Help, I’m Being Forced to Marry a Frail and Sickly Immortal Doctor! 59

Chapter 59: A Past Dream in the Mortal World

“Young General Ning, just call me Yin Buran…”

Ning Ruoque would not be mistaken.

This was… Yin Buran’s face, and her voice was exactly the same.

It just lacked the calmness that came with the passage of time and had a bit more of the brightness unique to a young person.

Ning Ruoque was on high alert.

The illusionary realm had begun to use people she was familiar with to break through her defenses. If she seized this opportunity, she might be able to get out.

But she still couldn’t move. Her heart even beat a few beats faster, and the consciousness belonging to “Ning Ruoque” gradually blurred.

So she could only watch as Ning Man quickly turned her head, her face burning red, and answered stammeringly.

“I… don’t need it. Thank you.”

She had never seen such a beautiful person.

Her skin was fair, and her dark hair was half-tied up like a cloud, with a flowing cloud wooden hairpin. The clothes on her body also looked soft and comfortable, with exquisite floral and grass patterns.

That person had only taken a few steps, and a gentle breeze had brought a few wisps of a clear and sweet but not cloying fragrance.

Although she had been refused, the woman was still patient. “But you don’t look like you’ve had enough to eat.”

Ning Man said silently in her heart, It’s fine. I’m already used to it anyway.

The woman said softly, “It’s fine to have another bowl. We’ve prepared enough.”

Ning Man pressed her lips together, and after a few seconds of thought, hunger finally got the better of her.

She still stammered, “Th-thank you.”

She had originally planned to get the porridge herself, but the woman in front of her actually reached out and was about to take her bowl.

Someone was trying to snatch her bowl. Ning Man subconsciously used her strength, and the woman couldn’t move it.

The other tilted her head. “Hmm?”

Ning Man: “…”

She let go of the bowl and watched as the other smiled with pursed lips, then turned and went to the porridge stall.

Ning Man thought of the hand that had tried to “snatch” her bowl just now.

Slender and delicate, without a single callus. At a glance, she was the young lady of a large family who had never done heavy work.

Before long, the woman returned, holding a full bowl of thin porridge.

She gently placed the porridge in front of Ning Man, nodded, and then left.

Ning Man drank it all in a few gulps and then directly returned the porcelain bowl.

Although she was still not full, it was much better than before.

Just then, a subordinate from her small team came over and sighed with genuine feeling, “The Yin family is really good. They even gave us porridge to eat.”

Ning Man thought so too.

The Yin family of Tingzhou was renowned.

The Yin family had been practicing medicine for generations, and there had been more than a dozen famous doctors. The great-grandmother had even treated the great-grandfather emperor.

They often set up porridge stalls to relieve the poor and provided free medical treatment, and they had a great reputation in the local area. Even the county magistrate had to show them some respect.

Now, in these chaotic times, the Yin family had sold their family property for grain and had saved countless people.

Raising an army was very expensive. Even though the eldest princess had accumulated a large amount of wealth, she could not let the people below eat their fill at every meal.

Now that Tingzhou was still under the court’s rule, helping the rebel army was a great crime that would be punished by beheading if discovered.

And Ning Man’s small team was disguised as refugees. When they passed by this place, the Yin family had actually taken the initiative to send them thin porridge and some grain and fodder.

If they had refused forcefully, they would not have looked like refugees. Ning Man could only steel herself and accept.

The subordinate lowered his voice. “Do you see that girl in green? She should be the young lady of the Yin family.”

Ning Man’s gaze fell on the woman for a moment.

That person was standing by the large pot of porridge, handing out bowls.

A ray of sunlight fell on her, illuminating her every proper and gentle smile.

Ning Man quickly averted her gaze and said faintly, “Tell them to hurry up. We have to prepare to set off.”

She and this young lady of the Yin family were not on the same path. After this, they should have no more contact.

*

In early autumn, the court and the rebel army were in a deadlock.

Although that emperor who sat on the throne was incompetent and tyrannical, he had a few loyal military generals under him.

With various interests involved, the rebel army’s fight was not easy.

It was in these battles that Ning Man had quickly climbed from the position of a captain to a lieutenant.

She had good martial arts skills, was fierce and ruthless in battle, and could move through an army of ten thousand as if it were an empty land. She was already quite famous in the rebel army.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approached, Ning Man had won another battle.

She had given the army a holiday, but her adjutant had come to her for a chat.

The adjutant was carrying a jar of wine and approached mysteriously. “Have you heard? The Yin family was reported, and they will be executed tomorrow for treason.”

Ning Man had not expected to hear about the Yin family again in such a situation.

She blurted out, “Why?”

At the mention of this, the adjutant slapped the wine jar in indignation. “I heard from the nearby common people that it was because they had saved the wrong person, and the place where they were hiding was reported to the government by that white-eyed wolf.”

More than a month ago, the Yin family had already exhausted their family fortune and had gone into seclusion in the deep mountains.

In Ning Man’s opinion, this was a very wise decision.

It could be seen that the old lady of the Yin family not only had a kind heart but also a long-term plan, but the world was difficult, and in the end, it could not resist the evil of the human heart.

The adjutant took a sip of the turbid wine and sighed, “What a pity… Hey, where are you going, Ning Man?”

Ning Man only left her a cold back. “Drinking is not allowed in the military camp. You can go and receive your punishment.”

“Ah? Ah? No—”

Amidst the adjutant’s wails, Ning Man led out her horse, leaped on, and went straight for the city gate.

She passed through the complex terrain of the great mountains, rushed for a night, and then clung to the bottom of a merchant’s mule cart, finally successfully sneaking into the West Market before noon.

She was going to rob the execution ground.

She was thinking of that bowl of thin porridge from back then, which was sweet and delicious, and she always felt that the Yin family should not have such an end.

Ning Man had this confidence. The rebel army had captured several cities in Tingzhou.

The court’s reinforcements had not yet arrived, and Tingzhou was short of soldiers and grain everywhere. It was a complete mess.

These bastard military officers only dared to bully the unarmed common people. In a real fight, ten of them would not be her match.

Because of the years of war, the city had lost more than half of its people.

The once prosperous West Market was now desolate. The shops were closed, and the sound of hawking was sparse.

But today, a large group of people had gathered around the execution ground. There were wealthy merchants dressed in silk and gauze, and also thin and bony refugees.

They were not here to watch the fun, but to send off the dozen or so members of the Yin family and collect their bodies.

Ning Man also mixed in, dressed in inconspicuous coarse cloth clothes. She lowered her bamboo hat and quietly waited for the opportunity.

“The time has come—”

As an order was given, the executioner’s blade rose and fell, and blood flowed all over the ground.

A faint sound of crying came from the crowd, and was quickly suppressed in their throats.

“Pfft.” The bloody blade sank into the flesh, and another one.

Ning Man silently undid her sleeve and took out a small sleeve arrow.

Through the sparse gaps, she aimed at the fat and strong magistrate.

Several more people fell. Ning Man heard a woman on the stage shouting, “Mother, Mother—”

Then there was no more sound.

At this moment, only one person was left on the stage.

That figure was wearing thin clothes, and her messy hair covered her face. Ning Man could only see a pointed chin.

The magistrate stroked his beard, his tone contemptuous. “Do you see? This is the consequence of treason!”

As soon as his voice fell, a streak of cold light shot through the air!

He subconsciously dodged to the side, but a sharp pain came from his neck, and blood still gushed out from the cut.

The magistrate screamed in fright, “Ahhhh!”

The official soldiers in charge of security immediately became alert. “There’s an assassin!”

Ning Man took a few steps and leaped onto the high platform. Someone tried to stop her, but a cold light flashed in her hand, and in a flash, she had cut the other’s throat.

Then she leaped to the woman’s side, and with a forceful throw of the blade in her hand, the archer in the distance fell silently.

The executioner looked at her, and suddenly, for no reason, he clutched his hand and fell to the ground, shouting.

Several other official soldiers also hesitated, as if they were unwilling to come forward.

The magistrate was still shouting in a fit of anger, “Catch them! Catch them for me!”

There was not much time left. Ning Man grabbed the woman’s hand without any hesitation. “Miss Yin, I’ll take you away.”

Without waiting for the other to answer, she directly carried the woman on her shoulder and pulled out the dagger hidden in her boot.

She was like a gust of wind that killed and took lives, her blade aimed at people’s vitals.

Occasionally, when a blade wanted to sneak up on the woman, she would turn her body to block the attack, and at the same time, her dagger would just happen to pierce the other’s vital point.

Ning Man could still walk with brisk steps while carrying a person, and in less than a moment, she had broken through the siege.

She snatched a horse she had been eyeing, threw the woman onto the saddle, and she herself also got on, slapping the horse’s neck hard.

The horse lifted its hooves and galloped towards the city gate with a painful neigh.

Seeing that the person was about to run away, the magistrate was furious. “Close the city gate! Fire the arrows! Fire the arrows for me!”

The sound of arrows breaking through the air came. Ning Man leaned down from the horse, picked up a long bench from the side of the road, and swung it behind her.

The long bench blocked most of the arrows, but a few still grazed past her arm and leg. Even the horse’s butt was hit.

Seeing that the other was about to prepare for a second round of arrow rain, at the critical moment, the horse’s hooves finally stepped out of the city gate and galloped towards the forest.

Ning Man did not dare to be careless. She drove the horse away outside the city and instead rode her own horse.

She picked up the woman and protected her in her arms, and rushed in the opposite direction.

She did not slow down all the way. Only after wading through a small river and washing away the blood from her body did she barely relax a little.

Only then did she realize that the person in her arms was silent, biting her lip, and her whole body was trembling.

Ning Man quickly sat back a little, trying to keep her distance from the woman.

She said in a low voice, “Miss… Miss Yin, it should be safe now. You don’t have to be so nervous.”

The woman curled up into a ball and said with a trembling voice, “Sorry, my chest hurts a little.”

“…”

Only then did Ning Man belatedly think that the young lady of the Yin family had probably never ridden a horse.

After being bumped around on the horse for so long, it was good that she hadn’t thrown up.

She looked up at the sky. The sun was about to set, so she planned to find a place to rest for a while.

Before long, the two of them were lucky enough to find a wind-sheltered cave.

Ning Man tied up the horse and picked up a bundle of dry firewood to light.

When they had waded through the river just now, both of them had inevitably gotten their clothes wet.

Especially the woman. Her clothes were so thin. If she didn’t dry them properly, she would probably catch a cold.

The woman lifted her messy hair and tied it up again with a hairpin. Her small face was pale, and only her vacant eyes reflected the scorching firelight.

She looked at the fire, then at Ning Man, not saying anything, as if she were waiting for the other to speak first.

Ning Man paused for a moment and said softly, “My name is Ning Man. The ‘Man’ in ‘fulfillment’.”

After a long while, the woman finally lowered her eyes. “Young General Ning, just call me Yin Buran.”

Her voice was a little hoarse, and not much emotion could be heard.

Ning Man corrected her seriously, “I’m not a general.”

Yin Buran directly reached out, tugged on her sleeve, and still with that faint tone, “I can bandage your wound and stop the bleeding.”

It was inevitable to get injured along the way. Apart from the scrapes and scratches, the most serious injury Ning Man had was on her right shoulder.

At that time, in order to protect Yin Buran, she had taken a blow for her, and now the wound was still seeping blood.

But Ning Man refused. “It’s not that much trouble.”

An injury of this degree was nothing to her. She would just wrap it with a cloth, and it would heal on its own after she went back.

Yin Buran silently undid her own sachet, which was stuffed with some commonly used medicine.

When she was sent into the city, the official soldiers who were escorting her family, whether out of sympathy or guilt, did not search her carefully.

Then she forcefully tore off a section of her sleeve, and just like that, she held the ointment and stared at Ning Man without blinking.

As if if she refused her, she would curl up into a ball, dejected.

Ning Ruoque sucked in a sharp breath, silently turned around, and left her injured back to her.

She looked up at the sky, not speaking, but she keenly heard a whimpering sound from behind her.

At first, it was very light, as if she were trying her best to hold it in, afraid of being discovered.

In the end, the long-suppressed emotions finally collapsed, and Yin Buran hugged Ning Man and wiped all her tears on her shoulder.

The more she cried, the tighter she hugged, like a person who had lost their warmth and was clinging to the only fire.

“Young General Ning, I don’t have a home anymore…”