From childhood, Shaoshang had upheld the principle of “out of sight, out of mind.” Toward those who might cause her trouble but whom she couldn’t afford to provoke, she had always maintained a wide berth—because you can’t be invincible against everyone.

For example, the fellow townspeople who knew about her parents and childhood—after going away to study elsewhere, she basically stopped contacting them. For example, Lou Yao, who had witnessed her removing the bridge planks—she hoped that episode of furious rage would scare him away forever. And for another example, Lord Ling, who had seen her groping around under the bridge for so long—may heaven preserve him from connecting it to the bridge-falling incident at the Wan household banquet!!

However, when Shaoshang tallied the casualties of the Cheng household, she felt that even just to reduce this number, never mind seeing Ling Buyi a few more times—she’d even sworn brotherhood with him if necessary.

The harm inflicted in the cold weapons era might not necessarily deliver instant death like in later generations, but the shocking injuries were even worse. Besides the common blade and arrow wounds, there were those with large strips of flesh torn away, those with limbs chopped off sections, and even those whose intestines had burst from being kicked by horse hooves. Most terrifying were two guards whose faces had been slashed—one had his nose sliced flat and could at least still live; the other had been cut from his left eye down to his chin, the blade wound penetrating deep into his skull, and he was already on his last breath about to enter the Yellow Springs.

Yun Shi was both injured and worried, and later developed a low fever. Fortunately, Li Wulang had been thorough in his preparations, bringing along the village’s best physician, who immediately set up a pot to brew medicine after taking her pulse. Looking at Yun Shi delirious and muttering continuously in her unconsciousness, with retainers, stewards, and servant women successively coming to report and chattering around her, Shaoshang suddenly realized she must temporarily assume the role of Cheng family head.

Children have the capital to be willful and unreasonable because omnipotent parents stand in front of them. Once the elders cannot step forward, naturally one must learn to mature.

Shaoshang immediately pulled herself together and diligently performed the household head’s duties—

First, she sent several mature matrons to question the bandit captives about the whereabouts of those several captured maidservants. Then she dispatched retainers along the route they’d come to retrieve the dozens of abandoned luggage carts—the bandits had been busy chasing them and probably hadn’t had time to divide the spoils yet.

Those without injuries pitched tents outside to rest, while the wounded were moved inside the lodges. Trees were cut to make charcoal to supply braziers for warmth everywhere. The servant women were divided into two groups—one group set up cooking pots to make meals, the other boiled water to clean wounds and burned grass ash to stop bleeding.

She also took out more than half of the chest of pocket money Old Master Cheng had given her and gave it to that physician, having him send people on fast horses back to the village to fetch prepared medicines for brewing. In this freezing cold weather, with blood loss and external injuries, whether injured or not, probably everyone needed to drink several bowls of medicinal soup to drive away cold, stop bleeding, and prevent inflammation.

Next came spiritual comfort.

Shaoshang needed to walk through each area, consoling the wounded and commending those who had rendered meritorious service. Facing the nearly hundred retainers and household soldiers who had fought bloodily for a day and night, she very much wanted to deliver an inspiring speech like a great and glorious leader, speaking until the warriors were moved to tears, blood boiling, with no regrets even unto death.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t. Her verbal artillery skills were all lit up in negative directions like mockery and sarcasm. She could only repeatedly promise things like “the deceased and disabled will have their families cared for, the wounded will certainly receive compensation.”

However, she also had an advantage—a hard heart. The retainers and guards had much work to do, pitching tents, collecting corpses, and going out to gather intelligence. The servant women had to manage the kitchens, so treating the wounded mostly fell to the maidservants. Several younger ones were frightened to tears just looking at the bloody and mangled wounds. No matter how the loud-voiced physician shouted and directed above them, they couldn’t bring themselves to act. When Shaoshang passed by and saw this, she had a martial maidservant tie up her sleeves with arm bands and without a word started working herself.

Following the physician’s instructions, when told to pull arrows she pulled arrows, even if blood spurted everywhere; when told to apply branding irons she applied branding irons, even if it burned flesh to char and screams shook the heavens. Seeing their young lady acting this way, the maidservants all felt too embarrassed to be afraid or shy anymore.

After busying herself for half the day, it wasn’t until Elder Li outside the lodge called “Lord Ling has come, requesting the young lady meet with him” that Shaoshang hurriedly came out from inside. Not only were her skirts and robes splattered with blood, but her two bloody hands looked like she’d just emerged from a murder scene.

In the clear, cold daylight, Ling Buyi’s skin was white as snow, his figure tall and slender like a winter cypress, wrapped in a black fur cloak. Together with the six sword-wearing guards surrounding him, he stood quietly on the open ground before the lodge, like white snow among the forest—possessing an ancient and profound beauty. Standing before him awkwardly, Shaoshang felt like a pig-slaughtering girl with a face full of fierce features rushing through her work quota.

All the female creatures in the healing lodge came alive. The girls stopped their work to come climb on windows and peek. The astonished whispers behind Shaoshang were clearly audible—”He’s really handsome,” “Which general is this?” “Like an immortal gentleman from a painting”…

Shaoshang forcibly suppressed her embarrassment, pretending she hadn’t heard anything. She stepped forward, bowing with cupped hands, respectfully saying, “Not knowing my lord had finished pursuing the fleeing bandits, this young lady was late in greeting you.” After completing the courtesy, she raised her head and continued, “If not for Lord Ling’s righteous rescue, we don’t know what state we would have fallen to. Great kindness requires no words of thanks—hereafter, if Lord Ling has any requests, the Cheng family will not dare to disobey!” She’d say the polite words first, but keep the details as vague as possible to avoid leaving any handles in her speech.

Hearing “great kindness requires no words of thanks,” Ling Buyi smiled slightly: “Young Lady is too polite.”

Shaoshang had already decided to be a mature adult and not sulk or talk back like a child anymore. Moreover, right now there were many things she needed to request and ask about, so she dared not lose her temper. Her tone became even more respectful: “This young lady’s power is meager and there’s little else I can do to be of service, but I observe that among Lord Ling’s subordinates there are also wounded. To avoid delaying my lord’s military movements, why not leave the wounded soldiers behind? The Cheng family will certainly care for them attentively. Just now I prepared two of the largest empty lodges with braziers, hot water, wound medicines, and personnel inside for the use of the wounded soldiers.” She raised her arm to point toward the two lodges to the left rear. This was the most thoughtful way to repay the favor she could currently think of.

Elder Li nodded repeatedly, saying, “Young Lady’s suggestion is excellent. Lord Ling, what do you think…”

Before Ling Buyi could speak, a square-jawed young guard beside him already interjected, “Young Master, the injuries can’t be delayed any longer. Why not enter the lodge first to treat the wounds…” Before his words finished, another slightly older guard also said, “Young Master, though Liangqiu Fei spoke rashly, his words aren’t wrong. The injuries can’t be dragged out any longer.”

Only then did Shaoshang notice this older guard had an arrow stuck in his left arm—probably the arrowhead had entered bone and couldn’t be pulled out immediately. She quickly said eagerly, “This guard’s injury is serious—hurry and enter the lodge to treat the wound!”

That older guard had originally looked worried, but upon hearing this, he stared at Shaoshang in astonishment. Ling Buyi pondered for a moment, finally nodding, then raised his foot to walk toward that empty lodge.

Shaoshang was stunned. Did he not trust leaving the wounded in the Cheng family’s care? Did he still need to personally inspect? She turned around, smiling apologetically: “My lord, rest assured, the Cheng family will certainly take good care of all the wounded soldiers!”

That young man called Liangqiu Fei became anxious: “You…!”

Ling Buyi said not a word. He raised his left arm to pull aside one side of his fur cloak. Below the pitch-black shoulder armor forged into tiger fang and lion head shapes, on the black brocade woven with gold thread, showed the shaft of a broken arrow, the bloodstain already congealed.

Shaoshang choked.

Li Wulang on the side very appropriately cried out, “Ah! Lord Ling, you’re injured! How long has it been? Quickly, quickly, go fetch that Physician Cheng who just arrived—he’s the most skilled in treating blade and sword wounds in our village!”

Shaoshang silently turned her body, raising her hand in a gesture of invitation—fine, you count as wounded too then.

Ling Buyi’s steps paused slightly. Glancing sideways, he saw the girl’s sleeves rolled high by arm bands. As she raised her hand, it revealed a pink and snow-white little forearm, her wrist barely two inches wide, the skin crystal clear and tender, extremely adorable.

His thoughts turned, and he again stepped toward the lodge interior.

Even after Ling Buyi and the Li father and son had all entered the lodge, Shaoshang still hesitated outside, thinking she still needed to inquire about the whereabouts of that pig-trotter uncle Cheng Zhi. Only then did she gather courage to walk inside.

The two martial maidservants beside her finally couldn’t stand it anymore. One said, “Young Lady, you should wash up first before going in.” The other quickly brought hot water and soap pods.

Shaoshang sighed inwardly that she’d been so busy her brain had gone numb. Smiling bitterly, she went to wash her hands, then hurriedly entered the lodge. The two martial maidservants quickly followed.

The empty lodge had been heated warm and dry. Everyone successively removed their outer fur coats and jackets. Another scar-faced guard led several soldiers inside to inspect once around and placed four folding stools. Ling Buyi sat high in the seat of honor, the Li father and son sat in the two left seats, and the right seat was obviously reserved for Shaoshang as temporary household head.

When Shaoshang entered, she saw Physician Cheng and that scar-faced guard standing behind Ling Buyi, carefully removing his cloak and shoulder armor, then the chest armor and outer robe, followed by the middle garment and inner clothing, exposing his fair shoulders…

Shaoshang felt slightly awkward and very much wanted to turn around and leave. Who knew that from the martial maidservants beside her to the Li father and son, no one felt anything improper—well, yes, just now in the healing lodge she had seen no fewer than eighteen or twenty bare arms and legs.

Since everyone didn’t mind, what was she minding? She’d even seen naked bodies, hadn’t she?

The Li father and son had already left their seats and crowded beside Ling Buyi to look at the arrow wound. Shaoshang then unceremoniously followed behind Elder Li, craning her neck to look. When the physician moved aside the cloth covering the wound, everyone collectively gasped—

A thick, rust-covered arrowhead savagely protruded two inches to the left of the rear shoulder blade. Around the arrow wound had congealed into a circle of dark red, clearly having been there for some time.

The best narrator, Li Wulang, exclaimed, “Oh my! How long has Lord Ling had this wound?! Why not treat it immediately?! The longer this wound is delayed, the worse it gets!”

That young guard called Liangqiu Fei said both proudly and indignantly, “For the sake of suppressing bandits, we’ve had no rest for two days and two nights—where’s the time to treat wounds?! We could have had a moment’s rest today, but who knew we’d encounter you halfway, crying and begging our Young Master to go save your father? So we’ve been fighting until now, haven’t we?!”

That scar-faced guard said in a low voice, “Ah Fei, don’t be rude.”

Understanding the meaning in these words, Shaoshang’s ears twitched and she slowly moved several more inches behind Elder Li. Who knew Elder Li, hearing this, would excitedly step forward several paces, completely exposing the girl behind him.

The old man’s expression was agitated as he cupped his hands and said loudly, “Lord Ling is most righteous! This old man thanks you here! Hereafter, if my lord has any orders, our village will not dare to disobey!”

These words were much the same as what Shaoshang had just said, but Elder Li was the household head, the clan leader, and also the village elder. When he spoke these words, they carried weight and were undoubtedly countless times more reliable than Shaoshang.

Therefore, Shaoshang bowed her head even lower, hoping everyone wouldn’t notice her.

Ling Buyi almost imperceptibly glanced at the girl and smiled: “Elder, please don’t be like this. If we speak of righteousness, the elder is the one with towering righteousness—for the sake of a single promise, you stubbornly accompanied the Cheng household’s women and children into such dangerous circumstances.”

Shaoshang first felt unhappy, then felt these words seemed, appeared, as if… there was nothing wrong with them. Elder Li could have sent people to take a detour to request rescue, so naturally he could also have fled himself, but the old man had insisted on not leaving.

She both felt grateful for Elder Li’s righteousness toward the Cheng family and was unwilling to humbly admit she’d been a burden, so she stammered, “That… Uncle said that Elder Li is family. Uncle will slowly repay the kindness. The two families have a long future together…”

These words were extremely appropriate. Elder Li laughed heartily: “Young Lady speaks well! Our two families are close—what need to speak of kindness or not!”

Shaoshang kept her head lowered, secretly praising herself for her cleverness.

Ling Buyi glanced at her and said lightly, “Pull the arrow.”

At these words, the Li father and son and Shaoshang immediately held their breath and craned their necks to watch. Who knew that physician would work up a full head of sweat yet still be unable to pull out that broken arrow.

It turned out that when Ling Buyi was struck by the arrow, the situation had been urgent. To avoid disturbing the army’s morale, he had personally broken off the arrow tail, leaving only a palm’s width of arrow shaft length outside, and concealed it with his armor and cloak, planning to pull the arrow and treat the wound afterward.

However, he didn’t know that the arrowhead that had pierced through the shoulder protruded from the skin by less than half an inch, even the arrow shaft was buried in the flesh. When pulling there was nowhere to apply force. Added to this, considerable time had passed since being struck by the arrow, and the arrow shaft and flesh and blood had adhered to a certain degree. Thus no matter what, that physician couldn’t pull it out.

“Why not use tongs?” Li Wulang said.

That physician sighed and held up the small iron tongs in his hand that had already broken. As a rural village physician, at most he pulled a few nails or thorns embedded in flesh for the wounded—how could he grip such a formidable iron arrow?

Next there were only two methods.

Either hurry back to the military camp to find a military physician with a long-handled giant iron tongs specially for gripping arrowheads, or fight poison with poison—use another arrow shaft to push out that broken arrow. But the former, whether immediately returning to the military camp or sending fast horses to fetch the military physician, would take too much time. The latter meant Ling Buyi would suffer twice.

Ling Buyi didn’t think twice and immediately said, “Ah Fei, get an arrow for your elder brother.”

Liangqiu Fei drew a feathered arrow from his back and tremblingly handed it to the scar-faced guard beside him: “Young Master, please bear the pain!”

Ling Buyi didn’t acknowledge him but looked fixedly to one side, where that young lady dressed in blood-stained hemp clothing stood blankly. Her right hand supported her left elbow, her left palm supported her small, fair and tender chin. Like a child, she childishly tilted her head and bit her lip, not knowing what she was thinking.

He looked at the girl for rather a long time. The Li father and son and all the guards quieted down. Only then did Shaoshang realize everyone was looking at her. She smiled sheepishly: “This young lady has one strategy—I don’t know if it will work or not.”

Speaking thus, she removed a string of pearl shells from her neck that had been hidden in her bosom.

Dozens of pearl shells hung below the neck cord. When slightly swaying, they were iridescent. Each small pearl shell had been ground into different shapes—round, oval, flower-shaped, and even three-leaf clover shapes. When slightly moving, they tinkled crisply with overflowing radiance.

Shaoshang again took out a dagger to cut the neck cord, carefully pouring the pearl shells into her personal brocade pouch, only holding that neck cord in her hand. She walked toward Ling Buyi. Only then did everyone notice this neck cord seemed to be braided from several fine threads.

Others were still puzzled, but Ling Buyi already understood her meaning and smiled: “Is this cord sturdy?”

Shaoshang hurriedly said, “I braided it myself—very sturdy, very sturdy!”

That day when heavy rain fell from the heavens, outside was wet and cold. She and Wan Qiqi had hidden under the corridor bored to distraction, so she dug out from the bottom of her chest many threads of different colors—brocade threads, silk threads, gold threads, and even iron threads. She taught Wan Qiqi to braid bracelets and cross knots. With the extras she braided long neck cords to string the pearl shells.

She remembered very clearly—three flexible vermillion brocade threads, three black iron threads, plus one shining gold thread—even heavy weight stones and writing desks could be lifted.

Shaoshang stood behind Ling Buyi, using her slender fingers to carefully wedge the neck cord into the flesh, hooking it under that rusty arrowhead. She didn’t dare use force and could only embed it bit by bit. Because she was close, disadvantageously it was full of the smell of blood and iron rust, and her field of vision unavoidably expanded.

Ling Buyi’s frame was built tall and expansive, his bones long and powerful, shoulders broad like an eagle spreading wings. Yet his waist was slender and strong, his spine straight, the muscle bundles running inward rather than being particularly thick. But Shaoshang knew his physical strength was astonishing—those arms like a male model had just now split the bandit chief in half, man and blade together.

After looking for a moment, Shaoshang belatedly discovered her face was slightly hot. She quickly moved her face away some. Two-dimensional really couldn’t compare to the vivid reality of three-dimensional.

Ling Buyi felt the breath on the back of his neck tickling and suddenly turned his head: “Was that pearl shell a gift from a sweetheart?” His expression was amiable, as if casually asking a friend about a young lady in their household.

Who knew Shaoshang would sigh: “I wish it were.”

Ling Buyi looked at her fixedly for a while, turned his head back, and made a sound of acknowledgment.

That pearl shell had been collected by Wan Qiqi from outside. The two girls had ground them into various interesting shapes themselves, then strung them into neck chains—one for each person. Thinking about it now, if Wan Qiqi were a man, she would definitely marry him. She wouldn’t dare say they’d be an immortal couple, but being a pair of wolf-jackal-tiger-leopard bandit spouses would be more than sufficient. That would be so perfect!

“It’s hooked…” Shaoshang breathed a sigh of relief. She felt she’d hooked it very securely. Now they just needed to pull the neck cord to extract the broken arrow.

Liangqiu Fei couldn’t help saying, “What if the arrowhead separates from the shaft and only an arrowhead is pulled out?”

Who knew everyone would laugh heartily. Only then did Liangqiu Fei realize that without the arrowhead, they could directly pull the arrow shaft out from the front. His face immediately turned red past his ears.

Shaoshang was also amused. Suddenly she felt her right hand turn cold—she saw Ling Buyi had taken her palm and wrapped a snow-white silk handkerchief around it. Liangqiu Fei had originally wanted to step forward to pull the arrowhead but was grabbed and held back by his elder brother behind him.

Ling Buyi looked at the girl and smiled: “Be careful—don’t injure your own hand.”

Shaoshang was stunned, then nodded woodenly. Actually, she wanted to say she hadn’t planned to personally pull the arrow—she was skilled technical work, not manual labor. However, seeing Teacher Li still looking puzzled and uncomprehending, Shaoshang felt that others might not understand, so she could only see this good deed through to the end.

She wound the neck cord several times around her right hand wrapped in the silk handkerchief, her left hand bracing against the man’s fair and firm shoulder and back. Secretly holding her breath, she then summoned all her strength to pull outward, nearly using all the strength of nursing. With a sticky ripping sound, that broken arrow already dyed red-black was finally pulled out. Then the man’s strong back muscles rapidly contracted, the congealed wound broke open again, and a thin stream of blood slowly flowed down his fair, long back.

Shaoshang was frightened by this amount of bleeding and lightly exclaimed “Ah.”

Ling Buyi turned his head and looked at the girl: “Does your hand hurt?”

Shaoshang quickly shook her head: “My hand doesn’t hurt. Do you hurt?” That wound on your back is about to become a blood cavity!

Ling Buyi smiled gently. In that instant, like winter snow melting, his stunning beauty overwhelmed the city. He said, “I also don’t hurt.”

The two were very close. Shaoshang was dazzled by his beauty and only then noticed his eyes were a translucent deep brown, like exquisite amber placed in a crystal box.

She thought to herself that she had always been too sharp toward this world. Actually, there were still more good people in the world. He had endured his injury to come save lives—she shouldn’t always think of people in the worst light.

Next time she saw Yuan Shen and Lou Yao, she should also be more polite. Look, this time she was slightly more enthusiastic toward this Lord Ling—how amiable his attitude was! Traveling through the world, one should broadly form good relationships. It would be beneficial for both herself and the Cheng family!

Standing below, Physician Cheng saw the broken arrow had been pulled out and was about to step forward to treat it. Who knew Ling Buyi’s right hand resting on his knee slightly raised and shook. Then he was gripped by the two guards on either side and couldn’t move.

All the guards, including the lively Liangqiu Fei, now waited quietly.

Actually, this brief exchange between Ling Buyi and the Cheng family young lady was extremely simple and even more normal. But somehow, Li Wulang felt the atmosphere in the room was somewhat strange, as if tinged with a few portions of peculiar soft romance.

He turned to look at his father, using eye contact to express: Father, don’t you feel… it seems like…

Elder Li: You shut up, pretend you didn’t see anything.

The old man was very open-minded. The man was unmarried, the woman unwed, and there were so many people in the room—what was there to fear from looking at each other a few more times? Moreover—Elder Li looked at the man and woman in the seats of honor.

Ling Buyi was a person whose heart was deep as the sea—he couldn’t see clearly or speak well of him. But as for the Cheng family young lady… the old man was amused. Either she completely hadn’t comprehended, or she had misunderstood.