Chapter 113: The Physician
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“Xiao Huaijin?” Ridamuzi looked at the figure before him, his gaze uncertain.
“Fei Nu.”
Fei Nu appeared behind him, and Xiao Jue handed He Yan over to him. “Take them down.”
Fei Nu supported He Yan, and Song Taotao followed behind. They reached the area beneath the arena. Surrounded by people, Fei Nu asked He Yan, “Can you still hold on?”
He Yan nodded.
“Sit down for now,” Fei Nu helped her sit against a tree trunk. “The doctor will be here soon.”
Doctor? He Yan was puzzled. Liangzhou Garrison only had one female physician, Shen Muxue, who was currently being watched closely by the Qiang soldiers – beautiful women in the military camp had always attracted attention.
She looked up at the stage.
The stage for the martial arts competition.
“Aren’t you here to spar with me?” Xiao Jue casually drew his sword. His dark eyes glanced at the person in front of him, and he smiled faintly. “Come on.”
“Are you Xiao Huaijin?” Ridamuzi asked.
Xiao Jue chuckled, “The real deal.”
It was common knowledge that Great Wei had two renowned generals, General Fengyun, Xiao Huaijin, and Flying Phoenix General, He Rufei. However, just as He Yan had never fought against the Southern Barbarians, Xiao Jue had never been in battle with the Western Qiang. They had heard of each other’s reputations, but this was the first time they had come face to face.
He had never seen Xiao Jue’s true appearance, and the last information he had received was that Xiao Jue had gone to Zhangtai. Considering the time it would take to travel from Zhangtai to Liangzhou, there was no way he could have returned here.
But the sword in his hand… it didn’t look like an ordinary sword.
Seeing him hesitate, Xiao Jue raised an eyebrow, “Are you scared?”
Ridamuzi sneered, “Just putting on a show!” He lunged with his knife.
However, the young man in black remained still, the sword in his hand emanating a bone-chilling coldness, its sharpness unstoppable. His movements were like falling petals, delicate and swift, breaking through the curved knife, making the onlookers dizzy with the rapid and overwhelming attacks. Ridamuzi had already lost his morale in his previous confrontation with He Yan and was now struggling to keep up, retreating step by step. Drinking Autumn thrust directly into his chest.
“Leader!” This cry came from one of his subordinates.
Ridamuzi tilted backward, avoiding being stabbed in the chest by Xiao Jue. However, Xiao Jue managed to pierce through his armor, lifting it with the tip of his sword. In an instant, Ridamuzi’s chest was exposed, with no armor to protect him.
“Western Qiang warriors?” Xiao Jue’s lips curled slightly in mockery. “That’s all?”
Ridamuzi was furious, but he had realized in their previous exchange that he was no match for Xiao Jue. The Liangzhou Garrison was filled with hidden talents, and He Yan had proven it earlier. A new recruit with such abilities—there might be others like him. The sparring on the martial arts stage was no longer necessary. He had already lost valuable generals, his morale had plummeted, and his image as a capable leader had been tarnished. It was time to focus on more pressing matters.
He turned his head to look at the audience below the martial stage, but there was still no movement.
The young man elegantly wiped his sword and looked at Ridamuzi with a hint of a smile. “What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for a victory report from the ambush at the Five Deer River?”
Ridamuzi’s heart sank, and he slowly raised his head.
“In that case, you might be disappointed,” Xiao Jue chuckled, his eyes devoid of emotion.
“Kemuzhi!” Ridamuzi quickly retreated, shouting, “The granary! The granary!”
“No news,” a subordinate replied, his voice tinged with anxiety. “Leader, they haven’t returned yet!”
Xiao Jue was slightly taken aback.
In the audience, someone started to laugh.
Ridamuzi followed the sound and saw the culprit behind his near stumble earlier, the black-clad youth named He Yan, wearing a satisfied smile on her face. Her voice was weak due to her weakness, but her words were still annoying. She said, “Committing such a despicable act as secretly setting fire to someone else’s grain storage is low, so we had archers prepared there early. Commander, your men won’t be coming back.”
They were prepared so early?!
Ridamuzi suddenly realized that something was amiss. His early preparations had turned into a trap, and he thought he had set a successful net, but he didn’t know there was another player in this game. He thought he was the mantis, but he didn’t realize there was a yellow bird.
He had been fooled!
Xiao Jue had likely pretended to go to Zhangtai, and the idea that the new recruits of Liangzhou Garrison were useless was also a pretense. Everything, absolutely everything, was orchestrated to make them fall into this trap. The inside man here had been exposed long ago!
“Fallen for a trap! Retreat quickly!” He shouted to the people below the stage, “There are ambushes by the river!”
Ambushes? The Qiang soldiers were puzzled. Weren’t the ambushes by the river their own people? It was meant to catch all the new recruits of Liangzhou Garrison. But the meaning of these words…
“If you’ve come,” Xiao Jue looked at him, “then don’t leave.”
Ridamuzi gritted his teeth, holding his curved blade in front of him. At this point, the morale of their Western Qiang warriors was low, and they had fallen into a trap. The only thing they could do was to fight back with their backs against the river. However, if he could escape, there might be a chance for him to come back in the future.
“Warriors!” He raised his blade. “Kill them all!”
The soldiers behind him raised their blades, and a massacre began. They engaged in fierce combat with the new recruits of Liangzhou Garrison, and someone secretly ignited a signal, which soared into the air and exploded.
Ridamuzi turned around, intending to escape in the chaos.
But as soon as he turned his head, he felt someone pressing on his shoulder.
“Trying to escape?” The young commander was stunningly handsome at this moment, but his smile was cold. “Can you escape?”
They clashed at this moment.
Meanwhile, they suddenly heard a deafening noise from the front. Following the sound, they saw an army coming from the direction of the Five Deer River. They were all wearing black armor and clothes, and the person at the front was riding a horse and holding a war flag with the character “Nan” written on it.
“It’s the Nanfu’s troops! Nine Banner Battalion!”
“The Nanfu’s troops have arrived!”
He Yan’s could barely keep her eyes open. Fei Nu was assisting her to move backward to avoid any harm in the chaos. She could only steal a quick glance.
Numerous troops from the Nanfu were coming from the Five Deer River direction as if they were endless.
Reinforcements had arrived… just before she lost consciousness, He Yan looked towards Xiao Jue’s direction and had only one thought in her mind.
So….this was his plan.
…
It was a brutal war.
Ridamuzi wouldn’t be foolish enough to provoke Liangzhou Garrison with only a thousand troops. They had occupied the nearest village to the Five Deer River and had set an ambush by the river overnight. If the new recruits of Liangzhou Garrison couldn’t withstand it and wanted to retreat, they would be like sheep in a tiger’s den, captured in one fell swoop.
But sometimes, things don’t always go as planned. Perhaps even Ridamuzi didn’t anticipate that the ambush set up near the Five Deer River wouldn’t go smoothly. They had initially believed that all the new recruits were gathered around the martial arts arena. However, for reasons unknown, there was another group of archers hidden in the thickets near the Five Deer River. As soon as the Qiang people appeared, they unleashed a volley of arrows, causing confusion among the Qiang forces and engaging them first. Following that, Xiao Jue, who wasn’t supposed to return at that moment, suddenly showed up and brought along a force of ten thousand soldiers from the Nanfu.
Facing ten thousand Nanfu soldiers against more than ten thousand Qiang people wasn’t an easy victory, but when coupled with the high morale of the Liangzhou Garrison’s new recruits and the unrivaled Nine Banner Battalion, the victory was assured.
What was once thought to be a guaranteed win had its outcome reversed in the blink of an eye.
All of Ridamuzi’s trusted aides around him fell in battle. Knowing that escape was no longer possible and not willing to be captured and humiliated, he took his curved blade and ended his own life by slashing his throat.
With their leader dead, the Qiang forces were left leaderless, and they quickly discarded their armor and fled in disarray.
The outcome came quicker than expected.
The area around the Liangzhou Garrison’s martial arts arena, at the foot of White Moon Mountain, by the roadside, and along the Five Deer River, was littered with corpses. The Liangzhou Garrison’s new recruits also suffered significant losses in this battle. The most tragic were the patrol sentries secretly killed the night before. Following them were the crossbowmen positioned near the Five Deer River, who engaged the Qiang forces first.
The soldiers who were lightly wounded helped with cleaning and organizing the battlefield, moving their comrades’ bodies. Those severely injured were transported to the infirmary for treatment by Shen Muxue and her attendants.
Xiao Jue walked outside, and Shen Han followed him.
“Uncle!” Cheng Lisu rushed over, led by Chiwu. His voice trembled as he exclaimed, “Why did you only return now? You scared me! I thought I was going to die here today!”
Before Xiao Jue could respond, Cheng Lisu saw Shen Han standing behind him and, recalling the hardships he endured under Shen Han’s tutelage a few days ago, immediately started to complain, “Uncle, you have to talk to Instructor Shen! If it weren’t for Brother He, that guy called something mu head would have caused a massacre in the Liangzhou Garrison today. Brother He helped us, but a few days ago, Instructor Shen locked him up in the dungeon! It’s just too unfair!”
“Dungeon?” Xiao Jue glanced at Shen Han. “What’s going on?”
Shen Han’s head was spinning, and he replied, “…It’s a long story. At the time, the situation was urgent, and I couldn’t be sure of He Yan’s identity.”
“You even wronged him for murder! And what happened? You locked up Big Brother He and released the real culprit! My big brother helped you today, putting aside past grievances, and you all owe him an apology!”
“Enough,” Xiao Jue reprimanded. “Chiwu, take Cheng Lisu back.”
“Huh? Where are you going, Uncle?”
“I’m going to change my clothes.” Xiao Jue couldn’t be bothered to deal with him and said to Shen Han, “You follow me, I have something to ask you.”
He had returned hastily, spent sleepless nights on the road, and just experienced a fierce battle. His entire body was covered in bloodstains and dust. As soon as he returned to his quarters, he quickly bathed and changed into clean clothes before heading out. He collided head-on with a young man dressed in white.
This young man was of a similar age to Xiao Jue, with handsome features and a refined demeanor. He had a polite smile on his face and a crane embroidered on his clothes. Despite it being midwinter, he was lightly waving a folding fan and didn’t seem to mind the cold.
Upon seeing Xiao Jue, he smiled and asked, “Are you injured? Do you want me to take a look?”
Xiao Jue raised his hand to stop him from approaching and said, “No need, there’s someone next door who’s on the verge of death. You can take a look at them.”
“Oh?” The young man turned his gaze towards the neighboring room and made a somewhat unwilling expression. “I, Lin Shuanghe, the White-Clothed Divine Physician, have always treated only women. You’re already an exception. We haven’t seen each other in years, and the moment you come, you want me to break the rules. Now you want me to see your soldiers too? What’s the difference between me and those quack doctors on the street?”
Xiao Jue asked, “Are you going or not?”
Lin Shuanghe unfolded his fan with a “whoosh” and said with restraint, “I’ll go.”
On the side, Shen Han, feeling puzzled, discovered that this seemingly cultured young man was actually Lin Shuanghe, the White-Clothed Divine Physician? Lin Shuanghe was treating He Yan? If that was the case, He Yan’s relationship with Xiao Jue was indeed extraordinary. Thinking about how he had thrown He Yan into the dungeon before, Shen Han couldn’t help but feel a headache.
This was really poking a hornet’s nest!
The group of them went to He Yan’s room. Inside the room, Song Taotao was sitting by He Yan’s bedside, wiping her sweat. He Yan had not yet regained consciousness. The bedding beneath her was dyed red with bloodstains, and it was unclear where she had been injured. Song Taotao wanted to help, but she didn’t dare to act rashly, and Shen Muxue was busy treating severely wounded soldiers at the clinic and couldn’t spare the time. Now, upon seeing Xiao Jue bringing a young man with him, she immediately greeted, “Second Young Master Xiao!”
“The doctor is here,” Xiao Jue said to her. “Please leave.”
Song Taotao looked at Lin Shuanghe, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Young Master Lin?”
Shuojing was a place that wasn’t too small but not particularly large either. It was a place where Song Ci and Lin Shuanghe’s father were acquaintances, and the two of them had met before, so they could be considered familiar.
“Miss Song, long time no see,” Lin Shuanghe shook his folding fan. “I’ve come to see this young man for treatment.”
“But you’re not… not…” Song Taotao hesitated.
“I indeed usually treat women,” Lin Shuanghe sighed, “but I’m helping someone at their request this time. It’s just an exception, a one-time thing, and it won’t set a precedent.”
Song Taotao was about to say something more, but Xiao Jue interrupted, “If Miss Song doesn’t have anything else, please leave to avoid delaying the doctor’s treatment.”
“….Alright.” The young lady stood up and left the room. Xiao Jue closed the door behind her, and Song Taotao looked at the closed door, suddenly realizing. Xiao Jue was still inside the room, so why was he worried about delaying the doctor’s treatment when she was inside?
What was going on!
In the room, Lin Shuanghe walked to He Yan’s bedside, placed his chest on the small table, and began, “Who is this young brother? How come he’s staying next to you? His skills seem quite good. He looks somewhat frail now.”
Xiao Jue: “Cut the nonsense.”
Lin Shuanghe raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t need to send Miss Song away earlier. It seems like she likes this young brother. Even if she stays on the side and watches, it won’t cause any problems. Why did you chase her away, making her anxious outside the door?”
Xiao Jue remained silent for a moment. “You’re overthinking it. I asked her to leave because I didn’t want to scare you.”
“Scare me?” Lin Shuanghe asked curiously. “Why would it scare me? It’s not some complex or difficult illness.” He reached out to unbutton He Yan’s clothing.
Xiao Jue pressed down on his arm.
Lin Shuanghe raised his head. “What’s wrong?”
“Check the pulse first.”
“Its an external injury, what pulse do I need to check? I can tell what’s going on at a glance. We need to bandage the wound first!”
Xiao Jue gave him a sidelong glance. “I said check the pulse first.”
“What’s the matter with you, Xiao Huaijin?” Lin Shuanghe was puzzled. “Are you interfering even in how I practice medicine?”
“Are you going to check the pulse or not?”
“I am, I am!” Lin Shuanghe lost his temper under Xiao Jue’s gaze and reluctantly reached out to check He Yan’s pulse. As he felt the pulse, his expression changed. At first, he couldn’t believe his own feelings and checked it two more times. Finally, he looked at Xiao Jue and said, “She is…”
Xiao Jue raised an eyebrow. “Exactly.”
Lin Shuanghe exclaimed, “Xiao Jue! You’re actually hiding a beauty in your room!”
Xiao Jue frowned and glanced at the door. “Why are you speaking so loudly? Afraid there won’t be enough people who know about it?”
“Others don’t know, but who knows now?” Lin Shuanghe asked in a low voice.
“Just the two of us and Fei Nu.”
“This little sister is something,” Lin Shuanghe habitually referred to all young ladies as “little sister.” His gaze at He Yan had changed. “No wonder you allowed her to stay in the room next to yours, it turns out that the wine-lover’s heart is not in the cup. So, what’s the relationship between you two? It’s been so long since we last met; have you finally found a girl you like? Why didn’t you say anything? Where is this little sister from? Why did she come to Liangzhou Garrison? It must be for you, right? You should know that young ladies need to be pampered. Dragging someone to this remote place to suffer, are you even human?”
Xiao Jue couldn’t bear it any longer. “Are you done talking? If you say a few more words, she might stop breathing.”
“How can you curse the girl like that?” Lin Shuanghe scolded him. “Come over here and help me undress her. Find a piece of cloth to cover other areas, exposing only her waist.”
Xiao Jue almost thought he had misheard and asked, “What did you say?”
“Come and help. Although a doctor doesn’t discriminate, if it’s an ordinary girl, I wouldn’t care so much. But this is your person, so of course you should do it. Otherwise, if something goes wrong in the future, you’ll hold a grudge against me and come looking for trouble, won’t you?”
“What do you mean ‘my person’?” Veins popped on Xiao Jue’s forehead. “I have no connection with her.”
“You live together, so that’s a connection. Since you already know her identity, your relationship must be deep. Come on, I just checked her pulse, and her condition doesn’t look good. She’s already very weak,” Lin Shuanghe urged, “I’ll use warm water to clean her wound first. Her wound is on her waist.”
Xiao Jue thought of when he had helped He Yan earlier and got his hands stained with her blood. He took a deep breath and relented. He walked over to He Yan and, after washing his hands, began to slowly unfasten her clothing.
He turned his head away, not looking at He Yan. Even so, he couldn’t avoid touching her body. Her skin was soft and smooth, unlike the roughness of the men in the military camp. It was only at this moment that he realized that He Yan was indeed a woman.
This person usually bounced around, treating the members of the Liangzhou Garrison as brothers, with a cheerful disposition, and was even more manly than most men. Over time, even though they knew she was a woman, they still treated her as a man.
His mind wandered back to that night in the county residence in Liangzhou, the night when they discovered her true gender. He remembered when Drinking Autumn had torn He Yan’s clothes, revealing her body. In that moment, he realized that the seemingly tough and invulnerable body concealed such delicate, fair skin underneath.
Vulnerable and easily harmed.
He reached for a thin blanket nearby and wrapped He Yan’s lower body. As he tried to undo her belt, he felt something unexpected. Her belt was tied incredibly tightly. Could it be because she was a young woman who cared about appearances? Judging by her usual demeanor, it seemed highly unlikely.
He unfastened the belt, and as he did, he felt the dampness in his hand. The sheets beneath He Yan were stained with large patches of red. Lin Shuanghe’s joking demeanor vanished, and he reached out to investigate. When he saw it, he froze and said gravely, “She has a blade on her.”
Xiao Jue asked, “What?”
Lin Shuanghe took out small gold tweezers and silver needles from his box, and gently probed the wound with the gold tweezers. He inserted them carefully, and He Yan, still unconscious, furrowed her brow as if awakened by pain, but she didn’t wake up.
With great care, the small tweezers retrieved a thin blade from her waist wound.
Xiao Jue’s eyebrow twitched.
Lin Shuanghe, partly in amazement and partly in admiration, said, “This young lady can really endure!”
Xiao Jue looked at the blade that had been placed in a plate. It was thin and sharp. She had been carrying this thing with her all along on the martial arts platform? When did she get it? Was it when she was sparring with Ridamuzi, or was it before that? If it was before that, in the two previous matches, the blade had penetrated even deeper with each exchange, like cutting flesh, causing excruciating pain. Even an ordinary man would find it unbearable. How had He Yan endured it? That aside, Xiao Jue remembered the smile on her face when he arrived, as if she hadn’t been hurt at all, fooling everyone.
Con artists are good at disguising themselves, but if she had to deceive herself as well, it was a bit pitiable.
“Where does this girl come from?” Lin Shuanghe asked Xiao Jue while cleaning He Yan’s wound and barely lifting his head.
“She’s the daughter of the City Gate military official.”
“City Gate military official?” Lin Shuanghe’s hands paused. “Why did she come here? Is it because of you?”
“You’re thinking too much,” Xiao Jue scoffed. “To make achievements.”
“What?”
“She said that herself.” Xiao Jue looked out the window.
Lin Shuanghe chewed on the sentence for a while, but couldn’t discern its meaning. He said, “This young lady is truly extraordinary. She can endure what ordinary people cannot. I’ve been practicing medicine for so many years, and I’ve treated countless women, but this is the first time I’ve encountered someone like her.”
Lin Shuanghe took out a clean piece of white cloth and bandaged He Yan, who had been treated with medicine. He couldn’t help but reflect on the many women he had treated in Shuojing. They came with all sorts of bizarre ailments – some wanted to remove a birthmark from their foreheads because they thought it was unattractive, others sought remedies for weak health from birth, some had been married for years without children and wanted a solution, and still others sought beauty treatments to win their husbands’ favor.
Most of the people who could afford his services were women from wealthy families who had never really suffered in terms of health. So, having seen numerous women from the upper echelons of society, encountering a woman so scarred and battered like He Yan felt especially unique.
“What’s your relationship with her?” he asked.
Xiao Jue replied, “We have no relationship.”
“No relationship, yet you’re taking care of her like this? You even ordered me around.” Lin Shuanghe shook his head, clucking his tongue. He asked, “Well, what are your plans for her in the future?”
“Plans?”
“Don’t think that just because she’s wearing your recruits’ clothes, she’s really your soldier. I see she’s a beautiful and delicate lady. Look at her now, tortured into this state. You can’t just let her continue to stay as a recruit in your camp, right? Why not send her to Shen Muxue’s side to help her. This way, she can stay with you without having to go to such dangerous places. This girl is gentle and weak; she should be kept indoors and taken care of. Instead, you’re handling her ruthlessly and driving her away…”
“Gentle and weak?” Xiao Jue chuckled, seemingly amused by his words. He raised an eyebrow and said slowly, “Before I returned, she had just chopped off the heads of two Western Qiang people.”
Lin Shuanghe: “…”
“If I had come a bit later, she would have been working on her third.”
Lin Shuanghe: “…”
Lin Shuanghe’s hands shook slightly as he bandaged He Yan. After a while, he laughed and said, “Well… it seems appearances can be deceiving, and vice versa. Haha, haha.”
– Side Note –
The story’s first supporting gong – Gynecologist Lin Shuanghe is now on the scene! His famous quote: “Every sip is good milk.”
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