Chuan Miao committed suicide. Shi Bai didn't react for a moment. He rushed a few steps to Chuan Miao's side, wanting to reach out and feel Chuan Miao's pulse. The bright red blood stimulated his nerves, and tears slid down the corners of Chuan Miao's wide eyes.
Li Ying stepped forward, squatted down, and paused with her outstretched hand. She was prepared to die, and directly slit her own throat, giving no chance for rescue.
"Chuanmiao... my daughter!" Chuanmiao's father rushed up, hugged Chuanmiao, and cried uncontrollably.
Shi Bai staggered home, recalling Chuan Miao's words in his mind.
"You could have saved me, why did you refuse?"
"If you're practicing medicine to help others, aren't you saving people? I'm also sick, so why won't you save me?"
He practiced medicine and saved lives, never thinking of himself as selfish. But today, looking at Chuanmiao lying in a pool of blood, Shi Bai felt the pain of losing a loved one for the first time.
Li Ying and Zhou Qi followed behind, accompanying them all the way.
She knew that her second senior brother must have his own reasons for doing this, and no matter what he did, she would support him and would not say anything bad about him.
Thinking that his second senior brother would be immersed in grief, he got up early as usual the next day and called Li Ying and Zhou Qi to come up the mountain.
On the way to the mountain, I encountered a crazy woman who was holding a straw doll in her arms and talking nonsense.
"Miaomiao, are you hungry? Mom will make you rice dumplings. Aren't you hungry? You want to get married? Mom will go and find you a good young man... the Pang family... no, I won't marry into that family..."
Shi Bai stopped and looked at the crazed woman. His lips twitched, and his eyes were filled with guilt. In the end, he didn't say a word and strode towards the mountain.
Li Ying lifted her foot and followed.
Zhou Qi didn't understand either, but he respected others and wouldn't speak carelessly.
Shi Bai stopped again, turned around and looked at the crazy figure with a silent expression. After a while, he followed again.
"Today we must search even deeper into the mountains to find the herb mentioned in the ancient books," Shi Bai said calmly, regaining his composure.
Li Ying and Zhou Qi nodded.
The further they went into the mountains, the colder it got. Li Ying felt a chill all around her. Zhou Qi discovered a hidden cave.
"Look, there's a cave over there."
Shi Bai frowned slightly and said to the two of them, "There might be unknown traps in these caves, so let's not go in."
"Um."
As Li Ying turned to leave, she suddenly noticed a very strange flower at the entrance of the cave, and she stopped.
"Second Brother, wait for me."
As Li Ying spoke, she walked towards the cave entrance, but Zhou Qi quickly stopped her, saying, "Miss Ying, do you want that herb? Sure, I'll get it for you."
Before Li Ying could say anything more, Zhou Qi walked to the cave entrance, picked the strange flower, and threw it into the basket on his back.
Just as the three were about to leave, a man's painful groan came from inside the cave.
"There are people in the cave!" Zhou Qi exclaimed.
Shi Bai immediately headed towards the cave. As a healer, he could not stand by and watch someone die when he heard someone in the cave.
Zhou Qi wouldn't let Li Ying go into the cave, but he went in to take a look himself.
Soon, a man was carried out of the cave. He was filthy, disheveled, and smelled terrible.
Li Ying instinctively covered her nose and took a few steps back.
"Carry him down the mountain first," Shi Bai instructed.
Zhou Qi obeyed.
After descending the mountain, Zhou Qi was responsible for cleaning the person before Shi Bai treated him.
The man was probably in his forties, with multiple scars and gunshot wounds on his body. He wouldn't say anything when asked and was somewhat passively resisting.
Li Ying sensed something was wrong. When she thought about Ye Jingchi mentioning catching spies in southern Yunnan, she even had a very bold idea in her mind: could this person be a spy?
If that's the case, then you should definitely prepare in advance.
While Shi Bai was treating the other person's illness, Li Ying went to the village to find the village chief.
When the village chief heard that there were spies in the village, he was terrified and immediately went to the township to report it.
Li Ying returned home to avoid arousing the other party's suspicion.
Sure enough, the other party became suspicious, but faced with two men, they dared not make any rash moves.
The sky gradually darkened.
Li Ying went to her second brother's pharmacy to help make medicine. When she saw her second brother deep in thought, she raised her hand and gently patted his shoulder.
"Second Brother, I know you feel guilty and remorseful, but it's not your fault."
Suicide wasn't the only path Chuanmiao could take, but she chose to end her life in an extreme way.
Shi Bai lowered his eyes and mechanically placed the medicine into the mortar.
"She has secretly approached me more than once, saying that she likes me and wants me to marry her."
Li Ying remained silent, gazing quietly at Shi Bai, whose eyes flashed with pain and struggle.
The second senior brother wasn't incapable of love, but rather unwilling to love others. He insisted on living a single life simply to keep his heartbroken mother by his side.
"But I can't make any promises to her, and I don't want to get married right now."
As Shi Bai spoke, he vigorously pounded the medicine, trying his best to suppress the pain welling up in his heart.
"Because I was afraid Aunt Hong would leave."
Shi Bai paused, not looking into Li Ying's eyes, his lips moving slightly: "I followed my master to learn medicine, hoping to cure her, but after trying for so long, I still can't change anything. You should have noticed that she is terminally ill. Her only wish is for me to get married and have children. As long as I get married and have children, she will have no more regrets."
Tears streamed down Shi Bai's face.
“I know it’s cruel to let her live like a walking corpse. But my junior sister is my only family. I just want to keep my only family in this world. When I go home, I can see her, eat a meal she cooks, and drink tea she brews. That would make me happy.”
Li Ying was already in tears. She gently hugged Shi Bai's waist from behind and rested her face against her senior brother's back.
"Second Brother, thank you for your hard work."
No one can understand the pain of knowing something is impossible yet still having to do it.
Aunt Hong's heart had long since died; the only thing she left behind was her body to raise her son and shoulder the responsibility of being a mother.
She could keep living as long as she didn't see her son get married and have children, but once Shi Bai got married and had children, she would be completely dead.
Shi Bai didn't want to get married and have children; he simply wanted to keep his mother and preserve their only family bond.
No one suffered more than the second brother, watching his mother become a walking corpse, yet unable to do anything but watch and wait helplessly.
"Miss Ying, Doctor Shi, that person has disappeared." Zhou Qi hurriedly pushed open the door and reported.
Li Ying was surprised: "Didn't I ask you to take care of him?"
"I just went to the outhouse, and when I came back, I was gone."
"They're gone, so be it. Saving people isn't about expecting anything in return."
Li Ying whispered something that greatly shocked Shi Bai and Zhou Qi.
Suddenly, a scream came from outside, and the three of them rushed out together.
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