Gu Fengyan listened... Was he going to die again?
"What should we do..." Huo Duan put Gu Fengyan down and covered him with the quilt. "How about I go to the county, Father?"
Huo Adie frowned so much he could kill a fly. “There’s no time to spare! Not to mention it’s far to the county, it’s raining this time, the oxcarts can’t get through, and the medicinal herbs are scarce and expensive. We can’t gather them all in a short time.”
"I still have one dose of the medicine that Yan Ge'er had for his fever last time. I'll go and brew it for him. You keep an eye on him, wipe him down with cold water, and make sure he doesn't get any wind. The rest is up to fate."
Huo Duan immediately went out to fetch water in a wooden basin, but he was also very anxious... Last time this person had a fever, he only recovered thanks to the special medicine he got for free from the system.
There's no guarantee that Uncle Huo's medicine will work.
We can't gamble with people's lives, can we?
The best-case scenario is that we can get some fever-reducing medication.
But the system might not give it to him.
Thinking it over, Huo Duan called out to the system he had almost forgotten, "System, could you give me some more of the fever reducer from last time? It's for my life."
drop--
"No." The system replied coldly with three words, offering no further explanation.
Huo Duanshen knew the saying "there's no such thing as a free lunch," so he wasn't angry. He just chuckled and said, "You don't want to complete the mission? You don't want to achieve results? Surely your system isn't kind enough to offer people a free time-travel opportunity."
"Uh..." There was a deathly silence on the other end of the line.
Huo Duan continued, "I can choose whether or not to accept your mission. I can live quite well here anyway, but if I can get what I want... well, that's another story."
Huo Duan was, after all, a businessman, and he understood the mind of businessmen best—the exchange of benefits.
"Uh..." After a while, the system finally spoke again, "The medicine has been delivered, and the task has been sent to your inbox. Please collect it as soon as possible."
Huo Duan suddenly found a box of medicine in his hand; the negotiation was a success.
However, he sold himself out.
...
Gu Fengyan lay there in a daze, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
Sure enough, in this era, even a cold or fever can be a life-threatening illness.
The medical standards are too backward.
Huo Duan returned and placed a damp cloth on his forehead.
Gu Fengyan felt a little better and could hear Huo Duan rambling on and on.
"I even sold myself to save you..." Huo Duan took out a capsule from the box, and with the water in the bowl, picked up Gu Fengyan. "What do you call this, selling yourself to bury your husband? No, it should be selling yourself to save your husband."
Gu Fengyan wanted to laugh, but also felt strange.
What is he doing? What did he do?
A capsule was stuffed into his mouth, and Huo Duan fed him a sip of water. Seeing his instinctive resistance, he quickly said:
"Don't vomit, this is fever reducer, you'll feel better after taking it."
Fever reducer...capsules.
Fever-reducing capsules?
Where did Huo Duan get this kind of thing?
Did fever-reducing capsules exist in ancient times?
Countless questions lingered in Gu Fengyan's mind. As the medicine slid down his throat, Gu Fengyan suddenly understood and arrived at an incredible answer.
...
The medicine Huo Duan gave him was very effective. The next day, Gu Fengyan felt much better and was even able to get up.
But Father Huo wouldn't let him get out of bed; he cooked some white rice porridge and asked Huo Duan to feed him.
Huo Duan obediently took on this arduous task without daring to complain. He fed Gu Fengyan spoonful by spoonful of porridge, who ate slowly and deliberately.
After he finished eating, Huo Duan took the empty bowl and walked out. Gu Fengyan struggled internally for a long time before finally asking tentatively with trepidation, "How much did the shirt cost?"
Huo Duan suddenly turned around, his eyes wide with shock, and uttered the correct answer without missing a single word, "Nine pounds and fifteen pence!"
A note from the author:
Thank you for collecting and reading! (The author, with a rose in her mouth, winks at you, "I love you baby—")
Chapter Five
Gu Fengyan, "..."
Huo Duan, "..."
Ah, I can tell from their eyes that we've both been through the college entrance exam.
The entire room suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
Who would have thought that the person you spend every day with is also a time traveler!
Gu Fengyan felt a surge of emotion, like meeting an old friend in a foreign land, and almost cried. "Dude, well... thank you for the medicine." He sniffed and spoke first.
Huo Duan hadn't expected this either... but he found that Gu Fengyan's unusual behavior made perfect sense.
He rushed to the bedside, quite flustered, and grabbed Gu Fengyan, saying, "So you're also a miserable wage slave captured by the system?!"
"System?" Gu Fengyan awkwardly withdrew his hand and sighed. "What is that? I took a nap at home and woke up here."
He gave Huo Duan a thumbs up again, "But buddy, your acting is really good. If you were in our area, you would definitely beat a bunch of popular young actors. You'd be a movie star! Were you in the entertainment industry before?"
Huo Duan was now even more certain that they were both Chinese, but he was not an actor.
"The entertainment industry?" He thought for a moment. "I did consider investing in the entertainment industry before, but I'm not an actor..."
Looking at Gu Fengyan, "You've heard of Tianliang Wangpo, right?"
"It's getting cold, it's time to bankrupt the Wang Group," a classic line from a domineering CEO.
Wow! This guy is a CEO?
Gu Fengyan's emotion reached a new level. "Ahem, I've heard the phrase 'Woman, you're playing with fire' before... I was a domineering CEO in my past life too."
“Uh…” Huo Duan stared at Gu Fengyan with tears in his eyes.
Gu Fengyan also looked at Huo Duan... At this moment, the two of them read four words in each other's eyes—brothers in misfortune!
...
"By the way, how did you get dressed... and what is this thing called a system?" After finally calming down, Gu Fengyan asked Huo Duan.
Huo Duan asked him, "Does Young Master Gu usually read online novels?"
Gu Fengyan shook his head in confusion.
Huo Duan sighed, "Alas, it's a long story about a child without a mother. I was assassinated at my birthday banquet and then transmigrated. Then, inexplicably, a system appeared and said it would give me a chance to go back, provided that I complete the tasks it gave me... just like in transmigration novels."
No wonder Huo Duan said he was a forced laborer who had been captured. Gu Fengyan listened and nodded, indignantly saying, "The medicine that saved me was also given by the system? Did it threaten you? What a lousy system!"
“Uh…you’re right, it really is a dog!” Huo Duan paused for a moment, then agreed.
To be precise, he threatened the system.
After venting his anger, Gu Fengyan felt that since they were from the same hometown, and Huo Duan was being threatened by the system because of him, he should help Huo Duan.
“However, Mr. Huo, this system can be used… Do you want to go back?” he asked.
"Of course... Do you perhaps have a way?"
In this modern world, he's a billionaire with everything he could want. Who would want to stay in this dirt poor mountain village and farm? Mr. Huo blurted out almost without thinking.
Gu Fengyan reached for the outer robe at the foot of the bed. "What task did it give you?"
“This isn’t difficult. According to it, I only need to achieve two tasks: ‘becoming extremely wealthy’ and ‘having a fulfilling life.’” Huo Duan skillfully pulled the clothes over and draped them over him.
"Thank you." Gu Fengyan pondered for a moment, "'Wealthy' means having money, but 'a fulfilling life'... let's not consider that for now."
His eyes lit up. "I can help you. If we work together, Mr. Huo, you'll definitely be able to return successfully!"
Huo Duan was deeply moved, but also felt a little embarrassed to leave him alone there, so he asked:
"I've gone back. What about you?"
Gu Fengyan was unfazed and smiled slyly, "You don't need to worry about that. After you leave, I can have all the family property, I won't have to worry about food or clothing, and I can even marry a second wife. Isn't that great... I'll take care of Father Huo for you, so go ahead with peace of mind!"
Huo Duan's lips twitched... He hadn't expected this person to be so well-organized.
"What do you think, Mr. Huo?" Gu Fengyan raised an eyebrow.
Following business etiquette, Huo Duan extended a hand, saying, "Pleasure doing business with you!"
"It's a pleasure to cooperate..." Gu Fengyan grasped the hand and smiled towards the door. "But first we have to fool Father."
In the courtyard, Father Huo started calling for Huo Duan again.
Huo Duan helplessly shrugged, holding the empty bowl, and walked out amidst shouts of "Er Dan".
Gu Fengyan's stomach cramped from trying to suppress his laughter.
The two of them still slept in the same room that night, but Huo Duan had already moved the wooden bed from the thatched shed into the room behind Huo A's back.
The bed was so small it felt cramped sleeping together. "When I have some money, the first thing I want to do is build or buy a new house," Gu Fengyan thought.
He slept well that night and got up early the next morning with Huo Duan.
After the spring rains, wild game is springing up in the mountains in droves. Living off the land, even the wealthiest families in the village will go up the mountain to look for some, not to fill their stomachs, but just to try something new.
Of course, for families like the Huo family, it's all about filling their stomachs.
Huo Duan was assigned the task of going up the mountain, and Gu Fengyan pestered Huo's father for a long time before finally going along.
The two walked along the path into the ditch, where the cultivated land was still steaming with moisture.
"What are you doing following me? The mountain roads are difficult to walk on." Huo Duan looked at Gu Fengyan, who was walking unsteadily, like an elderly person with bad legs.
Gu Fengyan, using a rock for support, jumped down a ledge, his smile enigmatic. "Making money!"
"What money could there be in the mountains?" Huo Duan asked, puzzled.