“Ah, it must be it, then. It was imitating you.”

“Oh my God. We’ve become its owners all of a sudden!”

Mia sat on a stone, feeling both excited and frightened. But she soon started worrying about her son Milan, and they hurried back.

The door opened, and Milan stood in the doorway.

“Milan, my baby!” Mia picked up her son and patted him on the back.

“I heard a lot of people talking, so I got up to take a look.” Milan yawned.

“Go back to sleep, they’re all gone now,” Mia said sadly.

When they were in bed, Lohan said in the darkness, “Milan may become your successor someday.”

“Lohan, I can’t forget the old director of the barefoot doctor training center. He’s the kind of man you meet once and never forget. Oh, what will the future bring?”

“Don’t think too much. Let’s take it one step at a time. Just now on the hill, I silently spoke to our hill in my heart. No, I should say I communicated with it, because it responded. So I’m relieved. Now I can see the Mosla all over the hill. The light-violet color is very like the way you described heaven the other day . . .”

Lohan fell asleep as he was talking.

“He’s so happy. He is so easily satisfied,” Mia said to herself.

A question lingered in Mia’s mind: If she fell into a trap, would the mountain help her? It was a long time before she fell asleep—

9
Mrs. Yi’s Daily Work

“She’s very heroic.” Mrs. Yi was moved. She said to her husband, “As if God had arranged it—Gray dropped out halfway, and Mia stepped in.”

“The conditions in Deserted Village are not as good as in Yun Village, but she is young and she’ll survive,” her husband said.

Mrs. Yi’s heart was like a sunny day in May. After breakfast, carrying her medicine kit on her back, she set out to see Sangyun’s baby. Sangyun was Aunt Yossi’s older daughter-
in-law.

The baby slept in a bamboo cradle. The baby was very beautiful, although his face was still a little yellow.

“Mrs. Yi, I couldn’t have made it without you,” Sangyun said, weeping.

“Nonsense. Why are you crying? It’s never easy to give birth to such a beautiful baby. Smile. Listen to me: smile!”

Sangyun smiled through her tears and said happily, “I didn’t expect him to be so nice-looking. It’s because of the good fengshui here . . .”

Mrs. Yi uttered “ah” in alarm when she saw a snake slipping away from under the cradle. It didn’t get very far. It hung from a wooden beam and seemed to be watching the baby. Sangyun looked up a little and smiled gently at the snake. Mrs. Yi wondered if the snake was waiting for her to go. It must have a special relationship with this family. She stood up and said she was leaving.

“Don’t rush off. Please have some sweet dumplings before you go,” Sangyun said anxiously.