Transmigrated into the Villain's Cannon Fodder Ex-Wife (Transmigrated into a Book) - Chapter 41

Little Gray didn’t stop until it reached a small stream.

From a distance, Lin Chu spotted the tall black horse by the water, and her heart leapt with joy. She rushed over, but when she saw Yan Mingge collapsed by the stream, her heart sank.

“Husband!” She hurried to his side and immediately noticed something was wrong—his face had a dark bluish tint, and his lips were almost black. It was clearly a sign of poisoning.

With her heart pounding, Lin Chu leaned in to check if he was still breathing. Thankfully, she felt faint breaths, and that gave her a little relief.

Looking closer, she noticed a cross-shaped wound on Yan Mingge’s arm. It wasn’t fresh—the bl00d had already clotted—but the upper part of his arm was tightly bound with cloth. It looked like he had tied it himself before passing out, trying to stop the poison from spreading.

“What happened to Brother Yan?” Yuan San and the others caught up with her.

“He must’ve been bitten by a poisonous snake…” Lin Chu knelt beside Yan Mingge, her voice trembling without her even realizing it.

Yuan San examined the cloth tied around Yan Mingge’s arm. Below the tied part, his arm was swollen and dark purple, a sharp contrast to the lighter skin above it.

Without hesitation, Yuan San reached to untie the cloth. Tang Jiu warned, “If you untie it, the poison might spread faster.”

But Yuan San didn’t stop. “His arm’s been tied off for too long. If we don’t loosen it now, he might lose it.”

Lin Chu knew that when bl00d doesn’t flow to a body part for too long, it can cause massive cell death.

Panicking, she said, “Medicine! There’s antidote in the bundle—give him two pills first!”

Wei Rou placed a hand on Lin Chu’s shoulder. “Don’t panic, sister-in-law. That guy’s got a tough life—he’ll make it!”

When Yuan San removed the cloth, Wei Rou stepped forward. 

“I’ve picked up some basic medical skills from my master’s wife. Let me check his pulse first.”

Yuan San gave her space. Wei Rou held Yan Mingge’s wrist, her brows furrowing deeply—it didn’t look good.

“How is it?” Lin Chu asked anxiously.

Wei Rou looked frustrated. 

“The poison’s strong. It’s already spread to his internal organs. I can’t help him anymore. Maybe my master’s wife would have a way.”

Lin Chu felt cold all over. How could someone like Yan Mingge—who was supposed to survive until the end—die here? There had to be a way…

The original novel never mentioned much about Yan Mingge’s past, so Lin Chu wasn’t sure if he’d ever entered this cursed forest. But she suddenly remembered the male lead, Han Junye. He too had been bitten by a snake here while looking for a rare herb for the heroine. The snake’s venom had been deadly, but Han Junye had, out of desperation, eaten a random fruit when he was dying of thirst. That fruit turned out to be the legendary Shepo Fruit, which could cure any poison. Not only was he cured, but he even gained an immunity to all poisons.

The men around them looked grim after hearing Wei Rou’s diagnosis. Lin Chu suddenly said, “The elders always say that where there are snakes, there’s always an antidote within a hundred steps. Let’s split up and look for herbs or fruits—but don’t wander too far or we’ll get lost.”

Her words sparked some hope again. The men began spreading out to search.

Wei Rou propped Yan Mingge up and sat cross-legged behind him, clearly preparing to use inner energy to force some of the poison out.

Seeing this, Yuan San frowned. “Second Miss, you—”

“I trained under the same master as this idiot. Our internal energy styles are the same. He won’t reject it. I’ll protect his heart with my energy for now. You go help Sister-in-law look for an antidote.” Wei Rou’s tone left no room for argument.

Yuan San’s expression shifted, but he nodded. 

“Protecting the heart like that drains a lot of inner strength. Let me take over after a while.”

He had come up the mountain as Yan Mingge’s servant. Though the master had taught him martial arts out of kindness, only the master’s three direct disciples were taught the core techniques. If he tried to use his own inner strength to help now, their energies might clash, and he could get hurt instead.

Wei Rou didn’t reply. She placed her hand on Yan Mingge’s back and began transferring her energy.

Yuan San knew not to interrupt and fell silent.

Lin Chu was anxious. Seeing some of the men searching in the bushes, she reminded them, “He was bitten on the arm, so the snake might’ve fallen from a tree. Look for fruits on trees too!”

Because of the earlier snake that had fallen from a tree, none of the men questioned her logic.

They scattered into the woods. Lin Chu was about to search the nearby forest herself when Little Gray suddenly growled in warning. Lin Chu instantly grew alert and stepped toward a thick bush.

“Grr!” A low, hoarse growl came from within—it sounded like a warning, but also immature.

It reminded Lin Chu of a bird’s cry. She parted the bush and found a young eagle curled up beneath it.

Calling it an eagle wasn’t quite right—it was clearly still young, but already larger than most adult eagles. One wing was bloodied, likely from a fall.

Among eagles, it’s common for the mother to push the young off a cliff to teach them to fly. Most of these are war eagles or golden eagles.

These types usually live on grasslands and are known as the “Kings of the Sky.” They are fast, agile, and rarely miss their prey. Since they also hunt small animals, their bodies are bigger than normal eagles.

Thinking of the plains beyond the border, Lin Chu wasn’t too surprised to see one here.

This baby eagle looked rough—its feathers were matted and even falling out in patches, leaving parts of its body nearly bare.

Lin Chu guessed that it had been tossed off a cliff by its mother to learn how to fly, but failed and got injured. Thinking it dead, the mother must’ve abandoned it. Nature was cruel like that—only the strong survive.

The young eagle glared at Lin Chu, growling low and rough from its throat.

Something beneath its claws moved, and the eagle pecked down and lifted a small snake gall. That’s when Lin Chu saw it had pinned a fairly large snake underfoot.

The snake’s belly had been torn open, and it looked truly pitiful. Lin Chu instinctively backed away a few steps. Just seeing a snake gave her chills.

“Sister-in-law—” Some of the men who were searching nearby noticed she was gone and came over.

“I’m here!” Lin Chu called back. As she looked up, she spotted two bright red fruits hanging from a vine tangled around a tall tree.

She didn’t know why, but something told her those were the Shepo Fruits.

Tang Jiu arrived with the others, looking defeated. “We’ve searched everywhere nearby—didn’t find a single fruit-bearing tree.”

Lin Chu pointed up the cliff. “There—look, there are some fruits up there!”

A wave of joy spread across the group as Tang Jiu and another man quickly climbed the tree to pick the fruit.

They soon brought down the two red fruits. Before leaving, Lin Chu glanced one last time at the young eagle curled up in the bushes. She took out a meat pie from her clothes, opened the crust to reveal cooked meat inside, and tossed it to the eagle’s feet.

When they got back, Lin Chu was startled to see Wei Rou had collapsed too. She quickly asked Yuan San what happened. His face looked grim as he said, 

“Second Miss transferred her inner energy to Brother Yan, and in the process, the snake venom got into her too.”

Wei Rou had only fainted briefly. She woke up as soon as she heard Lin Chu’s voice. Though her body was weak from the poison, she forced herself to sit up and scolded, 

“Don’t scare my sister-in-law like that!”

Wei Rou’s face had turned a bluish-gray, almost matching Yan Mingge’s. She tried to comfort Lin Chu, saying, 

“Don’t listen to Yuan San. I’m fine.”

But she clearly didn’t look fine. Lin Chu felt a sour ache in her chest. She quickly picked up one of the red fruits, wiped it clean on her clothes, and handed it to Wei Rou. 

“Senior Sister, I think this fruit is the antidote. Please try it.”

Wei Rou thanked her and took a bite. But before she finished, she suddenly clutched her stomach in pain, and the remaining half of the fruit fell from her hand.

“Senior Sister!”

“Second Miss!”

Lin Chu and Yuan San shouted at the same time. Lin Chu felt like someone had smacked her on the head. She had been too full of herself, thinking she could be sure it was the antidote just because she’d read the original novel?

Her vision blurred with tears. She didn’t even know if she felt more guilty or regretful. She held Wei Rou with one arm and supported her back with the other, trying to stay calm. “Senior Sister, press your tongue and spit it out!”

Wei Rou grabbed her hand. Though her face was pale, she tried hard to keep her voice steady. “I’m fine. It is the antidote. The effect’s just a bit too strong. Give the other one to Yan Heng.”

She took a few deep breaths, and her expression eased a little, though her face was still very pale.

Yuan San looked like he wanted to say something but stopped.

Wei Rou shot him a look—not her usual easy-going self, but sharp and forceful. Yuan San understood the warning in her eyes and could only purse his lips and stay silent.

Knowing it was the antidote, Lin Chu finally relaxed a bit. She told Tang Jiu to try feeding it to Yan Mingge.

Tang Jiu looked troubled. 

“Sister-in-law, Brother Yan’s still unconscious. How am I supposed to feed it to him?”

Lin Chu suddenly felt a headache coming on. How had she forgotten this part? In the book, Han Junye ate the fruit himself because he was still awake.

But Yan Mingge was passed out. How was she supposed to get him to eat it?

And they didn’t exactly have the tools to juice the fruit and feed it that way.

Just as she was worrying, Wei Rou suddenly said, “What’s that?”

Lin Chu followed her gaze and saw the dirty-feathered young eagle walking slowly toward them, a snake gall in its beak.

Was this… returning a favor?

“This bird’s got spirit! Sister-in-law gave it a meat pie earlier, and now it’s brought back a snake gall to repay her?” Tang Jiu was wide-eyed in surprise.

“Master always said everything has a soul. Maybe this is fate,” Wei Rou said calmly. “Yan Heng’s like this anyway. Might as well give it a try.”

Lin Chu was thinking the same and nodded.

Yuan San stepped forward to take the snake gall from the eagle, but the bird avoided him and walked slowly toward Lin Chu instead.

It wanted her to take it?

Lin Chu looked at the wet, slimy thing taken straight out of a snake’s body, and her skin crawled. But since this was about Yan Mingge’s life, she forced herself to take it.

The cold, slippery feel in her hand nearly made her lose it. She turned to Yuan San with a pleading look.

“Yuan… Brother Yuan…”

Yuan San took the snake gall from her, cut it open with a knife, and fed the juice to Yan Mingge.

About fifteen minutes later, the dark color on Yan Mingge’s face faded a little. His fingers twitched, then suddenly, he sat up with a gasp and vomited a few mouthfuls of sour liquid. His handsome face twisted in a grimace.

“So bitter…”

“Husband!” Lin Chu lit up with joy.

Hearing her voice, Yan Mingge turned to look at her. Maybe the poison hadn’t fully left his system, because his mind still seemed foggy. He stared at Lin Chu for a moment, his expression confused.

“You… What are you doing here, blockhead?”