Chapter 19.1

Deng Weimin was busy. After helping Guan Yue with her household registration, he came to Qingxi Village for a short visit and then left. He told her to make some time to visit him in Qingchuan, where he would introduce her to his other disciples.

Qingchuan was a small town on the southwestern frontier. The Deng family was perceptive, and when they noticed something odd and the situation started getting out of control, they took the entire family, along with their disciples, to Qingchuan. They volunteered at the military hospital there, helping to treat soldiers transferred from the border.

Outside, the spring sun was warm, and Guan Yue was lazily lying on a lounge chair, soaking up the sunlight while studying her household registration papers. Was she supposed to go to Qingchuan? She pondered if it was time to make the trip.

Li Tao called out to Guan Yue for lunch. “Today, there are two dishes!” he announced.

“What dishes?”

“Cold-mixed water shield and stir-fried young greens. I put two extra drops of oil in the stir-fried greens today!”

You’re so generous!

Guan Yue sat down and took a bite of the water shield. What kind of taste was that?

The stir-fried young greens were fine, but she wanted meat!

“Eat more water shield,” Li Tao suggested. “This season, the water shield is starting to get tough. The tender ones are hard to find, and if you don’t eat them now, they’ll be gone.”

Guan Yue didn’t care about this odd-tasting wild vegetable. “We still have a lot of salted meat and sausages at home.”

Li Tao was serious. “You can’t eat salted meat and sausages every day! Yesterday, when I fried potatoes for you, I cut two slices of salted meat.”

Guan Yue clammed up and refused to discuss food with Li Tao.

She had made up her mind. She was going to Qingchuan, and while she was there, she would also check in on her little sous-chef to see what he was doing, and how he had even forgotten his main job. In the afternoon, after everyone had finished work, Guan Yue went downstairs to find Yang Guozhu. She needed to get a recommendation letter to Qingchuan.

Guan Yue knew that to travel far from here, she needed a recommendation letter.

Yang Guozhu hesitated for a moment. “I can write you a letter of introduction, but the real question is whether you can find your way? Also, I hear that it’s not necessarily safe over there in Qingchuan. As a girl traveling alone, it’s easy to attract unwanted attention.”

Guan Yue replied earnestly, “It’s very safe. I’ll go to the county to buy my ticket and take the bus directly to Qingchuan. My teacher is in Qingchuan. I’m going to find him.”

Yang Guozhu was reassured. “Oh, so Xu Doctor is in Qingchuan? Is he there to collect herbs?”

When Yang Guozhu heard Guan Yue mention her teacher, his first thought was Xu Hua’an. As for Deng Weimin, the other teacher who had seemingly tagged along, no one really knew about him.

Guan Yue didn’t correct him, letting him assume it was Xu Hua’an instead.

“Guan Yue, you’re not just leaving and not coming back, right?”

“Of course I’ll come back. My household registration is still here in Qingxi Village.”

Yang Guozhu chuckled. “Oh, right, how could I forget that detail?”

Guan Yue’s household registration was indeed in Qingxi Village, but she rarely went down the mountain and didn’t participate in labor distribution. She didn’t even need rations, so everyone didn’t really consider her as a permanent resident of Qingxi Village.

“How long will you be gone? When will you come back? It’s already late spring; summer is coming quickly. Shouldn’t we be preparing our detox medicine in advance? Also, that deworming medicine you gave Gu Sui last time was pretty effective!”

Guan Yue glanced at Yang Guozhu. Was it her household registration that gave him the confidence to make demands of her now? He was treating her differently.

Guan Yue wasn’t sure when she would be back. “I’ll go back and prepare the pills first. Once I’m ready, I’ll leave.”

Yang Guozhu eagerly nodded. “Yes, yes, no rush. If you’re leaving, I’ll hold off on giving you the grain for the medicine pills. By the time you come back, the summer harvest will be underway, and I can give you this year’s fresh grain. It’ll definitely taste better than last year’s stored grain.”

Guan Yue went back up the mountain to prepare the herbs. Once she was gone, Yang Guozhu didn’t even bother with dinner. He hurriedly went to find Zhou Baohe.

Yang Guozhu said, “How much medicine are you planning to exchange this year? You need to get your plan together and find Guan Yue. I’m going to lay it out: even though we’re from the same brigade, if you run out of medicine and need to trade for more, I won’t be swapping any for you.”

Zhou Baohe had just come back from the fields, washing the mud off his legs in the courtyard.

“It’s still not even summer; why are you in such a rush?”

“I’m not in a hurry,” Zhou Baohe said. “Guan Yue’s the one who’s leaving, and we don’t even know when she’ll be back.”

“Leaving?” Zhou Baohe exclaimed, growing agitated. “Why would she just up and leave? Her household registration is still with our brigade!”

“It’s my fault for not being clear,” Yang Guozhu admitted. “She’s going to Qingchuan to find her Teacher. She’ll definitely come back; it’s just a matter of when. I’m just thinking ahead to make preparations. Without Guan Yue’s medicine, what are we supposed to do? Are we going to ask Barefoot Doctor to get Western medicine from the town hospital? And if we have extras, will they give them to us?”

Zhou Baohe stopped washing his feet and rushed off barefoot. “You’re right. We need to prepare early.”

Yang Guozhu followed Zhou Baohe to find their brigade’s Barefoot Doctor and the accountant, planning how much medicine they would need, which medicines they would exchange, and what grains they would use.

The Barefoot Doctor suggested, “This shouldn’t just be us deciding. We need to let a few of the other brigades know. Otherwise, they’ll come to us looking for a handout, and the medicine we exchanged will be wasted on them.”

Zhou Baohe nodded. “Don’t wait until tomorrow. Let’s go and notify them now. We’ve done our duty. Whether they want to exchange is up to them.”

They’ll exchange! How could they not? They have to!

It’s just that in the past, Guan Yue hadn’t been very responsive to them. They weren’t part of the Qingsong Brigade, so could they really exchange with her?

It was worth a shot, no matter what.

The next morning, when Li Tao went up the mountain to make breakfast for Guan Yue, several brigade leaders who had heard the news followed him up. They were all there to find Guan Yue to exchange medicine.

Li Tao opened the door. “Guan Yue isn’t here right now; she might be up in the mountains.”

The kitchen was out of rice, and to keep out the rats, all the grains were stored in a wooden cabinet inside the house.

Li Tao went to get the rice, opening the door. On the octagonal table in the living room, there were dozens of medicine bottles, each labeled.

Yang Guozhu was the first to rush in. “Oh, so Guan Yue had a stockpile!”

Li Tao replied, “Guan Yue usually makes medicine herself. After she’s done, she stores it in the back room. Maybe she brought them out yesterday.”

At this point, Zhou Baohe and the others were restless.

Yang Guozhu stepped in front of them, holding them back. “Don’t get too excited. Let’s wait for Guan Yue to come back first.”

“Yeah, since Guan Yue has brought out the medicine, she’s clearly willing to trade. We can all get a little bit,” one of the brigade leaders said.

Zhou Baohe shot him a disdainful look. “When did I say we’d split it evenly?”

Yang Guozhu interjected, “The brigade leader is right! Guan Yue is from our brigade; we should satisfy our brigade’s needs first.”

“Old Yang, you can’t be too selfish. We’re trading grain for medicine; how is it fair that you want to take the most?” another leader said.

“Is that so? Your actions aren’t helping our commune stay united!” someone else chimed in.

“If you want unity in the commune, why don’t you call over the members from the other brigades?” another leader retorted.

Everyone exchanged glances, not looking very straightforward themselves.

Hey, it was just one of those things, right? There’s no need to feel bad about it. No matter what their little schemes were, in the end, it would be Guan Yue who decided.

Li Tao finished making breakfast, and Guan Yue came back right on time, carrying a large basket full of various herbs.

Yang Guozhu hurried to greet her. “You’re back! You’re back! You brought so much medicine! Are you still planning to make more?”

Guan Yue set the basket down. “All the pills are on the table. This is the material for the deworming powder if you want it.”

“We want it! Of course, we want it! Take as much as you have!” another brigade leader exclaimed.

Guan Yue thought they weren’t interested, so she was ready to leave. Today, she could finally go.

Zhou Baohe shot a meaningful look to Yang Guozhu, who cleared his throat and addressed Guan Yue. “Apart from our brigade, the other brigades also want to trade for pills. How do you want to divide these?”

Guan Yue shrugged. “The medicine is all yours. You can divide it however you want. These pills should be enough for you to use throughout the summer.”

Zhou Baohe couldn’t help but feel a sense of triumph inside, though he kept his face stern.

Yang Guozhu was taking charge, among familiar faces—it was bound to go smoothly.

Guan Yue pointed to the medicine in the house. “Just take it now. The deworming medicine, I’ll make later, and let Li Tao take it down.”

“Alright, no problem!” Yang Guozhu boomed, agreeing eagerly.

Yang Guozhu found a crate in the courtyard, filling it with a large basket of herbs before heading out. There were still a few crates too full to fit, so Zhou Baohe picked one up like it was a treasured possession, running down the mountain like a child with a bundle.

As for the other brigade leaders, they watched the basket longingly and followed Yang Guozhu down the mountain.

Li Tao chuckled, “Lucky you had such a stockpile. Otherwise, our village chief would definitely have tried to keep it all for ourselves.”

Guan Yue didn’t really mind trading for food. After all, she lived on Daqing Mountain, and people here were generally polite to her and her teacher. Helping them out was no big deal.

Just like when she had first arrived, her Teacher had told her, “You can go through life alone, but you should always have a basic sense of compassion.”

When her Teacher traded medicine with Qingxi Village people, he had moved on, and Guan Yue had taken over his practices.

A year ago, when she had just arrived here, it would have been impossible for her to do something like this—help others who offered nothing in return. Why help them?

The aftereffects of the apocalypse had been heavy on her, but in this safe environment, Guan Yue was gradually getting better. Her sense of empathy and sympathy was returning.

Li Tao said a string of grateful words, thanking Guan Yue for giving so much medicine to them. To express his gratitude, Li Tao decided to make her a special lunch with cured pork!

“Steam an extra section of sausage!” Guan Yue requested.

“Alright! I’ll also make you some more cold-spiced water shield,” Li Tao replied.

Guan Yue quickly shook her head. “You don’t have to go to so much trouble; I’m happy with the cured pork rice.”

Li Tao didn’t listen to Guan Yue’s request. “No trouble at all. You go ahead and make the deworming medicine, and I’ll be right back.”

Guan Yue watched as Li Tao ran off with his small hoe in hand, shaking his head. What was so good about that? It had a strange smell!

Without Li Tao around, Guan Yue didn’t have to follow the same routine of grinding herbs; with her powers, she could finish the job in an hour. If anyone had opened the door at that moment and seen the iron vine writhing in chaos inside the room, the tree vines twisting and turning like a spider’s web, they would definitely think they were dreaming.

After finishing the herb powder, Guan Yue closed up the pharmacy and turned back toward the mountains.