Wei Liuying was stunned.

Yang Xian retracted his hand and sighed. "Yan will tell you more if you want to know about it when you come to Dong Shan City."

"He's there? I thought he had returned to other cities."

"He's accompanying his little sister in Dong Shan City. Also, take off your clothes."

"Yes?"

"Take off your clothes," Yang Xian ordered.

Wei Liuying arched her eyebrows and looked at the medicine that Yang Xian picked up. She shook her head. "I can treat myself."

"Do you not trust me?"

"No, I don't."

"Why?"

"You're a man."

Yang Xian: "…" in other words, you will not trust any man?

Wei Liuying locked her gaze to Yang Xian. "Also, I won't fall for any of your trap anymore, Strategist Yang. How long have you been scheming to tie me up with you?"

"Who knows?" Yang Xian responded, unwilling to elaborate. What would Wei Liuying do if she knew that he had basically started his plan just a few weeks after their first meeting? She was only intriguing him then it changed to the point that he wanted her.

When Prince Ji Sheng finally showed interest, he too had the similar interest. Of course, he had a completely different goal at the end after some time had passed.

"You have very complicated mind, Strategist Yang."

"Thank you for your compliment. Now, take off your clothes and let me look at your wounds. Your back is also wounded, right?"

Wei Liuying furrowed her brows. It was true that her back was also scratched a few times. Added with the uncomfortable journey, it couldn't be said that her back didn't suffer a lot. However, she refused to fall for his scheme again.

"I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because you'll surely use it as a material to make me marry you."

Yang Xian arced his eyebrows. He inched closer and stopped right before Wei Liuying's face. There was only a short distance between their faces. "You don't want to marry me?"

"I don't."

"It's not your decision anymore since you have given your life to me and Prince Ji Sheng, am I right?"

The frown on Wei Liuying's forehead only grew more solemn when she heard what Yang Xian said. Just a single sentence from Prince Ji Sheng would be more than enough to make her marry Yang Xian. Besides, it was also her words back then that brought her into this situation right now.

"You're a very black bellied person, Strategist Yang."

"Do you hate me?"

"No."

"Then…"

"I don't want to play into your game," Wei Liuying responded coldly. She looked at Yang Xian's face directly and scowled lightly. "I'll defeat you with my own method."

Hearing that, Yang Xian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He knew that Wei Liuying always hated having her life in other people's hand made into plaything. After all, she had been living under harsh treatment with her family back then for so many years. She might be Prince Ji Sheng's people or servant, whichever one could be suitable depending on the situation, and she had much more freedom here.

There were duties she had to follow, but she could freely choose her path that she wished to take without the need to follow the conventional rules.

"In that case, what do you want, Liuying?" Yang Xian asked.

Wei Liuying pointed to the side. "Look away. You're not allowed to peek."

"Alright."

Yang Xian turned his body around and looked in the other direction. He could sense Wei Liuying's movement behind him as she undressed. Internally, he felt that he should have walked a bit further so that his sense was not disturbed to this degree.

"You can turn around."

Turning around, Yang Xian noticed Wei Liuying was sitting while facing the other side. Her back was visible to him, but she was hugging her robe to cover her front. Her head looked back at him. "It's cold, so don't take too long."

"Ok."

There were bruises on Wei Liuying's back along with several scratches here and there. He carefully applied the salve and then moved his hand to take the bandage. It was then he realized that he needed to circle it around her body.

"This…"

"Pass it to me when you need to circle it. I know how to do basic treatment."

"Alright."

It took some time until the treatment was finished. Yang Xian lightly traced her back as there was some old wound barely visible there. "Do you also get wounded when you're performing your duties as strategist?"

Wei Liuying shifted uncomfortably with Yang Xian's sudden touch. Turning her head to look at the back, she glared at him. "Turn around. I need to treat myself now."

"Fine."

Yang Xian moved to the nearby makeshift chair and sat down with his back facing Wei Liuying. His mind was still thinking of the old wound mark on Wei Liuying's body, feeling that it was weird to have wounds in that part. After all, they would usually protect their back when they were facing their enemies.

"It's from my training when I was young," Wei Liuying finally replied. She was applying the salve to her side as she answered. Since this one was close to her chest, she didn't want Yang Xian to be the one to take care of it.

"With your brother, Wei Hong Zheng?"

"I'm surprised you know."

"That's the only possible explanation for your martial art skill. However, I can see that you're mostly defending yourself and not attacking," Yang Xian remarked. When he first met Wei Liuying, her martial skills were mostly good for defending. It took her some time to increase her attacking skill under the training.

"True. I was the testing subject for any technique my brother learned. I'm not allowed to attack him unless it was a mock battle where he had to try applying everything he had learned in a real battle," Wei Liuying responded.

Yang Xian's face darkened. "Did you not treat yourself?"

"I did, but there's a limit to what I can do."

"Is that so?"

Wei Liuying could sense the faint anger from Yang Xian's tone. However, she had long accepted her situation back then. "It doesn't matter anymore. It's thanks to those experiences that I can become who I am right now. Even if it's not the best method, it's the only possibilities for me to survive."

Without her martial arts ability, Wei Liuying knew that it was hard for her to escape from Wei Family Residence

"You're surprisingly positive."

"I don't think too much about it anymore. In fact, I thought that I'll never use my real name ever again from the time I become the strategist here," Wei Liuying responded.

"That's the plan, but I don't have the confidence that I'll be able to shoot properly. At the very least, I wish that you'll be remembered with your real name and not the fake one," Yang Xian replied.

Wei Liuying put down the medicine and started to bandage herself. "I only hope the Capital City won't hear about it."

"It'll take a long time before they caught wind of it. I'll make sure that the soldiers didn't speak about it until it's the time," Yang Xian replied.

"I doubt it."

"Yes?"

"They're already very surprised when they heard my real name. Even though only those at this side can hear and they are all Prince Ji Sheng's soldier, I'm sure that their treatment to me will change."

Yang Xian scratched his cheek. Well, he couldn't refute that…