Chapter 47 - Proposal (2)

Chapter 47 – Proposal (2)

After two days, Zhao Xi’s fever broke, and she was well again. She was sort of enjoying Shen Fei taking care of her for a change and didn’t want to really get well. She wondered if she could pretend a while longer. That was her guilty pleasure, but she got over the thought soon enough when she saw how difficult it was for Shen Fei to move around. His hands still weren’t functional to their full potential. Once, when Zhao Xi sat with him to eat, he had tried to hide his left hand from her view. She knew he had injured it, but he was trying so hard to hide it that she pretended not to notice so that he did not feel uncomfortable.

Zhao Xi was still weak, so she rested for the day. She hoped to get well soon so that Shen Fei didn’t have to take on so much. The next day, she felt well enough to crush the carcass of the brittle snake and mix it with medicinal herbs for Shen Fei to drink. She prepared the tools that she needed for the acupuncture and set it aside.

She chose to acupuncture Shen Fei at night so that Ping An won’t disturb her. She closed the windows and doors and sealed the gaps with cotton and cloth. She needed to focus on the movement of the muscles and the muscle sensations when she did the acupuncture, to gauge the possibility of his recovery. Therefore, she couldn’t afford to be distracted, even by the sounds of the wind outside. After she finished preparing the tools and equipment, she undressed Shen Fei up to his waist, and felt the acupuncture points on his body. She was familiar with these points on his body as she was with her own. She placed the first needle at his tail bone, at the very end of his spine. Acupuncture was a tricky thing, for this particular type there were a special kind of needles.  The needles were larger at the head, with a very tiny body, and a hole at the end. The hole had a tiny pearl attached to it, which was almost invisible. The body of the needle was extremely thin, so it was difficult to support the head with a certain stability. Therefore, when the needle was inserted in the skin, it slightly wobbled, emanating a bird-like hum. Not everyone could hear the hum of the needles, but Zhao Xi had keen ears and had always been able to hear it. Even her Master couldn’t hear it clearly.

The first needle was a success, and Zhao Xi felt hopeful. She placed the second needle with more confidence, then the third and the fourth. Nothing went wrong.  The process was slow and painstaking, but she was good at it. That didn’t mean she was any less stressed, though. She would occasionally wipe her brows, which were full of sweat.

This wasn’t her first-time performing Rupture Acupuncture, and she had always succeeded. She had done them on countless injured animals before to nurse them back to health. The wilderness had so many wounded and maimed animals, the animal kingdom was ruthless. She had found Ping An with a falling heart-rate and on the verge of death. She had cared for it and kept it locked to nurture it. Eventually, when she released it, Ping An had looked at her with eyes full of hatred for taking away its freedom. Animals were weird, she had just saved its life! Later, it got hurt again and Zhao Xi took care of it. Ping An had then grown fond of her and befriended her.

Zhao Xi performed acupuncture on Ping An biannually to make sure its body was functioning well. She had last performed it when Shen Fei had arrived. Shen Fei had read so many of her medical books that by now he knew everything there was to know. Once, she had found red mushrooms in the mountain and forgotten what they were for, so she brought them home. Shen Fei was able to recognize it from one of the books he had read. Zhao Xi was impressed. He still remained in such good temperament, despite all the knowledge. He never acted arrogant.

Zhao Xi looked at him lying there and thought that he might have been in pain because of the needles. He was sweating even more than her but lay down there with no objection. He must be really anxious about this; they were his legs, after all. She worked even more carefully from then on.

She was feeling queasy; she had never done this on a human before. She hoped beyond hope for it to go well. She placed the final needle that was accompanied by the relieving hum. She was relieved; it was done! She couldn’t relax still. Chinese medicine needed patience and consistency, he needed seven more days of acupuncture and a curing period. That would decide whether it was effective on him, or if she needed to perform the process all over again.

She retracted the needles, wiped the blood from them and kept them with her other equipment. She handed a bowl of medicine for Shen Fei to drink. Then she made him turn to the other side so that she could massage his acupuncture points. This took time. Zhao Xi seemed very down. Her heart felt heavy. Shen Fei noticed this.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said, while she continued to massage the acupuncture points. She was glad that it had worked. When she had pierced the needles on the separate points, Shen Fei had trembled, which meant his nerve endings were still working and there was a possibility that he would recover. Zhao Xi felt great that he was going to walk again. She felt happy for him, but it also meant that he would leave her soon. She didn’t think that he would want to stay here, in this valley, in the middle of nowhere.

“Shen Fei,” she snuggled close to him, buried her face in his clothes and put her hands through his sleeves to curl her hand in his, “after you are well again, let’s get married for real this time?” She didn’t know what he would say. Her heart thumped against her chest and filled her with dread.