Chapter 1: The man insists that she does not undergo surgery.

In the cornfield, the ringtone of the cellphone chimed.

Qiao Jing pressed to answer.

"Sister Jing, the Zhan Family offers you a high price to treat Zhan Qipei for infertility. Will you go?"

The girl wore a straw hat, a blue cloth shirt, and yellow sneakers, looking as rustic as one could be. Yet, under the fierce sun, her small palm-sized face resembled the finest suet white jade, glowing white, moist, and translucent.

"I'm very busy, no time," Qiao Jing replied indifferently.

"Busy? Aren't you just retiring in the countryside? What's there to be busy with?" a puzzled male voice came from the phone.

"Picking corn," she said, and with a "click—" snapped off a corn cob with plump kernels.

"Cough, cough—" the man choked on his saliva. "Picking, picking, picking corn?!"

Qiao Jing rolled her eyes subtly at the air, "Impure."

Just then, Qiao Jing suddenly heard some noises behind her.

"Wait a moment."

"What's up?"

"There's a corn thief."

After hanging up the phone, Qiao Jing walked quietly towards the source of the sound.

As she walked, she smelled the pungent scent of blood and saw the blood droplets on the corn leaves.

It was still fresh.

"Rustle rustle rustle—" the sound of corn being pushed down suddenly came from behind.

Someone was coming!

Qiao Jing swiftly turned around, but before she could react, she was fiercely tackled to the ground by the newcomer, and his thick palm covered her mouth.

Just as Qiao Jing prepared to knee the man in the groin, his low, hoarse voice suddenly sounded by her ear.

"Don't...speak, I...won't...hurt you."

Hearing this, Qiao Jing quickly regained her composure and looked up at the man's face.

At that glance, Qiao Jing was stunned by the man's enchanting appearance.

Not only his looks, but his aloof and proud aura also made it clear that he was no ordinary person.

This made her curious—what was someone like him doing in the countryside? And why was he injured and hiding in her cornfield?

Before Qiao Jing could figure it out, the sound of footsteps approached from a distance.

"He's injured in the leg; he couldn't have gone far. Let's search thoroughly; we can't let him live!"

Hearing this, Qiao Jing understood that those people were trying to assassinate him.

The sun was high, the man was seriously wounded, blood from his injured leg was ceaselessly dripping onto Qiao Jing.

Continuing like this, the man was likely to die from excessive blood loss; she couldn't delay any longer.

With this thought, Qiao Jing exerted herself to flip the man and press him down under her.

Zhan Qipei hadn't expected someone who appeared so frail to have such strength. Was it because he was too weak from losing too much blood?

"There's noise over there!" The searchers heard the noise, parted the corn stalks, and rushed over, appearing before Qiao Jing.

"As expected! Kill him!" The masked assassin held a gun and was about to pull the trigger.

Zhan Qipei, due to severe injuries, couldn't see clearly but still made out the rough outline and the shaking figure— they were about to shoot him!

Though he knew, his body was beyond his control; he couldn't dodge in time.

Just when he thought he was undoubtedly going to die, he vaguely saw the girl pass by him like a gust of wind, quickly moving in front of the masked killer, snatching the handgun away, and after executing a beautiful hand flourish, she struck the killer on the head with the gun.

The masked killer didn't even have time to scream before he collapsed on the ground.

Such beautiful moves! Zhan Qipei was shocked in his heart.

At that moment, another masked man rushed out, but before he could shoot, he was hit on the mask by a corn cob thrown by Qiao Jing, smashing the mask inward.

With a "bang," the mask caved in, and like the previous killer, he didn't have the chance to scream before he passed out on the spot.

After easily dealing with the two men, Qiao Jing dusted off her hands, turned around, and approached Zhan Qipei, looking down at the man's thigh.

"The injury is severe."

Zhan Qipei's face was as pale as paper, and his cracked thin lips were completely devoid of color.

"Save, save me, take me to… to the hospital."

"This is the middle of nowhere, an ambulance ride from the county town takes at least forty minutes. By the time the ambulance arrives, you'd have bled out. You're lucky, I've studied medicine."

As Qiao Jing spoke, she helped Zhan Qipei up, placed him in a tricycle, and took him home.

Zhan Qipei lay in bed, his vision blurry, and he could only vaguely see the girl spraying something.

He sniffed, it was the smell of disinfectant.

Once the disinfection was done, he felt much relieved.

While Zhan Qipei was thinking this, Qiao Jing donned a white coat and approached the bed. Without saying another word, she began unbuckling his belt and unzipping the metal zipper.

"What are you doing?" Although Zhan Qipei couldn't see clearly, his eyes were wide open.

"You've been shot near the thigh, I need to perform surgery to remove the bullet," Qiao Jing coolly replied.

"You are going to perform surgery? In this place?!" The man's voice cracked, his eyes filled with disbelief. He thought she was only going to stop the bleeding.

"You doubt my medical skills? Then you're mistaken." She was known as the empire's top master physician, even dubbed the textbook of surgical techniques, and many had spent fortunes to have her come out of retirement to treat their ailments.

Even the wealthiest Zhan Family had requested her to treat the family head for infertility issues.

"I don't need you to perform surgery, just stop the bleeding," Zhan Qipei said through gritted and ghastly pale teeth.

Ordering her around?

Qiao Jing's eyebrows raised, her gaze indolent.

Looking at Zhan Qipei's handsome and striking face, she thought if it weren't for his good looks, she wouldn't care whether he lived or died.

"Just lie down and don't move," Qiao Jing said as she started removing the man's trousers.

"Move again, and believe me, I will take your life!" Zhan Qipei gritted his teeth as he spoke, trying to get up, but his physical condition was nearing collapse, making it impossible for him to move.

With a "rip," Qiao Jing swiftly tore them off.

Zhan Qipei's face instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.

"You, are, dead!" These words were practically squeezed out from behind his clenched teeth.

As soon as the man finished speaking, Qiao Jing again swiftly removed another layer of trousers.

Zhan Qipei was dumbfounded.

He had never been so utterly exposed in front of the opposite sex in his entire life.

However, there was no end to his bewilderment.

"This area is too dense, it's inconvenient to remove the bullet, I'll shave it down first," Qiao Jing said as she picked up a scalpel and began her task.