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

After working for most of the hour, the room was finally free of any odor. Ning Nan took the woman's blood-stained clothes and strips of cloth out, intending to take them home, boil them in water, wash them clean, and reuse them. In ancient times in rural areas, even the roughest cloth was a rare commodity that could sustain life, so they couldn't bear to throw it away.

Supporting the frail woman as she sat half-upright on the bed, Ning Nan instructed Jiang Sixue to change the soiled quilt beneath her.

The quilt used for covering them was also changed to one that Li Xing had brought from the Ning family. It was two layers thick.

The woman was only wearing a white silk robe, which was Jiang Sixue's own clothing, and it was Jiang Sixue who had changed the woman's clothes earlier.

Seeing the woman, dressed in her own clothes, leaning against the country man with her head down, the female doctor felt a little strange.

This thick clothing is rather thin; would this be considered skin-to-skin contact?

She opened and closed her lips several times, wanting to remind the other person that men and women should not touch each other, but when the man helped the woman up, she whispered, "A doctor's heart is like a parent's, please don't be offended."

"Doctors have the heart of parents"... This saying is so true, it resonates deeply with her.

Jiang Sixue didn't say anything, feeling that she, a doctor, was being petty and might not be able to tell if the farm boy had any evil intentions at all.

She was already somewhat surprised that the young man actually had some skills, and after hearing those words, she felt she had benefited even more.

"Go back and tell your master," the female doctor secretly noted.

"She's already excessively weak."

Ning Nan put the woman down, covered her with the blanket, and touched Miss Zhu's hand.

Miss Zhu's forehead felt hot, but her palms were ice cold.

Ning Nan wrung out a hot towel and wiped the woman's forehead.

Jiang Sixue picked up the bowl and fed the woman ginger tea, then looked at her carefully after regaining her senses.

"The rash is gradually subsiding."

The patient's improvement immediately dispelled all the chaotic thoughts in her mind, and her voice was filled with surprise.

The woman, who had come to the countryside to provide free medical care on her master's orders, finally felt relieved, and her hand holding the spoon finally stopped trembling.

If this woman were to die at her hands today, she doesn't even dare to imagine whether she would have the courage to prescribe medicine for patients for the rest of her life.

Ning Nan glanced at the female doctor and could tell from her voice that Doctor Jiang was indeed extremely tired.

Yang Qiniang went to cook pig liver, and Doctor Jiang will also have a bowl to replenish his blood.

Li Xing followed his seventh sister-in-law to the kitchen, waiting to taste the salty food. His elder brother had said that half of it was his, so he happily picked up an axe and started chopping firewood for his seventh sister-in-law.

Li Yanting said that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen, so Ning Nan sent him to sleep at the village head's house.

The seed of reading is naturally dissatisfied.

Ning Nan shrugged and said that Dr. Jiang couldn't leave tonight and needed a place to sleep, so he would sleep in the main room. Seventh Sister-in-law is much older than us, and if she doesn't mind, she can sleep in your room.

"Then where will you sleep?" The bookworm noticed the loophole and asked nervously.

"I'm not sleeping."

"I can also choose not to sleep."

"Then you'll be even more of a nuisance."

Jiang Sixue was actually not very good at talking, after all, this was indeed Li Yanting's home, and it was unreasonable to kick the host out, so she tried to smooth things over by saying that she hadn't planned to sleep anyway and would stay overnight.

"Miss Jiang underestimates the students in our village who are good at studying." Ning Nan shook his head.

Li Yanting was initially angry, his neck turning red with rage, but upon hearing this, he restrained himself and launched into a long tirade about sages, finally telling Doctor Jiang to have no worries and to go to Li Baoxin's house for the night under the moonlight.

"Young Master Li truly possesses the qualities of an ancient gentleman," Jiang Sixue remarked as she packed her medicine box.

Ning Nan sat by Miss Zhu's bedside, his eyelids drooping, but he still pursed his lips and said sarcastically, "If I were to pretend, I could do it a million times better than him."

Jiang Sixue chuckled, "You're just pretending to be a gentleman, but he's a real gentleman."

"cut."

He pretended to be a gentleman, tucked the blanket around the young woman in the hospital bed, touched her forehead, and snorted disdainfully.

Ms. Zhu's rash has subsided considerably, and her breathing has become more stable and smooth; her condition is improving.

I sweated a lot tonight and the fever went down. I'll change the dressing on the wound again tomorrow. After that, it's just a matter of slowly healing. I'll eat more pork liver and blood to nourish myself, and it will gradually get better.

On a summer night, the chirping of insects begins outside the window, moonlight shines through the windowsill, and a gentle breeze makes the faint candlelight flicker.

Ning Nan took the pig liver soup that Yang Qiniang had cooked and planned to turn around and go back to the inner room to feed the young lady himself.

"Ningwa, are you going to feed her?" Yang Qiniang looked at Doctor Jiang in surprise.

"Our family's pig liver," Ning Nan said casually. "If I don't feed it to them, who will?"

"Uh," Yang Qiniang was speechless for a moment.

Doctor Jiang also served himself a bowl of soup, nodded and smiled, "Seventh Sister-in-law, come and eat with me and Li Xing. This young lady can only drink soup, so we'll leave some for her."

Seeing that Doctor Jiang didn't say anything, Yang Qiniang was too lazy to make a fuss. Anyway, the door to the inner room was open, and both she and Doctor Jiang were there, so Ningwa couldn't do anything.

However, I once heard someone say that Ningwa was good at recognizing herbs and cured Chen the blacksmith's cold or something.

Unexpectedly, this young man was put to good use by Doctor Jiang today. He's really promising. Yang Qiniang sighed a few times, feeling proud of him. When she spoke to Doctor Jiang, she straightened her back considerably, chatting and laughing. She even asked Doctor Jiang if he was engaged, as she did have a nephew who worked in Jiangning County.

Jiang Sixue smiled and said that she was already engaged. Yang Qiniang said "oh oh" twice and said "good fortune" several times. She rubbed her leg and changed the subject to her old, cold legs.

The bright moon hung high in the sky, then gradually set again.

The pitch-black night swallowed the sky.

After one night, the darkness was once again driven away by the rising sun in the east, and its radiance was revealed.

As the sunlight outside the window changed from cool to golden, she lay in bed, blinking her eyes as if she found the light too dazzling and did not open them.

A long time passed.

She slowly opened her eyes.

What came into view was a simple room, like a mud-brick house. In front of her was an old wooden cabinet, which must have been quite old. One of the cabinet doors was only half open. She turned her head slightly and was covered with two thick quilts, but the material was quite poor, and she was not used to them.

My body feels sticky, I've been sweating a lot?

Her abdomen was still aching, not just a little, but so bad that it hurt with the slightest movement. She frowned, her face contorted in pain, and she looked sickly pale.

After pausing for a moment, her eyes shifted.

I saw a man sitting by the bed with his head down.

He has delicate features and somewhat dark skin.

Who is this?

Before she could come up with an answer, she saw a simple wooden window not far behind the man, through which sunlight streamed in.

Her fingers, which were hidden under the blanket, twitched.

But it didn't move much, and it seemed to be holding something in its hand.

What are you holding?

Before she could react, the man sitting next to her stirred and suddenly woke up.

The man shook his head, leaned forward, and said gently to her, "You're awake?"

She moved her head slightly and nodded her chin.

At that moment, she finally realized that what she was holding in her hand was... the man's hand.

The man's hands were much larger than hers; they were broad, warm, and strong.