Bao Li's view continued.

We were settled into the main hall that night, General Fang was apologetic as the rooms he had been building for Fergus, and I was not ready yet.

"I am sorry, Bao, I started building another court after you said you would be staying with us, but as you can see, it is not ready yet." as he showed Wei and me the court being built, "This one is the one I built for you and your guests, the others are for my two children when they grow up and their families."

"Won't Li Wei have to go to her husband's place?" I asked, earning myself a glare.

"I am hoping not; I am hoping she gets a husband like Xinye's son, Bryce," General Fang looked whistful, "But it is not up to me; it is up to my daughter when she is that age. As long as she is happy with her partner, I will be happy."

"Thank you for building me a place to live," I thanked him, "But it looks a bit big for just me."

"Well, I built it if you decide to have your own family someday," the General seemed oblivious to what I was.

"General," I said, somewhat hesitant to see his reaction, "I cannot have children. Wei, here is my partner."

The General look was of pure astonishment, "Oh well, I see. I had heard about the Assassins but did not want to assume, even when you said initially, I didn't believe you. I apologise for thinking that you were lying. Anyway, I will leave you to it," And he hurried off.

Wei looked at me with an eyebrow raised, "Well, that went better than I thought, but still, I have yet to feel happy about you staying here. He could turn nasty tomorrow."

I nodded; we had experienced it in the past. I felt a bit saddened, though, by the thought. I did not want to be scorned by this lovely family. But it was the sad reality of our world. I must have looked despondent as Wei kissed me, "Cheer up, love, you can always come back to me if things get bad."

"I know, but I do not want to leave," and my words were true. I did not want to leave."Let's go have some dinner; it is usually served around now."

We headed in; everyone was there except for Xinye and the old man. The General must have seen my questioning look as he said, "Xinye and the Doctor are sick. Ying took the Doctor his meal earlier, and I will take Xinyi's when we finish."

I nodded, but what happened next caught me off guard, "Bao, since you will be living with us, you will need to know we generally say Thanks to Xinye's God at dinnertime before we eat. When we have a lot of guests, we refrain from saying it to honor their beliefs. You do not have to say it to us if you do not want to. Fergus doesn't say it, but we expect you to wait until we finish saying it."

I nodded, and the General bowed his head, saying, "God, thank you for bringing our family and friends today. We pray you will help us to enjoy whatever time we have together, making the most of our time. Help us enjoy the laughter, conversations, and memories we make each day. Thank you also for the hands that have prepared this meal, and we pray the energy we receive from it will empower us to do what is pleasing to you and show your love, grace, and mercy to others. Amen."

A short silence ensued as the family's heads remained bowed. The General lifted his head and proclaimed, "Let's eat!" and a happy time followed; Wei and I felt welcomed and loved by the family.

The next day, Wei and I got up early and helped the builders build the rooms at the back. The rest of the family went about their daily chores until breakfast, where again, a prayer was said, "Thank you, God, for this meal, and we pray that you will give us the energy we need for this day and keep us safe from harm. Please be with those less fortunate and provide a way for them to eat. Amen"

Xinye was at breakfast and hurried off with that seated chair on wheels afterward.

I was worried about her, so I followed behind aways. Wei followed me, I guess out of curiousity too.

I had never seen Xinye hurry like she was; it was like she was possessed or something.

Xinye's view

I woke up this morning feeling the need to go back to the waterhole to check if what Bao had said was true or not. I had organised Xin to look after the children today as I did not want to risk them again as Bao did not seem to be a liar at all.

I sat down to breakfast, and about halfway through, I felt God shouting at me, "Hurry! Get up and go to the waterhole! Go now!"

I stayed long enough to fill my stomach and be with the family before grabbing the bamboo water bottle we had made and hurrying to the waterhole. I wondered why I was being urged to hurry, but I had long since stopped disobeying that voice when it came. I hurried.

The trip was difficult as the walker was heavy compared to the one I had used in the modern era, but I was thankful that the blacksmith had made it for me as it enabled me to get out of the house and go to that waterhole.

As I drew closer, I heard screams for help. I looked around and saw a solid branch lying on the road, so I picked it up, placed it on the chair, and hurried. When I arrived, I saw an alligator attacking a man in the waterhole.

I did not think clearly. I ran in and started wacking the alligator with the branch, yelling, "Let him go! I command you in Jesus' name to let him go!" The alligator let him go and swum away.

The drama was not over yet as the man was slipping into unconsciousness; I threw away my stick and grabbed the man, "Come on, don't sleep yet, at least get to my chair!"

He must have understood my intent as I certainly was not speaking Chinese. As he nodded, trying to stand up.

I swung his arm over me, noting that he had lost the other to the alligator. I was worried then as he could bleed out before I got him the help he needed. He was in a pitiful state, his silk clothes shredded, deep gouges from the crocodile's grasps, and the missing arm.

I was worried I would be too late, "Jesus, please help me get him home and help me to heal him." I prayed earnestly, walking the man to my chair.

I placed him in it, and he slumped over. There was little I could do except push the chair home and hope he did not fall out. So I started pushing the chair only to see Wei and Bao looking at me with open mouths.

"Please help!" I begged them, pushing the chair towards them. They must have understood as Wei took over, pushing the chair from me and Bao held my hand. I remembered then I needed to tie off the arm. "Wait!" I indicated for them to stop, which they did with a quizzical look on their faces.

Alarm followed shortly afterward as I removed my outer belt.

"Stop!" they said, panicking that I was going to be undressed.

"It's ok!" I said and started tying off the man's arm, ensuring that he would not bleed out until we had cleaned him up and dressed his wounds.

I was worried about how to fix it when I remembered Dr. Hack was with us and Ying was an excellent sewer. Fergus was also experienced in giving injured people baths, and I could tell this man needed a bath first. His wounds were already showing signs of oozing, and they had only just been done!

I finished dressing the wounds and indicated to Wei to hurry and push again. I knew time was of the essence, so I stopped Bao from helping me. I put my hand on his arm and looked at him, "Get the General for me." I said, "Run!"

Bao looked at me strangely, so I mimed it, running, and said a single word, "General," then slapped my chest. Understanding came over his features, and he quickly ran up the hill towards our manor.

Wei tried to follow with the chair, but it was cumbersome, so he did not succeed.

Bao Li's view

Wei and I saw Xinye pick up a stick and continue on.

"What is she doing?" Wondered Wei.

"I do not know," I replied, "Perhaps we should hurry."

Wei nodded, and we jogged closer to the waterhole; as we did, we heard the screams of a man. Then, we witnessed something incomprehensible to me; Xinye ran, taking the stick she had picked up, straight into the river whacking the alligator with it, screaming some incomprehensible thing. The only word I understood was Jesus, and with that name uttered, the animal let go and swam away.

"What?" Wei exclaimed, both of us stunned as Xinyi struggled with the man to her chair, and she started pushing him, only then noticing us.

It seemed she asked us for help, so we did. "You push the chair; I will help Xinye walk. She would not have come without that chair." I instructed Wei.

"Ok, she knows you better anyway," Wei agreed and took over, pushing the chair.

"Stop!" Xinye said suddenly, so we did, not really understanding the word but the intent.

We were puzzled why she said that then she started undressing.

"NO!" We tried to stop her, but the General would never forgive us for allowing his wife to strip in front of us.

Xinye shook us off and wrapped the clothing article around the person's arm, tying it off. Wei and I understood then what she was doing then. She was not undressing, just stopping the person from bleeding out unnecessarily. 'How did she know to do that?' I wondered.

She indicated for Wei to go with the person to the manor, so Wei started pushing. I was about to help Xinye when she did a mime. I gathered she wanted me to run and get the General and bring him back to her. So, I ran as fast as I could to the manor.

When I got close, I started yelling "General Fang! General Fang! Xinye!" at the top of my voice.

The General must have heard me as he came out and met me before I even got to the manor, "What? What happened to Xinye?" he panicked.

"Nothing. She wants you to get her; Wei is pushing a man home in her chair," I explained.

The General looked at me briefly before nodding and taking off down the mountain to his wife. The next thing I knew, he was back with Xinyi slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and Wei was not far behind with the man.

As I followed, the General took Xinye into the manor. Xinye said something, and the manor exploded into action as if this had been done multiple times.

When Wei wheeled the man in, Fergus took him and carted him off to the bath. I followed and noticed the water was again tinted with herbs, "What have you put in the water this time?" I asked as it smelt different from before.

"Ginger, Garlic, chamomile, echinacea, and white willow bark," he replied as he undressed the man and moved him into the bath, cleaning his wounds thoroughly.

The man put up a little bit of a fight but soon realised Fergus meant no harm.

"Can you please check the main hall is ready for me to bring the man over?" Fergus requested as he continued cleaning the man.

I nodded and went to the main hall to see Wei watching what Xinye was doing. "Is the hall ready?" I asked Xinye.

She nodded her affirmation, and I hurried back to Fergus.

"She is ready," I told him, and he took the man out of the water, still in his underwear, wrapped him in a towel, put him on the chair, and dried him off, throwing the bloody towels into the basket he had shown me with my last visit, before wheeling him over to the hall.

Then, Wei and I witnessed how they planned to treat the wound.

First, they put honey into the wounds, and then Xinyi said something to Fergus, and he interpreted it to Ying, who then started sewing the jagged skin together. Every now and then, the old man would speak, and Ying would change what she was doing to follow what Fergus interpreted.

The man, after being placed on the table, had fallen unconscious. The last thing they tackled was the man's stump of an arm. The old man took over then. To both my and Wei's astonishment, it was like he weaved a spell. He cut away flesh and bone, yet when he sewed the man up, there was no bleeding. It was like he put the bleeding strings in the man's arm together and covered it with his own skin.

I had never seen such a thing. Losing an arm like that was a death sentence, but it looked like that man would live. Ying finished off sewing that man's arm up, but the work was clearly that of the old man who collapsed into a chair and instantly fell asleep as if he had used all his energy in the actions he just took.

"I see why you respect her now," Wei said when everything was cleaned up, and the man moved to a cot next to us. Ying sat next to the man while the General took Xinye back to their room. Fergus took the old man to his room too.

"This is even more than the last time," I commented, "But I do not understand how she knew that the man was there like that."

"I know," Wei agreed.

🍀A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. If you see any errors, please let me know as this is unedited.🍀