Chapter 747: Broken Bone

Chapter 747: Rebreaking the Bone

In the flickering firelight, Xingxing took a deep breath.

She had made all the medicine she could with the available materials.

Now came the hardest part—breaking and resetting Wei Shiyan’s misaligned leg.

Xingxing hesitated, studying it a moment longer, pondering a more gentle method for the procedure, when Wei Shiyan suddenly spoke: "Having trouble?"

His eyes were darker than the frigid pool nearby, but his voice was calm: "I'll do it."

Xingxing froze, not understanding what he meant by "I'll do it." Then, she watched as Wei Shiyan placed both hands on his own leg—a sickening *crack* rang out as he forcibly re-broke the misaligned bone himself.

Xingxing gasped, her face going white!

Wei Shiyan’s face paled, a sheen of sweat breaking across his brow from the pain.

But his expression stayed eerily composed, as if he had merely performed some trivial task.

He even asked Xingxing, "Is this acceptable?"

Xingxing’s eyes brimmed with tears.

She’d known since they were kids that her Brother Yan had a reckless disregard for his own well-being.

"Stop doing this to yourself," Xingxing quickly wiped away a tear and dropped to her knees to inspect his leg. "You may not care about yourself, but I do."

Wei Shiyan froze.

He gazed at the girl—now a young woman—who had been absent from his life for years, her head bowed as she inspected his injured leg.

Her hair cascaded over her cheeks, and under the firelight, her porcelain skin looked almost translucent.

Her lashes were still damp from the tear she’d wiped away, still trembling slightly.

Something clenched hard in his chest.

Wei Shiyan went quiet, unsure how to respond.

Fortunately, Xingxing didn’t seem to need an answer.

Earlier, she had mixed the gathered herbs with the remaining medicine on hand, brewing a pain-numbing draught. She had been simmering it on a thin, concave stone slab over the fire, and by now, it was ready.

Cradling the hot stone with thick leaves, she lifted the stone slab and set it aside to cool slightly.

"Drink this. Then I’ll reset your leg."

Wei Shiyan gave a low hum of agreement, "Alright."

The reset went smoothly.

Yet the process was excruciating—agony beyond human endurance.

Even with the pain-relieving medicine, most would’ve passed out from the pain.

But Wei Shiyan didn’t utter a single cry. His expression remained composed as Xingxing worked.

If not for the sweat beading on his ashen brow, Xingxing might have wondered if she had botched the procedure, leaving him numb.

Luckily, maybe heaven was smiling on them; everything went relatively smoothly.

Xingxing found two long, straight branches to use as makeshift splints. She coated Wei Shiyan’s leg with herbal medicine, bandaged it, and then secured it firmly.

But even after all this, they weren’t out of the woods yet.

By midnight, Wei Shiyan indeed came down with a fever.

Xingxing fed him the fever-reducing medicine she had prepared in advance.

The pond water was ice-cold, so Xingxing soaked the handkerchief she carried with her in it, then placed the chilled cloth on Wei Shiyan’s forehead.

His face was flushed, yet he kept his composure.

In the flickering firelight, Wei Shiyan watched Xingxing nurse him.

After changing the cloth three times, his fever finally broke.

Xingxing checked his pulse again and remarked enviously, "You martial arts folks bounce back fast."

She gave a little yawn and lay down on the makeshift bedding of wild grass and vines she had prepared, curling up in exhaustion. Still, she used what little energy she had left to remind Wei Shiyan, "...If you feel any discomfort, you must wake me up. Otherwise... otherwise I’ll be angry!"

Knowing Wei Shiyan’s stubborn nature, she feared he would endure in silence, so she tacked on this half-hearted warning.

With that, Xingxing dozed off.

Wei Shiyan propped himself against the stone wall, studying her sleeping face for some time. Then he took off his outer robe and tossed it over her.

The robe spread out neatly, blanketing the sleeping Xingxing completely.

Only then did a faint smile appear on Wei Shiyan’s pale face. After gazing at her a moment longer, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

When Xingxing woke the next morning, Wei Shiyan’s robe was still covering her.

Still groggy, she clutched the robe and sat up, taking a moment to piece together where she was.

Right—she had fallen into this cave yesterday...

And Wei Shiyan—where was he?

Just as she was about to look around, she heard the sound of splashing.

Wei Shiyan, favoring one leg and using his sword as a crutch, stood by the edge of the cold pond.

In his hand was a long branch.

At the tip of the branch skewered a fat, wriggling fish, still flapping desperately.

Xingxing got up and hurried over to him. "As a physician, the worst kind of patient is one who doesn’t follow medical advice—like you."

Wei Shiyan replied, "I was careful not to move this leg. Given our circumstances, we’ve got to be flexible."

Hearing the words "we’ve got to be flexible" from Wei Shiyan’s mouth sounded strange coming from him.

She stepped forward to check his pulse and found he was actually doing better—even better than before the bone had been reset yesterday.

Only then did Xingxing cheer up again.

After falling into the cave yesterday, Xingxing had hastily eaten wild berries to quiet her growling stomach. Now that she was awake, she realized she was truly famished.

Seeing Wei Shiyan had speared such a fat, juicy fish, Xingxing rubbed her hands together eagerly and immediately volunteered to cook it.

Wei Shiyan handed the fish directly to Xingxing.

When they used to play in the mountains together, Xingxing had caught and grilled fish for him from the streams before.

Xingxing didn’t rush to prepare the fish. She placed it by the cold pool first, then helped Wei Shiyan over to the stone wall where they had made a fire the night before, helping him sit down against it.

She even assigned him a task.

"Don’t move around. Just stay here and watch the fire—don’t let it go out. I’ll come back to grill the fish once I’ve finished preparing it."

A faint smile crossed Wei Shiyan’s face as he agreed.

The fire from last night was now just embers.

Fortunately, Xingxing had gathered plenty of dry firewood yesterday, so firewood wasn’t an issue.

Wei Shiyan had gotten quite skilled at tending fires these past few days—it was second nature to him now.

Reassured, Xingxing left and used her trusty dagger to clean the fat fish from the cold pool by the water’s edge.

She removed the gills and guts, even making crosshatch cuts along the fish’s body.

Once the fish was ready, Xingxing returned to the fire and carefully grilled it.

As a child, Xingxing had often gone to the streams with her brothers and village friends to catch fish, so her grilling skills were absolutely masterful.

Especially since the cold pool in this cave was rarely visited by people, allowing the fish to grow freely—fat, tender, and incredibly flavorful.