Although somewhat blurry, she could distinguish the two figures: they were a man and a woman. The woman was lying in the arms of the man, both leaning close to each other, quietly motionless.
“You…You…” Jinxia opened her mouth to scream but realized that her throat was dry and she could not utter a sound. She opened her mouth again and tried desperately to scream… The sound that came out was just like the flying of a mosquito.
The two people were still not moving, she was sure they were not hearing her movements.
Not carrying a sword, Jinxia took out a small pocket knife from inside her shoes. Without taking it out of the sheath, she tried to use it to cut the peach tree branch that was beside her, in order to make a loud noise, so they would look at her.
She didn’t expect that, even after she’d knocked repeatedly on the tree dozens of times, the two lovers would have still been leaning close in the same position, like deaf in their ears, ignoring her no matter what.
Strange!
Something was very strange!
Disregarding her current condition, Jinxia stumbled towards them and walked closer: the man was smiling, with his arms around the woman, and the woman, the woman…
Her vision became increasingly blurred, her entire body seemed to be in the depths of mountains and seas. Jinxia tried her best to focus her mind, to clear her eyes… The woman’s head was resting on the man’s shoulder, her face was black and blue; there was a drop of blood on her lip, she had obviously been dead for some time.
Is she dead? What about this man?
Judging from the situation, everything was still unclear. Jinxia stretched out her hand to examine the man’s pulse but her eyes turned dark and she fell unconscious.
***
In the clinic, the entire treatment process unexpectedly had gone very fast. Shen Mi had used a small silver hammer to hit Yang ChengWan’s broken leg, then had reconnected it again. YangYue had been worried that his father would be tortured by the pain of broken bones, but thankfully, Yang ChengWan had been sleeping and Shen Mi’s technique was light and accurate. Before he would wake up, his bones would have been already reconnected, put on a splint and fixed with a cloth strip.
“The wound needs to be observed for the next few days. You have to live here for that period, I have ordered someone to arrange a room in the backside. Later, they will take you there.”
“Good, thank you Doctor Shen.”
YangYue whispered.
Shen Mi opened the door, told the assistant to make the medicine, then continued to take care of other matters. YangYue thanked him a thousand times as he escorted them out, then turned around, exhaled a long breath and continued walking to the side of the bed to look after his father.
Last night’s wine was still in his body; he leaned against the edge of the wooden bed and closed his eyes to rest. In his heart, he was thinking about several things. He didn’t know how Jinxia’s talk with Xie Xiao went. Those two temperaments were not easy to deal with, hopefully they hadn’t caused any problems. He also didn’t know if Ms. Zhai ate the rice cake; did she like it? If she didn’t like it, later, he should have thought about what other kind of food he could prepare…
“Young Master Yang, someone is looking for you.” The medical boy called out.
Someone was looking for him again? YangYue got up in disbelief. Just as he was about to reach out and lift the curtain, the curtain was lifted from the outside. Xie Xiao appeared holding several boxes in front of him.
“You…”
Just as YangYue was about to speak, Xie Xiao pushed all the boxes in front of him, then looked at Yang ChengWan: “My uncle, how’s the situation? Why is he still sleeping?”
“Doctor Shen has just finished connecting his bones, the effect of the anesthetic is still there, the doctor said he will wake up in about an hour. Why are you here?” YangYue put down all the boxes and looked at Xie Xiao in surprise.
“Last night I told my father that Uncle Yang was being treated here. At first he wanted to bring Uncle Yang home so he could recover there, making all kinds of soup that would help him, but I was worried that it would be uncomfortable for you little officials, so he told me to bring tiger bone, deer antler and ginseng over. You give it to Uncle Yang, cook some tonic for him, it will be healthy.”
“Thank you, big Master… Where is Jinxia? She’s not with you?”
Xie Xiao was silent, “How can she be with me?”
YangYue was stunned, “This morning, there was a brother who sold fish, he said to have come here on your behalf to deliver a message and invited me to go to Taohualin Forest to discuss some urgent matters. Since I couldn’t go, I let Jinxia go instead.”
Xie Xiao’s face immediately changed, “I don’t…Wait, which Taohualin Forest?”
“He said the one after coming out of the west gate, less than a mile in the southwest direction.”
Just as his words were finished, Xie Xiao had already turned around and walked out, only saying, “Don’t panic! I will definitely bring her home!”
“Wait, what happened…You…”
YangYue said frantically, chasing him to the front door, but Xie Xiao’s shadow was no longer visible. There was no other way, he pulled a servant beside him, and asked, “Do you know the Taohualin Forest that is outside the west door of the city?”
The servant nodded his head, “The Taohualin Forest is dangerous, especially in this season, you mustn’t go there. In the Taohualin Forest there are giant snakes and, in the spring, snakes and insects are recovering, vomiting poisonous mist, resulting in a large portion of poisonous air coming out of the ground. The people in this town refer to that forest as the peach blossom miasma. Local residents know it very well but most outsiders, who don’t understand the danger, when they enter the forest they will experience an unclear mind in mild cases… As for severe cases, it can lead to death.”
“Does this poison have an antidote?” YangYue asked in panic.
“At the front of the clinic, we sell Qian Hodan to suppress the poison, the rest still needs to be treated slowly, but if you inhaled this poison too much…”
“I want to buy it!”
After buying the Qian Hodan, and asking the medical boy to take care of his father, YangYue got on a horse and hurried to the west of the city like a gust of wind.
***
In the midst of her blurred mind, someone put a cold object into her mouth, saying repeatedly, “Bite slowly then swallow, it can remove the poison.” It felt cold when it entered the mouth but after a while, it became so hot that it seemed to burn her entire mouth. Jinxia frowned because of the pain.
She did not know how long it had been but she was feeling like flying in the air, and being carried in someone’s arms… Who was it? Jinxia tried her hardest to open her eyes, but from the beginning to the end, she could not see his face with clarity; above her head she could only see a peach blossom, like fluffy clouds floating above…
After swallowing the pill, the hot flame flowed to her stomach, burning the five organs in her digestion until it flared up.
“Tai Shang Laojun* fire vessel, training energy and mind with fire… Practice until I take my pill, my body has turned to ashes…” She was still unconscious and was speaking nonsense, then fainted.
*[Tai Shang Laojun: a god who is in charge of making longevity medicine in heaven, TN]
In her dream, thousands of peach leaves were falling, ‘There are villains and nobles, as if they are eager to learn from each other, as if they are pondering.’
*[From a poem named Qi Ao by Kong Fuzi, TN]
“Jinxia! Jinxia!… This girl! Jinxia! Come to your senses!”
There was a person who kept hitting her cheeks again and again. She was frowning and with all her power, she tried to open her dark and heavy eyes… At last she managed to open them slightly; a beam of light broke in.
“Is that you?”
She barely recognized Xie Xiao in front of her.
Seeing that she had regained consciousness, Xie Xiao let out a sigh of relief, reaching out to examine her pulse, “Thank god, you have a mild miasma. Are you stupid or an idiot? Every year, someone dies in this forest, yet you dared to come in…”
Her head still felt very dizzy, she tried to stand up but her legs were trembling. She was still unable to regain her forces. Xie Xiao didn’t bother waiting for her, he raised her hands together, then placed her over the shoulder and carried her down the mountains.
“How did you… know… I was here?” Jinxia asked him.
“I went to the clinic to see Uncle Yang, only to find out that someone used my name to invite you here. They were clearly trying to deceive you, and since you’re not from here, you don’t know how deep the situation is. They wanted to take your life.” Xie Xiao said with hatred, “They dared to use this Master’s name! Wait until I find out, this Master will break their legs.”
His shoulders were broad and sturdy, Jinxia was being carried on them, slowly regaining her consciousness. At that time, the heat that was burning her body was also subsiding. She thought about it, “They want to kill Da Yang…We’ve only been here for a few days and didn’t offend anyone… except…”
“Except for what?” Xie Xiao paused his movement.
“Except for the love that is hard to forget with Ms. Zhai, but he only delivered some rice cakes, is it necessary to kill him?” Jinxia shaked her head, feeling this didn’t make much sense.
“The case you’re investigating, do you think it’s related to that?”
“You could say that this case is blocking something, but the direction that is leading to can’t possibly be YangYue, in my opinion. Lu Yi is an eyesore in this case…” Jinxia paused for a moment, and suddenly remembered something. She pulled Xie Xiao’s neck and shook him, “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop at once!”
Xie Xiao’s tongue came out due to his neck being pulled by Jinxia, “You… Quickly, let go of my neck… What’s the matter?”
“In the forest, there was a man and a woman; the woman was dead, did you not see them?”
“No.”
Jinxia was more and more confused, “No way, they were beside me, you couldn’t possibly not see them… Stop walking, turn back, let’s go back and see!” She tried her hardest to hit Xie Xiao’s shoulder.
“You’re trying to die? It’s fortunate that you have only a mild miasma. I just saved a life, I wasn’t thinking of saving another.”
Xie Xiao ignored her punches, continuing to walk forward, while Jinxia carried on in hitting him in the back.
Not far away, they caught sight of someone riding his horse towards them. Only in an instant, he had arrived: it was YangYue. He saw that Jinxia was being carried by Xie Xiao. Although her face expression wasn’t good, she looked healthy and could still move. He let out a sigh of relief.
“Master Xia, thankfully you’re okay.” Jinxia came here on his behalf. If anything had happened to her, how could he have been calm! From inside his pocket, he took out a small bottle, and took out the Qian Hodan, “Eat this, it can get rid of the poison in your body.”
“I don’t want to, he had given me one before that was really hard to swallow.” Jinxia shook her head more than once.
Xie Xiao turned his head in wonder, “I gave you one?”
“When you carried me out, you put it in my mouth and told me to bite, then swallow it.” Jinxia furrowed her eyebrows, “This thing was hot, god, it’s the same as baking someone on the stove.”
After hearing her words, Xie Xiao lowered her down, turned around and looked at YangYue in surprise and bewilderment, then looked at Jinxia again: “I say, are you confused? Or something wrong with your memory? When did I give it to you?”
Jinxia was stunned for a moment, finally thought that something was not right: “Brother, when you found me, where was I?”
“Outside the Taohualin Forest, leaning against a rock, looking unconscious. I think you should have been realizing something was wrong after entering the forest and retreating on your own, so that’s why it was only a mild miasma.”
“No… no…” Jinxia shook her head, “I entered the forest, and then I saw a man and a woman, the woman was dead, and then later… later, someone put a pill in my mouth and told me to swallow it… Then he carried me out of the forest.”
“Who is he?”
Xie Xiao asked.
Jinxia frowned and tried to think, but the person’s appearance was blurry from the beginning, in addition her memory was covered by layers of fog, it was hard to tell: “I don’t remember anymore.”
“You said a couple, a man and a woman. The woman was dead, did that man help you?” YangYue asked.
“I don’t know,” Jinxia struggled to remember, “That guy… There is something wrong with him also, I don’t know whether he’s dead or not… I can’t tell, I have to go back and check.”
Before she could move, she was being held tightly by YangYue and Xie Xiao.
“Don’t be careless, if there really is someone who wants to harm us, there could be someone there waiting to attack us.” This matter was very suspicious, YangYue looked around, feeling uneasy: “If you enter the forest now, it means you’re looking for death. Today, we must go home first; later, after thinking of a new way, we can return here.”
Both her legs were still trembling. Jinxia also knew that getting back into the forest would be dangerous, so she gave up.
Xie Xiao didn’t have the time to tie his horse because he was in a hurry to find Jinxia. He put his hand up to whistle. Not long after, a large black horse that was chewing grass came running not too far away from him.
“Where is my horse?” Jinxia suddenly remembered her horse, she craned her neck looking around, “I am sure… I clearly tied it on this stone.”
On the empty stone, there was no trace of a horse.
“Damn it! I’m done, I’m done! This was the post station’s horse, if it disappears, then I have to replace it!”
At this time, Jinxia was like being struck by lighting in broad daylight, her face was full of negative expressions.
She wasn’t scared when she faced death, yet she’s scared because she lost a horse. Xie Xiao shook his head, ‘iron can’t be turned into steel’, then he carried her up on his own horse. Instead, YangYue’s eyes were sharp and in no time he spotted the horse wandering between the long grasses. Only after that Jinxia could feel relieved.
Although somewhat blurry, she could distinguish the two figures: they were a man and a woman. The woman was lying in the arms of the man, both leaning close to each other, quietly motionless.
“You…You…” Jinxia opened her mouth to scream but realized that her throat was dry and she could not utter a sound. She opened her mouth again and tried desperately to scream… The sound that came out was just like the flying of a mosquito.
The two people were still not moving, she was sure they were not hearing her movements.
Not carrying a sword, Jinxia took out a small pocket knife from inside her shoes. Without taking it out of the sheath, she tried to use it to cut the peach tree branch that was beside her, in order to make a loud noise, so they would look at her.
She didn’t expect that, even after she’d knocked repeatedly on the tree dozens of times, the two lovers would have still been leaning close in the same position, like deaf in their ears, ignoring her no matter what.
Strange!
Something was very strange!
Disregarding her current condition, Jinxia stumbled towards them and walked closer: the man was smiling, with his arms around the woman, and the woman, the woman…
Her vision became increasingly blurred, her entire body seemed to be in the depths of mountains and seas. Jinxia tried her best to focus her mind, to clear her eyes… The woman’s head was resting on the man’s shoulder, her face was black and blue; there was a drop of blood on her lip, she had obviously been dead for some time.
Is she dead? What about this man?
Judging from the situation, everything was still unclear. Jinxia stretched out her hand to examine the man’s pulse but her eyes turned dark and she fell unconscious.
***
In the clinic, the entire treatment process unexpectedly had gone very fast. Shen Mi had used a small silver hammer to hit Yang ChengWan’s broken leg, then had reconnected it again. YangYue had been worried that his father would be tortured by the pain of broken bones, but thankfully, Yang ChengWan had been sleeping and Shen Mi’s technique was light and accurate. Before he would wake up, his bones would have been already reconnected, put on a splint and fixed with a cloth strip.
“The wound needs to be observed for the next few days. You have to live here for that period, I have ordered someone to arrange a room in the backside. Later, they will take you there.”
“Good, thank you Doctor Shen.”
YangYue whispered.
Shen Mi opened the door, told the assistant to make the medicine, then continued to take care of other matters. YangYue thanked him a thousand times as he escorted them out, then turned around, exhaled a long breath and continued walking to the side of the bed to look after his father.
Last night’s wine was still in his body; he leaned against the edge of the wooden bed and closed his eyes to rest. In his heart, he was thinking about several things. He didn’t know how Jinxia’s talk with Xie Xiao went. Those two temperaments were not easy to deal with, hopefully they hadn’t caused any problems. He also didn’t know if Ms. Zhai ate the rice cake; did she like it? If she didn’t like it, later, he should have thought about what other kind of food he could prepare…
“Young Master Yang, someone is looking for you.” The medical boy called out.
Someone was looking for him again? YangYue got up in disbelief. Just as he was about to reach out and lift the curtain, the curtain was lifted from the outside. Xie Xiao appeared holding several boxes in front of him.
“You…”
Just as YangYue was about to speak, Xie Xiao pushed all the boxes in front of him, then looked at Yang ChengWan: “My uncle, how’s the situation? Why is he still sleeping?”
“Doctor Shen has just finished connecting his bones, the effect of the anesthetic is still there, the doctor said he will wake up in about an hour. Why are you here?” YangYue put down all the boxes and looked at Xie Xiao in surprise.
“Last night I told my father that Uncle Yang was being treated here. At first he wanted to bring Uncle Yang home so he could recover there, making all kinds of soup that would help him, but I was worried that it would be uncomfortable for you little officials, so he told me to bring tiger bone, deer antler and ginseng over. You give it to Uncle Yang, cook some tonic for him, it will be healthy.”
“Thank you, big Master… Where is Jinxia? She’s not with you?”
Xie Xiao was silent, “How can she be with me?”
YangYue was stunned, “This morning, there was a brother who sold fish, he said to have come here on your behalf to deliver a message and invited me to go to Taohualin Forest to discuss some urgent matters. Since I couldn’t go, I let Jinxia go instead.”
Xie Xiao’s face immediately changed, “I don’t…Wait, which Taohualin Forest?”
“He said the one after coming out of the west gate, less than a mile in the southwest direction.”
Just as his words were finished, Xie Xiao had already turned around and walked out, only saying, “Don’t panic! I will definitely bring her home!”
“Wait, what happened…You…”
YangYue said frantically, chasing him to the front door, but Xie Xiao’s shadow was no longer visible. There was no other way, he pulled a servant beside him, and asked, “Do you know the Taohualin Forest that is outside the west door of the city?”
The servant nodded his head, “The Taohualin Forest is dangerous, especially in this season, you mustn’t go there. In the Taohualin Forest there are giant snakes and, in the spring, snakes and insects are recovering, vomiting poisonous mist, resulting in a large portion of poisonous air coming out of the ground. The people in this town refer to that forest as the peach blossom miasma. Local residents know it very well but most outsiders, who don’t understand the danger, when they enter the forest they will experience an unclear mind in mild cases… As for severe cases, it can lead to death.”
“Does this poison have an antidote?” YangYue asked in panic.
“At the front of the clinic, we sell Qian Hodan to suppress the poison, the rest still needs to be treated slowly, but if you inhaled this poison too much…”
“I want to buy it!”
After buying the Qian Hodan, and asking the medical boy to take care of his father, YangYue got on a horse and hurried to the west of the city like a gust of wind.
***
In the midst of her blurred mind, someone put a cold object into her mouth, saying repeatedly, “Bite slowly then swallow, it can remove the poison.” It felt cold when it entered the mouth but after a while, it became so hot that it seemed to burn her entire mouth. Jinxia frowned because of the pain.
She did not know how long it had been but she was feeling like flying in the air, and being carried in someone’s arms… Who was it? Jinxia tried her hardest to open her eyes, but from the beginning to the end, she could not see his face with clarity; above her head she could only see a peach blossom, like fluffy clouds floating above…
After swallowing the pill, the hot flame flowed to her stomach, burning the five organs in her digestion until it flared up.
“Tai Shang Laojun* fire vessel, training energy and mind with fire… Practice until I take my pill, my body has turned to ashes…” She was still unconscious and was speaking nonsense, then fainted.
*[Tai Shang Laojun: a god who is in charge of making longevity medicine in heaven, TN]
In her dream, thousands of peach leaves were falling, ‘There are villains and nobles, as if they are eager to learn from each other, as if they are pondering.’
*[From a poem named Qi Ao by Kong Fuzi, TN]
“Jinxia! Jinxia!… This girl! Jinxia! Come to your senses!”
There was a person who kept hitting her cheeks again and again. She was frowning and with all her power, she tried to open her dark and heavy eyes… At last she managed to open them slightly; a beam of light broke in.
“Is that you?”
She barely recognized Xie Xiao in front of her.
Seeing that she had regained consciousness, Xie Xiao let out a sigh of relief, reaching out to examine her pulse, “Thank god, you have a mild miasma. Are you stupid or an idiot? Every year, someone dies in this forest, yet you dared to come in…”
Her head still felt very dizzy, she tried to stand up but her legs were trembling. She was still unable to regain her forces. Xie Xiao didn’t bother waiting for her, he raised her hands together, then placed her over the shoulder and carried her down the mountains.
“How did you… know… I was here?” Jinxia asked him.
“I went to the clinic to see Uncle Yang, only to find out that someone used my name to invite you here. They were clearly trying to deceive you, and since you’re not from here, you don’t know how deep the situation is. They wanted to take your life.” Xie Xiao said with hatred, “They dared to use this Master’s name! Wait until I find out, this Master will break their legs.”
His shoulders were broad and sturdy, Jinxia was being carried on them, slowly regaining her consciousness. At that time, the heat that was burning her body was also subsiding. She thought about it, “They want to kill Da Yang…We’ve only been here for a few days and didn’t offend anyone… except…”
“Except for what?” Xie Xiao paused his movement.
“Except for the love that is hard to forget with Ms. Zhai, but he only delivered some rice cakes, is it necessary to kill him?” Jinxia shaked her head, feeling this didn’t make much sense.
“The case you’re investigating, do you think it’s related to that?”
“You could say that this case is blocking something, but the direction that is leading to can’t possibly be YangYue, in my opinion. Lu Yi is an eyesore in this case…” Jinxia paused for a moment, and suddenly remembered something. She pulled Xie Xiao’s neck and shook him, “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop at once!”
Xie Xiao’s tongue came out due to his neck being pulled by Jinxia, “You… Quickly, let go of my neck… What’s the matter?”
“In the forest, there was a man and a woman; the woman was dead, did you not see them?”
“No.”
Jinxia was more and more confused, “No way, they were beside me, you couldn’t possibly not see them… Stop walking, turn back, let’s go back and see!” She tried her hardest to hit Xie Xiao’s shoulder.
“You’re trying to die? It’s fortunate that you have only a mild miasma. I just saved a life, I wasn’t thinking of saving another.”
Xie Xiao ignored her punches, continuing to walk forward, while Jinxia carried on in hitting him in the back.
Not far away, they caught sight of someone riding his horse towards them. Only in an instant, he had arrived: it was YangYue. He saw that Jinxia was being carried by Xie Xiao. Although her face expression wasn’t good, she looked healthy and could still move. He let out a sigh of relief.
“Master Xia, thankfully you’re okay.” Jinxia came here on his behalf. If anything had happened to her, how could he have been calm! From inside his pocket, he took out a small bottle, and took out the Qian Hodan, “Eat this, it can get rid of the poison in your body.”
“I don’t want to, he had given me one before that was really hard to swallow.” Jinxia shook her head more than once.
Xie Xiao turned his head in wonder, “I gave you one?”
“When you carried me out, you put it in my mouth and told me to bite, then swallow it.” Jinxia furrowed her eyebrows, “This thing was hot, god, it’s the same as baking someone on the stove.”
After hearing her words, Xie Xiao lowered her down, turned around and looked at YangYue in surprise and bewilderment, then looked at Jinxia again: “I say, are you confused? Or something wrong with your memory? When did I give it to you?”
Jinxia was stunned for a moment, finally thought that something was not right: “Brother, when you found me, where was I?”
“Outside the Taohualin Forest, leaning against a rock, looking unconscious. I think you should have been realizing something was wrong after entering the forest and retreating on your own, so that’s why it was only a mild miasma.”
“No… no…” Jinxia shook her head, “I entered the forest, and then I saw a man and a woman, the woman was dead, and then later… later, someone put a pill in my mouth and told me to swallow it… Then he carried me out of the forest.”
“Who is he?”
Xie Xiao asked.
Jinxia frowned and tried to think, but the person’s appearance was blurry from the beginning, in addition her memory was covered by layers of fog, it was hard to tell: “I don’t remember anymore.”
“You said a couple, a man and a woman. The woman was dead, did that man help you?” YangYue asked.
“I don’t know,” Jinxia struggled to remember, “That guy… There is something wrong with him also, I don’t know whether he’s dead or not… I can’t tell, I have to go back and check.”
Before she could move, she was being held tightly by YangYue and Xie Xiao.
“Don’t be careless, if there really is someone who wants to harm us, there could be someone there waiting to attack us.” This matter was very suspicious, YangYue looked around, feeling uneasy: “If you enter the forest now, it means you’re looking for death. Today, we must go home first; later, after thinking of a new way, we can return here.”
Both her legs were still trembling. Jinxia also knew that getting back into the forest would be dangerous, so she gave up.
Xie Xiao didn’t have the time to tie his horse because he was in a hurry to find Jinxia. He put his hand up to whistle. Not long after, a large black horse that was chewing grass came running not too far away from him.
“Where is my horse?” Jinxia suddenly remembered her horse, she craned her neck looking around, “I am sure… I clearly tied it on this stone.”
On the empty stone, there was no trace of a horse.
“Damn it! I’m done, I’m done! This was the post station’s horse, if it disappears, then I have to replace it!”
At this time, Jinxia was like being struck by lighting in broad daylight, her face was full of negative expressions.
She wasn’t scared when she faced death, yet she’s scared because she lost a horse. Xie Xiao shook his head, ‘iron can’t be turned into steel’, then he carried her up on his own horse. Instead, YangYue’s eyes were sharp and in no time he spotted the horse wandering between the long grasses. Only after that Jinxia could feel relieved.
