Chapter 6

I pushed through the crowd and saw several fierce, burly men surrounding a young doctor. At their feet was a rolled-up straw mat emitting a foul stench.

“You treated my wife to death! How are you going to compensate me?”

The young doctor being surrounded had a lean figure, looking like he couldn’t withstand a single punch, but he remained calm and unyielding. “Although your wife had multiple bruises on her body, they were not fatal. The medicinal herbs I prescribed were enough to ensure her full recovery.”

He paused. “But if she suffered another beating, injuring her internal organs…”

A man suddenly raised his voice to interrupt him. “What beating? Are you saying I would beat my own wife?”

“I am not saying you beat…”

“Still arguing! You just don’t want to pay up, do you?”

The man raised his hand high and violently shoved the young doctor. Just as he was about to strike again, I clamped down on his wrist and forced it outward.

The man’s expression twisted in agony. “Who are you?”

I ignored him and gave the young doctor a look. “Go report to the authorities.”

The young doctor looked at me, worry plain on his face. In the split second he hesitated, the man I was restraining fiercely swung a punch at me. “What does a broad like you count for?”

They had brute strength but no martial techniques; subduing them was effortless. I twisted the arm of the man in my grip, and amidst his cries of pain, I knocked the burly men down one by one.

Kicking the back of another man’s knee, I pinned him down with my foot on his back as he knelt, preventing him from getting up. With one hand, I untied the token at my waist and held it before his eyes.

“Shenfeng Battalion, Liu Min,” I said. “I might not count for much, but I can certainly handle you.”

There were many generals in Great Jing, but I was the only female general, the one who had personally taken an enemy commander’s head. Naturally, there were plenty of rumors about me among the common folk.

From what I’d heard alone, the rumors ranged from me having three eyes, being nine feet tall, to looking like the demon-quelling god Zhong Kui—all sorts of outrageous claims, to the point I could stop a child’s night terrors just by having my name mentioned.

After a moment of dead silence, the crowd suddenly erupted.

Onlookers had already reported to the authorities. When the constables from the government office arrived and saw me, they jogged over. They might not recognize me, but they recognized the token in my hand.

After they bowed in greeting, I heard someone say, “Is it really her? She doesn’t look like a yaksha at all.”

Hearing that made me almost snap the bones of the man under my foot.

“General Liu…” The constable looked at me, troubled. I kicked the man over to them and said, “It has nothing to do with me. These people and that doctor were having a dispute. When they saw me, they wanted to spar for a bit.”

The constables tied up the troublemakers and were about to take the young doctor away too, but he walked toward me. His eyes were extremely bright. Pointing at my hand, he said, “General Liu, you are injured.”

Those eyes hooked my attention. I had rarely seen such clear eyes; it looked as if a pool of water resided within them, conveying words unsaid.

I was stunned for a moment. Raising my hand, I finally noticed an inconspicuous scrape on the back of my hand, oozing a few traces of blood.

“Let me bandage it for you.”

I wanted to say that such a minor scratch was nothing, but he was already talking to the constable, asking them to wait a moment. My words of refusal died on my lips.

His touch was very light. He wiped the dirt from the wound, applied medicinal wine, and finally wrapped it loop by loop with gauze.

From my angle, I could see his pitch-black, long eyelashes. His expression was serious, his entire focus solely on my injury.

Since moving into the Ji Manor to practice martial arts, injuries and pain had become as common as daily meals, not to mention on the battlefield. Even when stabbed by a sword, I’d grit my teeth and bandage it myself. The military camps had countless wounded and too few medics; their hands were inevitably rushed.

Now, having such a tiny wound treated with such meticulous gentleness made me feel quite unaccustomed.

I held up my hand. “Thank you.”

The young doctor smiled gently. “It is I who should be thanking you.”

The constable came over and said, “General Liu, may this humble official take him away now?”

I made way for the young doctor. Watching them leave, my fingers brushed against the meticulously wrapped gauze, and my heart suddenly stirred. I chased after them, pulled out a dagger, and handed it to the young doctor. “If you run into trouble, go to the Liu Manor on the East Street to find me.”

He froze, clearly astonished. I lowered my voice and leaned close to his ear. “Those local ruffians lost a move to you; I doubt they will let this go easily.”

He replied in an equally low voice, “Thank you.”

As they walked far away, I spaced out for a moment before suddenly hearing Aunt Ji’s voice.

“Does Min-min like this kind of young master? He looks quite nice and has a good temper, but as for his status…”