The little girl's symptoms made everyone gasp.
The little girl's eyelids fluttered and she opened her eyes with difficulty, looking at Feng Ying and saying in a weak voice, "Mom, you're back..."
Then, as if due to the pain in her body, she had to curl up into a ball again, emitting suppressed groans.
"Wenwen, Mom's back, and Mom has brought your elder brother to see you!" Feng Ying knelt by the bed, holding her daughter's small hand, and shed tears.
But Wenwen seemed to have lost strength due to the pain and did not respond to her.
Feng Tingliu frowned, looking at the strange rotting symptoms on her body, and asked, "Has a doctor seen her?"
Feng Ying wiped her tears and nodded, "At the beginning, I could still afford to hire a doctor. But the doctors said they had never seen such symptoms before. It might be an incurable disease, and Wenwen could only live for another year... They could only prescribe some painkillers for Wenwen."
"When did it start?"
"Two years after we fled from Jiangnan and arrived in the north. At first... Wenwen just felt itchy on her arm. I thought it was a mosquito bite, so I applied some medicine and didn't pay much attention. But... " Feng Ying became more and more sad as she spoke, and finally covered her face and sobbed uncontrollably.
"Mosquito bite..." Feng Tingliu examined the terrifying skin on Wenwen. If Yu Ji were here, perhaps he could see something. "Have you seen a doctor recently?"
"Woo... No, I really have no money! I don't even have the money to buy painkillers! Otherwise, I wouldn't have stopped you on the road!" Feng Ying cried hoarsely and spoke intermittently.
Feng Tingliu looked at the little girl who was shaking uncontrollably from the pain and sighed lightly. He turned to Qin Qichao, "First, go find the village doctor and get some painkillers. Tomorrow morning, you go to the neighboring city and find a reliable doctor to come here."
"Yes."
Feng Tingliu took out the money bag from his arms, took out some silver, and put it in Qin Qichao's palm. Qin Qichao put the silver away and hurriedly ran out of the door.
And at the moment he took out the money bag, Feng Ying's eyes lit up. She quietly raised her eyes and stared fixedly at the seemingly wealthy money bag.
Feng Tingliu naturally noticed that gaze and turned to look, only to see Feng Ying quickly withdraw her gaze.
"Thank you for saving my daughter!" Feng Ying had a touching and tearful expression, and kowtowed to Feng Tingliu.
Feng Tingliu looked at her for a while, then looked at Wenwen, and said indifferently, "She is also my sister."
Feng Ying's movement paused, and she raised her head again, saying in a pleading tone, "We haven't had a full meal for several days. Please be merciful and help us again!"
Feng Ying's behavior was not unexpected to Feng Tingliu. Greedy people will never change no matter when.
But Feng Tingliu just sighed, took out some money from the money bag, and put it beside Wenwen's pillow. Then he saw Feng Ying's grateful but greedy eyes.
"I have something to ask you." Feng Tingliu suddenly said, "Has a man with strange black patterns on his body ever come to this village?"
Feng Ying was putting the silver into her pocket. Hearing this, her movement paused.
Feng Tingliu clearly saw that there was a look of fear in her eyes. It seemed that the former cult leader had indeed been here.
"I've seen him! He looks terrifying, and the villagers are all afraid of him, but he just passed by here... So now the villagers are very afraid of outsiders entering, and that's why they closed their doors and windows when they saw you."
"Well, where did he go after passing here?"
"It seems that... he went further northeast..."
Feng Tingliu got the information and nodded, "You should rest well. Tomorrow, the doctor will come to see her again. There is no place for us to rest here. We will go outside."
As Feng Tingliu said, he took Xia Yi and walked out, leaving the dilapidated house under Feng Ying's gaze.
The others had already set up camp and made a fire in the open area. There was really no place for them to stay in this village, so they had to treat it as camping in the wild.
Just then, Qin Qichao came back with the painkillers. He sent the medicine into the house, greeted Feng Tingliu, and then rode away towards the city.
Feng Tingliu was going to rest in the carriage, but Xia Yi followed and climbed in.
"What are you doing?" Feng Tingliu leaned on the soft pillow and glanced at Xia Yi. Xia Yi's face was full of curiosity, obviously coming to listen to the gossip.
"Brother Feng, you also saw that woman's greedy expression! Why did you give her silver?"
"After all, she is my relative." Feng Tingliu's tone was indifferent, as if he didn't care about the silver he gave away casually.
"Uh..." Xia Yi scratched his head, "I know your thoughts about relatives, but that woman doesn't seem like a good person. You shouldn't want to bring them back to Liudu City, right?"
"No. I'm not going to pick up everything and take it home." Feng Tingliu removed the pipe from his waist and pointed it at Xia Yi.
Xia Yi immediately understood. While muttering, "Wei Chifeng and Qin Qichao are not here, so you just order me around," he took out the flint and lit the tobacco for him. "What do you mean? Isn't she your relative?"
"Only half of what she said today is the truth."
"Eh?"
Feng Tingliu took a puff of the pipe, exhaled the smoke, and snorted, "She said that after she was divorced, she took her daughter and ran away?"
"Yes."
"Although she never cared about the Feng family, when I was young, I learned some information about this aunt from my father. Before the Feng family incident, she had already given birth to a daughter. And that was more than ten years ago. But Wenwen looks only five or six years old."
"That means... Wenwen is not her original daughter?!" Xia Yi was somewhat surprised.
"Moreover, when Liudu City was first built. I also thought of the existence of this aunt and sent someone to investigate her husband's house. The news I got was that she eloped with another man."
"Wow! It's so exciting! This is quite different from what she said!"
"But in any case, Wenwen is still my sister. When the doctor comes and sees the situation clearly, I will leave some silver and leave."
Although he cherishes family ties, he is not a saint who gives freely. Leaving some silver is not difficult for him, and in this way, he has a clear conscience.
Xia Yi understood Feng Tingliu's thoughts and felt relieved. He thought Feng Tingliu would be blinded by family ties.
Xia Yi ran out of the carriage and found a place to sleep.
Feng Tingliu looked at the dark village outside the carriage, tapped the pipe twice, poured out the burned tobacco leaves, and then lay down to sleep.
The next morning, before the rooster crowed, a burst of horse hooves came from the distance.
Qin Qichao seemed not to understand human sophistication. Since Feng Tingliu asked him to bring a doctor, he rushed to the town overnight and grabbed a doctor. The doctor was originally unwilling. After all, the young man had a serious expression and urgently asked him to set off in the middle of the night. But Qin Qichao gave so much money.
The doctor was old and looked very experienced.
Qin Qichao stopped the horse, turned over and jumped off, and then helped the old doctor dismount.
The old doctor supported his waist and moaned, complaining that the young man didn't respect the elderly and made him work hard all night.
"Let the old doctor rest for a while first." Feng Tingliu said helplessly.
Qin Qichao blinked, not knowing whether he was right or wrong, but still helped the old doctor to sit aside.
After the old doctor had rested, he entered the house to see Wenwen's condition.
Wenwen was full of black symptoms, which made the old doctor frown. Feng Ying stood nervously aside and asked the old doctor from time to time how the situation was.
"I've never seen this symptom before." The old doctor rubbed his beard, with surprise in his words.
Hearing this, Feng Ying lowered her head in despair, "I knew it... No matter how many doctors I changed... They all said the same..."
"But, I have seen a patient similar to her. The patient said that after being bitten by a bug, a black patch appeared on his arm, like a skin ulcer. I suspected that it was an infection caused by a poisonous insect bite, so I prescribed some medicine for him. After that, although his skin condition improved, his body became weaker and weaker, and finally he died." The old doctor said slowly, with an extremely serious tone.
"Poisonous insect..." Feng Tingliu touched his chin and fell into deep thought, "Perhaps, we can find a Gu doctor to see the situation."
"Well, that makes sense. People like Doctor Yu like to deal with insects the most." Xia Yi echoed on the side.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Feng Ying suddenly reacted strongly.
"No!" Feng Ying shouted loudly, attracting everyone's attention. She trembled in shock and continued, "Those Gu doctors are not good people! I can't give Wenwen to them!"
Feng Tingliu narrowed his eyes and examined Feng Ying's eyes.
Since he met Feng Ying, her behavior has been extremely strange, making him suspicious.
"Well, don't be anxious. I'll prescribe some medicine for the little girl first. But the medicine I prescribe can only solve the surface infection and ulceration." The old doctor sighed and said soothingly.
"Uh... Thank you, doctor." Feng Ying realized that her behavior was impolite, and quickly stopped talking and lowered her head.
"It's okay, it's okay."
The old doctor wrote the prescription and handed it to Feng Ying. Feng Ying thanked him repeatedly.
"Qin Qichao, send the old doctor back to the city." Feng Tingliu suddenly thought of something, paused, and then instructed, "Let the old doctor rest for half a day. The journey is long, and you should ride the horse more slowly."
Qin Qichao nodded expressionlessly, only then realizing that he had ridden the horse too fast just now, and the old doctor didn't know martial arts.
Qin Qichao took the old doctor to rest, leaving Feng Tingliu and Feng Ying in the house.
"Feng..." Feng Ying opened her mouth, but didn't know how to address Feng Tingliu. Now she and Feng Tingliu were in completely different situations, yet they shared similar blood, making her feel even more ashamed. She pursed her lips and boldly said, "Nephew, you have also seen the situation of our mother and daughter... Can you... Can you give me another sum of money? I want to take Wenwen and leave here. This place is really not suitable for recuperation..."
Feng Tingliu looked at her for a long time without speaking.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Feng Ying became panicked and asked, "I'm your aunt! You won't leave me to die, right!"
Feng Tingliu narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Why do you keep asking me for money, but not ask if I can take you away, or what I am doing now and whether I can arrange a good place for you?"
Feng Ying was stunned upon hearing this, stared at Feng Tingliu with wide eyes, and hurriedly explained, "I... I'm just used to it... I, I don't ask for anything else, I just want money!"
Feng Tingliu crossed his arms, tapped his fingers on his arm, and thought for a moment.
"Yes, I will give you some money, enough for you and your daughter to live for half a lifetime."
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"I'll give you this first." Feng Tingliu sighed, put the entire money bag on the bed, and then didn't want to stay in the room for another second. He turned and left.
Feng Ying didn't care about what Feng Tingliu was thinking. She pounced on the money bag on the bed and put it away.
Wenwen on the bed painfully turned over and made a few whimpers, but it was difficult to regain her attention.
When Feng Tingliu walked out of the house, Qin Qichao had already ridden the horse to send the old doctor back to the city. According to the descriptions of others, this time Qin Qichao just let the horse walk slowly and didn't gallop away.
Feng Tingliu felt relieved and returned to the carriage, lit the tobacco leaves, took a puff, and quickly calmed himself down.
Human greed is far more exaggerated than he thought.
Just as Feng Tingliu was resting and waiting for Qin Qichao to come back to continue heading northeast, suddenly there was a scream and the sound of fighting outside the village.
"What happened?"
Feng Tingliu quickly stuck his head out and saw a woman running out of a small house not far away. She looked panicked and obviously heard the screams from afar.
"It's my husband! It's my husband's voice! He went to the field! Save him!"
Feng Tingliu didn't delay and sent several subordinates to investigate the situation.
After a while, one person ran back to report that more than a dozen members of the cult were gathering outside the village and attacking inward!
"Let's go!"
Feng Tingliu grabbed the long sword, turned over and got off the carriage, planning to lead everyone to resist the enemy.
Perhaps the former cult leader is among those cult members!
But just as they were moving towards the outside of the village, Feng Ying suddenly stumbled out and grabbed Feng Tingliu's arm. Her face was covered with tears, and she looked panicked. Ignoring the vigilant eyes of the people around her, she pleaded desperately, "Something happened to Wenwen! She's gotten even sicker! Please go and see her! Save her!"
Feng Tingliu paused, but didn't dare to delay the progress of the others.
"You go first. I'll go and see the situation."
"Brother Feng! I'll stay too!" Xia Yi was worried about Feng Tingliu and said.
"It's okay. You lead everyone to resist the enemy." Feng Tingliu waved his hand, broke free from Feng Ying's hand, and turned towards the dilapidated hut.
The others looked at each other, but heard that the fighting sound outside the village became more intense, so they didn't dare to delay and hurried to go.