Yan Qing saw that the one approaching with the lamp was an elderly man, with a little girl at his side. The girl looked to be no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, with large bright eyes and curved brows — a delicate and lively little face.

Whoever this person might be, he was her only hope right now.

“Oh dear.” Old Man Li was startled, and hastily set the lamp aside. “Young fellow, what happened to you two?”

Though Yan Qing’s clothes were dirty and disheveled, she had maintained her disguise as a boy, and the elderly man’s poor eyesight prevented him from seeing through it.

“Uncle, my brother and I fell into the river. He struck his head and has been unconscious ever since. Please, Uncle, you must help us.”

Old Man Li quickly responded. “My home is not far from here. Let me take you back first. Xiao Yue, come and lend a hand.”

The Li family’s courtyard was not large and was permeated with the fragrance of medicinal herbs. Yan Qing cast a quick glance around: a simple makeshift shed had been built in the yard, and beneath it were piled medicinal herbs covered in moisture-resistant paper.

Together, Yan Qing and Old Man Li finally settled Shi Ting.

“He seems to have a fever,” Old Man Li said. “I’ll go get some ephedra to boil in water — you feed it to him to drink.”

“Thank you, Uncle.”

“His whole body is soaked through — that’ll make him more prone to illness. I have some dry clothes here. If you don’t mind, you can change him into them.”

Yan Qing naturally had no objections, and she thanked Old Man Li profusely.

Old Man Li took the large yellow dog and went to boil the ephedra water. Yan Qing used hot water to wipe Shi Ting’s body clean, then dressed him in Old Man Li’s clothes. The old man’s clothes were too small for him and did not fit well, but they were loose and roomy enough that they did not look too awkward.

The little girl who had followed Old Man Li stood close at Yan Qing’s side, her large eyes fixed on Shi Ting with an expression of deep concern.

“Are you called Xiao Yue?” Yan Qing looked over at her and asked with a smile.

The little girl gestured with her hands several times and made sounds of acknowledgment.

Yan Qing had not expected that this clever, adorable little girl was actually mute, and a feeling of tender pity rose within her.

Fortunately, she understood a little sign language, and gathered that the girl was asking whether Shi Ting was sick.

Yan Qing nodded.

The little girl’s expression became sad, but very quickly she began signing again — the meaning was clearly meant to comfort Yan Qing.

Yan Qing smiled. She was a child with a pure and kind heart.

Old Man Li finished boiling the medicine and came in to find the little girl gesturing back and forth with Yan Qing. He said: “This is my granddaughter Xiao Yue. Her parents were buried alive while excavating a tomb. She was so traumatized at the time that she stopped speaking after that.”

Xiao Yue seemed not to have heard Old Man Li’s words, and simply smiled at Yan Qing.

Yan Qing, thinking of the child’s experiences, felt a pang of deep sorrow. She had not imagined that this girl had lived such a hard and sorrowful life.

Xiao Yue waved at Yan Qing and then pointed at Shi Ting lying there.

Only then did Yan Qing remember to take the medicine bowl, and she carefully fed Shi Ting its contents. His color was a little better than before, but he remained unconscious — the blow to his head had been no minor thing.

“I can tell from seeing him unresponsive like this that it isn’t simply a fever and near-drowning that’s caused his condition.” Old Man Li had sold medicinal herbs all his life and had a modest understanding of medicine.

Yan Qing said: “He struck his head when he fell in the river, and that is what’s caused the unconsciousness. Uncle, do you have any medicines here for promoting blood circulation and relieving blood stasis?”

“I do — let me go fetch them right now.” Old Man Li said this and took Xiao Yue along to search for the medicine.

With Old Man Li gone to fetch the medicine, Yan Qing could not help but take hold of Shi Ting’s hand. He was running a fever, yet his fingers were ice-cold. That chill spread from her fingertips all the way to her heart, pulling at it with one sharp pang after another.

“Shi Ting, our luck is truly good — we’ve encountered a kind soul who understands medicine.” She held his hand tightly. “You must wake up quickly, do you hear me?”

She pressed her forehead to the back of his hand, and a warm, scalding teardrop fell, spreading open like a tiny stream.

From the very first day she had come to know him, he had always been high above and all-powerful — a god-like being before whom any difficulty could be resolved with ease. As long as she hid in his shadow, no one could ever harm her.

This was the first time she had seen him so fragile — even more heartrending than when he had been ill at Tai Shan that time before. When all was said and done, he was flesh and blood — he could fall ill, he could die. He was not a god in the end.

“Young fellow — the medicine is here.” Old Man Li came back in, one hand holding medicine for external use, the other holding medicine to be taken internally. The small room was immediately filled with the scent of herbs.

As Yan Qing applied medicine to Shi Ting’s wounds, Old Man Li stood to one side and asked: “Young fellow, where did you two come from, and how did you end up falling in the river?”

“We are from Shun Cheng. We were going to Shuanghe Township on some business, and had an accident on the way back.”

When Xiao Yue heard the words “Shun Cheng,” her eyes lit up with a bright sparkle, brimming with curiosity beyond measure.

Old Man Li gave a nod, and seeing how skillfully Yan Qing was working, asked: “Young fellow, you understand medicine too — your bandaging technique is quite practiced.”

Yan Qing gave a small smile. “I can manage external wounds well enough, but anything more complicated than that is beyond me.”

She was telling the truth. Dressing wounds and the like posed no difficulty for her. But she was not a doctor after all — things like surgery were entirely beyond her.

“Young fellow — you’re a girl, aren’t you?” Old Man Li, after careful observation, voiced the question that had been on his mind.

“I won’t hide it from you, Uncle. I dress this way for the convenience it affords while traveling.”

Old Man Li nodded, expressing his understanding.

But Xiao Yue, hearing this, was quite surprised. Her eyes, filled with amusement, studied Yan Qing, and upon learning she was a woman, the girl moved closer to her with a new, affectionate familiarity.

“I’ll go prepare something to eat.” He looked at Yan Qing’s shoulder and both of her hands. “Your injuries don’t look light either — you should apply some medicine.”

“Thank you, Uncle.”

Now that Old Man Li had pointed it out, Yan Qing had almost forgotten that she too was injured. She raised her hands — both palms, once smooth and delicate, were now a mass of torn flesh and blood. A throbbing, bone-deep pain radiated from them, and she could not help but hiss sharply through her teeth.

She had been so entirely focused on Shi Ting that she had not noticed any of it. Now that she remembered, the pain all came flooding in.

Yan Qing first rinsed the wounds with disinfectant, then applied medicinal powder and wrapped them. The injury on her shoulder was not serious, and she simply applied some medicine there.

“There isn’t much to eat, but please make do with a bite, Miss.” Xiao Yue came in carrying a tray, with Old Man Li following behind.

On the tray, in a worn and chipped ceramic bowl, sat a bowl of corn porridge. In a small dish beside it was a single salted duck egg, cut in half.

“Thank you, Uncle.” Yan Qing was truly hungry, and she took the tray and ate in large mouthfuls.

She was a young miss of the Yan Family, accustomed to fine food and clothing, and had never eaten food this coarse in her life. Yet at this moment, this plain corn porridge and salted duck egg surpassed every delicacy in the world.

She ate with one eye on Shi Ting, wiping away her tears with one hand.

She had to live well and in good health — she still had to care for him, still had to wait for him to wake up. So she needed to eat her fill and keep her strength up.

Old Man Li watched Yan Qing eating so ravenously, and could not help but sigh and shake his head.

This young woman was exerting herself to the very limit — not because the food was particularly good, but because she needed to store up enough energy to care for this young man. Looking at the young man lying there, pale-faced and barely breathing, one could only wonder whether he would be able to pull through.

A sigh. It was all in Heaven’s hands.

Old Man Li withdrew from the room. Yan Qing picked up the bowl and fed Shi Ting a little water — fortunately he was still able to swallow liquids, though solid food was another matter.

The following morning, the large yellow dog came trotting in from outside first, and then Old Man Li knocked at the door.

Yan Qing had been lying bent over beside Shi Ting. The moment she heard the knock, she awoke at once.

“Miss — how is he doing?” Old Man Li came in and asked with concern. Xiao Yue, her hair in two little braids, peered out from behind him.

Yan Qing looked at Shi Ting, still unconscious, and shook her head.

“Don’t be too discouraged. I have seen patients with head injuries lie unconscious for three years before waking. Looking at this young fellow’s constitution, I don’t think it’ll take nearly that long.”

Old Man Li was offering comfort. Yan Qing knew that perfectly well.

A blow to the head was no small thing — not only might it mean two or three years, it could just as easily result in a permanent vegetative state.

“Miss, Xiao Yue has prepared some rice porridge. You feed it to him — he can’t go without food entirely, or he’ll starve.”

“Thank you, Uncle, and thank you, Miss Xiao Yue.” Yan Qing was endlessly grateful to Old Man Li.

The rice porridge had been cooked until it was very thick and soft — clearly it had been simmered for a long while.

Yan Qing fed Shi Ting a little less than half the bowl of porridge. Seeing that he was not having difficulty swallowing, Yan Qing knew his injuries were not so severe as to be life-threatening. Waking up was only a matter of time.

Xiao Yue sat nearby, chin resting on her hands, blinking her wide, innocent eyes as she watched Yan Qing feeding Shi Ting his porridge in silence.

“Xiao Yue, go and take care of the herbs — the person coming to collect them will be here soon.” Old Man Li called out to Xiao Yue.

Ever since this child had gone mute, none of the children in the village had been willing to play with her. As time went on, she had stopped going out at all, and spent each day either sorting herbs at home or playing with the large yellow dog.

Old Man Li, seeing her warm to Yan Qing so readily, felt both glad and pained in his heart.

Yan Qing finished wiping Shi Ting’s face clean and covered him with a thin blanket, then went outside to help the Li family sort their herbs.

Old Man Li and Xiao Yue were both astonished to see how familiar she was with the various medicinal plants.

Yan Qing said: “My family in Shun Cheng runs an herbal medicine shop, and I read medical books in my spare time.”

Old Man Li looked at her slender white hands — not a single callus on them — and silently guessed that she must be the daughter of a wealthy household.

What he could not understand was why, if she was a young miss from a prosperous family, she was dressed in such tattered clothing and had ended up in this remote and desolate wilderness.

But he was not a meddlesome man. If she had not said anything, he would naturally not ask.

Xiao Yue, however, had grown quite close to Yan Qing. The two of them sat together sorting herbs, laughing and signing to each other now and then.

With Yan Qing’s help, the herbs drying in the courtyard were quickly sorted, categorized, and packed away, awaiting the arrival of the herb merchant.

The day the herb merchant came was also the third day of Shi Ting’s unconsciousness. Though he could still take water and rice porridge, he remained unconscious the whole time — and frequent high fevers plagued him during this period as well. The medicine would bring them down, but before long they would rise again.