Qi Yue looked at this military physician. She remembered his name was Qiao Minghua.

“Qiao Minghua,” she said.

She actually recognized him? Xiao Qu and the others were all somewhat surprised.

But Qiao Minghua showed no surprise, his expression remaining unchanged.

Since this woman had been mingling among the wounded soldiers, and the wounded soldiers cursed him, Qiao Minghua, day after day with hatred, he could be considered quite famous.

“Your name is really quite nice,” Qi Yue continued, slowly stepping forward and looking at Qiao Minghua.

The surrounding spectators were all stunned. What kind of talk was this? How did the conversation turn to names? Could it be that this woman also knew fortune-telling?

“It sounds very ordinary, but it rings out loudly when spoken,” Qi Yue said, looking at Qiao Minghua with a slight smile, raising her hand. “Positive and bright, giving people strength and hope.”

Qiao Minghua’s expression finally changed. He let out a soft snort, and a trace of mockery flashed through his eyes that were like stagnant water.

“But based on the two times I’ve seen you so far, the things you’ve said and done make me feel it’s truly a pity that you have this name,” Qi Yue said.

Only then did the surrounding people understand, though some soldiers still didn’t quite comprehend.

“What does that mean?” they asked in low voices.

“Stupid! This woman is cursing Dr. Qiao,” someone clever answered.

This counted as cursing?

Everyone looked at each other, then at Qi Yue with a few traces of admiration.

Truly a divine physician – she could curse you without you even knowing…

“These wounded soldiers are already feeling depressed and lost due to their injuries. As a physician, you should give them hope and strength. But what about you? When they come seeking your help, you don’t care, and you even say things about death and living. It’s like someone on the edge of a cliff reaching out to grab you – not only do you not help them, you actually push them down. Qiao Minghua, you say you’ve seen many physicians like me, but I’ve truly never seen a physician like you.” Qi Yue looked at Qiao Minghua, her face no longer smiling, speaking word by word. “What does it mean to be a physician? At least I still dare to speak of healing the world and saving people, but you – someone who doesn’t even dare to say ‘healing the world and saving people,’ or disdains to say it – had better not call yourself a physician anymore. It’s too disgraceful.”

Good! This time the spectators heard clearly and felt satisfied. They couldn’t help but show pleased expressions, and someone even applauded and cheered.

“Give us another round!” someone shouted loudly.

The border town had too few entertainment activities. The only entertainment was watching battles, but that was a dangerous activity where you might be lucky to see it once, but didn’t know if you’d be lucky enough to see it a second time.

Hu San shook his head with clicking sounds nearby.

“Someone actually dares to argue with Master – truly seeking death,” he said in a low voice to A’Ru.

Here, Qiao Minghua laughed with a scoffing sound.

“Hope…” he laughed, then his laughter grew louder and louder, covering the surrounding clamor. Gradually everyone quieted down, leaving only his laughter. “Hope… a physician should give everyone hope and strength…”

He laughed loudly, as if this was the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

“So you really take yourself seriously,” he suddenly stopped laughing and looked at Qi Yue, his expression returning to indifference. “You’re exactly this kind of physician who relies on words to give everyone hope and strength. Not bad – you truly deserve to be called divine. Go ahead and be your god. Here, your incense offerings will be very abundant.”

Having said this, he turned around and was about to leave.

After choking her with words, he wanted to leave? Qi Yue took a few steps forward.

“Hey, who said I only rely on words? Didn’t you see that I cured what you couldn’t cure?” she frowned and said. “Can you not see it, or do you not want to see it? Do you look down on me, or do you look down on yourself? The facts are right here – are you blind?”

“So you think you’re better than us?” Qiao Minghua didn’t turn around, just stopped walking and asked sideways. “You cured a few half-dead wounded soldiers and think you’re omnipotent?”

Qi Yue looked at him.

“Yes, at least in this regard, I’m better than you,” she said.

Qiao Minghua smiled slightly.

“So as I said, I’ve seen many physicians like you,” he said this phrase again, shaking his head.

Qi Yue frowned, about to say something, when Qiao Minghua spoke again.

“Have you seen wounded soldiers?” he asked.

Qi Yue frowned.

Wasn’t this nonsense?

“Not only seen them, but cured them too,” Hu San shouted.

Qiao Minghua ignored him, still looking at Qi Yue.

“I mean, have you seen real wounded soldiers?” he asked.

Real? What did he mean by real? Were those wounded soldiers fake?

Qi Yue and the others looked puzzled.

“Fresh, steaming hot, newly delivered… carried down from the battlefield… wounded soldiers,” Qiao Minghua said, revealing a slight smile.

Qi Yue understood – he meant on the battlefield, on the field of war.

She shook her head.

Whether in modern times or since coming to this ancient era, she had always lived in a peaceful environment. War and battlefields were too distant.

“Then do you dare to go and see for yourself? And let me see what kind of physician you are – a god-like physician, a physician who is complimented by patients in stable, solid houses, a physician who is kind and benevolent on lively, peaceful streets, healing the world and saving people – just how capable are you really?” Qiao Minghua asked.

The slow-witted spectators around were confused again.

“What’s he saying?”

“What does he mean?”

Of course, Qi Yue understood, and so did the people around her, as well as the soldiers, who exchanged glances.

Well now, these literate people really were cunning – not like the Guard Commander, that crude man who only knew how to forcibly drive people away. Look at Military Physician Qiao – with just one sentence, he was enough to silence this presumptuous woman.

Agree? That would be seeking death. Disagree? Then she should obediently slink away in shame.

Either way, it had nothing to do with them anymore.

Brilliant, truly brilliant!

Xiao Qu couldn’t listen anymore. What was this about? The dignified wife of the Prince of Marquis Dingxi, the Military General… well, former wife, but still a wife, and obviously the former husband was still eagerly hoping to renew their marriage bond. Here she was being driven away by these soldiers and provoked by some inexplicable military physician. If the Prince knew about this, he wouldn’t spare their skins!

“You all…” he began to shout, but Qi Yue had already spoken first.

“Fine, of course I dare, and I’d very much like to go. Thank you for your consideration, Dr. Qiao,” she cupped her hands and smiled at Qiao Minghua.

She agreed?

Everyone on the scene was stunned.

Hey, that’s a battlefield, not a garden party!

What was this woman saying?

“Good. When we have a mission, we’ll come call you,” Qiao Minghua said flatly, then turned and walked away.

Qi Yue said nothing more, glanced at the people around her, then turned and went inside.

She went in, and Xiao Qu, along with the shocked Hu San and others, hurried to follow.

Instantly, only the spectators and soldiers remained at the door.

“Do we… still… drive them away?” a soldier asked stuttering.

“Drive them away, my ass,” the leader came to his senses and glared at him. “Do we still need to drive them away?”

He looked toward the large door with its medical clinic plaque hanging above it and shook his head.

Maybe tonight they’ll pack up and run away…

“Let’s go, let’s go,” he waved his hand.

The soldiers dispersed with a clamor, the spectators gradually scattered, and the area in front of Qi Yue’s door returned to quiet, but inside the house, it exploded.

“Master, you’re joking, right?” Hu San asked.

Qi Yue was bent over her desk writing. In front of her, the vase held plum blossoms that Jiang Hai had sent, which had already bloomed and were giving off a clear fragrance.

“Master, you’re just bluffing that brat, right?” Hu San asked, walking in circles.

“These people are too excessive. When the Prince returns, he won’t spare them!” Xiao Qu also said.

A’Hao went to cook. A’Ru stood to the side, looking at Qi Yue with a complex expression.

Here, Hu San and Xiao Qu kept talking, filled with righteous indignation. Qi Yue ignored them, just writing on paper, writing, stopping, and thinking. Soon she had filled two sheets.

“This…” she finally looked up, shaking the papers.

As she began to speak, A’Ru walked over and extended her hand to take them.

“Prepare according to this?” she asked.

Qi Yue looked at her and smiled.

“Yes,” she said.

Only then did Hu San and Xiao Qu realize something was wrong.

“Prepare what?” they asked.

“Prepare to go to the battlefield,” Qi Yue said.

It really wasn’t a joke?

“Master!” they shouted in unison. “That’s not for playing around!”

“I didn’t say I was playing,” Qi Yue laughed, standing up. “These wounded soldiers all have chronic injuries that have basically set. Except for those with severe infections, I can’t help them much. So if I’m going to help, I need to go to the source. I want to see the source of these wounded soldiers’ injuries. I want to see what I can do there.”

“Master, that’s a battlefield. Even though it’s in the rear, it’s still very dangerous,” Xiao Qu said urgently.

“Right, Master, we came here to see the Prince, not to practice medicine,” Hu San also said urgently.

“What does it mean to be a great physician?” Qi Yue suddenly asked.

Hu San looked at her and called out “Master” with a bitter face.

“Since you put it that way, naturally as a physician I practice medicine wherever I go. Could it be that after I’m off duty and rushing home, if I see someone dying by the roadside, I shouldn’t save them? A physician’s skills are different from other skills – this kind of skill is responsibility, it’s fate, it’s mission,” Qi Yue said solemnly.

“That’s what Teacher Liu said,” Hu San said reluctantly.

“So I must listen to my teacher,” Qi Yue wrinkled her nose and looked at him, while clenching her fists and humming twice. “Besides, trying to intimidate me is impossible.”

“Now that’s definitely something you said, Master,” Hu San also hummed.

It was over – this really wasn’t a joke. Xiao Qu sighed. Now he could only pray that there wouldn’t be any military action for a while, or at least not until after the Prince returned.

But clearly, his prayers weren’t heard by Heaven. Just the second day after this incident, the military medical corps received a mobilization order.

“Dr. Qiao, do we really have to go call that Qi lady?” a military physician asked hesitantly.

Qiao Minghua had already packed his gear. Hearing this, his expression remained impassive.

“Whether she comes or not is her business. Whether I call her or not is mine,” he said flatly, then stepped out first.

The military physicians looked at each other helplessly. One waved his hand.

“Go ahead, go ahead. Maybe she’s already run away,” he said.

Indeed, by the time of the noon departure, that woman still hadn’t appeared.

“I told you so,” everyone laughed. “This isn’t child’s play. Between saving face and saving your life, even an idiot knows which to choose.”

The horse carts were ready. Pushed and pulled by soldiers, the carts carrying both people and supplies began to move. They hadn’t gone far from the city gate when they heard shouting behind them. Everyone looked back and couldn’t help but freeze.

Two horse carts and five horses caught up. Qi Yue lifted the cart curtain and looked at the dumbfounded crowd.

“It was too rushed – I didn’t have time to prepare properly. You brought enough medicine, bandages, and such, right?” she asked.

She was really going?

Everyone looked at her in disbelief.

Qiao Minghua looked over from the front cart.

“There’s nothing to prepare,” he said flatly, then said no more, turned his head away, cracked his whip to urge the horses forward, and the cart proceeded with a clip-clop.

Seeing him like this, everyone didn’t know what to say to this woman, so they simply said nothing. The convoy continued forward in silence.

Qiao Minghua looked ahead, swaying with the motion of the cart, his expression indifferent, as if he hadn’t noticed at all that several people had been added to his convoy.

There was nothing to prepare, because preparing anything would be useless.

Hope – did such a thing really exist?