Chapter 375 Fifty Thousand

Zeng Huan's heart skipped a beat when Li Man'er brought up the matter of his eye.

He had deliberately blinded himself to gain the trust of the Xiao family. This was a secret he had kept, and for years, no one had suspected him. Why would Li Man'er, out of all things, bring up his eye right from the start?

Had she seen through him?

"My eye... I lost it on the battlefield, fighting the barbarians," Zeng Huan stammered, his tongue still sluggish from the effects of the medicine.

Li Man'er let out a cold laugh. "Fighting barbarians? Isn't that fighting your own kind?"

Zeng Huan's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Your eyes, they don't look like a barbarian's."

"You..." Zeng Huan gritted his teeth, terrified of saying something he shouldn't.

Li Man'er stared into Zeng Huan's eyes, seeing the fear in them. She glanced at Liu Ya, who understood immediately and quietly retreated, standing guard in the corridor.

Fear weakened a person's will, and Li Man'er intended to use this opportunity to hypnotize him directly.

She was tired of wasting words with Zeng Huan.

"You are a barbarian, but they don't acknowledge your identity, do they?" Li Man'er's voice was soft, as if afraid of startling Zeng Huan.

From Zeng Huan's appearance, she analyzed that he was not purely a barbarian. Although tall and strong, his face was somewhat square, unlike the barbarians' round, full faces with indistinct chins, resembling a full moon. Barbarians had puffy eyelids and narrow eyes that looked like phoenix eyes, with an inner epicanthic fold at the corners.

Zeng Huan lacked these features. He seemed more like a mixed-blood, with a conflicting appearance.

He possessed the barbarians' tall stature and robust physique, and even his hair bore strong resemblance to theirs. However, he also had some characteristics of the Zhongguo people, and his facial features differed greatly from the barbarians. This was why, for so many years, he had blended into Zhongguo without raising suspicion. After all, how could a pure-blooded barbarian infiltrate the Zhongguo army? Were they all blind!

Barbarians valued bloodlines the most. Mixed-bloods like Zeng Huan would likely not be valued, and might even face ostracism and abuse. Unable to survive among the barbarians, he needed an outlet. With his advantageous appearance, he was naturally assigned to Zhongguo as a spy.

Perhaps he also wanted to prove something, to the point where he could even sacrifice his own eye, blinding himself to ensure his survival, even if it meant ending up in the wounded soldier camp.

Because Li Man'er had guessed Zeng Huan's true identity, her probing carried a hint of empathy. Zeng Huan's willpower was far from as strong as Li Man'er had anticipated. In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, Zeng Huan fell into a hypnotic state and revealed everything.

The truth was very close to Li Man'er's speculation. Zeng Huan's mother was a native of the Mobei region. She was captured by the barbarians and died less than half a year after giving birth to Zeng Huan.

Zeng Huan had no memory of his mother, but he hated Zhongguo. If it weren't for his half-Zhongguo blood, he wouldn't have lived such a painful life, wouldn't have been bullied, and even his name was filled with insulting words.

What was his fault? If he could choose, he would rather never have been born.

Zeng Huan blamed all his suffering on the barbarians. Therefore, after arriving in Zhongguo, he forced himself to do the hardest work and the most dangerous tasks every day.

Finally, he managed to infiltrate the Xiao family's army and became a minor leader.

However, his eagerness to earn merit attracted the suspicion of the Xiao family. Under duress, he blinded himself as a display of achievement. This not only successfully cleared his suspicion but also allowed him to enter the wounded soldier camp.

The wounded soldier camp was good. He didn't have to do heavy labor every day, rarely had to go to the battlefield, faced no danger, and was not tired. Although the food was a bit poor, he received military pay and could live a leisurely life. This was simply the life Zeng Huan had dreamed of.

Since his birth, he had never lived so easily. Gradually, his desire for revenge and to achieve greatness cooled down.

It wasn't until Li Shu's arrival that everything broke this calm.

If Li Shu hadn't come, perhaps the barbarians would have forgotten him forever and never contacted him again. But Li Shu came, and the barbarians believed that the time when the Xiao and Li families were in conflict was their best opportunity. As long as someone provided intelligence, they could gain control of the Xiao and Li families' military information, thereby successfully conquering Mobei and achieving their grand ambitions.

Thus, he was remembered by the barbarians again. The days of constant anxiety, enduring insults and harm, were about to return.

He hated them, so he wanted revenge.

Li Shu's poisoning was his doing. While living with the barbarians, Zeng Huan had studied diagnostics and herbal medicine with a shaman. He wasn't good at treating illnesses, but he had some skill in using medicines.

After Li Shu was poisoned, he thought he could return to his previous life. He never expected Li Shu to survive, and for Li Man'er to arrive.

She, a mere girl, not only possessed medical skills but was also a formidable fighter!

The more Zeng Huan thought about it, the angrier he became. He decided to go all out and kill Li Man'er. If he killed Li Man'er, he would not only vent his anger but also provide an explanation to the barbarians. It was a win-win situation.

However, Zeng Huan never imagined that Li Man'er would be so difficult to deal with, that she couldn't be killed on the battlefield and could even evade assassination attempts.

Li Man'er listened to Zeng Huan's confession and was silent for a long time.

Actually, this Zeng Huan and Gao Yujuan were quite a match. Both were fools; they were suited for each other!

She was a doctor, wasn't she? Could that muscle-relaxing powder fool her nose? If she hadn't wanted to expose her immunity to poisons in front of A'si and Liu Ya, she would have eaten all those dishes, forcing her to gnaw on several steamed buns.

"What about Feng Wuyun? Did he defect to the barbarians?"

"I don't know." Zeng Huan said dazedly, "Feng Wuyun is Li Shu's man. It wouldn't be easy for him to defect to the barbarians."

Yes, that wouldn't be an easy task!

Unless, there was a barbarian spy working with that Feng fellow!

Li Man'er thought, she had a lot to busy herself with. Just catching spies would give her a headache.

Just then, the sound of war drums suddenly erupted from outside. The sound was so loud that it also jolted Zeng Huan out of his hypnotic state.

Li Man'er directly knocked him unconscious and called for Old Sun to come in. "What's happening outside? Have the barbarians come again?"

"Yes, miss. The barbarian reinforcements have arrived, numbering at least fifty thousand." Old Sun thought, this battle would likely be another tough one.

Li Man'er said, "Drag him away. Keep an eye on him, just make sure he doesn't starve."

"Yes."

"A'si, come with me. Let's go see who has arrived."

A'si didn't say a word, grabbed her long staff, and accompanied Li Man'er up to the city wall.