Chapter 17 — Her Road Is Still Long

His life was not saved by me. It's just a herbal medicine made of plaster. But children don't understand those things. Even adults don't understand. Since that day, more and more people have come to me for medical examination. Not so much that it's crowded. But it's enough for us to feed ourselves. Enough for Tiet To Van to travel every year to Xuyen Tay to buy medicinal herbs. Enough to treat old Ha's leg pain. It was enough for Mother Tong to give her a thick envelope when her grandchild was a month old. In the drawer next to the examination table, there is a patient registration book. The corners of the paper have turned yellow. The first page has only two lines of crooked text. It was written by my own hand. Which day, which month? The great lady of the Sai family. Feeling cold. Three medicinal herbs. Flip to the last few pages. The handwriting has become denser. The remedies are also more complex. There are names of diseases that we learned when following Tiet To Van everywhere to practice medicine. There are also treatment methods that we ourselves can gradually discover. In one page of the notebook was a dried pressed osmanthus flower. That was the flower that was pinned seven years ago. The map has long been overturned to the point of being worn out. But that flower is still there. There are times when medical examination is completed. Sitting alone behind the examination table. I will take that flower out and look at it for a while. Its color has almost faded away. From the original pale yellow color, it turns into a withered white color. Even if you lean closer and smell it, you can no longer feel any fragrance. But just know it's still there. In the drawer there is also a small package containing silkworm droppings. It's something obtained last summer. Wrapped in paper and stored in the deepest place. One time, Tiet To Van rummaged through a drawer to find the fire extract. Accidentally pulled out that package of silkworm droppings. She picked it up and asked me what it was. I replied that it was silkworm droppings.

“I know it's silkworm droppings.”

“I asked why you kept the silkworm droppings.”

“How useful?”

We close the drawer.

“Will use it later.”

Next to that package of silkworm droppings. There are even older items. A faded piece of fabric. It's the fifth thing we use to pad under our wrists when we sit down to copy out recipes in the zhuangzi. Half of the grass rope that old Ngo Lang gave me. He said it was a five-colored string. Can exorcise evil spirits. A small basket woven from willow branches made by Mr. Ha. So small that it can only hold two jujubes. He said let me keep the needle and thread. As a result, we used it to store the will of the root (an oriental medicine). Every time I see those items. We will all remember ourselves on that foggy morning when we left Trang Thanh Tuyen. Riding on the back of a gray mule. Follow behind Tiet To Man's horse. Carry a spare map with you. In his chest, he hid a dried osmanthus flower. At that time I thought that. I just went out for a walk. Wait until you finish picking the medicine and come back. As a result, once I left, I never came back. It's not that I don't want to return. But we discovered that. Continuing to move forward is much more pleasant than looking back. Third year of Thanh Chi Duong. I accept my first disciple. It was a girl four years younger than me. The name is A Cam. She is the daughter of a smithy in the south of the city. Her father was very good at ironsmithing. But his daughter did not want to forge iron. She wants to study medicine. Her father banged the hammer on the iron anvil with a clanging sound unremitting.

“What does a girl study medicine for?”

A Cam immediately ran out. Squatting in front of my medical shop for three days straight. In the end, I had to go to the smithy myself to find her father and talk to her.

“Your daughter has very good hands.”

“It would be a pity not to learn blacksmithing.”

“But not studying medicine would be even more unfortunate.”

Her father blew his nose strongly. Don't say a word. On to the fourth day. A Cam has arrived. She was exactly like me back then. Start learning from crushing pills. Grinding for three months. The tips of my fingers are calloused. Tiet To Van laughed at me:

“You're really good.”

“I myself am only half a disciple.”

“And yet it has already begun accepting disciples.”

“Let's learn together.”

“The tongue is becoming more and more powerful.”

“But it's okay to work.”