Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Chapter 13 – Everything is a mess.
"Wait WHAAAAAAAT!?" Hua Shi screamed.
"You heard me right. You're marrying him. " Hua Tuo reaffirmed.
"But Why!?"
"Aren't you two sent by the Heaven?"
"Uh yeah, sort of. "
"And you've been receiving missions as Heavenly missions? For example, mandate from the Heaven?"
"Not entirely correct. But yes. "
"Then aren't you two fated? This is the will of the Heaven!"
"Huh?"
"A match made in Heaven! You two are destined to be together so they sent you here!"
A lightning struck Hua Shi's mind. She screwed up.
When she introduced the story of her past to her parents, she didn't mention Hell, sinners or the crimes she committed in her previous life. She only told them that the reason for them being here because the Heaven wanted them here and the Heaven had been ordering them around.
To Hua Shi, Hua Tuo seemed to misunderstand her intention and thought that they were fated destined by the Heaven!
Hua Tuo grinned from ear to ear. His eyes flickered many times while he was looking at his daughter.
"Now that it's decided. Let's go to Zhang resident and visit Zhang Jiao to discuss the matter. Time is waiting no one so let's hurry!"
"Wait dad! There's something you misunderstood. I-"
"No more dilly dally! Let's go!"
Hua Shi cried in her mind. Although she had enough experience in her previous life and didn't shy away from marriage, Zhang Tong could still be a threat to her. The current [Kill one otherworlder or more] mission was not over yet.
'What do I do? What do I do!?'
'Why the hell did I lie?'
'If I show up in front of him, won't he kill me?'
'I could kill the last guy because I ambushed him. Can I kill this guy in a straight fight?'
'FFFFFUUUUUUUUUU'
…
Unbeknownst to Hua Shi, Hua Tuo had another idea.
The match made in Heaven he declared was just a ruse. As a Buddhist medication practitioner, he was taught to follow the law of cause, effect and consequences. He didn't care or believe anything superstitious like Heaven or Hell any single bit!
Huo Shi's cannibalism hobby gave him a dilemma. Such immoral act was unbearable, especially after knowing that she also had a mental-thinking of an adult yet she still committed to it.
Hua Tuo had no idea how to fix his daughter's habit and he was worried about his reputation as a physician. If the matter was found out then his career would be ruined. He had no way out.
Hua Tuo planned to punish his daughter when they got back home. But his wife gave him an inspiration.
Zhan Ru mentioned Zhang Tong and his power. It sparked an idea in Hua Tuo's brain. What if he entrusted his daughter to Zhang Tong, then what he could gain from it.
If they were indeed a match made by Heaven, then he would have done a good deed by supporting the will of Heaven.
If Zhang Tong was really sent here for an important mission, then Hua Shi could support him, doing another good deed.
Even if they weren't fated and all Heaven thing was a hoax, connecting a family with a genius merchant child in another healer family was fine too.
And if the hobby of Hua Shi were to be resurfaced again, then Zhang family would took the responsibility for her action instead of him. Because the wife would always move into the husband's household, thus they would be responsible to take care of her instead of him!
Even if the matter were to be found out, the Zhang family would take the blame first and had their reputation sunk to rock bottom. Because of that, the Zhang family would have no choice but to help Hua Tuo keeping the secret
This move was like hitting three to four birds in one stone.
Hua Tuo was smiling as he stroked his beard, feeling proud of his move.
Normally, such immoral and heretic action of Hua Shi should result her getting beaten by wooden stick a hundred time by law, ensuring her death in agony.
But Hua Tuo was merciful enough to just let it slide and shoved her into someone else's family. At least, she could live a fulfilling life as a wife of a family.
'There's still a matter about the future. The rebellion, was it?'
'But the matter of the future is not certain. Everything can be changed by the hands of men. '
'I don't care about politics and wars. I'll just do my part as a simple physician. '
'I'll dump this heretic daughter with the Zhang's. Then I'll travel the land again. '
…
Rewinding time a little bit, 3 AM at the same day, Zhang resident.
Tong laid down on his bed while having a rolled cloth laid under his injured knee. His injured knee was already bandaged.
A bowl of water was placed on the table beside the bed and a reddish cloth, which was used to clean Tong's wound, was place on the table next to the bowl. The water in the bowl was bloody red. A maid seemed to fail to clean up properly.
Tong managed to escape the eyes of the villagers and returned back to his resident at 2 AM. But the Zhang residents already noticed Tong's disappearance and the commotion in the village. The entire residents were in uproar and were busy searching for Tong's whereabouts.
Then they found the returning Tong and his injury, increasing the panic and chaos in the household further. Zhang Jiao was also awake during the commotion. He rushed to see Tong.
The injury wasn't severe, only an arrow in the knee. However, the doctor, which was Zhang Jiao himself, was unable to take out the arrow head or cut open the wound to take out the arrow.
It was the con of having physical attack immunity. All surgical attempts were blocked by the passive skill. Only Tong himself could cut himself by using ordinary knife, no one else could.
Tong had no choice but the take out the arrow head out by himself, which torn the wound further and his blood spurted out more, covering half of his leg.
After taking out the arrow, Tong faced another dilemma, No needle could penetrate his skin! He had to stitch the wound himself because his passive skill was blocking the treatment again.
In the end Tong almost had to do everything himself. The only treatment Zhang Jiao could do was applying a handful of wound-dressing-herbs, cleaning up outer wound and bandaging.
After Tong finished his self-surgery treatment in his knee, he passed out, exhausted.
Although there were a lot in Zhang Jiao's mind and he had many questions to ask, he left Tong alone. He planned to thoroughly question his son when he woke up.
Zhang Jiao, sitting in the main hall of the Zhang resident, waited for the investigation report about the explosion and Tong's action during the night.
Then, a scout came into the hall, knelt down and cupped his hand to report.
"Reporting to Great Teacher! The investigation result is here. "
The scout handed over a scroll. Zhang Bao, who was standing on the side of Zhang Jiao, stepped up and pick up the scroll to read.
"Five children corpses and two guard corpses have been found. One child was dismantled and dumped in the south-east corner of the village. He was a child of the farmer that has just moving in. His name was …"
The long report was read. All personal detail information about the victims, how they died, the location of their death, their family and etc, were reported.
"We've also recovered a blade and two daggers on one of the dead children. It appeared similar to the weapons that my nephew, your son, bought from a blacksmith a few months ago. "
Zhang Jiao frown. He already had a hunch that Tong was partly responsible for this mess. Tong's weapons confirmed his suspicion.
"Has the mayor found out yet?"
"I don't think so. The report said they've collected nephew's blade and daggers before the guards arrived. "
Zhang Jiao nodded, shook his head and sighed.
"Everything currently is a mess. Give an order. No one can ever speak a word about what happened to Tong'er. He never left the house last night! Remind everyone that!"
"Yes, Great Teacher. "
All servants and Zhang Bao left the hall, leaving Zhang Jiao alone.
Zhang Jiao leaned back on his chair, breathing out a deep sigh.
'Everything is a mess. Tong'er, what were you doing behind my back all these years?'
'And what happened to your body? How come your body become something like that?'
…
7. 30 AM, January 1st, 181AD. Zhang Resident, Tong's room.
Tong frown and lift his eyelid a little. He couldn't sleep anymore because of the pain in his knee.
In his self-surgery and stitching, Tong completed it with difficulty because he couldn't see the wound well enough.
He did applied the anesthetic to numb the pain but the effect was now over. The pain sensation came back to him as the injured knee seemed to swell up a bit.
*Peok* *Peok* *Peok*
Someone was knocking the door of Tong's room, then the door opened. Zhang Jiao's younger brother, Tong's second uncle, Zhang Bao entered his room.
"Hey kiddo, that Hua Tuo came again. Do you want to see him? He's talking to your dad right now. "
"Huh? Why is he coming back here?"
"Who knows? He's back with the pretty girl that came with him yesterday. Maybe he want to give you a bride?"
Zhang Bao smirked. But Tong rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, if you can still walk then you should go see them. If you can't, just stay. "
"No I won't go, please tell them I haven't wake up yet. But don't tell them I'm sick or he'll barge in without permission. I don't want anyone to know about my injury. "
"Aye! Take care kiddo … Oh hey! Talk to your dad sometimes. He's lonely you know?"
Zhang Bao smiled and shrugged. Then he left Tong.
Tong looked at the back of his uncle then he glanced at his knee, checking its condition.
'I'm not confident that I treated it right. '
'I probably won't be able to walk straight for a few weeks or a couple months'
Tong's face was gloom.
'There's also the matter with dad. '
'I still haven't talk to dad yet since I returned. '
'What should I tell him?'
'... '
'... I'm sorry dad. '
Tong bit his lower lip, feeling bitter.