Chapter 8: The Thousand Gold of the Tusi Old Master

  "Director Kong! Director Kong......" Dean Jin noticed that Xiao Donggua was staring at Qiu Lanxiang and didn't listen to him seriously, so he raised his voice and called out several times in a row.

  Dwarf Winter Melon's eyes, starting from the face of Knife Lan Xiang, swept up and down several times, finally stopping at her chest, staring blankly as if lost in self-satisfaction. Being called out by Dean Jin, it seemed like his beautiful dream was disrupted. He licked the corners of his mouth with his tongue a few times before reluctantly withdrawing his gaze, glancing at Dean Jin and asking: "Dean Jin, is there anything else?"

  "Look, this hospital can't accommodate any more wounded soldiers. The front line is still sending over wounded soldiers nonstop. Should we ask Commander Kong to arrange a temporary hospital..." Dean Jin's words were cut off by a wave of Short Pumpkin's hand.

  "No need to say, I've already made arrangements. The temporary hospital will be set up in the temple in the northern oak forest." Dwarf Winter Melon said with a chuckle, walking closer to Knife Lanxiang, stretching out his hand as if to touch her chest, scaring Knife Lanxiang's face pale, retreating two steps back.

  Dong Li Mao saw that Dwarf Winter Melon was so rude, he took a step forward and blocked the way in front of Knife Lan Xiang: "Kong Tuan Zhang..."

  "She...that..." The dwarf pumpkin pointed at the chest of Knife Lan Xiang with his outstretched hand and said to Dong Li Mao, "This nurse miss is injured."

  Dong Li Mao immediately turned around and looked at the bloodstain on Dao Lan Xiang's chest: "Lan Xiang, are you injured?"

  "No... nothing, I'm not hurt, this isn't... it's not my blood... it's the wounded person's blood..." Dao Lanxiang's face turned bright red as she lowered her head and wiped the bloodstains on her white coat with her hand, stuttering in response.

  The dwarf pumpkin said with a fake serious tone: "As the saying goes, 'a strong general has no weak soldiers', Director Jin, you should be proud to have such dedicated nurses. May I ask for the full name of this dedicated nurse?"

  "Oh, this is our hospital's knife nurse, named Knife Lanxiang, she is the daughter of the local tyrant Knife Hanshan." Dean Jin then introduced: "General Du had personally come to visit Comrade Dong Lianchang and requested that we must save Comrade Dong Lianchang's life, so I assigned Nurse Knife to take care of Comrade Dong Lianchang full-time."

  The dwarf pumpkin looked at Dong Li Mao with a jealous gaze and said, "Dong Lian Chang's body seems to be fine now, is it still necessary for a full-time nurse to take care of him?"

  Dolan Xiang was afraid that Diewu Donggua would send the not-yet-recovered Dong Limao to the front line, so he hastily stepped forward and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Dong Limao, saying: "Deputy Commander Dong just woke up yesterday, his wound has not fully healed, and his body is very weak, he still needs to rest for a while." After finishing speaking, he looked at Jin Yuanzhang with pleading eyes.

  "Is it?" asked Dwarf Winter Melon, facing Dean Jin.

  "Lan Xiang is right, Dong Lianchang really needs a few days of rest to fully recover," replied Dean Jin.

  Dong Li Mao, when he heard that Kao Lan Hsiang was the daughter of a local chieftain, looked at her with some incredulity. He knew that among the Dai people, the chieftains held supreme power in their villages, and yet this golden princess was willing to serve as an orderly for wounded soldiers. His heart couldn't help but feel a few more degrees of reverence for Kao Lan Hsiang.

  "Ah, so the knife guard is actually the daughter of Knife Khan, one of the most enthusiastic supporters among the many Khans! Your father not only donated rice but also voluntarily offered his house for the army to use. Ah, I didn't know that Knife Khan had such a precious and patriotic daughter like you!" The dwarf pumpkin ignored Dong Li Mao and walked over to Knife Lan Xiang's side, slowly circling around her with a smile, admiring her from head to toe with shining eyes.

  Dong Li Mao couldn't bear to look at Xiao Donggua's flirtatious face, so he pulled Knife Lan Xiang's arm and walked to the side, saying: "Lan Xiang, it turns out that your family has already been occupied by the military, if my brothers and I were to...

  "It's all right." Dāo Lánxiāng immediately interrupted Dǒng Lǐmào: "My family has many bamboo buildings idle, besides, living in my house is not the army, it's..." Before she finished speaking, an old man wearing a collarless short-sleeved shirt and wide-waisted long pants with a cloth wrapped around his head, barefoot, jogged over: "Miss, are you okay?"

  "Uncle Hong, how did you end up here?" Dao Lanxiang asked in puzzlement upon seeing the newcomer.

  "The old master heard that the hospital was bombed and became anxious, fearing that Miss had an accident, so he asked me to come." Yan Hong replied very respectfully.

  "I was just about to head home, you've arrived at the right time." Doolanxiang glanced at Dong Limao and then asked Yan Hong: "Did you hurry with the horse carriage?"

  "Old master said if we find the young lady, bring her back home, so I drove the horse carriage here."

  "Great!" Knife Lanxiang happily smiled and said to Dong Limao: "Dong Lianzhang, let's go." Then he loudly said to Jin Yuanzhang who was not far away and talking to Dwarf Pumpkin: "Dean Jin, I'm taking Dong Lianzhang home." After that, he pulled up Dong Limao's hand: "Let's go, Dong Lianzhang."

  Dong Li Mao walked past Xiao Dong Gua and said: "Comrade Kong, trouble you to let my brothers go to Jian Hu Shi's house to find me."

  After walking a few steps, Dong Li Mao heard the voice of Ai Donggua behind him: "Miss Knife, please give my regards to Knife Khan, I'll visit in person another day..."

  Dong Li Mao's hand was still being held by Knife Lan Xiang, and behind them followed Yan Hong. They walked past several military trucks before seeing a horse-drawn carriage parked under an oak tree on the side of the road. Dong Li Mao took a look and saw that what was tied to the base of the tree was not a horse, but a young donkey. The donkey had a set of ropes on its back, connected to two wooden beams, which were said to be the carriage, but in reality it was just a few pieces of wood assembled together with two wheels underneath.

  Yan Hong walked up and untied the rope that tied the mule, Qie Lan Xiang supported Dong Li Mao to sit on the wooden board, she also sat beside him. Yan Hong pulled the mule's bridle, the wheels made a creaking sound, rolling forward with ups and downs.

  "Lan Xiang, you just said that the people living in your house are not soldiers, who are they?" Dong Li Mao looked at the houses and trees by the roadside that had been bombed to ruins, and also heard someone crying, as if a loved one had been killed.

  "I'm not clear what kind of people they are, they didn't wear military uniforms, but each one had a gun. On the top of the thatched cottage where they lived, an antenna was set up, and there were often ticking sounds coming from their house." answered Dāo Lánxiāng.

  Dong Li Mao watched war-themed movies and TV shows, he guessed that most of them were about intelligence agencies.

  As the mule cart rolled over the uneven potholes, Dong Limao and Diao Lanxiang would be jolted together, their bodies touching. He felt her body was soft and warm, and smelled the faint scent of orchid on her. Dong Limao's heart began to beat faster, his hand against Diao Lanxiang's side feeling somewhat uncomfortable, with an occasional urge to put his arms around her.

  "What kind of people are in your family?" Dong Li Mao asked. The head of the Tusi's household was still somewhat mysterious to him.

  "My family has a lot of people, my father married thirteen women as his wives, I am the eldest child of my father, my mother only gave birth to me, when I was ten years old, my mother died of malaria, I have twenty-one younger brothers and sisters with different mothers, the youngest is not yet one year old..." Dao Lanxiang told Dong Li Mao about her family along the way.

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