The smog from the clay stove had emitted in the atmosphere and out from the little chimney"s hole in the house, showing signs of life in the house. It has been two weeks since Suyin and Areum lingered at the small cottage home. After she obtained the letter, Suyin considered that she would take care of the house until the old man return, worried that he would come back to a home that was deserted in shatters if Suyin and Areum left. The house had a large yard in the back packed with fresh vegetables, plants, fruits, and even medicinal herbs. The two remained in the house, taking care of the plants, house, and yard. They were grateful that the old man had offered his home and give them a place for the two to stay, otherwise, they would have been homeless and would have struggled to find a place to stay.Areum was in the yard watering the plotland while Suyin was in the house, steaming vegetables for the two. Areum proceeded to water the plot of land by using the bucket that was next to the well from the home. She watered the vegetables until she saw a figure laying on the ground.
Areum was frightened since she didn"t know if the person was dead or not, but recognized that the size of the body was one of a child"s! Alert, she instantly moved towards the body of the child who rested with her arms cupped to her knees. The child"s eyes were shut tightly as if she was in distress and trembled, enduring the pain. Areum set the bucket down on the dirt and picked her up.
"Are you okay? I"ll bring you to my lady." Areum affirmed, swiftly wrapping the girl"s arm around her shoulders and carried her into the house.
"Suyin!"
Suyin saw that Areum was carrying the girl wrapped around her. She immediately placed the pot to the side of the table so that it wouldn"t burn from the oven.
"A child?!" She blurted out. The girl was hyperventilating, panting really hard to the point where Suyin could tell that the child had been enduring pain. "Areum put her on the bed, I"ll check her pulse!" Areum scurried to the room with Suyin following behind. Areum put the girl on the bed with Suyin sitting down on a chair next to the girl.
"Do you mind if I take a look?" Suyin calmly requested for the child"s consent. It was essential to ask permission first if they were still conscious. Suyin"s specialty was in children so she grasped on how to converse to kids with the proper tone and manner. The girl could barely nod her head, granting her authority to check on her.
Suyin felt the child"s small pulse on her wrist, attempting to recognize the heartbeat pattern.
"Strange, she has an irregular heartbeat pattern," Suyin spoke, trying to solve what was wrong with the child. "Are you hurt all over?" Suyin asked the child. She steered to her knees, aching as her tears began to roll down because she couldn"t handle the pain anymore.
"Good girl. I know that you"ve been enduring for a while now." Suyin tenderly caressed her head in a caring manner. She was amazed by how much the child had been enduring the pain. She gently touched her knees which felt tender. As soon as the touch was pressed, she shifted her legs as if she felt the pain.
"That hurts." The child told. Suyin nodded. She wanted to reduce the pain and comprehend what was wrong with the child, but because of her abnormal pulse, it was too complex for her to figure anything out. If only she had her gears back in the hospital!
This would have been far smoother with a blood test, bone density examinations, and other tests to run to rule out the problem! Suyin couldn"t show the child that she was troubled so she lit a grin.
"I"m going to let you lay down straight, okay?" Suyin asked gingerly, making sure that the girl felt comfortable. She nodded her head and glanced at Suyin.
The child didn"t look frightened as she did before she came in the door since Suyin"s face didn"t seem defeated at the sight of the child.
"What is your name, little girl?" Suyin remained to keep her distractions off of the pain. What is crucial for a child is to keep their mind off of the discomfort that they are enduring in order to lessen the severity of pain they were in.
"Chuhua." She replied with one word, not saying more or less.
"Ah! What a lovely name! It means chrysanthemum, a type of flower. Did you know that?" Suyin occupied the child with facts, keeping her composed as she swayed her head. "Did you know that your name signifies happiness and longevity?" The child"s eyes widened, amazed at Suyin"s comment.
"Does it really mean that?" Throughout the child"s life, the doctors had always revealed her parents that they didn"t know what was wrong with her and that they weren"t certain if she would survive the sickness. The child wanted nothing less than normal life, but because of her illness, the doctors considered it "hopeless."
Suyin lit a smile to her face, nodding. "Un! If you have such a wonderful name like this, you can endure anything in this world!" Suyin softly pressed on Chuhua"s muscles, but this time, Chuhua didn"t react to the injury.
"Does it still hurt?" Suyin examined, watching to see if her facial expression changed.
She nodded, "I can endure it this time, though." The child didn"t look uncomfortable as she did a couple of minutes ago.
"How does it hurt?" Suyin wanted to know the symptoms to at least get a bigger picture of her illness.
"Sometimes this pain comes and goes in my body and it feels like it"s burning everywhere," Chuhua described, hopeless that her explanation would cure her. Even the doctors couldn"t figure out what was wrong with her.
"At times, it stings a lot, and then it doesn"t hurt as much anymore." The pain still lingered in Chuhua while describing her symptoms to Suyin, who incorporated the information into her head.
"If it"s a burning sensation and touching areas that are vulnerable to this would cause more pain...." Suyin darted off, gazing at the wall for a couple of seconds. "That means that it has to do something with the muscles."
Suyin reflected herself. Back in the present days, Suyin had a case similar to this during her first years of being a pediatric doctor. That was a couple of years back and because she attended many children with various diseases, she couldn"t recall the forgotten situation and problem!
"Well, I think I have something to start with though." Suyin patted the child"s head softly then got out of her chair. "Areum, look after her please, I"ll hurry back and treat her. Don"t forget to put out the fire!" she raced to head out of the door. Suyin had an idea that would positively treat her illness temporarily.
It was a good thing that she met Wansun. The blue book that Suyin kept inside of her robe was always with her in case she needed something, and this was the perfect opportunity to utilize the book for help!
Suyin already had some experience in using Chinese herbs back in the present day since she had been interested in ancient Chinese medicine since she was little, but many of the books were either burned or lost from the aging.
"I remember there was a plant that would help ease pain and stiffness." Suyin strolled outside of the home, traveling to the little forest near the house while she held the book in front of her. She flipped through the pages to find the picture of a plant to make sure that it was the one that she was thinking of.
The trees surrounded Suyin, making her look small in the forest since they were tall and slender. This forest wasn"t as large and dark as the Forest of Lost Souls and there was a dirt pathway so she wouldn"t be lost.
"Impressive enough, I do recall that the plant is commonly used for the elderly. Problems such as arthritis and muscle strains were inscribed in here for the indications of the herb." She flipped through the pages, continuously pacing without stopping.
Suyin found the page of the herb. "That"s it! Ying Yue"s flower lily." Suyin abruptly felt a thud against her head, causing her to nearly fall to the ground.
She ma.s.saged her head to lessen the pain and seized her book from the ground, dusting it off. She promptly bowed, "I"m sorry!" She gazed at the person"s face and paused.
"T-Tienzheng!"
For some odd reason, she was always colliding into this person whether or not she liked it. This time though, Qin Fuhua looked dramatically different from how she remembered him. He stood up straight, with his feet placed together like a commander. His aura was filled with loathing and coldness surrounding him.
He wasn"t in any common attire as he did before. The male was far more attractive and tall, his hair up with a golden crane coiled at the top of his head. A tall, long black robe wrapped around his body and his silken grey robe hid behind it. The man"s appearance didn"t yell out, "scholar" anymore, but he resembled a handsome Prince from the depths of h.e.l.l.
Qin Fuhua lowered his brows, giving a brush or two to his chest. He didn"t say a word or didn"t wince at her presence.
"What are you doing here?" No. Suyin shouldn"t even question why he was there. She didn"t need to know what his business was there for. "Ahem. I mean, sorry for getting in your way. I"ll be taking my leave now." Suyin moved aside, lifting her right hand as a "excuse me" as she continued her search for the herb.
"Are you looking for something?" Qin Fuhua spoke firmly, not moving a single step ahead. Suyin ceased, lifting one eyebrow up.
"Oh, is the great scholar actually interested?" She thought to her head, lighting up a mischievous smile to her face. She casually spun around to him, but Qin Fuhua didn"t turn to stare at her so she faced his back. Gleefully, she hopped past him and traveled off from the dirt trail. Maybe she shouldn"t tell him so he would actually be curious for once.
She looked at the side of her eyes to sneak out a glance to view if he was accompanying her but he didn"t. He proceeded to walk forward from the dirt pathway, which made her upset. Not caring why he was there, he wasn"t important at the moment, anyway.
-----
Suyin reached to an edge of a cliff, searching the edge to find the flower. It was a small little flower herb that only grew in areas of the cliffs. The legend behind the Ying Yue"s flower lily was a tale about a gorgeous woman named Ying Yue. Everyone admired and cherished her because of her pa.s.sion for flowers and generosity, but unknowingly, the more respect and love she obtained from people, resentment emanated.
Because of her fondness for flowers, a jealous female merchant poisoned the flowers in her field, causing her to fall into a deep sleep at the cliff of the fields when she was nurturing them. After the incident, all of the flowers had disappeared and her body transformed into a white lily flower bell that dangled next to the cliff.
It was stated that these flowers were used to cure muscle difficulties among the elderly because of her mother who had complications with stiffness in her hands. The lily flowers then radiated all over China, only apparent near cliffs that were believed to be the help of the spirit of Ying Yue, who loved everyone, notably her mother.
Suyin had discovered this story when she was a kid from her grandmother. It was a myth that was told to her grandmother from her late mother and so it pa.s.sed on. Suyin had wished that Ying Yue"s flower lilies would exist during the present time, but people had suggested that the flower had disappeared in the world due to industrialization and greed for land and money.
Suyin couldn"t believe it that the herb she needed the most was the flower that she knew the best (in terms of the story behind this).
Suyin sought to look for the little white-belled flower and noticed it at a further end of the cliff. Suyin would have to bend down and reach for it if she wanted it. She wasn"t a big fan of heights, but for the sake of the child, she had to do this to help the little girl since she promised.
"Alright." Suyin let out a big sigh to ease her tension. "Do it for Chuhua." She spoke to herself in her head. Suyin paced to the edge of the cliff and stooped, trying to grasp the flowers that were right in front of her.
"Just...a little more..." Suyin inched closer to the very end of the cliff to seize the flowers. "Got it!" Suyin plucked the flowers with the palm of her right hand. Unknowingly, her left hand was too unsteady, causing her to slip. Gravity took over her body as she fell down to the cliff, dropping head first.
Misfortune was always Suyin"s shadow. Whenever something good happens to her, something always has to wrong. "I"m so sorry Chuhua!" She closed her eyes, in hopes that maybe in her next life, her bad luck wouldn"t follow her.