“I was a little worried so I came to check on you. What do you think of this place?”

“Is this house for me to stay in?” asked Angelica, bewildered.

“Who else? Look, there’s a fireplace. I’ll stack some firewood here for you. Here’s a kerosene lamp, and here are some matches. Ha-ha, I have to go now. I’ll bring more firewood for you tomorrow. Have you seen the bedding? It’s inside this cloth wrapper.”

Angelica suddenly spotted a large bundle of things hanging from the beam.

“What’s your name, sir? Why did you bring me firewood?”

“My surname is Firewood. Please call me Uncle Firewood. Why did I bring you firewood? Because Dr. Lin’s cause is mine as well. That’s what I think anyway. Good-bye now. I’ll come again tomorrow.”

Angelica took the bedding out of the wrapper, and carried it to the wooden bed. Everything was new—sheets, a quilt, and a pillow. They all smelled of starch. There was also a mosquito net. And when she turned around, she saw the bamboo poles for hanging the mosquito net. What was going on here? Was there someone else who cared about Dr. Lin’s cause? Angelica excitedly hung up the mosquito net, and all of a sudden the back room became animated. A face appeared at the window. It was a woman.

“Good morning, Miss Angelica. I’ve brought you some pancakes,” said the woman.

“Good morning, ma’am! Thank you so much! But I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You’re welcome. We all knew you were coming, and we knew your name when you were still on the way. We live in the historic Blue Village. My name is Blue.”

Blue smiled, revealing her white teeth. She was an attractive woman.

Angelica was hungry. Moved to tears, she ate two big pancakes, and then wiped her hands on the white towel. Blue was looking at her curiously.

“Miss Angelica, look,” she said, standing next to the window. “That little white hut over there is your bathroom.”

“I still don’t understand,” Angelica said, blinking. “It’s like I’m in a dream. What’s going on? How did you know about me?”

“You subscribe to the medical journal, don’t you? We sent out messages and you received them. What a splendid way to communicate. When I was a child, there wasn’t much information in our poor mountain village, so I waited and waited with a few other people until we totally despaired . . . What am I rattling on about?”

She laughed and said she had to return to the village.

Angelica walked her to the end of the path and watched her disappear into the woods. How strange! There was no path in the woods. Where had she gone? Three black ravens, not at all afraid of people, came and pecked at Angelica’s shoelaces to loosen them, and then flew away together. Watching the scene in surprise, Angelica laughed out loud. When she bent over to tie her shoelaces, she saw a crystal stone. There was a dark hole right in the middle of the huge crystal. She looked at it, shivered, and sat down on the ground.