The abstinent and powerful minister is cold and aloof during the day, but he adores her in his dream

Chapter 160 Lu Zhan: Don't Look Around
The man paused, reached out and ruffled her hair. "No need." With that, he pulled her hand away and turned to leave.

"You're not allowed to leave." Zhiwan suddenly hugged his leg tightly.

man:"……"

He raised his hand and rubbed his temples, seemingly somewhat helpless, but ultimately gave in and sat down again.

Zhiwan carefully pulled down his pants and saw a deep gash on his left thigh, a bloody mess that looked horrible. However, it was still clear that the injury had been caused by a sharp object.

No wonder he walked so slowly when she helped him; he had an injury on his leg.

Also, the reason he refused to take his pants off was probably because he was afraid she would see them.

This was the first time she had faced such a situation, and she was somewhat at a loss.

But seeing how badly he was injured, I really wanted to help him.

She looked around, then suddenly remembered something, tore off a piece from the hem of her dress, and said, "I'll wrap it around you."

"Mm," the man replied.

Zhiwan lowered her head and carefully bandaged his wound with a cloth.

Seeing the girl's cautious demeanor, the man's expression softened as he reassured her, "It's not a serious injury, you won't die, don't worry."

“If I hadn’t come, you would still be lying there right now, and it’s hard to say whether you would even wake up,” Zhiwan rolled her eyes at him.

The man's lips curved slightly, his dark eyes fixed on her. "Hmm, how do you want me to thank you?"

Zhiwan tied the cloth in a knot, and upon hearing this, paused. "I..." she tapped her nose with her slender finger, "I'll just offer myself in return."

The man paused for a moment, then said, "Besides this."

Zhiwan glanced down and her gaze fell on the underpants he was wearing.

The man's handsome face flushed slightly, and he raised his hand to cover her eyes. "Don't look around."

"I'll touch... um!" Zhiwan only managed to utter two words before the man silenced her with a kiss.

She couldn't see, but she could smell the increasingly strong scent of cedar wood on the man.

"Knock knock knock!" A knock on the door woke Zhiwan up.

She rubbed her temples and sat up.

Then I realized it was already daylight, and I had been dreaming again.

However, thinking of the man's injuries and situation in her dream, she couldn't help but frown.

The man was injured and stranded on an unknown island.

In reality, is that man still lying on the beach, not yet awake?
Thinking of this, Zhiwan frowned, feeling somewhat anxious for that man.

But there was no use in her anxiety. She didn't know who the man was, what his identity was, or where he was now.

On some unknown deserted island, Lu Zhan slowly opened his eyes.

Looking around at his surroundings, he struggled to sit up, using the sand as support.

Thinking about what happened in his dream, he raised his hand and rubbed his temples.

He never expected that he would dream of his cousin while he was unconscious.

If his cousin hadn't woken him up, he doesn't know when he would have woken up.

He was about to stand up when a piercing pain shot through his left leg.

He unzipped his pants and checked them.

Just like in the dream, his leg was injured.

This injury occurred when the boat was blown up, he sank into the river, and fought with the bandits who had blown up the boat.

He bandaged himself up briefly, then dragged his weary body to the nearby high ground to survey the terrain.

He fell into the river the night before last. He was still conscious at the time, and with his swimming skills, he could have returned to shore. However, during the fight with the bandits, he was accidentally stabbed in the thigh, which made him less agile.

He swam for a long time, becoming exhausted and losing too much blood, which caused him to faint and be swept here by the river.

Judging from the time it took him to be brought here by the river, this place shouldn't be too far from Yangzhou, but it probably won't be quick for Jiang Shi and the others to find him.

He pondered for a moment, then came down from the high ground, went into the jungle to find some herbs that could be used to treat wounds, washed them, crushed them with a stone, applied them to the wounds, and then tore off the hem of his clothes to bandage the wounds.

If Zhiwan saw this, she would be astonished.

What she didn't know was that Lu Zhan had joined the army when he was young. He not only worked as a cook, but also followed the army doctor to treat the wounds of the soldiers. When the army was short of herbs, he even went to the mountains with the old army doctor to find herbs. Therefore, he was very skilled at doing these things.

After applying the dressing to his wound, Lu Zhan gathered some dry firewood, set up a fire, and then took off his clothes and put them by the fire to dry.

After finishing these tasks, he took a fork and went to the river to spear fish.

By the time he finished eating, the sun was high in the sky, and it was already noon.

Lu Zhan glanced at the blazing sun, put on his clothes that had dried in the sun, and then calmly found a shady spot to rest.

As for Zhiwan, after getting up and washing up in the morning, she first went to Lanyuan to pay her respects to Madam Wei and had breakfast with her. Afterwards, she took the paintings she had made during this period and went to Hexu Bookstore to hand in the paintings.

When Manager Jin saw her, he was overjoyed. "You're finally back! If you hadn't come back, I would have sent someone to look for you."

Zhiwan chuckled and said, "Why is Manager Jin in such a hurry?"

"Not yet..." Manager Jin paused after saying only three words, smiled, and brushed it off, saying only, "I'm naturally anxious because your paintings are popular, but it's good that you're back now. From now on, you'll have to paint more for us."

"Should we still charge fifty taels per sheet?" Zhiwan asked tentatively.

Unexpectedly, Manager Jin readily agreed, "Price is not a problem, as long as you paint more for us."

Zhiwan subtly raised an eyebrow.

It seems that Manager Jin has made a lot of money from her paintings.

However, since she could also pay fifty taels of silver per note from now on, she was naturally happy and nodded in agreement.

She painted a total of twenty paintings this time, and according to the price agreed upon beforehand, Manager Jin settled the bill for her with one thousand taels of silver.

Feeling the generous amount in her purse, Zhiwan was in a good mood.

After leaving the bookstore, she took Shuang'er to Zhiweizhai.

Zhao Dong and Madam Yu managed the shop very well.

Upon seeing Zhiwan's arrival, the two were both surprised and delighted. "Master, when did you return?"

“Yesterday,” Zhiwan said with a smile, handing them the gifts she had bought for the family of three.

"You've troubled the employer again," said Madam Yu, expressing her gratitude.

Zhiwan shook her head. "You've all worked hard these past few days. Has anything happened at the shop?"

"No, everything is fine," Madam Yu said with a smile.

Zhao Dong went to retrieve the account book and banknotes and handed them to Zhiwan.

"I've exchanged all the money I earned in the shop for banknotes, and they're all here. Please take a look, boss."

Zhiwan flipped through the documents and saw that business had not declined during this period; in fact, it was even better than before she went to Yangzhou.

Furthermore, as the weather got hotter, Yu also took the initiative to make various kinds of snacks and some drinks to sell.

The prepared drinks are chilled in well water, making them refreshingly cool, and are very popular with guests.

As a result, there were many more customers in the shop than before.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Madam Yu felt uneasy, afraid that she would blame her for acting on her own initiative.

"I acted on my own initiative this time. If the employer feels it's inappropriate, I won't do it next time," Madam Yu said nervously.

(End of this chapter)