“Woman, what are you thinking?”

“I think there are many things in the mountains that we have never seen.”

“I think so, too. That’s why you’re inspired. The mountains are actually ourselves.” He seemed very happy.

Mrs. Yi lay down again and quietly fell into a deep sleep, no longer dreaming of spirit mushrooms.

The next morning, they saw that the herb garden had been ruined. The footprints left in the earth were not those of wild animals, but of a human being—a grown man.

“Who would do such a wicked thing?” Mr. Yi felt puzzled and said, “It’s as if there were deep hatred, but we have no enemies. It rained all night, and the man braved the rain to do this.”

“What’s done is done,” Mrs. Yi interrupted him decisively.

The couple began picking up the pieces.

The sun was already high as they tended the last few plants.

Mrs. Yi returned to the house to cook breakfast. When she put the pot on the stove, she felt a baby kicking inside her. Of course it was not a real fetus, it was just a feeling.

“Gray?” The name slipped from her lips.

“I saw him going to town with his girlfriend. He looked very happy,” Mr. Yi said.

Mrs. Yi nodded. “He needs a girlfriend. Were they going to work in the city?”

“I think so.”

The baby inside her kicked again. She was a little excited because the sensation resembled the way she had felt in her previous pregnancy. Was her Shanbao coming back?

She went to Grandma Mao’s right after breakfast.

“I kept thinking of your coming today, so I woke up at three o’clock this morning,” said Grandma Mao.

“Here you are, these herbs are all cooked. They’re the last of what I picked from the mountain last month. Next time I’ll give you some freshly picked herbs. You are very lucky.”

“I kept thinking that if one only had hope, one would live well. I was waiting for you to bring me the medicine. That was my hope. Now that I’ve swallowed the medicine, I feel much better. Mrs. Yi, I watched you grow up. You’re not an ordinary person.”

After Grandma Mao drank the herbal medicine, her face turned ruddy. This surprised Mrs. Yi.

“I am an ordinary countrywoman. As a barefoot doctor I know some herbs, that’s all.”

“You don’t just know the herbs, you actually command them. I’ve heard them talking inside me.”

Grandma Mao stood up on crutches. She was all smiles.

“Mrs. Yi, you can bring the dying back to life!”

She took several steps around the room. Mrs. Yi rushed to help her sit down again.

“You’re not an ordinary person,” Grandma Mao said again. “When I was a child, there was a mudslide on Niulan Mountain. We survived the disaster, but then a plague came and killed more than half the people. After the plague, I went to the mountain and saw that the grass and trees were no longer the same species. I knew my legs would be cured when I heard that you had been picking herbs from the mountain and making medicines from them. You see, after so many years, I’m still okay, aren’t I? And it’s all because of you!”