy sigh of exhaustion.

He’d already been hungry and tired, and hauling a grown man all the way back had drained his last bit of strength.

“He’s completely passed out,” Zhao Ru said, raising the lamp to get a better look—then gasped aloud. “Heavens, so many wounds!”

Jiang Ji turned around and froze. The man’s black coat was filthy and torn, thin for the season. His arms, chest, and abdomen were all slashed open, and on the left side of his chest, blood was still seeping from a puncture wound. There was also a gash on his head.

Holy crap—he looked like he’d been hacked to pieces.

Whoever attacked him hadn’t held back.

Jiang Ji looked closer at the man’s face: strong brows, straight nose, sharp jawline—handsome, maybe twenty-five or twenty-six at most.

Wow. A pretty boy—and a young one at that.

“Xia’er, take Jiang Bei outside. See if the doctor’s coming, and don’t come back in later. Boil some water, too,” Zhao Ru instructed. It wouldn’t be proper for a young girl to stay while treating a grown man’s injuries, and Jiang Bei was still too small—she didn’t want him frightened by the sight of blood.

“Okay, Mother.”

Jiang Bei wanted to stay and watch, but Jiang Xia dragged him out.

Before long, the old physician arrived with his grandson, Da Qiang, a few years older than Jiang Ji.

The moment they saw the man’s condition, both of them sucked in a breath.

“Jiang Ji, where’d you find this guy?” Da Qiang asked.

“At the grove by the village gate. I thought he was one of ours.”

“With wounds like that… could he have run into bandits?” Da Qiang guessed.

Or maybe an enemy, Jiang Ji thought privately.

Zhao Ru held up the lamp while Jiang Ji and Da Qiang helped the doctor undress the wounded man to examine him.

A jade pendant slipped from the man’s chest—a rich, translucent green, clearly valuable. Jiang Ji picked it up and handed it to his mother. “Mother, keep this safe for him.”

Zhao Ru nodded and tucked it away.

When they saw the full extent of his injuries, everyone drew a sharp breath.

A one-inch cut on the arm. A five- or six-inch slash across the chest from left to right. Another three- or four-inch gash across the abdomen, the flesh turned outward and already showing signs of infection. A diagonal wound marked his back as well.

But the most dangerous of all was the stab wound on the left side of his chest—alarmingly close to the heart.

“The head looks like it struck something hard, but the waist and abdomen… those are blade wounds,” the old doctor said gravely, inspecting the injuries. “And this one on the chest—it’s from a sword.”

“The doctor… can he be saved?” Jiang Ji asked anxiously.

The old physician took the man’s pulse and examined his wounds. “His breathing is very faint, and his fever’s dangerously high. Hard to say.”

He wrote out a prescription and handed it to Da Qiang. “For now, we’ll bandage the wounds. I don’t have enough hemostatic powder with me. Qiangzi, run home and bring the rest from the top drawer. There’s also a bottle of golden wound medicine—bring that, and plenty of gauze. Tell your father to mix these herbs and send them over right away, and grind up more poultices for external use—we’ll need a lot.”

“Got it.” Da Qiang sprinted off.

The doctor got to work. Before long, Da Qiang came back with the medicine. Zhao Ru took a portion to boil for internal use, while the doctor cleaned and dressed the man’s wounds. It took more than half an hour to finish. The sword wound in his chest bled stubbornly, and the festering abscess on his abdomen took forever to clean before the golden wound powder could be applied.

“Doctor, will he live?” Jiang Ji asked, pulling one of his own shirts over the man and tucking him under the blanket.

“It’s hard to say. The wounds are all deep—especially that one on the chest. It was bleeding nonstop; it might have reached the heart meridian. I barely managed to stop it.”

The old man sighed heavily. “He’s lost a lot of blood and has a raging fever. Whether he survives depends on if the fever breaks. If it doesn’t…”

He trailed off, shaking his head, and Jiang Ji understood.

The high fever was clearly from infection and inflammation, and in this era, there were no antibiotics—no quick way to bring a fever down. Treating an infected wound here was nearly impossible.

“When the medicine’s ready, feed it to him. If the fever hasn’t gone down after two hours, give him another bowl,” the doctor instructed.

“Alright, I understand.”

After walking the doctor and Da Qiang out, Jiang Ji returned to the room and placed a hand on the man’s forehead—it was burning hot, easily over 39 degrees.

“The medicine’s done,” Zhao Ru said, bringing in a bowl. Jiang Ji carefully lifted the man’s shoulders while Zhao Ru spooned the medicine into his mouth.

They’d done all they could. Now it was up to fate.

Zhao Ru rose. “Xiao Ji, let him rest. Come eat first.”

“Mm.”

Mother and son went back to the kitchen. Jiang Xia had already set the table.

Jiang Ji washed his hands and sat down. Dinner was porridge and stir-fried radish with pork.

He noticed the meat dish looked just as generous as last night’s and asked, “What did you guys eat for lunch? How do we still have this much meat left?”

“Wild vegetable soup and bran cakes,” Jiang Nan replied cheerfully. “We were waiting for you, Brother, to eat the rice and meat together!”

Jiang Ji fell silent.

He glanced at the basket on the counter—the radish and cabbage shoots Aunt Xiufang had given them that morning were still untouched. His mother hadn’t had the heart to cook them.

A lump rose in his throat. “Mom, next time you don’t need to wait for me. I won’t go hungry.”

“Alright, alright. Eat up—you must be exhausted today,” Zhao Ru said gently. “Does your head still hurt?”

“It’s better.” Jiang Ji smiled faintly. “From now on, we won’t have to eat bran cakes every day. I made a lot of—”

He froze mid-sentence. He’d forgotten to claim the rice reward after finding the injured man.

Blinking, he quickly thought of an excuse and suddenly exclaimed, “Crap!”

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Ru looked at him in surprise. The others paused and stared.

“I left the rice in the grove!” Jiang Ji said, slapping his forehead. “The steward from the rich man’s household gave it to me as payment! You all eat first, I’ll go fetch it.”

He set down his bowl and hurried out.

Once around the corner, behind the house where no one could see, he stopped and sat on a rock by the roadside, waiting a few minutes before heading back—he’d have to make it look like a quick trip.

But this couldn’t go on. If he wanted to bring food home, he’d always have to invent excuses to “go work,” just to have a reason.

And long-term, that wouldn’t work. It might keep them fed, but he couldn’t openly use the system’s goods or sell them in bulk for money.

He could sneak things into town to sell for cash, sure—but how would he explain where the money came from? That’d just mean more lies.

Still, telling his family about the system was too risky. Zhao Ru and Jiang Xia might believe him and keep quiet, but Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei were little. What if one of them let it slip? If outsiders found out, would they call him a monster?

And worse—treasures invite thieves. If someone came after him for it, they’d all be doomed.

Better safe than sorry.

After some thought, Jiang Ji decided not to tell them for now.

It’d be a hassle, but at least they wouldn’t have to eat bran cakes anymore.

Opening the livestream interface, he saw over forty thousand viewers online. The chat was buzzing about the wounded man.

【Definitely an enemy’s doing. If it were bandits, how do you explain that jade pendant?】
【Yeah, I think it’s revenge.】
【Man, ancient times were dangerous.】
【With those wounds, surviving back then won’t be easy.】
【That fever’s from infection. Can herbs alone cure that?】
【No disinfectant, no antibiotics… I don’t know if he’ll make it.】
【He’s so handsome though—please let him live!】
【Those gashes need stitching or they won’t heal right.】

Jiang Ji agreed. “Hey, any doctors in the chat? His fever’s way too high—probably 39 or 40 degrees Celsius. What can I do? Is there anything else I should try?”

【Ask the system if it has antibiotics!】
【Yeah, ask the system—maybe it’s got medicine or better hemostatics.】
【And since he’s got stab wounds, he’ll need tetanus prevention too.】

Jiang Ji smacked his forehead. Right! “2977, can you save that man?”

【The system can provide medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. The host may perform treatment personally.】

“You’ve got medicine? Then give it to me!” Jiang Ji said eagerly.

【The host must complete a special task to unlock medical resources.】

“What special task?”

【Disclose the existence of the system to your family.】

“What the hell!” Jiang Ji jumped up. “You’ve been reading my mind, haven’t you?!”

🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾