Chapter 42: Sir, this way!
The injured party was the bald Jubei, who was the first person Yuan Ye encountered after falling into the Japanese Medieval Period.
This fellow had courted disaster; while digging for wild vegetables in the mountains, he spotted a brightly feathered big bird and immediately got excited, wanting to make a windfall. He stealthily shot an arrow at the bird, which then fled wounded. He began to chase it relentlessly, but after pursuing it for a long time, he didn’t catch the bird and instead tumbled down a steep slope, ending up covered in wounds and bloody.
Fortunately, he was somewhat experienced and managed to curl up his body as he rolled down. Most of the bloody wounds were abrasions and contusions; the most serious was a broken leg.
Of course, this is speaking from a modern perspective. In ancient times, there were no anti-inflammatory drugs—the concept only emerged in 1940, so forget about it in 1551. Wound inflammation still had a significant chance of being fatal.
Bald Jubei was the father of Yuan Ye’s only two “employees,” so Yuan Ye naturally paid extra attention. He immediately called everyone in his household to action: some to decoct medicine, some to boil water, some to fetch gauze, and some to find splints, and began to carefully clean Jubei’s wounds.
While he was busy saving the man, he didn’t even notice that the villagers were different from usual.
The villagers of Hibitsu Village, bored with their monotonous lives, usually loved to watch a spectacle. Jubei’s bloody state and incessant wails would have been a major event in the village, and they would have certainly crowded at the entrance to watch for a while, perhaps even discussing Jubei’s funeral arrangements. However, after Jubei was brought here, they immediately scattered and hid far away.
With the villagers gone, a few samurai leading horses appeared. The leading samurai was about seventeen or eighteen years old, a little over 1.7 meters tall, reaching 1.75 to 1.76 meters with his tied-up topknot. He wore a plain gray jacket with an exquisite silk belt at his waist, appearing quite presentable. However, several tattered cloth bags hung from his jacket, making him look like a disciple of the Beggar’s Sect at first glance.
Judging by his hairstyle and attire, he was also following the “lightly flamboyant and eccentric style,” and his demeanor was similar—very eccentric, looking down on others with a haughty air that suggested everyone else was beneath him. Yet, when his thick eyebrows occasionally furrowed, combined with his somewhat aquiline nose, his eyes also held a hint of gloom.
Behind him followed two other samurai. One was eighteen or nineteen years old, slightly plump, with fair skin and soft features, always smiling, seemingly good-natured. The other was fifteen or sixteen, broad-shouldered, with a chasen hairstyle, bright eyes, a sword at his waist, and carrying a short-barreled matchlock gun in his hand. This was Maeda Toshiie.
Maeda Toshiie glanced outside and, pointing at Yuan Ye, reported to the “Beggar’s Sect disciple,” “Lord, that is Lord Nohara Saburo!”
His lord was, of course, the “Owari’s Big Fool,” Oda Nobunaga, but Oda Nobunaga didn’t even spare him a glance. He wasn’t blind; Yuan Ye was so conspicuous, standing there at over 1.8 meters in wooden clogs, completely standing out from the crowd. How could he not see him?
However, just being tall was useless to him. He casually turned to others and ordered, “Go ask in the village if Aken is telling the truth.”
He and Maeda Toshiie hit it off immediately, as they shared similar interests and were both considered a bit eccentric by outsiders. Maeda Toshiie had been pestering him for some time, saying he had accidentally discovered a “reclusive master” in Hibitsu Village who was well-versed in Chinese Classics, skilled in medical arts, and possessed an extraordinary demeanor, certainly not an ordinary person. He kept urging him to recruit this person quickly before others did.
He naturally didn’t believe it much. Maeda Toshiie was still too young in his eyes, only good at fighting and brawling, and lacked the ability to judge people. He strongly suspected Maeda Toshiie had been deceived and hadn’t acted. This time, it was spring and flowers were blooming, and he was going to find Hashimoto Ichiba to learn and practice matchlock gun skills. On the way, he was annoyed by Maeda Toshiie’s nagging, so he decided to stop by and take a look.
Indeed, he had previously practiced matchlock guns in his residence at Nagoya Castle and accidentally killed a supporting vassal, which angered everyone. His teacher, Hirate Masahide, was almost driven mad and had strictly forbidden him from firing randomly at Nagoya Castle anymore, not even for shooting birds. Thus, he could only come out to practice matchlock guns.
At Oda Nobunaga’s command, the Riding Guard behind him dispersed, preparing to question some villagers to see if Maeda Toshiie was bragging. Oda Nobunaga watched outside for a while, unable to clearly see what Yuan Ye was doing, felt somewhat bored, and turned to wander around.
He first inspected Yuan Ye’s “medicine storage shed.” Looking at the myriad of medicinal materials and then carefully examining the Chinese characters of the medicinal names Yuan Ye had written, his previous thoughts wavered slightly. He felt that Yuan Ye’s medical skills might indeed have something to them, but he needed to see more before making a judgment. He then left the bamboo shed and casually walked into the house.
Maeda Toshiie and another minor retainer, Ikeda Tsuneoki, did not try to dissuade him and followed behind him, holding their sword hilts and carrying their matchlock guns. He was flamboyant and eccentric, disregarding etiquette, so there was no point in trying to persuade him.
Meanwhile, A Man was dozing inside the house. She had vaguely heard movement outside in her sleep but figured there were enough people helping and she wasn’t indispensable. Plus, she was sleeping so comfortably that she was too lazy to go out. Unexpectedly, while she was sleeping soundly, someone suddenly barged in.
Even in her semi-conscious state, her mind was racing. She didn’t recognize these footsteps and immediately felt something was wrong. She suddenly woke up, rolled into the earthen seat, and shielded Meng Ziqi before looking closely. She immediately recognized Oda Nobunaga—she had seen Oda Nobunaga before and even watched him perform in drag.
She was so astonished that she blurted out, “Ah, Oda Big…”
Fortunately, she was quick-witted and managed to swallow the word “Fool.” Her gaze immediately shifted to Maeda Toshiie, and in an instant, she realized this guy was to blame. It was 99% likely that he had said, “Sir, this way,” and led this lunatic Oda Nobunaga here; otherwise, Oda Nobunaga wouldn’t have appeared.
Everyone feared lunatics, and even though she had a stubborn personality, she was a little scared. She couldn’t figure out what this lunatic Oda Nobunaga wanted, so she could only continue to protect Meng Ziqi and observe the situation. Yuan Ye was very loyal; Meng Ziqi was very important to him, she had figured that out long ago. Therefore, no matter what Oda Nobunaga intended to do, as long as Meng Ziqi was safe, even if the house burned down or all the money was taken, Yuan Ye would credit her afterward.
While she was cautiously on guard, Oda Nobunaga completely ignored her, the wild child, treating her as Yuan Ye’s concubine or maidservant. He strolled to Yuan Ye’s low table and began casually flipping through his collection of books and manuscripts. Upon seeing the 《 Barefoot Doctor’s Manual 》 written in pinyin, his eyes lit up, and he seemed very interested.
However, he couldn’t understand it. After flipping through it for a while, he casually put it down. Then, he noticed the self-made crossbows piled in a corner of the earthen seat and showed interest again. He walked over to examine them closely, even plucking the pulleys and pondering what they were used for. When not in use, crossbows are unstrung, and their parts are disassembled to extend the life of the bow material and prevent deformation.
The crossbows in their disassembled state looked more like some kind of mechanical assistive tool to Oda Nobunaga. He couldn’t immediately imagine that these parts could be used for shooting arrows, only thinking that Yuan Ye also seemed to have mechanical talent and was a rare craftsman.
A Man watched from the side for a while and finally couldn’t help herself, shouting at them, “What do you think you’re doing? Those are his things, you can’t take them!”
Oda Nobunaga glanced at her indifferently and didn’t scold her. Maeda Toshiie immediately gripped his sword hilt and growled, “You are before your lord, do not be presumptuous!”
A Man glared at him with displeasure but could do nothing, feeling a bit wronged. If it were a one-on-one fight, she might have had a chance to take one down, or at least escape if she couldn’t win. Afterward, she could sneak into the latrine while the opponent was squatting and chop him to death in the manure pit with an axe. But with three of them, and A Qing not around, she was helpless. She could only start plotting to spread rumors about them in her mind—rumors about Maeda Toshiie needed to be spread, and rumors about the big fool Oda Nobunaga couldn’t be missed either. If necessary, she’d spread rumors about them being gay, sleeping together at night, and poking each other’s butts!
In any case, she wouldn’t suffer in silence. If she couldn’t beat them in person, she’d disgust them behind their backs!
While she was brewing malicious ideas in her mind, Oda Nobunaga waved his hand, signaling Maeda Toshiie not to trouble a commoner child, and left, dropping the parts on the ground. The main reason was that Yuan Ye had only been here for a short time, and the items he brought from the modern era had long been buried in the mountains, so there weren’t many novelties to hold his interest for long.
Oda Nobunaga exited the house, and the Riding Guard he had sent to gather information also returned, reporting their findings in low voices. None of the villagers in Hibitsu Village spoke ill of Yuan Ye; everyone praised him as a reincarnated divine doctor, possessing great benevolence and medical ethics, charging very little for treatments and medicine, and all were extremely grateful to him.
Listening to the villagers, it wouldn’t be impossible for Yuan Ye to ascend to heaven tomorrow, surrounded by divine light, exuding fragrance, with a halo of merit behind his head.
Oda Nobunaga listened quietly, and the faint gloom in his eyes dissipated considerably. After a moment of contemplation, he turned and patted Maeda Toshiie’s shoulder, praising him faintly, “Aken, I misjudged you earlier. You did well this time!”
Maeda Toshiie was overjoyed, constantly rubbing his sword hilt, and said frankly, “Of course, my Lord! He saved A Song’s life. I told you to come sooner, but you refused!”
Oda Nobunaga nodded, feeling that he had indeed been careless before. Yuan Ye was worth meeting, and he was likely a talented individual.
…
A Man, eavesdropping behind a straw curtain on Oda Nobunaga’s conversation in the courtyard, thought for a moment and then quickly emerged, ran halfway around, and headed for the “black clinic.”
When she entered, Yuan Ye was still busy. Bald Jubei had numerous minor injuries, and cleaning and disinfecting them was very troublesome. When setting his bones, he screamed loudly like a pig being slaughtered. A Qing, Yayoi, and the Momoi Brothers were barely able to hold him down, and everyone was sweating profusely, too busy to pay attention to anything else.
Seeing Yuan Ye acting as if nothing had happened, still fiddling with Jubei’s smelly leg, A Man grabbed his collar, yanked his head down, and urgently whispered in his ear, “It’s over, it’s all over! That dung ball from the Maeda Family has screwed you over. He brought that lunatic Oda Nobunaga here!”
In her mind, Yuan Ye was a bit foolish, unwilling to become a vassal, as if bowing to someone would kill him. He was stupid to a certain degree, but that lunatic Oda Nobunaga seemed to have taken a liking to him, thinking he was talented and intending to take him back as a page.
If negotiations failed and Oda Nobunaga’s madness flared up, he might shoot Yuan Ye with a matchlock gun. Then where would she go to eat stewed chicken?
It’s over. Her happy life was completely ruined. She now hated Maeda Toshiie to death!
