Chapter Forty-Five: Sacrificing Oneself for the Fortress

“Knock, knock, knock~”
“Brother, are you in there?”
The pounding on the door was accompanied by Erhu’s rough, booming voice.

More than an hour had passed, yet Li Xiao had not returned.

Erhu couldn’t sit still any longer and went out to search each courtyard one by one.

Finally, he found Li Xiao’s horse in a rather spacious courtyard.

According to the villagers of Hou Village, this courtyard originally belonged to Hou Tiancai and his wife; it was the best house in the village.

But now the door was tightly shut. Erhu called out a couple of times without any response, growing anxious.

Fearing something might have happened to Li Xiao, he suddenly pushed the door open with a loud bang.

Inside, Erhu was left dumbfounded.

Li Xiao stood calmly in the main hall, completely fine.

“Brother, I called you several times but you didn’t answer. Why didn’t you open the door?”

“I thought something had happened to you!” Erhu said with guilt in his voice.

While speaking, Erhu’s gaze shifted behind Li Xiao.

He just caught sight of a woman rushing by in a panic, covering her mouth as she hurried into the back room.

Soon after, the sound of dry heaving came from within.

“Hou Tiancai’s wife?”

Erhu’s eyes widened as if he had discovered a new world.

“Big Brother? You guys~”

Erhu looked incredulous, pointing first at Li Xiao, then at Huang Xiuer in the inner room.

He felt he had been completely tricked by Li Xiao.

Just yesterday, Li Xiao had told him it was best not to lose one’s virginity before sixteen.

So how was this scene to be explained?

Li Xiao felt slightly uncomfortable under Erhu’s disdainful gaze and inwardly annoyed.

His good fortune had been interrupted!

He pulled Erhu out of the room, walked to the yard, mounted his horse, and said firmly,

“We’re innocent~”

“Her husband died, she’s heartbroken, I came to comfort her,” Li Xiao explained.

At that moment, he had said, “Madam Hou, you wouldn’t want your husband to be torn to pieces, would you?”

But to Li Xiao’s surprise, Huang Xiuer’s reply was, “I would!”

Hou Tiancai’s act of abandoning her and fleeing had deeply wounded Huang Xiuer.

What had once been love turned to hatred, and she was capable of wishing Hou Tiancai to suffer the worst punishments!

Her sudden change of attitude left Li Xiao completely at a loss and unsure how to respond.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he finally said, “Madam Hou, your thoughts are misguided.”

“You and your husband are one, how can you just watch him be tortured?”

Li Xiao believed Huang Xiuer still cared for Hou Tiancai deep down, although women were often contradictory by nature.

He intended to give this woman a proper lesson, to correct her words and teach her what it means for a couple to be united.

So, truly, they were innocent; Li Xiao was merely educating a grieving widow to reform her ways.

Erhu was clearly skeptical of Li Xiao’s explanation. Mounted on his horse, they started to leave, Erhu casting suspicious glances back at him.

“Yesterday you said sixteen~”

Li Xiao cut him off, “I’m already sixteen by East Asian age reckoning!”

Erhu was struck silent, shocked by Li Xiao’s shamelessness.

But he seemed to understand now.

His elder brother wasn’t just pretending to be pure; he genuinely looked down on the women of Geluolu, his standards were just higher.

“This woman really is far prettier than those Geluolu women,” Erhu muttered.

Seeing Erhu’s resolute expression, Li Xiao didn’t bother to explain further.

Words come from other people’s mouths; let them say what they will!

As long as he believed himself innocent, that was enough—after all, he hadn’t crossed the moral line yet!

“Has it been an hour already?”

Li Xiao looked up at the sky; the moon was already high.

Unconsciously, so much time had passed.

“Almost an hour and a half!” Erhu looked at Li Xiao with a hint of grievance.

The four of them had been foolishly waiting; they hadn’t expected Li Xiao to be comforting a young widow.

“Heh, it’s nothing~”

“Ershu’s injury won’t take more than half an hour!” Li Xiao chuckled nervously, clearly feeling guilty.

They quickened their horses’ pace and soon returned to the previous courtyard.

First, they checked on Li Erjiang’s condition. Thanks to Dahu and Erhu wiping him down with wet towels, his temperature had dropped slightly, and his complexion improved a little.

“Looks like it’s working~”

Li Xiao nodded happily. Next was to treat the wound.

This was the root cause: if the festering wound wasn’t properly treated, the fever would only worsen.

Li Xiao then began making the final preparation of allicin.

First, he took a clean cloth, sealed the jar’s mouth, and filtered out all the alcohol inside.

At this point, the garlic paste was useless; what was needed was the alcohol, as the allicin had dissolved into it.

Next, he poured the alcohol into a distiller and heated it.

Soon, the alcohol in the distiller decreased; after cooling, it condensed back into liquid and flowed back into the jar.

When all the alcohol had evaporated, a thin layer of pale yellow crystals remained at the bottom of the distiller.

This was the final crude form of allicin.

“Done~”

Li Xiao looked at the thin layer of pale yellow crystals with a joyful expression.

He had finally created an antibiotic!

Although the allicin he produced still contained many impurities and was far less effective than penicillin, it was still a blessing in the high-infection environment of an ancient battlefield.

Who could afford to be picky when even a crude antibiotic could save lives?

Little did anyone know how many Han soldiers’ lives this small amount of allicin would save on the battlefield, sparing many the agony of amputation.

Li Xiao carefully scraped the allicin crystals from the bottom of the jar, dividing them into two portions.

One half was diluted with water for Ershu to take orally, the other half was applied to the wound.

In truth, allicin shouldn’t be applied directly to wounds because garlic’s pungency can cause swelling.

But it was unavoidable; Li Erjiang’s injuries were too severe, and swelling was preferable to continued infection.

Moreover, once they returned to Hexibao, the wound would undergo thorough treatment—removing necrotic flesh, suturing anew, and combining with allicin to eliminate infection.

The next morning, Huang Xiuer opened her eyes and looked around the familiar room, though everything had changed.

Slowly rising from the bed, she felt dizzy and weak, and her cheeks ached severely.

Exhausted!

Too much had happened yesterday, and her fate had changed drastically that day, leaving her mentally unsettled and filled with anxious uncertainty about the future.

After Li Xiao left, Huang Xiuer hadn’t felt even a hint of sleepiness until dawn, when she finally drifted off.

Less than an hour later, she was awakened by noisy sounds outside.

She rose, enduring her physical and mental fatigue, and began packing all the usable belongings.

Before long, Dahu and Erhu arrived.

“Hou~”

Upon seeing Huang Xiuer, Erhu instinctively wanted to address her as “Madam Hou,” but was immediately interrupted by Dahu.

“Miss Huang, rest a while first. We’ll help you pack!” Dahu said with a gentle smile.

The two then busied themselves helping Huang Xiuer.

“You guys~”

Seeing their behavior, Huang Xiuer felt somewhat at a loss.

But she knew these two were Li Xiao’s brothers, surely sent by him to assist.

Considering her situation, she didn’t refuse Li Xiao’s kindness and nodded gently, saying, “Thank you both~”

Soon, all the valuable and useful items from Huang Xiuer’s home were packed.

There were many belongings—enough to require more than a dozen horses to carry.

“Per my brother’s orders, you can keep all these items, but only half of the cattle, sheep, and horses!” Dahu said.

According to Li Xiao’s instructions, they were to confiscate the portion of the couple’s property that belonged to Hou Tiancai.

The remainder, belonging to Huang Xiuer, was left for her to live on.

Of course, if not for what happened last night, Li Xiao would have confiscated everything.

“Please thank your brother for me!” Huang Xiuer said.

A widow’s life was not easy; even if she returned to Huangsha Village, she would still live at the mercy of her family.

But with half the livestock and property, whether in Hexibao or Huangsha Village, she wouldn’t have to rely on others.

“Mm, you can thank him yourself~” Dahu smiled softly, driving the cattle, sheep, and horses out of the courtyard.

He was preparing to lead her and many Hou villagers away to start a new life.

Dahu was shrewd, more thoughtful than Erhu.

He guessed that Li Xiao wasn’t after Huang Xiuer’s beauty, but rather her background.

The daughter of the Huangsha Village chief!

Though smaller than Hexibao, if she could be brought onto Hexibao’s war chariots, it would greatly strengthen their influence.

Thus, in Dahu’s eyes, Li Xiao’s actions were selfless—sacrificing himself for the greater cause of Hexibao.

After Dahu and Erhu had herded the livestock out, the courtyard was empty except for one solitary house.

Huang Xiuer stood at the gate, looked back one last time, sighed softly, then silently mounted her horse.

Hou Tiancai was dead, the Hou family was no more, and she could no longer be considered part of the Hou clan.

This place would henceforth have nothing to do with her.