Chapter 28: The Third of the Great Chu

Lin Feng chuckled and said, "I didn't save her just because she's pretty."

Xiao Die thought to herself that he was lying.

After feeding the man the herbal decoction, Lin Feng covered them with blankets. A while later, the color began to return to their faces, and their breathing gradually steadied.

Xiao Die asked in surprise, "Big Brother, are you actually skilled in medicine? When did you learn that?"

"Do you remember that old Taoist priest I told you about, the one who taught me martial arts? He was skilled in almost everything and taught me a little of each." Lin Feng suddenly realized this was a perfect explanation; whenever anyone found his skills strange in the future, he could just blame the old master.

"Did he also teach you how to make spiced peanuts and sugar-coated haws?"

"That’s right. We didn't have to worry about food or clothing before, but now that we’re struggling, I naturally have to make use of all my talents."

"If you had shown those talents earlier, Big Brother, the Master wouldn't have been so hard on you."

Lin Feng curled his lip and shook his head. "Do you think my good-for-nothing second brother caused any less trouble? How many times did he face family punishment? Yet no matter what I did, no matter how small the mistake, I was almost always met with the rod! He treated the children of the stewards and shopkeepers better than me, as if I weren't his own son. No matter how well I did, he never saw it."

"Big Brother, I remember on the road away from Chu City, you kept shouting that you would return to the Lin family sooner or later. Do you still want to go back?"

"I said I would return to Chu City, not the Lin family. They drove me out, so why would I go back to them? If I return, I won't be staying there. My return would only have two purposes: first, to retrieve my mother’s spirit tablet. To this day, they refuse to place it in the Lin family ancestral hall, and I cannot allow her to suffer such an indignity. The second purpose is to investigate what truly happened that night. I won't have the filth of slandering a concubine pinned on me without a fight!"

"Exactly!" Xiao Die said, clenching her small fists indignantly. "Big Brother must have been framed by that harlot!"

"Thinking back, leaving Chu City was a blunder. If the Lin family wouldn't let me stay, they don't own the whole city. I shouldn't have just left because they told me to! They aren't the Emperors of Chu City! We should have found a place to stay inside the city to investigate the matter. Now look at us, we've run so far away that people in Chu City probably think I’m a coward fleeing from justice."

Xiao Die frowned. "What should we do then? Will the people in Chu City laugh at you if we go back?"

Lin Feng smiled faintly. "The people who feared me before did so because I beat them into submission, but they never stopped cursing and mocking me behind my back. In the future, they might just move that to my face, but do you think your big brother is a pushover?"

"But before, you were at least part of the Lin family, so they didn't dare do much. Without the family’s protection, it might be different."

"Let the soldiers come, I'll block them; let the water rise, I'll build a dam. I don't fear them without the Lin family's protection. I'll still knock them around all the same!"

"Big Brother is the best!" Xiao Die cheered, pumping her fist.

"Average, average. Third in the Great Chu. The first one died young, and the second one is paralyzed!"

Xiao Die giggled.

"Alright, we should head back."

"What about them?"

"We'll go back to eat and rest. We've already left them water and food. We can come back this afternoon to check on their condition."

The two cleaned up and walked out of the hut.

"Liu Xi, everything alright?"

"Yes, nothing to report."

"Good, let’s go back."

The three of them left the hut while talking.

Inside, the two on the beds opened their eyes. The man looked at the woman beside him and smiled. "Sister, when did you wake up?"

"Just a moment ago."

"Me too. I opened my eyes slightly when he wasn't looking. It turns out he's the same person who was selling sugar-coated haws and getting into a fight on the street when we were eating in town yesterday," the man laughed. "Quite a coincidence."

The woman nodded slightly. "I heard them mentioning sugar-coated haws and spiced peanuts just now."

"He's quite an oddity. I didn't expect him to know medicine. But he’s certainly not humble—calling himself the third in Great Chu, with the first two dead or paralyzed, isn't that just saying he's the best? I nearly burst out laughing."

"If he's the first, then what is the Imperial family... what nonsense." The woman pursed her lips, then frowned. "I don't know what he fed us, it was both salty and spicy..."

"Whatever medicine it is, as long as it works. I feel much better." The man sat up and gently moved his arm. "The pain in my wound has eased quite a bit."

The woman moved her leg as well and said in surprise, "Indeed, it has." She looked closely at her calf. "He used acupuncture. It seems he used a combination of acupuncture and herbal decoction to purge the poison. I once saw a famous doctor use this method back home."

"This man has some real talent. We are truly indebted to him. If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn't have been able to purge the poison or treat our wounds even if they had carried us to this hut. We are very lucky."

The woman asked, "Can you walk now?"

"I'm fine, but the question is you—it's your leg that's injured."

"I'll be fine." The woman stood up, gritting her teeth against the pain in her leg. "We cannot stay here long. We must leave as soon as possible!"

"Where to?"

"Home, of course." The woman thought for a moment. "How much silver do we have left?"

The man took the purse from his sleeve and opened it. "He is a gentleman indeed; he didn't touch our money. Not a single ounce is missing, there's still over fifty taels."

"We aren't mobile, so we must buy two horses to get back. Also, if they are hunting us, we must buy two swords. This silver is just enough. But since he saved us, we cannot leave without a gesture of gratitude."

The man checked his person. "I have nothing else of value on me."

The woman took out a jade pendant. The man was surprised. "Sister, this is your personal pendant. You are giving it to a man..."

"If he cared about such things, wouldn't he have taken advantage of me when he carried me to this hut? Should I have killed him then?"

"Of course not. You’ve always been clear about debts of gratitude, you certainly wouldn't have done that. Otherwise, you would have killed him as soon as you woke up."

"Compared to him saving our lives, what does this matter?"

The man smiled. "Back when you were training and eating with those men, if you had cared about such things, they would have been turned into pincushions long ago."

The woman smiled faintly. She walked to the stone table by the bed, picked up some leftover white cloth from the bandages, and poured a little water from the jar onto the dried blood on the ground.

Then, dipping her finger into the bloody water, she wrote on the cloth:

*To our benefactor: We are deeply grateful for your life-saving grace. We cannot stay long, but I offer this personal jade pendant as a token of thanks. I will surely return with a heavy reward to redeem this pendant and thank you once more.*

After writing, she wrapped the pendant in the cloth and placed it under the quilt.