Unarmored | Chapter 59 | Meeting an Old Friend | Novela.app

Perhaps it was because she hadn't returned to Lingxi for so long, but this homecoming stirred many memories that had long been dormant. Xiao Nanhui had a very, very long dream. In the first half of the dream, she struggled through a haze of sand and chaos, amidst vague fragments of her childhood. Later in the dream, her vision finally cleared, though she remained dazed and uncertain of her whereabouts. Looking at the layout of the courtyard, it was clearly her own quarters back at the Marquis’s Manor in Que City, yet the sky above was the dusty yellow unique to Suyan. She was starving, and her mouth was dry and bitter. She picked up a teapot from the table, only to pour out a cup of sand. Left with no choice, she walked out of the courtyard. Uncle Chen, Du Juan, Bo Lao, Xiao Zhun—none of them were there. No one answered her in the vast courtyard. She passed through one moon gate after another until she suddenly saw a lone rice vat standing in the middle of a yard. She walked over to look inside, only to find it didn't contain a single grain of rice. At that moment, a group of people swarmed out from all directions and surrounded her. She looked closely and saw that the leader was none other than Governor Sun. Governor Sun drew a deep breath and shouted with a voice like a booming bell, "You little rice thief! To think you’d dare steal from my house. Beat her to death!" Xiao Nanhui tried desperately to explain that she hadn't stolen his rice, but when she opened her mouth, she found she couldn't speak. The people around her raised their clubs and closed in. She wanted to fight back, but when she thrust out her fists, she realized they were the hands of a child. A pair of filthy, mud-stained, withered, and thin little hands. The figures around her seemed exceptionally tall. A heavy club was about to descend upon her head when suddenly, a flash of moon-white passed by. She looked up in a daze and saw a person radiating brilliance, dressed in flawless white, with smiling eyes like a celestial being from the highest heavens. The "celestial" smiled at her and waved a sleeve; instantly, the people surrounding her vanished. Xiao Nanhui wanted to ask if they had met somewhere before, but her mouth remained silent, her lips merely moving up and down. Seeing the celestial being turn to leave, she grew anxious and reached out to grab his sleeve. The celestial being slowly turned around and spoke, but it was a man's voice. "Xiao Nanhui, stop touching me. Take your hand away." Xiao Nanhui was startled, and suddenly her voice returned. She heard herself give a weak groan, and then she woke up. Her eyes met a high, slanted roof made of simple poplar wood. The sparse thatch failed to block the sunlight, allowing several beams to fall directly onto her legs. She stared at the light, her mind wandering; the dream receded rapidly, and she couldn't grasp any of it, leaving behind only a strange sensation. She tried to move her ankles. Two white bundles, wrapped like zongzi, wobbled in response, topped with two little bows. Which village doctor had done this handiwork? It was bloody terrible... Just as she was thinking this, there was movement by the door. She instinctively reached for her back but found nothing there, so she quickly lay back down. Just as she closed her eyes, someone stepped into the room. It sounded like more than one person, accompanied by a clattering noise, like a wooden bucket rolling on the floor. A voice so familiar it made her clench her fists rang out at the door: "Is it done?" "Yes, it was finished just this morning and delivered right away. Is she awake?" No one answered. Xiao Nanhui heard steady footsteps approaching the bed. She struggled to control her twitching eyelids and slowed her breathing. The person seemed to stop by the bedside. After a bout of rustling, Xiao Nanhui felt someone pull her hand out from under the covers. She was just beginning to wonder what was happening when a sharp pain shot through her finger. "Ah!" she screamed, unable to stop herself from bolting upright in bed. The first thing she saw was Wu Xiaoliu’s fat face, which hovered between stupidity and shrewdness. At that moment, his small eyes sparkled with a hint of delight, making him look like a marmot that had just spotted a carrot. "You're awake!" Xiao Nanhui lifted her finger and saw a thick sewing needle stuck in her thumb. Her anger flared instantly. "What are you pricking me for?! Checking to see if I'm dead yet?" "The doctor ordered it. He said to give you a prick every day to see if you've woken up." She quickly held out all ten fingers to check. Sure enough, there were already three or four needle marks. She pulled the needle out and threw it aside. "Where did you find this doctor? Are his previous patients still alive?" "Alive, alive! Everyone is waiting outside." Without even looking at Xiao Nanhui’s expression, Wu Xiaoliu raised his voice and shouted, "The heavens have opened their eyes! The gods have manifested! Chieftain Pan is awake!" Before Xiao Nanhui could react, the door to the room was kicked open with a bang. A large crowd of men, women, and children stood outside. Three or four scruffy Nanqiang men with complex expressions were the first to drop to one knee in unison, shouting in the Nanqiang tongue. "The gods have manifested!" The crowd followed suit, dropping to their knees in a wave. A cacophony of voices and various dialects rose to the heavens. Xiao Nanhui was startled by the display. She shoved Wu Xiaoliu and lowered her voice. "Hey, explain yourself. Who is the Chieftain?" Wu Xiaoliu said without looking up, "You are." She stared blankly for a moment. "Where is this?" Wu Xiaoliu half-raised his fat face, winking and grimacing. "Chieftain Pan, have you gone muddled? This is your stronghold." Ah, right. She had almost forgotten. She was originally supposed to come to Pan Mei’er’s stronghold. Her throat felt tight. When she spoke again, she switched to the official Chizhou dialect. "You lied to them and said I’m Pan Mei’er?" Wu Xiaoliu stood up, his portly frame blocking the searching gazes from outside the door. "How could I? I said you are Pan Yao’er, Pan Mei’er’s younger sister." After a pause, he added with annoying persistence, "Didn't you say so yourself?" Xiao Nanhui was so choked up she nearly lay back down. Wu Xiaoliu ignored her, stood up briskly, and pushed over a wooden chair fitted with wheels. "The people of the stronghold are waiting for you to speak." The air grew quiet for a moment, but she felt it wasn't a true peace. Struggling to sit up and move from the bed to the wooden chair, she allowed Wu Xiaoliu to push her out of the room. Before her lay red earth and fresh, yellowish-green shrubs. This was the unique landscape of Bijiang. This land, which Xiao Zhun had spent his life wanting to reclaim, stretched out beneath her feet. She felt a surge of emotion. Recalling the hardships of every step taken to get here, combined with the dull ache in her legs, a few tears actually welled up in her eyes. Using this emotion, she was about to deliver a stirring speech, but in the next instant, her gaze swept over the drab crowd and caught a flash of bright white—like a grain of white rice stuck in her field of vision. The tears that were about to fall from Xiao Nanhui’s eyes suddenly froze in her sockets. "Hao Bai?!" The "grain of rice" clearly heard her. He shrank back into the crowd shiftily, which only made him stand out more. In her excitement, she almost stood up from the wheelchair, but Wu Xiaoliu pressed her back down with a palm. The people standing in the front row heard her clearly. One of the bearded men was the first to ask, "Does the Chieftain recognize that doctor from the east?" "Chieftain Pan just woke up, her head is still a bit unclear..." Xiao Nanhui shoved Wu Xiaoliu’s fat face aside. "Of course I recognize him. He owes me a horse he never returned. I remember that debt very clearly." Hearing this, the bearded man and several other sturdy fellows stood up. "So that's how it is. Don't worry, Chieftain. Leave him to us. Within half a day, we'll bring you everything down to his grandfather's chamber pot." The men burst into loud laughter. Xiao Nanhui didn't find it funny, and Hao Bai certainly didn't either. Seeing the men walking toward him, he could only cast a pleading look at the woman in the wheelchair. Xiao Nanhui lowered her head, looked at the two bows on her feet, and sighed. "Forget it. He did save my life, after all." Not far away, Hao Bai seemed to hear this. He looked up hopefully, his posture straightening significantly. Who would have thought that in the next breath, the woman's leisurely voice would drift over? "Just strip him bare and send him to my room." *** Xiao Nanhui hadn't expected the people of this stronghold to be so efficient at stripping someone. By the time Hao Bai was tossed naked into her room, barely the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed. *Sigh, it seems the previous Chieftain ordered them to do this sort of thing quite often.* "You, surnamed Xiao! We are acquaintances, after all! I kindly treated your legs, and you humiliate me like this! Is this the behavior of a gentleman?! I am a man of medicine; I have never been treated this way! If you truly intend to commit such an indecency upon me, I... I... I'd rather die!" The person on the bed had been rambling incessantly since being tossed in. Fortunately, he spoke the official Chizhou dialect, which the Nanqiang people couldn't quite understand. Xiao Nanhui picked at her ear and dug out a bit of sand. She didn't want it to be like this, but having several men was common practice in these Bijiang strongholds. If she wanted to pass as Pan Mei’er’s sister, it was best not to act too strangely. Picking someone she knew was better than picking a stranger. Hao Bai’s hands and feet were bound behind his back in a most humiliating posture. Having spoken so much in his fury, he was now a bit short of breath and looked quite pitiful. After a while, the footsteps of the people outside finally faded into the distance. Xiao Nanhui signaled Wu Xiaoliu to untie Hao Bai and threw him a set of coarse indigo clothes, never once looking toward the bed during the process. The man looked like a young maiden whose virtue had been ruined. If he ever showed up at the Marquis’s Manor in the future and ran into Du Juan, Xiao Nanhui wouldn't be able to clear her name even if she jumped into the Hun River. "That white outfit of yours is too conspicuous. They don't have good dyeing techniques here; one look and everyone knows you're an outsider." Hao Bai had already scrambled into the clothes and was huddling in a corner of the bed, still shaken. Xiao Nanhui turned around at the sound and looked at him with some amusement, asking the question on her mind: "Why aren't you staying in Wan City? What are you doing here?" "It's all because..." Hao Bai stopped mid-sentence, suddenly looking like a chicken that had been grabbed by the neck. The face of *that person* and the instructions he had given flashed before his eyes. A month ago, he had been preparing to go to Que City. The matter of the Secret Seal had caused no small stir within his clan, and the elders wanted him to go personally to confirm a few things. However, before he could even step out of Wan City, the person he was looking for had come to his door. Ever since he learned that person's identity, he could no longer play dumb, and the entire clan had been trembling in fear. But who would have thought the man only requested that he serve as a traveling physician? He had breathed a massive sigh of relief and agreed without much thought. *Heh.* After spending those few days with that man, he should have realized things wouldn't be so simple. Sure enough, they headed west, going to increasingly remote places. By the time he realized what was happening, they had reached the border of Tong City and Suyan. Even with his limited information, he knew a bit about recent events, but he hadn't expected that man to personally go and investigate. Every night, as he closed his eyes in uncertainty, he would think of certain rumors among the common folk. *Daughters take after fathers, sons take after mothers.* If the biological mother was a madwoman, did that man’s temperament follow suit to some extent? In this vast world, a few madmen were not surprising. But of all people, why did it have to be *him*? He felt a sudden pang of grief for the people of the world, but he hadn't expected an even greater grief was yet to come. He had been stationed with the others thirty miles outside Sanmu Pass when he was suddenly summoned that day. That man wanted him to go alone to a stronghold deep within Bijiang. "Does the person you speak of have a life-threatening injury?" he remembered asking. "Not for the time being." "The Qu clan is untalented; we only treat those at death's door." *Hmph.* He was a proud man, wasn't he? How could he be ordered around like a common street doctor? Besides, Bijiang was so dangerous. "Though her life is not in danger, she is your friend." His ears perked up. *Friend?* What friends did he have in Lingxi? *Hmph, trying to trick me? No way!* In the next instant, the man's voice suddenly drew closer. "Qu Mo, agreeing now is an act of merit. If you refuse, it can only be counted as redeeming yourself through service. You are going either way; do you understand?" the man's words drifted lightly past his ear. He shuddered, feeling as though a female ghost had blown on his neck. "Hao Bai?" The woman's dissatisfied voice pulled his thoughts back to reality. However, remembering everything that had happened, he couldn't bring himself to show a pleasant face. "What?!" "You stopped halfway. Because of what?" *Because I was threatened!* His lips trembled, and his teeth ground together fiercely. Hao Bai’s unpowdered face looked sallow. After a long pause, he finally spoke: "I was traveling to practice medicine and just happened to pass by." Xiao Nanhui was still skeptical. "But didn't you send a letter to my manor saying you were going to Que City this month..." "What do you care?! I'll come here if I want to! I'll go wherever I want!" Hao Bai roared, but because his clothes were disheveled, he lacked momentum, looking like a petulant young bride throwing a tantrum. Xiao Nanhui was also startled by the mercurial doctor. She figured the environment of Bijiang was different from Chizhou, causing the man before her to lose his wits. She blinked and said, " I didn't mean anything by it. Why are you so worked up?" Silence fell over the room. Wu Xiaoliu slowly walked between the two of them, went straight to the window, lifted the simple curtain made of ragged burlap, and looked at them expressionlessly. "If you two don't think this is exciting enough, you can shout even louder." Xiao Nanhui gave a sheepish smile. She had forgotten herself. This was Bijiang; the houses were drafty on all sides and naturally not soundproof. Thinking of this, she pushed her wheelchair to the bedside and lifted her zongzi-wrapped feet, holding them up before Hao Bai’s eyes. "When will my legs be healed?" Hao Bai tied the last string on his clothes and hopped off the bed, having no intention of looking back at her feet. "Three months." "Three months?!" Xiao Nanhui nearly jumped out of the wheelchair. If she had to wait three months in a wheelchair, how the hell was she supposed to do any work behind enemy lines? "Three months is already considered a fast recovery. Although only one side of your ankle bone was broken, the meridians in both legs were almost completely destroyed. You won't find another person under the sun who can reconnect your meridians as well as I have." And certainly no one else would be willing to use two Bone-Subduing Needles on her. Two of them! One for each foot. Just thinking about it made his heart ache. "Quack." Hao Bai completely lost his temper. He intended to flick his sleeves and leave in a huff, but as soon as he swung his arm, the woman grabbed him. "Where are you going?" Hao Bai didn't say a word, struggling with all his might. Yet after struggling for a long time, his sleeve didn't budge an inch. "If you truly want to leave, I won't stop you. But do you really think you can get out of here?" "...Don't try to scare me." She gave him a cold look and said calmly, "Medical skills are backward in the Bijiang area. If someone in the stronghold gets sick or injured, they can only rely on witch doctors and rituals. It's not uncommon for a simple cold to take a life. Never mind a physician—even a herb gatherer who wanders in here would often have their legs broken just to keep them in the stronghold." Hao Bai didn't give up. "Don't they call you Chieftain? If you speak up, would they still dare not to let me go?" Xiao Nanhui sighed softly. "My seat as Chieftain isn't even warm yet; I'm afraid I can't protect you right now. You know as well as I do—if our cover is blown and it comes to a real fight, I can only sit in this chair and wave my arms around." Hao Bai’s eyes went dull, and he slumped onto the floor. He had thought that once his mission was complete, his days in this godforsaken place would be over. Who would have thought... "So, let's not look down on each other. The days ahead are still long." *** **Glossary** Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation ---|---|--- 南羌 | Nanqiang | An ethnic group/tribe in the border regions. 碧疆 | Bijiang | The border region where the story takes place. 寨主 | Chieftain | Leader of a stronghold or bandit camp. 潘姚儿 | Pan Yao'er | The alias Wu Xiaoliu gave Xiao Nanhui. 潘媚儿 | Pan Mei'er | The original leader of the stronghold. 伏骨针 | Bone-Subduing Needle | A specialized medical tool/technique for treating severe bone/meridian injuries. 瞿墨 | Qu Mo | Hao Bai's real name.