That afternoon, Mai spent her time searching for clues about the Komodo dragons that seemed to be ravaging the villages around the Thousand Blossom City. Now that she was under Inspector Lin's department, she didn't need to train with the soldiers anymore, which she was relieved about. She could sleep longer than before, and it was nice that she only worked for one person.

When she saw the handsome men on the streets of the city, she suddenly saw Inspector Lin's face and vividly remembered his beautiful eyes.

"They had the same turquoise and purple glow as the boy I saw many years ago. What are the odds that it's the same person?"

If Mai had been born under a lucky star, she would have won the lottery every time she played, which hadn't happened.

She shook her head and sighed deeply. "It's probably not the same person."

She looked at her left hand and could still feel the warmth of the boy's hands from back then. She rubbed her fingers, felt a knot in her heart, and bit her lip.

"Would my future be different now if I had taken his hand? Is it fate laughing at me?"

"I must ask him next time. Maybe it's actually him."

Mai chose to reveal something about herself if Inspector Lin did too.

Over the years, she had helped all the herb halls in the Thousand Blossom City make pain-relieving pills, the ones Master had made for her once. She had called them Godly Pills because they sold better that way. During this time, people only bought something they thought sounded promising, and God was the strongest in a believing time. She often went out to inspect all the herb halls producing her pills to check if they were made correctly.

In the nearest herb hall, Mai was greeted by a young man dressed in a green robe with a green hat on.

"Welcome, Young Master Tian. Have you come to inspect the Godly Pills?"

She nodded and asked, "Is Grandfather Liang Gu present?"

Imperial Physician Liang Gu had asked her to call him grandfather, which she didn't like at first, but later she found out that it opened a lot of doors to have a certain status here. Imperial Physician Liang Gu was Emperor Jinling's private physician, so she could get the juicy stories directly from him when she softened him up with a little alcohol. That's how Mai found out that Anni, her sister, had become a consort lady of the emperor. He had three consort ladies but no empress, and rumors said he hadn't slept with any of them yet.

"It must suck to be those women. What on earth is he waiting for? Is he into men?"

If Anni had had a child with him or become empress, the Immortal Palace would have looked different now. Anni only loved one person in the world—herself.

Mai walked through a long corridor with a floor of dark brown wood and thin white walls. There was a smell of old wood in the air, and the corridor creaked occasionally. 

In a large hall, many people were busy producing various types of pills in all shapes and sizes. Dried and fresh herbs were scattered around, and there was a strong herbal smell in the hall. All the windows were open, providing good ventilation with a cool breeze that occasionally passed through, spreading the scent of herbs. Only men were present, grinding herbs on a granite stone that resembled a birdbath if one were drunk. They approached the section that made Godly Pills, which had a corner to itself to the left of the entrance.

Mai inspected them all carefully by sniffing at them and poking them with a golden acupuncture needle. In reality, she had no idea what they were made of, but she pretended she did. 

The pill smelled of ginseng, green tea, chili, and licorice, but Mai was sure those weren't the correct ingredients. Master had never taught her how to make them, but she had been allowed to watch the process when he made them for her.

"They look fine. But that one is a bit too big. Flatten it out. When you make them, think about whether you would swallow that size yourself."

She kept both hands behind her back and surveyed them, hopefully making her look like a wise man.

"Ask yourself the question. Is it too big?"

Mai had them design the pills the size of a flat Mentos, easy for people to swallow.

When she finished her inspection, she looked around at the other workers and suddenly noticed a young man with a large rip in his right trouser leg, with a dark stain resembling blood. She furrowed her brow and approached him. He was grinding ginseng. When he noticed her, he immediately stopped and stood up. He bowed to her and pointed to his spot, indicating she should take it.

Mai shook her head and looked at his leg, asking, "Brother, why haven't you changed your clothes? If Grandfather sees that, he'll have a heart attack. Did you get hurt?"

The other workers in his group suddenly stopped working and looked up at him. They shook their heads, which Mai noticed immediately. She hadn't lived twice for nothing.

"If you lie, I'll get Grandfather to fire you, so you might as well make it easy for yourself." She didn't like threatening people.

The man cleared his throat and made eye contact with her.

"We were out gathering herbs, and I was attacked by an animal. We need to finish this order today, so I haven't had time to get a new set of clothes, Young Master." he said in a low voice, so only Mai and the group could hear him.

His body language seemed tense, and she sensed he was hiding something more. Something for something.

"Brother, if I fix your wound, can you tell me more about the animal that attacked you?" she said in a soft voice, giving him a friendly smile.

The man's cheeks slowly reddened, and he leaned forward, whispering, "Young Master, it can't be cured. Even Imperial Physician Liang Gu had no remedy."

Mai furrowed her brow and whispered back, "How do you know he doesn't have a method? Is it because you haven't dared to ask him?"

"Brother Jin doesn't lie, Young Master. Imperial Physician Liang Gu tried to look at it but without success." said a man from the group.

"Let me take a look anyway. Everyone here knows that Grandfather got the recipe for the Godly Pills from me." said Mai, still wanting to help Brother Jin.

If Imperial Physician Liang Gu couldn't fix it, then it wasn't a normal wound.

Brother Jin and Mai entered a small room off to the side, and Mai looked at him, eagerly awaiting what he had to say. He lifted his right trouser leg, and she saw a huge flesh wound. She sniffed the air around the wound but couldn't smell anything, furrowing her brow.

Shouldn't it smell like blood?

"Brother, how old is it?"

"It happened three days ago." he replied, resting his leg on a chair.

Emperor Jinling returned home three days ago from an expedition, but Brother Jin's injury came from the southern part of the forest, and Emperor Jinling came from the north, near the mountains.

"Has anyone from the palace brought anything?" Mai muttered quietly, studying the wound carefully.

Suddenly, she noticed a glint as she turned her head and leaned in closer to the wound. Something was lodged in the wound, but it was hard to see because of its transparent appearance.

She found a small pair of tweezers and looked at Brother Jin. "May I?"

He nodded, and she carefully inserted the tweezers into the wound and squeezed around the shimmering object. She felt something solid, which she immediately pulled out. It was a long, light piece of glass, and blood gushed out. Mai found a white cloth and wrapped it around his leg, but the blood soaked through. Her heart pounded faster at the sight.

He'll die from bleeding, and Grandfather can't cure it.

She placed her left palm on his leg and activated Avari’s Cloak. She projected her energy, focusing it on her middle finger, and a small white oval shield formed, covering his entire leg. Heat spread through Jinling's leg, and he felt a tingling sensation. He clenched his teeth, and suddenly the blood stopped flowing out.

Mai wasn't sure if it had worked. "Can you feel anything?"

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt anymore, and I'm not bleeding anymore. Let's take a look." Jin replied, and Mai removed the cloth, revealing that the wound was no longer bleeding.

She felt relieved and placed her left hand on the wound, projecting energy from her little finger, which penetrated his leg. She waited for a moment, and suddenly the scabs began to fall off like sawdust. The skin began to pull together and heal slowly. A moment later, there was a brand-new leg without a single scar.

"Wow, Young Master. You're a genius. You have magical hands. Are you sure you don't have any priestess in your genes?" Jin exclaimed, surprised.

"My master taught me some spiritual techniques, and I just pressed some points on your leg to stop the bleeding," Mai lied, finding a new cloth and carefully wrapping his leg.

"It's better if you pretend to still be injured for a while so no one notices anything."

Jin agreed and revealed, "It was a large two-legged reptile that attacked me. It resembled a crocodile from the books, but they don't live here. Upon reflection, it was probably more like a humanoid crocodile."

Mai asked him to give the precise location where he had seen the crocodile.

Geographically, they shouldn't live in China.

If it were Egypt, it would make sense.

"Thank you, Brother Jin. Please keep it a secret. But if you know anyone else who has been attacked by that crocodile, send them to me. I'm sure you're not the only one."

Mai hurried back to Inspector Lin's department, looking forward to telling him the good news. There were two unfamiliar men present, but Inspector Lin was not there. Mai sighed, disappointed because she had been looking forward to seeing him again. Her heart raced every time she thought of him.

As she was on her way back from the building, she suddenly heard someone calling her.

"Junior Luo Tian?"

Inspector Lin approached her from the left side, holding a black tube in his hand that looked similar to the one from earlier.

Mai formed a fist in salute, bowed to him, and said in a low voice, "I come to report good news, Inspector Lin."

She looked up at him and gave him a big smile.

"Come with me." he said, and they quickly walked behind a dark building out of sight from people.

Inspector Lin looked at her and smiled kindly. "I'm busy, but I always have time for you. What have you found out?"

Mai shared her theory with him.

"But they don't live here, so something doesn't make sense." he said, nodding.

Mai agreed and said, "But Brother Jin wouldn't lie to me. I saw his wound, but I found some glass in it."

Inspector Lin raised his eyebrows and asked, "Did you happen to bring it with you?"

Mai gave him a beautiful smile and took out a small white hard lump with the glass inside and gave it to him.

"Thank you for your help. I knew luck was on your side." he said, smiling kindly at her.

Mai felt happy when he praised her and felt her cheeks grow very warm. Her parents in both lives had never praised her when she did something good. She suddenly became overwhelmed with emotions, and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm glad I could help." she said softly, sniffling.

As she tried to wipe her tears away, she suddenly felt a pair of warm hands on her cheeks.

Inspector Lin wiped the tears away with his thumbs and pulled her close, hugging her.

He spoke in a gentle voice, "Don't cry. It must have been hard for you. Thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it without you."

He revealed that she had been recommended by General Li Qiangshou, and when he found out she was an adopted son of Imperial Physician Liang Gu, he became very interested.

Mai stopped crying and wiped her tears with his robe, sniffling. He smelled fresh, and she felt a pleasant sensation inside and relaxed. She looked up at him, and he leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Promise me you won't cry in front of other men, or I'll get jealous. It's hard to resist." he whispered in her right ear and gently nibbled on it.

It tickled in her ear, and Mai became happy again, her heart beating faster.

"I'll see what else I can find out about that animal." she said, nodding eagerly.

"Can you promise me you won't go into the forest alone?" Inspector Lin asked, furrowing his brows.

Mai didn't know why he suddenly brought it up. She still had a few days left of the slavery agreement with Wang Hao. She stood on her toes and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I'm not a child anymore. Thank you for caring about me. It really makes me happy."

Mai returned to the same herb hall as before and found Jin again, asking if anyone else had approached him about the crocodile. He mentioned the name of a girl who lived on the outskirts of the southern part of the city, whom Mai would visit.

She looked out the window and muttered, "It's only mid-afternoon. I can still make it."

Before she left, Jin asked in a concerned tone, "Young Master, you're not getting any crazy ideas, are you? Don't forget, Imperial Physician Liang Gu is still keeping an eye on you."

Even though Imperial Physician Liang Gu was never present, he always knew exactly what Mai was up to because whatever she did would affect his status. He didn't interfere with her actions, but it was frightening how much he knew about her.

She sighed deeply and shrugged. "Thank you, Brother Jin, for caring about me. You know me. I'm mature and sensible."