The little one's purse connects the two worlds, turning a desolate village into a paradise.

The three of them said no more and headed toward Doctor Chen's house.

The houses on both sides of the village are scattered sparsely along the roadside, and the solar lights hanging under the eaves emit a faint yellow glow. The occasional chirping of insects makes the night even more quiet.

From afar, a sliver of white light shone through the window of Dr. Chen's main room, standing out starkly against the dimness.

The gate to the courtyard was ajar.

The village chief walked at the front, reached out and gently pushed, making a slight "creak" sound.

Inside the room, Dr. Chen, wearing reading glasses, was engrossed in a book. A solar-powered clip-on lamp borrowed from Granny Liu's yard was clipped to the window frame, its light making his eyes shine, and his face showed an irrepressible excitement.

This is truly a divine book!

The people from that distant land are truly remarkable. They possess such insight, so many practical and ingenious methods, and their medical skills are so impressive. It is truly admirable!

This book, titled "The Barefoot Doctor's Manual," was given to him by Old Fang, and it was the surprise Old Fang mentioned that morning.

Earlier, when Fang Tiesheng was waiting for Ya Ya to return with the village chief, he heard that Zhao Hu and Xinghua had gone out to search for someone and that Doctor Chen was going to stay until night. So, Fang Tiesheng stopped keeping him in suspense and directly delivered the book to Doctor Chen.

This book was a treasure he found in the box of old books that Ya Ya brought back. It contained not only various prescriptions for treating diseases and acupuncture and massage methods, but also methods for mosquito control, rodent prevention, environmental sanitation, and excrement management.

Old Fang originally intended to keep it for himself to ponder, but unexpectedly, someone more suited to pondering this book returned.

This book finally came in good use after it fell into Dr. Chen's hands.

He didn't give it to them immediately because he was worried that Doctor Chen would get too absorbed in the treatment and harm his health. They were already very weak, and if they didn't get enough rest, it would damage their mental state, and then he would be harming them.

But given the current situation, I might as well give it to him ahead of time.

Dr. Chen didn't notice until the village chief and the others walked up to the door.

The village chief stepped forward and gently knocked on the door. The wooden door made a dull thud, and after a moment, there was a rustling sound from inside.

A slightly hurried footstep approached the door, which creaked open a crack. Dr. Chen, wearing a red camouflage work uniform, held a book in his hand.

"Come in quickly, watch out for the threshold."

The house had been uninhabited for a long time, and the temperature was almost the same as outside. The kang (heated brick bed) had also been unheated for a long time, with only a small fire left in the stove, barely providing any warmth.

Zhao Hu carefully placed the woman on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the inner room. Doctor Chen and the others quickly followed in. He was still holding the solar-powered clip-on lamp in his hand. He brought it closer to the edge of the kang, and the light became much brighter. The woman's eyelids twitched slightly.

Under the lamplight, Dr. Chen carefully examined the woman's complexion, lips, and eyelids, then squeezed her wrist before taking her pulse.

He concentrated intently on taking the pulse for a long time, his brows first furrowing slightly, then gradually relaxing.

"How is it, Dr. Chen?" Xinghua asked nervously.

Doctor Chen withdrew his hand. "There are no external injuries on the body, and the pulse is weak. This is a case of prolonged hunger damaging the Yin and depleting the vital energy. If you can catch your breath, you will recover with proper care."

"I was just hungry." Zhao Hu breathed a sigh of relief and shrugged his shoulders. Today had been more tiring than moving stones.

Dr. Chen nodded.

There's no need to look for medicine; just eat the same rice and oil as the three of them. They don't have any medicine at home either.

However, this woman's constitution was severely weakened, and it would normally take her more than a month to recover. If she had ginseng soup or other highly nourishing foods, she would naturally recover much faster.

Dr. Chen didn't mention any of this.

Seeing that nothing serious had happened, the village chief didn't linger, and Zhao Hu yawned incessantly. Xinghua, who had been on edge the whole time, belatedly felt her legs starting to ache as she sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

The entire day was wasted carrying stones to burn lime.

Zhao Hu glanced at the unfamiliar woman with her eyes closed, hoping that this person would be more useful than Shi Tou in the future.

Seeing that they were about to leave, Doctor Chen's gaze fell on the bloodstains on Zhao Hu and Xinghua. He couldn't help but ask what had happened.

The village chief planned to ask tomorrow, but Dr. Chen asked first.

Seeing this, Zhao Hu called everyone to the main room, closed the door to the inner room behind him, and then lowered his voice to tell them everything that had happened on his trip.

They encountered a man who claimed to be the son of a military commander by the mountainside. He appeared to be being chased and had fled to this Luanyun Ridge. Xinghua also overheard him talking about looking for something.

The man was seriously injured. When he saw the two of them, he wanted them to save him, and even promised them high-ranking positions, generous salaries, gold, silver, and treasures.

However, their Lotus Village should not be exposed, and the man seemed to have designs on Xinghua, so they simply killed him. As he was dying, the man could no longer maintain his feigned gentleness and weakness, and began to curse and swear.

Zhao Hu also mentioned their follow-up arrangements: moving the stone platform to clean up the footprints.

After they finished speaking, the two thought about it carefully and, finding no flaws, quieted down.

The village chief tapped the table lightly with his rough knuckles. According to Hu Zi and Xing Hua, the two of them had handled the matter perfectly, and there was no risk of exposure at the moment. However, this matter was far more complicated than it seemed.

Why would the son of a military commander flee to such a desolate place as Luanyun Ridge?

Dr. Chen frowned and said in a deep voice:

"The Northwest Army suffered a major defeat, and the border was lost. As we traveled along the way, we saw many people fleeing with their families. Nine out of ten houses in the villages were empty, with the doors wide open and everything inside looted."

The prefectures and counties kept their city gates tightly shut, forbidding refugees from entering. From afar, we could see some banners had been changed; they were either government troops or regional military forces. Further away, small groups of defeated soldiers, scattered soldiers, and bandits had taken over the mountains. If we hadn't been cautious, and if it weren't for Da Niu's strength and Xing Hua's intelligence—the two of them, working together despite their injuries, managed to kill several of those who tried to help—we wouldn't have made it back.”

"In fact, only places like Luanyun Ridge, which are both poor and remote, are the safest, as large armies don't want to go there and local soldiers are too lazy to enter."

The village chief's eyelids drooped, and his knuckles tapped even more frequently.

"The military commander is a trusted and important position under the military governor, and is by no means an ordinary bandit. Killing such a person is no different from open rebellion. The fact that they dare to take direct action to exterminate them today can only mean one thing."

Dr. Chen paused for a moment, "The warlords outside have completely broken off relations, engaging in separatist warfare, where the strong prey on the weak, and have fully entered the law of the jungle."

"The imperial court is merely a figurehead, regional warlords are fighting amongst themselves, and the world is truly in chaos."

Two more chapters to be updated tonight.