The next day Zhen Luo and Rin were walking around showing off the earrings that Yun got them while Rin was walking around in clothes that made her previous clothes look like dirty rags used to clean the house.
Yun, in the meantime, was outside in the city playing doctor as he treated some people with his needles which were infused with Light Qi. He soon found the guard which was stalking him the other day bringing a child which was sick for quite some time.
Yun took a look at the boy who was the son of the guard and found nothing at first before looking him up and down and finding an old injury under the right foot which looked like a terrible rash.
He took a closer look and asks, "On what did your son injure himself?"
The guard seemed nervous and he says, "He was careless while playing outside when he stepped on a nail. I pulled it out and we treated the wound right away. But does it have something to do with him being sick? The sickness began to show itself far later than when he got injured."
"It depends," says Yun seriously as he was thinking that maybe a part of the metal was still inside the body which could lead to metal poisoning.
He takes a closer look by passing his Qi through the boy when he found it the tip of the nail was still inside the boy. But the infection didn't come from it but it spread upwards ignoring the tip of the nail, making Yun think that he was wrong with his previous diagnosis.
He was feeling nervous when he let go of the foot and he made the boy lie down on the ground before taking his needles out to stop it from traveling up when the guard seemed nervous seeing Yun that serious.
Yun then looked at the guard and asks, "How long has it been since he has those cramps?"
"Cramps?" asks the guard confused when Yun looks at the boy seriously.
"You have been hiding it well but you should have told your father about them earlier and they would have saved your life way earlier," says Yun seriously as everyone began to turn pale since they slowly got the puzzle together.
"That can't be," says the guard as Yun covered his hand in bright Light Qi which everyone could see.
He puts his hand near the rash and began to extract a black gu-like substance that dropped to the ground making the boy feel tremendous pain while Yun was sweating since what he was treating at the moment wasn't Iron Poisoning but Tetanus.
If Yun was a real doctor he would have found out way earlier about it and he would have treated the boy immediately when he was examining him. The boy was lucky that Yun was a master at using Qi or he would have lost his whole leg and even then he wasn't sure if he would be over the mountain.
Yun continued pulling out the black fluid until blood could be seen. Then he stopped and closed the wound before his hand was covered in Fire Qi and he burned the fluid and the ground it was on away.
He felt exhausted and the people could see it on his face before he says, "He should be fine now but I need to rest now."
Yun began to leave ignoring the guard who was on his knees showing gratitude almost looking like he was worshipping him for saving his son. He soon arrived at the Zhen Manor and washed his hands just in case the Fire Qi wasn't effective.
Then he joined the women which were talking and playing in the courtyard while watching the children. Yun sat down between Zhen Luo and her mother. The sisters of Zhen Luo were staring at him and seemed angered because of something when he remembered what he did to Zhen Yi.
He ignored the stares since Zhen Luo didn't seem angry nor did her mother who continued to drink her tea as if nothing happened yesterday between Yun and her husband.
Yun was watching them play Weiqi (Go) with white winning at the moment when Yun noticed a flaw in the white formation which could give black the upper hand if it comes to a stalemate and the black side doesn't give up.
The women were noticing Yun staring intensely at the board making them feel nervous when Zhen Luo tries to ease her sisters by saying, "General Zhao is a marvelous player of all board games in which you need to outwit your enemy."
"Is he now?" asks Zhen Rong looking at Yun curiously.
"I am because I view the board as a battlefield. In my work, the enemy General or Lord is my opponent and I have to be at least ten moves ahead of him. That's also why I have never lost a battle so far. It's because I am thinking ten moves ahead of my enemy," says Yun seriously while still looking at the board which turned into soldiers for him.
"What if your enemy sees through your ten next moves?" asks Zhen Dao curiously wanting to know if Yun had a way out of such a situation.
"If that were the case I will have to rely on my brute force to break my enemy formation. It wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last time it happens since most people don't follow the script and play out of tune. In those moments you need to improvise and when I improvised it comes to using my sheer strength to make the enemy commit a mistake," says Yun sounding wise while holding his chin.
"And what would be the mistake?" asks Zhen Tuo wanting to know it.
"Let me give you an example," says Yun as he began to think and he smiled before taking a black piece and placing it on an empty spot that seemed to be surrounded by the white pieces but isn't captured yet.
"Imagine this black piece to be me. What would you do as the enemy General when you see me behind your line with maybe two or three people by my side?" asks Yun curiously to hear their answers.
They discussed for a while and they suddenly placed the white piece around the black piece making it only a move away to be captured when Yun surprised the women by not keeping the black piece alive but attacking from the flank.
"You concentrated too much on me instead of keeping your eyes on the troops and their movement. Do you want to know what the enemy would normally do when they see me behind their line," says Yun as he places the last white piece that was missing to capture the black piece but he didn't remove the black piece from the board.
"Why aren't you removing the piece?" asks Zhen Rong confused as were the others except for Zhen Luo and her mother.
"Why do you think I am still standing there surrounded by the enemy?" asks Yun them wanting to hear their answer before revealing everything.
"Is it because reinforcements arrived?" asks Zhen Tuo curiously forgetting about the game completely while Zhen Luo smiled.
"It's because the enemy General would focus all his attention on him an insignificant piece standing alone instead of paying attention to his flank where General Zhao's army was standing. The General also seemed to have dragged the General away toward his position to duel him while his army attacked from the flank destroying the enemy army and winning the battle and for that, he only needed to get the enemy's attention," says Zhen Luo seeing through the ploy making Yun laugh out loud.
"You could see it like that but what really happened was that I rushed through the enemy a few times before decapitating the enemy General winning the battle and forcing the enemy to retreat," says Yun surprising the woman while he looked at Fei and Rin.
"I learned one thing on the battlefield and it is that every move you take could lead to death. So I try to make the best possible move every time even if I have to be the bait to lure my enemy in. It is one of the reasons why I am still standing while everyone else either lost their battle or life against me," says Yun in a convincing tone as he removed the three stones from the board again.
"On a battlefield, you follow the strategy the best way possible knowing that not everything will go your way but there is one thing that you need if you want to survive and that is the will to return home," says Yun explaining to them that not everything goes as planned in this cruel world.
Yun then retreated leaving the women to their game so he could rest for a bit when Rin walked up to him showing off her clothes which made Yun smile at her before lifting her up to take a closer look at Rin.
She looked like a small princess at the moment reminding Yun of Mulan when she was her age as Diao Chan and the other women dressed her up against her will.
Yun kisses her forehead and hugs her before putting her down so she could play with Fei again while Yun retreated to their guest room to think about their way back.
Yun was going over the map while thinking, 'I will have to get a bigger cart that can fit at least twelve people instead the one I have which can only fit four.'
'You could also just leave them to their fate and never hear of them again. Aren't they annoying the way they live their life as if tomorrow is a promise,' says Ysmrgra trying to convince Yun from leaving the Zhen Family behind.
'I could do that but it would only make me feel miserable the older I get since I could have done something but I chose to abandon them to their fate,' says Yun sounding serious as he finished mapping the way back since a family of ten will drag more attention than a family of three.
"*sigh* I really hate it when I have to alter my previous plans," says Yun out loud while putting the map away since he was mentally exhausted from this day wanting to just lift his feet and relax until they leave the city.