Inside the woods.
Shen Ningning smiled innocently, her shallow dimples appearing and her eyes shining brightly.
She stood in the light of the setting sun, looking at Mo Lingwei. "Big Brother, I remember everything you just said!"
With that, she eagerly hugged the Black Wolf King's neck and scrambled onto its back.
The Black Wolf King carried the little girl, running and hopping back and forth, making Shen Ningning giggle.
The little girl was in high spirits.
It was probably because she had found a way to survive that suited her, filling her with hope for the future.
Mo Lingwei couldn't help but press his thin lips together into a faint smile, which he quickly suppressed.
The poor pharmacy manager followed behind them, trembling.
He couldn't see and didn't know which way to go. Whenever he strayed off course, Wolf Three would nudge him with its head.
This terrified the manager, causing him to cry out the whole way.
Only after they entered the Wolf Cave was the manager allowed to remove his blindfold.
He first checked Grandma Qin's pulse, then Mo Lingwei's.
All the while, the manager was filled with anxiety.
'This entire cave is full of the old, weak, sick, and disabled...'
'And I can't afford to offend any of them.'
He saw no fewer than twenty wolves surrounding the entrance and the inside of the cave.
And the manager knew that Wolf Mountain was famous for its large wolf population.
He estimated there were even more in the places he couldn't see.
After checking their pulses, he had a general idea of their ailments.
The manager began to perform acupuncture on Grandma Qin. "The old woman's condition isn't critical. Her qi and blood are stagnated. The serious part is that it's been left untreated for a long time. She'll need daily acupuncture and a full month of careful recuperation."
Shen Ningning immediately sat beside the manager, watching intently to learn.
The manager inserted needles into Grandma Qin's forehead, arms, and stomach.
After the first round, Grandma Qin coughed up a good amount of dark, clotted blood.
When the second round began, Shen Ningning asked to administer the needles herself.
She had watched closely and knew what to do.
So, under the manager's watchful eye, the little girl personally performed acupuncture on her grandma.
The manager was astonished, nodding repeatedly. "A commendable talent. Not a single mistake."
Then it was Mo Lingwei's turn for treatment.
His main problem was that he hadn't recuperated properly after being injured.
The manager looked around. "This cave is damp and cold, which is not good for recovering from internal or external injuries."
He wrote a prescription for Shen Ningning.
"You'll have to get these herbs from the pharmacy."
Shen Ningning glanced at it. She couldn't read, but she recognized the shapes of the characters. She remembered that all of these were in the Immortal Realm.
The little girl said cheerfully, "Don't you worry about that. I have a way."
The manager gave an awkward smile.
At this point, he would believe anything she said.
'Such a capable little girl, hiding in the deep mountains like a master!'
In the end, just as he had arrived, the manager was blindfolded and escorted away by the wolf pack.
Shen Ningning made an arrangement with him: in three days, the manager was to wait for her at the foot of Wolf Mountain. She would bring more medicinal herbs to sell.
Tears of emotion welled up in Grandma Qin's eyes.
"Ningning is truly a little Fuxing. You can save people and you have the ability to take care of yourself. Grandma can finally rest easy," she said.
Being called a little Fuxing for the first time made Shen Ningning exceptionally happy.
She snuggled into Grandma Qin's arms, acting like a little child. "Grandma! Ningning told you, I'll take care of you forever!"
Mo Lingwei's high fever hadn't subsided. Just before, he had gone to find Shen Ningning and waited in the forest for another hour.
As a result, he was now lying on a pile of dry hay, his eyes closed and his brow furrowed.
Shen Ningning walked over and placed the soft clothes beside him.
Mo Lingwei slowly opened his eyes.
The little girl said, "Big Brother, these are the new clothes I bought for you. When you get better, you can wear them to go home."
Hearing this, Mo Lingwei let out a sudden, unexpected smile.
His tone was strange. "Home?"
'Since my mother, the Empress, passed away, what home do I have left?'
A dull ache washed over his head, and he drifted into a groggy sleep.
Shen Ningning took out more plucked and skinned ducks and chickens from her space—about fifty in total. The little girl was tired just from carrying them all.
She generously handed them to the Black Wolf King.
"Langlang, thank you all for your hard work today. I'm giving these to you to eat!"
The Black Wolf King licked her palm, and the little girl smiled sweetly. "You're welcome!"
The wolf pack yelped even more excitedly. AWOO! AWOO!
Grandma Qin also rested after her meal.
Night fell.
Taking advantage of the moment, Shen Ningning slipped into the Immortal Realm.
She went to the Medicine Hall and, referencing the prescription from the pharmacy manager, gathered the herbs one by one.
The little girl followed the medicine cabinets to the back of the Medicine Hall.
There, she saw a locked door behind the main hall.
"Huh? What's this place? How come I never noticed it before?" she wondered, blinking curiously.
Shen Ningning went forward and pushed it a couple of times, but it wouldn't open.
She didn't know what the lock was made of, but it emitted a faint blue light.
She stood on her tiptoes and peered through the crack in the middle of the door.
Inside, she saw what looked like a field bathed in sunlight under a blue sky with white clouds.
But the field was barren, with nothing planted in it.
Shen Ningning was a little curious.
'Could it be that this door in the Immortal Realm requires a certain condition to be met before it can be opened?'
After leaving the Immortal Realm, Shen Ningning wasn't sleepy at all. Her eyes sparkling, she sat beside the Black Wolf King, eating fruit and enjoying the night breeze.
Going into town during the day and using money to buy so many things had made her realize the importance of silver.
'In the future, if I can get lots and lots of money, will I be able to find my mom and dad?'
As she thought, Shen Ningning scratched her fair, tender arm with her little hand.
The Black Wolf King pushed her hand away with its paw several times.
But the little girl, feeling very itchy, didn't notice at all.
Finally, the Black Wolf King let out a displeased AWOO.
Only then did Shen Ningning snap out of it.
"Hmm? Langlang, why are you unhappy?"
The Black Wolf King let out two low growls.
Shen Ningning looked down at her arm.
She was surprised to find several small red dots!
'No wonder it was so itchy!'
She had been so busy with her big brother and grandma these past two days that she had forgotten to soak in the Spiritual Spring.
But the little girl wasn't worried.
"It's okay! I got these little red dots before, when I was thrown into the cowshed to sleep. It's because it's too damp. I'll just get some sun every day, and it'll be fine!"
Shen Ningning smiled sweetly and optimistically.
The Black Wolf King's eyes, however, grew solemn.
It knew that the young man's condition kept relapsing because he was living in the damp cave.
And Shen Ningning was even younger, yet she was sleeping on piles of hay with them.
The Black Wolf King felt it had to find a solution.
The night deepened.
Shen Ningning had already fallen asleep, draped over the Black Wolf King's back.
However, in Xiangyun Village, Granny Chen couldn't sleep.
She held the letter from the border, reading it over and over again under the lamplight, tears streaming down her old face!
The letter was from her son. He wrote that he had done something wrong at the border and offended a person of high status.
Now he needed money to bribe officials and pull some strings.
Otherwise, he would be imprisoned and sent back to the capital for punishment!
Granny Chen rummaged through her family's savings.
But she could only scrape together fifty-two taels.
But the letter said she needed to send 200 taels!
It was a year of disaster; all their friends and relatives were dirt poor. They weren't a rich family. Now that they were in trouble, what were they to do!
Granny Chen felt a wave of despair.
Suddenly, she looked up and saw the three Red Fruits Shen Ningning had given her, which she had placed on the cabinet, unable to bring herself to eat them.
They were good things, and very expensive.
Granny Chen hesitated for a moment.
'Instead of eating them, it would be better to sell them for money. Every little bit helps.'
The next day, she got a ride into town on the village chief's ox-cart.
Granny Chen set up a stall, pricing them at fifty taels each.
However, most people just passed by without buying.
Until a horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of her.
Bright Blade Guards also reined in their tall horses, standing watch nearby.
Granny Chen was frightened by the imposing sight.
Someone lifted the carriage curtain, revealing a dignified and imposing face.
"These red fruits, where did you get them?"