Invincible Iron Man 2, From Military Book Flag

  The yamen runners showed respect to this teacher, whose name was Sun Xiangdong. Sun Xiangdong helped up Wang An's father and said to the runners, "Wang An is a scholar after all, don't let you insult him and bully his relatives." Wang An's father was grateful and quickly said, "Thank you, teacher." Wang An's father asked, "Teacher, I want to ask, what did Wang An do wrong?" The teacher replied, "He didn't do anything wrong." Wang An's father became excited and said, "Then he will be released soon!" The teacher shook his head and said, "No." Wang An's father was shocked and asked, "Why?" The teacher replied, "Wang An is now on the brink of death." He sighed repeatedly and shook his head.

  Here is the translation:

  Wang An's father hastily pulled Sun Xiangdong aside and asked urgently, "Master, please tell me in detail." Sun Xiangdong said to him, "Yesterday we received a public notice from above, ordering our county to send a batch of strong young men to the border. After researching, even if we include all the prisoners in the big prison, it's still not enough. The constables then arrested some people in the county and planned to count them as part of the strong young men to be sent to the border as soldiers." Wang An's father hastily asked, "Is my son also included among these strong young men?" Sun Xiangdong shook his head and said, "No, they didn't include your son. Although Wang An is ill, he is still a scholar, and ordinary people wouldn't dare to humiliate him easily."

  Wang An's father hastily asked, "What exactly happened?" Sun Xiangdong said, "The constables wrote down Hu Jue's name, intending to extort some money. If Hu Jue gave them money, they would strike his name off the list. However, today Hu Jue became engaged to the county magistrate's son, so naturally the constables wouldn't dare to consider him as a strong young man anymore. After learning about this situation, Hu Yinyin immediately suggested that Wang An replace her father and go to the front line."

  Wang An's father was furious, his face turning pale with rage, and said, "She truly has a ruthless heart!" Sun Xiangdong hastily covered his mouth and pulled Wang An's father aside, saying, "The border is a harsh and cold place. In previous years, many young men who went there died in large numbers. How could Wang An, who is seriously ill, possibly survive? You should be prepared for the worst." Wang An's father was shocked once again.

  Wang An is now tied to the execution frame, and many strong men are also tied here. The prison officer wants to tattoo some words on their faces so that they cannot desert after joining the army. Once they desert, they will be recognized and caught back quickly because of the words on their faces. The imperial court did not require this originally, but various places have been constantly tattooing soldiers' faces. Once a person is tattooed with words, he cannot escape until he dies in battle on the border.

  The jailers were all pierced with words, and the strong men let out loud groans. At this time, the prison gate opened, and a man walked in with a certain person. The jailer hastily respectfully said to him: "Young Master". He was Tian Lingshan, the son of the county magistrate. That certain person seemed not to eat human fireworks, and his temperament was outstanding. For a moment, whether it was the jailers or the prisoners, they all stared with their eyes wide open.

  Hu Yingying said to Tian Lingshan, "Lingshan, why did you bring me here?" She saw Wang An but pretended not to notice. In her heart, she thought that now Wang An looked so unimpressive and wondered how she had been infatuated with him in the past. Wang An felt a pang of pain, turned his face away, and ignored them.

  Tian Lingshan said to Hu Yingying, "I'm telling you, take a look at your little lover, he's about to go to the battlefield, and maybe he'll never come back for his whole life. If you don't see him before he dies, you might regret it for the rest of your life." Hu Yingying hurriedly coquettishly shook Tian Lingshan's arm and said, "Lingshan, don't joke around, I have nothing to do with him." Lingshan smiled wryly at her and said, "You also have nothing to do with Wang An." Hu Yingying said, "Of course not, what is he? He's just a toad who wants to eat swan meat."

  Wang An felt a sharp pain in his heart, unable to speak. He thought to himself, "Could it be that all the tender love and affection before were false?" His heart was filled with despair. Suddenly, he also lost the courage to go on, feeling no more attachment to life.

  Tian Lingshan continued to say to Hu Yingying, "Since you don't have any feelings for him, then you can take care of the tattooing. Hu Yingying said, "Lingshan, I won't do it." Tian Lingshan said to her, "It doesn't matter, using a branding iron is the same." Wang An heard this and suddenly became furious: "Tian, don't go too far!" Tian Lingshan was enraged: "A prisoner dares to scold me?" Hu Yingying saw that Tian Lingshan was angry and gently said to him, "Lingshan, don't be angry, I'll help you vent." She slowly walked forward, picked up the branding iron, and went in front of Wang An. She said to him, "You prisoner, how dare you insult my husband? I will make you suffer." After saying this, she used the branding iron on Wang An's face. His skin instantly became charred, and as he was already ill, he couldn't withstand the torture and immediately fainted.

  Wang An was splashed with cold water and woke up to see Hu Yinyin saying, "How's that? The taste of the branding iron isn't bad, is it? If you apologize to me, I might just let you off." Wang An's face was extremely painful, but his heart was even more so. He stared at Hu Yinyin without blinking and said, "I won't apologize to him." Hu Yinyin said, "Fine, then we'll play slowly. Let's see how long you can hold out. Don't die on me before I've had my fun." After that, she picked up another branding iron and seared it into Wang An's chest. His skin was again scorched and charred, and Wang An immediately fainted once more.

  When Wang An woke up, Hu Yinyin continued to say to him: "How about it, do you want to come again?" Wang An was suddenly filled with anger in his heart and angrily said: "You shameless cheap woman!" Hu Yinyin said: "Good, now you'd better scold as hard as you can, otherwise later on you might not be able to scold at all." After saying that, she picked up a branding iron again and said: "I'm more and more fond of branding irons, more and more fond of torturing you. You must hold on, don't give in quickly, or how will I torture you?" After saying that, she was about to brand Wang An's face again. Tian Lingshan said: "Enough, Yinyin, he still has to replace your father on the front line. If we torture him to death now, who will replace your father? Besides, I don't want my wife to be a murderer. Let's go, don't be angry anymore. Once he gets to the front line, he won't come back alive." Hu Yinyin said: "Okay, whatever you say, I'll do it. Spare this damned prisoner's life."

  After this ordeal, coupled with the development of his illness, Wang An suddenly broke out in a high fever and lost consciousness. Soon after, the batch of strong men and the officials escorting them set off towards the border. Some of those responsible for escorting the strong men to the border wanted to get rid of Wang An, but remembering Tian Lishan's instructions, they did not dare act rashly, so they put him on a cart transporting grain and headed north, following the strong men who were all wearing cangues and walking on foot. Along the way, they all envied Wang An's good luck.

  The king's mouth only had outgoing air, no incoming air, and he was about to die. The guards who were escorting him immediately gathered together to discuss what to do. One of the guards said: "Sir Tian said that we must send him to the border and hand him over to the local general. If he dies, we won't be able to complete our task because one of our soldiers will be short." Another guard suggested: "Why don't we just grab another person on the road to make up for it?" Someone next to him rolled his eyes and said: "This isn't our jurisdiction, if we cause trouble here, we'll get caught." Another guard suggested: "Let's find a doctor to treat him." "What's the point of treating him? Tuberculosis is incurable," someone replied. "As long as we can keep him alive until we reach the border and hand him over to the general, we've completed our task."

  An old man with a white beard was invited over, and an official asked him to take Wang An's pulse. Another official hastily asked, "How is it? Can he be saved?" The old man glanced at him and said, "Of course, I've treated many patients like this in the past." The old man quickly added, "I mean, I've cured many patients like this."

  The official didn't pay attention to the correction and hastily asked, "Are you sure? Do you really have the skills?" The old man puffed out his chest and said, "Of course! If I couldn't treat this illness, how could I be a doctor?"

  In his heart, the old man thought that it was just a minor cold. If he couldn't cure it, what kind of doctor would he be? The official was shocked and said, "You're really amazing! You can even cure consumption!" The old man was startled and almost jumped up, thinking to himself, "Consumption? Not a cold? That's an incurable disease! Oh no, I'm so unlucky. Which god did I offend that my conning journey is so difficult?"

  The official respectfully said, "Great doctor, please prescribe the medicine!" The old man pretended to be confident and took out a book, saying, "This is our family's secret recipe, passed down for hundreds of years. I've memorized it thoroughly." The official was shocked and even more respectful, reading the title of the book: "Consumption Treatment Formula". The old man was startled in his heart, thinking, "This isn't the Cold Treatment Encyclopedia! I've been misreading it all along!"

  A kind-hearted official reminded him, "Great doctor, don't be nervous. You're holding the book upside down." The old man thought to himself, "I'm not nervous, I'm scared!" He quickly turned the book right-side up and recited the names of about 50 medicinal ingredients from memory. This was the only formula he remembered, which he had managed to get his teacher to read aloud to him after much effort.

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