Hot flashes during the southwest summer made it easy to feel uncomfortable, and in addition, mosquitos, rats, and ants were rampant in the forest. If one was bitten by a venomous insect, the swollen pustules could often be as big as half a palm. There were also cases of people who had rolled down the mountain when collecting medicine, and people who had cut their legs when chopping firewood. In short, all kinds of maladies, large and small, could be treated for free at the newly-built medical center in the Southwest Garrison.

The news soon spread throughout the Valley of Ten Faces.

And to many villages farther beyond the Valley of Ten Faces.

Liu Nanyuan wore a bright red dress and sat in a bright, clean room to treat people. There were guards standing on both sides of the courtyard, all handsome and noble-looking. Gao Lin practically hollowed out all of his limited aesthetics and contributed them to the medical clinic. There was even a string of hollow bamboo bells hung under the eaves, tied with translucent ribbons and glowing slightly, which attracted countless butterflies to fly upward.

A-Ning said: “I didn’t expect that Lieutenant General Gao would have such a delicate side.”

Liu Xian’an lay on a bamboo couch to enjoy the breeze: “Everyone has a love for beauty.”

He spoke indolently, his tone sleepy, and his eyelids looked as if they were about to shut again. A-Ning was swift and nimble. He forced his eyes open again and shouted: “Young Master, please don’t sleep. His Highness has sent people to bring you clothes. Please change into them quickly. We will be going down the mountain to assist the Third Young Lady later.”

Liu Xian’an yawned: “I feel very comfortable wearing this.”

“Comfortable is comfortable, but it is too old.” A-Ning grabbed his wrist and pulled him up with extraordinary strength.

Liu Xian’an was the least particular about how he dressed. In addition, there were sages from the Three Thousand Worlds who set bad examples, so he never wanted rich clothing and always wore a casual gray cotton robe with a cloth belt tied around the waist, and a pair of worn-out shoes to run around in.

The people of Baihe Mountain Village had long become accustomed to his beggar-like outfit, and Liang Shu was also used to it. He also thought it was very cute. A piece of soft, loose cloth wrapped around a slender lazy egg. Easy to touch. Easy to undress.

A-Ning went to pull off his belt.

Liu Xian’an did not wake up, and fell straight back.

A-Ning was panting from exhaustion and his hands were sore. He stood beside the bed with his hands on his hips: “The prince is coming!”

As it turned out, the prince really came.

Liang Shu sent A-Ning out and bent down to kiss the person under the quilt: “You’ve been sleeping since midnight last night.”

Liu Xian’an firmly closed his eyes.

Liang Shu laughed and held this person in his arms. First he unwrapped his sleeping clothes, then fetched the newly-made clothes and put them on piece by piece. He had never served anyone before, but perhaps he was destined to have this lazy fellow, so he had some talent for learning these things without a teacher.

Liu Xian’an twitched his nose, but didn’t smell the scent that new clothes should have, only the gentle and pleasant scent of jasmine. Liang Shu pulled his fingers out of his sleeves and said: “I told them to wash and scent them. They will be softer and more comfortable for you to wear.”

The Sleeping Immortal finally opened his eyes a little.

Liang Shu said: “Stand straight, I’ll buckle your belt for you.”

Liu Xian’an took a look and thought it seemed familiar. “Isn’t this the prince’s belt?”

“I couldn’t find a good jade buckle for some time, so I used mine.” Liang Shu said, “It looks pretty good.”

It certainly looked pretty good, because it was a gift from the emperor when he made his younger brother go to Jiangnan to swindle…..to marry a wife. Definitely to marry a wife.

Liang Shu fastened it carefully and looked at the person before him with satisfaction: “Not bad, it looks good.”

The muslin clothes were like snow, with faint silver thread inlays showing through. When the sun shined on them, they gleamed brilliantly. Liu Xian’an touched his belt and commented: “It’s not as comfortable as my big robe.”

“You can change back in the evening.” Liang Shu said, “You are pretending to be an immortal, so you must be more diligent.”

Chang Xiaoqiu passed by and saw A-Ning standing outside the courtyard, so he stepped forward to ask him something. While the two were chatting, the wooden door opened with a creak, and then His Royal Highness Xiao Wang walked out with another person.

As for why it was ‘another person,’ this was because it took a moment for Chang Xiaoqiu to react and finally recognize Second Young Master Liu. But it was not his fault, because even A-Ning was slightly stunned by this overly successful disguise.

Once the two of them had walked away, Chang Xiaoqiu asked: “Why do you look so amazed?”

A-Ning said: “Because I really haven’t seen such a thing.”

After all, when his family’s young master was at home, he didn’t even want to wear new clothes during the New Year, and would at most add a red belt to his gray robe, which looked even stranger. It was even more outrageous one year, when he was imitating some unknown sage. In the middle of winter, he wore a pair of broken straw sandals to eat at the New Year’s Eve banquet, and the Village Master almost became ill from anger.

Chang Xiaoqiu was filled with admiration upon hearing this. He is worthy of being the prince’s favorite person, his tastes are so unique!

A-Ning: “…..Forget it, I don’t want to talk about this with you.”

Liang Shu walked around the military camp with the Sleeping Immortal in fluttering white clothes, which caused the soldiers to secretly murmur, why does the Liu family look so pure and fairy-like?

Liu Xian’an’s belt was uncomfortable, but he had already changed, he still ran to the pharmacy and showed his elder brother his beautiful new clothes.

Liu Xianche said expressionlessly: “En.”

But in fact, he turned around and started to paint, painting his little brother’s new look on paper. He also wrote an extremely long letter home, praising him in all aspects, and sent it back to Baihe Mountain Villain together with the painting so that his parents could be happy as well.

After exiting the pharmacy, Liang Shu had originally wanted to take Liu Xian’an to find Liu Nanyuan, but someone sent a message stating that the Scimitar Silver Moon Tribe who had followed the evil cult into the mountains that day had returned, but not all of them.

“What do you mean they didn’t come back?” Liang Shu asked. “How many of them were caught?”

“One is missing.”

For of them went, and three returned. The man who didn’t come back was called La Yue, which sounded like he could celebrate the New Year at all times.^[1] With such a festive name, he really shouldn’t have bad luck. Liang Shu and Liu Xian’an went to the front hall together to inquire, and it turned out that he was not unlucky.

“Brother La Yue didn’t fail to return because he was apprehended,” the young man explained.

After this group of people followed the woman in red to find the Baifu Sect’s lair, in fact, the mission was completed. But La Yue wanted to find Ku You, so the remaining people came back to report the news first.

The young man continued: “We only need five days to draw the topographic map. The road into the mountain is actually not too narrow, and there are many blindages around it. According to the prince’s ability, it shouldn’t be difficult to attack them like divine soldiers from the sky.”

He was talking business, but the woman next to him was looking at First Young Master Liu doubtfully. She didn’t understand why, just after she left the door, the other party’s style of dress had turned from someone fleeing famine to that of a wealthy immortal.  First Young Master Liu wearing this set of clothes…..shouldn’t it be for the sake of her little sister?

So she clapped her hands with satisfaction and went back to write a letter to announce the good news. A servant brought the jujube-red pony for Liu Xian’an. After being carefully raised by the military camp’s horse officer, it now looked fatter and stockier. Its four legs thrust into the ground, and it looked extremely stable and reliable. Liu Xian’an petted two handfuls of its smooth mane and said: “Let’s take it to the Northwest next time.”

“Okay, I’ll find twenty of the best horses to accompany it to run together.” Liang Shu put this person on the horse’s back. “The desert in the north goes as far as the eye can see. It will like it very much.”

The groom to the side hesitated to speak, and remained silent in the end. He only had infinite sympathy in his heart for this chubby red horse that was lazy and inactive, but also very good at eating, and was destined to embark on a long journey to the Northwest.

There were already two long queues in front of the medical center. Liu Xian’an looked into the farthest distance and felt that it almost connected to the sky. Such a large number people must not all be patients, and many of them were just joining in the fun to see the most beautiful woman in Dayan. If this sort of thing happened during normal times, the government would not allow it, but the current situation was special. Thus, Gao Lin just sent people along the way to pick up all the patients who needed emergency treatment in advance, and the rest could wait slowly.

The rest of the Baihe Mountain Village disciples also donned new clothes, and all of them sat in the clinic whenever they were free. The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers, and there was someone playing the fuqin in the distance, ding ding dong dong, like mountains and flowing water.

An old woman looked at Liu Nanyuan and said happily: “You don’t even have to examine them, my old legs and feet will be fine.”

“I still need to look at them.” Liu Nanyuan smiled. “Popo, just lie down.”

The old woman lay down as she was told, still staring at Liu Nanyuan. The more she looked at her, the more she liked her. She couldn’t help but say: “Our A-Yong…..”

The grandson standing aside had sharp eyes and agile hands, and quickly covered her mouth. Liu Nanyuan was immediately happy. After the examination, she stood up and said: “Popo is in very good health. She needs more meat and fresh vegetables, and she can live to a hundred years old.”

“Yes, yes, many thanks, Third Young Lady Liu.” Without another word, the grandson picked up his family’s old popo and fled, causing everyone in the courtyard to laugh and say: “A-Yong, is grandma playing at matchmaker for you again?”

Everyone was extremely joyous.

Liu Nanyuan was also full of joy, because this way of seeing patients was very different from what she did back home. The vast majority of people did not have serious illnesses, and everyone just came to join in the fun and chat. In the evenings, campfires would be lit on the outskirts and some people would sing, some would dance, and the joyous sounds reached the highest pinnacle of the clouds.

This was how the common people’s lives should be.

Liu Nanyuan tidied the table and was about to call the next patient in, but never expected that it would be her Er-ge wearing new clothes. Her reaction was definitely more genuine than that of her stern Da-ge. She stood up at once with an expression of disbelief on her face, and even felt that she might be hallucinating.

Liu Xian’an said: “It’s only a set of clothes.”

It is only a set of clothes, but the issue is, you didn’t even want to wear this set of clothes before. Liu Nanyuan looked him round and round, feeling that it was extremely novel, and said: “I thought before that Er-ge would still wear those tattered clothes even when getting married, but unexpectedly, he’s willing to change them. This is very good, wear them like this in the future!”

“That won’t work, it’s too tiring.” Liu Xian’an refused. Even when we get married, I can wear a big red robe.

Liu Nanyuan: “…..But this will make our Baihe Mountain Village seem abnormal.”

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[1] La Yue (蜡月) means Wax Moon or Candle Moon, and the name also sounds like Twelfth Lunar Month (腊月), which is around when the Chinese New Year is celebrated. ⮐

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Chapter One Hundred Thirteen << Table of Contents >> Chapter One Hundred Fifteen