“Let’s go home,” he whispered.

Her husband gave her his arm as they left. Outside, Mrs. Yi’s tension was allayed only after she took a few big gulps of fresh air.

“I never had a grudge against anyone,” she said.

“Her words came from love. She loves her mother-in-law as much as you do.”

“I can understand her. Aunt Yossi did embody the age-old character of Yun Village.”

While Mrs. Yi was talking about Aunt Yossi, she felt a rough palm stroke her cheek. She sank into memory and made up her mind: since her close friend had entrusted her rather eccentric daughter-in-law to her, she would do her best to carry out her wishes. Since Ginger loved her mother-in-law so much, the dead woman could act as a bridge between the two of them. Mrs. Yi regretted that she had been a bit stiff in her interactions with this young woman. As a barefoot doctor, she did not really understand human feelings. Compared with Aunt Yossi, she was still a student.

She heard murmurs from Niulan Mountain.

Not long after Aunt Yossi’s body was taken to Niulan Mountain, a person who had been missing for years suddenly broke into Mrs. Yi’s life. She and Mrs. Yi had been close friends when they were young. Her name was Kay, and she had been a capable young woman with endless energy. She and Mrs. Yi had quickly become the backbone of the clinic. But then tragedy struck. When the girl climbed up a cliff to collect herbs, she lost her footing, fell down, and broke her spine. From then on, she was confined to a wheelchair.

While Kay was recuperating, Mrs. Yi spent many days and nights with her. She worried a lot about her friend’s injury and racked her brain to think of ways to ease her pain.

One day when Kay was feeling better, she washed her face and combed her hair early in the morning, waiting for Mrs. Yi to come.

“I’m going to the South China Sea tomorrow,” she told Mrs. Yi with a smile. “It’s a secret. I’ll leave early in the morning; there’s no way you can see me off.”

Mrs. Yi stared at her friend for a long while, and then blurted out a question: “Kay, do you regret being a barefoot doctor?”

“A little. But I’ve figured it out. Maybe I’m not cut out for it. You’re the one best suited to being a barefoot doctor. I used to envy you a lot. Good-bye, I’ll always be your friend.”

Mrs. Yi did not see Kay off. Colleagues at the medical center said Kay was missing. Mrs. Yi had never received any news of her. In sorrow, she had buried the memory of this friend.

Now she arrived while Mrs. Yi was grinding herbs with a roller in the back room. Kay limped into the room on crutches. Her skin was very dark, and the wrinkles on her face were as deep as if carved by a knife. Was this really Kay? Of course. She called Mrs. Yi “Chunxiu.”