Yang tied Gray’s hands and feet with a rope that he had prepared. Before Yang gave the hill to Mia, he had received a message there. The message was vague. By analyzing it carefully, he got the general idea: somebody from Yun Village was coming to destroy Mia’s project. So as soon as he saw Gray today, he decided this was the bad guy. Mia was taking good care of the herb hill, and she had learned a lot about herbs by consulting an old farmer. She didn’t need this guy’s so-called help. It wasn’t help at all. It was a conspiracy.

When Gray woke up at midnight, he was lying on the ground, unable to move.

“Yang! Where are you!”

“Shut up!”

“Help me, Yang!”

“You’re the only one who can save yourself.”

“Of course I want to save myself. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Yang. I used to be a bad man full of conspiracies. But I’ve changed. Since I began to collect herbs in the mountains—ah, I don’t know. Anyway, you must be familiar with collecting herbs, aren’t you?”

“I wanted to break your leg, because you were going to sabotage Mia’s work. But I was a little surprised when you suddenly mentioned collecting herbs. Do you do that often?”

“Sure I do! I’ve even found domino grass. You can ask Mia about this. Oh, God, please untie the rope. I can’t stand the pain. I think I’m going to faint.”

Yang smiled and untied him. Looking at him doubtfully, he asked, “Is our Mia an associate of yours?”

“She’s a good friend of mine.”

“Are you learning to be an herbalist, too?”

“I’m not very good at it, but I’m working as hard as I can. Yang, take me to Mia.”

“Listen, Mia is coming.”

But it wasn’t Mia who came in. It was Grandpa Onion. He patted Gray excitedly on the shoulder, and said, “Good boy, you’re really somebody now. I’ll tell your father that you haven’t let him down. You’re an ambitious young man.”

The two old men looked at Gray appreciatively, their eyes shining with warm, moist light.

Gray stared at them for a moment, and then he suddenly understood a little something. He couldn’t help crying emotionally, and he remembered many things. Yang said, “You see, Onion, this young man understands everything now. He’s cut out for it, isn’t he?”

“Of course. Why else would he have gone up the mountain? The day I found out he was going up there, I waited for him in the woods for hours!”

Hearing Grandpa Onion talking, Gray stopped crying. He wondered, How had Grandpa Onion known he was going to Niulan Mountain to collect herbs? It was really amazing. He had been thinking long and hard about what happened that day, and now he had the answer. But was it really true?

“Grandpa Onion, I can do acupuncture now. I can give you an acupuncture treatment someday.”

“You see, Yang, I’ve got everything I want. Oh, no, I can’t stay with this boy. I must keep my distance from him . . . Yang, send him away!”