Chapter 3 - Who Are You?
Half an hour later, Luo Ziling took care of the wounds and applied medication.
When all was done, Luo Ziling was drenched in sweat again.
He retreated to the back of his house, bathed himself with cool water that came from the mountain top, and felt more comfortable.
He returned after that and started to make a fire to cook a meal.
While cooking his meal, he could not help but think about the woman.
What was her real identity?
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How did she sustain such injuries?
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Who did that to her?
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Was she without a companion?
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By helping her, would he be inviting trouble for himself and his grandfather?
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He was afraid, not for himself, but for the trouble he could cause his grandfather.
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Luo Ziling and his grandfather had been relying to survive on each other. It was his grandfather, Luo Liansheng who had raised him.
He had never met his own father or mother. Ever since he was mature in thinking, he was already spending his days with his grandfather.
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His grandfather was a man of knowledge, both in education as well as martial arts. He knew about everything and played the flute well.
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However, his best was still about medicine.
Everyone else would say, as long as a person was still breathing, his grandfather, Luo Liansheng could get a sick person back on his feet with his adept skill.
Luo Ziling had never been to school. That being said, he was not illiterate. His grandfather had taught him to read and write from when he was young. Like his grandfather, the young man knew about everything. His education prowess was no worse than any other student studied in school. He also shared his grandfather\'s prowess when it came to medicine.
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Thus, in Luo Ziling\'s life, there was no one else more important than his grandfather. He saw his grandfather as both his father and mother.
His grandfather loved him, and he loved his grandfather just as much. If anything he did that day caused trouble for his grandfather, he would feel extremely guilty.
When he was deep in thought, dinner for two was made.
He cooked rice for himself and made porridge for the woman. There was minced meat in the porridge.
While he was making dinner, he was also concurrently decocting another batch of medication for the woman.
After Luo Ziling finished dinner, the woman was still asleep, never awake.
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He touched the woman\'s forehead. It was still burning, but it was not a cause for alarm since Luo Ziling had anticipated it.
Nightfall arrived quickly. The time was eleven at night.
Night in the northwestern lands of China came late. It was only starting to get dark right then.
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Coincidentally, that was when Luo Ziling would usually take his nightly bath and prepare for bed.
Under normal circumstances, he would have already taken his bath and gone to bed.
However, there was a wounded person in his house, so Luo Ziling chose not to sleep. Instead, he stood guard with the lights on and a book to read.
He was afraid the woman might show abnormal symptoms.
The village was secluded but electricity was still made available. There was a photovoltaic system set up near the village. It was a blessing brought to the village by Luo Ziling\'s grandfather.
Before the photovoltaic electric generator was built, there was no electrical system to supply a village with roughly more than ten families.
His house had a television and a receiver outside his courtyard. This was Luo Ziling\'s way to learn about the outside world. Luo Ziling would usually spend some time watching television before sleeping. However, fearing that he would disturb his patient, he chose to not to turn the television on.
After sleeping for a few hours, the injured woman twitched a little at about one in the morning. She twitched a little more and stopped a while later. She opened her eyes suddenly. Swiftly, she sat upright. Luo Ziling, who was reading his book, got the shock of his life.
"Ough!" cried the woman in pain. She could have torn open her wound when she got up so quickly.
Luo Ziling discarded the book in his hands and quickly tended to the woman.
"You are severely injured. Don\'t move around yet. You could open your wounds and I\'d have to close them up again," said Luo Ziling in a warning tone.
"Lie down. Rest to recover energy. I\'ll fetch you something to eat in a while."
The woman remained awake instead of going back to her unconscious state and glared at the young man.
If glaring alone could kill someone, Luo Ziling would have died a number of times.
Her right hands moved about, feeling her surroundings but finding nothing.
"Who are you?"
Her voice although soft, had an unfriendly tone.