She Really Is

Chapter 21

The news that Madman Zhang had been eaten by a wild boar was truly terrifying.

In less than a month, two people had died in succession, both in such horrifying ways.

First, the Old Bachelor had strangled himself in the temple of the Immortal Lady.

Now, Madman Zhang had been eaten by a wild boar in the mountains.

The Zhang family had no money. They were already heavily in debt to the village because of the cost of buying a wife, and now that it was time to hold a funeral, they couldn’t produce a cent.

Consequently, the Zhang family man was simply put in a coffin and buried immediately.

His death didn’t have much of an impact on the village, but it affected the Zhang family deeply.

After Madman Zhang died, the backbone of the Zhang family was ripped out. They began to pin all their hopes on Ming Wen giving birth to a child.

When the Village Chief came again to say that Ming Wen should go to the clinic, the Zhang family naturally didn’t object.

For people like the Zhangs, their confidence came from having a son. Even if that son was a madman, even if that son couldn’t find a wife in the village, the Zhang family still carried themselves with pride.

Now that their son was gone, they naturally tucked their tails between their legs and lived more humbly, and they weren’t even as harsh to Ming Wen anymore.

Once Ming Wen arrived at the clinic, she first organized all the medicine, determining the purchase prices and the selling prices.

There were also some Chinese herbal medicines kept there.

Li Qingqing and Sha Niu naturally acted as her little assistants.

Both Li Qingqing and Sha Niu were looking forward to a patient arriving soon; they wanted to see how this medicine worked.

The first patient Ming Wen received at the clinic was a cow.

Yes. A cow.

Li Qingqing’s Mandarin had reached a certain level now, and she followed along, saying, “Cow, her cow!”

The other woman babbled a long string of words. Sha Niu turned her head and said, “Immortal Lady, she says there isn’t a doctor specifically for livestock, so she wants you to take a look. If you can treat it, treat it; if not, she’ll just have to give up.”

It was a classic case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive.

So, the three of them followed the woman to see the cow.

The cows in Xinghua Village were basically kept in sheds with three walls and a door. One of the walls had a large window opening, and outside that window was a large stone trough.

Right now, that stone trough was piled high with grass, but the cow hadn’t poked its head out to eat.

The woman in front opened the door, and the smell of manure came rushing out.

Li Qingqing and Sha Niu both felt nauseous. Li Qingqing stole a glance at Ming Wen, only to find that she didn’t show any sign of disgust.

Ming Wen crouched down and examined the cow’s condition, her eyes filled with sympathy for the animal.

Li Qingqing watched her foolishly, unable to look away.

She even had a feeling that the person before her… might actually be the Immortal Lady.

The young deity had no prior experience in treating cows.

High body temperature, refusal to eat.

Ming Wen said to Sha Niu, “Tell them to clean this place up and make sure it’s ventilated.”

She looked at the shed. Given these conditions, disinfection was clearly impossible.

She prescribed some medicine intended for humans to see if she could bring the temperature down.

After treating the cow, Ming Wen passed by a certain house on her way back.

There was a chestnut tree in front of this family’s gate.

Sha Niu’s Mother had once told her that the “Outsider Wife” of that house had once caused such a stir that the police had come.

Ming Wen walked over and, through a very narrow gap, she saw a pair of eyes.

When the woman inside saw her, she began to mutter and babble. Ming Wen truly couldn’t understand a single word.

It didn’t sound like the local dialect, nor was it Mandarin.

The language barrier was truly a major problem.

“Who’s out there?”

Someone inside brought out a bamboo pole and began to chase people away.

Ming Wen had no choice but to lead Sha Niu away in the other direction.

“Sha Niu, when that woman spoke, could you understand her?”

Sha Niu nodded. “She can speak the language here.”

Back then, that woman hadn’t gone mad yet. At that time, she had been actively trying to escape, so she naturally had to learn the local language to have a chance.

Only after her hopes were shattered did she become unwilling to speak the local tongue.

Ming Wen looked at the silly girl, feeling that she truly resembled a spirit of the mountains.

“Let’s go see her together tonight. You need to tell her a few things.”

Li Qingqing, standing nearby, heard them clearly. Her Mandarin was improving rapidly now, but she didn’t speak because Ming Wen hadn’t explicitly asked her to come along.

That night, Li Qingqing still snuck out.

She always felt that there was something about Ming Wen that attracted her, making her want to be by her side and talk to her at all times.

When she followed them, Sha Niu was already at that hole, talking to the woman inside.

Sha Niu’s voice drifted over, mingling with the night wind.

“The Immortal Lady asked me to bring you some medicine.”

“The Immortal Lady asked me to ask what your name is and where your home is?”

“The Immortal Lady says she will save you, so don’t be afraid.”

Li Qingqing wasn’t surprised by what Sha Niu was saying. Sha Niu had said long ago that Ming Wen was the Immortal Lady. When Li Qingqing had woken up from her burns, Sha Niu had said it was the Immortal Lady, Ming Wen, who had saved her.

Li Qingqing had never thought deeply about it. After all, the Immortal Lady lived in the heavens; why would she come to the world of mortals?

So as she listened to Sha Niu talking to the madwoman, she didn’t pay it much mind.

Under the moonlight, she continued walking toward Ming Wen and Sha Niu.

“Don’t worry, she really is the Immortal Lady. You know about the Old Bachelor, right? The Immortal Lady used lightning to strike him dead. And the wild boar—I saw it with my own eyes. The wild boars in the mountains all listen to her. The Immortal Lady told the wild boar to eat that Madman Zhang.”

Eh?

Li Qingqing froze for a moment. Only then did she remember that those two people in the village had died. That’s right, two people in the village were dead.

But… what Sha Niu was saying…

For some reason, Li Qingqing didn’t quite dare to step forward. She stayed where she was and continued to listen to them.

The woman’s voice was very low, but gradually, it became clear that she believed Sha Niu’s words.

Sha Niu explained to the woman:

“I begged the Immortal Lady, and she agreed to let you see her Beads of Merit.”

After she spoke, Ming Wen revealed her left wrist. Under the moonlight, her wrist looked very pale. She lightly traced her right hand over it, and a bracelet appeared. Red beads were imprinted directly onto her skin.

Sha Niu explained, “These are the Immortal Lady’s Merit Beads. Since the Immortal Lady saved you today, she will gain another Merit Bead.”

The woman took the medicine, her expression a mix of belief and doubt.

Ming Wen traced her wrist again, and indeed, another red bead mark appeared on her skin.

The woman fell to her knees with a thud.

It was as if she had found a new pillar of support, the most powerful support in this world. She wept as she swallowed the medicine, her eyes refusing to leave Ming Wen for even a second.

Li Qingqing saw this scene clearly under the moonlight. She watched the young deity stroke the crazed woman’s head, as if she were comforting a small child.

The crazed woman suddenly began to sob even harder.

Li Qingqing did not continue watching. As she walked back, she reflected on what had just happened.

Sha Niu used to tell her every day that Ming Wen was the Immortal Lady…

She thought of her own burns. The doctor had said there was no hope for recovery.

She remembered being in so much pain that her whole body was drenched in sweat. She couldn’t even open her eyes, and her mind had been a blur. At that time, she had been constantly begging the Immortal Lady to save her.

Then… she opened her eyes, and the first person she saw was Ming Wen.

She had desperately wanted to get closer to Ming Wen, to talk to her…

A suspicion had already formed in her heart, one that made her blood boil with excitement.

When she saw Ming Wen the next day, she felt as though Ming Wen was glowing.

A few days later, the cow survived, and the crazed woman named Wang Xia began to recover as well.

Others were saying that Ming Wen was a doctor with real skill, but Li Qingqing just watched her. She knew the truth: it was because Ming Wen was the Immortal Lady.

The people of Xinghua Village soon realized what a blessing it was to have a doctor in their village.

It was at this time that Ming Wen proposed to the Village Chief that they create health records for all the villagers.

“Health records?” The Village Chief thought it sounded like a good idea after hearing Li Qingqing relay the proposal.

Thus, in the following days, Li Qingqing and Sha Niu acted as Ming Wen’s left and right guardians. The two of them accompanied Ming Wen every day as she visited every single household in the village.

Ming Wen was responsible for writing, Li Qingqing translated Ming Wen’s words into the local dialect, and Sha Niu translated the villagers’ words into Mandarin.

“Name?”

“Age?”

There were quite a few Trafficked Brides in the village. Out of forty-two households, there were five Outsider Wives in the younger generation, as well as several children who had been bought.

The oldest boy was about thirteen or fourteen. It was said he had been sold at age four or five and had passed through several families. None could tame him, so he was eventually sold cheaply to this village.

Because he was cheap, the village bought him to be a son, intended to provide for someone in their old age.

Ming Wen treated his wounds as well. He remained as silent as a mute, not saying a single word.

Sha Niu said that he hadn’t spoken a word since the day he arrived in the village.

By the second month, everyone in the village had a health record with Ming Wen, which documented their physical condition.

By the third month, people from the town were specifically coming up the mountain to seek medical treatment from Ming Wen.

Ming Wen remained the same as ever, a woman of few words who was always watching over everyone.

Perhaps because she was busy enough, the aura of a city university student she had initially possessed had vanished.

Fortunately, whether it was a sheep with a broken leg, a cow having a difficult birth, or a sick person, everyone who passed through her hands survived safely.

Xinghua Village seemed to have changed. When Li Qingqing met people on the field ridges, they greeted her with smiles, and occasionally, someone would secretly give her things.

Not only that, but when Li Qingqing entered the clinic, she would see injured turtledoves, wounded rabbits, and hurt weasels. It was as if they possessed spiritual intelligence, all coming to find Ming Wen to heal their injuries.

Li Qingqing really wanted to slap herself. Even these animals recognized the Immortal Lady, yet she had failed to realize it for so long.

Day after day, Li Qingqing watched this young deity save people and animals alike.

Every day, she wanted to jump up and tell the Immortal Lady about the surging emotions in her heart, but she didn’t know how to say it…

Finally, she decided she had to tell someone, or she would burst!

“That Ming Wen… she really is the Immortal Lady.”