Chapter Eighteen: I Can Save You, But Promise Me One Thing

"Stop, stop it, what are you doing?" Chu Yun shouted as he hurried toward Ye Zelan.

He could never have imagined that Ye Zelan would suddenly pull out a bronze dagger and attempt to cut into the flesh of her own thigh, right where the venomous snake had bitten her. Her manner of handling the wound was to carve away the tainted flesh.

Leaving aside the fact that this method couldn’t completely remove the snake venom, in this world where medical knowledge lagged so far behind, even minor wounds could easily become infected and fatal. What she was doing was nothing short of courting death; it was utterly impractical. Moreover, her bronze dagger was clearly not sterilized, making the risk of infection even greater.

Chu Yun couldn’t help but admire Ye Zelan’s resolve, secretly thinking she was truly a ruthless person. No wonder she’d rather be cheated by Boss Wu, selling her herbs at a low price, and earlier refused his help, unwilling to be entangled with him in any way.

Yet, though Ye Zelan gritted her teeth and pressed the blade to her leg, deep down she still hesitated. After all, it was her own flesh—who could bear to mutilate themselves unless they suffered from some mental affliction?

So, when she heard Chu Yun’s voice, she stopped immediately.

Chu Yun rushed forward and snatched the bronze dagger from her hand. "What are you doing? Don’t tell me this is how you treat wounds!"

Ye Zelan snorted, "Mind your own business."

Chu Yun stood up. "Fine, I won’t. Clearly, you don’t need my better treatment."

Ye Zelan apologized, "I’m sorry, I was wrong. Please help me."

Chu Yun said, "Normally, if you didn’t ask, I wouldn’t help you. But I sense you don’t beg easily. So I’ll help you, but you must promise me one thing."

Ye Zelan asked, "What condition? Let me tell you, rascal, don’t get any ideas about me. I’d rather die than agree."

Chu Yun rolled his eyes. "Where are your thoughts wandering? I only want you to promise that from now on, you must sell all the herbs you gather to me. And you must persuade every herbalist you know to sell their herbs to me as well—not to Boss Wu again."

Ye Zelan replied, "Boss Wu buys herbs at a very low price. If you offer a fairer price and have a conscience, of course we’ll sell to you."

Chu Yun smiled. "Don’t worry. I’m not the heartless type like Boss Wu."

Ye Zelan said, "Alright, I agree. But I can only bring the other herbalists to you. Whether you can convince them to sell to you is up to you."

Chu Yun nodded. "Deal. Just get them to me."

Then he took out the wild buckwheat root he’d harvested earlier, handed it to Ye Zelan, and said, "This is the medicine for your snake bite. Chew it in your mouth, but don’t swallow."

Ye Zelan objected, "You don’t even know what kind of snake bit me. Are you sure this medicine will cure my poisoning?"

Chu Yun replied, "I am very sure. I’m a doctor."

With that, he took some wild buckwheat root himself and began to chew.

Before crossing over, he had been a military medic with the special forces, accompanying his team on missions to primeval forests and remote mountain ranges—he’d been everywhere. Snake and insect bites among his comrades were a frequent occurrence. Without ready-made antivenom, and often unable to immediately identify the snake species, if it weren’t for his deep knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine and clinical experience, many of his fellow soldiers would have died countless times.

Seeing this, Ye Zelan also placed the wild buckwheat root in her mouth and began to chew. She asked, "What’s next?"

Chu Yun said, "Once it’s well-chewed, spit it into your palm. Don’t lose it."

Ye Zelan nodded and did as he instructed.

Then, unexpectedly, Chu Yun took her hand and spat the wild buckwheat root residue from his own mouth into her palm.

"What are you doing?" Ye Zelan shrieked, instinctively wanting to throw away the wild buckwheat in her hand. Just thinking that it had been chewed by Chu Yun made her feel utterly disgusted.

But the next moment, she felt the sensation of someone’s lips on her thigh and stopped. She saw Chu Yun press his mouth to her wound, sucking out the snake venom, and then spit out a mouthful of black venom mixed with blood.

He repeated this process countless times, until the blood seeping from the wound was mostly red and only faintly tinged with black. Finally, he placed the wild buckwheat root residue from her palm onto her wound and said, "Press down firmly."

Ye Zelan nodded, stunned. "Okay."

In that moment, she was deeply moved by Chu Yun’s actions. She knew that by sucking out her snake venom, he was risking his own life to save hers.

Chu Yun then used a fire starter to light a flame, boiled some water in Ye Zelan’s small pot, cooked a strip of linen, dried it over the fire, and finally bandaged Ye Zelan’s wound.

Seeing the neat, professional bandaging, Ye Zelan was even more astonished. In her heart, she marveled that Chu Yun must have dreamed of immortals bestowing medical skills upon him, for how else could he tie such a perfect bandage?

Coming back to herself, she looked gratefully at Chu Yun. "Thank you! I misunderstood you before—I'm truly sorry."

Chu Yun waved a hand. "It’s nothing. Just remember our deal—sell all your herbs to me from now on."

Ye Zelan nodded. "Don’t worry. I, Ye Zelan, always keep my word. I’ll never go back on it."

Then she asked, "Chu Yun, why did you suck out the venom with your mouth just now?"

Chu Yun shot her a glance. "Because you didn’t trust me earlier, suspecting I wanted to take advantage of you, and delayed the best treatment. I had no choice but to resort to that method."

Ye Zelan smiled apologetically. "Weren’t you afraid of being poisoned yourself?"

Chu Yun rolled his eyes again. "I ate the wild buckwheat root. It counteracts the venom. How could I die from poisoning?"

Ye Zelan was a bit annoyed by his eye-rolling, but after thinking it over, she realized she was at fault, and apologized once more.