In the faint light of dawn, Xia Huai'an's combat boots stepped across the blood-stained bluestone slabs, crossing the plaza of Xia Family Village. With every step came a sound like breaking porcelain. The smoke-heavy air was thick with the scent of alcohol, herbs, and blood. Women from the Women's Mutual Aid Society hurried back and forth between the makeshift medical tents, their hands trembling slightly as they held medicine bowls, yet not a single one stopped.
Yufang was kneeling in the mud, changing a wounded man's dressing. Her disheveled hair clung to her sweat-dampened neck. The blood-stained gauze in her hand had barely touched the wound when the man with the broken leg suddenly convulsed, arching his back as a beast-like whimper escaped his throat.
"Don't bite your tongue!" Quick-eyed and fast-handed, Yufang shoved a wooden stick into his mouth, and blood mixed with saliva trickled down the grain of the wood. When she looked up and saw Xia Huai'an, her blood-smeared face actually broke into a smile, like a spark suddenly igniting a prairie in the dead of night: "Is the battle over?"
Chapter 76