If you can't use your hand, you are not a useful soldier." The incoming unwelcomed guest said, and Liu Sheng, biting a strip of leather, looked around to throw something at him. Thankfully for General Zhu, only the precious balms and medicine from Jingting were around, so his head was spared.
Fang Tao took a sniff of the balm and furrowed his brow, confused. He wanted to ask something, but he was quickly shut down by Wen Jun's gaze and the shaking of his head.
"What are you doing here? This is my personal tent. I did not invite you in. As you might see, I'm having a bit of a problem here," he said once he took out the leather, feeling a lot better after Fang Tao put the Painless balm on the wound.
At first, it was tingling, still painful, hot, but as time went on, he couldn't feel half of his arm. Like, at all, it felt like he had nothing there. His servant, Zhang Bo, swiped off the beads of sweat rolling down his face and stood aside, staring at General Zhu. Liu Cheng dismissed him and saw the man tripped over his own legs, how in a hurry he was to get out of the tent. Why was he like that? He had no idea, but now, he did not care at all.
"I came to see how you are. My conscience wouldn't be able to take it if something happened to you," Zhu Shou said, and Liu Sheng breathed out, calming himself not to get up and really punch him in the face. Whose fault was it that he was like this? Certainly not his own!
"I'm going to live. Now, can you give me some privacy?" he gritted through his teeth felling Zhu Shou's gaze on his naked upper body. Feeling freaked out, he wanted to cover himself up with whatever. He shivered, and Wen Jun skillfully threw a fur over his body so he wouldn't be cold. Liu Cheng made a mental note for himself to raise his pay.
Out of nowhere, the entrance to the tent swished inside, and his two brothers rushed in, making it all cramped up in there.
"What is this place for you all?! Is it a market or what?! Everybody comes in whenever they want!" He stood up, shouting. And even Fang Tao had had enough because he accidentally almost pierced his own finger because of the sudden movement.
"He will live! If you stop interrupting, maybe he will even use his hand! So now! ALL OF YOU OUT!" he raised his voice, hardened it, so it left no room for negotiation. All three that came in looked at him with displeasure.
"I have an imperial doctor with me, it will be better for him to look at you rather than the quack here…" Zhu Shou said, and Liu Sheng started coughing as he freaking breathed in his own saliva, how surprised he was.
"What did you call me?!" The tone of Fang Tao's voice was cold, calculating, and… the tone of a killer.
"If you ever want to have offspring, I recommend you say sorry," Liu Cheng said to Zhu Shou and slowly started backing into the tent entrance as Fang Tao got up with a long needle, holding it threateningly up. Zhu Shou jerked into the down region, but before he could reach down there, he changed his mind and turned around and left the tent, passing by Liu Cheng and Liu An.
"I'm going to kill him," Liu Sheng whispered, and Fang Tao gave him the needle he was holding.
"You are welcomed to," he said, but you could feel the atmosphere in the tent to lighten a bit. Liu Sheng sat back down on his bed and looked at his brother.
"And you are here for a reason?" he asked, now obviously a lot calmer.
"Yeah, I have news. You can recover for a while, as all the generals had agreed that we should recuperate a bit and wait for provisions," he said and walked closer, staring at the bird. When he was close enough only for the three of them to hear, because Fang Tao was stitching him up, there was no chance for privacy.
"And to ask whether I got a mail or not… From Xu… Miss Han," he whispered to Liu Sheng. Liu Cheng rolled his eyes and showed him the back of his own paper. There was another message there. At first, he did not notice it, but it was done nicely. Two papers rolled together, one side for one, the other for a different person.
And how Liu Sheng noticed it wasn't for him? Well, he couldn't read it. It was in a weird script or code, and in the brief moment he saw the message, he couldn't notice any regularities.
"I would still want to know how her brain works," Fang Tao said and calmly continued sewing after glancing at the message.
"So would I…" Liu Cheng sighed, straightened up, and went back to the youngest brother, smiling.
Fang Tao cut the thread and took another bottle, sniffing it. He furrowed his brows once more before putting it on the stitched wound with a wooden spatula.
"Why are you always grimacing?" Liu Sheng asked. It was as if there was something wrong with the medicine.
"I just wonder what's put in there that it smells so differently. Don't imagine something else, but even though I have the recipe for bloodstopping powder, I think this one is different. More effective," he explained, and Liu Cheng laughed.
"Of course, you wouldn't give out your precious family recipe to everyone around, would you?" he said, and Liu Sheng nodded.
"But I think I've seen it, or a similar one, at the imperial hospital when I was taught there." Liu Sheng bit his lip. There was an imperial doctor, hostage of the Wen family's second branch… Could it be that Fang Tao was taught by him? Fang Tao's eyes suddenly lit up, and his face was in shock.
"Holy heavens, could it…?" he couldn't finish his sentence out loud as Wen Jun covered his mouth with his hand.
"Don't talk about it here. Walls have ears," he whispered into his ear. Liu Sheng really had to raise his pay.
"Can you now fo? I'm tired, I really want to sleep." Liu Sheng lay down on his bed, covering himself with the fur blanket.
"Take this first, so you won't get a fever. Well, that's at least what the bottle says…" Liu Sheng abided and ate the disgusting powder.
Everyone left, so he could take out the letter and examine every word, every stroke of the brush. He fell asleep imagining how Jingting will look when he gets his reply. Will he smile? Will he be awaiting it? Or would he not care?