After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 32

After the two finished eating and discussing business, Physician Hu happened to return in a hurry.

Seeing that Pei Er was also there, he was clearly taken aback, but then quickly understood, stroking his beard and looking at the young couple with a cheerful smile.

Li Chanxiu felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze. He stood up and asked Physician Hu whether there was something he needed.

Physician Hu indeed had something to discuss. Quickly restraining his expression, he said to him, “If you have time today or tomorrow, sort through and tally the medicinal materials in the cabinets. See which ones need replenishing. The day after tomorrow, the camp will send people to the nearby county town to buy salt. I’ll go with them, and while I’m there, I’ll purchase some medicinal materials as well.”

Ever since the issue of the dishes lacking salt had been discovered, General Chen had issued an order that from now on the salt in the daily meals must not be less than the normal amount. Starting today, he also personally went to collect his meals each time, to prevent anyone from playing tricks.

In addition, the camp distributed packets of salt to the more than one hundred soldiers who had already developed symptoms of salt deficiency, instructing them to dissolve it in water and drink it regularly to replenish salt and recover as soon as possible.

But after the camp’s salt had been deducted layer by layer, there was already very little left. If they continued using it so “lavishly,” it probably would not last many days.

Yet sending a letter to the prefectural city to request military supplies would not be that fast. General Chen therefore decided to first send people to a nearby county town to purchase some government salt to make do for the time being.

When Li Chanxiu heard Physician Hu say he would accompany them to the nearby county town to buy medicinal materials, he immediately froze.

The opportunity he had been waiting for, to go to the county town, had finally arrived.

Now that he had treated wounded soldiers in the camp and helped discover that military supplies were being withheld, he had gained Physician Hu’s trust and gradually also earned General Chen’s confidence.

If he brought up the idea of going to the county town together now, there was a high probability it would be approved.

Li Chanxiu suppressed the rising emotions in his heart. His expression remained calm, a faint smile on his face, and in a natural tone he said to Physician Hu, “There may be quite a lot of medicinal materials to replenish. How about I go with you?”

Physician Hu was stunned when he heard this and was clearly somewhat hesitant. His gaze subconsciously turned toward Pei Er beside him.

It was not that he did not trust Li Chanxiu or did not want to take him along, but in his eyes Li Chanxiu was a young wife who had only recently married. In such cold weather, traveling all the way to the county town to purchase medicinal materials would be quite a hardship.

He knew that when Li Chanxiu took care of wounded soldiers in the military camp, he had never been afraid of hardship or of dirty and tiring work. But he still felt sorry for this seemingly thin and weak “young girl,” so he turned to look at her husband, hoping the other party would persuade her.

Who would have thought that Pei Er stood there like a wooden post, not saying a word, as if he had not received Physician Hu’s look at all.

Li Chanxiu also saw Physician Hu’s hesitation, so he added, “Although I studied medicine with my grandfather, I grew up in the inner chambers and have never seen bulk purchasing of medicinal materials. I would very much like to see it for myself. Besides, Pei…”

Seeing Physician Hu looking at Pei Er, he again wanted to use Pei Er as an excuse. But just after saying the word “Pei,” he suddenly realized something was wrong.

They were already married, yet he still called the other party “Pei Er,” which truly sounded distant. Especially in front of Physician Hu, they had to put on some act.

But if he did not call him “Pei Er”…

Li Chanxiu gave a light cough, and his voice suddenly lowered quite a bit. “Also, my husband’s arrow wound hasn’t fully healed, and the poison hasn’t been completely cleared. I think perhaps the medicine from last time wasn’t effective enough, so I want to change the prescription and personally go buy medicine for him.”

After saying this, he unconsciously lowered his head slightly. The two words “my husband” were spoken even softer, almost like the buzzing of a mosquito.

Pei Er had keen hearing and almost immediately looked at him. His gaze burned brightly, and deep in his eyes it was as if a ball of fire was hidden, suddenly blazing intensely.

Li Chanxiu could not ignore this gaze. It felt as though flames were licking at his back, suddenly scorching hot, and his jade-like earlobes also inexplicably turned red.

He shifted his steps awkwardly to avoid it a little, but that gaze quickly followed again.

In Physician Hu’s eyes, however, this scene looked like a young wife concerned for her husband growing shy. He could not help stroking his beard and chuckling, already understanding a few things in his heart.

It must be that Young Madam Shen felt sorry for her husband Pei Er and wanted to personally go buy medicine for him. Newly married young couples, of course their feelings were intensely passionate.

Just like when he and his old wife had first married back then, they had also cared for each other in every possible way, wishing they could personally handle everything for the other.

Physician Hu smiled in understanding and quickly agreed. “If that’s the case, I’ll just mention it to General Chen. When the time comes there will be soldiers from the camp accompanying us, so I imagine he won’t object.”

Hearing him say this, Li Chanxiu knew the matter was more than halfway settled and could not help letting out a sigh of relief.

Physician Hu still had other matters to attend to. After giving a few more instructions, he picked up his medicine box and hurried away.

Soon, only Pei Er and Li Chanxiu remained in the pharmacy.

Li Chanxiu let out a light breath and turned around, only to meet Pei Er’s burning gaze that had not moved away.

Li Chanxiu was slightly stunned. After a long moment, in order to ease the awkwardness, he forced a smile and said in as natural a tone as possible, “Don’t misunderstand. Just now in front of Physician Hu, I needed to cover things up, so that’s why I called you husb…”

But the more he spoke, the lower his voice became, and the stiffer his smile grew. By the end, the words “husband” were muddled away with a light cough.

Pei Er blinked and looked straight at him. “I know. Then…”

His voice suddenly carried a trace of huskiness. His gaze lowered to the person before him as he softly asked, “Then from now on, can I call you ‘wife’?”

Li Chanxiu: “…Cough. I suppose… yes.”

His ears seemed to be getting hotter and hotter.

Pei Er blinked again and called out, “Then, wife?”

Li Chanxiu: “……”

When there were no outsiders around, there was no need to call him that.

But Pei Er seemed not to understand this principle. He stepped closer to him and asked gently, “Wife, hasn’t my arrow wound healed yet? I feel it’s already…”

Hearing him question it, Li Chanxiu suddenly raised his hand. His fair and slender index finger pressed against Pei Er’s right chest through the clothing. Applying a bit of force, he softly asked, “Does it hurt?”

The poison from the arrow wound had long been completely removed, but it still needed time for the wound to fully heal. Pressed like this through the armor, neither lightly nor heavily, it naturally produced a dull pain.

Pei Er stared at him without blinking and answered honestly, “It hurts.”

Li Chanxiu smiled lightly and coaxed him, “If it hurts, that’s right. It means the poison hasn’t been completely cleared.”

After a pause, he added, “I understand a bit of medicine. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

Pei Er: “……”

Even without poison, pressing on the wound like that would hurt, wouldn’t it?

But the way Li Chanxiu looked at him was exceptionally gentle, and he wore such a beautiful smile. When he spoke, he even leaned forward slightly, his bright eyes smiling as they looked into Pei Er’s.

Within those eyes, Pei Er forgot his earlier rational thinking. After the dull pain in his chest where it had been pressed subsided, it began to feel numb and itchy again, as if turning hot.

He nodded lightly and said hoarsely, “So that’s how it is. I believe my wife.”

Li Chanxiu: “……”

“When no one’s around, you don’t have to call me that.”

He finally could not help reminding him, thinking that perhaps Pei Er had become not very clever again and had not realized this point.

After all, the other party occasionally became a bit slow-witted. Easy to coax, yes, but sometimes troublesome as well.

***

Pei Er had originally wanted to go to the county town together with Li Chanxiu. But the next day he received an order from General Chen, telling him to follow the five hundred men led by Thousand-man Commander Li and join up with the soldiers stationed at the neighboring Yongan Town garrison, then proceed together to Wuding Mountain to suppress bandits.

Only then did Pei Er learn what the document was that had called General Chen away from interrogating Thousand-man Commander Bai that night.

In the Wuding Mountain area of Yongzhou, there had long been some roaming bandits entrenched there. They usually murdered and plundered, and it was said they committed every kind of evil.

Previously, the ones responsible for suppressing the bandits had always been the stationed troops of the neighboring Yongding Town. But after multiple campaigns, they had never managed to eliminate them. Instead, the armies sent by Yongding Town returned battered and disgraced.

A few days ago, several distinguished guests from Changan in the Western Capital passed through the Wuding Mountain area and were actually robbed by these bandits. All the money on them was taken, and even their clothes were almost stripped off.

When the Yongzhou Commandery Prefect Yan Tonghai learned of it, he was greatly enraged. He rebuked the stationed troops of Yongding Town for their failure in suppressing the bandits, and overnight issued an official document ordering General Chen of Yongfeng Town to quickly dispatch a contingent of troops to join forces with Yongding Town in suppressing the bandits.

Pei Er listened and raised a question: “Since those mountain bandits only rob property and haven’t injured people, it doesn’t sound like they’re extremely vicious?”

“Ahem, what you don’t know,” General Chen explained, “is that the bandits on that mountain are gathered refugees, a mixed bag. Some talk about brotherhood of jianghu and claim they rob the rich to help the poor; others kill and burn, committing every evil deed. They were never one rope to begin with, only because their interests align do they gather together.

“In my view, most of them are a rabble. I also don’t know what’s going on with Old Zhao in Yongding Town, just those thousand or so men, yet he’s been unable to wipe them out.”

This was also the reason General Chen had specially sent Pei Er. First, to test Pei Er’s ability to command troops; second, mountain bandits were easier to fight than the Hu people. If Pei Er could earn merit in this bandit suppression, he would conveniently have a reason to promote him.

But as he said this, General Chen hesitated again and said, “This time Jiang He actually also recommended you to go suppress the bandits. I worry that this person harbors ill intent. You must be extra careful on this trip.”

Pei Er immediately cupped his fists and answered, “Yes.”

When leaving the central army tent, he happened to run into his new superior, the Thousand-man Commander Li whom General Chen had just mentioned. The other party turned out to be the person who had competed with him for the prize at the military competition last time.

Thousand-man Commander Li was a bold and straightforward man. As soon as he saw him, he raised his fist and thumped his shoulder, familiarly saying, “Good lad, you actually ended up under me. I won’t be polite with you. Although General Chen said I’m the one leading this bandit suppression, you can’t slack off either. Be my deputy leader.”

In front of people other than Li Chanxiu, Pei Er was always taciturn and expressionless.

However, he understood that what the other party said was actually a kind of delegation of authority.

Of the five hundred men that could be taken this time, only the seventy or eighty soldiers General Chen had later transferred to him were Pei Er’s own. The rest all belonged to Thousand-man Commander Li.

But according to the intentions of General Chen and Thousand-man Commander Li, he had the authority to dispatch all five hundred.

Although making him deputy leader was General Chen’s arrangement, the fact that Thousand-man Commander Li could agree without any misgivings also showed the other party was straightforward and bold.

And after saying all this, Thousand-man Commander Li hooked an arm around his shoulder again, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, “Speaking of it, Brother Pei, why didn’t you say earlier that in that last competition you were doing it in order to marry Miss Shen? If I’d known earlier, I definitely wouldn’t have competed with you.”

After speaking he sighed again: “Luckily at the final moment my skill was slightly inferior and I lost to you. Say, if by chance I had won, wouldn’t I have been stealing someone else’s beauty? Good thing, good thing, I didn’t make a big mistake.”

After listening to him finish, Pei Er’s face, which had been expressionless all along, actually showed a somewhat indescribable look. His gaze turned incredulous as he looked at the other party, as if saying: What dream are you having?

Miss Shen had first taken a liking to him, and only then asked him to participate in the competition. It wasn’t that whoever won could marry her.

But Pei Er’s mindset was different now, so he didn’t fuss over these things. He only looked at the other party with a bit of sympathy, then turned and walked away.

Miss Shen always thought he wasn’t very smart, but in this camp, there didn’t seem to be many who were smarter than him.

Thousand-man Commander Li stayed where he was, completely baffled by the look he had given him.

***

At noon, Li Chanxiu also learned that Pei Er was going to suppress bandits. Naturally, he learned it again at the wounded soldiers’ camp.

Chen Qing had a big mouth. At noon, just as Li Chanxiu carried a medicine box into the tent, he heard the other party’s loud voice wailing:

“My brother Pei Er, why is your fate so bitter? First you ran into that petty villain Thousand-man Commander Bai. After finally enduring until he was gone and changing superiors, it turns out the new one is Thousand-man Commander Li, who once fought with you for the prize. Can this man let my brother live good days? My bitter-fated brother, ”

Li Chanxiu: “……” This person really had too much drama.

In the afternoon, Pei Er went to the pharmacy to find Li Chanxiu and also told him about the matter.

However, Pei Er’s tone was somewhat gloomy: “I originally wanted to accompany you to the county tomorrow.”

Although suppressing bandits and earning merit attracted him as well, he still hadn’t come out of the regret of not being able to go to the county with Miss Shen.

Li Chanxiu, however, felt somewhat relieved that he wouldn’t be going along.

For some reason, he had a vague intuition that if Pei Er went too, he would definitely follow him at all times, and then it would be inconvenient for him to leave secret signals for his father’s people.

So he smiled lightly and comforted him: “It’s also very good for you to go suppress bandits. If you earn merit, you can be promoted and fight more victorious battles in the future. Don’t you still have to help me remove my registered status?”

Pei Er nodded and felt that was right, but… he was still regretful.

Why did these two things have to collide together? He both wanted to suppress bandits and also wanted to accompany Miss Shen to the county.

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