Physician Sun, who always lived by the rule of rising at sunrise and retiring at sunset, was already fast asleep by 7 PM.
Before long, he had a strange dream.
It seemed someone was carrying him as they flew.
Darting high and low, leaping across rooftops and ridges—even the sound of the wind whistling past his ears felt utterly real.
Wait, something’s wrong!
Physician Sun’s eyes snapped open to see a sky full of twinkling stars.
He really was flying through the air.
The person carrying him noticed he was awake and gave a simple, honest laugh. “Physician Sun, our General’s wife requests your presence! Seein’ as you were sleepin’ so soundly, I was a bit shy to wake ya. Don’t you worry none, I brought your medicine chest for ya. It’s not far; we’re not goin’ to the General’s estate, but to a new house the General bought. His wife is stayin’ there for now!”
Physician Sun: @#$%…
I swear, for the rest of my life, I will be mortal enemies with anyone and anything connected to Huo Ci!
Last time, after he and his granddaughter treated the Old Lady Huo, everyone in charge at the General’s estate had simply vanished.
When asked, they’d all just said they were ‘out visiting the markets.’
Fine, they can go out, but could they not have at least left a carriage for him and his granddaughter?!
How could they just use people and then discard them like this?!
In the end, he and his granddaughter had to walk all the way back home.
Still, for the sake of that ten thousand taels of silver, he had let the disrespect slide.
But now they were getting even more outrageous!
How could they just pluck him right out of his own home, fast asleep, without anyone noticing?!
This time, even if they offered him another ten thousand taels for the consultation—
“What?! Twenty thousand taels?”
Physician Sun stood frozen, holding two crisp, new ten-thousand-tael banknotes, completely at a loss.
The four maids—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—bowed gracefully towards him. “We beg Physician Sun to save our young mistress.”
Seeing the pool of blood on the floor, Physician Sun’s heart sank. Knowing the situation was critical, he stuffed the banknotes into his robe and hurried into the inner room.
There was no time now for concerns about propriety between men and women; there was only a patient and a doctor.
The moment Physician Sun saw Jiang Xingyan’s bloody back, he froze on the spot.
As a physician who had followed Huo Ci’s grandfather onto the battlefield, he could tell at a glance that this wound was caused by a forceful blow from a specific weapon unique to the Beiluo army—the spiked mace.
The blow had been delivered with full force; the shoulder was certainly broken, and the bones were likely shattered into pieces.
There were also severe external injuries, with numerous sharp spikes having pierced deep into the flesh before being violently ripped out, leaving a bloody, mangled mess.
A faint blackish hue on the wound indicated poisoning.
Physician Sun drew a sharp, horrified breath, feeling as if he had been thrown back to those battlefield days, facing the mutilated bodies of countless soldiers.
Acting on instinct, he grabbed the antidote powder from his medicine chest and frantically sprinkled it over the wound.
He thought nothing could shock him more than this.
But when he saw that ‘Jiang Xingyan’ didn’t make a single sound as the powder was applied, a mix of shock and fear overwhelmed him, and he stumbled backward several steps.
“Quickly, check her breathing!”
Before Xia Feng, who was waiting nearby, could move, the ‘Jiang Xingyan’ on the bed spoke up. “Physician Sun, I’m fine. Please set the bone.”
Physician Sun was aghast.
He knew full well that the antidote powder caused excruciating pain.
Even the old General Huo—who hadn’t so much as flinched during a bone-scraping poison treatment—had grunted in pain when this medicine was applied.
What he didn’t know was that the pain was indeed real, but it wasn’t Huo Ci who was feeling it—it was Jiang Xingyan.
At this moment, although Jiang Xingyan couldn’t even open her eyes, she was shaking and writhing on the bed in agony, burning up with a high fever.
Xin Zhui and Xiao Zhenhuai watched, stunned, as ‘Huo Ci’—whose own back was completely unharmed—cried out in pain on the bed. Their minds raced, each lost in their own thoughts.
Xin Zhui wept bitterly, consumed by guilt. “It’s all my fault! If I hadn’t insisted on saving Xiao Hei, the General’s wife wouldn’t have been injured.” He wished with all his heart that he could bear the pain for her.
Xiao Zhenhuai’s gaze flickered with doubt and suspicion. Could it be that even after swapping souls, they are still inextricably linked to their original bodies?
Both men were helpless in the face of Jiang Xingyan’s suffering.
Over with Physician Sun, cold sweat was breaking out from the urgency of the situation.
He had confirmed that there were bone fragments inside the shoulder.
If he didn’t operate immediately to remove them and reset the joint, the General’s wife’s arm would be permanently crippled.
Not only would it cause unbearable pain during cloudy or rainy weather in the future, she might not even be able to lift her arm.
“Physician Sun, if her arm is crippled, this humble one might just have to kill someone,” a cold voice spoke from behind him.
Physician Sun had lost count of how many shocks he’d had that day.
The speaker was none other than the State Preceptor, Yun Chunfeng!
In his arms was the little girl Physician Sun had saved just over ten days ago—General Huo’s daughter.
Yun Chunfeng deftly handed the little girl to Qiu Yan, and Chun Xue followed, carrying the child to the main room to soothe her to sleep.
The whole scene was unnaturally natural and harmonious.
The maids didn’t bat an eye, as if this was exactly how things should be.
Wait, just what is the relationship between these three?
General Huo has gone to reclaim the mines occupied by Beiluo, and the State Preceptor just moves openly into the new house the General bought for his wife?
It was better not to think about this too deeply!
If his granddaughter, Sun Yaxiang, were here today, she would undoubtedly dig for answers and end up bringing a world of trouble upon them.
As a seasoned veteran of court life, Sun Miao deeply understood the unshakable truth: The more you know, the quicker you die.
His policy with everyone was to treat illnesses and save lives—not to ask a single question beyond that.
He worked in silence, removing the bone fragments from ‘Jiang Xingyan,’ resetting the joint, completing the procedure in one smooth, continuous effort.
Finally, he directed Xia Feng to tightly bind ‘Jiang Xingyan’ with bandages.
“The wound medicine needs to be changed daily. These are oral pills—take one a day, or two if the fever returns.”
After finishing his instructions, Physician Sun prepared to leave immediately.
Yun Chunfeng intercepted him in the front hall.
“Physician Sun, aren’t you the least bit curious about the reason behind all this?”
Sun Miao immediately and sternly cut him off. “Enough! Hold your tongue! I was sleeping peacefully in my own home tonight; I never even got out of bed. Anything I might have seen or heard was all just a dream. Don’t spout nonsense in front of me!”
Yun Chunfeng retracted the hidden weapon he had ready behind his back, offered Physician Sun a polite smile, and stepped aside to clear the path.
Physician Sun smoothed his beard, shot him a withering look, and strode out.
The moment he stepped outside, a pair of hands hoisted him up and onto a familiar back. “Doc, same way home as we came, alright? Hold on tight, I’ll have you back in a jiffy.”
Whoosh!
Physician Sun’s figure vanished in an instant.
Carried through the air at high speed, his bitterness was beyond words. You bunch of little brats! I’m not finished with you!
Yun Chunfeng walked into the courtyard, his expression cold and grim. He began weaving his hands through a series of intricate seals.
In an instant, the wind and clouds shifted, and the countless stars in the sky twisted into arcs.
He bit the tip of his index finger, rapidly chanting an incantation, and prepared to press the bleeding finger to his own forehead.
“Yun Chunfeng! What are you doing? Stop!” Huo Ci moved to stop him.
Yun Chunfeng summoned a wall of fierce energy, blocking Huo Ci off to the side.
“Yun Chunfeng, A-Yan wouldn’t want to see you like this! You’re just wasting your own life force!”
What Huo Ci feared was that if Yun Chunfeng suffered another backlash from the heavenly laws, Jiang Xingyan would be heartbroken when she returned.
And if she then blamed him for it, wouldn’t that be an utterly unjust disaster?
Wouldn’t that just add frost to snow in his already strained relationship with A-Yan?
Yun Chunfeng’s hair and beard seemed to bristle, his eyes burning crimson. “Shut up!” he roared. “What do you understand?!”
The moment his bloodstained finger touched the center of his forehead, Jiang Xingyan, far away a thousand miles, was abruptly freed from her agony.