Shang Wu's horse advanced slowly amongst the hyped soldiers. The general's armor was coated in dirt and dried blood and he had lost a lot of weight. The sa could be said for the n that had gone missing along with him.
He Yuan observed Shang Wu for a while before turning around and entering the infirmary once more. The general looked really pale and could collapse at any second but must have insisted on riding his horse to increase the morale of his soldiers.
As He Yuan packaged the dicines lying around, Wu Hong and the other attendants were focused on cleaning the tent.
Hours later, He Yuan went to the secluded part of the camp to freshen up and then returned to his assigned tent completely tired.
As He Yuan settled in his sleeping bag, a call ca from outside his tent. It was Shang Wu's deputy general.
"Second miss Cao, the general was shot by an arrow as we tried to escape from the enemy camp and we're just realizing it was coated with slow acting poison. The military physician has little knowledge of poison and the genius doctor is nowhere to be found.
-I know you said your knowledge of dicine is limited but at this point, anything is welco. You work with the genius doctor in the sa tent so maybe you've been able to learn one or two things. Shang Wu has to live~" The man's voice broke at the end, he was Shang Wu's closest friend after all.
He had been distraught when the general went missing so he was glad when reinforcent ca and the first thing he did was to take a squad of soldiers into the enemy camp. They'd been successful after such a long ti so it would be a sha for Shang Wu to die in his own camp.
He Yuan nodded and went inside to grab his dicine bag. The faster Shang Wu was healed, the faster he could leave this place.
The camp was running out of dicine ingredients and even the ones he had prepared before coming were almost used up so Jiang He had taken so soldiers with him to scour the forest for ingredients.
When he got to the general's tent, he noticed Shang Wu was lying face up. His eyes were closed tightly and his breathing was laboured. He Yuan quickly settled down and got to work.
When it was almost midnight, the general's condition was finally stabilized and the high ranked soldiers all let out a breath of relief.
He Yuan returned to his tent with slightly twitching fingers, sothing he'd gotten used to over the past months of constantly treating the soldiers.
In three days, the general was able to walk about and he went straight to He Yuan's tent. When He Yuan ca out, he bowed his head slightly. "Second miss Cao, I heard from my subordinates that you were responsible for treating ."
He laughed softly. "The life debt has doubled and I really don't know how to repay you."
He Yuan waved at him. "General Shang, it's fine. If I didn't help then we would lose this battle and that would be detrintal to the nation. Think of it as helping the nation instead."
Shang Wu's eyes softened as he stared at He Yuan. "You're unmarried. If it isn't too much trouble I'd like to-"
"If it was the military doctor that saved you, would you have proposed marriage to him?" He Yuan interrupted.
Shang Wu choked. "Well no bu-"
He Yuan sighed. "I know you're thankful, I accept your thanks, you don't have to offer yourself to ."
"I like you!" Shang Wu blurted out. "Right from the ti at the capital. I had been planning to go over to the Cao family to propose a marriage before all this happened."
He Yuan lowered his head and massaged his forehead with a brow. He wasn't Cao Yuei, so he couldn't decide her marriage. Even if he could, there was no way he would chose Yu Ming, Shang Wu or Jiang He.
After all, these n had orchestrated her grueso death in the original storyline. He raised his head to find Jiang He and Cao Luoi standing a few feet away from them.
Jiang He was glaring daggers at Shang Wu and Cao Luoi was staring at all of them with a complicated gaze. Once she locked eyes with He Yuan, she looked away guiltily and walked away.
He Yuan frowned. What was up with her? Cao Luoi had been acting weird for the past two months and he couldn't figure out why.
"General Shang, we're in the middle of defending the frontier. I think you should focus on that." He Yuan said and walked back into his tent.
Shang Wu turned around and locked eyes with Jiang He, the both of them stared at each other fiercely before going their separate ways.
Cao Luoi walked back to her tent and sat on her makeshift bed. After the attack on the rear part of the camp months ago, she'd had a hyper realistic dream.
She couldn't rember every part of the dream clearly but there were so parts she clearly rembered.
She rembered getting together with the first prince, the general and the genius doctor. She rembered setting up Cao Yuei. Her original plan had been to set Cao Yuei up with a random man and ruin her reputation.
The three n had offered to take care of it for her and she gladly accepted it. After they had ruined Cao Yuei's reputation with the wastrel Ba He, general Shang had co up with the idea of making her marry Ba He.
They had all gone with it. Cao Luoi had been blinded by jealousy and the graceful figure of Cao Yuei that she had encountered on the street in her past life so she didn't stop them.
When Cao Yuei died a week later, she rembered the imnse guilt she'd felt in her dream but she also rembered brainwashing herself that Cao Yuei deserved it, that it was Cao Yuei's fault for not being strong enough.
After all, the things Ba He did to Cao Yuei were things that she, Cao Luoi, had gone through in the whorehouse right from when she was ten years old.
When Jiang He had gone to drug the second son into becoming a fool, she rembered the feeling of amazent she'd felt in her dream and she also rembered how the n had coaxed her, telling her it was all for her own good.
Again, she brainwashed herself. The second son was Wan Ruo's child so he also deserved to be punished. She'd beco increasingly unhappy from then on but she was constantly pampered by the three n so she learnt to hide her depressed feelings.
Cao Luoi stood up from her makeshift bed and paced around her tent. She was in an agitated state and this was because of how she ended up in her dream.
She'd given birth to three children, all boys, and each man had picked a favourite. This didn't bother her when they were little but once they grew up, the problems started.
Each man wanted their own favourite to ascend the throne. The first prince, who was then the emperor, argued that it was his throne and he would hand it over to who he pleased but the general and doctor argued back that the three children belonged to three of them together so each should get a chance for the throne.
The argunt soon blew out of proportions when ti ca to choose an heir and war broke out. The Eastern and Southern soldiers were all loyal to the emperor so they backed Yu Ming and his favoured child.
Although Shang Wu had retired and handed in his token, the Northern and Western soldiers were still more loyal to him and so him and his favoured child had their backing.
Jiang He had spent his younger years wandering about treating the sick, so many martial arts practitioners, rchants and even so lords from surrounding nations were grateful to him and gave him and his favoured child their backing.
The nation beca a total ss and Cao Luoi had died the most grueso death in the hands of her own children when she refused to pick a side.
Cao Luoi ran her hand over her face before walking out of the tent. Whether that was a dream of the life she'd already lived or the future, she had no idea but she couldn't let that happen again!
Her legs carried her to the front of Cao Yuei's tent and after hesitating for a short while, she hardened her resolve and called out.
He Yuan walked out of his tent and stared at Cao Luoi with raised brows. What did the girl want this ti?
Cao Luoi stared at the Cao Yuei before her. Her dream had started on the day Cao Yuei had been frad by she and the three n so she couldn't accurately deduce the dream Cao Yuei's character.
One thing she was sure of was that this Cao Yuei before her, who was always so talkative when it ca to reprimanding her and telling her to watch herself and avoid inappropriate contact with n, was much different from the quiet Cao Yuei in her dream.
This Cao Yuei was prim and proper, very decisive and so talented in dicine. She also had the admiration of thousand of soldiers.
Cao Luoi smiled. She wasn't even jealous. Maybe what she'd dreamt of two months ago was only just a nightmare but when she looked into Cao Yuei's eyes, she couldn't stop the guilt that settled deep in her heart.
Maybe it wasn't just a dream? Either way, she would never let it happen again!
Cao Luoi clenched her fists tightly at her sides and looked at He Yuan with slightly reddened eyes.
"Cao Yuei. Let's be sisters... Okay?"
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