In the afternoon, Liu Ming'an indeed brought a man of about fifty years old with a goatee to her bedside. The man took her pulse, stared at her face for a long time, then lifted the blanket, rolled up her sleeves and trouser legs to carefully examine her injuries. Finally, he let out a long sigh.
"Uncle Sun, what's wrong?" Liu Ming'an asked.
Doctor Sun sighed again before saying, "Her face was burned with a red-hot branding iron. The skin is torn and the flesh is exposed. No matter how we treat it, it will leave two large scars. As for her hands and feet, they were forcibly broken. Even if I set them properly, they won't return to their original state. In the future, she won't be able to lift heavy objects with her hands, and she'll walk with a limp."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ming'an's face showed sympathy, and he looked at Jiang Ning on the bed with a pitying gaze. However, he found her eyes calm and unperturbed, her face devoid of any expression, as if it had nothing to do with her.
Jiang Ning heard every word Doctor Sun said clearly, but for her, this outcome was already quite good. She had lived a life of killing, died without an intact body, and now lived again. She only wanted to spend each day peacefully and freely.
"Uncle Sun, please do your best to treat her," Jiang Ning heard Liu Ming'an say.
Doctor Sun stroked his beard and nodded in agreement.
An hour later, Jiang Ning's hands and feet were splinted, wrapped tightly with cloth strips, making her look like a mummy. Her face was covered with an ointment that looked like a lump of black mud, but it felt cool and comfortable on her skin.
Jiang Ning watched as Liu Ming'an took out a small piece of silver from a cabinet and handed it to Doctor Sun. The doctor left behind several packets of medicine, gave detailed instructions on how to brew the medicine and care for the patient, and said he would come back to check in ten days before leaving with his medicine box.
Liu Ming'an saw him to the door, saying, "Take care on your way, Uncle Sun."
After returning to the room, Liu Ming'an took a packet of medicine and went into the kitchen. Jiang Ning heard the sound of a fire being lit. Half an hour later, she saw Liu Ming'an come out with a bowl of black medicinal soup. The bitter smell of Chinese herbs could be detected from afar.
"Miss Jiang Ning, Uncle Sun said this medicine will help your wounds heal faster. Drink it while it's hot, here."
As he spoke, Liu Ming'an scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and brought it to Jiang Ning's lips.
Smelling the strong medicinal odor, Jiang Ning instinctively held her breath. She tried to convince herself with thoughts like "good medicine tastes bitter," "circumstances compel," and "this is unavoidable in ancient times." Then, steeling herself, she opened her mouth and swallowed the spoonful of medicine.
In the next instant, Liu Ming'an watched as the girl who hadn't even blinked when having splints put on her bones furrowed her brows tightly, her eyes instantly brimming with tears.
"What's wrong? Is it too hot?" Liu Ming'an panicked, holding the medicine bowl awkwardly. He was sure he had blown on it to cool it down.
Jiang Ning bit her lip and shook her head. She couldn't speak; she was afraid she would vomit if she opened her mouth. She could feel that the medicine had forced out physiological tears, but she couldn't control it. In her previous life, she had lived for twenty years and had never drunk Chinese medicine. She had no idea it could be this bitter.
If it wasn't hot, then it must be the bitterness. Liu Ming'an put down the medicine bowl, looking troubled.
Jiang Ning tried her best to suppress the urge to vomit and said, "Don't feed me spoon by spoon. Help me sit up, I'll drink it directly."
Better to get it over with quickly than to prolong the suffering.
Liu Ming'an did as she asked, helping Jiang Ning lean against the wall and bringing the bowl to her lips. He watched as Jiang Ning closed her eyes and drank the entire bowl of medicine in one go, tears wetting her eyelashes. He immediately went to the kitchen and brought back a bowl of clear water: "To wash away the bitterness." After Jiang Ning finished the water, he helped her lie back down.
Liu Ming'an said, "I'll go make dinner," and turned to enter the kitchen. After some bustling about, he came out again with a bowl of vegetable porridge.
Since her rebirth, Jiang Ning had eaten four meals, and all four had been vegetable porridge. She felt like her face was turning green from it.
"Do you really like porridge that much?" Jiang Ning finally couldn't help but ask. She wasn't a picky eater, but she was genuinely curious how someone could eat this bitter vegetable porridge for every meal. Wouldn't Liu Ming'an become malnourished?
Liu Ming'an seemed to understand her meaning and smiled at her rather sheepishly, saying, "My cooking skills aren't very good, and this porridge is simple and quick to make. Does Miss Jiang Ning want to eat something else?"
How could she be thick-skinned enough to make demands when she was dependent on others? Jiang Ning said flatly, "No, you're overthinking it."
Feeling that her response might have been a bit harsh, Jiang Ning hesitated for a moment before adding, "My cooking skills are quite good."
Liu Ming'an smiled without responding and brought the porridge to her mouth.
Perhaps because the medicine had been so bitter, Jiang Ning found that the porridge didn't taste as bitter as she remembered.
After they both finished eating, Liu Ming'an, like yesterday, took out brush, ink, paper, and books, and began to read and write. The weak oil lamp cast a warm yellow light, and as Jiang Ning looked at his serious profile, she thought that if he had been born in modern times, he would surely have been admitted to a prestigious university as a spirited college student.
At the end of the 9-11 PM period, Liu Ming'an rubbed his somewhat sore neck and shoulders, put away his papers and pen, threw on some clothes, and blew out the oil lamp. The two shared a room, one sprawled on the table, the other lying in bed, both falling into dreams.
Jiang Ning, however, opened her eyes at some point.
She saw a bamboo ceiling and knew she had returned to that dream.
The splints and bandages on her hands and feet, and the ointment on her face had all disappeared. In this bamboo house, Jiang Ning had returned to being a completely healthy person.
Jiang Ning got up from the bamboo bed and aimlessly surveyed the room. It wasn't large, about ten square meters by her estimate. Apart from the bed she had been lying on, there was nothing else in the room. As far as she could see, the bed, door, window, and walls were all made of bamboo. The bamboo had a yellowish tint, looking somewhat aged.
Jiang Ning had never seen such a room before and didn't know why she had dreamed of it for two consecutive nights.
The window in the room was closed, but the door was open a hand's width. Through the gap, Jiang Ning seemed to see a red light outside.
What was that?
With this question in mind, Jiang Ning pushed open the door, only to be shocked speechless by the scene before her in the next moment.
Outside the bamboo house, there was no wind, no clouds, no sun, no moon. The ground was covered with gravel, without a single blade of grass in sight.
All of this was still somewhat normal. What was bizarre was the sky!
Or rather, it wasn't a sky at all, but something like a barrier or a force field.
Jiang Ning gazed at the slowly swirling air currents not far away, connecting from the ground all the way up to the sky. It resembled an inverted bowl, covering the surroundings of the bamboo house. Outside the barrier, everything was a hazy blur, impossible to see clearly.
What truly astonished Jiang Ning were the lush, crimson lotus flowers adorning the air current barrier. These lotuses were scattered all over, seeming tangible one moment and intangible the next. They had no roots, stems, or leaves, as if they had sprouted from thin air, becoming one with the flowing currents. The flowers emitted a blood-red radiance, bathing this world in a soft, ruddy glow.
Jiang Ning was certain that this was no dream, for she had seen these blood-colored lotuses before!