Mu Lin found that Shopkeeper Sun was particularly nice to her these past two days, and his eyes were always kind when he looked at her.
It’s not like Mu Lin hasn’t treated some critically ill patients before, and the relatives of the patients were so grateful to him that they burst into tears. But this feeling is different, and Mu Lin can’t tell what’s wrong…
The inn had been very busy during this period. After half a month, the shopkeeper Sun invited Mu Lin to his house for dinner again. After the uncle and nephew finished their meal, the shy Miss Sun came in and served them tea.
Mu Lin glanced at Miss Sun, thanked her, and politely looked away, not noticing Miss Sun's blushing face.
Miss Sun left quickly after delivering the tea. Shopkeeper Sun's eyes moved to Mu Lin's face, and there was something unusual in his smile. Mu Lin took a sip of tea and thought that Miss Sun's tea-making skills were not very good.
"Thanks to the prescription you prescribed, Xiaofeng, my daughter has been feeling much better recently..."
Mu Lin smiled faintly and said, "That's good."
"Xiaofeng, what do you think of my daughter Qinyun?"
Mu Lin didn't know why he suddenly asked this question, and said cautiously: "I don't have much contact with Miss Sun, but I have the impression that Miss Sun is a very good girl."
There was nothing wrong with this sentence. After listening to it, Manager Sun sighed and said earnestly: "Xiao Feng, you have stayed in the inn for so long, and I have always treated you as my own son or nephew. I will just say some things directly..."
Mu Lin felt something was wrong, "Uncle Sun, you can just say it."
"Xiaofeng, you are already seventeen or eighteen years old. Have you ever thought about getting married? My daughter Qinyun is about the same age as you. She looks and has a good temperament. Although she has some chest problems, she will be fine after some recuperation. Uncle Sun wants to be a matchmaker for you, which is also a good thing..."
Mu Lin: “…”
Is Manager Sun blind? Her fabricated life story is so tragic, and she is also ugly and short, how could he choose her as his son-in-law? Even if she were a man, he might consider it, but the key is that she is a woman!
Mu Lin almost immediately declined politely: "Uncle Sun, you are too kind to me. I have no family and I am alone. I am also a man of integrity. How can I be worthy of Miss Sun?"
"Eh? Young people should have ambitions. How can you be so self-destructive? As the saying goes, things change over time. Don't look down on young people because they are poor! Xiaofeng, Uncle Sun thinks that you are a promising talent despite your poverty. Don't let me down... Could it be that you don't like my daughter?"
Mu Lin frowned. Seeing the attitude of Shopkeeper Sun, she was afraid that it would be difficult to refuse. If it really didn't work, she could only give him a strong dose of medicine...
Mu Lin's face was slightly embarrassed, and he said word by word with difficulty: "Uncle Sun, Lin Feng didn't mean to shirk responsibility, but I do have something to hide... But I'll tell you, and you must keep it a secret for me... I—can't be humane."
Shopkeeper Sun was shocked, "What did you say?!"
Mu Lin smiled bitterly and said, "When I was escaping from a disaster in my early years, I accidentally injured... my body. I also know some pharmacology. It's not that I haven't tried various methods, but it's true that medicine and stone are ineffective... We are both men, you know I can't lie to you about this. I have already made up my mind to never marry, how dare I hinder Miss Sun's lifelong happiness? I hope that Shopkeeper Sun will forgive me and don't mention this matter again."
"This... Uncle Sun mentioned your sad story, which was absolutely wrong. Just pretend I never mentioned it, and don't take it to heart."
Shopkeeper Sun immediately gave up the idea and looked at Mu Lin with pity and regret. Which man can accept such a defect? It's good enough that he is not mentally twisted. In Lin Feng's situation, no woman would marry his daughter, let alone marry him! Wouldn't it be like living a life of widowhood if she followed him? It's really too sad for a man who can't carry on the family line...
Shopkeeper Sun didn't suspect that Mu Lin had lied to him. Which man could joke about such a thing? This was related to a man's most fundamental dignity!
So Mu Lin left with peace of mind.
Miss Sun came in, her face shy and timid, "Daddy, he..."
Shopkeeper Sun sighed: "Yun'er, Daddy will find a good husband for you..."
The matter was left unresolved.
Now, Manager Sun looked at Mu Lin with eyes full of pity and regret. She smiled helplessly in her heart and ignored him.
As the days passed, Mu Lin got used to the busy and poor life. She was already good at the work of a waiter and had saved some money, so she thought it was time to move to another place.
That day, Mu Lin went to the suburbs to wholesale fresh fruits and vegetables for the inn, and heard the sound of horses galloping on the official road from afar. According to her guess, there were about seven or eight horses.
They passed by here quickly, and the man in the lead rode a red horse. Mu Lin looked up and saw the man in black riding clothes standing tall like a sword, with sharp eyebrows and eyes. Before he looked over, Mu Lin calmly looked away.
Following closely behind the man were a group of burly and rough guys. In comparison, the man seemed a little too handsome.
The country road was covered in dust due to horse hooves. The vendors were complaining in low voices one after another. Mu Lin was also covered in dust. She frowned and thought that she should take a bath tonight.
Unable to bear the dust, Mu Lin quickly settled the matter and walked back slowly with two bags of loquats given to her by the vendor. When she just returned to the inn, she was called over by the shopkeeper Sun.
"Seven or eight officials have come upstairs. The leader is in Room 1. Send a kettle of hot water up and serve him carefully."
Seven or eight officials? Could they be the ones she saw in the suburbs? Mu Lin put the loquats on the counter and nodded, "I see." She went to the back hall to get a pot of hot water and took it to the second floor.
Mu Lin was standing at the door and was about to knock when he clearly heard the low voices of conversation inside. His eyes flashed and he knocked on the door.
The room was quiet for a moment, and then a loud voice came: "Who is it?"
"Innkeeper, come and bring some water."
Mu Lin heard someone approach the door and unbolt it. The door was opened a crack, and the tall figure returned to the room, and a voice came out, "Come in."
Mu Lin lowered her head and brought the water in. She smelled a slight smell of blood and paused for a moment. Although the smell of blood was covered by the body odor of a group of rough men and the faint smell of sachets, it could not be hidden from her keen sense of smell.
Mu Lin glanced at them indifferently and found that they were the group of people she saw in the suburbs.
A group of rough men surrounded the round table, but at this moment it was very quiet. The man sitting in the middle suddenly spoke in a low and hoarse voice: "You go down first."
"Master Helian, I will take my leave." The rough men said goodbye respectfully one by one. Mu Lin put the kettle beside the basin and was about to leave when Helian suddenly said, "Wait."
Mu Lin looked up at him, "Sir, do you have any other instructions?"
"Pour the hot water into the basin, wipe my back with the hot water towel, and then apply medicine to me."
"Yes." Mu Lin looked at him, a trace of doubt flashed in her eyes. This Lord Helian used the sachet to cover up the smell of blood, wasn't it to cover up the injury? Why didn't he let his subordinates help him apply medicine? No matter how you look at it, he is more trustworthy than her, an innkeeper.
If he let her know so easily, he wouldn't kill her to silence her after using her, right? Not really, and this is in the city, the risk of killing is too great...
As for the intimacy between men and women? Mu Lin was a doctor. She had applied medicine to the people of Fanghu before. She had no particular concern for patients after frequent contact. Seeing Helian slowly walk to the bed and lie on it, she did as he said.
Mu Lin walked forward and neatly took off the clothes on Helian's back, revealing the blood-soaked gauze behind him. The strange thing was that in addition to the blood-soaked gauze bandaged at an angle, there were layers of gauze wrapped around Helian's body, even his chest was tightly wrapped.
Helian's back was unusually white and delicate, just like a woman's, if you ignored the mess of new and old scars on it.
“…” If Mu Lin couldn’t guess it, he would be a fool.
This Lord Helian is actually a woman dressed as a man.
Helian was very calm, "Don't be surprised, aren't you also a woman? Help me clean the wound first, the gauze and wound medicine are in the package on the table."
Mu Lin smiled. She didn't expect that she would be discovered like this. She didn't deny it, nor did she say anything more. She gently helped Helian remove the blood-soaked gauze and said, "Bear with it."
Mu Lin soaked a towel in hot water and gently wiped the hideous wound. Helian was sweating profusely. After the cleaning, the water in the copper basin was dyed red.
Mu Lin took out gauze and wound medicine from the package, removed the stopper of the medicine and sniffed it. It contained lard, rosin, musk, yellow wax, camphor, borneol, dragon's blood, catechu, frankincense, myrrh... The medicine was an excellent wound medicine, but one of its ingredients was very special and she couldn't tell what it was.
Mu Lin didn't hesitate, and walked over to help Helian apply the ointment, then bandaged it carefully, and habitually said: "Don't let the wound get wet, don't eat spicy food during this period, and don't do strenuous activities, so as not to tear the wound..."
"Are you a doctor?"
Mu Lin said calmly: "I have learned some medical skills and know a thing or two."
Helian felt a sense of appreciation for talent. "Your bandaging skills are more skilled than those of the doctors in the army. Would you consider following me to be a military doctor?"
"Lord Helian is a general in the army?"
"Yes." She was a general.
Mu Lin understood what she meant and said with interest: "You have been fighting on the battlefield for many years, right? You have new injuries before the old ones have healed. You really need a personal doctor who can keep secrets. I am happy to experience military life... But if your identity is discovered, I am afraid you will not be able to protect yourself, and my fate will not be any better."
This is a rejection.
Helian sat up slowly. "Girl, you don't have to worry about whether my identity will be discovered. What you need to know is that if you know my identity and cannot use it for my benefit, you will not be able to walk out of this room alive."
Threats or something...
She really seemed like she couldn't beat a soldier who had been fighting on the battlefield for years, even if he was a female soldier.