She Came to Heal, Stayed to Conquer

"This wine is a new product from the owner of Drunken Immortal Brew. Even more rare than Drunken Immortal Brew, and with this exquisite wine pot that opens with a pull..."

Han Lei said, suddenly lifting her gaze with a mysterious smile, her eyes shimmering, "This wine is sold for a hundred taels of silver per pot in the Capital City."

"What?" Su Qi widened his eyes in disbelief, looking at the tiny wine pot in his hand, "Just such a small pot, sold for a hundred taels of silver?"

He came from a noble family and was a member of the royal family, having seen all sorts of rare treasures. Even for someone like him, this price seemed ridiculously high.

He subconsciously glanced at the first brocade box, now empty, and couldn’t help but feel a pang of pain.

Han Lei claimed to have sent two boxes, but each only contained two, and she had opened both in the first box herself...

Han Lei seemed to see through his thoughts and softly said, "That’s why I didn’t bring much this time, and can only offer two boxes to the General. I hope the General won’t think it’s too little."

"Not at all, Miss Wei, you’re too kind."

Su Qi repeatedly waved his hand. He found Han Lei’s generosity impressive, yet couldn’t help but feel pained over the precious wine.

But on second thought, once opened, it was done! After all, it’s also about enjoying a drink with a beauty, and if the beauty gets drunk, who knows what might happen...

With this thought, his gaze swept over Han Lei’s graceful figure, his heart warmed, and he eagerly sat down, attentively serving Han Lei food.

"Miss Wei is truly generous. With such precious wine, I’m just taking advantage. Try this, this is..."

Su Qi, with impure intentions, proactively showed hospitality. Han Lei came prepared, naturally willing to play along.

The two chatted and drank, the atmosphere quickly becoming lively, with their conversation naturally revolving around aristocratic gossip.

Meanwhile, Han Lei was drinking and chatting with Su Qi. On the other side, Su Qi’s trusted aide, along with the brothers from the big character team, went elsewhere to seek shelter from the rain.

But here in the military camp, aside from the tents of the General and the trusted aides, there were only the soldiers’ tents.

The trusted aide was selfish; he looked distantly at his own tent, unwilling to bring outsiders to it.

The trusted aide led the brothers from the big character team through the rain. Cold rainwater dripped continuously from the edge of his raincoat.

The muddy yellow roads in the camp made their boots covered in wet mud, each step producing a "squelch" sound.

"This damn weather..." the trusted aide cursed softly, tightening the raincoat on his body.

He thought to himself: after all, they are just attendants and servants, not masters, so finding any place to settle down is fine.

Perhaps seeing through his thoughts, the voice of the big character team leader rang timely behind the trusted aide.

"Sir. Our feet are dirty; just find us a soldier’s tent to take shelter in, so we don’t get drenched in the rain here."

Hearing this, the trusted aide was happy to comply, raising his hand to point to a distant cluster of low soldiers’ tents.

"Alright, those are all soldiers’ tents over there, you can find a place to shelter there yourselves."

"Thank you."

"Thank you, sir."

The brothers from the big character team thanked him repeatedly, then shielded their heads with their hands and ran bowed to those soldiers’ tents.

Watching their figures disappear, the trusted aide turned and left, eager to go find shelter from the rain himself!

Da San looked back at the vanished trusted aide, wiped the rain off his face, and said in a muffled voice, "Leader, he’s gone, what about us..."

"Alright, don’t speak, listen carefully."

Da Yi raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, then, braving the rain, they wandered around the soldiers’ tents.

On rainy days, soldiers couldn’t train, so apart from huddling inside their low tents to chat and gossip, there was nothing else to do.

And what the brothers from the big character team needed to carefully discern were the contents of these soldiers’ conversations.

After wandering for a while, they finally stopped in front of one tent. Voices of soldiers secretly complaining could be heard from inside.

"...My wife wrote saying the family can hardly keep food on the table," a hoarse voice said helplessly, "But last month’s pay wasn’t even enough to buy ten bushels of rice..."

"Tell me about it!" another voice said angrily, "Mr. Su feasts on fine food every day, while we can’t even fill our stomachs with coarse rice!"

"I haven’t sent any silver home for three months. I wonder how my parents are doing."

"Me too, last month’s pay wasn’t even enough for myself! Where could I get silver to send home?"

"They’re just keeping us alive. They say the court gives too little, but look at what Mr. Su and his trusted aides are eating. Do you believe those words?"