“This is their job from now on. If they’re scared, they might as well quit,” Jin Feng said, putting down his bowl and standing up. “I’m going to check on the threshing ground. Want to come?”
“No way,” Guan Xiaorou shook her head quickly.
Even though the threshing ground had been cleared, a faint smell of blood lingered when passing by.
“Then go to bed early. I don’t know when I’ll be back, so don’t wait up,” Jin Feng said, stepping outside and shouting, “Tie Chui, prepare two lanterns.”
In his previous life, Jin Feng was used to cities with streetlights everywhere. Even in remote areas without lights, neon signs from tall buildings provided some glow. But in Da Kang, there were no streetlights. On nights with a moon, it was fine, as the unpolluted air made the moonlight bright enough for sharp-eyed women to thread needles under it.
But at the end or start of the month, or on cloudy nights, the village was pitch black. Without a lantern, you’d be as good as blind. Even a trip to the outhouse could end with a fall into the pit.
It was the end of the month, with no stars visible. The darkness was so thick you couldn’t see your own hand.
Two guards led the way with lanterns, Jin Feng walked in the middle, and Tie Chui followed behind as they slowly headed to the village entrance.
Jin Feng had the girls spend the night with corpses to toughen their nerve, so he didn’t provide them with lanterns. The threshing ground was completely dark, except for a faint glimmer from the watchman’s hut a few dozen metres away.
A guard pushed open the hut’s wooden door, and Liu Tie and several guard team members stood up quickly.
“Brother Feng, what brings you here?” Liu Tie asked.
“Just checking in,” Jin Feng replied. “Did you deliver their dinner?”
“Yeah, one bowl of rice porridge, two steamed buns, and a bowl of stewed meat each,” Liu Tie said with a grin. “But I bet they couldn’t stomach it.”
“You’re wrong there, Iron. That Zhou Jin ate heartily and even asked if I could bring her another bowl of meat soup,” a guard said, laughing.
“That Zhou Jin’s a freak. So many bandits died horribly on this threshing ground, and just passing by gives me the creeps. But that little girl isn’t scared at all,” another guard chimed in. “I heard her dad was a corpse carrier.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Zhou Jin’s family comes from a line of coroners. Her ancestors were all coroners, but her granddad died before forty and couldn’t pass the skills to her dad, so he became a corpse carrier,” another guard said mysteriously. “Her dad wanted her brother to take up the coroner trade to keep the family craft alive. Zhou Jin wanted to learn too, but being a girl, her dad wouldn’t teach her. She just watched her brother. Even so, she’s seen plenty of bodies since she was little. How could she be scared?”
“Really?” Jin Feng was intrigued by the guard’s words. “Lei Zi, where’d you hear this? Is it reliable?”
He knew Zhou Jin’s father was a corpse carrier but hadn’t heard her grandfather was a coroner.
Coroners were like modern forensic doctors, often examining bodies. If Zhou Jin had learned coroner skills, she’d be perfect for the medical team.
The guard, Lei Zi, got excited when Jin Feng asked. Rolling up his sleeves, he said, “Brother Feng, my aunt’s from Old River Village, same as Zhou Jin’s hometown. I knew her as a kid, but everyone said she was around corpses too much, all gloomy, so I didn’t play with her.”
“Are her dad and brother around?” Jin Feng asked. West River Bay needed talent, and a coroner’s heir was too good to pass up.
“They’re gone. Last year, they went to a neighbouring county to carry corpses and got caught in a flash flood. Both died,” Lei Zi replied. “Now it’s just her sister-in-law, her mum, and three nephews. That’s why Zhou Jin joined the female soldier team here.”
“Got it,” Jin Feng nodded, deciding to keep an eye on Zhou Jin.
“By the way, no one’s asked to leave, right?” he asked.
“Nope, they’re all holding on,” Liu Tie said with a smile.
“Hope they make it through the night,” Jin Feng said, looking at the threshing ground. “But if anyone gets scared and wants out, don’t spook them more. We don’t want to break them.”
“Got it,” Liu Tie nodded quickly.
Jin Feng chatted in the watchman’s hut for a bit, then checked on the girls from the high ground. It was nearly midnight when he returned home.
Those still there were unlikely to quit.
He was right. When he returned to the threshing ground the next morning, all eight girls were still there. No one had given up overnight.
Having survived the hardest part, the night, no one would quit during the day.
At lunchtime, Jin Feng had Liu Tie open the shelters’ straw mats to let the girls out.
Except for Zhou Jin, the other seven squatted and cried as soon as they left.
The faint smell of blood, the gruesome corpses, the cramped space, the silent, pitch-black night… the past day and night had been excruciating. They’d thought of quitting more than once.
But remembering the brutal bandits, the fierce battlefield, and their families’ hardships, they gritted their teeth and carried on.
“Congratulations, you’ve all passed the first test,” Jin Feng said, motioning for Tie Chui to bring out a stack of clothes. “These are your new uniforms. Zhou Jin, you’re temporarily the medical team leader. Take everyone to bathe, change, eat, and meet me at the back mountain pavilion.”
The veterans and female soldiers trained at the back mountain, where Zhang Liang had built pavilions for resting. Jin Feng had taken one for his lessons.
“Yes!” Zhou Jin stepped forward, took the clothes, and helped a girl whose legs were weak from fear.
Once the girls left, Liu Tie asked, “Brother Feng, what about the shelters and bandit corpses?”
“Dismantle the shelters. Take the corpses to the back mountain. I’ll need them this afternoon,” Jin Feng replied.
In his previous life, medical schools struggled to find bodies for study. This bandit raid was a rare chance, as finding corpses otherwise would be tough. He couldn’t just go kill people for it.
He had to make the most of these bandit corpses for teaching.
“What use are the corpses?” Liu Tie asked, puzzled.
“If you’re curious, come see this afternoon,” Jin Feng said, waving him off and leaving with Tie Chui.
“Keeping secrets from me…” Liu Tie shook his head but called over some guards to dismantle the shelters and move the corpses.
Zhou Jin was capable. In just over an hour, she brought the girls back to the back mountain.
Somehow, she’d comforted them. They looked much better, with no one crying anymore.
In the pavilion, nine wooden tables held one corpse each. Jin Feng was fiddling with some needles and thread, while Qing Mulanzhou and Zhang Liang stood outside, curiously peering in.
“Come in. I’ll give you your first lesson, which is also your second test,” Jin Feng said.
