Council of Elders (4)
As Mi watched two more elders hide inside the dormant flower, she carefully recalled her words. She didn't think she had said anything wrong; these elders all seemed to have deep sorrows.
“Child, you shouldn’t say that.” The Fourth Elder’s voice, though scarred, was full of compassion. “The First Elder was a true man. He fought desperately against tyranny to prevent Kabla from becoming an interstellar junkyard. His wife didn’t know she had a genetic defect before she became pregnant. The interstellar junk disposal company offered to treat her genetic disease if he made Kabla a junkyard. He couldn’t bear to see his country become a junkyard and could only watch his wife suffer. He lived in pain and self-blame.”
"Where is her daughter? Why did her daughter die?"
"After the First Elder's wife passed away, he didn't just hand his daughter over to any other woman to raise. Instead, he raised her himself. He always forbade his daughter from dating, but young people, you know how it is," the Fourth Elder sighed. "Humans have the instinct to reproduce, and this instinct can sometimes withstand all fear."
"There aren't many men who come to the Witch Forest," El said, "but every man who comes here is a responsible and good man." Joe nodded gently and nestled close to El.
"A responsible, good man?" Mi hesitated for a moment before asking, "Does the Witch Forest also have gender discrimination?"
“A person who takes responsibility is a good person, whether they are a man or a woman.” The woman with a face full of burns smiled apologetically, the scars on her face somewhat grotesque: “Child, it seems you come from a place full of sexism.”
"Are there places where there is gender discrimination?" Mi thought of the Great Elder. It was already the interstellar age. Like the ancient men of Weiyuan Star, he believed that a woman who did not have children was not a good woman. He resented those women who acted like men, blaming them for taking away men's jobs and their status, and for not wanting to stay at home and have children.
"Is there a place without gender antagonism?" The Fourth Elder's voice was full of anticipation. "I think there must be such a place. Just as there are men in the world who can discriminate against women, there are also women in the world who can discriminate against men. Similarly, men and women can discriminate against each other, but they can also be tolerant of each other." The Fourth Elder stood up, and a purple flower gently squatted at her feet. She walked in.
Looking at the swaying purple flowers, Mi murmured, "Are these plants alive?"
"That's a flower of consciousness; it will protect the witches in the forest."
"Protect?" Mi looked at the closed petals, the flower gently returning to the vine. "Why would Fourth Elder do that?"
“She was a witch who was burned at the stake,” an elder wearing a veil said in a low voice. “Her children have grown up and her granddaughter is married. She was burned at the stake simply because she studied herbs and could alleviate women’s pain through them.”
Why did they burn her?
“Because she threatened the status of those doctors.” The veiled woman sighed. “In the Fourth Elder’s hometown, women couldn’t see a doctor or receive treatment when they were sick. The Fourth Elder helped those poor women get rid of their suffering, and smiles returned to their faces. By the way, the Fourth Elder was also an excellent midwife. Every woman she assisted survived, including the baby. The Fourth Elder was intelligent and gentle, kind and wise. She was knowledgeable, kind, and a respectable person. She was everyone’s beloved grandmother, Nana.”
“Grandmother Nana,” Mi looked around at the people, not many of whom were elderly, “Why did they burn their own grandmother? Was there anything wrong with Grandmother Nana?”
“Good, of course it’s good. Grandmother Nana is just too good. She’s a good person and her medical skills are excellent. Men have started to seek her medical help.” The veiled woman stood up. “The Fourth Elder doesn’t have a medical license. Women can’t be doctors, even if her medical skills are better than all the male doctors. She doesn’t charge those men for her treatments, so those male doctors have lost their jobs.”
Mi realized the biggest problem wasn't that the Fourth Elder practiced medicine, but that she treated these men for free—an act that would be resisted anywhere. She was somewhat confused: "Why doesn't the Fourth Elder charge money? Isn't her medical skill valuable? Aren't her herbs free?"
"Because women can't be doctors, women don't have the qualifications to practice, and without the qualifications, they can't charge like male doctors," the veiled woman explained. "At the Fourth Elder's place, men do all the work outside, while women stay home to take care of and raise the children."
"How could a fourth elder like this know medicine?"
"The Fourth Elder's mother was a midwife who used herbs to relieve pain. The Fourth Elder was far more intelligent than her mother, and discovered more herbs that were more effective."
"In the eyes of the Fourth Elder, if you don't charge money, it's not considered treating and saving lives. Then what is the purpose of a doctor?" Mi thought, stroking his chin. This Fourth Elder was clearly burying his head in the sand.
"The Fourth Elder meant well," Qiao said softly.
“Good intentions?” Mi hesitated for a moment. “Good intentions can lead to bad consequences. I’m reminded of the story of the farmer and the snake.”
“This is different, child, this is different,” the veiled woman said softly.
“If you don’t have enough power to protect yourself, what’s the difference between challenging the rules of society?” Mi raised one hand. “If the farmer had the snake’s mouth shut, she could certainly save it. If the Fourth Elder had the lives of those people in his hands, they wouldn’t dare burn her.”
“Child, a doctor’s only duty is to treat and save lives; how can you threaten patients’ lives?”
“You said that the Fourth Elder was not qualified to practice medicine; she was not a doctor at all. According to the laws at the time, she was committing a crime. If those male patients wanted her treatment, they should have changed the law to grant her a medical license, instead of having her burned to death after practicing medicine illegally.” Mi didn’t know what to say. A place that disregarded women’s abilities, the method they used after discovering that a woman had abilities was to burn her to death.
"Women are not allowed to work in the Fourth Elder's place. All professions are dominated by men, and men make the laws," the veiled woman sighed softly.
"Since men have enacted a law that women must not heal men, why should women heal men?"
"Child, doctors cannot refuse patients."
"The Fourth Elder is not a doctor at all; she is just highly skilled in medicine." Mi did not mention that the Fourth Elder's biggest problem was not that she practiced medicine, but that she did it for free. In any place, cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.
“Child, the Fourth Elder is already a grandmother. Those patients and those men are like her sons and grandsons. How can a mother and a grandmother refuse her own sons and grandsons? The poor child came to his grandmother for help, how could she not help him? More poor people came to her for help, how could she not help them? The Fourth Elder is just kind and soft-hearted.”
"Wouldn't her own sons and grandsons be among those who burned her?" Mi stared in disbelief. "Did they also say that she colluded with the devil, made a pact with the devil, and would all be sacrificed to the devil after they died? In order to sever their connection with the devil, the only way was to burn her, burn this only woman who had any connection with the devil, so that the devil wouldn't find them and they could live out their lives in peace."
"How did you know?" The veiled woman suddenly turned and stared at her.
"That's really true. There's nothing new under the sun," Mi sighed. Sometimes, all a person needs is an excuse, and no one will bother to verify whether it's reasonable or true.
The veiled woman stopped talking and stepped into a flower. Before the petals closed, she hugged her knees and trembled all over.
A strikingly beautiful woman with an arrogant expression said bitterly, "They shouldn't have helped those snake-like, dark people." Mi looked at her; she had a bloodstained awl in her hand, which she fiddled with, sometimes suddenly squeezing it tightly as if she were about to stab someone.
“They just wanted to live, and there’s nothing to blame them for,” a gentle woman beside her whispered. “Given the choice between their own death and someone else’s, a normal person would choose to let the other person die. The Lord said—”
“Don’t mention your Lord,” the beautiful woman interrupted her. “Now that you’ve come here, you should know that there is no God or Creator in this world.” She stepped aside, stuck the awl into a tree trunk, and green sap flowed down it. She licked the sap, letting out a maniacal laugh. A purple flower quietly followed behind her; she kicked it, sending it flying back, and walked alone into the depths of the forest.
Looking at the few remaining elders around her, Mi thought that everyone who came here had post-traumatic stress disorder, and each of them had unresolved pain.
“Child, don’t be afraid, all of this is in the past.” The gentle woman looked at the Fifth Elder’s back. “They just couldn’t forget their past, which is why they couldn’t start a new life.”
“Well, yes, people always have to look forward,” Migan said awkwardly. “It’s understandable that they’re sad.”
A woman with completely white hair suddenly laughed. She looked at Mi and said, "Do you know what kind of torture they suffered?" Beside her lay a huge axe. She turned and looked around. El pulled a small paper packet from her bosom and handed it to her. She opened it; inside were white crystals. She poured the crystals into her mouth, and her white fur began to fall off. She transformed back into a young and beautiful girl.
Mi stared in astonishment at everything before her. This, this, really is a magical world? Mi turned to look at El. A section of her silver hair had spilled out of her braids, fluttering in the air like a crown. Her eyes were like a deep sea, filled with glittering stars, brimming with wisdom and power. Most importantly, she possessed magic potions.
Everyone fell silent, and the forest returned to quiet. The seamless, automatically moving hair and clothing swayed around like seaweed in the sea, creating an eerie and magical atmosphere.
After a long while, the gentle woman softly sang a lullaby: "Sleep, baby, sleep, baby, oh. To whom shall this baby be entrusted? If to the witch Befana, she will take care of him for a whole week. Sleep, baby, sleep, baby, oh. To whom shall this little baby be entrusted? To the witch Befana, she will take care of him for a whole week. The witch Befana comes in the night, wearing green sandals and a black cloak; she brings gifts for the good child, and a golden jug and flowers..."
Gentle sounds and songs drifted through the forest, with purple flowers quietly surrounding them, as if a pair of gentle hands were embracing everyone within their blooms. The flowers gently closed their petals and softly returned to the treetops, their tender lullaby echoing through the forest.
Gray clouds drifted slowly across the sky, softening the ever-present light in the forest, like the loving gaze of a mother. The giant trees in the forest grew even taller, their new shoots trembling as they unfurled their curled leaves towards the sky, bringing them one step closer. The gray clouds swirled and gathered, as if trying to connect with these branches and leaves. Purple flowers swayed gently, as if drawing energy from the air, giving strength to those sleeping peacefully within their embrace.
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