"Hey, say what you want to say first—" Before she could finish, her lips were sealed with a kiss.
His kisses were a little too urgent and fierce, his hands holding her like an impenetrable wall, as if he wanted to meld her into his body. His tongue pried open her teeth and intertwined with hers, so forceful that he even swallowed the sound of her breathing.
Li Ruo finally caught her breath, touched her slightly sore lips, rolled over and lay on top of him, pinching him, "Explain yourself, why are you unhappy?"
"I'm not unhappy at all," Xie Xiao said, looking at her.
"You said you didn't, and you were ignoring me not long ago."
Xie Xiao kissed her again, "Is this what you call ignoring you?"
It was a much gentler kiss than the one before, and it was even more intoxicating.
Their black hair was intertwined, their inner garments had fallen off at some point, their skin pressed against each other, their legs stacked on top of each other, like a burning fire in the warm quilt in the cold winter.
Li Ruo refused to let him succeed, saying, "Tell me first whether you approve of me using that Sumeru Mustard Seed in battle."
Xie Xiao stared intently at her, his fingers tracing her face. "I don't approve."
"Why?"
He stared at her for a while, then gritted his teeth, looking somewhat annoyed. "Compared to them, I don't want to lose you even more." He didn't want to go back into the water to pull her out again.
Li Ruoxin's heart skipped a beat, "You—"
Xie Xiao's eyes darkened. "I don't want too many people to know your secret, for fear of putting you in danger. I can't bear the consequences of losing you, do you understand?"
So, was he angry because he cared too much? Was she that important to him? And yet he felt guilty towards his brothers for having such thoughts, hence the inner conflict and self-blame.
"You silly girl." Li Ruo kissed him, carefully and passionately. "I'll protect them with you, and I'll protect myself too. I won't let you lose me, okay?"
Xie Xiao pulled her close again and gave her a light tap on the buttock. "Remember what you said."
Li Ruo's eyes widened. "You hit me?"
Xie Xiao then rubbed it again, pressing her even closer to him.
A faint scent of pine lingered between their nostrils, dreamlike and somewhat intoxicating. Li Ruo felt as if she were floating and sinking in the ocean, still unable to feel her feet firmly on the ground...
The sounds of drills could be heard everywhere on General Mountain.
After his marriage proposal was temporarily rejected, the fourth leader began to work hard and was more proactive than anyone else in training and giving advice.
This inspired other soldiers to be equally diligent, and the shouts of more than 40,000 people every day were quite awe-inspiring.
Even after the New Year, the weather was still very cold, but everyone's breath warmed up the air.
The heat reached Baiyun Peak.
Not to be outdone, Xu Wanting listened to Li Ruo's advice and developed a women's army of five hundred near Baiyun Peak.
Many women from the Marquis of Xinyang's household joined in, some of them servants, which infuriated Mu Yuanyuan.
Not only that, Li Ruo asked Mu Sisi to join the military medical team, because people get injured in battle and military doctors are needed.
It would be a shame not to use someone as talented as Mu Sisi.
Li Ruo also found five people with some medical knowledge from the register registered by Liao Fusheng. He asked Sun Langzhong from Black Wind Village and Mu Sisi from Baiyun Peak to teach them, so that every army would have a military doctor in the future, and the mountains would also need doctors.
But the medical books were all submerged in water. Without medical books, the teaching lacked a systematic approach, so Li Ruo bought a traditional Chinese version of the medical books from the online store.
They were completely bewildered by books like "Treatise on Febrile Diseases," "Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber," "Huangdi Neijing," "Compendium of Materia Medica," "Treatise on Epidemic Diseases," and "Universal Relief Prescriptions."
“This…” After a moment of stunned silence, Sun Langzhong’s eyes gleamed as he held up the Compendium of Materia Medica. “Li Shizhen, the author of this book, is a genius.”
Mu Sisi was just as excited as him, but as a lady from a prominent family, she controlled her emotions better. "Madam Xie is truly remarkable. She actually has such a good book hidden away. It is a blessing for the people."
Li Ruo was particularly pleased by the word "Madam Xie," and smiled with exceptional humility and gentleness, "She is a reclusive master, and I only came to know her by chance."
This is nothing. You don't even have many medical books like "Human Anatomy" and "Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine." Let's talk about that later, so Xie Xiao won't worry about her being coveted by others.
"With Miss Mu's intelligence and talent, she will surely learn it very quickly."
Mu Sisi felt a little embarrassed, and her face turned slightly red.
Suddenly, she paused, stunned.
Following her gaze, everyone saw the fourth leader standing at the door. He was also stunned for a moment, saying, "I've come to the wrong place."
Mu Sisi blushed even more, wanting to say something but remaining silent.
The fourth leader didn't even say goodbye. He clenched his fists, clearly reluctant, but still left with resentment.
He must make himself stronger, so that he is worthy of her.
Sun Ergou and Xiao Lizi were worried for him and pulled Li Ruo aside to discuss, "Sister, why don't we drug them and force them into marriage?"
Little Li chuckled slyly, "I still have a pack of One Night Spring here, hehehehe."
Li Ruo gave him a big challenge, "Where did you come from?"
Sun Ergou blurted out, "It's all thanks to Doctor Sun. We were planning to use it on you and the boss—"
"ah?"
"I didn't say anything!" Sun Ergou chuckled, clutching his head. "Well, it wasn't useful after all."
Li Ruo also gave him a tough challenge, saying, "You can't use such filthy stuff. We are civilized people. Confiscated."
Sun Ergou, Xiao Lizi: ...Are we civilized people? We don't seem so.
"Why don't you, sis, sound out Mu Sisi and see if she likes the Fourth Master?" Little Li asked.
Li Ruo said, "I'm too busy to play matchmaker for others."
Besides forming a medical team, she also plans to establish a school.
We must never be poor in education, no matter what.
Li Yi, the children of Ziyang Peak and Heifeng Village, must not let their studies fall behind.
After buying the medical books, Li Ruo also bought a batch of traditional Chinese versions of books such as "Di Zi Gui", "Meng Qiu", "Qian Zi Wen", "Zhou Yi", "Zuo Zhuan", "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and "Suan Jing" from the online store.
With Xie Xiao finding that box of books a couple of days ago, that's about it.
Liao Fusheng's cough had subsided, and he resumed his work as a servant for her, even clearing out several thatched huts to serve as an academy.
Ziyang Peak and Heifeng Village each produced several scholars, one of whom was a Juren (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) named Liang Yi. He was learned and talented, and he became the headmaster.
The academy is divided into four disciplines: Chinese, arithmetic, medicine (which is the military medical team led by Mu Sisi), and science, which integrates various crafts and inventions.
All the children from General Mountain were enrolled. It was free, and lunch was provided. All the children signed up; there were only ninety people in total.
These children, having been nurtured by the theories of Ziyang Peak since childhood, will become a force to be reckoned with, and no one else can poach them.
Every morning, the sound of students reading aloud can be heard throughout the college.
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