“I want to get out of here and go home. Can you help me?” she asked.

“You can’t go home from up there. Why don’t you try to go down?” he scoffed.

“Down? You mean continue digging down?”

“Yes, you’re very smart.”

He gestured toward a spot on the ground, telling Mrs. Yi to dig down from there. Mrs. Yi dug gently just once, and the mud crumbled. Before she could see anything, they sank several meters together. The pit was not at all dark. Mrs. Yi suddenly burst into laughter.

“All right, all right. Laugh as much as you like. Do you see the door?” the man said.

“Door?”

“It’s a door that you dug out. Isn’t that what you wanted to do?”

Mrs. Yi thought, This man makes some sense, but what about this pit? She looked up and saw that the ground had risen to a faraway place. It was as if she were inside a coffin so spacious that she could run about in it. The glare from far above lit the pit. “Did I dig this up?” Mrs. Yi couldn’t understand this kind of thing. Hadn’t she simply felt afraid and wielded the hoe a few times and removed a little soil with her bare hands?

“Look, this is the goldthread that you were looking for,” said the man, pointing to a tuft of plants in the corner.

“Ha-ha, here it is!” Mrs. Yi shouted happily.

She dug up some of the goldthread and put it into her bamboo basket. Then she faced the problem of how to get back to Yun Village. The man read her mind, and said in a teasing tone, “You may stay here waiting for a miracle. Think of some ways to amuse yourself while waiting.”

“But I just want to go back to Yun Village.”

“Well, then, you’re on your own. I have to go,” said the man angrily.

The man went behind the cluster of goldthread and disappeared. Mrs. Yi ran after him and saw that the mud where he had stood was a little loose. She retreated timidly to the center of the pit. She wanted to dig again, but she was afraid of causing a disaster. She hesitated.

“What are you afraid of? Haven’t you already thrown caution to the wind?” It was her husband talking.

Mr. Yi’s voice seemed to come from the goldthread. She went over to check, but found nothing except traces of her digging.

“Where are you?” She was wrought up.

“Don’t shout!” Mr. Yi sounded sullen. “If you want to go back, go right now! The patients are waiting for you. You’re their only hope!”

He was right. She had to dig her way out. Wasn’t the drumbeat coming from Yun Village? So she continued to dig at the spot behind the goldthread where the soil had loosened.

“Good, that’s good. You’ve almost cured my herniated lumbar disc,” said the man. “You’re really a New Age hero!”

He stood up in front of her and wrote a big “O” in the air with his hand.