Chapter 27 – Benevolence (2)

Zhao Xi wanted to reach out and smoothen his frown, “Yes, the main acupuncture methods are for big injuries, the intermediate ones for medium injuries, and the small ones for small injuries. Anyway, there are several small acupuncture methods, the ones master said those are so easy that even kids can learn to do it. If I couldn’t do them, then I was worse than a three-year-old.”

“Since I was a child, the master said that I was the stupidest child in the world, with no talent, poor comprehension, poor literature, and martial skills. It’s okay for me to get a small injury myself, but if I leave the village, I will harm others,” she continued.

Shen Fei sounded disappointed, “You really don’t know how to do it?”

Zhao Xi began to shake her head, but realizing something, nodded, and then, as if thinking better of it, shook her head again.

Her suddenly changed motions confused Shen Fei, who softly asked in a hoarse voice, “What’s the matter?”

“I really don’t know how to use the Jiuqi acupuncture method, nor the Jiuming acupuncture method, but the master taught me an ultimate technique that is typically for all kind of diseases, even for the fatal ones. When I was first learning, I didn’t understand much. I asked the master to clarify, but she only said that it depends on understanding. There is no way to experiment.”

The acupuncture method was somewhat similar to the Jiumingacupuncture method mentioned by Shen Fei, but different. She could do it, others could not.

She herself wondered whether it was Jiumingacupuncture method at first, because Zhao Xi had also read the book. The master, however, adamantly said that the Jiuming acupuncture method was utter bullshit compared to her technique. “You go ask someone else if they can do it,” her master had only said.

Zhao Xi also naively ran to ask others, “Have you heard of this technique?” Of course, none of them had. She had to give up and secretly regard it as a terrible method.

Every time someone asked her what acupuncture technique she used, she was always at wits to answer.

“Although I’m not sure how powerful the method is, there should be some hope of treating your paralyzed legs.”

Zhao Xi looked at him sincerely, “I won’t lie to you, I only have thirty percent of confidence in it. Every acupuncture technique has its own risks, and I can even kill you if I am not careful enough. Are you sure you want to try?”

If he agreed to it, it would be equal to handing over his life to Zhao Xi. There might be risks of death or quadriplegia at any time. If she doesn’t try, he can still live, paralyzed for another thirty to fifty years.

Normal people would choose not to take risks, but Shen Fei was far from ordinary people.

This was a gamble, with his life as the bet.

Shen Fei closed his eyes, his eyelashes fanned downwards, casting a reflection, like an ink painting.  After a long time, he uttered the words, “I believe in you.”

Four simple words that immediately made Zhao Xi sit up, thinking that she had to shield him from the wind and rain, and to cure his legs at all costs.

She finally understood the master a little bit more. ‘Everyone loves beauty,’ she used to say and just then, Zhao Xi found, that even she couldn’t resist the temptation of beauty.

Zhao Xi began to prepare the conditions for the practice. She took out the silver needles she had carefully kept for so long, and cleaned them delicately, one by one as if she were wiping a new-born baby.

Ever since she was a child, Zhao Xi’s world had been different from other children. While other’s lives were full of crayons, colouring books and stuffed toys, she cut her teeth on medicinal materials, silver needles, surgical knives, and various poisons.

Colourful butterflies, while beautiful to others, were recognized by Zhao Xi as their creatures with short lifespans, their existence fleeting. According to her, it was better to pick up the dead bodies after they died and handle them carefully to make them beautiful for a lifetime.

If this attempt failed, Shen Fei would perhaps become more paralyzed and the affected area would extend to his waist.

It would be more inconvenient to move, and she would need to take care of everything for him, or he would always be in danger and would die a helpless death.

She thought of the two possible outcomes, and they didn’t seem too hopeless to her.

The first was that she took care of him for the next thirty to fifty years, for Shen Fei had such a strong self-esteem that he would rather stay in the ravine for a lifetime than go out and be seen and pitied by others.

The second one was that, after he died, Zhao Xi could preserve his body as a whole, and soak him in a special potion to protect his body from decay or put on special medicinal materials and let him lie in bed for a lifetime.

Zhao Xi had a hundred of ways to take care of his corpse; the only problem was just to choose a suitable one.

Of course, it was also possible that his paralysis could be cured, and he would move around freely again, maybe even leave her.

Zhao Xi’s hand, wiping the needle, stopped for a second, as she seriously considered creating some accidents.

She looked at Shen Fei: he had no idea what she was thinking, and sat quietly on the bed, leaning back against the thick pillow.

He was so thin, his collarbone was visible, and so light, as if a gust of wind would blow him away.

For a long while, he had made Zhao Xi anxious that if she did not close the window every night, he would fly out of the window like a fairy and disappear forever. While his living made her sick with concern at times, she wasn’t ready to let him go. His good looks, which would no longer be the same when he was dead, made her decision easier.

Forget it, she decided, benevolently. Let him live well.