“Miss, are you going to the restroom?”
Yueru’s voice came from outside the door.
Su Muge loosened the dagger in her hands. “No, I’m just getting up for a drink. It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”
“Yes.”
…
“Your Royal Highness, there is a message from Yanxia pass.” Donglin hurriedly walked into Xia Houmo’s room with a letter.
They had wiped out the bandits on the mountain and were now on their way back to the capital.
“Give me.”
Xia Houmo opened the letter and read it.
“Your Royal Highness, what happened over there?” Zuowei asked anxiously.
Under the candlelight, his dark eyes were flickering and his slender fingers crumpled the letter paper into pieces.
Donglin took a deep breath. “A mysterious troop is reported to have appeared and have been raiding the towns and villages near Yanxia pass.”
“No troop has been sent to arrest them?” Within the jurisdiction of Yanxia pass, they could send troops.
Donglin’s eyes were cold. “Those towns and villages are not within the jurisdiction of Yanxia pass.”
“What? This is absolutely provoking!”
Without the order of the Emperor, the troops of Yanxia pass couldn’t leave their camp easily; otherwise, they would commit a capital crime.
Zuoqiu said with a sullen face, “Could they be the barbarians of Nanban?”
Donglin also frowned. “It seemed to be Nanban’s tactics. But it is investigated that they are taller and stronger than ordinary people, and even their horses are much taller.”
“Nanban people are mostly short and small; few of them can be tall and strong. How many people are there in the troop? Is everyone so tall and strong?”
“It is a team of more than a thousand soldiers; each of them is as strong as a horse. Judging from their figures, they don’t look like Nanban people.”
Donglin looked at Xia Houmo. “Your Royal Highness, if we can’t send troops, are we just watching those innocent people be abused and killed tragically?”
They could do nothing but watch the people near Yanxia pass die tragically. It was humiliating Xia Houmo!
“Your Royal Highness, there is one more message.” The secret guard entered the room with the message.
Xia Houmo took it over and read it, instantly making the air in the room frozen.
“Your Royal Highness, what’s wrong?”
Xia Houmo threw the letter on the table. Donglin and others picked it up and suddenly turned sullen.
“A village was burned down overnight, and all the 120 people in the village had been burned to death!”
“Lieutenant Zhang wants to send troops to wipe out those people. If this matter is known to those with a scheme, it may lead to unimaginable consequences.” If anything went wrong, Xia Houmo, as the leader of the army, would be the first to take the responsibility.
“Your Royal Highness …”
“Take my token and go to Yanxia pass.”
“Yes!”
…
The next day, Su Muge was awakened by the suona horn outside.
She opened her sour eyes and found the sun was already shining outside.
“Yueru?”
Yueru, who had long been waiting outside, walked in with a copper basin.
“Miss, you wake up.”
“What time is it now?”
“Miss, it’s past noon.”
“Past noon?” She overslept again. But fortunately, there was no rule of greeting in the morning and serving in the evening, and Old Lady Su didn’t care about such etiquettes.
“Why is it so noisy outside?”
Yueru’s eyes flickered with a little contempt.
“It’s Concubine Hai’s marriage.”
After a while, Su Muge came to realize that Su Lun was taking Haitang as his concubine.
It had just been decided yesterday. How could they carry it out so soon today?
“They are so fast.”
Xinlan entered the room with breakfast. “Miss, you don’t know that Madam had been busy until midnight. She is just a concubine. How can she be treated like this? The whole mansion has been busy working for her.”
“Xinlan!”
Yueru rebuked in a low voice and interrupted Xinlan. If she were caught commenting on the master, she would be heavily punished.
“Never say anything like this again.”
Xinlan looked at Su Muge aggrievedly and lowered her head. “Sister Yueru, rest assured, I certainly dare not say it outside.”
“Yueru is right. There’s something you can’t say.”
Xinlan nodded repeatedly.
Old Lady Su couldn’t wait to marry Haitang to Su Lun and ordered Su Lun to go to Haitang’s courtyard for half a month and to give her a grandson as soon as possible.
Having been ignored by Su Lun for many years, Zhao just wanted to manage Su Mansion well now, so she continued her simple and peaceful life.
After these days, Su Muge had dredged Xia Houpo’s meridians and she would operate on him today.
At night, Su Muge sat at the table and watched the hourglass. Just as the last sand ran out, a black figure appeared in her room.
“Miss Su, please.”
Su Muge nodded, picked up the medical kit, and left Su Mansion with the man in black.
As before, she was blindfolded. When the black cloth on her eyes was taken down, she was already in the room where Xia Houpo was treated.
After sending her into the room, the man in black retreated, leaving Su Muge alone with Xia Houpo in the room.
Xia Houpo was wearing a dark brown robe today, making his eyes even darker.
Xia Houpo raised his eyes and glanced at Su Muge coldly.
Su Muge put her medical kit on the table, took out her gloves, and put them on.
“The operation will start after a quarter. If you have something else to do, you’d better finish it now.”
Xia Houpo felt confused for a while.
Until Su Muge dropped her eyes to his crotch…
Xia Houpo’s face turned even sterner. Was this woman mocking him for wetting his pants after a while?!
“No!” Xia Houpo’s voice was almost squeezed out from his throat.
Su Muge wanted to ask him not to be shy; if he couldn’t bear the pain and experience incontinence of urine and feces, he would lose his face. After all, she wouldn’t use anesthetic on him during the operation.
But seeing Xia Houpo’s expression, Su Muge decided not to continue her speech.
“Since you are ready, let’s get started.”
When she came here last time, she had asked them to prepare a simple operating room, which was just next door to the room.
“Okay.”
Su Muge carried her medical kit to the next door. The guards outside wanted to come in and hold Xia Houpo out, but Xia Houpo pushed them away with a stern face.
“Go away!”
Xia Houpo came to the door of the operating room, gritted his teeth, and stood up with both hands.
After a glance at him, Su Muge ignored him, thinking him being more nice than wise.
When Xia Houpo moved to the operating table, his body was already wet with cold sweat.
“What … what are you going to do?”
Su Muge put on the mask, tied up her hair with a headscarf, took a pair of sterilized scissors, and cut off the pants under his thigh.
Xia Houpo’s calf looked a little deformed, so she not only had to set his bones but also remove the useless bones, which was a big project.
Su Muge pointed to his calf, “I’ll cut your leg open to set your bones.”
Xia Houpo looked at her confusedly.
Su Muge took out a black pill. “Eat it.”
Xia Houpo looked at the pill but didn’t take it.
Su Muge kept patient. “The eldest Master, if I wanted to poison you, you would have been dead now.”
“You!” Xia Houpo took the pill and swallowed it.
After a while, he felt weak all over and collapsed on the operating table like an animal waiting for Su Muge to slaughter.
What did you feed me!
Xia Houpo wanted to roar, but he couldn’t make a sound no matter how hard he tried.
Su Muge tied his hands with a rope to prevent him from struggling during the process.
Xia Houpo could feel what Su Muge was doing to him; this feeling was even more real than usual.
Su Muge took a wood stick covered with cloth and stuffed it into Xia Houpo’s mouth. “Bite it when you feel painful, but don’t swallow it.”
After Su Muge disinfected Xia Houpo’s legs, she took out a scalpel to cut his legs…
At first, Xia Houpo only felt a slight tingling. For a man who had practiced martial arts, this kind of pain was nothing to him at all. But the tingling gradually became a severe pain, and he could feel that Su Muge was cutting his bones with a knife!
Xia Houpo had never thought the pain to be so unbearable. Now he only wished he could pass out immediately. However, the more pain he felt, the more conscious he became. Moreover, he couldn’t move at all.
Su Muge wouldn’t care whether Xia Houpo was overwhelmed with pain at the moment. She separated the blood vessels and muscles on his leg and exposed the bone.
The bone had been seriously crooked and must be sawn off entirely.
Su Muge took out the saw she had long prepared to cut the bone.
Watching the shadow in the room, the people guarding outside couldn’t help taking a deep breath.
Time was passing in silence.
“It’s done finally.”
After Su Muge sutured the wound, she looked at Xia Houpo who had repeatedly passed out and woken up in pain. The wood stick covered with cloth in his mouth had already been crunched by him.
After taking off her mask and gloves, she opened the door. It was still dark outside, and she didn’t know what time it was now.
“It’s done. Help him change his clothes without touching his legs. After he wakes up, feed him the medicine. Three pills a day for three days.”
“Miss Su, how is the eldest Master…”
“The operation is successful, but it’s not over. The most important thing is postoperative rehabilitation; he will have to undergo a series of training to get fully recovered after he can stand up.”
The guard nodded confusedly. However, it didn’t matter if he couldn’t understand. Anyway, Su Muge had mentioned that Xia Houpo could stand up, that was to say, Xia Houpo’s leg had been cured!
After some explanations, Su Muge took out the prepared anti-inflammatory medicine and handed it to the guard.
“Now, can you send me back?” She was tired now and only wanted to sleep. It was her habit after surgery.
A man in a robe walked into Xia Houpo’s room, checked his pulse, and nodded at the guards beside him after confirming that he had no other problems except for being a little weak.
The man in black stepped forward to cover Su Muge’s eyes. Just as he was about to take her away, a figure came out of the darkness.
The person walked out of the darkness slowly, revealing her face.
The man in a robe was stunned at the sight of Infanta Ceylon and immediately frowned slightly. “How do you get here, Your Grace?”
Infanta Ceylon was wearing a night suit and carrying the whip with a barb glittering coldly under the moonlight.
“Do I have to report to you where I want to go? Get out!” Infanta Ceylon snorted and raised the whip in her hand to hit the guards on both sides of Su Muge.
