What was it about Mrs. Yi’s kind of medicine—if it could be called medicine—that attracted her to it? Was it just some kind of folk art that Lohan said one had to learn by oneself? Of course he didn’t mean that. He thought so highly of her work that even she felt that he was exaggerating. Mia realized through her experience that it was indeed an old skill that had almost been lost, and only a small group of people still insisted on demonstrating its effectiveness. The strangest thing was that the plants played a central role, conveying messages in silence with a variety of expressions, and never failing to do so. She had heard the story of the volcano erupting, and she wondered how the herbs and people had developed their difficult relationship over thousands of years. Did the relationship need a breakthrough now? She felt that Uncle Ling knew something about this. He came to her not for treatment but to talk.

“Is Uncle Ling sort of a prophet?” Lohan said.

“Yes, I think so. Is he from Deserted Village?”

“Yes.”

“Lohan, the first time I came to Deserted Village, I saw a tiger lying on a rocky hill in the distance. I didn’t tell you because I thought maybe it was a hallucination. But that impression is engraved in my mind. A scary beast, so beautiful.”

“Later, your determination to study medicine had something to do with the tiger.”

“Deserted Village is a place with lots of hidden talents. The elders are all a bit like prophets.”

At this moment, Mia felt very lucky. She and Lohan had fallen in love, and she had married him in Deserted Village. Then one day she had come up with the idea of studying herbal medicine. It all seemed predestined. She saw now that she could have a brilliant future in this unassuming village. People of this village had disguised faces, beneath which were ancient instincts. She hadn’t known this in the past. Perhaps the villagers like Yang, Ling, and some others were in frequent contact with Blue Mountain and Yun Village, but she hadn’t noticed it before. Was Blue Mountain the birthplace of this particular medical practice? It seemed so. That medical journal was published there. This small journal with simple covers had changed so many people’s destinies! Mrs. Yi, she herself, Gray, and Angelica—their obsession with this journal wasn’t at all misplaced. From the start, she had felt that the messages in the journal were coming from somewhere dark. Perhaps a mysterious editorial office and printing house were in the belly of Blue Mountain.

“Here comes your cousin,” Lohan said.

Milan threw himself at Chunli. After playing with him for a while, Chunli took a seat.

“Mrs. Yi asked me to tell Mia that her herb hill project won the grand prize—in the entire industry.”

“How wonderful!” Lohan exclaimed.

“It’s just an honor, no trophy, no medal, and no money.”

“It’s great!” Mia said, “Because it’s a prize in the industry! Chunli, I’m so proud! I’ve never ever been so proud of myself!”