Barefoot Doctor by Can Xue

Author:Can Xue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

16

Mia and Her Patients

With Grandpa Onion’s guidance, Mia was successful in planting herbs. Again and again she was surprised by the young people from Deserted Village who volunteered one after another to work at her herb hill. Everything was going well. Lohan was now happy from morning to night.

“Milan, your mother is a barefoot doctor now!” he said to his son.

“Mom is wearing shoes.”

“But she goes barefoot to the places where neither you nor I can go for the time being.”

“If I took off my shoes, could I go?”

“Ha-ha, ha-ha, Milan, you little imp!” He burst out laughing.

Mia produced more herbs than her clinic needed. When the harvest season came, three men wearing black clothes and straw hats showed up at Mia’s house. Mia talked with them quietly in the back room, which she had made into a pharmacy. When they left, they were each carrying a large burlap bag of herbs. One of them patted Milan on the head.

Mia blushed with excitement as she told Lohan, “They’re from Blue Mountain. The girl Angelica broke through all the obstacles, and her career is prospering.”

“What obstacles did she break through?” Lohan asked.

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I had. It is so enlightening. Angelica is remarkable!”

“I think so, too,” Lohan said. “I often tell myself that Mia is a miracle.”

“Come on! You should see this girl. You don’t know how extraordinary she is.”

“Anyway, it’s great that there’s so much demand for our herbs. Are those men in black members of the medical journal staff? I think they must be.”

This was a good day, and they decided to go to Yang’s place to celebrate. Milan cheered and ran wildly around the room.

When the three of them arrived at Yang’s home, he was busy in the kitchen.

The kitchen was spacious, and the walls were darkened by smoke. The smoked fish and bacon hanging from the beams smelled wonderful. As soon as Milan went into the kitchen, he squatted at the edge of the little water tank next to one wall, where Yang was raising two tortoises as pets.

“Yang, we brought maotai!” Lohan said.

“I smelled it as soon as you stepped out your door. You see, I’m preparing our meal. The men who visited you are not ordinary people; they can almost be regarded as mountain gods! They used to show up around here about twenty years ago, when Mia was a little girl. The day they’ve been waiting for finally came! I’ve been watching that road since August. I knew they would come.”

They ate and drank in the kitchen. Milan stood by the water tank with a bowl of food. He tried to feed bacon to the tortoises, but the tortoises weren’t interested. Milan was disappointed.

Yang asked Lohan if he had noticed that one of the men in black was wearing a badge on his chest. Lohan said he hadn’t. Yang said that the one with the badge was the group leader, who must have been more than a hundred years old. Yang was surprised that the man could still come to Deserted Village.

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