She stood in her father medicine garden, the letter trembling in her hands as tears fell like rain upon it, blurring the ink, while the herbs they had grown together swayed like echoes of the past.
(You stayed in the medicine garden for a long time, until Uncle Xia approached from behind, gently patting your head and rubbing your back to comfort you. He glanced at the letter in your hand, then at the garden, and fell into thought. In the end, he carried you home after you fainted.)
(Three days later, your father's ashes were returned. The workers of Mùchūn Táng, once loud with complaints, now wept without restraint. "Master Su is eternal." "A model for our generation." And Uncle Xia... the man who had comforted you was now the one grieving the most, kneeling before the coffin.)
("Uncle, the floor is cold. Please get up." You try to shake him.)
(But as you do, you realize he has already fainted from grief, collapsed on the ground. For a moment, you don't know what to do.)
(Looking at the square coffin, you felt a sense of trance. Your remembrance took you back to the moment your father left to save others.)
(As the coffin was lowered into the earth, the sounds of weeping faded. Your gaze fixed on it. the figure who cared for you, brewed medicine for you, and told you that a healer must possess eternal virtue… was now reduced to a mound of earth.)
(The world turned gray as the earth covered him, and you buried your father with your own hands.)
...
...
That night, Ena returned to the medicine garden. The cool breeze carried a faint trace of medicinal herbs.
Ena raised her gaze to the starry sky, and her father words echoed in her mind once more.
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
A person experiences three deaths in their life. First comes the death of the body. Then comes the death of memory, when they are forgotten. Finally comes the death of conviction, when all they once believed in fade into dust.
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
Under the starlit sky, the young girl made her decision. She would carry on her father's will. Perhaps it was another form of life continuing. But if all beings suffer, where could the cure be found? If humanity lived without pain, without disaster, and if death itself no longer marked the end, would suffering disappear?
If medicine can heal and slow aging, then could it also erase suffering itself? Would a few more years of life without pain or farewell be enough?
Immortality.
Yes. That must be the answer.
But in this vast universe, does such a divine medicine truly exist?
"All sentient beings suffer. I shall be the one who saves them."
Her father's words echoed in her mind once more.
"The one who saves the world... I can be that person too."
...
...
(At age 11, the Great Plague had still not subsided. The workers in the clinic headed to the disaster areas one by one. Because you were too young, you could not go with them. Before leaving, Uncle Xia, dressed in white, came to bid you farewell.)
("Ruò Héng, take these funds first and don't refuse. I've watched you grow. You are like unpolished jade, but I have nothing left to teach you.")
(Uncle Xia sighed, his gaze drifting into the distance. What he saw was not the grandeur of the Imperial City, but countless suffering people, their bodies burned to ash in endless flames.)
("Ruò Héng, this Great Plague is no ordinary calamity. It cannot be stopped by a single person. If it continues unchecked, the world itself will be in danger. But don't worry. As long as we old ones are still here, you children will be safe.")
("Uncle Xia is leaving. Don't worry. Uncle Xia will bring you cake and candy to eat until you become an elephant.")
(Uncle Xia departed with the people of Mùchūn Táng, their white-clad figures moving against the tide of the crowd. The elders and clinic workers walked into the distance, forming a barrier with their own bodies to protect the people behind them.)
(At age 12, the Great Plague had not yet subsided.)
(At age 13, the Great Plague had not yet subsided.)
(At age 14, the Great Plague vanished, leaving behind rows of white mourning cloths.)
...
...
"Junior Ruò Héng sees the seniors off on their final journey."
Many small graves appeared on the mountain behind the clinic, and the past laughter of Mùchūn Táng was buried in the earth.
Healers walk against the tide, using their flesh and blood as a wall to protect all living beings.
Uncle Xia still hadn't returned. That was how he usually was. Once his beard twitched, he would forget whatever he had said before.
See, how... annoying.
Without even saying a word, he just went to rest in the dirt.
It wasn't just Uncle Xia who left. There was an old man at the clinic, terminally ill, who had at most two or three years left. He spent all that time comforting the plague victims. The Great Plague did not take his life, but his own illness claimed him first.
She also remembered a younger worker, about twenty years old. Before leaving, he had been preparing to get married, but upon hearing that people were in suffering, he went with them. The bride was clearly not sick, yet she always came to the clinic for consultations. Ena knew what she was thinking. She was waiting for someone, waiting for someone who had already returned to the dust.
"Dead... they're all dead."
"They were good people. Why did they all have to die?"
She hated it. She hated death. She hated how it took everything without warning.
A few clinic workers came over, trying to comfort her.
She only shook her head, bowed three times toward the graves, and quietly returned to the clinic.
...
(At age 18, your medical skills far surpassed those of your predecessors. Even the kingdom greatest physicians sought your advice.)
(At age 19, another Great Plague broke out, and you led the charge, going to the very front. Now an adult, you were allowed to practice medicine in the disaster areas. Disease posed no threat to you, but pain still lingered. You endured it quietly, as if it meant nothing.)
(As the descendant of a hero and a figure of great renown, the royal family entrusted you with command. The plague lasted only half a year, and your reputation rose with it.)
(During this time, while saving lives, you took in a homeless orphan. Her condition was severe, requiring you to keep her close. With no one else to rely on, she stayed by your side. To your surprise, she showed a rare talent for medicine. You became both her adoptive mother and her teacher.)
...
"you want me to give you a name?"
Ruò Héng looked at the girl before her in surprise. The girl met her gaze with determination and nodded.
"Then... from now on, you shall be called Yaoshi. You are a promising student of medicine. I hope you can become a great healer in the future. This expectation might be a bit high, but there is no need to rush. Stay with me for now, observe closely, and learn well. Also, there are some words you must always remember."
[(One without constant virtue cannot practice medicine. The way of medicine is to first correct oneself, and then correct others.)]
Yaoshi looked at her, a little confused. She was too young to fully understand, but she still carefully wrote the words down.