The medicinal effects fully took hold, rendering both of them powerless to rise from the ground. Even opening their eyes became a struggle, and soon they both drifted into unconsciousness.
The crisis finally over, Lu Yu could no longer hold on. She let go of her strength, listing backward, and collapsed onto the ground, unable to get up.
"Wife!" Seeing Lu Yu fall, Shen Xuan cried out from the depths of her chest, a heart-wrenching wail. She struggled to support herself, stumbling towards Lu Yu and pulling her into a tight embrace.
Lu Yu's taut nerves finally relaxed, and only then did she feel the pain coursing through her body. Lying in Shen Xuan's arms, Lu Yu felt a sense of security she had never known before. It was good, Shen Xuan was unharmed, and they had both survived.
"Wife, wife..."
Lu Yu could feel Shen Xuan holding her close, but she couldn't see her face clearly. Everything was a blur, and Shen Xuan's voice seemed distant, as if coming from afar.
"It's okay, I'm fine." Lu Yu thought she was speaking words of comfort to Shen Xuan, but in reality, Shen Xuan could only see Lu Yu's lips trembling.
"Wife, what did you say?" Shen Xuan wiped away tears from her face, trying to lean closer, but she couldn't hear Lu Yu's words.
Lu Yu felt a chill spread through her body. The sounds from outside seemed so far away. The world spun, and her body felt as if it were floating. Finally, she lost consciousness and fell into a deep coma.
Shen Xuan was terrified and lost. She used all her strength to drag Lu Yu to a spot sheltered from the wind. This place was remote and sparsely populated. In Lu Yu's current state, Shen Xuan couldn't possibly carry her down the mountain.
Not only did she lack the strength, but even if she had it, the dying Lu Yu could not withstand such a ordeal.
"Wife, wife..." Shen Xuan's mournful, desolate cries were heartbreaking. In this situation, simply calling Lu Yu's name, confirming her wife's presence beside her, was the greatest solace for Shen Xuan.
Shen Xuan held Lu Yu tightly, as if trying to meld her into her very bones. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably, and tears streamed down her face.
She didn't want to cry. Her wife had told her that crying solved nothing, but she couldn't control it. She was so afraid, so very afraid.
The strong wind outside whipped snowflakes, piercingly cold. She continuously rubbed Lu Yu's body with her frozen hands, trying to impart some warmth, but it was like a moth flying into a flame, utterly useless. Lu Yu's body grew colder and colder.
Shen Xuan went to search for branches to start a fire, but the ground was covered in deep snow, and it was impossible to see any branches. Shen Xuan dared not venture far, so she searched nearby for fallen branches from autumn.
Wherever Shen Xuan passed, the white snow was stained red by the blood from her wrists, but Shen Xuan had no energy to tend to her wounds, burying her head in the snow and struggling to dig for branches.
The smooth snow around was churned into disarray by Shen Xuan, and the white snowscape was also stained with the red of blood.
Shen Xuan laboriously found four very short branches to start a fire, but all she found were wet branches, useless for starting a fire.
Shen Xuan was utterly despairing. She returned to Lu Yu's side, finding Lu Yu's lips frozen a deathly white.
Shen Xuan's hands trembled as she tried to unbutton her clothes, but her hands were already stiff with cold and wouldn't obey. She tried several times but couldn't unfasten her collar.
Shen Xuan's hands were covered in water droplets from the melted snow. With every movement of her fingers, Shen Xuan's bones felt as if they were being pricked by needles.
What should she do? Her hands wouldn't cooperate, she couldn't warm her wife. Right! Blood is warm!
The blood on her wrists hadn't fully clotted yet. Shen Xuan placed her left hand on the blood on her right wrist, and her right hand on the blood on her left wrist, using her own blood to transfer warmth to her fingers.
Her fingers finally became a little more functional. Shen Xuan eagerly unbuttoned her clothes layer by layer, then also unbuttoned Lu Yu's clothes. Their bodies pressed tightly together. Shen Xuan used her own body heat to warm Lu Yu and then painstakingly draped her outer garment over Lu Yu.
It's so cold, help me...
When Zheng Yu and Gu Yitong arrived with soldiers, Shen Xuan was also curled up, frozen, but still pressed tightly against Lu Yu, with only a sliver of consciousness remaining.
Seeing them approach, Shen Xuan knew they were finally saved. She used all her remaining strength to speak to Gu Yitong.
"Quickly, go save Afu. They sent Afu to Zui Yiren."
Zui Yiren!
That was a brothel, the largest in Qimu Town. Nearly three hours had passed since Lu Yu received that letter, meaning Afu might have been in the brothel for nearly three hours!
The thought of what Afu might be suffering in the brothel sent a chill down her spine.
"You stay here, I'll go save Afu!" Gu Yitong said, leaving these words behind before rushing off.
"You three, quickly follow her!" Zheng Yu pointed to several soldiers who had accompanied her and ordered them to follow Gu Yitong.
Lu Yu and Shen Xuan's bodies were frozen stiff. Zheng Yu dared not separate them forcefully. Shen Xuan had held Lu Yu tightly before freezing, and forcibly separating them now might injure Shen Xuan.
Zheng Yu, having known Lu Yu for so long, had also learned some medical knowledge from her. She knew that people's bones were most brittle at such times. She ordered her subordinates to bring more basins of charcoal from the carriage and surround the two of them, then covered them with several blankets.
Once their condition improved slightly, Zheng Yu directly ordered people to carefully lift Shen Xuan and Lu Yu together onto the carriage, which also had several basins of charcoal.
The two unconscious people were also lifted onto the carriage, and the servants were instructed to take them directly to the county yamen later.
Lu Yu and Shen Xuan's carriage was directly sent to Gu Yitong's home. Gu Yi was alone at home, and being a man, he could help Shen Xuan.
After spending so long in the carriage, both of them had improved, and their bodies were no longer so stiff. Zheng Yu wrapped Shen Xuan in a blanket and carefully separated the two who were holding each other for warmth.
Gu Yi was startled by the scene before him. Zheng Yu had no time to explain to Gu Yi, ordering the servants to quickly prepare warm water, not too hot, and to give Shen Xuan and Gu Yi a separate room so that Gu Yi could help Shen Xuan clean herself with warm water.
She herself took Lu Yu to another room to clean her.
Upon arriving at the brothel, Gu Yitong rushed straight in. The soldiers behind her were not stopped by anyone.
"What! What in the world is going on?" The madam inside was so frightened she couldn't speak, trembling all over.
Gu Yitong walked directly in front of the madam, grabbed her collar, her eyes red, veins bulging on her neck. Her roar of anger startled everyone on the first floor. "Where is Afu!"
"Wh-what Afu?" The madam was so frightened she couldn't speak, trembling all over. If Gu Yitong hadn't grabbed her collar, she would have collapsed to the ground from fear.