2. First Encounter
Who wants to pity her? He saved her life.
Her clothes were so tattered that they could no longer cover her body, so Ying Jianhua gave her one of her own old shirts to wear.
It was an old shirt, but he had been wearing it just a few days ago. Poor families don't own many clothes, and they can use them even if they're torn or too small. So when he saw Du Zhijin sniffing his clothes when he came back, he felt an indescribable sense of shame. He lost his footing and accidentally spilled the medicine.
Du Zhijin was carefully examining the medicinal scent on her clothes when she suddenly heard a loud bang. Looking up, she saw the person who had saved her stumble, the bowl in his hand about to fall to the ground.
For ordinary people, even a bowl or a jar of medicine is a precious piece of furniture. Without a second thought, a sword flew through the air and caught the medicine bowl that was about to fall to the ground.
Ying Jianhua's heart, which had been stirred by the painting, slowly calmed down.
He handed over the medicine bowl, his gaze fixed on the sword. Du Zhijin tilted his head back and drank the medicine in one gulp. Seeing that Du Zhijin's eyes were still fixed on his sword, he introduced it: "This is one of my natal swords, it's called Awakening Moon."
"One of them? You have other natal swords?" he asked.
She nodded, her finger tracing a circle in the air, and Xingyue circled around him like a nimble fish: "The other one is called Zui Lan."
Ying Jianhua pondered for a moment, then recited: "'Distant peaks in the window, tall pines behind the house. The bright moon when I wake, the gentle breeze when I'm drunk.' This is a detached and transcendent poem, but don't you sword cultivators all value killing?"
"How did you know I'm a sword cultivator?" she countered.
Ying Jianhua pointed to the blood-stained clothes she had folded up: "It has 'Dengxian Mountain' embroidered on it."
Mount Dengxian is a renowned immortal sect; it would be difficult for him not to know it.
That's why he brought her home after suspecting he was being haunted by a monster. As long as she didn't die, she could at least deter the monster from getting close.
"I see." She nodded slightly before answering his question. "I didn't name them; my master did. He probably wanted me to cultivate my character."
"As for your claim that sword cultivators all value killing... that's a huge injustice. At least I never kill innocent people indiscriminately; I only kill demons that deserve to die."
"Where is that person?" he suddenly asked, startling her for a moment. "What?"
He gazed out the window at the endless sky, his eyes seemingly traversing the towering mountains to land on a certain spot, his voice both light and heavy: "You... would you kill someone?"
Du Zhijin remained silent.
After a long pause, just when Ying Jianhua thought she would never answer, she spoke: "Those who cultivate the Tao must not be entangled in worldly affairs or disrupt cause and effect. At best, all previous efforts will be wasted and inner demons will arise; at worst, they will perish in the tribulation of lightning and their souls will be scattered."
He chuckled, a sound that was neither mockery nor amusement. Du Zhijin sensed the disdain in his words, paused for a moment, and then said, "You saved me, how can I repay you?"
That's not bad. He pondered for a moment, then decided to ask the question that concerned him step by step: "Last night, some villagers heard strange noises by Tiger Pool. Was it you?"
She admitted, "Yes."
"What happened? Were you being chased? Or were you in a fight?"
It sounded like something out of a storybook. She smiled and shook her head, rolling up her sleeve to show him the large burn marks: "None of that. Have you ever heard of the Flame Demon? A great demon whose body is covered in flames. I fought it for half a month and finally lured it to the water's edge and defeated it."
“No wonder.” He listened and nodded. “No wonder you have so many burns… What about the rain? Was last night’s downpour also related to you?”
"The young doctor is so clever." She looked at him approvingly and explained, "After the Flame Demon died, it turned into Yama's Fire. When it was extinguished by water, it formed clouds. When they gathered in one place, they became rain. Judging by the time, it should have stopped by now."
Upon hearing this, Ying Jianhua unconsciously turned her gaze towards the window.
After the rain, the mountains are tinged with new green, and the rainbow bridge over the water reflects the bright sky.
Her voice rang in his ears: "The sky has cleared."
————
"Young doctor, who did you learn from? Your medical skills are so superb." The rain stopped, and Ying Jianhua was busy drying the herbs. Du Zhijin was ordered not to move around and could only manipulate Xingyue to do some simple processing for him.
Peeling the skin here and removing the root there is much faster than him doing it alone. Perhaps seeing that she was sensible enough to find work to do, Ying Jianhua was willing to chat for a few minutes: "I can't say I have a teacher, I just learned the basics from my mother."
"A family tradition of medical expertise? My apologies for my lack of respect." Du Zhijin then asked, "May I ask which region your mother is a renowned physician? I will certainly pay her a visit another day."
Ying Jianhua paused for a moment, then pointed towards the direction of the back mountain. Du Zhijin was initially puzzled, but after a moment he realized what was happening and suddenly froze.
If she wasn't mistaken last night, there was a cemetery near the back hill...
My parents died when I was seven years old.
The sentence was short and the tone was flat, as if he were discussing what to eat for dinner. But Du Zhijin didn't see it as indifference; on the contrary, he must have become numb over the years.
"May I ask how my late father and mother passed away?"
This time, Ying Jianhua did not answer. Du Zhijin also quieted down. After a while, he noticed that the medicinal herbs beside him had piled up into a small mountain, so he turned around to take a look.
She was still staring intently at the sword.
He stopped what he was doing: "Do you expend your energy using swords?"
He didn't want the person he had gone to so much trouble to save to die just because he was peeling his skin.
Du Zhijin awkwardly withdrew his gaze, clasped his hands together, and Xingyue vanished into thin air.
He was indeed a cultivator. He nodded to himself, then slung his basket over his shoulder and continued drying the fruit in the courtyard. But when he picked one up, he felt something was off about it.
Looking down, I realized that what I was holding wasn't herbs, but a radish.
There were also a few words crookedly carved on it: "Little doctor, I did not mean to bring up your sad story."
Ying Jianhua was taken aback.
This person was more sensible than he had imagined. She even knew to carve it on the radish; if she dared to ruin his medicine, he would kick her out immediately.
However… “What is the title of ‘Little Doctor’?” He frowned and said into the room, “Ying Jianhua, that’s my name.”
In return, she introduced herself: "Du Zhijin. Du, the one from the phrase 'I know the river'."
"The Analects... Do you Taoists also study Confucianism?" This surprised him.
Du Zhijin thought for a moment and answered truthfully, "This was also given to her by my master. She is a rather unconventional person."
Ying Jianhua nodded in agreement.
He gave his sword a simple and unadorned name like those of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and he didn't express any ambitions in the names he gave his disciples. He was truly an extraordinary person.
However, matters concerning immortals were too far removed from his life as a mere mortal, and he did not wish to become entangled with her further, so he did not ask any further questions.
In her words, a Taoist practitioner is detached from worldly affairs, so he shouldn't be so eager to help. He heals the sick, she exorcises demons, and from then on, they are even, with no debts owed to each other.
"By the way, while you're staying at my house, have you sensed anything unusual?" He asked casually as he spread the medicine, though he was actually on high alert, fearing that he might provoke the unknown monster.
Upon hearing this, Du Zhijin closed her eyes and scanned her surroundings with her divine sense. After a moment, she opened them again and shook her head at him: "No, this place, or rather the whole village, is very 'clean'."
"Clean" means there are no powerful demons present; otherwise, she wouldn't have forced the Flame Demon to this location to deal with it. Dealing with just one powerful demon was already difficult; if she were surrounded by several, her life would likely be over.
However, Ying Jianhua was unaware of her considerations, assuming that she was simply recovering from a serious illness and lacked energy, and would be fine after some rest: "Then you should rest well. Zhou... porridge, would you like some?"
He gripped the medicine basket tightly, waited a moment and, seeing that she hadn't noticed anything amiss, breathed a sigh of relief.
That was close! I almost let the monster influence me and called her Zhouzhou.
————
Before summer arrives, it gets dark early; the sun suddenly sets just after dusk, leaving behind a pitch-black sky.
Farmers are frugal and reluctant to use oil lamps, so they mostly rest at sunset and go to bed early when it gets dark. Because there was a sick person in the family, Ying Jianhua gave up a candle, but she didn't forget to tell her to rest early.
Dinner consisted of a bowl of porridge, a plate of greens, and a boiled egg, all served by candlelight. Each person received a portion of porridge, but Du Zhijin received the egg alone, which Ying Jianhua had obtained by asking Aunt Huang next door, whom she had overheard talking about.
Even the porridge was of varying consistency, some bowls thick and some thin, a testament to Doctor Ying's predicament. Du Zhijin slowly swallowed the warm, thick porridge, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
The boy in front of her was about seventeen or eighteen years old, not yet twenty, tall and slender, like a green bamboo stalk. His clothes did not look bulky on her at all, except that the sleeves and hem were a little long.
She thought of the children with sunken cheeks she had seen in the village ravaged by the Balrog, and suddenly found it hard to swallow.
Ying Jianhua noticed her gaze, of course, and at first he could tolerate it, continuing to eat. But her gaze became increasingly inappropriate, eventually settling on his neck—utterly shameless!
Is this what the monster meant by "falling in love" and "first encounter"? What a monster, spouting utter nonsense!
"What are you looking at? If you don't want to eat, go feed it to the dog." His tone was really not good, even a bit excessive. An ordinary person would probably argue with him, but Du Zhijin was obviously not an ordinary person.
"I really can't eat anymore, you eat it." She thoughtfully only scooped out half of the egg. Since she had already drunk the porridge, she hadn't shared it, but she thought she should definitely save some next time.
As Ying Jianhua looked at the bright yellow yolk and tender egg white in front of her, her mouth began to salivate uncontrollably.
How long has it been since he last ate meat? Half a month or a month? He couldn't remember at all. As a child, he relied on the kindness of his neighbors and fellow villagers, who each saved a little to raise him. After he turned ten, he worked to earn his own food, surviving a life of hunger and hardship until adulthood. He was lucky to have survived all that. Only in recent years, when he was able to go up the mountain to gather herbs and resume his mother's medical practice, did life become a little better, but only a little.
By the time he came to his senses, the half-egg had completely become part of his stomach, leaving only a lingering fragrance on his lips and teeth.
"Is it good?" she asked, in an expectant and tender tone.
How was he supposed to answer? If he admitted it, wouldn't he be calling himself a dog? Besides, who wanted her pity? He saved her life!
Young people always have a useless sense of pride. He couldn't lower his head, so he suddenly stood up, grabbed the two bowls, and ran off. After running a couple of steps, he remembered he had left behind a plate of vegetables, so he quickly came back to get it and left without glancing at her once.
Then she heard the sound of bowls and plates clattering outside the courtyard. After a while, as if afraid of breaking them by washing too hard, she quietly changed back to her normal strength.
She leaned against the wall and listened, and could hear him struggling to turn the well pulley. A thought struck her, and she tried to manipulate the nearby water spirits to flow into the bottom of the well so that it would be easier for him to draw water.
Unfortunately, her injuries were too severe, and that was all she could do.
Ying Jianhua was surprised to find that the water level was higher than usual today. Was it because of the rain last night?
The weather wasn't too hot yet, and he didn't want to waste firewood, so he fetched some water, wiped the yard down briefly, and then went back inside.
Inside the room, the candle was almost burned out, its light barely enough to illuminate the area around the table. He hesitated for a moment about whether to read, but ultimately fearing that damaging his eyesight would be a greater loss, he took off his robe and lay down.
That day, he was exhausted from climbing the mountain, dragging people, and treating illnesses, and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. He had a good night's sleep, but the next morning at the third crow of the rooster, he instinctively woke up from his dream, only to be met with a woman's face.
"ah!"
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