My sister broke off her engagement to marry someone richer? My older sister married me and became in

The battle is over.

Lu Qingshan stood there like a lone wolf that had just finished a battle, his chest heaving violently like a broken bellows.

After walking a few steps down, there was another person tied to a tree over there.

Erniu.

"Huff... huff..."

He used up all his remaining strength and ran as fast as he could towards Li Erniu!

He rushed to the tree and drew the still-dripping hunting knife from his waist.

The blade grazed Li Erniu's body and, with a "whoosh," severed the rough hemp rope!

"Thump."

Without support, Li Erniu slid down like a lump of mud.

Lu Qingshan stretched out his only intact right arm and pulled the burly man tightly into his arms, his hand feeling cold and slippery.

"Erniu! Wake up! Li Erniu! Wake up right now!"

He roared, his large, fan-like hands slapping Li Erniu's face, which was covered in mud and bloodstains.

The icy rain mixed with violent shaking finally pulled the dying Li Erniu back from the endless darkness.

He struggled to lift his swollen eyelids, and it took him a long time to focus his gaze on the cold, familiar face before him, which bore the gruesome wounds.

"Qing... Brother Qingshan..."

Li Erniu's lips trembled uncontrollably, and his voice was as faint as a mosquito being strangled.

When he saw the blood gushing from the crack on Lu Qingshan's brow bone and the horrific injury on his left arm...

An indescribable sense of guilt and remorse, like a flash flood, instantly overwhelmed all his reason.

He froze for a second, and then, without warning—

"Wow--!"

The burly man burst into tears like a three-year-old child, his cries so heart-wrenching they seemed to tear through the rain.

Tears, snot, rainwater, and blood smeared all over his face.

"Brother! Brother, I'm so sorry!!"

He suddenly struggled to his feet, banging his head against the tree trunk behind him. "It's my fault! It's all my fault! Just kill me! Stab me right now!"

Lu Qingshan's eyes turned cold. He used his right arm to tightly grip the man's neck, pressing him firmly into his arms, while his injured left arm forcefully pinned down the man's wildly flailing hands.

"You fucking shut up!"

Lu Qingshan roared, the movement of his arm aggravating his wound, causing the veins on his forehead to bulge in pain.

But Li Erniu had gone mad. He cried and shouted incoherently, "It was my greed! I didn't listen to you and insisted on leading everyone into this Crow Gully to search for treasure!"

"Gousheng...Gousheng's leg is broken, bro! The bone fragments are showing! He's only eighteen! He'll be a cripple forever! It's all my fault!"

"Everyone...everyone's been arrested! If they hadn't listened to me, none of this would have happened! I've ruined them! I've ruined everyone! I deserve to die!"

He pounded his chest, each punch delivered with all his might, producing muffled "thumps," as if he were tearing his heart out to atone for his sins.

Lu Qingshan didn't speak, but used all his strength to restrain him, letting him vent his frustration in his arms, struggling and crying in vain like a trapped beast.

He knew that if he didn't vent his anger, the man would be ruined.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Erniu's crying gradually subsided, leaving only suppressed, desperate sobs.

"Brother...you can scold me...you can hit me...please..."

He looked up, his bloodshot eyes pleading, "I feel so choked up... I'm in so much pain... Maybe if you beat me up, I'll feel a little better..."

He expected to be met with a furious beating or a barrage of insults.

He has made all the preparations.

However, Lu Qingshan just stared at him, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

After a long while, Lu Qingshan finally let go, extending his large hand, which was covered in blood and mud, and patted his shoulder heavily.

Not a single word of blame was uttered.

"It's good that you're alive."

These four simple words, like a massive boulder, crashed into Li Erniu's heart.

Li Erniu's crying abruptly stopped. He looked up at Lu Qingshan in disbelief, his lips trembling, "Brother...you...you don't blame me?"

"Is it your fault?"

Lu Qingshan forced a smile, a smile more like a grimace. "What's the use of blaming you? Will it make Gou Sheng's legs grow back? Or will it save us from shedding a single drop of blood?"

He stared into Li Erniu's eyes and said, word by word.

"Erniu, you better remember this. We just crawled back from under the nose of the King of Hell. You, me, and Gousheng are all people who have died once."

"Having faced the King of Hell once, from this day forward, we're brothers who've risked our lives for each other. All that past is past! Understand?"

"The most important thing right now is to stay alive!"

An indescribable warmth surged from the depths of Li Erniu's icy heart, instantly shattering his last line of defense.

He could no longer hold back and buried his head in Lu Qingshan's shoulder. This time, his cries contained no despair, only the relief of surviving a disaster and endless emotion.

Just then, the hunting dog, Big Yellow, who had been quietly crouching nearby, suddenly stood up, shook off the mud and water, sniffed the air, and then turned and rushed into the bushes under a cliff.

A moment later, Big Yellow came running back with several herbs with thick leaves and fresh soil still clinging to their roots, gently placed them at Lu Qingshan's feet, and rubbed its head against his leg.

It's a good hemostatic agent, Panax notoginseng.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Li Erniu was stunned to see Lu Qingshan bend down to pick up a few muddy herbs and stuff them into his mouth without even looking at them.

"Shut up," Lu Qingshan mumbled, chewing expressionlessly, "I'll save your life."

The bitter, spicy, and earthy smell, mixed with the smell of mud and sand, exploded in his mouth, but he felt as if he were chewing the most ordinary cornbread.

Soon, he chewed the herbs into a dark green, sticky mass, and spat it into his palm with a "plop".

Li Erniu watched this scene unfold, still unable to react.

Lu Qingshan had already pried open the shoulder pierced by the military dagger with one hand, and with the other hand he held the clump of medicine residue mixed with saliva and blood, and without the slightest hesitation, pressed it firmly on!

"Hiss—!"

As the juices and fragments of the herbs came into contact with the torn flesh, an indescribable, excruciating pain shot through Li Erniu's body like an electric current, causing him to gasp and shudder violently, almost letting out a cry.

"Just bear with it!"

Lu Qingshan growled, tightening his grip, "What's the use of yelling! Do you want to go back to your wife and kids alive?"

One sentence made Li Erniu grit his teeth and not utter another sound.

Lu Qingshan then grabbed his hand, which was bitten by the vicious dog and left bloody and mangled, and applied the dregs of medicine to it in the same rough manner.

After doing all this, he glanced at his tattered, blood-stained undergarment.

"Sizzle—"

He grabbed the hem of his clothes and, with a sudden burst of strength, tore off two large strips of cloth.

"Raise your hand! Press down on the medicine!" he commanded.

Li Erniu subconsciously did as instructed.

Lu Qingshan used strips of cloth to first tightly bind Li Erniu's shoulders, wrapping the wound and medicine residue together, and finally used all his strength to tie a knot that was absolutely impossible to break.

Then, he used another strip of cloth to wrap his rotting hand around and around, making it look like a rice dumpling.

The movements were rough, simple, and even carried an undeniable arrogance.

The flow of blood finally slowed down under the strong pressure of the herbs and strips of cloth.

Li Erniu stared blankly as Lu Qingshan did all this for him.

Watching the blood from his brow bone flow into his eyes, he merely wiped it away impatiently with the back of his hand; watching him chew the life-saving herbs for himself; watching him tear off a piece of his own clothing to bandage himself…

This man was clearly more seriously injured than anyone else.

But it seems like I can't feel any pain at all.

His heart was filled only with his brothers.

"Brother..." Li Erniu uttered a vow etched into his very bones in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"My life...from now on belongs to you...no, to your Lu family. If anyone dares to lay a finger on you, I, Li Erniu, will fight to the death to tear a piece of flesh from their body!"

Lu Qingshan paused in his work, then, as if he hadn't heard, simply gave a muffled "hmm".

"Wait here and don't go anywhere."

After confirming that Li Erniu's injuries had temporarily stabilized, he stood up again and turned to walk towards Lei Dong's unrecognizable corpse not far away.

For an old hunter who makes a living in the mountains, cleaning up the battlefield and recycling anything useful is a survival instinct ingrained in his bones.

He walked to Lei Dong's body and squatted down without hesitation.

He first picked up the Type 79 submachine gun that Lei Dong had thrown away as scrap metal, pulled back the bolt and took a look. Sure enough, it was jammed with mud and sand, but the magazine was still intact.

He skillfully removed the magazine, weighed it in his hand, and found there were at least a dozen bullets left inside.

nice one.

He tucked the magazine into his pocket.

Then, his hands began to carefully explore Lei Dong's body. He avoided the horrific bloody hole in Lei Dong's chest, and his fingers precisely probed the inside of the leather vest that Lei Dong was wearing close to his skin.

These desperate criminals either hide their most important belongings in the soles of their shoes or sew them into their inner pockets.

Soon, his fingertips touched a hard, square object.

He took it out.

It was a small package wrapped in thick yellow waterproof oil paper and sealed tightly with sealing wax; it felt slightly heavy in the hand.

On the sealing wax, there was also a peculiar mark that looked like a ferocious beast's claw.

"It's sealed so tightly, it must be a treasure," Lu Qingshan muttered to himself.

He carefully used his fingernail to pry open a corner of the sealing wax and tear off the oil paper.

In the dim rain, the edge of a stack of papers was visible. The paper was a different color from the money currently in circulation, and it was printed with colorful patterns.

He drew the top card.

— Pick up a dollar.

Below is a line of smaller print: This note is equivalent in value to Renminbi. This note is valid only within designated areas of my country and cannot be reported lost.

It's a foreign exchange certificate!

Lu Qingshan's pupils suddenly contracted.

This thing is much more valuable than money!

In those days, many sought-after imported goods, such as color TVs, refrigerators, and tape recorders, were impossible to buy even if you had money. You needed this thing—foreign exchange certificates—to exchange for them at the Friendship Store!

This small package, judging by its thickness, must be worth at least several thousand yuan!

Several thousand yuan in foreign exchange certificates could be exchanged for tens of thousands of yuan on the black market!

What are these desperate criminals doing with so many foreign exchange certificates? Aren't they here to search for treasure?

Just as countless thoughts flashed through Lu Qingshan's mind, and he was preparing to pull out the bundle of foreign exchange certificates to see what was inside—

"Waaaaah—waaaah—"

A rapid, sharp, and increasingly close siren suddenly pierced through the heavy rain from the direction of the distant hillside!

Then came a cacophony of voices and barking dogs.

"Quick! This way!"

"Keep up! Watch your step!"

It's Wang Jianguo and his men! The police have arrived with a large force!

Lu Qingshan didn't pause at all. Almost the instant he heard the siren, he quickly stuffed the stack of foreign exchange certificates back into the oil paper package, without even looking at it, and put it directly into his innermost pocket.

He stood up, wiped the rain and blood from his face, and looked in the direction from which the siren was coming.

In the pouring rain, his eyes were eerily calm, unfathomable.