Chapter 16: The Shield

The next day, Xie Wangniang and Jiang Yuan rose early. They first filled bamboo tubes with boiled, cooled water, wrapped steamed buns in a cloth, and tucked them into a wicker basket alongside a packet of dried small fish. They also brought rain capes and conical bamboo hats in case of rain.

After these preparations, they had a simple breakfast of egg and vegetable noodles, then locked the house and courtyard before the sun rose. They set off, traversing mountains and ridges toward a denser, steeper forest in the northwest. To reach it, they first had to cross the mountain closest to the village, where Xie Wangniang had previously gathered medicinal herbs.

As they climbed, Jiang Yuan pointed toward the distant, jagged peak that was their destination. "There are wild boars on that mountain and the surrounding ones, though not many. There are also foxes, leopard cats, and badgers, but they are hard to spot." He added, "Only by going deeper beyond these mountains will you find herds of wild boars, roe deer, wild goats, and stags. If luck is against us, we might even encounter lynxes, jackals, leopards, wolves, or bears."

Xie Wangniang asked thoughtfully, "Where did you hunt most often in the past?"

"The mountains closer to here," Jiang Yuan replied. He was still only a teenager, and Hao Yu, who had once taken him into the mountains, had an injured hand, making him less capable than in his prime. For safety, they never wandered into the deep mountains where large predators roamed without others present.

Relieved that she would not be a burden, Xie Wangniang asked, "Should we continue to frequent those closer mountains then?"

Jiang Yuan nodded. "As long as you don't mind the hardship."

While roaming the nearby hills only yielded small game like pheasants and rabbits, or common herbs like mugwort and plantain, it allowed them to make two trips home a day. Venturing further meant more valuable prey and herbs, but required spending most of their time traveling. To stay on schedule, they would have to eat cold rations in the mountains, washed down with cool water. Jiang Yuan was used to it, but he worried that Xie Wangniang, having never endured such labor, would struggle with the cold, meager meals.

He was right; she disliked the idea of eating poorly while working hard for a living. However, instead of quitting, she chose to improve their meals whenever possible. Today, she had brought the dried fish to share. That evening, she planned to turn all their remaining fish into crispy, savory dried fillets and pickle a batch of cucumbers and radishes.

Though it consumed extra firewood and seasonings, the result was delicious. Most importantly, they would no longer have to gnaw on dry buns or cornbread while in the mountains. Jiang Yuan was thoroughly satisfied with this arrangement.

They spent half a day in the mountains. Jiang Yuan hunted a wild boar, five pheasants, and two rabbits, while Xie Wangniang harvested two full baskets and a bag of anemarrhena, pinellia, knotweed, scutellaria barbata, and honeysuckle.

Returning home as the sun set, Jiang Yuan first went to town to sell the game and buy provisions for the next day. Then, taking the dried herbs, he visited Dr. Chen. He had two purposes: to see if the doctor would buy the herbs and to ask him to examine Xie Wangniang again.

Dr. Chen was elderly, and his grandson was too young to safely accompany him into the mountains for rare herbs, so he usually bought them from the county pharmacy. When he inspected the quality of Xie Wangniang’s processed herbs, he offered a fair price that benefited both parties. Jiang Yuan sold the lot without hesitation.

Then, he asked the doctor to examine Xie Wangniang for her "amnesia." Dr. Chen wasn't sure if she had truly lost her memory, but he knew she had hit her head in the river. Hearing Jiang Yuan’s explanation, he suspected there was more to the story, but he would have to check her pulse to be sure.

After checking both pulses, Dr. Chen stared at her skeptically. "You have amnesia?"

Xie Wangniang smiled and nodded. "Yes, I have amnesia."

Dr. Chen sighed in resignation. "Very well, I understand." It was clearly a ruse, but since Jiang Yuan, who had taken her in, was complicit, the doctor decided to play along.

"There is one more thing," Xie Wangniang said with a smile. "I would like to learn medicine from you."

Dr. Chen refused instantly. "I do not teach girls." He advised her earnestly, "Being a doctor is exhausting. It takes ten years of apprenticeship, and the patients and their families one encounters are unpredictable. For a boy, the worst is usually a bit of humiliation or a beating, but for a girl, it is far more dangerous."

He had seen enough of the world's filth in his life. Even the female healers and medicine women he knew, despite their age or their practice of only treating women, faced constant danger due to their gender.

Xie Wangniang understood his concern. "I don't intend to make a living as a doctor," she explained, pouring him a cup of mint water. "As you can see, I already have some knowledge of pharmacology. I need a reasonable explanation for others, just as I need one for why I chose to stay in Mingfu Village instead of returning home."

Dr. Chen realized: *She just wants me to be her shield.* He sipped the mint water. "Do your family members not know you understand medicine?"

Xie Wangniang nodded. "My mother believed I shouldn't study it and forbade my father from finding me a tutor. I had to learn in secret."

Dr. Chen remarked, "Your skill in processing herbs does not look like something learned in secret."