Perhaps because the doctor and Lu Zigan seemed so unthreatening, the soldiers escorting them gradually began chatting as they walked.
They served under Madam Qi, so naturally they favored her, discussing how their general and his wife had quarreled, how he couldn’t defeat his wife, and in a fit of anger had moved to the military camp to live, with no news for several days. This request for the madam to come to the camp was probably meant to show her who was boss.
Listening to this gossip, the doctor felt his entire worldview crumbling. The mighty and formidable Qi Jiguang described in history books was actually afraid of his wife? Had been kicked out of the house? And needed subordinates to back him up?
Perhaps they didn’t take the two seriously, or were eager to watch the excitement and simply forgot about them. After walking for half an hour, the doctor and Lu Zigan actually followed them into the military camp and even entered the main command tent.
The main tent was filled with rows of silvery armor gleaming. The moment Wang Ying entered, all the generals stood up in unison, releasing their battlefield-tested imposing presence without reservation. The stark clashing sounds of armor and weapons nearly shattered the doctor’s eardrums.
He strained to look through gaps in the crowd toward the center of the main tent and indeed saw a young man about six feet tall standing there, fully armored in gleaming silver, looking mighty and imposing, even raising a sharp saber toward Wang Ying.
“What did you summon me for?” Wang Ying’s composed, cold voice rang through the tent without a trace of timidity. If anything, there was an overwhelming murderous aura.
The doctor’s eyes widened. Was this going to be domestic violence?
The main tent fell silent as death, with everyone’s gaze fixed on the young general.
After a moment of silence, they heard him roar with full vigor: “Please… please review the troops, Madam!”
Doctor: “…”
The young General Qi and his wife’s anecdotes once again became camp gossip. Since everyone had witnessed their interaction pattern for seven or eight years, no one mocked General Qi for being afraid of his wife. Instead, they speculated about when the couple would clash next, or when General Qi might be allowed to move back in with his wife.
The doctor initially couldn’t adapt to this relaxed, teasing atmosphere at all. Was this supposed to be a feudal era with strict social customs? Why did it feel no different from modern times? But whether he adapted or not, they needed to stay for a while.
After confirming with Lu Zigan that even if they stayed in ancient times for a long period, returning to modern times would only take an instant, the doctor settled down contentedly in the military camp. They didn’t need to drill anyway, just helped with various chores. For the doctor, it felt like being on a movie set.
Lu Zigan used the alias Xia Zilu, since “Lu Zigan” was still quite famous at this time. But the doctor had considerable objections to his own alias.
“Why did you just say I’m called Doctor? Surname Yi, given name Sheng? How dare you not just give my real name!” The doctor set down the brush for washing horses, pressed his aching shoulders, and protested quietly to Lu Zigan.
“I’m thinking of you. What if you end up famous in history? Would your parents dare give you the same name as a historical figure? You think everyone’s as tough as my dad? I wasn’t born with jade in my mouth or bearing a Zigan mark—how did my father come up with the name Lu Zigan?”
Lu Zigan spoke righteously. To some extent, his father was indeed remarkable. He wasn’t born holding jade and didn’t bear any Zigan mark, so how had his father given him Lu Zigan’s name?
The doctor thought about it and found Lu Zigan’s reasoning quite sound, so he silently continued working.
Though they only did odd jobs, they were still being monitored. Lu Zigan had said, judging by the compass needle’s movement speed, they’d need to stay here at least several days. But after just half a day, the doctor was already missing modern air conditioning and phones…
A shrill horn blast pierced the peaceful camp sky. The previously drowsy doctor immediately snapped awake, watching soldiers running busily but not frantically through the camp. He grabbed one passing soldier and asked, “What’s happening?”
“Japanese pirates have landed!” The soldier pointed at distant beacon fires with obvious familiarity, but as successive horn blasts came in various long and short patterns, his expression changed: “This time the pirates are large-scale. Let go quickly—I need to form ranks!”
The doctor watched the soldier run toward the departing formation, stunned, realizing for the first time he wasn’t in a peaceful era. Here, that soldier who looked only in his teens also had to pick up heavy swords to defend his homeland from invasion.
Due to their sensitive status, the doctor and Lu Zigan were ordered not to wander around, with four soldiers assigned to guard them. The military camp, with half its soldiers deployed, obviously became much quieter and more solemn. No one was in the mood to chat about Young General Qi’s gossip anymore, while Young Madam Qi also stood fully armed in the main tent, holding her war spear, quietly awaiting battle results.
Such scenes had obviously occurred repeatedly over the years. Though worried, the soldiers maintained calm expressions. But the doctor pushed Lu Zigan, who seemed lost in thought, unable to contain his anxiety: “Nothing will go wrong, will it?”
Lu Zigan smiled: “No, the Qi Family Army is invincible. This little daily harassment is nothing. Besides, the focus of anti-piracy efforts is in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. The Qi Family Army has just been training troops in Shandong these years and will be transferred to Taizhou, Zhejiang next year.”
Lu Zigan spoke very quietly, but immediately regretted his words, clearly noticing one of their monitoring soldiers frown. Thereafter, no matter how much the doctor pestered him with historical questions, Lu Zigan kept his mouth firmly shut, revealing nothing more.
Victory news didn’t arrive until dawn the next day. Returning with the victory report were hundreds of wounded soldiers. Apart from the few squads escorting the wounded back, the remaining troops continued pursuing pirates with Young General Qi, while Young Madam Qi took charge, arranging for military physicians to treat the wounded.
Before Lu Zigan could react, he discovered the doctor had vanished. Unsurprisingly, he found the doctor bustling about in the wounded soldiers’ camp.
“What are you doing?” Lu Zigan gripped the doctor’s arm with a dark expression.
“Saving people.” The doctor wiped blood splattered on his face, speaking matter-of-factly.
“We didn’t come here to save people,” Lu Zigan said sternly.
The doctor stared steadily at Lu Zigan, rarely putting away his smile: “You’re still dwelling on me saving that person during the Republican era, aren’t you?”
After a moment’s silence, Lu Zigan honestly nodded: “That’s right. You shouldn’t have saved him.”
“That was still a fifteen or sixteen-year-old child! In modern times, just a middle school student! Look at these soldiers—they’re also just teenagers or twenty-somethings. Search your conscience—can you really harden your heart?”
Perhaps remembering the tragic situation then, or perhaps agitated by being surrounded by wounded in the medical camp, the doctor’s tone became much sharper.
Lu Zigan furrowed his brow tightly, finally exhaling after a long while: “Yes, I indeed can’t harden my heart, which is why I didn’t stop you from standing aside watching then. But if we don’t go looking for the boss, we won’t appear there. We did interfere with history—that’s fact. Fortunately, this small episode seems to have little impact on the present world, because we probably saved some nobody last time. But what about this time? What if you save some important historical figure who was definitely supposed to die? If history reaches a turning point, who takes responsibility?”
He left the rest unsaid. Last time in the Han Dynasty, they were right in Emperor Ping Liu Kan’s sleeping chamber. Thank heaven Liu Kan had congenital heart disease, or if the doctor had saved him, wouldn’t that completely change history?
The doctor coldly shook off his hand: “Pirates kill for plunder, soldiers kill to protect their homeland. Killing requires motive, but saving people never needs a reason.”
Lu Zigan watched helplessly as the doctor continued setting a young soldier’s broken bone. The hostile gazes around him made him restless. Others couldn’t quite understand what they were arguing about, but all could sense he wanted to stop the doctor from treating them.
The camp physicians only knew simple, crude external wound treatment—how could they compare to a well-educated modern surgeon? Even though the doctor specialized in cardiothoracic rather than trauma surgery, his medical skills were still leagues beyond the camp physicians.
The gazes in the wounded camp made Lu Zigan feel ashamed, as if everyone could see through the secrets hidden in his heart, forcing him to flee in panic.
After leaving the tent, he saw Wang Ying in black military dress standing outside, quietly waiting for him.
“I don’t know your origins or what conflict exists between you two,” Wang Ying said flatly, the red tassel on her war spear fluttering gently in the evening breeze. “Living in this world creates unavoidable conflicts. But in a military camp, please respect the sacrifices soldiers make to protect their homeland.”
Lu Zigan stood dazed before the wounded camp for a long time, unable to recover. Wang Ying had long since left, and the many soldiers coming and going were too busy to pay him attention. Only when the sun reached noon and voices came from the camp entrance did he stir—Young General Qi was returning triumphant.
The entire camp erupted in celebration. The cooks had long prepared celebratory meals, filling the camp with rich meat aromas. Only then did Lu Zigan feel hungry, thinking to find food for himself and bring some for the doctor too. Though he still couldn’t approve of the doctor’s actions, he obviously couldn’t stop them either.
Just then, someone called him from behind.
“Zigan… Lu Zigan?” The voice was full of disbelief.
Lu Zigan reflexively turned around, immediately regretting it. He didn’t know how much he resembled his previous incarnation, since bronze mirrors in past-life memories were rather blurry, but seeing that person’s astonished expression told him everything.
“You are Lu Zigan?”
The man was covered in blood but still showed his handsome, martial bearing—the famous Young General Qi. Returning to camp, he’d rushed to the wounded camp to check on injured subordinates, discovered that suspected pirate spy actively treating the wounded, and naturally became interested in his companion, never expecting to recognize him.
Young General Qi suddenly suppressed his uncertain expression, pulling Lu Zigan to a somewhat quieter tent, staring at him puzzledly: “Zigan, weren’t you… weren’t you executed?”
Lu Zigan took a deep breath, found his connection with Young General Qi from dusty distant past-life memories, and smiled bitterly: “I suppose… His Majesty couldn’t bear to let my skills be lost.”
Local officials had it hard. In these times, every trip to the capital for performance reports required paying many gifts to court officials. When Young General Qi had gone to the capital, he’d even pawned Young Madam Qi’s jewelry at Mute House. Though Lu Zigan was famous throughout the realm, he still helped at Mute House. Through repeated interactions, they became acquainted. The Qulu spear in Wang Ying’s hands was something Lu Zigan had found in Mute House that Young General Qi bought as a gift for his wife.
Though Lu Zigan’s explanation was rather outrageous, the current emperor’s temperament was indeed inscrutable—he hadn’t attended court for over ten years, devoted to seeking immortality. The reason for wanting Lu Zigan executed had been even more outrageous, so Young General Qi didn’t think too deeply and believed it.
Seeing Lu Zigan’s inch-long hair, he joked in good spirits: “What? Couldn’t think things through for a while and became a monk?”
Lu Zigan didn’t know how to explain his short hair and countered irritably: “Becoming a monk is still better than asking your wife to review troops.”
Young General Qi hadn’t expected his old friend to witness his embarrassing moment. If it were subordinates, that would be fine—his rank was higher anyway, so he wasn’t afraid of their private mockery. But with others, he couldn’t help explaining: “My wife has suffered too much for me. A real man naturally should cherish his wife.”
Lu Zigan, well-versed in history, knew that though Young General Qi could be considered a high-ranking official’s son in the Jiajing period, he wasn’t truly wealthy. He had to maintain and train his own troops while managing court officials everywhere. Young Madam Qi had contributed her dowry to him, managed household affairs, and in a few years at Taizhou would even take the battlefield as a woman to protect the city’s people—truly a rare woman in history.
Thinking of that woman standing strong in morning light with her war spear, Lu Zigan couldn’t help saying: “Young General, please treat your wife even better…” He didn’t know if the doctor could save others’ lives, since in his eyes, those wounded soldiers were already deceased. But he truly couldn’t bear that passionate woman being hurt, even knowing one more word from him couldn’t change anything.
Young General Qi immediately looked at him suspiciously: “That’s my wife—don’t get any improper ideas!”
Lu Zigan was completely speechless. What improper ideas could he have? Wang Ying was clearly the goddess in all Qi Family Army soldiers’ hearts—Young General Qi had a sea of people to guard against!
“Oh right, I forgot—you’ve become a monk.” Seeing the longevity lock slip from Lu Zigan’s collar, Young General Qi remembered his past, patted his shoulder and sighed: “The dead cannot return, Zigan. Try to let go.”
Lu Zigan thought his hidden thoughts had been discovered and instantly froze, but quickly realized his mistake and used the gesture of looking down at the longevity lock to hide his momentary loss of composure.