Chapter 288: Beardy (2)

Chapter 288: Beardy (2)
When Chu Lian finally dragged her saviour inside, the rain still hadn’t stopped. She found that she had used up all the strength left inside her.
Chu Lian leaned against the cave wall and tried to catch her breath. She gave herself a short break to recover before looking out towards the cave entrance. Judging by the colour of the sky, it seemed like it was almost dusk.
Chu Lian glared at the man lying next to her. There was no other choice- she could only muster up her willpower and drag her fatigued body to go out and gather firewood.
The temperature in the forest dipped heavily at night. Even though they had already found shelter, they would surely freeze to death without a fire. Furthermore, their clothes were now soaked through thanks to the rain. If they wanted to keep warm, they would have to use the fire to dry their clothes first.
Unfortunately, the dried leaves and branches on the forest floor had been drenched by the rain. It was going to be hard to find kindling.
Chu Lian spent another lifetime of strength before she finally found some dry branches and leaves in a mountain pass. She stored them in her skirt like a basket and hurried back to the cave.
The sky quickly turned dark. By the time Chu Lian reached the cave, the last trace of light had disappeared; it was so dark that she couldn’t see her fingers in front of her face.
Chu Lian sniffled and carefully placed the branches to one side. She started feeling around the rocks nearby. When she found the flints that she had hidden here earlier, she sighed in relief.
With the flints in hand, she rubbed them together and finally managed to set the small pile of kindling on fire. A warm glow suffused the inside of the dark cave.
Looking at the warm, dancing flames before her, Chu Lian could finally stop worrying.
At the same time that she set her burdens down, her stomach began to gurgle.
Chu Lian was surprised by the sound. It was only then that she recalled that she hadn’t eaten anything at all apart from a few sips of honey water.
She checked her waist and found that her snack pouch was still there. Fortunately, there was still her beef jerky inside, though it was a little wet from the rain.
Chu Lian took one piece out for herself before counting how many remained. Her head turned to look at the comatose man lying by the fire.
She sighed and swallowed the delicious beef jerky in her mouth before looking back to her pouch regretfully. In the end, she closed it up and tucked it away.
This was all the food she had on her, and there was still a sick man here to take care of. It would be better to keep the food for him first. As for herself, when it was day again, she was going to go out into the forest to look for edible fruits.
Chu Lian checked the temperature of the man’s forehead again before chewing up the remaining herbs she had found and applying them to the man’s wound. When she checked its progress, it seemed like the skin around the wound had regained its normal colour, so the herbs had worked.
With this bit of news, another burden lifted off Chu Lian’s heart and she took the time to dry off her clothes.
When she touched the man’s clothes and found that they were wet too, Chu Lian looked down at the bearded face of the man and gritted her teeth. In the end, she still reached out and removed the man’s armour and clothes to dry them by the fire.
Chu Lian stared dazedly at the man’s lean and muscled upper body after taking off his clothes. Her gaze travelled down from the man’s neck to his eight pack abs. She awkwardly swallowed some drool that had pooled in her mouth.
Upon coming to her senses, Chu Lian realised that she had lost control of herself and quickly averted her gaze. She mumbled under her breath, “He looked so tall and skinny on the outside. Who could have thought that he would have such fine goods hidden beneath his clothes?”
Then, she stuck her tongue out at the comatose man to hide her own embarrassment.
What Chu Lian didn’t know was that He Changdi still retained some awareness despite his coma. He had heard every bit of her backhanded compliment towards him.