Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

For the people and soldiers of Lucheng, spending five days fighting the barbarians was a form of torture.

The previous desperate battle had already depleted the army's resources.

By the afternoon of the second day, the granary was empty, and even the thin porridge had to be cooked by counting the grains of rice.

Chai Xiaomi had just shared her bowl of porridge with the children when suddenly a large, white steamed bun appeared in her arms, wrapped in paper with only one corner showing. She was stunned.

The man walked like a gust of wind, shoved the steamed bun into her arms as he passed by, and drifted away like a ghost without saying a word.

She looked up and saw the "baozi feeder" deliberately sitting on the farthest stone step, silently weaving straw rope with his head down. His angular profile was taut, his thin lips pressed into a line, and even his hair exuded an aloofness that kept strangers at bay.

Good grief, he's still angry.

She eagerly approached, squatted down, rested her head on the boy's lap, and looked up at him: "At this time, everyone can only drink thin porridge. I heard from the two guards that those who can get steamed buns are all high-ranking officers in the army."

"Lili, you're amazing! Thanks to you yesterday, the monsters couldn't break into the city."

Wu Li's hands, which were weaving straw rope, suddenly stopped.

Looking down at the fluffy little head on my knee, my heart skipped a beat.

He quickly looked away and snorted coldly: "He's already calling others 'big brother' after just one day. In a few more days, he'll probably reveal all his secrets."

He paused, his voice muffled, as if squeezed out from between his teeth:

"Unlike me, I gave everything away from head to toe, and in the end I only had a title, not even a secret in return."

"Oh, don't be angry, don't be angry." She gently shook his knee. "Everyone has their secrets, who doesn't have a little secret? Here, make another request, and I'll definitely fulfill it."

"Sure." Wu Li slightly raised his long eyelashes, his deep eyes finally looking over. "Give me a child. One isn't enough, two will do."

Chai Xiaomi paused for a moment.

She smiled and said, "Okay."

But in that brief moment, he caught a glimpse of the clue.

"You're lying." He stared into her eyes, his voice suddenly turning cold. "You clearly can't do it."

His lips twitched slightly, a smile that seemed like a laugh, yet also like self-mockery.

"Mimi, back then you could easily make up stories about being pregnant, but now, how come your lying skills have gotten worse and worse?"

He didn't look at her again, his eyes lowered, his eyelashes obscuring his gaze, making it impossible to see what was inside. He pulled his knee away from her hand, turned to the side, his shoulder line taut.

After sitting for a while, he felt that his expression wasn't obvious enough, so he got up to leave.

Chai Xiaomi was taken aback: "Where are you going?"

"You stay here and don't go anywhere. I'll go up to the city wall and keep watch," he said calmly.

She took two steps after him and stuffed the steamed bun into his arms, saying, "You eat the steamed bun, I'm not hungry."

He walked straight away without even turning his head, saying, "If I'm not hungry, I'll just throw it away."

Chai Xiaomi: "..."

She stood there, her skirt tugged, and looked down to see the little girl who had been sitting the best while listening to the story.

Even when he sleeps at night, he stays close to her.

"Sister, why are your eyes so red?" The little girl's voice, still somewhat childlike, was incredibly cute. "Did you have a fight with that brother?"

"It was my sister who made him angry." Chai Xiaomi squatted down and looked at her at eye level. "I have a secret that he really wants to know, but I can't tell him."

More importantly, she didn't know how to say goodbye.

Every time I think about leaving him alone in this world, my heart aches.

The little girl tilted her head, thought for a moment, and blinked:

"Did your sister tell your brother that you like him a lot?"

Chai Xiaomi smiled.

"Of course I've said that, but just saying I like you isn't enough."

"Then say it a few more times." The little girl looked at her earnestly, as if she were explaining some profound truth. "Every time I make my mother angry, I keep calling her 'Mother, Mother' until she looks at me, and then I hug her, and she stops being angry."

She reached out her little hand and gently patted Chai Xiaomi's hand, offering a serious reassurance:

"Sister, go hug your brother and call his name a few more times, he'll definitely stop being angry."

Looking at her mature-for-her-own-age demeanor, Chai Xiaomi couldn't help but laugh, reaching out to pinch her cheek: "Okay, I'll go find him right now!"

The little girl nodded, but her gaze unconsciously glanced at the bun in her hand before quickly looking down again.

Chai Xiaomi followed her gaze, her heart softening. She broke off half a bun and put it in the little girl's hand: "Here, take this and eat it."

The little girl held the steamed bun, her eyes sparkling as she looked at her: "Thank you, sister."

"I should thank my brother; this is what he saved up."

"The rest," Chai Xiaomi wrapped up the small half in her hand and put it into her Qiankun bag, "Sister should take it to brother to eat."

She ran out of the courtyard, where the streets were lined with wounded people temporarily housed. She carefully circled around them, tiptoeing through the gaps between the stretchers.

I had only run a few steps when I suddenly heard a commotion not far away.

"Old Zheng! Old Zheng, what's wrong with you!"

Chai Xiaomi paused, looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a middle-aged soldier convulsing in the corner, his face ashen, with large beads of cold sweat rolling down his forehead.

The wounded men surrounding him were in a panic, but there was nothing they could do.

"Where's the medic? Anyone want to go get one?"

"The military doctors are all in the north of the city; there are even more seriously wounded there, so they can't come!"

Chai Xiaomi squeezed through the crowd and saw a middle-aged soldier lying on the ground, his face flushed, his lips cracked and peeling, his hand covering a wound on his abdomen. He was delirious with fever and was muttering something incoherently.

"What's wrong with him?"

"The wound is infected, and he's had a fever for two days," someone nearby said. "We've run out of medicine, so he's just been suffering like this."

Chai Xiaomi squatted down and reached out to touch his forehead; it was frighteningly hot.

She saw a half-full bucket of cold water in the corner, picked up a tattered piece of clothing, soaked it, wrung it out until it was half-dry, and placed it on his forehead. Then she tore off another piece, folded it into a square, dipped it in water, and gently wiped his neck and armpits.

"Young lady, what are you doing?"

"Physical cooling."

The soldier's ramblings gradually subsided, and his breathing became less rapid.

"Do you have any medicine?" Chai Xiaomi stood up. "Fever reducers, anti-inflammatory drugs, anything will do."

"There are no more girls." The person who answered smiled bitterly. "We can't get any more herbs. Look at the streets and alleys. There are wounded civilians and soldiers everywhere. Their wounds can only be roughly bandaged. They are wrapped with strips of cloth one after another. Not even a drop of medicine can be sprinkled on them."

"The city has long since run out of ammunition and food." Another voice chimed in, with a resigned calm. "To save food for the soldiers on the front lines and the people in the city, many wounded soldiers lie and say they've already eaten every time porridge is distributed."

"We're all going to die anyway, so we're not going to fight you for food."

Chai Xiaomi looked up and around.

The wounded all around were pale and emaciated, looking so weak they were almost on the verge of death.

If things continue like this, even if they manage to hold on until the end, they will all die of illness or starvation.

Suddenly, she thought of something and buried her head in the Qiankun bag, rummaging through it.

Oh right, she almost forgot!

I bought quite a few things while browsing the night market in Qianwu Town, including wound medicine, hemostatic powder, anti-inflammatory herbal powder, and several bottles of medicinal wine for sprains and bruises.

I bought it on a whim because I thought it was fun, but I never expected it to become my lifeline now.

The more she looked, the more annoyed she became. She should have bought several hundred kilograms of rice to fill the container.

What's most important right now isn't medicine, it's clearly food.

If you can't even get enough to eat, where will you get the strength to fight off illness?

But the people around her were still amazed when they saw the bottles and jars she took out.

"Could this little girl be a living bodhisattva sent from heaven? Who carries so much medicine with them when they go out?"

Someone pointed excitedly to the north of the city: "They need them even more there! Many of our heavily wounded soldiers might not even make it through the night..."

"Okay, I'll go deliver the medicine right away!" Chai Xiaomi left some medicine here and got up to run towards the north of the city.

A short while later, a loud bang came from the sky.

Everyone suddenly looked up.

Those demonic beasts have returned with a vengeance. Thunder, fire, water, and electricity crashed into the barrier wall one after another, and the originally stable aura is now much dimmer than yesterday.

One of the monsters suddenly shot towards the sky, then changed direction and swooped down straight towards us.

Just before they were about to collide with the barrier, everyone instinctively closed their eyes.

All I heard was a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

The arrow shot out swiftly, tearing through the sky.

Three arrows pierced the beast's wings and tail with pinpoint accuracy. The beast let out a mournful howl, lost its balance in the air, and plummeted to the ground at an angle.

"Look, it's that young man again!" someone pointed towards the city wall. "Yesterday I saw him shoot down several celestial beasts."

"Wow! Such good aim, why didn't you shoot that monster's head?"

"Could it be that he is kind-hearted and cannot bear to kill?"