Chapter 64: Any News On Zi Yuan?
After the two finished breakfast, Lin Xin picked up her back basket and headed into the mountain again. Big Tiger was still in her space, so she needed to let him out.
“You’re just letting me stay at your home like this? Aren’t you afraid I’ll steal everything?” Watching Lin Xin about to leave with her sickle, Meng Yichen asked helplessly.
“Go ahead and steal! What do I even have worth stealing?” Lin Xin waved her hand to show it was no big deal, then simply shouldered her back basket and left, leaving Meng Yichen pacing restlessly in the courtyard.
He still hadn’t remembered anything.
After a while, the village suddenly became noisy. He wanted to go out and see what was happening, but he was afraid the villagers would see him and gossip, ruining Lin Xin’s reputation. After hesitating for a long time, he sat back down on the stool until someone outside called his name.
Meng Yichen’s eyes lit up. It was Ling Qing’s voice. He quickly stood up, opened the courtyard gate, and sure enough, saw Ling Qing, Zhou Qi, and Chu Yu standing at the door.
“Huh? You’re back? Where’s Miss Lin? Did she come back with you?” As soon as he saw him, Chu Yu shouted in a loud voice.
“Back? Where did I go?” Meng Yichen asked, completely confused.
“Didn’t you say you had something to do and had to go out? We asked, but you wouldn’t tell us what it was, just that it was a big deal and that once it was done, it would benefit all of us. How could you forget?” Chu Yu said again.
“Big… deal?” Meng Yichen clutched his head and tried hard to remember, but nothing came.
“Yichen, what’s wrong? Is your head hurting?” Ling Qing saw his odd expression and quickly stepped forward to support his arm, asking with concern.
“No, I’m fine, I…” Meng Yichen’s words suddenly stopped. He knew what felt off—it was his body. His frail body used to collapse at the slightest breeze or leave him gasping after one step, but now he had walked down from the mountain with Lin Xin without feeling the slightest bit tired.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…” He looked up at Ling Qing. “My body seems… better!”
“Really?” Ling Qing lowered his head and carefully observed his face. It was still pale, but a normal pale, not the previous ashen pallor that made him look like a corpse.
“Yeah, really. I feel full of strength now, and my chest isn’t suffocated or painful anymore.”
“That’s great! So was the big deal you mentioned curing your own illness? Who cured you?” Ling Qing asked again.
“I… I forgot.” Meng Yichen frowned and said, “I only remember us having a meal here. I have no impression of what happened after that, until this morning when Miss Lin woke me up in the forest.”
“You mean the person who cured you took away your memory of that time, even though they healed you?” Zhou Qi asked.
Meng Yichen thought for a moment and nodded.
“There’s actually such miraculous medical skill that can take away part of a person’s memory. No, next time I see Old Cui, I have to tell him about it, so he stops mocking me as a brute just because he knows a bit of medicine.” Chu Yu said with his unique train of thought.
“Don’t cause trouble!” Zhou Qi pushed Chu Yu’s head to shove him aside, then asked Meng Yichen again, “Do you feel anything off about your body now?”
Meng Yichen carefully checked for a while and shook his head. “I feel great all over now. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this comfortable.”
“Then…” Zhou Qi couldn’t figure it out. How could there be such a doctor in the world who cured someone but wouldn’t let them remember him? Was he afraid the person would bring more patients? But how did Yichen find this doctor?
The more he thought, the more clueless he felt, when Gao Yong’s loud voice came from afar. “What are you all doing? Is the house just for me to build alone? You’re all hiding here slacking off, leaving me to do all the work. Are you even human?”
“Huh? Yichen’s back? How’d it go? Did you handle the matter?” Gao Yong saw everyone’s strange expressions and blurted out before thinking, “What’s wrong? Did your big deal not work out? Or… did something happen to someone again?”
“Get out of here! Can’t you say something nice?” Ling Qing irritably kicked his calf.
“Not that?” Gao Yong dodged to the side and continued shouting, “Then why does everyone look like they’re constipated? You had me thinking something happened again.”
“Shut up! Why aren’t you watching our house properly? What are you doing here joining the fun?” Chu Yu couldn’t stand his mouth and voice anymore and started shooing him away.
“Why not! You’re all here chatting, leaving me alone to watch people build the house!”
“Zi Yuan… any news about him?” Meng Yichen suddenly asked.
No one said a word.
“It’s been five days since he left! No news at all?”
“This… maybe he hasn’t found a chance yet! We can’t scare ourselves.” Chu Yu patted Meng Yichen’s shoulder, as if comforting him and himself.
“Yeah! No news is good news, right?” Gao Yong added.
“Sigh! Hope everything goes smoothly for him!” Meng Yichen looked up at the white floating cloud in the pale blue sky and sighed deeply.
“It definitely will. We have to believe in Zi Yuan.” Zhou Qi placed his hands on Meng Yichen’s and Ling Qing’s shoulders and said firmly.
When Lin Xin got home, Meng Yichen had already gone with the three of them to check on the house-building progress.
The workers building the house for them were masters specially hired from the town for wealthy families. Since they did it often, they worked quickly. The foundation had just been dug yesterday, and today they were almost done building the courtyard wall.
“Miss Lin’s back! We didn’t see you all yesterday. What were you up to? Whoa, did you hunt this?” Gao Yong spotted Lin Xin dragging something out of the forest from afar and hurried over to help. Only when he got close did he see she was pulling a simple sled with a wild boar, two wild rabbits, and a bundle of firewood on it.
“I dug a trap up in the mountain. This is what fell into it.” Lin Xin took off her back basket, pushed aside the branches covering the top, revealing a purple lingzhi mushroom the size of a baby’s cheek wrapped in leaves inside. “I also found this. When Old Cui comes, I’ll ask if he wants it.”
“Wow! Miss Lin, you’re so lucky. Take me with you tomorrow! I’ll get some good stuff too.” Gao Yong eagerly took the sled from her hand and said to her.
“Sure! Whenever you want to go, I’ll take you.” Lin Xin agreed without hesitation. Except for Meng Yichen, all these people were full of vitality and surely skilled. Taking them into the deep mountain wouldn’t be a burden; they might even bring back more things! Winter was coming soon, so they needed to stock up more meat and such.
“Miss Lin, you’re the best!” Gao Yong gave Lin Xin a thumbs up and dragged the sled to her home for her.
Thanks to caroletu, Song of the Goat and Story of the Eyes, Mmy Dang, Meng Mommo, Soul on the Run! For the votes cast, thanks to Huasheng for the monthly ticket, thanks to caroletu for the tip, thank you all for your support, thank you!
