Later, Mrs. Yi went halfway up Niulan Mountain to pick goldthread once again, and nothing strange happened. Life was once again peaceful, and Mrs. Yi and her husband were very happy.

As she sat in the herb garden under the moonlight, Mrs. Yi’s thoughts flew far away. She said to her husband, “The director and Dr. Lin opened up this homeland when they were young.” Without missing a beat, her husband said, “Now it is you, Kay, Mia, Gray, and Angelica as well as many other people who are making our homeland prosperous.” Mrs. Yi added, “And you, and Lohan, Tauber, Spoon, Yang, and Grandpa Onion . . . We are all the masters of this land.”

In the lilac night sky, they heard the continuous humming of a soft zizi sound. The couple listened and nodded. They understood intuitively: it was a message from Blue Mountain.

21
An Invisible Network

This patient was named Kim. Mia’s son Milan brought him home. Kim had been standing on the side of the road watching Milan play marbles for more than half an hour. When Milan stood up to go home, he said, “Little brother, may I go with you?”

Milan nodded, and they went home together. Kim wanted an appointment with Mia.

“. . . just not interested in anything, and I feel like I’ve lived too long,” he said.

Mia looked at his face, nodded gravely, and went into the inner room.

She came out with a packet of dried lilies.

“Take two at a time. Soak them in water first. You have to watch them unfold in the water. Then steam them with a little water and rock sugar for about half an hour.”

“It’s quite a bit of trouble,” Kim said, frowning.

“But you’ll feel better after taking them. Look how beautiful they are.” Mia smiled knowingly.

Three days later, Kim came back beaming. He looked much better.

“Amazing, absolutely amazing!” he said, shaking his head sheepishly.

“Did it work?” Mia asked happily.

“Not only did it work, you guided me to use my brain to cure myself. The lily is usually used in food therapy; people mix it into rice porridge. I’ve never taken this herb seriously before. This time I did what you advised every day, watching the whole process and then taking a dose of it. Afterward, my mind was full of flowering lilies and their wonderful bulbs . . . Oh, my goodness, I’m a lily! Who has ever seen a lily suffering from depression? Never! And I really felt that they were in my body to support my recovery. Mia, I am so ashamed to face you. I have to go now to help my mother with the garden.”

He came and went in a hurry. As she looked at his receding figure, Mia nodded slowly.

Mia had not known before that the Deserted villagers had a long history of kinship with plants just as the Yun villagers did. It was after she became a barefoot doctor that this truth began to dawn on her. She’d been ignorant, too, when she had first entered Mrs. Yi’s garden. That’s when she had discovered this vast world of vegetation. She said to herself, “Brother Kim, maybe you and the lily are in love with each other. The lily can cure you!” Seeing someone at the door, she cried out, “It’s open, come in!”