He turned and went home, carrying an empty basket.

Looking up from his ledgers, Dad said, “Our Gray has matured.”

Then Dad turned to fetch wine.

The family of three drank silently, to Niulan Mountain and to Gray.

As Gray drank, he looked intently at the window. There was a dark shadow—the head of a wolf. What a handsome wolf!

Though Dad’s back was to the window, he somehow felt the wolf approaching, too. He said to Gray, “This is a unique gift for you from Niulan Mountain. See how lucky you are.”

Gray went outside and saw that the wolf had retreated to the yard; in a few seconds it went out the gate. The breeze blew on his face and he smelled the animal.

“Did it come down the mountain?” Gray asked.

“I think it probably came from where Spoon is,” Mom said.

“That’s very possible,” Dad said.

When the moon rose, the faint howls of the wolf brought Gray happiness. He no longer expected Spoon to come back to him, nor did he think that was very important.

“See how earnest he is now. His manner reminds me of the ancestor,” said one villager, pointing at Gray from behind.

Gray’s acupuncture treatment became so popular in Yun Village that patients now came to him almost every day. Ever since he had practiced acupuncture on himself, his view of the human body had changed. Or rather, he was completely fascinated by the human body—God’s exquisite creation. When the silver needles entered a body, his vision followed them into the body. Holding a silver needle, he could actually “see” what was going on in the dark places—the movements of the internal organs, the reactions of the nerves and the muscles, and so on. And so he adapted his needles to bring relief to the patients and to improve the way their bodies functioned. Occasionally, a patient would test him by asking, “Dr. Gray, do you think I’m sick?”

Gray would smile and ask him to lie down on the treatment bed. He knew the patient was ill. After leaving several short needles in his body, he used a long needle to pierce the key acupuncture point. The patient groaned at once.

“Gray, Gray, you saved me!” he exclaimed.

Gray observed calmly from one side. He could clearly feel the patient’s nerve respond to the needle, and he was satisfied with this response. When relief came, Gray uttered, “Ah,” which was his way of sighing. In his first twenty years, he’d been befuddled, like someone who was blindfolded. Now he had learned through practicing acupuncture treatment that one could actually feel the other’s physical pain. For example, this man who was the same age as he: through the silver needles, Gray became familiar with his body at once. Bodies were so sensitive—why hadn’t he known this earlier?

“Gray, you are really a good and considerate doctor,” the patient said as he dressed.

“It’s just an ordinary medical treatment,” Gray said shyly.