One was eating noodles while the other sat beside him and watched him eat. The two of them sat very close, just like a loving couple.
The bowl of noodle was already half finished. It looked very appetizing. She must have made the noodle for him with all her heart.
In addition, the taste of the noodles was probably the same as those made in Zhongyuan region. This was a special way in which the two of them were in sync.
Tarico felt that he had disturbed them. He stood at the door and hesitated, unsure if he should go in or leave.
Right at this moment, Xiao Baoshan happened to see him, “Tarico, are you looking for me?”
Ye Xiaoxian also turned around and smiled at Tarico.
Not until now did Tarico walked in. He stood in front of them and felt unnatural as if he was an intruder.
He said, “Nothing important. The camels have just arrived and the resources have been unloaded, so I’m just coming around to see you.”
Tarico said in a local dialect that Xiao Baoshan could not understand, so Ye Xiaoxian translated Tarico’s words for him.
“Thank you,” said Xiao Baoshan with a smile.
Then he continued to finish his noodles.
In the meanwhile, he was also paying attention to Ye Xiaoxian and Tarico to see if they had any other interaction.
However, Ye Xiaoxian always looked indifferent, which made him slightly relieved.
Tarico asked Ye Xiaoxian again, “How is his injury?”
“It should be fine and it has recovered very quickly. Now he can barely get out of bed. But he should be able to go out after a few more days,” Ye Xiaoxian answered.
Tarico added, “He was injured for saving us.”
“I know.”
“He was… very brave,” Tarico added.
Ye Xiaoxian laughed a bit, “Are you here to praise him?”
Tarico said, “I’m here to thank him.”
Then Little Ye translated it to Xiao Baoshan.
“Thank you. Actually, I didn’t do anything. Plus, I did so for saving myself. I must kill those bandits in order to be alive.”
Ye Xiaoxian translated this sentence to Tarico, who, after hearing this, did not know what to say next.
He felt that he was redundant and stood there like a third wheel, so he said goodbye, then turned around and left the room.
Tarico came on a horseback. However, after he got on the horse, he didn’t go back to his yurt. Instead, he galloped around.
Later, he rode up a hillside and stood there. He shouted desperately, followed by a scream of laughters.
It turned out that he just had unrequited love.
He had always thought that he was the most outstanding person in the tribe and had never imagined that a person like Xiao Baoshan would come. Xiao Baoshan was even more outstanding than him. No wonder Little Ye refused to accept him.
After loving a lion, who would still like a panther?
It was useless for him to wait.
……
Doctor Xiao was very happy as he saw that Xiao Baoshan was feeling better. He even praised Xiao Baoshan, “It is indeed the body of a general. This foundation is good. Even if he is injured, he will recover very quickly.”
He also said to Ye Xiaoxian, “Madam Xiao must have also taken good care of him. Otherwise, General Xiao would not recover so quickly.”
Ye Xiaoxian said she didn’t do anything.
As for the next step, Doctor Xiao would start giving Xiao Baoshan a treatment for amnesia.
That day, Doctor Xiao called Xiao Baoshan’s entire family to enter the room and watch him diagnose.
During the diagnosis, no one was allowed to speak or make a sound.
Ye Xiaoxian thought at the moment, how could there be so many people when treating amnesia?
At one point, she suspected that Li Hongmei and Doctor Xiao were colluding that the doctor specifically asked Li Hongmei to take care of Xiao Baoshan.
Doctor Xiao first took the pulse for Xiao Baoshan, then applied acupuncture while closely paying attention to Xiao Baoshan’s reaction. Sometimes, it would hurt when the needles stab at certain acupuncture points, while at other times it wouldn’t.
After about half an hour, Doctor Xiao judged, “The main cause of amnesia is the blood congestion in the brain. Some important meridians in the brain are blocked by the congestion, which caused him to forget about the past.”
Ye Xiaoxian thought that this was similar to modern diagnosis that the neural system in the brain was injured by blood congestion.
However, if in modern times, craniotomy was necessary. But in this era, one could only take medicine and acupuncture treatments.
Doctor Xiao thought about it for a while, then said, “Based on my evaluation, the blood congestion isn’t severe. Otherwise, General Xiao’s brain would be seriously injured and even walking would be a problem. However, he has no problem with moving around, so at present, he only needs to take the medicine that unblocks the congestion. I will give General Xiao a few prescriptions of the medicine as well as acupuncture treatments to see if he will get better.”
The family listened but did not fully understand.
Doctor Xiao let them in to receive their permission of the treatment, but they had no clue about it at all. Instead, Doctor Xiao could treat him in any way as he pleased.
Seeing that no one had any objections, Doctor Xiao let all of them out, except for Ye Xiaoxian.
Ye Xiaoxian, “…”
She was very busy, alright?
……
Doctor Xiao let Ye Xiaoxian stay mainly because she could read and understand the prescription. One more thing, he felt that Ye Xiaoxian was smart and had a good memory, so she could remember all his instructions and could carry them out very well.
Doctor Xiao brought some herbs with him as he came, and now he only lacks one ingredient to brew the medicine.
This ingredient happened to be available in the tribe.
The most suitable medicine for patients like Xiao Baoshan was the bezoar. Thus, for all day long, Ye Xiaoxian watched the tribe kill cows. If she could extract the bezoar from a certain cow or find the bezoar when someone is killing the cow, then she could use the bezoar to make the Angong bezoar pill, and there would be much hope to cure Xiao Baoshan.
Since this was advised by Doctor Xiao, Ye Xiaoxian had no other choice but to try her best to find it.
At the same time, she also asked Tarico and Auntie Bai’er to pay attention to the bezoar for her. So in case they found one, they could tell her.
It was not difficult to find the bezoar. She was used to being busy anyway.
But Doctor Xiao also asked her to spend more time talking with Xiao Baoshan. As far as the doctor knew, Xiao Baoshan left his village since a young age, and was not very close to his family. Plus, he lived a life full of fighting and killing. The only warm and happy days that he had gone through were those with Ye Xiaoxian.
Because of this, Ye Xiaoxian’s role was much more important than Li Hongmei’s. Tenderness and warmth outweighed everything else.
Doctor Xiao hoped that Ye Xiaoxian could talk with Xiao Baoshan every day. It was best to keep it for about two hours per day.
Naturally, Ye Xiaoxian couldn’t reject.
Or, to be more precise, she did not really want to push off this business. She didn’t hate Xiao Baoshan anymore. Instead, when they were getting along, she often thought about their past.
Occasionally, she would feel a little tempted.
The same was true for Xiao Baoshan.
Maybe Doctor Xiao’s treatment was effective, because from time to time, pieces of memories when they were still together would emerge in Xiao Baoshan’s mind.
His injury was gradually healed and he could already walk on the ground.
……
Since Doctor Xiao had told him to talk for two hours every day, Ye Xiaoxian would come over to be with him for two hours every evening. But she would never come at other times, and would leave as long as two hours were up.
Doctor Xiao told her to talk about the past, but Ye Xiaoxian didn’t, deliberately. Instead, she would just talk about random things, and sometimes, she would even say that she was too tired to talk and would simply sit in the room for two hours.
Although Xiao Baoshan could do nothing about her, he felt that she was too cute.
That morning, he came out to find Ye Xiaoxian.
Strangely enough, there were so many people outside, but he was able to find her in the crowd at first glance.
She and a few female workers were talking and laughing while marinating beef.
He couldn’t help but walk towards her.
Then a female worker patted Ye Xiaoxian and joked, “Your man is here to find you.”
Ye Xiaoxian looked back with a smile on her face.
However, after a while, her face fell as she still did not take him kindly, “You’re coming for me? What for?”
Xiao Baoshan smiled subtly, “Nothing specific. Just want to take a look.”
“Alright, then just help yourself.”
But then she added, “You’ve just recovered from your injuries, so keep away from the heavy duties.”
Xiao Baoshan nodded.
Ye Xiaoxian continued on her work. When the other female workers saw Ye Xiaoxian being so cold to Xiao Baoshan, they only thought that she was feeling embarrassed. Couples in these days wouldn’t show any affection in the public space. They would kiss each other only when they get back home.
Xiao Baoshan just stood on the side and watched Ye Xiaoxian work.
She was very skilled with marinating the beef. She spread the sauce on the beef and then tied it up with a rope. Usually she could tie a large amount of beef on every rope.
As he stared at her, he suddenly recalled a scene in front of him: she cooked while he watched.
However, the current scene was much longer and clearer than before. In the past, he could only feel that it was her. But this time, these memories were alive. In the memory, he could recognize her smile. He even remembered that she told him not to move until the food is ready.
Not only that, he even remembered the atmosphere back then. It was at a small restaurant. She owned the restaurant but named it “Xiao’s Family Restaurant”. That was where their feelings toward each other grew. At times, they would go to the rooftop to chat and look at the stars.
The more he remembered, the more emotional he got, and the shorter his breath was.
He used to think of her everyday, but now he forgot about her.
“Little Ye!” Xiao Baoshan suddenly walked to Ye Xiaoxian with a serious expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Ye Xiaoxian asked.
“Can you come with me?”
Ye Xiaoxian didn’t want to go, but the other female workers laughed a bit and told her to go at once. He might have some whispers of love to tell her.
Ye Xiaoxian wiped her hands with the wet cloth and stood in front of him in confusion.
But who knows, he held her hand immediately, with no time left for explanation, and said imperatively, “Follow me.”
“What are you doing?” Keep your hands off me.
But he was too strong. If Ye Xiaoxian refused to go with him, he would keep draging her away, so she had no choice but to follow.
Xiao Baoshan took her to a horse nearby and said excitedly, “I seem to recall something.”
“What do you recall?” Ye Xiaoxian asked.
“The Xiao Family Restaurant. We were chatting on the rooftop.”
“What else?” She asked in surprise.
“And.. Did we go horseback riding together?”
Once, indeed. He took her to the countryside that time. The two of them were riding on the same horse. At first, the road was bumpy, but then she got excited and liked the feeling of running against the wind as she got use to it.
She said to herself, “You’ve finally thought of something.”
“Is there anything else?” She asked again.
