HNYWEF -Chapter 51 Picking a Fight

The eighth year of Daye.

Shandong. At the foot of some mountain.

The camp was set in a hollow between the hills, sheltered from the wind and facing the sun.

There weren’t many tents—maybe twenty or thirty—scattered around a few old locust trees.

Cooking smoke had only just begun to rise, drifting crookedly before the wind tore it apart.

Shan Xiongxin sat inside a tent, wiping his blade with a worn piece of cloth.

It was a good saber. It had followed him for years, and the edge still hadn’t chipped.

He wiped it slowly, stroke by stroke, from the base to the tip, then from the tip back to the base.

Hurried footsteps sounded outside.

“Second Brother!”

A man pushed aside the flap and stumbled in, breathing hard.

Shan Xiongxin didn’t look up.

“Speak.”

The man swallowed.

“A bunch of the brothers… went to cause trouble for that new doctor.”

Shan Xiongxin’s hand paused.

Just once.

Then he continued wiping the blade.

“And then?”

The man said, “They got thrown out.”

Shan Xiongxin lifted his head.

He looked at the man.

“Thrown out?”

The man nodded.

“Thrown out. Eleven of them. Every single one got beaten and tossed out.”

Shan Xiongxin set the blade down.

He stood and walked outside.

At the entrance of the tent, he stopped.

“Were the injuries serious?”

The man said, “That’s the strange part.”

Shan Xiongxin looked at him.

The man continued, “No injuries on them. No blood, no bruises, no broken bones. But every one of them…”

He paused, as if trying to find the right words.

“…can’t move anymore.”

Shan Xiongxin froze for a moment.

“Can’t move?”

The man nodded.

“Not completely. Some can’t lift an arm, some can’t step properly, some can’t straighten their backs. It’s different for each of them.”

He thought for a moment, then added:

“But none of them have external injuries. They look perfectly fine, it’s just… they can’t use any strength.”

Shan Xiongxin stood there silently.

He looked outside the tent.

The brothers who had been beaten out were lying beneath the trees, groaning weakly. Several others stood around them, chattering noisily about what had happened.

He watched for a while.

Then he started walking over.

Eight men were sprawled under the trees, while another three sat leaning nearby in all sorts of awkward positions.

Some clutched their arms, some rubbed their legs, some leaned against the trees with bent backs they couldn’t straighten.

Shan Xiongxin walked over.

The moment they saw him, everyone shut up.

Even the groaning quieted down.

He stood there and examined them one by one from head to toe.

There really were no injuries.

No blood, no swelling, not even broken skin.

But their postures—

He looked at one man clutching his arm. The man’s left arm hung limply at his side, completely motionless, while his right hand supported it carefully, as though afraid it might fall off.

Shan Xiongxin crouched and squeezed the arm.

Soft.

Not the normal kind of softness—more like an absence of strength.

The man sucked in a breath from the pain but didn’t dare cry out.

Shan Xiongxin stood back up.

He checked the others.

All the same.

No injuries.

But no strength either.

After looking them over, he turned around.

The man who had brought the report was still standing behind him.

Shan Xiongxin asked, “Where’s the doctor?”

The man replied, “Back in his own tent. He beat them and left without saying a word.”

Shan Xiongxin nodded.

He started walking back.

After a few steps, he stopped.

Without turning around, he said:

“Tell the troublemakers not to leave camp for the next few days.”

The man froze.

“Second Brother?”

Shan Xiongxin said, “We’ll talk again in three days.”

Then he continued walking.

Three days later.

The troublemaking brothers had recovered.

Their arms could move again, their legs worked, their backs straightened out. Every one of them was lively and jumping around like nothing had happened.

They gathered together, staring at each other.

Someone asked, “What exactly happened that day?”

No one could answer.

Someone else asked, “How did he hit us?”

Still no answer.

All they remembered was that the moment they met him, some part of their body went numb—

and then they couldn’t move anymore.

How he attacked, they didn’t know.

How he fought, they didn’t know.

They remembered nothing.

Shan Xiongxin stood in the distance watching them.

Watching for a long while.

Then he turned and headed toward the tent of the new doctor.

The tent flap was open.

The man sat inside holding a strange object—a small iron piece clipped over one eye socket. Facing the light, he was examining something in his other hand.

Shan Xiongxin stood at the entrance without going in.

The man didn’t look up either.

He simply kept looking.

Shan Xiongxin waited for a while.

Then he spoke.

“Zhou Xiong.”

The man raised his head.

Looked at him.

Shan Xiongxin said, “You were the one who beat those eleven men?”

Zhou Xiong nodded.

Shan Xiongxin said, “I heard they accused you of treating lives carelessly. Said they couldn’t understand your medical skills.”

Zhou Xiong said nothing.

Shan Xiongxin continued, “But they don’t have any injuries.”

Still no response.

Shan Xiongxin looked at him and suddenly felt like something about the situation was off.

This kid wasn’t usually the silent type.

Was he sulking?

He watched him for three breaths.

Then suddenly laughed.

A very faint laugh.

Zhou Xiong froze for a moment.

Shan Xiongxin didn’t explain.

He turned and walked away.

After two steps, he stopped.

Without turning back, he said:

“If anyone causes trouble again, just hit them directly. If they die, it’s on me.”

Then he continued walking.

Zhou Xiong sat inside the tent, watching his back.

Watching for quite a while.

“…And here I thought it was something serious…”

Then he lowered his head again and returned his attention to the object in his hands.