Hidden Shadow – CH 203

Chapter Two-Hundred-Three: Entering the Konghe Army

The heavy smell of medicine in the room could not mask the stench of blood.

An Jiu saw Gu Jinghong’s face, as pale as paper, and his chest, lifeless. She turned to Mo Sigui, “What… happened to him?”

“With me here, he will not die.” Mo Sigui’s confidence bordered on arrogance, but his arrogance was not due to being a born medical prodigy, nor because he had received the true teachings of a Divine Physician, but rather the result of countless days and nights of painstaking research and tireless effort.

The pride derived from hard work and sweat was admirable; the boasting of unearned gains was despicable.

An Jiu completely ignored his air of Divine Physician and patiently explained, “I asked what happened to him, not whether you could cure him.”

“As the Buddha said,” Mo Sigui put down his teacup and said softly, “It cannot be spoken.”

“Heh.” An Jiu let out a light laugh, expressionless, filled with naked contempt.

“What kind of attitude is this!” Mo Sigui glared at her, hands clasped behind his back. “Fourteenth Young Lady, An Da Jiu, I am sure I hate talking to you more than anything in my life. Let’s talk less from now on!”

An Jiu said, “Why add ‘Da’?”

Mo Sigui leaned back. “A two-character name is hard to pronounce. An Xiaojiu is disgusting. You are not worth me having to put in the effort to give you a poetic name.”

Poetic… An Jiu could not help but think of the names Mo Sigui gave his medicine, like “Spring Breeze Know Not Words,” and she really had no expectations for his naming.

“An Xiaojiu, An Xiaojiu.” An Jiu repeated several times, the image of Chu Dingjiang calling this name flashing through her mind. For some reason, her heart trembled slightly. She thought for a while and, unusually, agreed with Mo Sigui’s statement, “Indeed.”

Mo Sigui immediately felt a sense of accomplishment. His peach blossom eyes smiled, unable to hide his flirtatious nature. He took out a fan and elegantly flicked it open.

But then An Jiu said with a serious expression, “I will have to make sure Chu Dingjiang does not call me that anymore.”

“Ahem!” Mo Sigui paused in his fanning motion, half-concealing his stiff expression. “Actually, the more I read it, the more poetic An Xiaojiu sounded. The more I hear it, the more pleasant it becomes. It has more of a sophisticated style, while An Da Jiu is rather vulgar.”

An Jiu mercilessly exposed him, “You are just afraid he will beat you up, are you not?”

“Nonsense!” Mo Sigui angrily slammed his fan shut. “I’ve always been an enemy of King Yama; who am I afraid of!”

An Jiu ignored him, walked to the bedside, and reached out to check Gu Jinghong’s breath. “He’s not breathing?”

“Soon!” Mo Sigui tapped the table with his finger. “Should you not go back? Is it proper for a young woman to be in a man’s room in the middle of the night?”

“I was just going to come and leave, but you drugged me and made me stay here all night.” An Jiu turned to look at him. “Does Lou Mingyue know what kind of person you are?”

“Hey!” Mo Sigui jumped up as if someone had stepped on his tail. “You can eat whatever you want, but you cannot say whatever you want. You’d better leave now, Grandma!”

“What happened to him?” An Jiu circled back to the previous topic, but this time it was clearly a threat.

Mo Sigui had always thought An Jiu was only as fierce as a wolf chasing its prey, but he forgot that wolves also had intelligence. Now he finally understood what it meant to invite a god in but not to send him away. “Someone planted something extremely important inside him. He wanted me to remove it before he left.”

Upon hearing this, An Jiu could roughly guess what he meant, but she did not know it was to take his heart’s blood.

She turned back and looked down at Gu Jinghong’s snow-white handsome face. She stood silently for a while, then turned and left.

Mo Sigui breathed a sigh of relief.

An Jiu opened the door and then suddenly stopped. Turning to look at him, she said, “I was not wrong about you. Your integrity is indeed negligible.”

Mo Sigui was stunned for a moment, then, realizing what she meant, he could not help but jump up and down, staring at the empty, open door like a fighting cock, panting heavily with anger. He decided that when he rebuilt her body in a couple of days, he would definitely use even stronger medicine!

After that, An Jiu did not bother him again.

Three days later, in the evening, someone from the Konghe Army came to pick up the new recruits. An Jiu packed her belongings and went to the training ground to assemble.

Only ten people were going to the Konghe Army: An Jiu, Lou Mingyue, Mo Sigui, Sheng Changying, Zhu Pianxian, Sui Yuntong, Li Qingzhi, Qiu Yuntong, Sun Dixian, and, unexpectedly, that effeminate instructor!

The Konghe Army had recently suffered continuous losses and desperately needed young, skilled warriors. Of the four instructors, the Earth Instructor was the youngest and naturally could not escape the transfer. However, like Sheng Changying, he was being reassigned. Earth Instructor was clearly unhappy about this; his resentment could be felt within a ten-zhang radius.

Sheng Changying, a civil official, would still be in charge of the treasury after joining the Konghe Army, receiving a promotion. But the Earth Instructor was in a different situation.

His resentment was understandable. While there were many Academy Heads above him in the Konghe Academy, they rarely interfered in day-to-day affairs. As an instructor, his salary was high, and he did not have to live a life of constant danger. In the Konghe Army, however, it would be endless work and bloodshed. Even more tragically, promotions in the Konghe Army were based on completing missions, and Earth Instructor, having just been transferred, was unlikely to receive a high position. Who could be happy about that?

“Squad Leader Gao!” The Konghe Envoy, who had come to escort them, looked displeased at the Instructor. “Why are you behaving like this? Are you unwilling to serve His Majesty?” Five people form a squad, the leader of which was called the squad leader; ten people form a team, the leader of which was called the team leader.

The others thought to themselves, “No wonder he was so resentful.” This was nothing compared to the Instructor of the Konghe Academy. This was not just a matter of being demoted a few ranks; it was like falling from a mountain into the dust.

“Replying to the envoy,” the Earth Instructor said in a high-pitched, sinister voice, looking at the guide who was originally of a lower rank than himself, “Serving His Majesty is a blessing I’ve accumulated over ten lifetimes. However, I’ve been like this since birth, which has led the envoy to misunderstand.”

The Konghe Envoy was speechless for a moment, then continued, “Ten people will be joining the Konghe Army this time. Physician Mo has other matters to attend to and will be temporarily suspended for a few days. The remaining nine, except for Headmaster Sheng and Physician Mo, will all be assigned to the Divine Martial Team, still under Lord Chu’s command, forming a team led by Squad Leader Gao. If you have no objections, please follow me.”

Who dared to object to a decision already made by the top officials?

The group could only leave the Konghe Academy in the twilight, carrying their weapons.

They had fought together, sharing life and death experiences. Entering the Konghe Army together, they felt no unease. It was simply a matter of life and death anyway; at least they had each other by their side.

This winter seemed exceptionally long. Sparse snowflakes drift in the air; it was unclear whether it was snowing again or just accumulated snow blown up by the wind.

Sui Yuntong sighed, thinking, “With such a long winter, the Liao Kingdom will likely invade again. The Konghe Army must be extremely busy right now.”

Temperatures were generally low during this period. North of the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom experienced extremely harsh winters, a time for storing grain. Not only was production impossible, but cattle, sheep, and horses often froze to death. If the winter was exceptionally long, the entire country would be destitute by spring. At such times, the fertile land and pleasant temperatures of the Song Dynasty were particularly envied by the Liao people.