With the group captured, Suyin discovered that some of the scholars had attempted to escape, only to never see them again.
They were stuck in a little tent with the other scholars, ropes secured to their hands and legs so that they wouldn't be able to do anything. Yuan Fu was far from Suyin, who calmly glanced at him.
All of the scholars' mouths were stuffed with a rag, with a rope fastened around it. It was so tight on some of them, their skin was bruising from the pain around their arms and legs, as well as their face.
Suyin overheard some of the bandits' exchange, calmly attending as she attempted to scoot closer to hear what was going on.
"Did you hear that the leader's ill, though? It has spread through his eyes, I heard."
"Those two up near the forest, they were supposed to rob some rich people, but only got stupid scholars instead."
"They're useless. I heard we will dispose of them later on tonight."
Suyin's heart sank to the bottom as she heard that. There was no way that she was going to go down in a fight. As soon as she heard footsteps inching closer to the tent, Suyin immediately ceased.
"Alright, it's time for you all to take off your clothes."
The bandit commanded. A couple of bandits entered the tent, coming to take off their ropes to hold them down, Suyin began to panic.
Most of the scholars yielded, scared with no strength to do anything as they were in there for hours without any food or water.
It was Yuan Fu's turn as he tried to fight them off. His eyes were gazing directly at Suyin. He knew that if she took off her robe, it would be exposed that she was a woman, so he tried his best to shake them off so that she would have time to think of something.
"Damn! If only I could do something!" Yuan Fu thought to himself, trying his best to try to speak to them with the rag stuffed in his mouth. Only mumbles could be comprehended by the bandits, who aggressively threw him down on the table to hold him down as he tried to resist it as much as he could.
Yuan Fu was a fine, tall man, but his strength that he had was not the finest. He was devoted to books more than swords. But this moment was the only time he regretted not being able to be strong adequate to help Suyin.
Suyin was beyond afraid. Rather than facing death, being stripped from the top naked while revealing her gender? How would these bandits handle this? Suyin couldn't do anything, as it was her turn, but Yuan Fu was still causing a scene, trying to scramble all he could to fight them off to buy time.
One of the bandits bashed Yuan Fu's head with the sheath of his sword, knocking him out senselessly.
"You stupid damn fool!" The bandit hollered out.
Yuan Fu was laying on the ground, unconscious with the side of his head bleeding.
Thanks to Yuan Fu, though, Suyin managed to move the rag in her mouth out, causing the ropes on her mouth loose so that she could speak. It was all she needed to make a deal with these men.
"Stop!" The bandits turned to Suyin, who instantly went to her to stop her.
Before they could do anything to her, Suyin directly blurted out the words that she needed to say to stop them.
"I-I can cure your leader!"
All of the bandits laughed at her, mocking her.
"You think that you can cure our leader? Who do you think we are? Beggars asking you guys to help us?"
"Your leader has an illness that has reached his eyes. There's only one cure and it's something that I may have on me." Thankfully that Suyin had eavesdropped on the two soldiers, and she could get their information.
The bandits didn't buy her information before she added on before they were able to touch her robe, "Teacher Zhou Lin is a man of medicine, but he may not know the cure. That is why you all are leaving him alive. You know that he works with knowledge of medicine, but your leader has something that needs an antidote. I know that Teacher Zhou Lin doesn't know the remedy, but I do. His eyes may have been impaired and it will spread to his brain and heart if you do not let me take a look at him."
The bandits halted. How did this person know what was going on? That was the look on their faces, dumbfounded. One of the bandits scratched their head, unsure of what to do.
"How did you know that I have that?" A low-pitched tone challenged. His voice was gentle, yet stern. He entered the tent, glancing at Suyin who stood there defenseless while the bandits swerved toward the man.
"I...I can tell by the fact that you're hiding it behind that patch." Suyin replied. "There's a medication for that, but it is needed by some mixture of herb and poison..."
One of the bandits that had bowed to the leader instantly stood up, smacking Suyin's face.
Suyin plopped to the ground, glaring at the bandit as he drew out his sword toward Suyin.
"Stop it at this instance, before I kill you." The leader commanded. The bandit immediately sank his head, stepping back from Suyin.
The leader gradually walked towards Suyin, whilst the other scholars stood there frightened for their lives. He bent down, both of his legs spread as he raised Suyin's chin to face his.
He looked around the age of his late thirties. His stubble beard showed some white color to it, but his eyes were captivating. It was grey-colored and his eyelashes were long. His eyes were full of grey, but his face seemed kind.
Suyin couldn't show weakness in front of a person like this, as she stared directly at his face, scowling at him.
The man took a long, hard look at her, then he chuckled.
"Send this person to me, immediately."
The Man then left the scene, not even giving a glimpse to his men or the scholars. Suyin gazed at the unconscious Yuan Fu before getting hauled up by the bandits and propelled to follow them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Suyin's eyes glanced around the large tent. If she didn't see the outside of this place, she would have thought this was a little cottage home. Inside there was a large room, enough to fit more than thirty people if this person wanted to. In the middle of the room was a large, dark brown table, and seats were pillows set in a square to discuss war tactics.
To the right of the room was his bed, enough to fit a bed, a smaller table with two chairs made out of oak trees. The morning sun was hitting the tent, so the door was slightly open to provide some circulation and air into the place, despite it just being a large tent.
Suyin's back was being pointed by some spears by the bandits, while Suyin stood in the middle of the room, lingering for the leader's presence.
Suyin was back to having her mouth tied up with two rags this time. While it yanked her hair and skin, her hands and legs were still tied up.
The leader lazily strode in, sitting on the seated pillow in front of her.
Suyin's eyes furrowed at the sight of this person. What was he trying to do with this attack? Suyin couldn't comprehend what was going on in his mind.
"So, are you here to check my illness?" He requested, calmly sipping on some sake in a teacup.
Suyin's eyes rolled.
At the corner of the man's eyes, he smirked. "Men, take the ropes off of him."
The two bandits grew furious.
"Are you saying that you are letting her free?!" one of the bandits disputed.
The man bashed his teacup on the table, loud enough for the bandit to turn into a small, terrified coward as he shut his mouth.
"Do it."
The man's words were senseless and apathetic. The other bandit instantly obeyed, taking off the ropes before he hauled the other one away with him.
Suyin's face was still red from the slap earlier, but it didn't hurt as much as the ropes that slowly bit through the skin of her wrist, skin, and mouth.
"So?"
His words were empty, yet brief. It wasn't the same as the words that Qin Fuhua would have used.
Although Qin Fuhua had an intimidating aura, his presence was enough to drop the morale of a few hundred men due to his godly posture and presence. So much, yet the words of this man were something else.
It was like the saying, "Mortals are not to be judged by appearance, and the sea is not to be measured.*"
(*Practically, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover)
This man looks like an undisturbed, peaceful person, but his words were like icicles-- heartless, piercing, and makes your hair stand by the sound of his voice.
Suyin built up the courage to walk up to him, holding her wrists still. She then sat across from him, gaping directly at him to show that she wasn't frightened of him.
He lit a small smile on his face, the lips of his turned into a curve as his eyes darted away from her. He pulled his right sleeve, exposing his left arm as he laid it on the table.
Suyin skimmed at his skin as fast as she could, examining it with her eyes. There was some scarring near his elbows, and there were scar marks near his wrist. His hands seemed rough as if he had gone through hard labor.
Suyin pulled her sleeves and softly grabbed his wrist.
The man beamed again, then shut his eyes.
"Before I find the cure." Suyin peeked up at the man.
He opened his eyes, and this time, he gradually turned to Suyin. He was wearing his eye patch on his right side, unbothered by her presence.
"I do not want you to harm any of my people."
He calmly and slowly shook, smiling again as he turned away, his arms waiting for Suyin to diagnose him.
This time, Suyin softly placed her fingers on his wrist, attending to his pulse. It took a couple of minutes for her to figure it out, but her hands were delicate and swift.
Suyin has never worked on someone as dangerous as this. With the fact that he was there about to kill everyone, including herself, why would he be somewhere near here? There was going to be no way that he was going to invade the Palace like this.
Suyin needed to buy time because she knew that the Kingdom would have to do something about this. Since they invaded their soldier's camp.
"Well, Sir. Can I take a look at your eye?" She requested. The man then nodded.
"I do have a name. It's Wuhan. May I know your name?" He questioned, slowly pulling down his eye patch.
Suyin didn't answer his question, as he pulled down the patch. His left eye was beautifully gray, but his right eye had a large, white puff in the middle of his iris.
"Unfortunately I can barely see with my right side. It's blurry." He added.
Suyin knew directly what was going on with this person. Thankfully to her knowledge, she read these types of patients in textbooks. Although this was true, though, she's only read them in books and never really worked on patients like these.
Suyin inched closer to Wuhan to study his iris before he grasped her wrist.
"It's a shame that you aren't a woman. Otherwise, I'd make you my wife." He uttered, smirking at Suyin as she pulled back immediately from his actions.
Suyin was shaken and wanted to say all the bad words she could to him, but she didn't want to enrage him, especially with so many lives on the line.
She could only grit her teeth, clenching them as he chuckled at her face.
He inched closer to her ears, bending towards her short stature.
"One of the guys ratted you out, saying that you are quite 'special' to the Prince of Qin" Wuhan giggled, "But in actuality, you are unique."
When Suyin got slapped by the bandits earlier, Suyin's robe got loose, revealing the bumps to her chest that caught Wuhan's eyes.
"You are quite skilled. It's a shame not to make you a wife." He grazed Suyin's hands, his index finger slowly going up from her hands to her shoulders.
Suyin was holding everything in because she didn't want to make the wrong move.
Frozen with her eyes filled with rage, Wuhan pushed her down on the floor. He then slowly began tugging off her robes, enough to reveal her chest, even with all of the wrap that was held around her chest, he began kissing her neck.