Wu Qing quickly put on a smiling face and stopped her. "Ah Hua, where are you going?"
Xiaohua shot him a sideways glance. "What does it matter to you? Wu Qing, I'm telling you to stay away from me. I'm not interested in you."
After saying that, she rolled her eyes, carried a bowl of water, and walked toward Zhao Feng, her face quickly morphing into a sweet smile.
"Young Master Zhao, come have a sip of water and rest."
A flash of impatience crossed Zhao Feng's eyes. "No need."
Xiaohua seemed used to his cold attitude and didn't mind. She shoved the bowl right in front of him. "Young Master Zhao, don't be so polite with me. It's just a bowl of water, it's nothing."
Zhao Feng hurriedly took two steps back, not daring to look at her. It was truly because she was too ugly.
It wasn't that he despised ugly people, but her ugliness could no longer be described with just the word ugly.
Her face was shaped like a sickle, looking as though someone had kicked her while she was still in the womb.
Her eyes were not only small but round, standard mung-bean eyes, and miniature ones at that. If you didn't look closely, you would think she just had two freckles on her face.
Her lips, however, were extremely thick and bright red. When she spoke, she revealed two chipped buck teeth, which looked rather unsettling.
Put it this way: if they encountered barbarian bandits, she wouldn't need to hide like other women, because she was so ugly that they wouldn't even give her a second glance.
Rumor had it that when the barbarians entered the village to rob her house, she stammered and showed a fawning smile, preparing to beg for mercy.
The barbarians were so frightened on the spot that they gagged a few times, turned around, and ran. One even tripped over his own feet, fell, got up, gagged a few more times, and ran even faster, not even daring to pick up his lost shoe.
Her family thus escaped disaster, becoming the only household in the entire village that wasn't robbed.
Yet, the shoehorn-faced Wu Qing thought Xiaohua was incredibly beautiful. He was utterly obsessed with her, to the point where he would stare blankly after just one look, often drooling over her.
But thinking about it, it made sense. Wu Qing's appearance was also hard to describe; his shoehorn face shape was already the best feature he had.
Anyway, Zhao Feng couldn't describe it. If forced to say, it would be fragmented and bumpy.
If you asked him, these two were actually quite a match. They should just become a family and stop coming out to torment him.
A thousand thoughts ran through his mind, but his face remained expressionless. "No need. We are busy setting up the stove to make lunch. You, you should hurry back."
Xiaohua gave him a shy glance. "Young Master Zhao, why are you being so polite with me? If, if you want, I, I can be yours."
Zhao Feng's face turned pale, and he hurriedly waved his hands. "No, Miss, you possess a heavenly beauty. I know I am not worthy of you."
Xiaohua was overjoyed by the praise and gave him a coquettish glare. "I never thought I would be so, so beautiful in Young Master Zhao's eyes. I, I'm not talking to you anymore."
Before she even finished speaking, she splashed the bowl of water toward Zhao Feng, covered her face with the bowl, and ran away.
Leaving Zhao Feng, who had a face full of water, standing disheveled in the sunlight.
"Pfft, hahaha..." A man standing nearby couldn't help but laugh out loud, pulling on his wound and making him bare his teeth in pain.
The other men also started laughing.
Zhao Feng wiped the water from his face and let out a weak sigh. "What is all this?"
The man who had laughed first teased him, "Come on, it's only because she doesn't look that good, otherwise who knows how fast you'd cling to her."
Zhao Feng glared at him. "Is that just not that good? That is extremely not good-looking. Lin Yang, if you want her, go for it yourself. I absolutely won't stop you."
Lin Yang waved his hands. "No, no, I don't have the fortune to enjoy that. Let's just make lunch."
Zhao Feng looked at the soldiers standing straight in the distance and couldn't help but frown. "Why do I feel like those aren't ordinary guards?"
Lin Yang shared this doubt. "I think so too, but they are indeed only wearing hemp clothes, so they shouldn't be soldiers."
"Wait a minute, that person, why does that person look so familiar? Look, quickly!" an exclamation rang out.
A companion was pointing in a direction, his excited voice trembling.
Zhao Feng and the others followed his gaze and saw a robust young man walking toward the soldiers. It was none other than Qiu Wu.
"It's, it's Commandant Qiu!" Zhao Feng exclaimed.
Jiang Jin also hadn't expected to encounter a scattered unit of the Northeast Army here.
It was just that their condition was quite miserable. There were five of them in total, and almost all of them were injured.
Zhao Feng's left arm was broken. Without a doctor, he had set the bone himself, but he did it crookedly. That arm was almost ruined and had to be broken and reset.
Lin Yang had a slash on his back. Lacking doctors and medicine, he had forcibly cauterized the wound with fire to prevent infection. However, it still became infected, and he had started having intermittent fevers over the past few days.
One person had an arrow in the shoulder, and the wound was similarly infected. The other two also had varying degrees of blade wounds.
Yet, fearing that the Quzhao people would discover their identities, they had tightly wrapped all their blade and arrow wounds with cloth, revealing nothing, except for Zhao Feng's arm, which couldn't be hidden.
This only worsened their injuries. No wonder everyone looked so pale. Fortunately, they had strong constitutions, allowing them to hold on for so long.
Jiang Jin couldn't help but sigh in admiration; they were all fierce men.
She asked, "Why are you traveling with these refugees?"
Zhao Feng lowered his head, not daring to look directly at Jiang Jin. He had just heard Commandant Qiu say that their general had already submitted to the young woman before them.
"We woke up in a pile of dead bodies. When we woke up, the battle was over, and our city was gone."
The few of them could only support each other and leave, beginning their life on the run.
Their luck was decent; before long, they encountered Xiaohua's group.
Their identities were sensitive, and a few young, strong men fleeing as refugees would easily arouse suspicion, so they wanted to join Xiaohua's group.
Xiaohua and her people didn't know about Zhao Feng and the others' injuries. Seeing that they were all young and strong men, they felt their group would be safer with them, especially since their group wasn't large, so they agreed.
Jiang Jin looked around at them. Aside from Zhao Feng's arm, which was visibly wrong at a glance, the others' injuries indeed couldn't be seen on the surface.
Others would just think they looked weak and frail, but that was a normal phenomenon. On a refugee trail where everyone was starving, being emaciated and weak was the norm.
Jiang Jin nodded. "Have Suo Qian and Mu Zhuo take a look at your wounds, and then get some food."
Yun Yu was overjoyed. "Thank you, My Lady."
He had also heard there were a few scattered soldiers from the Northeast Army, which was why he had anxiously come over to check the situation.
He even knew Zhao Feng and Lin Yang; one was a centurion, and the other a squad leader.
After Qiu Wu led the men away, Jiang Jin looked at Yun Yu. "Later, ask them if they are willing to stay in my ranks. If they are, organize them into the squads. Once their injuries heal, they will begin training."
Having veterans in the ranks was absolutely a good thing.
Yun Yu nodded. Actually, he didn't even need to ask; he already knew their choice.
In less than half an hour, the camp became noisy. It turned out Xiaohua had come looking for people.
Zhao Feng had just had his bone broken and reset. The pain hadn't fully passed yet, but hearing the noisy sounds outside, he helplessly got up to deal with it.
He didn't dare bring his own troubles to Jiang Jin's ranks, terrified that his group of men would be cast aside and despised.
