Dong Lin had only recently learned that his grand-niece was in the northern desert. It wasn’t that he was particularly well-informed – he had learned it from Zhou Maochun.

The story of Zhou Maochun rushing straight to the northern desert to find Lady Qi, reportedly even having a daughter now, had become a laughing stock.

Dong Lin put down the letter in his hand.

For him, what he most loved to see was those people being criticized.

He exhaled contentedly.

For him, this was simply the best opportunity possible.

Perfect – without him having to lift a finger, this woman was naturally a troublemaker. Even better was that Liu Pucheng had also gone there. Now not one of them could escape.

This woman actually dared to cause trouble at the border, and what was involved was military affairs that the Emperor valued most.

Dong Lin looked down at the letter again.

“…treating soldiers as playthings…”

Just this one phrase alone was enough to give this woman and those people from Qianjin Hall quite a lot of trouble.

“Come, come,” he shouted loudly.

The servant outside immediately came in.

“Grind ink,” Dong Lin said.

At this time, night was gradually falling, and the night market of the capital in the first month was slowly opening. Almost every street was lit up with lamps of red, yellow, blue, and green in various colors. With the Lantern Festival approaching, the streets were even more lively and prosperous.

This kind of liveliness was essential for Fan Yilin, especially for him now.

“…it’s really not easy to see you…”

“…Red Fragrance Tower recently got some new girls, I’ll be the host, let’s go take a look…”

A large group of people crowded around Fan Yilin, surging toward the best restaurant. Laughter and lights shone together, flattery and hawking calls rang out in unison.

Compared to Li Tong’s calm and carefree smile beside him, Fan Yilin was still as annoyingly smug as ever, making one want to kick him.

“…I’ve been busy lately…” he said loudly, as if he couldn’t wait for the entire world to know about it.

With so many people coming and going, and them being such a large group, they instantly blocked the restaurant’s entrance.

Someone coming out from inside accidentally bumped into them.

“What are you doing? Are you blind?” that person’s servant said irritably.

This stirred up trouble – this line was usually said by Fan Yilin and his group, but now someone had stolen their script. Naturally, everyone was displeased and started making a commotion, while also looking to see who this blind fool was.

It was a young gentleman dressed in fur, with handsome features and refined elegance.

He smiled slightly at these people, nodded in greeting, then turned to scold his own servant.

Seeing him being so sensible, Fan Yilin, who now had status, didn’t bother to argue with him and waved his hand to let him pass.

“Look clearly – this is Young Master Fan from the Ministry of Personnel,” someone reminded the young gentleman.

The young gentleman who had already stepped away stopped and turned back upon hearing this.

“Young Master Fan, what a pleasure to meet you,” he said with a slight smile. “How have you been lately?”

“Very well,” Fan Yilin replied casually. Only after answering did he realize – who was this person? “How have you been lately?” – speaking as if they knew each other before.

Who was this? Just as he was about to ask, the young gentleman had already walked into the street.

Well, more and more people were getting to know him lately anyway. No helping it – he was too popular.

Fan Yilin chuckled twice and stopped caring, following everyone inside.

“Third Young Master, clearly they bumped into you first,” the servant said aggrievedly.

“How many times have I told you? In the capital, under the feet of the Son of Heaven, be humble in all things,” the young gentleman said calmly. “That person is Young Master Fan from the Fan family. Now that he’s attached himself to Elder Li, he’s in his prime.”

“So what? Does our Marquis Dingxi’s mansion compare unfavorably to their Fan family? Never mind the Fan family – with our Prince around, even Elder Li has to show some respect,” the servant snorted indignantly.

Chang Yunqi stopped walking.

The servant, not understanding why, also stopped.

“That’s the Prince, not me,” Chang Yunqi said slowly.

The servant realized his mistake and felt embarrassed.

“Well, Young Master, after the spring palace examination, once you pass as the top scholar, you’ll be impressive. Even if the Prince has military merit, he can’t compare to you,” he hurriedly tried to remedy.

Chang Yunqi looked at him and shook his head.

“We’re brothers, one family. What’s there to compete about?” he said.

The servant stuck out his tongue and simply stopped talking.

Chang Yunqi turned and continued walking. Although it was already night, the streets were still bustling with activity. There were many more women dressed elegantly and expensively than usual, and the air was filled with the fragrance of powder and rouge.

Several women in colorful cloaks were walking toward them, laughing and chatting. One of them looked gloomy, quite different from those around her, making her particularly eye-catching. Chang Yunqi couldn’t help but take another look. The women quickly passed by.

“Miss Rao,” Chang Yunqi suddenly stopped and called out instinctively.

Although the voices were loud and laughter was boisterous, the woman who had just passed by heard clearly. She paused, stopped, and looked around for the source of the voice.

Under the brilliant night lights, the young gentleman nodded at her with a slight smile.

The discussions about Qi Yue leading Qianjin Hall disciples to cause trouble and create chaos were becoming more and more numerous – so much so that even the Qianjin Hall disciples were somewhat affected.

After all, although their previous actions had faced criticism, they had immediately shown results, shattering those criticisms. But now they were ineffective in treating the wounded soldiers in the camp, and they had also refused to see ordinary people who came for consultations. Apart from constantly repeating these simple first aid methods, they had done nothing.

Moreover, these first aid techniques weren’t particularly technical – just stopping bleeding and bandaging, which any physician could do. Could this really save lives?

Gradually, the disciples began to have some doubts in their hearts.

Qi Yue had always ignored external questioning, but when her own disciples had doubts, she had to explain. After all, how could they do well at something they didn’t even believe in themselves? This was also why she wanted to use her own disciples rather than train those military physicians, even though technically speaking, the military physicians were more skilled and experienced than her disciples.

In the lecture hall, after finishing the lesson, Qi Yue didn’t immediately dismiss everyone for simulation practice as usual. Instead, she tapped the whiteboard, signaling for everyone to quiet down.

“Let me tell you all some casual talk,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

The disciples were all somewhat surprised. These days, preparing medicine and various equipment, teaching and practicing – every time slot was scheduled tightly. Apart from eating and sleeping, even going to the bathroom was timed. Where was there opportunity for casual talk?

“I know that from the first day everyone came here until now, it’s been a month, and everyone has been busy every day. But to outsiders, we’ve done nothing – we’ve purely come here to act,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

The disciples all smiled bitterly upon hearing this.

“However, I can tell everyone that we haven’t done nothing. Everything we’re doing now is paving the way – paving the way for battlefield first aid,” Qi Yue continued. “Battlefield first aid is very simple, because injuries caused on the battlefield are injuries that can be seen at a glance without diagnosis. But it’s also not simple, because the environment is vastly different from what we’re used to daily. This environment can be described with one word: dangerous…”

At this point, Hu San couldn’t help but raise his hand.

“Master, that’s five words…” he reminded.

At this, some people couldn’t help but laugh, but thinking of something, they quickly held it back.

Qi Yue laughed heartily and even held up her hand.

“That is dangerous,” she said again, even counting.

The room burst into laughter, sweeping away the tense and oppressive atmosphere. Everyone seemed to laugh out the accumulated depression in their hearts.

“Dangerous,” Qi Yue continued, the smile gradually fading from her face. “We are in danger, the wounded soldiers are in danger. Are you all afraid of danger?”

“Master, my grandfather died in bed while sleeping. When I was little, I didn’t dare to sleep or go to bed. My father almost kicked me to death, saying that a person’s fate is determined by heaven – however you’re supposed to die, that’s how you’ll die. What’s the point of hiding! Living is not easy, and since we’re alive, we should live happily and freely. What’s the point of living in fear of this and that, guarding against everything!” A disciple suddenly stood up and said loudly.

“Right, Master, since we chose the profession of physician, this is our fate!”

“Physicians face danger – what doesn’t have danger? My second uncle is a fisherman – doesn’t that risk drowning?”

“…Isn’t plague dangerous? Who among us has been afraid?”

With these words, the atmosphere in the room became heated. Qi Yue looked at everyone and smiled.

“Of course, we’re not afraid, but everyone also can’t deliberately seek out danger,” she laughed. “This kind of danger is still much less than the danger faced by the soldiers charging at the front.”

Chance encounters in the wilderness were very rare nowadays. After all, the Eastern barbarian cavalry was formidable and had to be avoided at their peak. The Eastern barbarians’ purpose was only to plunder wealth, and there was nothing to plunder in the wilderness, so attacking and defending cities was the main combat mode now.

“We have the protection of city walls, layer upon layer of soldiers protecting us. As physicians, we’re still quite safe in the rear. Furthermore, dealing with these injuries requires one…” Qi Yue said. When she reached this point, she looked down and counted, “One word: fast.”

Fast?

“This is why we’re so strict about timing during exercises,” Qi Yue continued. “Stop bleeding fast, bandage fast, immobilize and transport fast, classify injuries fast. Fast – this is the same as on the battlefield. Whoever is faster by one minute has one more chance of winning. Although these exercises seem chaotic, I want to tell everyone that your speed is getting faster and faster, and your coordination with each other is becoming more and more smooth. This shows that everyone is on the right path. As long as you strictly continue, the results will be astonishing.”

The disciples, being in the midst of the exercises, didn’t know the overall situation. They only heard laughter getting louder and louder around them, making them panic. They hadn’t expected their master to give such a satisfactory evaluation. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and felt much more energetic.

“Although I really don’t want to witness this effect,” Qi Yue sighed again.

The excited disciples all calmed down again.

Yes, when they as physicians showed their prowess, that was also when people suffered from illness and pain. This was really…

“However, doesn’t that saying go: hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” Qi Yue said. After finishing, she sighed and looked out the window.

The first month was about to pass, and spring’s footsteps were slowly approaching.

The river water was almost ready to thaw. From the thick ice surface, one could see the flowing water underneath.

Behind the dense withered grass, something moved a few times, as if blown by the wind.

Then a figure slid down from the earth slope. Three or four people were crouching in the earthen ditch, with four horses beside them.

“Er’Dan, how many?” they hurriedly asked.

The one who had slid down from the hillside was a thin, small man, probably only seventeen or eighteen years old, with a circle of thatch wrapped around his head.

“Five,” he said with excitement in his eyes.

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

“Shall we do it?” one of them said in a low voice.

“Five against five still has risks,” an older one said thoughtfully.

“But the battle map is on those few Tartars. We’ve chased them for so long and finally got them down to just these few. If we get it, that’s a great achievement,” someone couldn’t help but say.

These words excited everyone. After a moment of silence:

“Let’s do it,” the older one spat out the withered grass in his mouth and said fiercely.

Hearing this, everyone hurriedly went to their horses to organize their equipment. As scouts, they were very well-equipped with knives, axes, javelins, flying ropes, hand crossbows, and so on.

“Should we still take this?” a small man pulled out a white cloth and asked.

Everyone looked over and saw it was something distributed from above some time ago, said to be some kind of life-saving tourniquet.

“What use is this piece of white cloth? Probably some supplier trying to make money,” the older one shook his head, threw down the white cloth, and tied a flying shuttle to his body.

Seeing him do this, everyone also threw theirs down. Only the thin young man hesitated for a moment and tucked the white cloth into his waist.

Young people were always a bit more afraid of death. Everyone smiled and didn’t think it strange.

“Alright, you flank from left and right, you and I go straight up the middle,” the older one pointed and arranged, while extending his hand. “Kill these Tartars, seize the battle map, and we brothers will have a great achievement. Even if we die in battle, our families won’t need to worry. Let’s fight!”

“Let’s fight!” everyone said quietly, slapped their hands together forcefully, and scattered.