After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Assassination..."

After inwardly mocking the bookworm for a moment, Ning Nan brought his thoughts back to the assassination itself.

Actually, he had prepared a very good plan for this matter. For an assassination, the first thing is to find the target. He carried Zhu Cuicui around in such a big circle to prevent the group that was going to assassinate the female lead from finding any clues. Without a target, the assassination would naturally fail. But who would have thought that the person he carried back was not the female lead!

Ning Nan sighed and crumpled the loofah she was using to wash dishes into a ball.

The book doesn't directly reveal who assassinated the female lead, but he guessed it was probably a business rival of Master Zhu.

Since these enemies did not find the female protagonist's body, they assumed that she had been rescued or had escaped to the surrounding villages, so they began searching for her in the surrounding villages. Li Family Village was so close by, so it naturally became their first target.

The assassins would definitely come to the village first to scout out the location and confirm whether anyone was there.

So last month, he spread rumors in the village that so-and-so's family had lost chickens and so-and-so's family had lost sheep, so that everyone would be wary of outsiders.

Most villagers didn't like him, but they certainly wouldn't mess with their own chickens and sheep. These days, they looked at the peddler, whom they usually knew, as if he were a thief. The peddler could only stand outside the village, calling out his business, puzzled, and dare not enter the village.

If the female lead hides well, when the assassin comes to scout the area, he won't be able to find her, but he will also be noticed by the villagers, and then he will be the one to target her.

But with Li Yanting so brazenly carrying Miss Zhu home, things were back to square one.

People who come to scout the area can easily find out that the female lead is indeed in this village and even which house she is currently hiding in with just a few questions. Some people can even boast about it without being asked.

"Relocation is definitely not an option. These villagers don't trust me, and they can't keep their mouths shut either."

Ning Nan frowned, stood up, poured out the water from the bucket, and cleaned up the remaining water.

Time passed slowly, and the sun climbed over the mountain pass to the other side, casting a golden glow over the Ning family's cottage.

Zhu Cuicui slept soundly and didn't wake up until evening.

At dinner, her mother used the leftover meat broth to make her a big bowl of hot rice, and also poached an egg.

"Give her less food." Ning Nan tried to stop her. She was too badly injured, and her organs had not yet recovered. Eating too much would be bad for her health.

The old woman pretended not to hear and took the bowl into the inner room.

Ning Nan gritted his teeth. Fortunately, this young lady was tough. He went in to check on her and found that her complexion had indeed become rosy and she didn't seem to be in any discomfort. Widow Ning gave a smug look. "Don't I know how to take care of people?"

"You're really lucky to be alive," Ning Nan remarked.

The setting sun sank completely into the embrace of the distant mountains, and night gradually painted the sky.

Ning Nan, who originally planned to let his mother sleep in his own room while he slept in the main room, was turned down.

"You idiot, you two aren't even married, how could you possibly sleep together?"

Ning Nan glared at him: "I sleep in the main room, I'm not going to her room!"

"What should I do if you sleepwalk?"

Ning Nan was furious. She immediately realized that the old lady was subtly guarding against her. She slept in the main room to prevent someone from sneaking into Zhu Cuicui's room in the middle of the night.

"It gets chilly in the main room at night, so don't catch a cold."

"Oh, so you've learned to be filial now." Widow Ning came out carrying several quilts, spread them on the bamboo mat in the main room, and sarcastically shooed Ning Nan away to boil water for her 'daughter-in-law'. She needed to change Cuicui's dressing. Of course, Ning Nan was not allowed to come in. Not only was he not allowed to come in, but he was also chased far away.

It's not even close to being written.

The Ning family is a respectable family.

If the girl agrees, she will formally find a matchmaker to formally propose marriage to the boy's parents.

As she spoke, Widow Ning bowed to the memorial tablets placed in the main room, instructing her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and husband who had been dead for nearly twenty years to bless Ning Nan and help him to have more children for the Ning family soon.

"what ever."

Ning Nan pursed her lips and strolled off to the kitchen to start a fire.

Just as the fire was lit and the crackling sound of burning firewood came from the stove, footsteps approached from outside.

Li Xing ran into the Ning family's courtyard, shouting urgently, "Brother! Doctor Jiang sent me to find you; the bride is seriously ill!"

When Jiang Sixue arrived at Li Yanting's house under the moonlight, she was already wiping away sweat.

"She's saved." The female doctor's face was flushed, and she rushed out anxiously.

Ning Nan had been running for a long time and was a little out of breath. She glanced at him hurriedly.

Ms. Zhu was breathing rapidly in bed, her face was covered with red rashes, her eyelids were trembling, and there was vomit on the bed and the floor. She had a severe allergic reaction.

"Thanks to your medicine." Jiang Sixue waved the small bamboo jar in her hand, which was still half full.

Ning Nan understood what was going on and asked if the other party had given this young lady the same medicine again.

Jiang Sixue nodded with lingering fear: "Just as you said, after using my Tiger Balm, this young lady kept gagging, and large welts appeared on her face and body. She looked like she was about to die."

She was genuinely panicked just now.

The medicine, Xianghu Ointment, applied to this young woman's wounds was an old recipe prepared by my master. It contained several top-quality medicinal materials, including dragon's blood, frankincense, myrrh, safflower, musk, and cinnabar.

But this inadvertently triggered the cold energy within the young woman's body, which then invaded her internal organs.

"Dr. Jiang, please don't let the cold affect your internal organs." Ning Nan frowned; the young woman didn't look like she had been saved.

"It's much better now." Jiang Sixue said somewhat awkwardly.

Just now, seeing that the young lady had hives on her forehead and was gagging, she remembered the country boy's childhood sweetheart and so on. She first asked Yang Qiniang outside to call someone, and then, as a last resort, she tried it. Unexpectedly, it actually worked. The hives subsided a bit, and the gagging stopped.

Ning Nan reached out and touched Miss Zhu's forehead; it was burning hot, she had a fever.

"Won't she make it through? Isn't she the female lead?" Ning Nan asked, somewhat worried.

Then, he took command from the doctor Jiang Sixue. First, he told Li Xing to go to the Ning family and ask his mother for a few clean quilts. Also, he told Li Xing to bring the pig liver from home. Li Xing ran over while shouting "Okay!"

"Seventh Sister-in-law, could you please add some of this when you cook it?" Ning Nan took out some rock sugar from his pocket and asked Yang Qiniang, who was quite frightened, to cook ginger and sugar soup.

Li Yanting and the others outside were extremely dissatisfied. He complained, "Why can Ning Nan go into his house, but I can't?" Jiang Sixue frowned at him, and he shut up.

Ningnan instructed Li Yanting to boil water.

Li Yanting was stunned and asked, "Why should I?"

Ning Nan retorted, "I'm not saving your sister."

The boy, who was focused on reading, froze for a moment, stomped his foot, gritted his teeth, and ran to the kitchen.

Ning Nan walked to the window, opened it halfway, and a cool breeze blew in from outside, making a whooshing sound.

"Won't you catch a cold?" Jiang Sixue asked nervously.

Ning Nan shook his head: "No, we need to ventilate at this time."

At this point, the only option is to treat the symptoms; reducing the fever is the most important thing.

Excessive blood loss, organ damage, and allergic reaction.

Dr. Jiang's medicine wasn't entirely useless; at least it stopped the bleeding and the wound healed.

Penicillin can prevent wound infection and tetanus, but it cannot prevent excessive blood loss.

Ning Nan picked up a strip of cloth, wiped away the vomit, and began tidying up the room: "Let's clean the room first."