Chapter 050: Uncovering the Origin of the Blade

"Fujiwara? The Fujiwara clan, one of the Five Regent Families?"
"Yes." Miu Fujiwara suddenly became very docile.
"Your background is even more powerful than mine. Bored at home, so you came to China to kill for fun?"
"That's not it! I'm just a teacher at Nanjing Girls' School! One of my female students was tricked by that villain into a brothel in Suzhou, and later committed suicide! I heard the villain was in Shanghai, so I came here especially to avenge her!"
"Did you succeed?"
"Hmph! If I take action, success is guaranteed!"
"Hahaha, impressive! Miss Miu Fujiwara is truly formidable!" Chen Jiehua offered a timely compliment.
"Thank you for your praise, Aoki-kun!"
Seeing Miu Fujiwara so excited she showed no intention of sleeping, Chen Jiehua thought, he might as well clear up the matter of the knife.
"Miss Miu, would you mind telling me where you got that little knife?"
"Aoki-kun, since we're friends now, from now on you can call me Miu, and I'll call you Aoki. Is that alright?"
"Of course."
"Aoki-kun, you tell me first, why are you so interested in this knife?"
Chen Jiehua considered that he couldn't explain it with words alone, so he took out his surgical knife—a complete handle and blade—and laid it before Miu Fujiwara.
Miu Fujiwara hadn't even seen where Aoki produced such a long knife from.
"See? Yours is just the blade, a replacement part. This is a complete knife—my surgical knife—and in the whole world, only I use this kind! My hidden identity is that of a surgeon."
"Wow! Seems my luck really is good, to bump into a great doctor like you. Otherwise, dealing with two bullet wounds would have been no easy task."
"No wonder! I thought the knife looked so small and strange, hard to grasp, but very sharp—the perfect weapon for an assassin!"
"Miu, that's not the point! I'm saying this knife is my exclusive surgical tool. Where did you get it?"
"What do you mean by 'exclusive'?"
"Please don't change the subject!" Chen Jiehua felt his mind was about to unravel, trying to follow Miu Fujiwara's train of thought.
"Alright, I'll tell you. Two months ago, I returned from Tokyo to China. After disembarking, I happened to encounter a small, thin Chinese man being chased. I helped him, pulled him into my rickshaw, and after reaching safety, he got off. In the confusion, I gave him the wrong suitcase. Our suitcases happened to be identical!"
"My goodness! Fate!"
"Zhou Yongsu is in trouble! Who knows how he'll manage in America without his books, token, or dollars!"
Of course the suitcases were identical—they were bought in Japan.

"Ah! How did you know there were books and dollars in the suitcase?"
"Ah! I get it now! That was your suitcase!"
"So what happened to my suitcase? It had my bras and underwear!"
"Didn't you give your suitcase to that thin Chinese man?"
Chen Jiehua dared not imagine Zhou Yongsu boarding the ship, opening his suitcase full of hope to study, only to find it packed with women's clothes.
The scene was too vivid! Unimaginable! Just thinking about it was hilarious!
"So, my suitcase was taken to America by that thin Chinese man?"
"Smart! That's probably what happened!"
"What are the odds?"
"What else could it be? With your skills, even wounded, just armed with that little knife, you could've made me obey at the door."
"It really is fate! You were sent to me just when I needed you most!"
"Stop right there, Miu! Don't go down that path!"
"Why not?"
Yes, why not?
Because I'm a spy, with national vengeance yet to be repaid—how can I think of home before that? That reason can't be spoken!
Given his identity, mine, and with my cousin the Empress matchmaking, maybe it's not so impossible to consider!
"Can't find the words? If you can't say it, that means it's possible! Aoki-kun, you've already seen my body, you must take responsibility!"
Good grief! Were Japanese women always so forthright, even back then?
"Miu, let's let things take their natural course. We'll talk about it later, alright? It's late, you need rest."
"Alright, Miu will listen to Aoki. But, Aoki, can you give me a surgical knife handle?"
"You want to keep being an assassin?" Miu Fujiwara nodded vigorously!
Good grief, a young lady, always fighting and killing—what a strange style!
"Aoki-kun, don't you want Miu to have the means to protect herself?"
Alright, can't say no. Here you go.
"Aoki-kun, why is there a Chinese character on this knife?"

"That's the mark of the craftsman who made it, the brand of the knife." Good grief, he'd forgotten—the knife had an inscription!
"Is that so?"
That's right, it must be so! Chen Jiehua nodded firmly.
"It's late! Time to sleep!"
Chen Jiehua dragged two chairs together and slept by the window.
Miu Fujiwara was both curious about and deeply fond of Chen Jiehua, and tacitly allowed the two to share a room—after all, he'd already seen everything there was to see.
The night passed uneventfully. In the unfamiliar surroundings and uncomfortable bed, Chen Jiehua slept fitfully and woke at dawn.
As soon as he got up, Chen Jiehua noticed Miu Fujiwara's heavy breathing!
Not good—too much exertion last night, she had a fever!
Chen Jiehua went to the bedside, touched Miu Fujiwara's forehead—it was hot, definitely a fever!
He helped her lie flat, unbuttoned her shirt, the two little rabbits leapt out again, but now was not the time to look!
Chen Jiehua carefully unwrapped the bandages and gauze layer by layer. The wound was oozing blood—a mild infection—mainly due to the environment: a long-uninhabited house, no sterile equipment, impossible to keep things sanitary.
Miu Fujiwara woke from pain, dazed with fever, watching Chen Jiehua as he treated her wound.
Chen Jiehua took his last surgical knife, sterilized the blade with fire, gently cleaned away the necrotic tissue and pus around the wound that hadn’t been cleaned properly the day before, opened a bottle of penicillin, sprinkled the powder around the wound, changed the gauze and bandages, and, lacking sterile water, did what he could.
He buttoned up her shirt one by one.
Then he checked the wound on her right leg, disinfected it with penicillin, and bandaged it anew.
Fortunately he had enough penicillin; otherwise, such injuries would be hard to manage.
Once the wounds were treated, Chen Jiehua washed yesterday's scarf clean, soaked it in cold water, and placed it on Miu's forehead to lower the fever. With no antipyretic medicine, this was the only option.
He boiled some hot water, reheated the leftover buns and bread from last night, and managed a simple breakfast. Given the circumstances, it wasn't wise to leave her alone.
Seeing there was nothing else urgent, Chen Jiehua washed the bloodstains from Miu's only bra and hung it on the chair by the window to dry.
In this atmosphere, tinged with both warmth and the scent of blood, Chen Jiehua could finally quiet his mind to think.