Chapter 2: Red Underwear?!

  The sky is getting darker.

  Downstream of the Qingling River, three miles from Lianyuan Village, is the intersection of Qinggang County and Lingshui County. The river surface here is wide and open, with a broad view, and the reeds along the river are as tall as people, swaying in the cold wind with white cotton-like reed flowers that stretch all the way to the middle of the river.

  On the seventh day of summer, her head emerged from the water surface, spitting out the hollow reed she had been using to breathe through. She spat out a mouthful of turbid air and grasped tightly the peach-wood carved flower mirror that had accompanied her soul in crossing over - this ancient mirror was the treasure of her heart. Its handle was actually a knife tip; opening the handle revealed a small, razor-sharp knife inside, capable of cutting through iron as if it were mud. Cutting through the coarse hemp rope of a bamboo pigsty would be simplicity itself.

  "Hum! Dare to bully me? Just you wait!"

  She muttered a low curse, and her eyes flashed as she lit up.

  On the riverbank, an extremely handsome man is fishing with a rod.

  Those eyebrows, eyes, nose, and lips, with a dignified and majestic appearance, are enough to captivate one's soul with just a single profile. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, and symmetrical bone structure, with an elegant demeanor, make people drool and fantasize. Good heavens! How dare this ancient man be so stunning? It seems that the heavens have indeed been kind, sending her through time and space to save these beautiful men!

  Just as she was salivating, the man suddenly turned sideways, took off the large cloak on his shoulder, and completely exposed his robust upper body.

  Oh no!

  Her pupils contracted and she shivered with a chill.

  That guy's muscular shoulders and back had scars of varying sizes crisscrossing each other, the most frightening one being a knife wound that extended from his sturdy shoulder to his lower back. The area around the wound was already disfigured, with flesh and blood blurred together, causing her, as a doctor, to involuntarily twitch her eyebrows.

  Knife wound, arrow wound, blood, gangrene...

  This scene made her seem to sniff out a bloody smell belonging to slaughter and battlefield.

  So he's not just an iceberg beauty, but also a tough guy?

  "Master, let me first clean the wound for you and then use a sharp blade to remove the rotten flesh. There's no anesthetic here, so please...please bear with it a bit." A fat old man was half-kneeling at his feet, his hands shaking more violently than hers had when she was underwater.

  "It doesn't matter."

  Dark red blood, under pressure, keeps gushing out with blood clots...

  "Sir, hold on to this. I'm going to make the cut now!"

  The old man lit a candle and handed him a clean piece of gauze after spraying it with strong liquor.

  "It doesn't matter."

  The low, husky male voice carried by the river wind, calm as if the wound wasn't on him.

  With such injuries, and without anesthesia, any normal person would be crying out in pain, but he didn't flinch. His straight back, indifferent gaze, and the high, handsome face of Hua Jun with not a hint of expression, was as cold and lonely as a sculpture that people had to look up to.

  How cool!

  Xia Chuqi, a soldier by birth, couldn't help but feel a hint of respect.

  "Huh?"

  She was watching with great interest, never expecting that the man would suddenly lunge forward, his fishing rod swinging directly at her. Before she could react, one of her canvas shoes was hooked by the fishhook and lifted into the air, the dirty water inside splashing onto her face.

  "I'm really impressed!"

  She spat out a mouthful of dirty water, dodged another disfiguring blow with a sideways movement of her head, and shouted loudly, "Passersby, spare my life!"

  That guy didn't care at all, the fishing rod and line whipped back and forth like a whip, stirring up the river waves to fly high, slapping loudly, each time more deadly than the last.

  Go ahead!

  Barefooted ones fight for power, those wearing boots eat meat, she's afraid of nothing!

  With a bite of her teeth, Xia Qiuzi gripped the small knife in her peach wood mirror tightly and took advantage of his entanglement to pounce over, "throwing herself into his arms", and intentionally spoke softly and harmlessly.

  "Old man, do you understand 'cherish fragrance and pity jade'? Ah-choo!"

  The other side was slightly stunned.

  Seizing the opportunity, Xia Qi took advantage of the momentum and exerted his strength. With a kick from his foot, the sharp knife in his hand went straight for the three-inch vital spot below the man's navel...

  "May you be childless and heirless!"

  In terms of martial arts skills, she is inferior to him. But if it's about cunning and deceitful tactics? Xia Chuqi is second to none!

  It was obvious that the other party did not expect a young girl of her age to have such an unscrupulous killer, although she quickly avoided the danger of being cut off from future generations, but the sharp blade also happened to be stuck in his waist and slid over.

  Embroidered with golden threads, the waistband snapped instantly. He, who was already on top, had his silk pants slide down with a rustling sound, revealing the bright red underpants underneath.

  Good grief!

  Red? Red! Red...

  It's already July 7th!

  Iceberg, pretty boy, zombie face, iron blood, tough guy... add a gloomy and introverted personality to these words, will the man have logical problems in terms of character?

  Her eyes slid up and down, unintentionally falling on his wet and half-naked body.

  "Shameless!"

  A calm and cold low shout made her shiver, pulling her back from her reverie. Only then did she realize that she had been staring straight into his eyes without blinking. How embarrassing! After being choked by saliva, she didn't dare to meet his murderous gaze, and in order not to be killed, there was only one thought in her mind - escape!

  "Boom——!"

  He hadn't even taken a step forward when he was knocked to the ground by him.

  A cold figure loomed over her, pressing down on her like a city wall, tightly gripping her neck with a pair of sharp blade-like eyes staring at her as if she were a hunted animal waiting to be slaughtered.

  "Tell me! Whose person are you?"

  "Me...?" Her expression was very tangled, she coughed twice, speaking extremely quickly, "Big brother, no, big uncle, I'm not anyone's person. And I didn't intentionally take off your pants. Really, I swear, I'm a very pure person... I just admire the spirit of treating injuries in the cold winter with an open heart, having the appearance of Emperor Wu of Han and the virtues of Zhou Gong and Confucius, being as strong and resilient as the wind, moon, frost, and snow... that's why I couldn't help but take a few more glances..."

  She flattered him with a loud "crack", but he didn't even frown.

  "If you don't tell the truth, I'll cut your tongue out and feed it to the horse!"

  Will horses still eat people's tongues?

  On the seventh day of summer, Gu couldn't bear the pain and smiled, asking, "You've told the truth, will you let me go?"

  "Will..." He dragged out his voice.

  "Haha, really good, didn't expect you to be such a kind person..."

  "I'll give you a quick death."

  Are you kidding me? Do you think you're some kind of royalty? Either way, it's a dead end. She never does business at a loss. Almost suddenly, she came up with a plan and revealed a sly smile.

  "Hey, believe it or not, if you kill me today, you'll definitely die too!"

  He quietly looked over, without making a sound.

  "On the seventh day of summer, Xia's heart had a playful thought, and the curve of his mouth was even more radiant. 'Don't blame me, Xiao Shenyi, for not reminding you that your injury has already penetrated deep into your internal organs, and your blood and energy are congealing. If you continue to exhaust yourself like this, once the wound becomes inflamed and infected, and there's no anti-inflammatory medicine, then you won't be far from death!'"

  "Inflammation, infection, anti-inflammatory drugs" - such words were clearly unheard of to him, and his face finally showed some reaction.

  "Go on!"

  "What's going on?" Xia Chuyi was slightly startled.

  "Keep writing!"

  Hmph! Thought she was a swindler? Looks like I need to teach him a lesson!

  "Cough! As the saying goes, a knife wound is easy to heal, but an internal injury is hard to cure. Your illness has already affected your five organs and six viscera, causing qi and blood stagnation in your chest, and it's even affecting your...". She said with a sly smile, using a voice that was so soft only he could hear, "your heart."

  "How's that? Didn't I tell you?"

  "It's interesting." He suddenly lowered his head, and his black hair fell down just right against her face.

  Her face itched, as if a small cat's paw was scratching her heart. A mixture of Chinese medicine and masculine scent lingered at the tip of her nose, which was not any smell she had smelled before, and she couldn't accurately describe it. She just felt it was different, different, very different...

  After a slight cough, she leaned back with a melancholy expression, half-closing her eyes and putting on a charming pose.

  "Haha, even that old man doesn't know, right? Believe me, except for me, no one can cure you!"

  He suddenly raised an eyebrow, and just as Xia Qi was stunned by this rarely seen bewildering expression, he tightened his waist and lifted her up like a small chick, took several big steps into the depths of the reeds, and then heavily slammed her onto the reed stalks with a 'thud'.

  "You won't be cured, and you'll lose your life!"

  Digression

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