Chapter 43: Unreconciled!

Had he possessed any evidence, would he have tolerated such impudence from this young woman right before his eyes?

With a gloomy expression, he demanded, "What do you want?"

Jiang Lihua sneered, "What do I want? Village Chief, you saw my house get burned down. Shouldn't you pay for the damages?"

Pay for damages?

The village chief was momentarily stunned. With all her wealth, she still expected him to pay?

"If you hadn't driven Rong'er to such a state, she wouldn't have gone to burn down your house. You've ruined her entire life, and now you still want compensation from me?"

Jiang Lihua said sternly, "Village Chief, I’ve already said, without evidence, do not speak nonsense."

Looking at Jiang Lihua now, a trace of doubt crept into the village chief's eyes.

He had found it strange before, but since it didn't concern him, he hadn't thought about it deeply.

Now, however, it was clear that this Jiang Lihua was completely different from the one in the past.

He had met Jiang Lihua a few times before. Back then, she always kept her head lowered, timid and afraid of trouble.

She and the confident, flamboyant, and calculating Jiang Lihua standing before him now were like two entirely different people.

A bold conjecture formed in his mind.

"If you won't accept money, fine, but Huang Yingrong must be married out of the village as soon as possible to prevent her from causing any more trouble. I won't let her off so easily every single time."

Jiang Lihua had no idea what was going through the old bastard's mind.

She and Ni Wenyu still had to live in the village, and it wouldn't do to make relations too tense.

The village chief listened without offering any rebuttal.

Rong'er was completely lost to obsession now, and since she was no match for Jiang Lihua, staying in the village would sooner or later lead to her ruin.

Marrying her off and sending her out of the village was the best solution, and it happened to be what he intended to do anyway.

"I didn't need you to tell me. Staying in the village would only get her killed by you sooner or later. I'll marry her off as soon as possible."

The village chief spoke with an unfriendly tone.

Jiang Lihua stared right at him. "Village Chief, cause and effect are intertwined. Every cause has its effect, and every effect has its cause. You keep accusing me of ruining her, but have you ever considered why I did it?"

"I never go looking for trouble unprovoked. I hope the Village Chief will not remain obstinately unyielding. It's no good for anyone."

Without another word, the village chief turned and walked away. He waded into the crowd and dragged the blankly staring Huang Yingrong away with him.

The villagers had more or less guessed the truth by now.

Since it was Huang Yingrong, they still believed the village chief could keep her under control and prevent her from going out to stir up trouble.

With the village chief and his company gone, Jiang Lihua said nothing more.

Gradually, the crowd dispersed.

At the village chief's house:

"Kneel!" roared the village chief.

"Didn't I tell you not to provoke her? How did you give me your word?"

Huang Yingrong knelt on the ground, streaming tears. She crawled over to the village chief's feet and hugged his legs. "Grandfather, I'm not reconciled to this!"

"Sigh." The village chief let out a heavy sigh.

He blamed himself for being too indulgent of her feelings for Ni Wenyu in the past.

A poor young man with neither father nor mother, who had survived entirely on his own and even passed the county examinations to become a scholar.

He held high hopes for Ni Wenyu, which was why, upon seeing his granddaughter's affection for the young man, he hadn't tried to stop it, and had even allowed it to develop.

He had expected the match between his granddaughter and Ni Wenyu to happen naturally, but who could have foreseen the sudden appearance of Jiang Lihua?

Jiang Lihua!

A flash of ruthless malice crossed the village chief's eyes.

He locked Huang Yingrong inside the house and walked toward the Yang residence.

At Ni Wenyu's house:

Since Jiang Lihua's courtyard had been burned to the ground, she had no choice but to move in with Ni Wenyu temporarily until her house was rebuilt.

Uncle Jiang and the others temporarily stayed in the processing workshop.

Seeing Jiang Lihua's less-than-stellar complexion, Ni Wenyu suggested, "Lihua, there are no classes for the next two days. Let's go on a spring outing!"

A spring outing?

She hadn't expected the ancient era to have the concept of a spring outing.

She recalled how busy she always was with work and making money in modern times, never having truly taken the time to enjoy life.

Wasting time on something like a spring outing was something she wouldn't have even dared to imagine back then.

Now, encountering such vexing troubles, she felt a strong urge to get out and go for a walk.

Hearing Ni Wenyu's proposal, she nodded in agreement.

Elated, Ni Wenyu stood up to make preparations.

This was his first time going out on an excursion with Lihua, and he wanted to make sure she had a wonderful time.

Watching his foolish, delighted reaction as he left, Jiang Lihua couldn't help but smile.

Early the next morning, Ni Wenyu looked speechlessly at Limu, who always seemed to be at odds with him.

He had thought it would just be the two of them—himself and Lihua—going out to play.

As it turned out, Lihua had brought Limu along as well.

Lihua explained that Limu was still young, leaving him behind wouldn't help much, and since he hadn't had a chance to go out and play once since arriving in Lihua Village, she decided to bring him along.

What could he say to that?

He could only resign himself to his fate and bring Limu with them.

The trio carried some food and wandered through the fields, resting in open patches of land whenever they grew tired.

Watching Jiang Lihua run and play in the fields with Limu, Ni Wenyu's eyes were filled with deep affection.

They played for the entire day and did not return home until dusk. As soon as Jiang Lihua stepped into her room, she felt something was amiss.

She caught a whiff of the scent of blood, and just as she was about to cry out, the cold edge of a sword pressed against her neck.

She raised both hands and lowered her voice. "Hero, spare my life! I won't scream. Take whatever you want, aside from my life."

"Haha..." Long Tianyu let out a soft laugh. She was truly timid yet amusing.

"I am Ni Wenyu's senior martial brother. I'm injured and am resting here for a few days."

His low, magnetic voice sounded. Jiang Lihua let out a sigh of relief. Having lived a second life, she certainly didn't want to die so young.

"I'll go call him over." Jiang Lihua turned as if to leave.

Long Tianyu grabbed her wrist. "Take a look at my wound first. Didn't you study medicine?"

Study what kind of medicine?!

Old Man Bai had simply tossed a copy of the *Classic of Herbs* at her, and she hadn't even finished memorizing it yet!

Besides, how did he know she had been studying medicine?

"What? Unwilling?" the man asked in a slightly threatening tone.

Jiang Lihua hurriedly turned back. "No, no, I'll examine it for you right now."

Since he knew she studied medicine, he must also know she had only just started learning. If she failed to cure him, he had better not blame her!

No sooner had Jiang Lihua finished speaking than the man before her went limp and collapsed.

She hastily helped him onto the bed, and the moment he touched the mattress, Long Tianyu sprawled face down.

Upon seeing the horrifying wound across his back, Jiang Lihua's heart skipped a beat. With such a massive wound, what on earth was she supposed to do?

She didn't have any tools at all! How could she save him?

"You can order them!"

The voice of the dimensional space suddenly echoed in her mind, startling the nervous Jiang Lihua.

Ever since she had asked the cash register not to shut it down last time, it hadn't spoken a word, and Jiang Lihua had completely forgotten about it.

Remembering that ordering a single hot water bag had cost one hundred taels last time, she knew the system was an absolute money pit.

However, a human life was at stake now, and he was Ni Wenyu's senior martial brother. Judging by his demeanor, he undoubtedly possessed an extraordinary background, so forming a connection with him would be beneficial.

She entered the dimensional space and ordered disinfecting alcohol, hemostatic medicine, and medical tools for stitching. These items alone cost her a staggering ten thousand taels.

Her heart ached so much she felt like vomiting blood.

She had only possessed a little over ten thousand taels in total; now, in an instant, she was reduced back to being dirt poor.

Carrying the supplies back out, she felt somewhat at a loss as to where to begin. Looking at the blood continuously flowing from the wound, she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Although she had never personally performed stitches, she had watched enough television shows to treat a dead horse as a living one.

After disinfecting the wound, it took her a full hour before she finally managed to stitch up the laceration on his back.

Fortunately, the wound wasn't poisoned; otherwise, she truly wouldn't have been able to save him, considering she could barely recognize a handful of medicinal herbs at this point.

Fearing the wound might become inflamed or infected, Jiang Lihua re-entered the space and ordered anti-inflammatory medicine, which cost her another two thousand taels.

Once he recovered, she was definitely going to demand full repayment!

Jiang Lihua went to fetch Ni Wenyu.

Upon seeing the injured man on the bed, Ni Wenyu looked at her in astonishment. "Lihua, what is going on here?"

Jiang Lihua recounted what had just happened, step by step.

Ni Wenyu said in shock, "What? You're saying he's my senior martial brother?"

When he became an apprentice, he had been told he had two senior martial brothers, and though he had heard they possessed extraordinary backgrounds, he had never met them.

"We'll talk about everything once he wakes up. Lihua, you must call for me next time you encounter something like this. What if he had been a bad person?"

Jiang Lihua nodded.

In her heart, she sighed silently: *You silly boy, what good would calling you do? If he really were a bad person, you coming over would only be serving yourself up to die.*

Ni Wenyu escorted her back to her own room to rest, while he stayed behind to take care of the man who claimed to be his senior martial brother.

As soon as dawn broke, Jiang Lihua came over to relieve Ni Wenyu so he could rest.

When she entered the room, Long Tianyu was already awake and chatting with Ni Wenyu. The two of them seemed to be getting along quite well.

Seeing her walk in, Ni Wenyu happily announced, "Lihua, it turns out he really is my senior martial brother."

Jiang Lihua nodded and told him to go get some sleep while she took over the caregiving.

"I'm fine, Lihua. You go on out, I can take care of him," Ni Wenyu refused.

Even though this man was his senior martial brother, he was still a man, and according to the rules of propriety between men and women, he didn't want Lihua spending too much time in close contact.

If he stayed, how was she supposed to give Long Tianyu his anti-inflammatory medication or check his wounds?

She had already exposed far too much in front of Ni Wenyu; if he discovered any more of her bizarre secrets, she worried he would grow suspicious.

After much persuasion, Jiang Lihua finally managed to chase him off to bed.

Once Ni Wenyu left, she handed the anti-inflammatory and hemostatic pills to Long Tianyu along with a bowl of water, telling him to take them.

Looking at the white pills in his palm—medicine he had never seen before—Long Tianyu hesitated for a moment before swallowing them.

Only after watching him take the medicine did Jiang Lihua explain, "These are to prevent the wound from worsening and to stop the bleeding."

Long Tianyu nodded.

Internally, he found it rather strange why she had chased Ni Wenyu out of the room just to give him medicine.

Based on his powers of observation, he could tell Jiang Lihua simply hadn't wanted Ni Wenyu to stay, but that foolish lad hadn't noticed a thing.

Could there be some unspeakable secret behind all this?

Jiang Lihua checked the wound on his back. Fortunately, although the stitches looked crooked and messy, the wound had at least held and hadn't torn open.

"The medical fees come to fifteen thousand taels," Jiang Lihua stated casually.

Hearing this out of nowhere, Long Tianyu thought he had misheard. He asked in astonishment, "Fifteen thousand taels?"

Jiang Lihua nodded. "That's right, fifteen thousand taels."

Seeing that he remained silent, she continued, "I'm only charging this because you're Wenyu's senior martial brother. If it were anyone else, it would be twenty-five thousand taels at the bare minimum. Fifteen thousand is already my rock-bottom price."

Seeing the young girl before him maintain a solemn expression with a pair of clear, dark eyes full of absolute seriousness, Long Tianyu let out a low chuckle and nodded in agreement.

Fifteen thousand taels was nothing to him. However, he requested, "Have someone send a message for me."

Since the wound was on his back, he couldn't see it himself and could only feel that it had stopped bleeding. Given that rumors claimed this young girl had only recently begun studying medicine, he preferred to have Old Man Bai take a look at it as well.