Chapter 14 I Can’t Move, and It Hurts a Lot

• Upon seeing Liang Yimo taking the bamboo basket, Mr. Liang took out a small medical kit from under the checkout and handed it to her before reminding her, “There are a lot of snakes in the mountains, so you must be careful.”
• “Okay, got it. I’m going into the mountains to pick some medicinal herbs, then.” Liang Yimo took the medical kit from Mr. Liang and placed it in the bamboo basket on her back. Then, she left by the backdoor, stepping onto a path in the fields and heading toward the opposite mountains.
• In these few days she’d been back, she had been helping Mrs. Liang to pick medicinal herbs in the mountains every day. After picking from one mountain, she went to another mountain, and these mountains were progressively deeper.
• Meanwhile, Mrs. Liang either compared her with Su Manxue or her cousin, Tong Mengmeng. In short, other people’s daughters are the best, and she, Liang Yimo, wasn’t at all comparable to them.
• Mrs. Liang had actually hoped that Liang Yimo’s brother, Liang Xiangru would assume the mantle of his grandmother, but he wasn’t interested in Chinese medicine, nor did he want to stay in this poor and remote place forever.
• On the other hand, Liang Yimo had been following her grandmother to these mountains to pick medicinal herbs and was very much interested in Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, she didn’t manage to get into a medical school, and since Mrs. Liang wasn’t willing to fund her studies, she could only put up with such a life.
• ...
• In the mountains, the hustle and bustle of big cities didn’t exist. Instead, there was the abundance and harmony of nature. Liang Yimo crouched beneath a big tree amidst dried twigs and green grass. As she picked medicinal herbs, she heard the chittering of insects and chirping of birds, but she saw no sign of neither insects nor birds. She was quite lucky today as she’d gotten lingzhi and ginseng. Without realizing it, she’d ventured into the depths of the mountains. Deep in the mountains, there were towering trees and steadily-flowing streams in the valleys. Despite the scorching summer, it was as warm as spring here.
• Just as Liang Yimo picked a clump of common selfheal, she incidentally saw a few beautiful deep purple flowers among the shrubs when she raised her eyes. From a distance, they looked like common poppies and were stunningly lovely. It was a given that girls liked flowers, and Liang Yimo was no exception. Since the flowers were gorgeous, she wanted to pull it up alongside its roots and grow it at home.
• However, when she went over for a look, her face instantly blanched in horror after taking a closer look at the flowers, for they weren’t common poppy but poppy itself! Poppy isn’t native to this area, so they don’t grow here naturally. Then, how could there be poppies deep in the mountains here?
• Frowning, Liang Yimo contemplated this issue. Picking the few poppies there and placing them into the bamboo basket on her back, she covered them with the other medicinal herbs. Then, she continued along the incredibly winding mountainous road until she reached the top of the mountain. Standing on a huge rock, she cast her gaze into the distance. There was range upon range of mountains shrouded by mist, the sight as beautiful as a slice of paradise.
• Liang Yimo then looked down along the distant scenery. At the foot of the mountains was a vast field of red, pink, orange, yellow, and purple flowers, surrounded by mountains. It was glaringly obvious that this field of flowers didn’t grow naturally. Those flowers… are poppies? Who on earth would hide away deep in the mountains and forests to plant poppies? As a sudden moment of clarity descended, Liang Yimo turned around and ran.
• It was much faster to descend the mountain than to hike up the mountain. Just when Liang Yimo was halfway down the mountain, all of a sudden, an anguished cry rang out from an indiscernible direction. It was a man’s voice that emitted the cry. Her brows creasing a smidge, she instinctively hid behind a clump of shrubs.
• Slap! Pop! Crack!
• “Is this snake dead?”
• “I don’t know. Quick, climb on my back, and I’ll carry you down the mountain to a doctor so that you can get checked out.”
• Upon hearing this person’s voice, Liang Yimo suddenly found the voice familiar.
• “No… I can’t move. My leg feels so numb… and it hurts a lot!” The other man’s voice sounded again.
• Her eyes darkening slightly, Liang Yimo went in search in the direction of the two men’s voices.
• Under a huge tree less than ten meters away sat two men who were dressed in the Miao people’s traditional outfit. When Liang Yimo saw two bloody holes in the ankle of one of the men and a black and white snake lying motionlessly beside his leg, she quickly put down the bamboo basket on her back and checked the man’s wound.
• “The silver-ringed snake generally doesn’t attack without provocation, so you must have stepped on it by accident earlier.” Liang Yimo took out the medical kit from the bamboo basket before taking out a small wooden box in it. When she opened the small wooden box, there were a few brown pills in it. Without saying a word, she picked up one of the tiny pills and stuffed it into the man’s mouth before ordering him to swallow it dry. Then, she took out an unopened syringe and a snake venom serum. When she’d gotten everything ready, she gave the man an injection.
• The two men exchanged glances as they looked at Liang Yimo, but they didn’t offer any protest because they knew that she was saving a life here.
• After that, Liang Yimo took out a water bottle from the bamboo basket and unscrewed the cap. While she washed the wound on the man’s calf, she also took out a medicine bowl from the bamboo basket before taking out some medicinal herbs as well and grinded them in the bowl. Then, she applied it to the man’s wound on his calf and fixed it with gauze.
• “After going down the mountain, you need to go and have it checked out by a doctor in the county,” Liang Yimo said. When she raised her eyes, she inadvertently met the other man’s gaze. The man’s dark eyes were cold, but the contour of his face was incredibly exquisite. Although there was much scuff above his dry lips and on his chin, judging from his face, this man seemed to be a young man who was merely in his 20s and hadn’t even possibly reached 30 years of age. Both men had on makeup to disguise their true appearances. While they were dressed in the local outfit, from their accents, they sounded nothing like the locals here.
• “Thank you for saving my friend.” The man thanked her on behalf of the man beside him who was bitten by the snake.
• The more she listened to this voice, the more Liang Yimo found it familiar. Abruptly recalling something, she reached out a hand at the man’s face and tore off the beard on his chin. “So, it’s really you!” Clutching the fake beard in hand, Liang Yimo stared at Leng Yechen with widened eyes. This man just won’t go away!
• Leng Yechen pursed his lips for a moment before he sheepishly flashed her a faint smile. “Hi, honey, we meet again!”
• “Are the two of you acquainted?” Han Jianfeng who was bitten by a snake looked back and forth between Leng Yechen and Liang Yimo in surprise.
• Leng Yechen nudged Han Jianfeng’s shoulder with his elbow, saying seriously, “Hurry up and call her Fourth Mistress.”
• “Yes, yes! Thank you for saving me, Fourth Mistress!” Han Jianfeng inclined his head at Liang Yimo time and again.
• Liang Yimo frowned slightly. Unbothered with these two loony men, she casually picked up a branch and nudged the silver-ringed snake on the ground that hadn’t moved for a long time. “Is it dead?” she muttered to herself. Just as she was deliberating whether to take this snake back to make it into Chinese medicine, the snake suddenly moved again.
• When Han Jianfeng saw the snake moving, he was so frightened that he shrank into Leng Yechen’s arms and wrapped his arms around Leng Yechen’s neck in an effeminate gesture.
• This man truly fits the saying, ‘once bitten, twice shy’!