“Perhaps, but what an inspiration it is to save someone’s life!”

“There seems to be nothing we can’t do.”

They had laughed and joked along the road. When they reached the medical center, the director greeted them at the gate with a smile. He said they deserved an award.

“We did what we’re supposed to do. Why give us an award?”

“Do you know who that man is?” the director said solemnly.

“I don’t know. Does it matter?” Chunxiu was puzzled.

“He’s an old widower who lives alone in the neighborhood. You performed CPR and saved his life. What a miracle! This doesn’t happen every day!” The director was flushed with excitement.

“It’s not a big deal,” Kay and Chunxiu said together.

But the director insisted that it was a miracle. He had a silk banner made and hung it in the girls’ room. The banner was embroidered with gold characters: “Heal the wounded and rescue the dying.”

Mrs. Yi remembered that Kay had shrugged and said, “Why go to all that trouble?”

What a fiery era it was! She and Kay were both burning brightly, and they felt there wasn’t time enough for everything. Mrs. Yi often asked herself later, “Was it because Kay was too impatient that she fell from the cliff?” This question made Mrs. Yi’s heart ache, but she couldn’t help thinking about it over and over. Kay was passionate. When she saw the crag-bean vine (Millettia reticulata) beckon her from an earthen hole at the edge of the cliff, she climbed over without hesitation and slipped. At that time Mrs. Yi also saw the strange expression of the crag-bean vine in the wind. It was a cloudy day, and she heard someone playing an erhu in a nearby bamboo grove.

One time after the accident, Chunxiu climbed the cliff again and found the earthen hole. It was black inside. She summoned the courage to probe into it many times, but did not reach the crag-bean vine—the hole was empty. She shivered: Was that beautiful herb but a mirage? Did it exist or not? But she didn’t dare raise this question with Kay then, and didn’t dare raise it now, either, because the weird plant had completely changed Kay’s life. At that time, Kay just felt it was bad luck, and very unfair. Chunxiu felt the same. They were so young then. But seeing her now, Mrs. Yi felt that Kay had changed completely. She was confident, self-sufficient, and fearlessly moving ahead. So what had the crag-bean vine’s weird expression actually meant all those years ago?

Rain was pouring down when she bottled the herbal powder. Mrs. Yi was worried that Kay’s rented house would leak, so she pulled on her rain boots and walked out with an umbrella. She soon found the house. Before she had even knocked on the door, she heard Kay shouting, “Come in!”

Kay was treating Mrs. Fish’s diseased foot. Eyes closed, Mrs. Fish seemed to be enjoying the treatment.

“I’m telling her the story of the fishing village,” Kay said to Mrs. Yi. “There was a man who always took away all my hopes and then forced me to find new ones. I’m used to these ups and downs.”