“Ning Yun, would you introduce us?”

She turned around and made direct eye contact with Ning Qian. She felt like a child who was caught sneaking her boyfriend in the house. Well, that's the situation she thought she was in and the reaction she needed.

“About that,” she said, “He’s a patient.”

Ning Qian narrowed his eyes, “Really?”

“I’m not lying.”

Ning Qian still didn’t believe anything that his apprentice/daughter was saying. It was actually sad. He was supposed to trust the person who’s closest to him. That’s just common sense. Well, it wasn’t, but Ning Yun thought it should be. Still, she had some convincing to do which could only be done with a little manipulation. She really hated when people thought she was in a relationship.

Like in high school. She used to borrow some of her friends' jackets–the majority of her friends were guys, so the jackets were always oversized. Because of this, all of her friends and her teachers were always convinced that she was in a relationship, and every single time it was a different guy. But every single one of the jackets she borrowed belonged to people she thought of as siblings. It was a pain in the neck to correct all the time so at some point she called all of them family members.

She sighed, playing a pitiful act, “Master, how come you can’t believe your own daughter? What can I do if my own father can’t trust me?”

Ning Qian sighed. He realized that the bad part of him seemed to rub off on this kid more than he wanted to. All in all, he realized that her being like this was his fault. He should teach her more about being human. Gosh, he really was bad at parenting.

“Alright then. Since the patient looks like he’s feeling better, he should be going on his way, correct?”

Ning Yun nodded, “Right. I’ll send him off then.”

She grabbed the hand of the person, “I’ll show you out. Let’s go.”

“...Okay.”

Ning Yun walked him all the way to the front of the inn door, holding his hand the entire way. She let go when they were in front of the door.

“Remember, Mr. Spirit, if you feel unwell, go to a doctor rather than passing out in a random place. I can’t guarantee someone will care about a random body laying on the floor.”

She pushed him out of the door, “Be on your way now.”

“Hey,” the spirit turned around, “I’ll find you someday, Ning Yun.”

She laughed a bit, “Should I be scared?”

“That’s up to you.”

When Ning Yun closed the door and turned around, she was met with Ning Qian, who clearly wanted a full rundown of the story. She gave it to him without putting up a fight.

How it started with her needing a bath because the dirt on her body was annoying her. How she went down to ask the innkeeper for a way of taking a bath and ended up fixing a bath for herself by walking water from the well to the room. How she saw a person pass out and, because of her doctor sense, she took him in, performed a check up, and waited for him to wake up. How she really needed the bath, and decided to take one right in front of the unconscious patient. How he woke up in the middle of her bath, and everything she managed to figure out about the patient. Everything up until the moment he walked into the room, she told him about.

“You foolish child!”

Ning Yun flinched. She was never good when people were overly emotional. She always ended up crying. Whether she was directly involved in the situation or was outside of it–whether she was a young child or a young adult–she always ended up crying no matter what she wanted, but as a small countermeasure, she would always hide her hands behind her back and clench her hands around her clothing.

“Why did you not come find me?”

“Because I didn’t know…” her voice dragged off and got thinner.

“Speak louder,” his tone of voice was so harsh that she almost flinched.

She couldn’t say anything. When she tried to open her mouth, her lips would just quiver. Ning Qian’s emotions were too overbearing for her to have the courage to say anything, and when she did, it was a whisper. Ning Yun didn’t think that people knew that opening one’s mouth took a lot of courage. At least, she thought it was.

“I didn’t know where to…”

She was on the verge of tears. The wrinkling of her damp clothes did nothing to help.

“I’m sorry…“I shouldn’t have left…I should’ve stayed in the room…”

There wasn’t a single crack in her voice. She didn’t sniffle or cry, but it felt like tears were supposed to be running out of her eyes. It was like she was crying yet tears weren’t leaving her eyes. It was scary in a way.

“I apologize,” she said, bowing like in all those Asian dramas she watched. The thinning of her voice disappeared, as well as the dragging.

“Look up. Ning Yun, put your head up.”

When she was this emotional, she followed instructions with less resistance than usual, so she straightened her back without her eyes leaving the floor.

“Look up,” his voice seemed to get softer with every word, “Look at me.”

Ning Yun shook her head. This was something she wasn’t going to budge on, and there was a reason. She hated people seeing her cry even if there were no tears. It was nothing about her being a possible ugly crier. She just hated people seeing her overly emotional. Just like how she felt uncomfortable when she was around people who were emotional.

“Ning Yun. Look up.”

“Don’t wanna,” now, she was sounding like a kid. Small and quivering. Forcing out just enough words to get her point across.

Ning Qian sighed, “Children are so difficult.”

He picked up his bag, walked up behind her and picked his daughter up. Being picked up and sitting on someone’ s arm was unsuited for a person her age. She’d almost hiccupped in surprise.

“It is time to leave. This village is not worth saving,” he said.

After hearing that, her shivers stopped because what he was saying was insane. Saving the village? He couldn’t save them? He wasn’t suited for slaying a ghoul, ghost, or anything of that nature. And yet, he spoke with such confidence that she thought it was true. She really thought that he could save this little village.

“You can…save them?”

Ning Qian opened the door, “Well, you saved the children, but there’s also an illness spreading through the adults. In truth, most of the villagers died because of it, but they marked it off as a curse since the children were dying horrific deaths.”

He was talking like this was normal. Like small villages always ended in illness, which Ning Yun wasn’t surprised about. Small villages usually didn’t have a doctor meaning that they would have to travel long ways to get to one. Add Mr. Spirit that was killing off the children, the village they were in was one of death. It was bound to turn into a ghost town, and there were many other villages like this.

“You can’t save everyone,” she said, absorbing yet another lesson for her teacher. Although in this situation, it was more like ‘won’t.’ Ning Qian won’t save the village. There was no clear reason why. Maybe he saw something outside that made him come to the conclusion that he shouldn’t save them, but there was no reason for Ning Yun to pry in matters that weren’t her own. Besides, she was already tired from all of her crying.

“That is correct,” Ning Qian said, “Not all people need to be saved.”

Ning Qian had to admit that he had a bad way of thinking. His mindset was one that he would get spit at for having. However, this part of his mindset, he really wanted to pass down to his daughter. What he said just now was the worst out of the rules he lived by, but he wanted to make sure that this stuck with her.

Not everyone can be saved, yes, but not everyone needs to be saved either.

He wanted to engrave that into her head before she set off on a journey all by herself. He didn’t want her bowing down to her patients. He didn’t want to see someone he taught–his family–to be held down by the duty of a doctor. If someone couldn’t be saved, they die, and if someone didn’t deserve to be saved, they die. It was something similar to a god complex, and it was something all doctors went through at least once.

“Always remember that.”

“Okay…”

After using energy to cry for the first time since she came into her new situation and hauling water plus a person up stairs, Ning Yun’s body and her mind were insanely tired. It wasn’t usual for her to fall asleep sitting up, but she ended up passing out in the arms of her new father figure.

Ning Qian looked around the room for anything else that belonged to them. He picked up the few hair ornaments that Ning Yun had and placed them in his sleeve. When he got downstairs, he threw the room fee on the innkeeper counter, and walked out of the small, dying village in the middle of the night. It was on that night that the village’s last hope left for a reason known only to him.

When Ning Yun opened her eyes she found herself laying in an entirely different room. However, she expected this. After all, Ning Qian was saying such dark things before she fell asleep. Though, now that she was awake to ponder as she wished. His words, it was clear that it was something he wanted her to take to heart, but she was old enough to know that wasn’t a good mentality to have. A doctor had a duty to save everyone they meet, that’s one of the first things Ning Qian told her…Or was it?

“No…he never said anything like that,” rather it was just a rule all doctors followed in her old world. It was a rule she thought would apply here too.

“However, it’s only reasonable that it was different here.” After all, doctors were rare in number during the historical ages, and they were mostly piled in populated areas or wherever the rich lived. Not only that, the majority of the people that went into the medical field went for the money rather than saving people. It’s safe to say that the majority of doctors in this time have such a mindset.

“But, to say that out loud was,” insanely bold and arrogant. Nonetheless, it seemed to be something that was to be passed down to her, so maybe she should just accept it. Maybe she should allow herself to be corrupted with such a mindset. Maybe that’s how she could survive in this world.

“Not everyone needs to be saved. Is that right…?”

Such a god complex way of thinking.

Ning Yun chuckled, there was no way she could be a god in human eyes. She didn’t have that sort of authority. She was weak and stupid. She could never watch over people as a god could. It wasn’t because they were seen as beings with absolute authority. It was more like she couldn’t stand just thinking about all the eyes that would be on her wanting the unthinkable.

Thinking about it now, there was a game she played when she was younger. It also talked about the existence of gods, and in part of the story, she remembered something one of the characters said.

“Just as prophecies are usually only the future as seen from the perspectives of the gods, could things be happening in hidden corners where the gods' gaze does not fall?”

Ning Yun thrust herself up from the bed. She was just thinking about it, and the character line dropped from her mouth. That was something she was used to. However, the accuracy scared her. She only heard that line a couple of times when she was a teenager seeing as it was repeated in the game, but even then, her memory was horrid. The fact that she could remember such a small, insignificant thing so clearly was unlike her. It was a sign that something had changed with her person. However, she couldn’t figure out what. After all, it was just her memory. There was nothing she could get out of testing her memory.

Besides, it was a pain to think about. After all, it was going to take a lot of energy to figure out what changed with her. She didn’t want to expend her energy on such a thing. It was best to leave it as it was. It wasn’t much of a problem anyway, so Ning Yun allowed herself to fall back on the bed to curl up and go back to sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw an unfamiliar face. It wasn’t something she was hoping to wake up to. Honestly, she just wanted to look up at the ceiling and think for a little while more. However, with an unfamiliar face looking at her, she was stunned.

“I am glad to see that you are awake, little one.”

Ning Yun, shaken by this situation, asked, “Who are you?”

The new person smiled at the woken up girl, “I am your father’s friend.”

Just a friend, Ning Yun asked herself. She looked at the woman that was hovering above her. Her hair was well kept, her clothes looked expensive, her face was soft and feminine, the common type of men during these times. Not only that, Ning Yun looked at her chest, her body had quite the many curves. She looked back at the soft facial features, seeing it impolite to stare at such a personal area.

Unlike all of the characters in the japanese manga she read, she wasn’t partially jealous of the large melons the women above her head had. Rather, she felt bad for the women. In her past life and even now, Ning Yun dreams of being flat chested. She hated the way the body tissue would pull on her skin when she moved a bit too much. She hated the fact that they were in her way when she was trying to have a peaceful nap on her desk. She hated the way people stared at her the bigger they seemed to get. Either way, she was glad that she wasn’t going to grow anymore. She was glad that she wasn’t about to reproduce. She was over the moon in the fact that a child wasn’t about to grow in her stomach. Not like she ever bore a child before, but she was sure that she’d never want to go through that. Especially alone or with an unsavory partner. Plus, she wasn’t suited for taking care of kids.

Still, that had nothing to do with Ning Qian’s “friend.” She was a beauty.

“It’s nice to meet you, but can you move? You’re too close to my face.”

The lady smiled, apologetically, “I am sorry. It was probably really scary, was it not?”

Ning Yun looked around, her mind preoccupied with figuring out where she was, “Sure…By the way, do you know where my father is, right now?”

“He went to the market, saying that he was getting something important. I bet it is a gift for you,” she teased.

“I doubt that,” Ning Yun said her thought aloud on accident. She had a bad habit of doing that, but it would sometimes help her make a few friends. This wasn’t such a situation.

“Why do you think that?”

“I just do,” she said, not wanting to go deeper into the subject.

“I am sure there’s a reason. Tell me. I promise I will not tell your father anything.”

Tell her worries to some person she doesn’t even know? That was funny to hear. Ning Yun shook her head, “No thank you,” besides, promises are never kept.

Just then, the door to the room opened, “Older sister, stop bothering my child.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Older sister? Ning Yun looked left and right. Well, it was making sense. Though her features were softer than Ning Qian’s, it was clear that they were similar. Though, she couldn’t realize it until she had the mind to compare the features of the two. Her previous thoughts were proved wrong. Still, weren’t inter-family marriages common in the historical era, or was that just the European colonies? Ning Yun didn’t learn enough about ancient Chinese customs when she was in school. There was nothing for her to remember.

“A-Yun,” Ning Qian called out, “Come here.”

Ning Yun popped up. That was the first time he ever called out to her so familiarly. It was like they were actually family.

“Yes,” she walked to stand in front of Ning Qian.

“What is your favorite color?”

Well this was confusing. What was the need of that question? There was no point. Was it because his sister was here, that he wanted to seem like a good father? What was it that caused him to take a sudden interest in her favorite things? It was suspicious, but when it came to her favorite things, there was nothing wrong with another person knowing that. It's not like the information was of any importance to her.

“Purple and blue are nice colors, but black is the best. It’s a neutral color and it doesn’t hurt the eyes.”

“Black is your favorite color, and you do not like bright colors?” Ning Qian seemed to be at quite a loss. Ning Yun didn’t understand, so she nodded her head confused, “Uh-huh, especially pink and yellow. Plus, black complemented by blue or purple, with any color really, it’s the perfect base.”

He was completely at a lose. He didn’t expect that in the slightest. He looked so baffled that his sister bursted out in laughter.

“She really just made a fool out of you!”

Ning Yun looked around confused. What’d she do? She only informed him of her favorite color and explained why. She did nothing to cause the other lady in the room to burst out in a laugh.

“But, the clothes you are wearing are pink? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“These are the only clothes I have, and you went out of your way to get them for me. It’s impolite to complain about the color when you spent money on a pheasant child.”

The laughter grew as did the confusion, and Ning Qian signed, “You will have to make due with these for a while.”

Ning Yun watched as her father moved to reveal four wrapped gifts.

“I told you that he was out for gifts. Go open them,” her aunt gestured.

When Ning Yun got the gifts. She opened each and every one carefully. She tried not to mess up the wrapping, and, thankfully, since there was no such thing as tape this early in history, it was easier to not make a mess of everything, but after opening all of the presents, she realized why Ning Qian was being laughed at. The gifts were all sorts of clothes, which–by the feel of them–were of high quality. However, they were all in bright colors. Though there was one pastel blue hanfu that she actually liked despite everything she said before. All of it, was a great gift and one that Ning Yun wasn’t expecting to get. After all, it’s not like they had the money to splurge like this, right?

“You can take some of these back,” she said to her guardian, “You should use your money on medical supplies.”

“Do you hate them that much?” Ning Qian asked. He seemed a bit hurt. She shook her head, “No. I actually like the blue one, but I don’t need these. It's a waste of money.”

He sighed, quite annoyed, “Don’t worry about money that isn’t yours.”

That didn’t make sense. His money was what she was surviving on. Not like she took a lot of it because she didn’t eat nor drink. Still, if he didn’t have enough money to take care of himself, it was clear that she was going to have to leave, and that was the road they were going to go down if Ning Qian continued to spend money on her for no good reason. They weren’t the royal families or northern dukedoms that had a lot of money in all of those manhwa. They were traveling doctors that happened to be good at the trade. Ning Yun was still having second thoughts on the possibility of the women being his blood related sister, but he was right. She was just a kid. She had no place in a conversation of economic stability.

“Yes, sir.”

Ning Yun heard a little whisper in her ear, “I’m sure he hasn’t told you, but he’s actually rich.”

Rich? She questioned. There was no way. His clothes were modest, and they were traveling doctors. That profession caused people to always spend money on food, lodging, and medical supplies. It was a constant flow of money leaving the wallet, but a once a month splash of money into it. All in all, the flow of money wasn’t consistent from both sides, and there wasn’t enough profit. It just didn’t make sense, but when she started considering his elegant posture and mannerisms…His speech was sophisticated like he was from a high standing family, and his sister was wearing quite flashy clothes.

Did that mean he was receiving money from his family? But if that was the case, why be a traveling doctor? Was he just one of those hard working people? No, he didn’t seem like it. The numbers weren’t adding up correctly. She was missing a variable, and she wasn’t interested in figuring it out. A person’s life wasn’t an algebraic equation. She loved solving those.

There was a knock on the door, and a voice of a young girl, “Excuse me. The bath you asked for is ready.”

Ning Qian nodded and grabbed his sister’s collar, “We’ll wait outside.”

A bath? Was this to make up for the uncomfortable bath last time?

“Okay.”

The two walked out and a girl that seemed to be the same age as her–Ning Yun’s forever 15 years old. She smiled, “I can help you bathe, if you’d like that.”

Because Ning Qian was rich, was she going to have to get used to the noble treatment? Well, it was going to be weird letting other people see and touch her naked body.

“I’d…appreciate it.”

The girl nodded, “Then, please wait a moment. I have to set everything up.”

Ning Yun waited as the girl requested, but she watched everything the girl did because she was just curious about what was going on. There was no way something was going to go wrong with her bath. Whether the girl was planning to kill her or not, she wouldn’t be able to do a single thing to her dead body with ordinary water.

“Everything is ready. Would you please step into the tub?” the girl asked.

In response, Ning Yun slowly undressed her body. She untied every ribbon and took pieces of clothing off one by one. She found that, without her clothes, the room was quite chilly, and it was like that until she submerged herself in the warm water.

As soon as she stepped in, Ning Yun felt a bucket of warm water dumped on her head. It was quite forceful as there wasn’t a warning, but she didn’t say anything since it wasn’t much of a problem for her. Although, the rough brashness was about to become a problem.

Though she offered to help with the bath, the scrubbing of her body was quite rough. It was like she was trying to cut through her skin, and when she washed her hair, rather than massaging the soap into her hair it was more like she pulled on it, continuously. It was like she’d done something wrong to the poor girl. But how was that possible when this was their first time meeting?

“Stop,” Ning Yun said, “I’ll finish washing up myself.”

“But, I’m almost finished,” she said.

“With ripping my hair out or making me bleed?” Ning Yun just sighed and waved her hand, “Just leave. I’ll finish this myself.”

The girl left and Ning Yun was allowed to finish her bath in peace. She liked soaking in the bath even though it’s bad for the skin. It was relaxing, but it was also time for her to get out.

When she got out she picked the pastel blue hanfu seeing as that was the one she liked the most. She was sure that this was going to become one of her favorites. She even twirled around in it for a bit just to show it off to herself. After she was satisfied with admiring her new outfit, she peaked out of the room door, looking for Ning Qian or his sister. However, she didn’t see anyone. It was an empty hallway, so she left the room to look for them.

She found the two of them quite easily after she walked down the stairs. She found the two of them eating and drinking.

“...I want to try that.”

She wanted to know if she could get drunk. It was going to be a fun experiment seeing as she’s only been tipsy before. She was never stupid enough to get drunk on her own, and seeing as she was on her own most of the time, she’d never gotten drunk in any of her lives. Plus, she wanted to know what Chinese alcohol tasted like. She looked up, on the internet, that Asian liquor had a higher alcohol percentage then the English during these times. She wondered how good it could be with that much concentrated alcohol.

When she was looking at the two of them chatting at the table, she was called over by her Aunt with a wave of her hand. Ning Yun walked over and sat at one of the open sides of the table.

“Do you want something to eat?” she was asked. Ning Yun shook her head, “I’m not hungry at the moment. Thank you, though.”

She was never hungry. That was another good thing about being dead. She didn’t have to spend money on food when she was on her own and nothing would happen to her if she skipped a few meals.

“What’s the matter?” Ning Qian asked, “You don’t come looking for me without a reason.”

Well, Ning Yun couldn’t refute that fact. She never looked for anyone without a reason. Though, the reason was rarely a meaningful one. Usually, it was because she was bored. However, this time, it was different. She actually came down there to tell about the little rough handling from the inn staff, but now that she was down there, her throat was blocked. She couldn’t say anything. After all, her being rough handled wasn’t much of a problem. It’s not like she was from a rich family. Not like she had a family anyway. This was just a nice game of pretend.

“I just wanted to know where you were. That’s all,” she decided to act like a kid with attachment issues. It was one of the useful things of being in a child’s body. It gave her the ability to act a little more immature than she was. Not saying that she wasn’t a little slow and stupid half of the time.

“Is this so important that you have to lie about it?”

Ning Yun flinched. It was a grand surprise that Ning Qian was able to tell when she was lying. Even her mom in her past life struggled to find every single lie that she told. Actually, most of the time, the lies slid past her or she accused something that wasn’t a lie. It was a little bit of a pain when she was accused of lying over the smallest things. Though, that way the actual lies slid past her, it gave Ning Yun the thought that she could keep lying about the little stuff at least.

“No,” but with Ning Qian detecting all of his lies, there was no point in her trying to cover them up, “I’m just overreacting a bit. It’s nothing important.”

“You don’t overreact and escalate situations. What’s wrong?”

He was right. Rather, she deescalates situations lower than she should. She puts herself second and everyone else before. She remembers a high school friend of hers getting on to her for doing that, but she was never able to grow out of that part of her. It was just part of her personality. She looked down at her arm, “I just wanted to ask you a question.”

“I do not like talking in circles.”

Ning Yun grabbed her arms and squeezed it, “What happens if I get injured?”

Ning Qian sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose, “What brought this on?”

The aunt got up from her seat and lightly touched her shoulder, “Your sleeves. May I?”

Ning Yun was silent and silence was a yes in this sort of situation. Her aunt lightly grabbed the sleeve and slid it up her arm, and she saw the rough injuries caused by a wash rag which shouldn’t happen. Then again if the person was rough enough to break skin, even if it was slightly, it was unacceptable.

After seeing this she lowered the sleeve again, and stood straight, “Qian, take A-Yun some place else. I will be right behind you.”

Ning Qian nodded, “Yes.”

She was scary when she was angry, even Ning Qian had to admit that. He picked Ning Yun off the ground and headed straight for the inn door. He didn’t need him or his daughter getting caught up in the mess his sister was about to make. And, the little girl didn’t seem to mind any of it. Though, she did wonder one thing, “Father? Aunt’s name. What is it?”

“Her name is Ning Maoxian, but just call her Ning Mei. People tend to squirm when they hear her name,” he sighed.

Squirm? That’s a weird word to use.

Then, she heard a loud bang from the inn. It gave an idea why Ning Qian said that about his sister. Everything about her was coming together. Ning Yun looked up at her father and saw that there was a bit of cold sweat moving down his cheek. It was clear that there was a time when Ning Qian experienced everything that was going on inside the walls of the inn.

“Now, I have to treat those wounds on you.”

More like he just wanted to get away, but it was funny for her. It made her giggle just a bit.

When they were far enough from the inn, on the other side of the city, Ning Qian finally put Ning Yun down to treat her wounds on a little staircase.

“Did the girl do anything else to you?”

There was no point in holding anything back anymore seeing as Ning Mao was in the middle of going crazy in the inn. Besides, after getting caught, telling the truth was always the best.

“She just pulled my hair”

“Okay,” Ning Qian didn’t look fazed and continued cleaning up the wounds. Though, Ning Yun had to wonder if this was worth anything. Her body wasn’t able to regenerate tissue. Her qi wasn’t that strong, and yet Ning Qian flowed energy into her after cleaning room. And, by some miracle, the wound was actually healed. It made her touch her neck wondering if her body had sewn itself back together. That would be great. It would make her seem a bit more normal. However, she doesn’t have that much interest in being normal and like everyone else. Equality is basically impossible after all.

“Try not to get hurt again, I will not always be here to fix you up.”

Ning Yun nodded her head understanding that Ning Qian wasn’t going to be around forever. He was still living after all.

“I understand.”

Ning Qian gently grabbed both of Ning Yun’s small hands and looked straight into her eyes, “Always put yourself first because nothing is more important.”

Ning Yun froze. She was never good at that, and it seemed that her adoptive father picked up on that from the littlest clues that would slip out of her. But, not wanting to trouble the person worried about her, she just smiled and nodded.

“Doctor? Does anyone know where I can find a doctor?”

A voice cut through their father daughter moment. One that seemed to be calling out to them. They were doctors after all.

“A-Yun, we have another patient.”

She steeled herself, “Okay.”

Ning Qian raised his hand to catch the person’s attention, “Here. The two of us are doctors.”

Seeing the patient. It wasn’t a surprise to see why the person was running around town yelling for a doctor. The room where the patient was reeked of iron, and the patient’s bandages were torn, covered in dirt, and soaked in blood. It was clear that the patient's wound had opened, and the slight rot smell in the room created cause to believe that said wounds have become infected. Worse case, they were going to have to cut a limb off.

“A-Yun, this is yours.”

Ning Yun nodded, “I’ll wait for you to come back then.”

“No, this patient is yours to take care of.”

“Th-this whole thing?” she was insanely baffled. There was no reason as to why she should take care of a patient when all she has is book experience and how to take care of a patient–whipping them down, feeding them, all of that causal stuff. She’d only even been in the medical field for a couple months. There was no justification for her to be taking care of a patient. Especially one that is in critical condition like this.

“Yes. It is your turn to take care of a patient, all by yourself.”

In no way, shape, or form was Ning Yun confident about her not killing this patient. She wasn’t sure that she could treat this dying person laying in front of her taking weak yet deep breaths in and out. But…this person needed her. This person was dying, and her mentor wasn’t going to do anything. It was just her and the dying person laying in front of her because when she looked back to check for her mentor, he was gone. It was just her and the dying. The dying and her, but she could change that. She could help this person. It was up to her. This person’s life, future, it was all in her hands. It was time to pull and slap at her cheeks and become serious.

She took deep breaths in and out. Actually, she didn’t have time for that. She tied up her sleeves, and started her examination. That’s where she saw it. This person was covered in puss spores inside and around the wounds, and it reeked, leaked, and everything else that happened to King Henry the VIII. She sighed. In this time, such injuries were almost impossible to fully treat, (her master was cruel for this) but she was going to make it happen. She had to. Although, before thinking about that, she had to clean him up. The bacteria that was crawling all over him, she had to get rid of it. Even if it was going to be painful for the patient, she was going to have to wipe him down, so she found the nearest well, drew water, and hauled it all the way back to the dead smelling house.

“Please excuse me,” she went straight for the clothes, and took them off. Then fully unwrapped the bandages. Ning Yun was lucky that she was the way she was, because if she wasn’t, she would be puking all over herself. God, it was gross. It was not the way the human body should look.

“Okay,” Ning Yun soaked a cloth, winged it out, and started the wipe down. She noticed that every time she even got close to a wound the patient would flint just a bit. It was to be expected. Areas around the wounds were naturally sore because of the nerves in the human body. Which, thinking about it, was a good thing. After all, it meant that they were still there.

After the wipe down, she opened the front door to allow light in as well as fresh air. It’s not good for anyone to be breathing air full of infection and blood.

Then, she started digging in her brain. She remembered reading something about an herb that was good for infection. At least, that’s what she wrote down about it, but it was going to take her a little…Nope, she got it.

“Honeysuckle and oregano.”

She remembered them as something to be ingested, so it was better for frequent doses which were going to have to be portioned out over a month seeing as that was how antibiotics in her past life worked. So, now, she was just going to disinfect the wound, put some herb paste on it, and bandaged it back up. As simple as she laying it out, it was going to take a lot of work. For one, she had to go looking for all of those herbs. Usually, she would ask Ning Qian, but she didn’t know where to find him. Actually, he just walked out.

“Maybe he went to get some milk…” she mumbled.

She shook her head. It wasn’t the time to think about the growing daddy issues when there was someone dying. Ning Yun pulled the string tying her sleeves and straightened herself out, “Time for an adventure.”

It took a little bit of wandering, but she managed to find the herb shop. Thanks to her aunt who slipped her a little money, she didn’t have to worry about wasting time looking for some. Thankfully, they had everything she needed, and she was right on her way. Though, now she had to find herself a grinder which was going to cost her a bit more money then the herbs. However, that wasn’t a problem since her aunt really did slip her a pretty penny. Everything she needed–herbs, grinder, bandages–she got without a hitch in her plan.

“Being rich is really great,” but she couldn’t get used to it and start spending money on random things. It was her worst nightmare to be a wasteful spender. Anyways, she had to get back to her patient. She couldn’t be stuck in her own head.

When she got back to the house with the patient, she was glad that it had been aired out to the point that the previous infectious air was gone. It was nicer to breathe, somewhat, fresh air when sitting next to a dying person. Which reminded her of the person who was running around for a doctor, she hasn’t seen them around. Was the person male or female? She couldn’t remember. That wasn’t important anyway.

Ning Yun had to start treatment, and it all began with getting all the puss out of the infected wounds. Though it was painful for the patient, it was a good pressure release and got all of the infected bacteria off the human body that skunk because of how long it was in there. It also exposed the most infected parts of the body. By the time she was done, yellow and white puss was all over the patient and her hands which was very unhygienic, and had to be cleaned. Which led to another wipe down that took a little longer because of all of the puss.

Next, was grounding up the herbs she bought into medicine. She started off with the wound disinfectant herb. Thankfully, this didn’t have to be grounded. It just had to be cut open, rub it against each other, and put it around the multiple wounds. Thankfully, that didn’t take much time to do. She cut the herb in half and rubbed it together. The longer she did it, the more it foamed, the stickier it got, and the easier it was to use.

She rubbed the two pieces together until she was satisfied with the foaming up of the aloin, and scooped it all up with her hands. She hovered over the patient, keeping all of the aloin in her hand, and–though she wasn’t proud of it–she roughly spread aloin all over the patient making sure to avoid the open wounds. It would be an understatement to say that this was a painful process. It was obvious with the moans and groans that the patient was in pain, but she kept going. She rubbed in the aloin until it was absorbed into the skin and the small puss sores as it could be. Everything that wasn’t absorbed, she then wiped away with a damp rag.

Ning Yun sighed. This was just the first step, and the first step took the entire day. She knew that, even though this wasn’t an illness or a disease, this was going to take just as much time–if not more–then her last patient.