The Origin of the Secret Recipe

Dr. Lin suddenly coughed violently, his thin, withered fingers gripping the armrests of the chair so tightly that the veins were visibly bulging. Liu Mingyi quickly patted his back, feeling a vague sense of unease in his heart.

“I was fourteen years old that year,” Dr. Lin recovered and continued, “I first met that person at the foot of the Cliff of Reflection…”

“Boom!” A loud noise interrupted.

Xiao Linzi was so startled that he almost dropped his machete. He crouched behind some bushes, listening to the sound of stones rolling down the slope, his heart pounding. A few days ago, the hunter had mentioned there were wild boars in these mountains. He had thought they were just trying to scare him, but now, had he really encountered one?

“This wild boar is making too much noise,” Xiao Linzi muttered, gripping the machete tightly and cautiously pushing through the thorns. On the gravel shore, a man in black lay twisted, looking like a spider crushed underfoot.

“Heavens!” Xiao Linzi’s legs trembled. The cliff was at least ten zhang high, and this person could still move? Gaining courage, he approached and suddenly locked eyes with a pair of glowing eyes.

“Little brother…” The man in black’s voice sounded like sandpaper scraping, hoarse and eerie. “Please turn me over.”

Xiao Linzi screamed in fear and jumped three steps back, the machete falling to the ground with a clatter. Seeing him so terrified, the man in black even pulled the corners of his mouth into a weak grin. “Little brother, don’t be afraid. I can’t move my arms and legs, just help me turn over.”

Although Xiao Linzi was young, he was kind-hearted. Without a second thought, he carried the man and slowly made his way back to his straw hut.

“Dogtail grass, three jin, dried; summer grass, just the root, mixed with fresh dandelion juice…” The man in black, lying weakly on the straw mat, recited the prescription with great effort. His voice sounded like it was being squeezed from his throat. “Baked on a new tile until it’s charcoal, ground into powder and mixed with wine.”

Xiao Linzi looked at the weeds he had just collected. “Aren’t these wild grasses for feeding pigs?”

The man in black suddenly coughed violently, bloodstains soaking through the cloth on his face, and his voice grew weaker. “Do as I say.”

Xiao Linzi was half-convinced, but seeing the man’s frail condition, he could only follow his instructions. Every day, before dawn, he went up the mountain to gather herbs, then returned to help the man wash his body and feed him.

But the results astonished Xiao Linzi. Just a few days later, the man in black’s condition began to improve. His broken arm, when touched, seemed to be slowly healing.

As the days passed, a hundred days soon went by. One morning, the man in black suddenly sat up on the straw mat, scaring Xiao Linzi so much that he knocked over his porridge bowl. The man in black walked into the yard, and with a light push on his toes, he jumped up to a jujube tree nearly a zhang high.

“This… this…” Xiao Linzi stood stunned, his wooden spoon clattering to the ground.

The man in black flipped off the tree, knelt in front of the boy, and said, “Benefactor, this recipe for bone setting and tendon healing is for you. It will ensure that you never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your life.” He took a yellowed piece of paper from his chest and handed it over. “Remember, it must be used within twelve hours of the injury for it to be effective.”

Xiao Linzi, swallowing nervously, asked, “What is the name of this recipe?”

The man in black replied calmly, “It’s just a recipe for treating injuries, nothing special.”

“Big brother, can you take off your mask so I can see your face? At least tell me your name?” Xiao Linzi asked eagerly.

The man in black shook his head, his tone calm. “The face is just a skin, and a name is just a code. It doesn’t matter. Our meeting was fate, and we may meet again.” He turned and left, disappearing into the forest with a few leaps, leaving Xiao Linzi standing there, staring at the direction he had gone.

From that day on, Xiao Linzi never saw the man in black again. He followed the prescription and first tried it on a wild dog that had broken its leg. To his amazement, the bone healed. Three months later, the county magistrate’s son broke his leg while riding a horse. Xiao Linzi, gathering his courage, treated the injury, and the boy was able to walk within five days.

The villagers, amazed, gathered around to see the recipe. “This recipe is miraculous! It needs a famous name,” they said. Xiao Linzi scratched the back of his head. “It was the eighth day of the second month, so let’s call it the ‘Second-Eight Recipe.'” He wrote the two characters “二八” (Second-Eight) on the medicine package.

Thus, the “Second-Eight Recipe” spread throughout the area, and Xiao Linzi became a well-known doctor. Decades later, the young Xiao Linzi had grown into Dr. Lin, now graying. But no matter how much time passed, he always remembered that mysterious man in black and the life-changing “Second-Eight” from the eighth day of the second month.

Dr. Lin finished recounting the story, and a murky tear appeared at the corner of his yellowing eyes. “He said I was his benefactor, but in truth, he was mine. This recipe has provided me with a lifetime of comfort, but now, with the Lin family’s line extinguished, I have become a sinner…”