After the excitement on the mountain, Mrs. Yi felt a little unwell. Again she sensed that she was growing old. But her heart was still like a sunny day. Someone took her medicine kit from her and held her hand. Of course, it was her loving husband.

Mrs. Yi told him that when she went to Tauber’s cabin, Tauber was sleeping on the ground next to a jujube tree in front of the building, oblivious to the dirt. Afraid that he might catch cold sleeping on the ground, she woke him up. Tauber got up and said, grinning, that he was feeling the heat of the mountain. “It is so warm!” Tauber sighed. He also said that various voices came to talk to him every night. He thought this must have been arranged by Niulan Mountain, for he would soon be inside it. He felt that he had enjoyed enough sweet happiness over the years, and he was content.

Listening to her, Mr. Yi was fascinated and kept nodding his head. Soon they were home.

Gray was sitting on their doorstep.

“Gray, why are you still here?” Mrs. Yi asked.

“I was reading medical journals for a while. It’s beautiful here. I saw geese just now.”

“Go home, Spoon is waiting for you,” Mrs. Yi said.

“She went back to her hometown the day before yesterday.”

“Do you miss her?”

“Yes, I do. I’ve got to go now. Bye!”

The couple looked into the garden, and found that Gray had done his work very well, and that all the herbs looked cheerful. Mrs. Yi murmured, “He saw the geese, and he was thinking of Spoon. Poor boy. Spoon didn’t want him to practice medicine because it was too hard . . . Spoon is a beautiful girl.”

“That beautiful girl broke his heart,” Mr. Yi whispered.

“Not everyone can appreciate the happiness of barefoot doctors,” Mrs. Yi gently reproached her husband.

“Alas, the young generation,” they said in unison.

10
Gray’s Adventure

A warm breeze was blowing. Summer was coming. It was the best season in the mountain area. How many years had gone by? People in Yun Village didn’t count the passing years. Many villagers, especially seniors, didn’t know exactly how old they were. They were too busy enjoying life to reflect on past mistakes. So they didn’t remember much. Mr. and Mrs. Yi were no different. Mrs. Yi vaguely knew that she was more than fifty, but she wasn’t sure how many years over fifty. Her mother, who had died long ago, had never made it clear to her. One exception, however, was Gray. Not only did he remember his age, he remembered every important event in his life. This young man was meditative, indecisive, and remorseful. These days, Gray worked in Mrs. Yi’s herb garden and read some medical books in his spare time. But he had not yet made up his mind whether to become a barefoot doctor. He liked herbs, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and the strong smell in the pharmacy. But he didn’t like patients, and he thought that people who were sick had character flaws. He believed that it was character flaws that made people physically sick.