I settled down in Si Jiangchen's villa.
Although there was an empty feeling in my heart as if I had forgotten something, having Granny Bai and A Wen by my side made me feel a lot more at ease.
Si Jiangchen was in charge of leading troops to suppress bandits and was responsible for the security around the provincial capital of Yu Province.
So his villa in Luoyang was large and comfortable.
It was an European-style courtyard inside the Lijing Gate, with red bricks and black tiles. There was a small fountain spraying a stream of pearl-like water under the shade of green trees.
When I was bored, I would sit on the second-floor corridor and watch the little sparrows bathing and drinking water in the pool.
The wound on my stomach was healing very slowly. It had been more than half a month, but it still oozed blood.
Granny Bai's medical skills were amazing. It was said that she could even bring the dead back to life, but she was helpless against my gunshot wound.
"Granny Bai, or..."
A Wen hesitated to speak but was silenced by a glance from Granny Bai.
"Xiao He's wound needs to be nursed slowly," Granny Bai said as she changed my dressing.
Si Jiangchen had military doctors. They had Western medicine, and the alcohol for disinfection always made me faint from the pain.
So I only let Granny Bai take care of me.
At night, Si Jiangchen would come back. He would always cook delicious porridge for me. After eating it, the extremely sad feeling in my heart would fade a little...
It seemed that I was a bit addicted to the food he cooked?
There was also a woman named Lin Shuya living in Si Jiangchen's villa.
Si Jiangchen said she was his adoptive sister who had saved his life.
Although I didn't like Lin Shuya very much, I still wanted to get along with her peacefully, because she was Si Jiangchen's sister and I was his fiancée. I didn't want to make Si Jiangchen embarrassed.
So I always tried to avoid her. After all, this woman would get married someday. She couldn't follow her adoptive brother Si Jiangchen for the rest of her life, could she?
Si Jiangchen looked like a playboy with all kinds of vices, but in fact he was very busy.
He led troops to suppress bandits every day. He not only suppressed those bandits who occupied mountains and harassed the villagers, but also dealt with those tomb robbers who did all kinds of evil and dug up people's ancestral tombs.
Luoyang was an ancient capital of nine dynasties and was close to Beimang. Countless tomb robbers were attracted to this place. Taking advantage of the chaotic times, they flocked here to "dig sweet potatoes" and "turn over zombies" to make a fortune from the dead!
These people were all extremely cruel and ruthless. They were mostly blood relatives such as fathers, sons, uncles and nephews. There was an unwritten rule among them. When they found an ancient tomb, the son or grandson would go down to get the treasures, while the father or uncle would be responsible for receiving the goods and pulling the rope outside.
It was said that this arrangement was formed after countless cruel and bloody killings.
Not only because young people had better physical strength and could deal with various emergencies in the tomb, but also because there had been many cases where the sons and grandsons, after seeing the rare treasures taken out of the tomb, had the idea of monopolizing them. They cut the rope and filled the robbery hole, burying their fathers and grandfathers alive with the dead.
But if the sons and grandsons went into the tomb, the fathers and grandfathers would never harm their own flesh and blood!
Such a group of inhumane and ruthless criminals not only disturbed the long sleep of the dead, but also showed no mercy to the common people who had already suffered a lot from the war. They would directly kill the refugees with money and rob their property. They would also drag the pretty girls into empty houses and cottages, rape them and then suffocate them to death.
In less than half a month, these tomb robbers had committed dozens of murders around Luoyang.
Si Jiangchen had been going out early and coming back late these days to hunt them down.
"A Chen, you must be careful when you go out..."
In the early morning, while the sun had not yet shown its scorching rays, I was sitting in the small courtyard watching the birds. As usual, I heard Lin Shuya's reluctant exhortations to Si Jiangchen who was about to go out.
Didn't she get tired of saying the same thing every day?
I complained in my heart and lazily leaned back on the bamboo reclining chair. Under me was the cool summer cloth mat that Granny Bai had laid for me. I was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep again with my eyes half-closed.
"Feeling better?"
Suddenly, a cold voice came from above my head, which startled me. I quickly opened my eyes and found Si Jiangchen in military uniform, holding his hat and looking down at me.
"Uh..."
We hadn't said a word to each other for several days. I didn't know what had gotten into him today. He actually came to bother me. I instinctively struggled to get up, but the wound on my stomach protested with a sharp pain.
After struggling for a few times, I fell back onto the reclining chair like a fish out of water, and a string of cold sweat dripped from my forehead.
Si Jiangchen bent down and actually reached out to lift the thin cotton Chinese-style jacket I was wearing.
"What are you doing?!"
I was almost scared to death and quickly reached out to block his arm.
To make it convenient for me to take a bath and change dressing every day, Granny Bai had specially made three or four well-fitting Chinese-style jackets with seven-inch sleeves for me, paired with a knee-length pleated skirt to ensure that it wouldn't press on my wound.
"Just checking the recovery," Si Jiangchen said in a low voice, as if undressing a girl was as normal as taking off his gloves.
"Don't look!!"
I grabbed his arm with both hands, but he used his other hand to untie the ribbon on my skirt. Suddenly, the corner of his mouth curled up a little, "It's not like I haven't seen it before!"
"Ugh..."
The skin on my abdomen was suddenly exposed to the slightly cold morning air. A shiver instantly ran through my body.
Si Jiangchen carefully lifted the white gauze covering my lower abdomen and frowned involuntarily.
"Uh!!"
Lin Shuya, who was following behind him, quickly covered her nose, looking as if she couldn't stand the sight of blood.
"A Chen, why hasn't her wound healed yet?!"
Si Jiangchen sighed slightly but ignored her. His dark eyes looked at me and said, "Granny Bai hasn't done her best."
"Nonsense. Granny Bai changes my dressing every day!"
I didn't like him saying that about Granny Bai. He was never at home and didn't know how much effort Granny Bai had put into my wound.
"She doesn't even recover as fast as I do. A Chen, what's the use of keeping her?"
Lin Shuya still said those meaningless words. I was almost tired of hearing them. She had a deep cut on her face before, as if she had been cut by a knife. But overnight, even the scar was gone... I thought she was a monster who knew the art of skin-changing!
"If she behaved as recklessly as you, she would surely recover faster than you," Si Jiangchen finally glanced sideways at Lin Shuya, "Sister Shuya, I've told you that there are many evil people in this chaotic world. You can go and eat those evil people! Why did you go to the orphanage again?"
"...I, I didn't!"
Lin Shuya stamped her foot and argued, "I was clearly sleeping at home yesterday. A Chen, you have to believe me!!"
After hearing their conversation, the hair on my body stood on end. Who the hell was Lin Shuya?! Judging from their words, did it mean that she actually ate... children?!