Chapter 223

The Beginning of Winter.

It rained yesterday.

Suddenly, it turned cool.

Jiang Manor was a scene of busy yet orderly activity.

They were packing up.

During the earthquake earlier, Qin Luoxia had already reorganized and packed away the valuable items in the household.

Because the earthquake had damaged the house, it had been renovated once again.

Jiang Mianmian had also acquired a sword forged from meteorite iron - the kind with a beautiful sword tassel, a scabbard, and a blade that was very sharp when unsheathed.

She was absolutely delighted with it.

For this reason, she even signed up for an extra hobby class, sword practice taught by her Elder Brother.

She tried it out and found that wearing the sword at her waist didn't actually affect her walking.

It looked very cool.

Having a sword was comparable to what? Perhaps like carrying an extremely expensive luxury handbag in modern times.

Then she also had a set of medical instruments made that she needed.

Her Elder Brother was very good at teaching and very patient.

Mianmian felt that compared to memorizing ancient texts over and over, practicing swordsmanship was actually much easier.

She imagined the sword moves as radio calisthenics, which made them easier to remember.

Foreigners think radio calisthenics are super complex and mistake them for Chinese kung fu, but really it's just doing the same thing every day until it's ingrained in your bones.

Sword practice was probably similar.

Every morning she practiced with her Elder Brother, first one move at a time.

Then they were strung together.

First slowly connected, then smoothly, and finally quickly.

Then practicing repeatedly every day, Jiang Mianmian felt very happy. Sword practice indeed gave a sense of physical strengthening, much like radio calisthenics. After practicing swordsmanship daily, her height, which hadn't increased for a long time, actually loosened up a bit and grew by half an inch.

Jiang Mianmian was overjoyed. It was an unexpected gain, and she resolved to keep working hard.

Sword practice had become one of her favorite activities recently.

Next to that was treating patients, which basically broke even.

Ever since she reattached the finger of Old Nine, the yamen runner, a few months later he was actually able to move it freely, which amazed everyone.

As it happened, the day she reattached Old Nine's finger was the first day of distributing porridge, and a huge crowd had come, spreading the word far and wide.

After that, she had many more patients.

Jiang Mianmian wasn't an almighty god; she only treated what she could and referred those she couldn't treat to other doctors in the city.

Mianmian discovered that sword practice also helped improve her hand speed and surgical skills, complementing each other.

"I attended the first funeral of my life. It was my Father's.

He died in front of me, very suddenly, without shock or sorrow. Perhaps it's a good thing.

The thing I feared most was Father leaving me.

It finally happened.

From now on, in this world, I have no family left.

I am like a wandering soul.

Drifting, floating.

The funeral was simple. Father's grave is not far, at the foot of Yanshan Mountain.

If you come to the capital for spring outings, you might even pass by.

Father liked lively places when he was alive, he probably fears loneliness after death too. That's good.

My little turtle is still alive, and so am I.

Strange.

I once had a dream where I died, and Father attended my funeral. Father was very sad.

Now I'm very sad, and for a moment I can't tell which is better.

It turns out dreams are the opposite.

I'm very afraid of dreaming.

Things in dreams are always a bit scary.

The only time I had a dream that felt reassuring was when I dreamed of you.

I heard you're coming to the capital. This is probably the only reason for me to stay alive now.

I want to see you one more time.

Then I'll go to accompany Father.

I want to ask you to take care of my little turtle, because you look like you'll live a long life. You can take care of the little turtle for longer."

Jiang Mianmian read the letter, read it three times over.

Only then did she realize tears had fallen onto the paper.

She looked up.

Outside the window, there were two trees.

She remembered when she was very young, she told him, if you want to give a gift to your father, to express your like, your love, you have to say it out loud.

She picked up a tree branch and gave it to him.

He gave it.

She taught him to try hard to love people, he did, and then the person he loved died.

A gust of wind blew, and leaves fell from the trees, floating and drifting, empty and falling.