Beauty and the Bodyguard

Normal people wouldn’t have noticed the killing intent coming off the girl, but Lin Yi did the same kind of work that the girl did- he had that sixth sense in this regard, clearly sensing the killing intent.

But the girl wasn’t yet aware of this.

Lin Yi was capable of almost perfectly concealing his killing intent after his years of intense training, and only a very minimal number of people had reached Lin Yi’s level in that regard.

Shaking his head, Lin Yi decided to leave the girl be- her apparel obviously served the purpose of laying her low in the crowd- the girl evidently didn’t want anyone bothering her when on a mission, even if it were someone from the same profession. Lin Yi also understood the possibility of the two of them working for opposing factions, as well.

“Excuse me, can you tell me what Golden Creation Medicine is?” Lin Yi asked one of the assistants.

The assistant looked at Lin Yi as if he were an idiot, as if the question was so ridiculously naive she couldn’t believe it. Her answer didn’t seem very enthusiastic, as a result. “Obviously surgical medicine that heals wounds. We’re out of those.”

Lin Yi smiled bitterly in response, thinking that the medicine was probably a recently invented one. Very popular too, it seemed.

The assistant didn’t care much about Lin Yi’s question, but someone else did. An old woman started explaining to Lin Yi right after he turned away from the assistant, passionately interested in answering his question.

“Young man, you don’t even know about Golden Creation? You must know of the Doctor Kang, the miracle doctor of Eastern medicine, don’t you? He’s the best in his field!” The old lady started detailing information about Doctor Kang. “Golden Creation Medicine is something that Doctor Kang made, a fast healing medicine that completely heals the wound, and most importantly- not leaving any scars behind! Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Woah, it does sound amazing.” Lin Yi was impressed by the work of this miracle doctor- it seemed on par with the medicine LIn Yi was about to make himself.

“Yes! I’ve heard that there’s a legendary recipe for it, and that the majority of Golden Creation is shipped off to the military in priority due to how effective it is. Only a small portion is sent to the people’s pharmacies, so the supply’s always real tight!” The old woman continued. “It’s almost impossible for you to find any in a pharmacy- My niece’s boyfriend’s third sister’s younger aunt’s fifth cousin is a manager of a chain pharmacy, and I’d only managed to get myself a bottle of Golden Creation because of that connection! The stock’s all sold out by the time the shipping arrives at the inside circles, there’s no way they’d even make it to the shelves for sale!!”

“Is that so?” Lin Yi wasn’t too surprised at how hot-selling the medicine was, especially with how this old woman was describing it. It must be quite the medicine.

“Of course!! Especially for young girls- scars on their pretty skin is the last thing they’d want, how ugly would that be? They’re not particularly after how fast the restoration effects are, the point here is that there won’t be any scars after the wounds heal up!” The old woman said, barraging Lin Yi with more explanation. “I’ve also heard that people don’t gift gold and jewelry to others anymore, it’s all Golden Creation nowadays!”

“Hmm... I see! Thanks for explaining, but I don’t think I’ll need that.” Lin Yi said with a smile.

“That’s true, young men like you don’t need that kind of stuff!” The old woman nodded in agreement, evidently misunderstanding Lin Yi’s point. He’d meant that he could make his own medicine- there was no need for him to buy any at all.

Lin Yi, naturally, didn’t bother explaining that little detail to the woman. He went back to the Eastern medicinal herb counter- his listing had been weighed and prepared, and was now handed to him in sorted and sealed packets.

Lin Yi gave them a quick check, and found that two of them were a little bit deteriorated, most likely because of how long it’d been on the shelves. Helpless, Lin Yi decided to get himself more of those types, so as to outweigh the lack in quality with numbers.

He inspected the equipment and tools he had ordered, and packed everything up after finishing his business at the pharmacy.

Both Eastern and Western medicine were hot-selling at this time of the year, leaving raw ingredients like these in the dust. There wasn’t a lot of demand for them, and that was also the reason why Lin Yi was able to walk out from the pharmacy with them so quickly.

Lin Yi didn’t plan on rushing to school- he was marked as absent anyway. It was the same if he’d decided to skip the whole day, and Lin Yi thought he’d go find a place to make the medicine before going to class.

Something like this, naturally, couldn’t possibly take place in school. Mengyao’s villa was out of the question, as well- the two girls would go crazy if Lin Yi filled the place up with the smell of Eastern medicine. The best way to go about it was getting himself a private room to work in.

With that idea in mind, Lin Yi decided to walk around in search of a hotel.

“Hm?” Lin Yi noticed the girl from the pharmacy, lying in a puddle of her blood in an alleyway.

Lin Yi frowned at the sight- he didn’t want to butt into other people’s business, but there wasn’t a lot of possible help that’d come her way, not in a remote alley like this. Even if someone were to come along, they’d most likely be unwilling to help- It’d bring nothing but needless trouble if the girl died in their care.

Lin Yi continued hesitating as he considered his position- he was on a mission himself! Furthermore, those who undertook missions involving these sorts of consequences were always mentally resolved for sacrifice. Lin Yi understood that the girl would die sooner or later from the blood loss if he left her alone.

That was just how things were, sometimes… Involving himself with this encounter would undoubtedly bring him a series of trouble, especially considering the identity of the girl. She wasn’t just some random person shopping for groceries or anything.

Lin Yi gritted his teeth as he steeled his resolve, walking quickly past the girl and only shooting her a glance out of pity as he passed. _Hang in there._

A couple steps later, however, Lin Yi froze in his tracks. _Wait…_

Lin Yi spotted something familiar in that glance earlier, something he’d seen somewhere before…

He turned back and went to the girl’s body for a closer look, focusing her gaze on a ring the girl wore on her pinky.

Lin Yi sighed upon identifying the patterns on the ring. He pressed his fingers against her wrist- it still had a beat. He then proceeded to lift the girl up and carry her on his back.

The girl had fainted from blood loss, but Lin Yi’s movements activated her reflexes. Her body struggled a bit in an attempt to defend herself from what she subconsciously perceived to be an attack.

Lin Yi made sure no one was watching before running back the direction he had come from, the girl on his back.

So please continue voting! "Bonus" third chapter today

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don't ask me about the tree sap