217. Lonely Grave
The guard commander saw this and felt both affection and admiration. He quickly stepped forward, bent down, and picked up the little girl, saying, "Princess, let me carry you; it'll be faster that way."
Another guard stepped forward and picked up Bai Qingzhong.
Being carried by the guards made things much easier, and the ascent was much faster.
The little dumpling nestled in the guard's arms, its tiny hand still pointing towards the mountaintop.
After walking for about half an hour, they finally reached the flat ground at the top of the mountain.
But the scene before them froze everyone in place.
—A solitary earthen grave stands on the flat ground, with a simple wooden tablet in front of it, inscribed with "Tomb of Li Moumou".
"This...this is Physician Li's tomb?" The guard captain's voice trembled slightly, unable to believe his eyes.
The little boy was stunned. He slid down from the guard's arms and stumbled to the grave. His little hands touched the words on the wooden tombstone, and tears welled up in his eyes again: "No...no...Physician Li is still alive. He's going to save Big Brother..."
However, that premonition vanished here.
A woodcutter carrying a machete emerged from a thatched hut not far away. Seeing them gathered around the graves, he approached them with a puzzled look and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The captain of the guards immediately stepped forward, pointed to the tombstone, and asked, "Old man, do you know who the owner of this tomb is? Is it Physician Li from the Imperial Hospital?"
The woodcutter thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, that's what that person called himself. This is Physician Li's grave. He died a few years ago from old age."
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, and a pretty little girl was wiping away tears, he probably understood what was going on.
The woodcutter sighed, his eyes filled with pity: "I didn't lie to you. A few years ago, in winter, I went up the mountain to chop firewood and saw an old man with white hair and beard sitting under a tree."
"Look, it's the tree next to the grave."
"I found it strange, so I went up to talk to him. The old man told me that his surname was Li, and that he was originally a royal physician in the palace. After returning to his hometown, he practiced medicine in Yuan'an Town."
"He came here today because he knows he is about to die."
"He was too old and had no children or disciples. He thought that rather than letting his body rot at home, it would be better to go to the mountains and let the animals eat his body, which would nourish the soil and return it to nature."
"So he left the town and went up the mountain to find a place he liked to sit and wait to die."
"I found it funny. I said he looked healthy and had a good complexion, without any signs of illness. How could he be dying? How can anyone know when they will die?"
"I sat next to him and tried to persuade him to go home, but he didn't say a word for a long time. I turned my head and guess what?"
"That's strange, he's really not breathing!"
"I really couldn't figure it out... but I thought it wouldn't do to just leave his body exposed in the wilderness, so I dug a hole and buried him."
“I don’t know his name, but since he said his surname is Li, I put up a wooden plaque for him that says ‘Tomb of Li Moumou’.”
The woodcutter was acting like a comedian, but none of the listeners felt relaxed.
The little girl plopped down on the ground, tears streaming down her face like a broken string of pearls: "Then...what about big brother? Without Doctor Li, what will big brother do...Yue'er said she would take Doctor Li back to save big brother..."
Bai Qingzhong also got down from the guard's arms, ran to the little girl's side, and squatted down to comfort her.
Looking at the lonely grave before her, and thinking of her little brother waiting for help, she couldn't help but tear up. In the end, she simply hugged the little boy and cried along with him: "Princess... I'm sorry... I can't find Physician Li... I'm so sorry..."
The guards all lowered their heads, their faces heavy with sorrow.
They originally thought that finding Physician Li would save the eldest son of the Marquis of Beiding, but they never expected this outcome.
The little boy nestled in Bai Qingzhong's arms, crying so hard he could barely breathe, his heart filled with despair.
She ran so hard, so firmly believing she could find Physician Li, but in the end, all she found was a cold grave.
Her older brother is still waiting for her at the manor. What should she do?
Seeing the little boy crying his heart out, and the guards all looking solemn, the woodcutter scratched the back of his head and asked in bewilderment, "This Physician Li... is he really as miraculous as you all say? He looks no different from an ordinary old man to me, so how did he become such a great figure who can save lives?"
"Old sir, you are unaware of this!" the guard captain sighed. "Physician Li is the head of the Imperial Medical Academy. He cured the late Emperor's chronic illness, and he has brought countless difficult and complicated cases in the capital back to life with his miraculous touch. Now, the county princess's elder brother has fallen seriously ill and is unconscious. His Majesty specifically sent us to invite him, but unexpectedly..."
"My goodness, he's such a formidable person!" The woodcutter's eyes widened, his mouth agape, and after a long moment of stunned silence, he suddenly slapped his thigh. "That's it! I remember now!"
He shouted at the door, and everyone turned to look at him.
The woodcutter recalled: "Before he left, he did give me a stack of papers, saying that meeting is fate, and that there was no use keeping them since he was about to die... It was a bunch of random stuff, and he told me to keep it safe."
"I thought he was just making things up, so I sat down and tried to persuade him... I've already told you what happened after that."
"I've seen those papers too. Oh my, a bunch of densely packed words just give me a headache. I'm just a rough, uneducated woodcutter, how would I recognize these? They just look like scraps of paper covered in scribbles."
"I originally intended to burn it as firewood, but then I thought that since it was entrusted to me by someone before they died, how heartbroken would they be to see it burning in the afterlife..."
"So I used it to prop up the table legs."
"I just don't know if these things will be useful to you."
"Come on, I'll take you to my room to look for it!"
The crowd vaguely guessed that it was probably a prescription or book left by Physician Li, and their hopes were rekindled.
So he immediately followed the woodcutter toward the thatched hut not far away.
Before even entering, you can smell a mixture of wood smoke and dust.
Pushing open the door, the room was even more chaotic.
Firewood was piled on the ground, farm tools were placed in the corner, and a wooden table with a missing leg stood crookedly, with several yellowed papers under the table legs, on which ink stains were faintly visible.
"Look, these are it! See, this table leg is unstable, so I pulled out a few sheets to prop it up. And that pile over there, it almost caught fire when I was burning firewood the other day, so I just moved it aside."
The little dumpling ran quickly to the table with its short legs, stood on tiptoe to try to pull out the paper, but the table was too heavy and it wouldn't budge.
"I'll do it!" The captain of the guards quickly stepped forward and carefully lifted the table, while another guard hurriedly pulled out the papers that were used to prop up the table legs.
The others then collected all the papers that the woodcutter had pointed to.
The crowd gathered around and realized that it was indeed a stack of prescriptions.
The pages varied in size, some with edges blackened by smoke or with water stains obscuring the writing.
Several of the sheets were missing large portions, clearly indicating they had been repeatedly damaged. However, upon closer inspection, one could discern different ailments and corresponding prescriptions written on them.
It was handwritten, a prescription made by Physician Li himself. It was clearly the culmination of his life's work, with a stack of pages filled with dense writing.
Bai Qingzhong also squatted down to help, picking up the scattered pages one by one and dusting them off: "Princess, look at this one!"
"Great! This is it!" The little dumpling recognized the characters; it read "Emergency Formula for Wind-Cold Entering the Body".
"I'm so sorry," the woodcutter said, blushing and scratching his head as he looked at the ruined prescriptions. "How was I supposed to know these were life-saving treasures? I thought they were just useless scraps of paper..."
"It's not your fault!" The little boy immediately shook his head, carefully folding the prescription sheets one by one. "It's already very difficult to find these, thank you, Grandpa!"
The captain of the guards took out a heavy bag of silver from his bag and stuffed it into the woodcutter's hand: "Old man, these prescriptions may save many lives. We will remember this kindness. Please accept this silver so you can buy some things."
The woodcutter was so frightened that he quickly declined, saying, "No, no! I just took it on a whim, how could I accept so much money!"
"You must accept it." The captain of the guards was resolute.
The woodcutter, unable to refuse, blushed and stuffed the silver into his pocket. He then turned and took a cloth bag from the stove, which contained dried wild dates: "These dates are sweet; give them to your children to tide them over on the way. The road down the mountain is slippery; I'll take you to the foot of the mountain."
The group thanked the woodcutter, and the guards carefully put all the prescriptions into the brocade box, leaving no one behind, not even the tattered pages.
Before leaving, the little girl ran to Doctor Li's grave and respectfully kowtowed three times: "Grandpa Doctor Li, thank you for the prescription you left behind. Yue'er will definitely save my big brother!"
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