"Why worry? I have water here, and besides, a young lady should not join the army. And that old scar on your neck, I'll prepare some ointment for you later so it doesn't leave a mark."
A Jiu insisted on pulling Hua Ling's hand into the basin of water.
Hua Ling bit her lip and looked at the girl, who was about the same age as her, with wide, bright eyes. Shocked, her heart ached. She hadn't been treated like a young lady in years.
When A Jiu touched her hand, her heart also tightened. What beautiful hands were calloused and scarred, rough like those of a sixty-year-old man.
When she finished washing, A Jiu was already holding out a towel:
"Wipe yourself. See how much better you look."
Hua Ling hesitantly took the towel. She hadn't bathed or washed her face in two years.
In the bronze mirror on the vanity, her own decent appearance startled her. Her hand involuntarily touched her face, then, as if in disbelief, she lightly touched it again.
Seeing that Hua Ling seemed so constrained and silent after arriving here, A Jiu decided to say more:
"Tuoba Yan sent you, didn't he? It's true, it must be inconvenient for a girl to be in a military camp. Don't you feel uncomfortable sleeping at night?"
As soon as she said this, Hua Ling bit her lip, revealing a girlish demeanor that she rarely showed:
"I'm used to it. I sleep with my clothes on."
"You can take them off here." A Jiu, with a smile, took out a spiritual ginseng. The kitchen had a mortar, so she mashed some of it and mixed it with the dried white peony root from the backyard.
With some rice paste, it could be used to heal wounds.
Hua Ling was unaccustomed to A Jiu's excessive enthusiasm. She placed the paste-like substance from the bottom of the bowl on the vanity: "Apply this to the wound on your neck yourself."
Hua Ling's eyes flickered with uncertainty. For so many years, she had never encountered anyone who was so thoughtful and gentle towards her.
It was to the point where she often forgot she was a girl.
A Jiu didn't want to waste the washing water in the basin. Although it was dark, it could still be used to water the plants.
When she turned back, Hua Ling was still standing there, staring fixedly at a certain spot, lost in thought.
"If you don't apply it, shall I help you?" A Jiu asked tentatively.
"No, no, I'll do it myself." As expected, Hua Ling quickly picked it up and applied it to her neck.
"Zhao Kun mentioned that you lost a bet with Tuoba Yan?" A Jiu said with interest.
"Yes." Hua Ling had been very confident that she could persuade those Qi soldiers to surrender. She had truly cherished the camaraderie of shared life and death.
"A bet is a bet. I'll serve you from now on," Hua Ling said with a wave of her hand, speaking frankly.
"I don't need you to serve me." A Jiu, holding a small shovel, added more soil to the dried-out white peony root that had been dead for who knows how many years.
After all, this was spiritual spring water; it would sprout and revive quickly.
"Why? Then where will I go?" Hua Ling's eyes flashed with despair. General Tuoba in the military camp wouldn't let her return.
"I mean, I don't need you to serve me. You can live with me. I just thought it would be inconvenient for you in a men's camp, so you can consider me a sister."
A Jiu patted the soil around the root.
Hua Ling froze again. Be sisters with the General's wife?
A Jiu ignored her and walked over to the side room, knocking on the door: "Xue Zhen."
"The door is unlocked."
Only then did A Jiu push the door open, taking out a spiritual ginseng as she walked: "I've finished planting. How is your progress?"
Xue Zhen was sitting cross-legged on the soft couch in the bedroom. In his white robes, he looked more like an immortal than A Jiu's grandmother.
He didn't notice Hua Ling standing outside the door. Hua Ling didn't know there was a second person in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion courtyard.
This sight was astonishing. Hua Ling thought she was hallucinating. How could there be such a handsome man?
But why was all his hair white? Did he have an incurable illness?
Xue Zhen, naturally, couldn't refuse something with spiritual energy. He tucked the ginseng into his sleeve and, in one smooth motion, pulled out a stack of yellow paper:
"Take these to Tuoba Yan. These talismans are all imbued with the Golden Light Body Protection spell, which can deal with those puppets."
Although he had agreed to rejoin the army and return to Tuoba's side, he, as a cultivator, could not accept repeated favors without reciprocating.
A Jiu's pupils contracted. She took the talismans and looked at them. They were inscribed with the strokes of Zhuyou techniques.
Moreover, she could see a faint golden and red aura subtly swirling around these talismans.
Books stated that drawing talismans required ingredients like Angelica dahurica and cinnabar for ink. Cinnabar, although poisonous, was a pure yang substance, so the red aura was likely the essence of the cinnabar.
But why couldn't she, after drawing for half the night, make any true qi flow onto them?
Seeing her still in a daze, Xue Zhen added, "Is this return gift not enough?"