The carefree life of Yang Shuisheng, the village miracle doctor

The woman leaned against the cold mountain wall in silence, her eyes fixed on the fire, her expression shifting constantly.

Yang Shuisheng didn't urge him, but waited quietly, idly poking at the fire.

A minute feels exceptionally long in this context.

The time was almost up. When Yang Shuisheng looked up at her again, the woman also happened to shift her gaze from the flames and meet his eyes.

"Then... let's do it your way."

There was a sense of resigned weariness and helplessness in her eyes.

After she finished speaking, she seemed to want to raise her right hand, but the pain from the wound on her shoulder made her gasp and freeze.

She could only gesture with her eyes to the inside pocket of her tattered outfit, and said with difficulty, "There's a small wallet in the pocket, could you please take it out for me?"

Yang Shuisheng followed her gaze, took two steps closer, hesitated for a moment, and then carefully reached out, avoiding her wound, and took out a waterproof wallet from the inside pocket she pointed to.

When you open it, you'll find some banknotes neatly arranged inside, all of considerable denomination.

"Take two hundred from there yourself, consider it compensation for your trouble these past few days..."

Yang Shuisheng smiled and closed the wallet again, stuffing it back into her pocket.

"I saved you, not for your money."

The woman paused, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes, and weakly asked, "Then why?"

"To have a clear conscience." Yang Shuisheng's answer was simple: "I studied medicine. If I encountered a person who was about to die in the mountains, it would be against medical ethics not to help them. It's that simple."

The woman looked at him with even more confusion in her eyes.

Can I have a clear conscience?

She couldn't understand whether there really were people in the world who saved lives without expecting anything in return.

Moreover, this reason seemed somewhat difficult for her to understand.

In her past understanding, giving often meant taking, especially this kind of risky and energy-consuming rescue.

But she could tell that the young country man's eyes were open and honest when he said this, as if he wasn't faking it.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end she just pursed her lips and remained silent.

Yang Shuisheng stopped explaining, picked up his bamboo water container, walked to her side, and carefully lifted her head to feed her a few sips of water.

The cool water moistened her chapped lips and throat, making her sigh comfortably. The wariness in her eyes seemed to melt away a little with the saliva.

For the next three days, Yang Shuisheng actually set up camp at the foot of this relatively secluded cliff.

During the day, he moved around the neighborhood, looking for food, even throwing darts at an unlucky wild rabbit, collecting water, and continuing to look for medicinal herbs to aid in his breakthrough. His hard work paid off, and he found two more that were barely usable.

But he never dared to go far, always making sure that if the woman called out loudly, he could rush back immediately.

He changed the woman's dressings and fed her water and food on time every day.

The process of changing dressings inevitably involves physical contact. Every time the bandages are removed, the sight of the gruesome wounds on the snow-white skin and the surrounding delicate scenery makes both of them feel somewhat awkward.

Yang Shuisheng tried his best to keep his eyes straight ahead and moved quickly and professionally, but the woman was still shy and bit her lip, turning her face away and not daring to look at him.

Gradually, the woman went from initial resistance and stiffness to silent acceptance, though the tips of her ears would always unconsciously turn red.

It is worth mentioning that on the second night, after Yang Shuisheng fed her roasted rabbit meat again, the woman took the initiative to speak. Her voice was still weak, but it was clearer than before.

"My name is Lin Wan, Lin as in forest and Wan as in graceful."

This was the first time she had proactively revealed her personal information, even though it was just her name.

"Um."

Yang Shuisheng nodded without asking any further questions, and Lin Wan seemed relieved and didn't say anything more.

Their relationship seemed to have grown a little closer through this peculiar way of getting along.

Over the past three days, the warmth emanating from Yang Shuisheng's Soul Jade fragment has been steadily diminishing. He knew this meant that another fragment was moving, causing the sensing range to fail, which made him somewhat anxious.

Finding the Soul Jade is a major task, but saving lives cannot be abandoned halfway.

By the afternoon of the third day, when he sensed it for the last time, the warmth was barely perceptible and had completely disappeared.

"Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait until next time."

Yang Shuisheng sighed inwardly, knowing that he had missed this opportunity.

But now, Lin Wan's injuries have finally stabilized a bit. The wound on her shoulder has started to scab over, and her left leg is not as painful after it was immobilized. With Yang Shuisheng's help, she can now move a few steps with difficulty.

"Your injury has improved; you can now move around with some difficulty."

"But they are still a long way from being able to leave the Liangshan Mountains on their own."

On the evening of the third day, Yang Shuisheng looked at Lin Wan, who was gritting her teeth and trying to walk, and said, "I'll take you out. Since you have money, you can find a way to contact your family or go to the town hospital once you're outside the mountains."

He had assumed Lin Wan would agree, but to his surprise, she stopped, leaned against a rock to catch her breath, looked up at him, a hint of hesitation flashing in her deep black eyes, and then asked softly, "Could I... stay at your place for a while?"

"Want to stay at my place temporarily?"

Yang Shuisheng was taken aback for a moment, then raised an eyebrow at her: "Miss Lin, are you trying to cling to me?"

His words were somewhat joking, but his eyes revealed his seriousness.

He could tell that although Lin Wan could move, she was still far from fully recovered and was physically weak. The deep, bone-revealing wound on her shoulder could easily reopen if she wasn't careful.

If we really leave her alone in this unfamiliar place, the chances of her survival are slim.

"I...I'm not fully healed yet."

Lin Wan felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, and an unnatural blush rose on her pale face. She looked away and lowered her voice, "It's not safe outside, so I want to find a place to rest for a few more days."

"Don't worry, I won't stay for nothing. I'll definitely thank you properly once I'm better."

When she said it wasn't safe outside, a flicker of deep-seated fear flashed across her eyes again.

Looking at her, who was clearly afraid but trying to remain calm, Yang Shuisheng understood a thing or two.

"You can stay at my house temporarily."

This woman is probably causing a lot of trouble. He pondered for a moment and said, "But let me make this clear: once you're at my house, you'll have to do whatever I say."

"Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, don't say what you shouldn't say, just focus on recovering."

"If you can't do that now, just say so. I'll take you to the edge of the mountain, and we'll go our separate ways."

"I'll listen to you! I'll do whatever you say!" Lin Wan nodded immediately without any hesitation.

Seeing that she agreed so readily, Yang Shuisheng didn't say anything more.

He cleaned up the traces of the campfire, made sure no obvious items were left behind, then slung his basket over his shoulder, walked to Lin Wan's side, and gestured for her to hold his arm.

"Let's go, the road is bad, walk slowly."

Lin Wan nodded, gripping Yang Shuisheng's arm tightly with one hand and clutching her still aching chest with the other. She gritted her teeth and slowly followed Yang Shuisheng toward the direction of the mountain exit.

Yang Shuisheng also deliberately slowed down, trying to find flat and easy places to walk.

The two walked and stopped frequently, taking several times longer than usual, until it was almost dark before they finally left the most dangerous core area of ​​the Daliang Mountains and arrived at the relatively familiar outer perimeter.

After walking for a while, we could see the outline of Taohua'ao Village in the distance.

Yang Shuisheng's house is at the westernmost end of the village, a row of dilapidated houses standing alone.

When Lin Wan was helped by Yang Shuisheng to the dilapidated wooden door, her face clearly showed a look of astonishment and disbelief.

She turned to look at Yang Shuisheng, and blurted out instinctively, "You...you live in a place like this?"

Her tone was tinged with surprise, and even a hint of bewilderment.

Clearly, her past living environment was vastly different from the dilapidated house with bare walls in front of her.

In her opinion, this young man, who was skilled in both martial arts and medicine, should not be living in such a dilapidated place.