After all, how could the samurai lords be so kind-hearted? As long as they didn't suddenly decide to test their blades on a few random passersby, that would be a blessing. How could they be so benevolent and kind?
Only fools would believe that!
It's really like the previous generation chopping the tree and the subsequent generation exposing it to the sun. The Japanese Samurai, on a daily basis, created all sorts of excuses, beyond the regular tribute and direct hire, there were additional levies like "Duānqián," "Dòngbiéqián," "Jiādi," "Military Rations," "Mǎjièqián," all kinds of extortion, draining the villagers to the bone, squeezing out every drop of profit, ruining their reputation to the point of no return. And then Yuanye appeared, a traveler from another time, getting caught up in the mess, trying to do some good deeds to earn respect in vain, because nobody would believe in him.
The "Mongolian Doctor Project" was awkward from the start. Aman laughed till she fell over, constantly advising him to give up, saying let those ignorant commoners be damned. Why not enjoy music and dance, eat well, drink well, and huddle warmly in winter? Meanwhile, Yuanye had no good solution at the moment; he couldn't exactly force people to come and get treated, could he?
Moreover, he didn't have what it took to force people to come for treatment.
After waiting quietly for two days, he was in the yard mashing herbs when he started contemplating whether he should find a stooge to try the crab first, set an example, and prove there were no tricks involved; that he wasn't harboring any evil plans to defile the village girls.
While he was deep in thought, he suddenly heard the rapid sound of hoofbeats. Looking up, he saw a green-clad Samurai galloping along the path, terrifying the villagers, causing chickens to fly and dogs to run. Despite approaching the fence at high speed, the Samurai spurred his horse to leap over it, landing heavily in the yard before tightly reigning in the horse, anxiously shouting, "Where is the doctor? Didn't they say there was a doctor here? Which one of you is the doctor? Doctor, come out quickly!"
The reins pulled too hard, making the horse extremely uncomfortable. While it stopped, it kept shaking its head, neighing, and stomping its hooves, rampaging in circles, trampling the herbs laid out to dry in the yard into a mess and even forcing Yuanye to retreat into a corner to avoid it, his face instantly turning dark.
He was scared to death; he thought someone was coming to rob him again, upgrading from river bandits to cavalry!
Aman, who was guarding the hearth and stove, roasting herbs, and dozing off to the point of drooling, was also startled awake. Disheveled, she rolled out, still in a daze, and yelled while lying on the ground, "What's all this noise, is there an earthquake? Oh dear! Ouch~~ Ahqing, quick, come here, my calf seems to have cramped, help me run!"
But Ahqing was not there, having gone with the Tozuka brothers and the Jiulang couple to help gather herbs. Aman called out a few times but saw no one, finally waking a bit. Fixing her eyes on the mess of herbs trampled in the yard, she instantly flew into a rage—those were the fruits of several days of her labor (primarily Yuanye's), and she only looked away for a second, only to have it end like this?
Seeing that the intruder was only one person and unarmored, even with a horse, was not enough to fear. Eyes glowing with fury, she hobbled back inside, quickly grabbing her short-handled axe before rushing out, pointing at the rider and cursing loudly, "Bastard, you damn dung beetle, what do you think you're doing? How dare you make a ruckus here, nearly scaring my... nearly scaring my family's donkey to wet its pants, have you lived enough?! Get down right now, kneel, apologize and make compensation, one penny short and I'll hack you to death!"
The green-clad Samurai appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, yet his height was close to 1.7 meters, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, broad shoulders, and a sturdy build. Wearing a gray simple coat with a dark green and white patterned haori over it, his hair was tied up in a chasen style (a stiff whisk used in Japanese tea ceremonies), and although it was clearly just daily travel and not going to battle, his arms were bound with arrowscreen armor, with a blue cotton handkerchief inexplicably tied around his neck...
This was yet another samurai walking the line of "eccentric light piracy style." Such people generally feared nothing, disregarding traditional decorum, and had quite volatile tempers.
The green-clad Samurai naturally was no exception. Barely able to calm the horse, seeing Aman holding a sharp hand axe pointing at him and cursing obnoxiously, he immediately flew into a rage, one hand protecting his chest while drawing his sword with the other, retaliating with his duck voice, "Bastard, who are you, a wretched commoner, cursing? You… you…"
His words seemed to falter, his vocabulary was lacking, unable to find an equivalent creature to match "dung beetle," while Aman already started circling to his side, continuously hurling invective more and more appallingly: "I'm cursing you, yes, you dung beetle! What, dissatisfied? You are a dung beetle, your whole family are dung beetles, your entire family are thieves stealing dung balls!"
"Bastard, you… you damn bastard!"
The green-clad Samurai stumbled more, his furious face flushed red, suddenly deciding to shut his mouth, turning his horse around, eyes showing menace, while guarding against getting his leg hacked by an axe, preparing to rush with the horse at Aman, seeing through her skills, to engage in fierce battle possibly until death.
Yuanye watched on the side, his face turning darker by the moment. What nonsense was this; in this era, it was like a madhouse, nobody seemed to value life, making it impossible for him as a modern man to accept!
For such petty matters, dying was not worth it at all. He promptly intervened to stop the farce, loudly shouting from the corner of the yard, "Enough, stop now!"
Aman also calmed down a bit, then recognized the opposite party's status, worried about getting Yuanye, the financial backer, in trouble, she didn't keep shouting, but still looked over at the green-clad Samurai in hatred—she had always held some animosity towards Samurai, and now the more she looked at this green-clad Samurai, the more displeased she became, likely harboring a grudge, planning to spread rumors about him later.