The Magnolia Beauty

Suyin imagined all the probabilities to who this guy really was. Was he someone who was going to take her as a prisoner? Would she live? or will she vanish into thin air?

Suyin didn"t get the opportunity to get married or even have a boyfriend yet because she was pursuing a stupid boy back the present day.

With Wansun outside of the carriage, he overheard Suyin"s groans filled with a sorrowful pitch. He laughed softly so she couldn"t get the impression of his character.

Wansun wanted to make a good first impression the first time he met her, but it seems like forcing her would be the only way for Wansun to reveal her that he was speaking the truth the first time he met her (about his family and background).

Images of death darted in Suyin"s mind inside of the carriage, which bothered her because she had many ideas that she still needed to do.

She felt overwhelmed but didn"t want to let the man outside of the carriage know her vulnerability. She mentally slapped herself to get a grip of herself and took a deep breath, widening her eyes so she could clear her mind.

The carriage swiftly stopped in motion, causing Suyin to fall out of her seat. She now could feel the weight lift, as if someone got off of the carriage. a.s.suming it was the person who was transporting her to wherever she was at (Wansun), she was determined to discover a way out and make a run for it.

"3.....2...1" Suyin counted down, prepared to leap out of the carriage like a marathon athlete. Right before she could jump out and sprint as fast as she could, the curtains raised with an elderly maid kneeling in front of Suyin.

"Gooo...?"

She could only say the words, hesitant if she should make the run for it.

Why is there a maid here? The servant antic.i.p.ated for Suyin to get down from the carriage, in which she promptly did.

She bounced down from the carriage (instead of going down with the aid of the maid) with an amazed look. What was in front of her laid a delicate and s.p.a.cious home!

Some of the maids inside the manor were occupied doing their own ch.o.r.es--clothes, baskets, pots of flowers, etc. Suyin could see how vast the manor was! Compared to her home, this place would beat hers in a heartbeat!

"Young miss." One of the young maids beckoned to Suyin, who stooped in front of her.

"Ah, huh?" Suyin, still in awe, glanced at the maid.

The maid held onto a pair of clothing for her to wear. "The young master had requested you to go change first before you meet him in his pavilion" Suyin nodded, perceiving the idea of why she was here now.

The man earlier could have really been telling her the truth! With no choice but to follow the orders, she went inside to the guest room to change her clothes.

Gracefully with a hairpin borrowed from one of the cases that Wansun had requested the maid to give to Suyin, she deliberately took each step with a n.o.ble characteristic. The silken aqua robe wrapped around her body, representing the behavior of grace and prosperity around Suyin. Upon arriving at the courtyard, Wansun promptly shifted his concentration to Suyin, gazing at the beauty for quite some time. Unaware of the moment that had pa.s.sed when Wansun was staring at her, Suyin, who dodged his eye contact, marched towards his way.

"What is this?" Although she deliberately tried to ruin the mood, he grinned, relaxing by the pond with a fishing pole next to it.

"It fits you perfectly." The male acknowledged, casually fishing in his pond to catch a fish.

"What do you mean, "it fits you perfectly?" Do you think that this is a joke?"

Wansun grasped the bamboo fishing pole and laid it to the side of the tree and went into the pavilion. Suyin paused when she saw what she was seeing what was in front of her. Suyin"s mouth open wide, astonished. Wansun looked at her reaction and chuckled with amus.e.m.e.nt.

What stood in front of the two were endless rows of herbs! Dried herbs, regular plant herbs, roots, vines, all in rows.

"You should figure what these are, correct?"

Suyin could only nod her head, a.s.suming what was going on now. Was he going to teach her medicine?

Wansun laughed, "I apologize about being rude earlier, and not to mention, not introducing myself any sooner than ever." Wansun slightly bent his head to Suyin, setting his right arm to his chest like a gentleman. "My name is Cheng Wansung, and I really come from a family of medicine." He smiled, scratching the back of his head for being embarra.s.sed that someone didn"t recognize him.

"Suyin. Han Suyin." She felt convinced that he was really a medical expert. "I...just have a question that I wanted to ask." Wansun raised his head to gesture that he was listening to her. "Why did you make me change into these clothes?" she questioned, lifting her arms out to show the beautiful robe on her.

Wansun sat down on one of the stone chairs, "I"ve heard around town that some lady was trying to learn medicine." It was evident that Suyin was the person that Wansun indirectly mentioned.

"As for the outfit.... if you would like to work as a student under my care, I don"t think it"s proper for me to mistreat my first student." Suyin approved, understanding why he had done this in the first place.

"But... why me? You do know that I am a WOMAN." Suyin couldn"t comprehend that he was willing to teach a girl the ways of medicine. It made sense that a woman touching another man or person"s body would be considered as hara.s.sing others in the past, but she just wanted to know why he had the desire to educate her.

Wansun lit a bitter grin to his face, one that Suyin would never see through him. "My mother learned medicine and pa.s.sed it onto my father. As a child, she was a mother who I felt could cure the world if she wanted to." Suyin listened, sympathizing the male. He let out a big sigh before patting his thighs to change the subject. "Anyway, why don"t we get started?"

Through the whole day until night time, Wansun explained Suyin the basics of Chinese herbal medicine, recognizing the difference between the Yin and Yang in the body and how it can easily affect anyone. She toured through his medicine hall which was almost as big as the Long clan"s royal medical library until dusk came.

"I"ll take you back home." Wansun offered. Suyin smiled, swaying her head to decline him. "Thank you for teaching me. I learned so much today that I think I"ll be in debt to you if you help me like this." Suyin already felt bad enough that he was willing to teach her. She held one of the medical books tightly to her chest.

The book was originally a blue book, but due to its age, the color faded to a light, sky blue cover. It explained about the different types of herbs with ink pictures drawn into it. Wansun had given the book to her as a contract as a mentor and a student. He proposed Suyin to find and draw any herb that she couldn"t recognize and write it in there. Since he had a medical library, he would help identify the herb or unknown item and explain about uses of the certain item that Suyin drew to his best knowledge.

With Suyin walking out of the door, she changed back into her plain clothing because she felt inconvenient in the robe (because she was nowhere near a status to wear something beautiful as that which wasn"t hers). Wansun followed behind her out of the door.

"Are you sure you don"t need a ride home?" He offered one last time as she shook her head.

"No. I greatly appreciate all that you have done today. I"ll find you again when I can." Suyin was worried about getting kicked out of the inn.

Not to mention, Areum is probably freaking out that she had disappeared for so long. She didn"t get a chance to tell her that she was essentially kidnapped and brought in as a student.

She hurried off by foot back to the inn.

Wansun watched Suyin run back home on foot. He was concerned about her safety, but couldn"t deny that she was capable of handling anything that came in her way.

The first time he had seen Suyin, it had reminded him of his mother. She was a pa.s.sionate woman who tried to break the taboo of women learning medicine, only to fall ill from an unknown disease. The illness took a toll on her life when Wansun was still a child.

With the secret scroll of medicine hidden in the family"s hall, Wansun"s father took over his wife"s role in order to pa.s.s on her legacy of talent.

He sensed that Suyin had a gifted talent for medicine, and from his teachings today, Suyin caught on smoothly without any problems. Following her figure disappear in the dark, he traveled back home for some tea under the pavilion.

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"Areum! I have so much to tell you!" Suyin swung the door open, only to see her packing up their belongings. Areum bowed to Suyin, apologizing that she couldn"t find a job to contribute something for the both of them.

"My lady, we"re getting kicked out tomorrow morning."

Suyin"s happy mood was shot down instantly. Because Suyin was so excited about learning medicine, her selfishness had forgotten about finding a job to pay for their stay. Disappointed, Suyin kept Areum in comfort, forgetting to tell her the good news about studying medicine as she tucked the book tightly in her robe.

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Areum "My lady... where are we going to go?" Areum held onto the leftover bags of clothes that they had left. Suyin didn"t respond, only giving a shrug to her shoulders. They walked together in silence, not sure where they should go or do. Down the dirt road with few people roaming around since it was too early in the morning. The only sound that could be heard were the cries of the rooster and the footstep of clients walking in and out of shops.

An elderly man dressed in a white robe stumbled down to the ground, lifeless in front of Areum and Suyin. Surprised at the unexpected appearance in front of her, Suyin quickly shook the man, kneeling to the ground where he laid.

"Are you okay?!" Suyin asked, shaking the elderly man non-stop. People proceeded to walk past the man as if it wasn"t a big deal. Areum was startled but only attend next to Suyin because she didn"t know what to do. Suyin wanted to help him, but she knew that the people would only complain and dispute against her if she helped the elderly man there in public. She didn"t want to cause any more trouble for both Areum and the old man.

With no choice, she decided to shake his shoulders a couple of times, praying he would wake up from his unconsciousness. He moaned in agony, weak enough to converse.

"Young kind lady, please take me to my home." The old man pleaded. A small scroll dropped from his pockets down into the dirt. He could barely get up and even talk, only to black out of consciousness once again. Areum was doubtful about the man"s last words, but Suyin had already carried the old man on her back.

He was a small tiny man, and Suyin could take him as far as she can and help the man. She was, after all, a doctor back in the present. She wouldn"t let any patient or person die in front of her like that. Suyin used her chin to aim at the scroll that fell from the old man"s pockets.

"Areum, take that and look at it please."

Areum got the small scroll from the ground and rolled it out. The scroll was about the size of a phone and showed the map to his home. Strange as it appeared, it had, " (Lili"s Home)" at the top corner of the scroll.

The old man"s house was deep at the East of the town in Yuewei, near the countryside (opposite of where they came from, of course). Suyin took a couple of rests in between the walk, but couldn"t afford to lose any time with the man"s life clinging on.

Finally, upon reaching a small cottage home, the two had noticed that the old man lived by himself. In front of the house had piles of wood that was supplied, ready for the cold winter and small farmland with herbs and plants. Suyin didn"t have the leisure since she was still carrying the old man piggyback style.

She was sweating, but it was all worth it for even just one life. She carefully placed him down on the bed and touched his pulse on his right wrist, sitting down on a wooden chair next to his bed. For her conclusion of his physical examination with all of the knowledge that she had, it appeared that the old man had fainted from fatigue.

Areum was still half-awake from waking up so early thanks to the owner of the inn"s obnoxious voice. "He"s alright already. Let"s go."

Suyin"s feet couldn"t move, stuck there as she sat by the old man"s side. It felt strange, but the old man looked familiar to her as if a piece of memory had been erased. The ease in her heart and mind a.s.sured her that he was no enemy of hers.

"Let"s wait until he"s awake." Suyin put her arms to the side of the bed and rested on it. It was too early to be able to identify whether or not the man had any internal injuries since Suyin was far too unequipped for something like that, so she waited until the evening, to the point that Suyin and Areum had fallen soundly asleep till then.

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*A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER*

Suyin woke up, flinching along the way as she opened her eyes. She unintentionally knocked out waiting for the old man to exhibit any signs or symptoms of complication. She flew out of the seat after she realized that the old man had vanished.

"Areum!" Suyin turned around, to see Areum sleeping conveniently on the ground with her head lying next to a barrel. Alerted, she woke up from Suyin"s voice. "Help me find the old man!"

The two began to search in the small home for the old man, only to find nothing but an empty home. "My lady, look! I discovered this!" Areum delivered the letter to Suyin.

"To my savior.

Thank you for helping me while many others may have just pa.s.sed by me.

There are things that are best kept in the dark, such as who I am and what purpose I serve in this world.

I advise for you to take over this home until I, one day, have fully accomplished my duties in this life, for I believe that you will one day make this world a better place.

The flowers that had blossomed in the spring will soon wither in fall, but the petals tell a story of its time.

The season that has been granted will soon blossom again in the next spring."