Zhenbei City Courier Station, West Wing.
The candle flame danced wildly within the lampshade, suddenly popping a dark red snuff, as if bursting with vitality.
"Incredible! Truly incredible!"
An exclamation came from beside the bed.
"What's wrong?" Li Sheng shouted worriedly to the old military doctor, his eyes fixed on the figure on the bed.
The old military doctor's fingers were still resting on Xu Zhan's pulse. His aged face flushed red, he grabbed Li Sheng's sleeve and pointed at Xu Zhan's chest, his voice trembling, "Steady! Guard Li, the pulse is steady!"
Li Sheng was taken aback and instinctively leaned half a step forward.
"Half an hour ago, Hundred Commander Xu's pulse was as faint as a gossamer thread, intermittent, and his high fever was burning like a charcoal brazier! I have practiced medicine for thirty years, and with this kind of blood loss and such rotting sores, it was clearly a dead end with one foot already in the gates of hell!"
The old military doctor was so excited that spit flew everywhere, his fingers pressing hard on Xu Zhan's pulse points. "But you feel it! Now, although the pulse is weak, the foundation has miraculously gathered together! The high fever has receded, and the breathing is even!"
Li Sheng didn't understand this delicate work, so he reached out the back of his hand and hovered it over Xu Zhan's forehead to check.
The originally scorching temperature had indeed dropped. That withered chest also had a faint but regular rise and fall.
Li Sheng let out a long breath of stale air. After being tense all night, he finally felt a bit of relief.
"As long as his life is saved, that's fine." Li Sheng turned his head and glanced at the ink-like night sky outside the window. "You stay here and watch him closely. If you need any medicinal herbs, just say the word, and I'll go smash the storehouse door to get them."
"No need, no mortal medicine is needed anymore." The old military doctor shook his head repeatedly, muttering in a low voice, "I just don't know what immortal methods the Imperial Envoy used..."
...
The next morning.
The eyelids of the person on the bed twitched, and Xu Zhan opened his eyes.
What came into view was an unfamiliar carved ceiling, and his nasal cavity was filled with the pungent smell of wound medicine and the rich scent of soothing incense.
His habit of constantly living on the edge of a knife made him immediately want to turn over and sit up, but as soon as his right shoulder exerted force, severe pain came from the severed stump.
"Ugh—"
Xu Zhan let out a muffled groan and fell heavily back onto the pillow, cold sweat sliding down his temples into his hair.
He gasped for breath, gritting his teeth to endure the wave of dizziness, and then barely managed to use his left hand to press hard against the bedboard, propping his upper body up.
His gaze fell downward bit by bit.
The right sleeve hung emptily over the edge of the bed.
The door creaked open.
The old military doctor walked in carrying a copper basin. Seeing Xu Zhan sitting up, the copper basin in his hands swayed.
"Oh my living ancestor! How dare you sit up!" The old military doctor stumbled to the bed, tossed the copper basin onto the wooden stand, and reached out to support Xu Zhan's left arm.
"Lie down quickly! Your wound just stopped bleeding last night. If it bursts open, even if I had ten heads, it wouldn't be enough for the Imperial Envoy to chop off!"
Xu Zhan also understood these principles and let the old military doctor prop a pillow behind his back, his voice hoarse: "Where is this?"
"Zhenbei City, the courier station." The old military doctor wrung out a hot towel and carefully wiped the bloodstains from Xu Zhan's face. "You are lucky. Last night, the Imperial Envoy brought people and forcefully snatched you out of the death row dungeon."
Xu Zhan leaned against the pillow, his gaze never leaving that severed arm.
"How... was my injury stabilized?"
He knew his own body too well. After soaking in the black water of the water dungeon for so long, his wounds were rotting and black, and the high fever had attacked his heart. According to military common sense, he absolutely could not have survived past midnight last night.
But now, apart from weakness and dull pain, there was actually a faint surge of energy protecting his heart meridian.
The old military doctor's wiping hand paused. He cautiously looked around, leaned in, and lowered his voice: "Hundred Commander Xu, let me tell you the truth. Last night, when you were just carried in, I didn't even dare to write a prescription. It was a certain death situation."
Xu Zhan looked at the old military doctor in shock: "And then?"
"And then, the Imperial Envoy kicked me and Guard Li out." The old military doctor swallowed, his eyes full of disbelief. "The Lord stayed alone in your room for a full incense stick's time."
"When the Lord pushed the door and came out, and let me go back in to take your pulse... your pulse had miraculously gathered together!"
The old military doctor shook his head and sighed: "I have practiced medicine for most of my life, and I have never seen such a resurrection technique."
Xu Zhan fell silent. Of course, he knew who the Imperial Envoy was. Before passing out completely, the last person he saw was his younger sister.
Little sister.
That sister in his memory who was always writing messy characters under the peach tree and following behind him.
"Bang."
The door was pushed open again.
Xu Qinghuan stepped over the threshold. She had already changed out of the everyday clothes stained with Wang Biao's blood. Her face was pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes.
"Awake? Second Brother?"
Xu Qinghuan's tone was filled with joy as she walked to the bed.
Her gaze paused on Xu Zhan's severed arm for a brief moment, then shifted to his face.
"My Lord." The old military doctor hastily bowed.
"Li Sheng." Xu Qinghuan didn't even turn her head.
Li Sheng, who was guarding outside the door, stepped half his body in: "Subordinate is here."
"Take the military doctor out. Without my orders, not even a fly is allowed into this room."
"Yes!"
Without another word, Li Sheng grabbed the old military doctor by the back of his collar and dragged him out, closing the door behind him.
With a click, the door latch fell.
Only the siblings were left in the room.
Xu Zhan looked at Xu Qinghuan standing in front of the bed. Was this woman with hard, cold eyes really the sister who would cry over a scratched finger?
"Little sister, long time no see."
Xu Qinghuan pulled over a round stool and sat down by the bed.
"Second Brother, indeed, long time no see."
After a few breaths of silence, Xu Zhan spoke first: "What did you use?"
"What do you mean, what did I use?"
"Don't fool me." Xu Zhan grabbed the bedsheet with his left hand. "I entered the military camp and have been in the Northern Frontier for these years. What kind of knife wounds haven't I seen? What kind of dead people haven't I seen? In my condition last night, any doctor would have shaken their head."
Xu Zhan looked straight into Xu Qinghuan's eyes: "The best wound medicine in the army, even the century-old ginseng from the Imperial Hospital in the capital, couldn't save a person who had rotted through in the water dungeon! What exactly did you use on me?"
Xu Qinghuan met Xu Zhan's gaze without blinking.
"A secret prescription bought at a heavy price in the capital."
Xu Qinghuan met his sharp gaze without blinking an eyelid.
"Father spent an astronomical price to buy a life-saving elixir from a wandering old Daoist. Just one pill, and he forced it on me before I left." Xu Qinghuan lowered her eyelids and reached out to tuck in his blanket. "Don't ask anymore. Using the medicine on our own family, it wasn't a loss."
Hearing this, Xu Zhan wondered how his little sister had become so different.
He wanted to ask more, but Xu Qinghuan directly interrupted him.
"Now is not the time to dwell on this. Second Brother, the sky in Zhenbei City is about to change."
Xu Zhan's brows furrowed tightly, his martial intuition instantly returning: "He Minghu has made his move?"
"He doesn't dare to move against me openly, but he and Ma Jin'an are in cahoots. They have long since strangled Zhenbei City's military power and grain supply routes."
"Ma Jin'an forged your confession of treason, and He Minghu is backing him."
"But these two are nothing more than the lapdogs put on display." Xu Qinghuan sneered.
Xu Zhan suddenly remembered something and struggled to sit up. "How is Father doing in the capital?"
"Father is fighting for his life." Xu Qinghuan's gaze was as sharp as a blade. "He is mobilizing three hundred thousand taels of silver and must deliver the money to the Third Prince within ten days. Father has cast out all his hidden networks to buy us time to break this deadlock."
"Three hundred thousand taels..." Xu Zhan gasped.
Xu Zhan knew the immense weight of this sum; the slightest misstep would cost the lives of the entire Xu family across nine generations. And with just this piece of information, Xu Zhan understood that their family had tied their fate to the Third Prince.
"So, we have no way out." Xu Qinghuan looked at Xu Zhan. "Last night, I publicly exposed the forged confession and chopped off Wang Biao's head. I have already flipped He Minghu's table. What comes next is a fight to the bitter end."
After hearing these words, Xu Zhan remained silent for a long time.
He slowly raised his left hand, trembling as he reached for the stump of his right shoulder. Through the white bandages, he could clearly feel the jagged bone fragments and mangled flesh beneath.
"Fighting for his life..." Xu Zhan forced a bitter smile.
With his head bowed, Xu Zhan's voice was filled with despair.
"Qinghuan, look at me."
Xu Zhan slapped his severed arm, the rough force causing a fresh layer of crimson to seep through the white bandages.
"I picked up a blade at eleven and trained for over a decade. All the skills I've built in this lifetime were in this right hand."
Tears finally fell, his eyes brimming with a shattered sense of injustice.
"I am crippled! Do you understand?! A useless cripple who can't even hold a sword can't charge into battle, nor can he protect you! Right now, I don't even have the qualifications to take a blade for you!"
Knowing that his family was facing a life-and-death crisis, and that he not only could not help but had become their greatest burden, this iron-willed man completely broke down.
"He Minghu has thousands of fully armed elite troops under his command! Ma Jin'an controls all the logistics and deployment of Zhenbei City! What do you have to fight them with? Just the thirty personal guards you brought?!"
Xu Zhan's eyes were filled with resolve. "Listen to your second brother. Before He Minghu can react, take your men and leave immediately! Get the hell back to the capital! My worthless life was meant to be lost in that death row cell anyway. Leave me be!"
Xu Qinghuan listened quietly as he roared out all his despair.
Then, she stood up.
"The blade of Great Qian is broken."
Xu Qinghuan leaned forward, resting both hands on the edge of the bed, and looked straight into Xu Zhan's eyes.
"It's just a broken piece of iron. If it's broken, it's broken. What is there to mourn?"
"Broaden your horizons, Second Brother."
Xu Qinghuan enunciated every word, her voice carrying an arrogance that transcended this era.
"Cold weapons cannot save Great Qian, nor can they wipe out our enemies. Since you can no longer hold a sword, I will give you a new weapon... a firearm that will blow this northern prairie and those rebellious traitors straight to hell!"
