After kindly finishing his warning, he called out to his two little pets, "Big Wolf, Second Wolf, let's go home."
The two plump wolves howled a few times into the forest and happily followed their master, the man and his two beasts living a carefree life. This scene made Huangfu Jintao envious.
He had never experienced such leisure and contentment since he was a child, nor had he ever yearned for such a pastoral life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.
"Your Majesty, this is the only hidden cave in this area. If we search for another place, I'm afraid the Crown Prince..."
Xiao Ce cupped his hands towards the man, saying with concern.
Huangfu Jintao raised a good arm and interrupted Xiao Ce, "He is a hunter, grown up in this forest. What he says is trustworthy!"
"Then I will send people to scout ahead!"
"No need. Since the hunter is going into the mountains, he must be not far from descending. Instead of freezing here, why not go down, find a household to rest, and then find a doctor to treat Yifan. He cannot be left with a disability!"
Huangfu Jintao glanced back at the Crown Prince. If he hadn't blocked the tiger's claw for him, he believed he would be long dead by now.
The group of seven people, five guards, one carrying the unconscious Crown Prince, two supporting the Emperor, and two guards closely following the footprints left by Fan Zehao, walked on foot.
In the courtyard.
Zhao Jiaqi found the roe deer to be very cute and naive. Its white backside was like two clouds, something she had only seen on television before.
"Little darlings, why don't we keep them? I can't bear to kill them, they look so pathetic!"
Seeing his wife's overflowing compassion, Fan Zehao smiled, "As you wish, we'll keep them. Later, we'll find them a companion, and let them breed. In a few years, our yard will be full of their little cubs."
Zhao Jiaqi chuckled. She hoped it would turn out that way, and that raising them could be a profitable business in the future!
Fan Zehao went to the backyard and confined them in the specially built livestock shed. When he returned to the front yard, he found that someone had arrived.
He recognized this person. Fan Zehao frowned and walked over, "Are you following me?"
Zhao Jiaqi looked bewildered, a string of question marks appearing on her forehead.
Xiao Ce couldn't believe it either. As soon as they descended the mountain, they encountered a farmhouse, only to find it was his home!
He was truly out of luck.
"Young man, we followed your advice and came down from the mountain. We just didn't expect your home to be at the foot of the mountain. What a coincidence! My son's leg was swept by a tiger's claw and is in danger. Can you let us stay at your home temporarily? We only need a room..."
Fan Zehao saw that his son was already unconscious, the cloth wrapped around his wound soaked with blood, and his pale face devoid of color. He looked quite pitiful.
If he were moved back and forth without treatment, he wouldn't be far from death.
Before he could finish speaking, he directly invited them in, "Come in."
Cold demeanor but warm heart, Xiao Ce's evaluation of Fan Zehao was that he was a good person.
The five guards and two masters occupied four rooms respectively.
As Zhao Jiaqi went to the kitchen to boil water, she asked her sister-in-law to go home and call Guangping to drive the horse carriage to town to fetch Doctor Qi Xuan.
"Tell Doctor Qi to bring more hemostatic medicine. That person was scratched by a tiger."
Fan Guangping nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I'll go right away. Tell my brother that those people don't look like they're from our town, so be careful!"
What if they were bad people? Their home was far from the village, and something bad might happen!
Inside the house, Fan Zehao gave the old man the last of his hemostatic medicine, "This was left by my master. There's only this much left, use it. It's very effective."
Xiao Ce knitted his brows. For the medicine prescribed by imperial physicians, there were always testers. Being cautious by nature, he was even more wary of this foreign medicine.
Before he could say anything, Huangfu Jintao smiled and said, "Young man, my arm is quite painful, you should help me put it on!"
Fan Zehao looked at his age and couldn't bear to refuse.
He walked straight over, tore off his sleeve, revealing wounds of varying depths. Regardless of whether the man was in pain, he quickly and precisely sprinkled the powder directly onto the wound, and then bandaged it with clean cotton cloth prepared by his wife.
Finally, he tied a bow on the wound. Satisfied, he nodded and instructed, "Old man, don't get this arm wet. In less than five or six days, your arm will be able to move freely."
"You old man" this and "you old man" that, Xiao Ce really wanted to correct him, but the Emperor's threatening glare stopped him from speaking.
He felt so stifled that he could only turn his head aside, refusing to look at the arrogant young man.
"Young man, my surname is Huang, and I am the seventh oldest in my family. They all call me Huang Qi."
So this person's surname was Huang!
"My name is Fan Zehao. Uncle Huang, you can recuperate here for now. Don't tease my wolves when you're free, especially at night. Don't go out of the room at will, otherwise, if you get bitten to death by the wolves, I won't be responsible!"
Huangfu Jintao quickly responded, "Alright, I, this old man, have noted it down!"
Hearing him call himself "old man," Fan Zehao felt a sense of closeness and a smile appeared on his face. "Take good care of your injury. My brother has gone to town to fetch Doctor Qi, and he'll be here soon!"
After saying this, without waiting for Huangfu Jintao to say anything, he left the room, leaving them with their space.
Outside the house, two guards stood at the entrance, their swords glinting coldly.
Fan Zehao said, "This is not the deep mountains, there are no tigers or bears for you to guard against. Put those things away. If you scare my wife, you can scram immediately!"
The dignified imperial guards were actually being reprimanded by a farmer and told to "scram"!
The two parties glared at each other. After a moment, Xiao Ce walked out of the room and said to his two subordinates, "This young man is right. Don't disturb them. Go and rest. Call us if anything comes up!"
Fan Zehao returned to the house and explained to his wife what had happened on the mountain. "Looking at this old man, I was reminded of my master... Don't be angry."
He was moved by the sight and thus kept the man to recuperate!
"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Let's just consider it a good deed. I'm not angry."
Not only could she not be angry, but she also had to comfort him. Zhao Jiaqi chuckled. This New Year was turning out to be quite unfortunate!
Qi Xuan arrived and was invited to Huangfu Yifan's room. Upon seeing the person, Qi Xuan was greatly startled.
Xiao Ce was also quite shocked when he saw Qi Xuan.
After the imperial physician retired and returned home, he had actually come here to become a barefoot doctor!
The two parties, with tacit understanding, did not acknowledge each other on the spot, as Fan Guangping was also in the room.
Qi Xuan busied himself with stopping the bleeding, acupuncture, and prescribing medicine. He then sent Fan Guangping on another trip to fetch the medicine. Everything was carried out in an orderly manner under Qi Xuan's guidance.
Fan Guangping, seeing that it was finished, prepared to escort the doctor back. Unexpectedly, Qi Xuan said, "This person's injuries are too severe. I'll stay and look after him for a bit. You go back and get the medicine!"
"Oh, how much is the consultation fee and medicine cost?"
"Let them pay. Don't worry about these matters. Hurry up and get the medicine, and have it brewed."
Fan Guangping left in a daze. At this moment, Xiao Ce led him to pay respects to Huangfu Jintao.
"This humble subject pays his respects to Your Majesty!"