Chapter 79 — The Medicine Bearer Through the Chaos

Person Found

Tinh Yen entered the small house with shaking legs. The weak light filtering through the slightly opened window gradually illuminated the figure lying on the wooden counter. The face was thin, pale from blood loss and prolonged fever, and the stubble had not been shaved for many days, but those familiar lines, no matter how haggard, she still recognized immediately.

"Thanh Phong." She called softly, her voice choked, kneeling down next to the counter, her trembling hand reaching up to touch his face.

He did not react immediately, his breathing was weak but steady, a sign that he was still alive, even though he was in a deep coma. Tinh Yen quickly put aside all rising emotions to focus on the most important job at the moment - checking his health status with the professionalism of a physician.

She lifted the crude bandage wrapped around his side and saw that the wound from the spear had been preliminarily treated, but signs of infection were still clearly present - the surrounding skin was red and swollen, with light pus oozing out, and when she placed her hand on his forehead, she clearly felt the high fever tormenting his body.

"How's the shoulder wound?" Tinh Yen asked Tam Ro, her voice had regained some of the necessary calm even though tears still continued to roll down her cheeks.

"We did our best with what we had at hand." Tam Ro replied, his voice a bit guilty. "Roots and folk medicine leaves can help stop bleeding and reduce fever somewhat, but I know that deep wounds like this require more specialized medical techniques than what an old root-digging man like me can provide."

"You did very well." Tinh Yen said, her voice sincere. "If it weren't for you, I'm afraid you wouldn't have been able to hold out until today."

She quickly opened the medicine bag and began treating the wound carefully - cleaning the infected area, applying the special medicines she brought, and applying acupuncture to a few important acupuncture points to support blood circulation and reduce fever. Ton Ba Nghi assisted her in every step, holding the tools with his hands, preparing new bandages, working with a harmonious coordination that had been trained through many days of fighting death together on the Nghinh Phong battlefield.

While concentrating on treating the wound, Thanh Phong suddenly moved slightly, his eyes opened in delirium, his lips moved with unclear sounds. Tinh Yen stopped, bent down, and held his hand tightly.

"Thanh Phong, I'm here, I found you." She said, her voice choked up while trying to remain reassuring.

His eyes gradually opened wider, although still numb from the fever, but when his eyes touched Tinh Yen's face, a flash of recognition flashed, his lips curled up into a weak but genuine smile.

"Quiet... Quiet..." He whispered, his voice hoarse because he hadn't spoken for a long time, his hand gently squeezing her hand in a weak but meaningful gesture. "I know... you will find me..."

Tears fell from Tinh Yen's eyes, she could no longer hold back, but she still tried to hold her hands steady as she continued the healing work. "Don't talk too much, keep your strength." She said, her voice trembling and mixed with extreme happiness. "I'll get you home safely, I promise."

Thanh Phong fell into a coma again soon after, but this time, his face seemed much more peaceful, as if her appearance had relieved some of the burden he had been carrying in his subconscious during the days of fighting death alone.

The elderly soldier accompanying the group, standing silently in the doorway from the beginning, only now spoke up, his voice could not hide the rare emotion of a battle-hardened soldier. "I have served under the Tran Bac Hau family for many years and witnessed many life and death scenes." he said. "But I have never seen a scene that made my heart feel so relieved. I will immediately tell someone about Nghinh Phong, so that Lord Tran Bac Hau can rest assured as soon as possible."

"Thank you." Tinh Yen replied, not taking her eyes off Thanh Phong for even a moment. "Let me be clear, your condition is stable, although you still need more time to fully recover before you can travel long distances."

The soldier nodded and immediately prepared with a teammate to return to Nghinh Phong that same day, bringing with him the good news that the whole citadel had been waiting for all these days.

While Tinh Yen continued to complete the treatment, another old man and a small child timidly entered the house - the two grandchildren that Thanh Phong had saved on the run. The grandmother, although still shaken by what she had gone through, still tried to tell Tinh Yen about the last moments before Thanh Phong collapsed.

"He carried my nephew a long way, even though he was bleeding non-stop himself." The old lady said, her voice choked. "He said he had to get us to a safe place first, and then take care of himself. If it weren't for him, we certainly wouldn't have survived that night."

Tinh Yen listened and felt an indescribable sense of pride and sadness, once again confirmed about Thanh Phong's personality - always putting the safety of others above his own, even in the most life-or-death moments.

When the most urgent treatment was completed, Ton Ba Nghi, while cleaning up Thanh Phong's belongings that had been carefully collected by the villagers, discovered a strange object carefully hidden in the lining of the torn armor - a small piece of leather, on which was drawn a rudimentary diagram and a few lines written in a strange language, mixed with a few familiar symbols.

"Doctor Do, look here." Ton Ba Nghi said, showing the piece of skin to her, his voice full of surprise.

Tinh Yen took it, examined it carefully, and immediately recognized a familiar symbol drawn on the corner of the piece of leather - a stylized lotus flower, identical to the symbol that appeared in the notebook found in the secret medicine vault in Nghinh Phong. The diagram on the piece of leather appears to detail part of Nghinh Phong citadel's defensive line, accompanied by symbols marking the wall's weak point — precisely the area where the North Gate was breached during the decisive battle.

"Here..." Tinh Yen said, her voice shaking with surprise and anger. "This could be evidence that Bac Dich had obtained inside information about Nghinh Phong's defensive weaknesses before the battle, perhaps from Chu Dac Hoanh or someone connected to him."

She thought back over the entire course of the battle—the unusually precise attack at the weakest point of the wall, the timing of the attack perfectly coinciding with when the defense was at its thinnest. This is no longer a normal attack, but a carefully prepared attack based on information leaked from within.

"I must bring this piece of skin back to Nghinh Phong immediately and report it to Lord Tran Bac Hau." Tinh Yen said, carefully putting the piece of leather in her handbag along with the Bach Thao Chan Sutra and half a piece of white jade. "This could be the final piece of the puzzle to expose the entire conspiracy that has caused so much pain to this citadel."

Tam Root, standing and observing the entire development, nodded slightly in agreement. "I don't understand everything you're talking about, but I believe, once the truth begins to be revealed, no darkness can hide it forever." He said, his gentle eyes looking towards Thanh Phong who was sleeping more peacefully on the wooden counter. "For now, the most important thing is to let him rest and recover fully before thinking about anything else."

That night, Tinh Yen stayed with Thanh Phong all night, taking turns with Ton Ba Nghi to monitor the fever, apply cool compresses, and change bandages whenever necessary. The small oil lamp in the cottage illuminated his face, which gradually regained its pink color after many hours of proper care. His breathing also became much more regular than when she first found him.

Sometimes, in the middle of the late night watch, he would stir slightly, calling out her name in a daze, and each time, Tinh Yen would hold his hand tightly, whispering words of reassurance, like an invisible rope anchoring him to the world of life between the fragile line he had just experienced.

The old lady whose life was saved by Thanh Phong brought a bowl of thin porridge cooked from the little rice left in the house, placing it next to Tinh Yen with words of gratitude in her eyes. "The lady also needs to maintain her strength." She spoke softly. "He won't be happy if he wakes up and finds her exhausted from taking care of him."

Tinh Yen smiled slightly, gratefully accepted the bowl of porridge, ate each small spoonful while her eyes never left Thanh Phong's face, her heart was filled with a rare feeling of peace that she no longer dared to hope to find again since the night the Northern Gate fell.