Xu Lanxiu twisted her waist and turned to leave, while Liu Zheng lay in bed feeling an overwhelming sense of depletion.
His heart was thumping incessantly, aware that what had just occurred was on the brink of disaster, a slip away from irrevocable doom.
And to think that dry sister was planning to come again in the evening?
If that were to be discovered.
How would they ever recover from that?
"Xiao Zheng, are you downstairs?"
His elder brother's voice floated down from above.
Ever since his brother had an accident on the construction site, his lower body had become useless, and now he was bedridden all day, with someone needed to attend to even his basic needs.
"Brother, I'm here."
Liu Zheng quickly put on his pants, making sure he appeared completely unbothered.
Entering the room, he was greeted with a strong scent of Chinese medicine. His brother had been consuming significant amounts over the past two years, and the room was permeated with its smell.
"Xiao Zheng, your sister-in-law just called me. She said she fell from a slope while picking herbs at Zhangtoushan and can't move."
"Hurry up the mountain and check on her."
His brother was extremely anxious in bed.
On hearing this, Liu Zheng immediately became anxious too, "Okay, I'm on it right now."
Liu Zheng rushed into Zhangtoushan, a place rarely visited by people. Just a few days ago, Liu Zheng himself had taken a fall in the mountains, hitting his head on a rock, and had been unconscious from day until evening. Not to mention the hallucinations during his coma, where he dreamed of a fairy sister wanting to take him as her disciple.
Liu Zheng followed the usual mountain path they took for herbal gathering, and it took him over an hour to find his sister-in-law.
"Sister-in-law, how do you feel?"
"What's hurting?"
His sister-in-law, Wu Min, was a girl his brother had met while working in the city, also from a remote village. After his brother's injury, she had returned to the village to take care of him.
Even though she had worked on farms since she was young, her hands and feet were so fair they hardly seemed like those of a village lass.
Her sizable rear, together with the two large 'buns' on her body, made it hard not to salivate at the sight of them.
Quite a few of the village elders had their eyes on her.
They all figured Liu Zheng's brother was now a spent force and wanted to take the opportunity to have a taste of her.
"My leg..."
Wu Min sat on the ground, her forehead so painful she was sweating profusely, and the swelling of her right ankle was significant, clearly indicating a joint dislocation.
"Sister-in-law, it looks like you've sprained your ankle."
"I'll set the bone for you."
Liu Zheng's grandfather had been the village's barefoot doctor, once famous for his medical skills within ten miles.
Liu Zheng had learned medicine from his grandfather since he was a child. Although he hadn't fully mastered his grandfather's skills, he was still adept at setting bones.
After all, the most common problems among villagers were sprains and falls—if he couldn't even set bones, he wouldn't be able to get by in the village.
"Sister-in-law, just bear with it for a moment,"
Liu Zheng said earnestly.
"Mmm..."
Wu Min nodded, large beads of sweat soaking her bangs.
Liu Zheng carefully removed her shoes, revealing her small, snowy, delicate feet.
When he grabbed her foot, Liu Zheng could distinctly feel her body tremble. First, he located the dislocated area, then he began to knead open the swollen spot.
Following that.
Crack!
Wu Min cried out in pain, her small hand instinctively seizing Liu Zheng's arm.
"Sister-in-law, how do you feel now?"
Liu Zheng asked.
"Better, much better,"
Wu Min murmured, with her head lowered.
That was just her way; she usually spoke little and was quite introverted.
"Then I'll carry you down the mountain."
"You need to rest properly for the next couple of days,"
Liu Zheng said and then turned around.
"Xiao Zheng, I... actually have another problem," Wu Min said, her eyes brimming with tears, on the verge of crying, yet it was so hard for her to speak up.
"What's wrong?"
Liu Zheng asked anxiously.
He looked over his sister-in-law's body but didn't see any other issues.
"I was bitten by a snake just now." Wu Min said, biting her lip.
"What?"
"Where?"
Liu Zheng hastily checked his sister-in-law's body.
Zhangtoushan was rife with venomous snakes. If it really was a venomous bite, it could be serious.
"It's on..."
Wu Min didn't know what to say.
"Sis, where is it exactly?" Liu Zheng urged, growing anxious.
"Here…" Wu Min pointed to the inner side of her thigh, utterly at a loss for what to do.
After she had fallen, she sat there unable to move. Who would have thought that a black snake would slither by her? By the time she noticed, the snake had already made its way onto her thigh. She screamed and attempted to hit it, but ended up startling the snake, causing it to bite her.
Upon a closer look, Liu Zheng indeed saw two rows of tooth marks at the root of her thigh.
Moreover, black blood was still oozing from the wound.
"Sis, how long ago were you bitten?" Liu Zheng asked nervously.
"It was just before you arrived…" Wu Min explained.
"There's no other way, I must suck the poison out now or you won't make it down the mountain; you might die from the poison," said Liu Zheng with a frown.
If it were a non-venomous snake, it would be apparent from the blood at the wound. But of all the luck, this snake was venomous.
"I..."
"Okay." Wu Min nodded, agreeing to it.
Saying so, she clenched her teeth and pulled her trousers down.
Having been bitten in such a place was embarrassing enough, but now she had to take off her trousers in front of her brother-in-law, making her wish she could drop dead.
Before she undressed, Liu Zheng was simply worried about his sister-in-law.
But after she had undressed, Liu Zheng found himself somewhat at a loss.
With no tools around to suck out snake venom, Liu Zheng could only use his mouth.
But that spot... Liu Zheng felt it was too much to bear.
"Xiao Zheng..." Wu Min's voice trembled slightly with fear.
"Sis, it's okay."
"I'll suck out the poison for you now." Liu Zheng took a deep breath, steeled his emotions, and spread Wu Min's legs apart, leaning his head in close.
Liu Zheng thought that he could handle the situation with a level head, but inhaling the faint fragrance, he felt overwhelmed.
The image of Xu Lanxiu undressing before him flashed across his mind.
When Liu Zheng's lips made contact, Wu Min's body noticeably shuddered violently, especially as he began to suck out the poisoned blood, an unusual sensation spread through her thigh.
Wu Min wanted to calm herself, but she simply couldn't.
At such close quarters, Liu Zheng could even see a few playful strands of hair peeking out.
Liu Zheng pinched himself hard in secret.
This was his sister-in-law!
He tried his best to distract himself with other thoughts.
Sucking out the poisoned blood was one thing; because the poison had been in her system for a while, he also needed to press her groin and thigh to squeeze out more poisoned blood. When it came to this, Liu Zheng struggled, uncertain whether he should proceed or not.
"Xiao Zheng, just do it..." Wu Min noticed his hesitation and urged him on, despite the shame she felt.
"But sis, it's difficult to handle this way..."
"You need to take your trousers off…"