Ties of Love, Ruan Wan

After a whole day, I was so exhausted that I had no strength left. I found a cave at the bottom of the cliff, crawled in, collapsed, and fell asleep, not caring what was inside.

For the next few days, I was at a loss in the cave, occasionally going out to find something to eat. There was no fire, the nights were cold, and there was no light. It was pitch black, the forest was deep, and there were all sorts of strange noises. Meanwhile, Ruan Wan was thinking and contemplating this dreamlike situation.

Sitting next to her mother, smelling the fragrance of flowers, Ruan Wan liked to talk to her mother. Otherwise, living in this empty mountain forest would either make her lonely to death or cause her to lose her ability to speak.

"Mom, I'm here. Have you missed me since I last visited? I have. Our new home is beautiful, and I'm doing very well. The people here are all kind and treat me very well. Yes, do you see the deer leg Uncle Li gave me in the basket? Uncle Li is so kind. Mom, you think so too, right? Mom, I have to go now. Your precious daughter has to work hard to live a good life. I'll come to see you again."

I picked up my bamboo basket and walked away into the distance. I unconsciously looked back at the cliff and was immediately terrified. I quickly took small steps away and some bad memories that didn't belong to me flooded my mind.

Although it's not yours, it's like a movie you've watched or a novel you've read; some scenes and chapters are unforgettable once you've seen them.

As usual, we searched for herbs based on the terrain and soil, which made things much simpler. Understanding their habits made it easier to find them.

The herbs we are picking today are for supplying pharmacies; they are commonly used herbs such as angelica, he shou wu, and plantain.

We harvest rare and precious medicinal herbs like ginseng and lingzhi when we come across them, but these are hard to find.

There are many dead trees in the mountains. If you come across wood ear mushrooms or other edible fungi, you can pick them. You can eat them yourself or dry them and sell them.

The weather is great today. Mountain weather is often unpredictable, but today the sky is clear and blue. So I ventured deeper into the mountains to see if I could find any good medicinal herbs while the weather was nice.

As you walk along, the forest is quiet, with birdsong from time to time. You won't be afraid of being alone, just like people by the sea aren't afraid of water. People in the mountains aren't afraid of the mountains.

These are our parents who raised us, and because we understand them, we are not afraid.

Suddenly, a towering tree appeared before my eyes, with a dense canopy and no other vegetation beneath it. The sunlight was sparse, and the ground was covered with withered leaves. I had already formed a thought in my mind. Looking down at the slope of the soil, I realized that this was an excellent environment for the growth of ginseng.

Approaching with anticipation, the specks of red came into view, and I was overjoyed. I ran over and found a seven-leaf ginseng plant; the number of ginseng leaves indicated its age.

Modern artificially cultivated ginseng loses all its medicinal effects after seven years, while wild ginseng is different. It absorbs the essence of heaven and earth, has a long growth cycle, and becomes more potent with age.

After a moment of excitement, I started digging, focusing on the ginseng and digging within a 30-centimeter radius. Ginseng of this age has strong medicinal value in every root, and the more intact it is, the more valuable it is.

They dug it out little by little by hand, and it took them two hours to dig out the whole ginseng.

Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I admired the ginseng in the sunlight. Its human-shaped form was beautiful, with long, branching roots. It was a top-grade ginseng, and I could save myself several years of hard work.

I found a tree of suitable thickness nearby, cut off a section of bark, and covered the inner wall with moss. This way, the ginseng can be preserved for several years without spoiling.

The ginseng seeds are broken off and put back into the pit. The excavated soil is returned to its original position and covered with withered leaves so that later people can also harvest ginseng. After everything is done, the ginseng is carefully placed into a bamboo basket.

Then he knelt in front of the tree, put his hands together, and thanked the mountain for its blessings.

Only by taking in moderation can we achieve longevity.

Looking at the bamboo basket, I was surprised by today's harvest. I couldn't hide my joy, so I started singing a cheerful tune. It was getting late, so I had to head back.

But we still need to go somewhere.

After climbing over a small hill, you'll reach the flat area below, where countless wildflowers are in bloom. In spring, I always come here to play for a while after finishing my herb gathering.

I love flowers; they are beautiful and fragrant, blooming for themselves.

He leaned his basket and belongings against the tree.

"Ah~~ Fly!"

The happiest thing is to rush down the mountain with cheers and then watch the butterflies that you startled flutter around in all directions.

Colorful butterflies flutter and dance, a beautiful sight that has a tremendous impact on the soul, making people forget their troubles and unconsciously move their bodies. The tie-dyed skirts radiate a charming brilliance, captivating the eyes and hearts of people along with the flowers and butterflies.

A gentle breeze stirs, carrying the fragrance of perfume.

Their bodies began to dance, a dance dedicated to the world and the earth, a dance that never seemed to tire.

Learning to dance is painful, but dancing it is so addictive that you feel like you're becoming one with nature.

It would be even more wonderful if there were string and wind instruments to accompany this, but since I can play them but have no zither to play with, singing in accompaniment would be a good match. After thinking for a moment, I began to sing:

Endless tears of longing fall like blood on red beans.

Spring willows and flowers bloom endlessly in the painted pavilion

Unable to sleep soundly after dusk, the screen window is exposed to wind and rain.

Unable to forget both new and old sorrows

Unable to swallow the jade-like grains and golden water shield, my throat was choked.

The reflection in the mirror cannot show her thin figure.

Unable to straighten brows

I can't even tell what's going on anymore.

Like the verdant mountains that cannot be hidden.

The ever-flowing green water gently…

The wind, the clouds, the sky, the flowers, the butterflies, the grass and trees were mesmerized and captivated, unaware that the listeners from the mortal world on the other side of the valley had been completely bewitched.

Xia Changfeng was injured and fled into the mountains. He lost too much blood from his wounds and collapsed in the valley.

Startled awake by the sound, I looked up and saw a young girl dressed in mountain folk clothing playing with butterflies.

The woman stood quietly among the flowers, and only then could her face be seen clearly. She was startled and thought, "At the age of thirteen or fourteen, she already has such beauty. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she will be a beauty that can topple kingdoms in the future."

Suddenly, I saw a young girl dancing amidst the blooming flowers; her beauty dazzled my eyes.

"Gentle as water, lingering as the wind"

The boy couldn't help but admire her; her black hair was like silk, seemingly blending into the wind.

Even in the capital, the best dancers could not compete with him in the slightest.

I couldn't help but stand up to appreciate the beautiful scenery. A beautiful woman's voice began to sing, as if drifting from afar, light and ethereal with a touch of sadness, blending with the crisp sound of bells, creating a unique atmosphere.

Xia Changfeng couldn't help but exclaim, "Is this the human world or a fairyland? How can there be such a beautiful place and such beautiful people in the world? Is this a dream or am I dying and have arrived in a fairyland?" Suddenly, a sharp pain struck, and everything went black before his eyes, and he knew nothing more.

Just as they were enjoying themselves with singing and dancing, something suddenly rolled down from the valley.

Ruan Wan thought to herself, "I hope it's not some wild animal. A bear would be better; I could just lie on the ground and play dead. But a tiger would be a bit more troublesome; it can climb trees high up, and I'd be fine after one night."

Ruan Wan had made all the necessary preparations to slip away at any moment, but there was no sign of anything happening on the other side.

The setting sun shone on my face, not very warm, but it still gave me a fright and I broke out in a cold sweat.

I waited for about ten minutes, but there was still no movement.

"Never mind, let's just die."

Ruan Wan slowly approached, and a human hand emerged from the grass, seemingly belonging to a person.

I rushed over and saw a young man dressed in lake green lying in the grass.

Ruan Wan picked up a stick and poked it, but there was no reaction. "Is it a dead person?"

At this moment, Ruan Wan was no longer afraid. She turned his body over, checked his pulse, and found that he was not completely dead, but close to death.

He had only a faint pulse left, several wounds on his body, and an arrow wound in his right chest, which caused massive bleeding because the arrow had been forcibly pulled out.

"That's really reckless."

Fortunately, I carried bandages with me. When trying to survive in the mountains, I always carry some life-saving supplies with me.

After stopping the bleeding, I wanted to carry it on my back, but I couldn't. Dancing had used up too much energy. I should have known better than to be so vain.

"Wow, you look so thin, how come you're so heavy?"

Startled birds took flight. He was a man in his past life, and he will be a man in his next. Since there was no one around, he didn't care about anything else.

They dragged and rolled him all the way back, and it wasn't until midnight that they finally got him back.

Lighting the charcoal fire instantly warmed us up; although it was springtime, the nights in the mountains were still quite cold.

I boiled water and brought it to the bedside. Not wanting to move his body, I had to use scissors to cut his clothes off and remove the bandages.

They carefully cleaned the wounds, leaving some deep ones exposed after cleaning, as tetanus would be disastrous if they got infected.

There are no vaccines available in this era. Looking back at that person, there was no reaction at all; it seems he had passed out.

After treating the wound, it was already past midnight, and there was nothing more to do. So, we covered him with a blanket and went to rest on the bamboo couch next to him. He was too tired from the day, and Ruan Wan fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

When I woke up the next day, the sun was high in the sky and the sunlight was dazzling. I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I got up. It was too uncomfortable to sleep on the bamboo couch, but there was only one bed available. The patient had to take the lead, and Ruan Wan was a kind-hearted person.

I rushed to check on the person on the bed. They were still asleep, their face pale with a flushed complexion. I touched them and exclaimed, "Oh no, they're infected."

He carried a wooden bucket to the nearby mountain stream, filled it halfway with water, and then pulled out a jar of fruit wine from under the bed.

After soaking and wringing out the towel, I first cleaned my face, which was covered in dirt and grime. My skin was quite delicate, and I couldn't help but think that I hadn't seen what he looked like yet.

She then rested her chin on her hand and carefully examined his appearance.

"Hmm, your forehead is quite full, and your eyelashes are quite long too, and your nose bridge is fairly high."

His lips were pale and looked somewhat dehydrated due to excessive blood loss, and below that was his Adam's apple.

I didn't notice it when I was little, but as I grew up, I found that the boys around me suddenly developed this thing. It moves when they talk, and it's quite funny.

Involuntarily, I reached out my index finger and touched it. It was hard and moved gently with my breathing. Suddenly, my eyes were drawn to those broad shoulders.

Upon seeing that heaving chest, Ruan Wan's face flushed red, and she dared not look any longer.

Thinking about it, although I'm not exactly an innocent girl and have read some of the plots in novels, I've never even held a boy's hand in my past and present lives. Suddenly, I feel so pathetic.

"Uh~" The man suddenly moved, and Ruan Wan was so startled that she pulled her hand back.

Then there was no further reaction, probably because the fever was making her uncomfortable.

Ruan Wan took a deep breath. "The dead are the greatest, ptooey, ptooey, no, no, saving lives is the greatest priority."

Last night, I took off his clothes in the dark, without having time to look closely at anything, and then I lifted the blanket.

"Nice physique! Looks quite fair-skinned, but I didn't expect you to have such well-defined pecs and abs."

Before he could finish speaking, he shook his head, his hair disheveled, looking like a madman.

I used a towel soaked in alcohol to wipe his body. To be honest, the process was quite uncomfortable. I had to focus on watching his body and not have any other thoughts, and I couldn't let the alcohol get into his wounds.

It dries and then wipes again, wipes and then dries again, occasionally giving the baby a few sips of water.

I eventually fell asleep on the edge of the bed without even realizing it. Maybe the position was too uncomfortable and I wanted to change positions, so I fell off the bed and woke up instantly.

I touched my forehead; thankfully, the fever had subsided.

Ruan Wan struggled to get up; her legs were numb. She limped out, washed up, and ate something. She hadn't eaten all day and was starving.

Next, we began to sort through the medicinal herbs we had collected.

While drying herbs by the fence, Uncle Li came over and said, "Xiao Wan, I didn't see you picking herbs yesterday. I was worried something might have happened to you, so I came to check on you."

Thinking of the men inside, men! Ruan Wan suddenly realized something.

"Xiaowan, Xiaowan?"

"Uh, Uncle Li, it's nothing. I just sweated a little yesterday and caught a chill, so I stayed home to rest." As she spoke, Ruan Wan coughed a few times, and her pale face, combined with her lack of sleep, made her look like she really was in trouble.

"Then hurry up and see a doctor!" Suddenly, he remembered something else. "Look at my brain! You're just a doctor. You take good care of yourself. If you have any difficulties, tell Uncle Li. I'll help if I can."

"Thank you, Uncle Li. I will take good care of myself."

"Okay, I'm going now. Take good care of yourself!"

Watching Uncle Li walk away, Ruan Wan quickly ran back into the house, looked at the man inside, and let out a long howl.

"This is a man, a man, and I am a woman. How could I forget something so important?"

Ruan Wan hurriedly found a set of men's clothes in the wardrobe, carefully checked that he was really not awake, changed out of the women's clothes, tied her hair into a man's bun, and used some simple cosmetics in front of the bronze mirror to make the angles of her face more prominent, so that she looked more like a man.

Looking at the handsome "man" in the bronze mirror, Ruan Wan smiled smugly.

She learned the makeup technique from the dancers and musicians in the town. Some of them had hidden ailments that made it inconvenient for them to see a doctor, so they heard about it from somewhere and went to Ruan Wan.

Although the dancers and musicians at this time did not sell their bodies, they still had a few male admirers, which was quite common.

Ruan Wan saves people indiscriminately, and besides, she can also make money from it, so why not?

They taught Ruan Wan how to do makeup, saying, "A woman's beauty is seven parts natural and three parts makeup. This is a great art. If you master it, you'll be better than any scholar-official." After saying this, they laughed, as if they thought Ruan Wan couldn't understand. Ruan Wan had lived two lives and was thirty years old in total.

Although she was still quite young at the time, she had already grown into a beautiful young woman. The dancers knew that Ruan Wan was an orphan, and several of them even persuaded her to join their profession.

They kept saying they didn't have to suffer anymore, but Ruan Wan pretended not to hear them. Besides, Ruan Wan didn't feel like she was suffering at all; at least she was living a carefree and happy life.

But they meant well. Once she accepted her fate, she didn't feel anything. They reminded Ruan Wan that it was very dangerous for a pretty girl like her to go out alone. If she were kidnapped and sold by human traffickers, her life would be over.

When Ruan Wan came out, she changed her clothes. One of the dancers wiped away her tears and said that she was sold in this way.

Although most of them spoke in a somewhat improper manner, they were all nice people and always gave Ruan Wan generous consultation fees.