Chapter 33: An Idiot Without a Past
’Is that so?’ he chuckled to himself. ’What a stubborn little thing. But we’ve only just entered Luoying Mountain. There are still plenty of "surprises" waiting for her.’
The two of them continued deeper into the mountain. Along the way, they found nothing but a few very common medicinal herbs, and she began to grow frustrated, her initial excitement fading.
"What’s wrong? Disappointed?" Hu Feng asked, gripping a pointed wooden fork as he vigilantly scanned their surroundings. No matter how many times he’d come here, he never dared to let his guard down. In an old forest like this, there were no set rules. Just because a predator didn’t usually roam the outskirts didn’t mean it wouldn’t today.
The trees in the old forest were incredibly thick, their branches and leaves far lusher than those of ordinary trees. They blotted out the sky, casting the forest in a gloomy, cold air. And yet, warm sunlight still managed to find gaps to filter through, bringing a sliver of light and warmth to the gloomy woods.
In the 23rd century, Bai Zhi had owned a sunroom dedicated to cultivating rare and nearly extinct medicinal herbs. She knew full well that only in sunlit places did the finest herbs have a chance of survival.
Whenever she saw a spot where sunlight broke through the leaves, she would rush over to take a look. She did manage to find some herbs this way, but they were mostly common varieties for treating external wounds. While the quality was decent, they weren’t what she wanted. These herbs were so common that even a full basket of them wouldn’t fetch much money.
"Aren’t those medicinal herbs?" Hu Feng couldn’t help but ask, noticing her expression flicker between excitement and disappointment.
She shook her head. "They are, but they’re not what I want. They’re too common and aren’t worth much."
Hu Feng raised an eyebrow. "So, you recognize many kinds of medicinal herbs?"
She glanced sideways at him. His handsome face was a blur in the mottled light, but his eyes remained clear and bright. "You don’t trust me?"
Hu Feng remained silent.
She shrugged. "Suit yourself. But if you don’t trust me, why did you ask me to treat you?"
Hu Feng turned away, his gaze lost in the dim distance. "Because I have no other choice."
He didn’t know who he once was or even what his name was. He didn’t know why he’d lost his memories. He had become an idiot with no past. He wanted to reclaim those lost memories and become a normal person, just like everyone else.
Ordinary doctors couldn’t do anything for his condition, and he couldn’t afford to see the famous ones. And so, it had dragged on for three years.
But yesterday, when he saw Bai Zhi use that strange method to revive Yingzi—who had clearly stopped breathing—the flame of hope that had all but died in his heart flickered to life again.
Bai Zhi thought of her own past, of the despair and pain of being abandoned by her biological parents as a child. ’If only I could, I’d rather not have those memories at all. I wish they could be wiped from my mind, instead of making my heart ache every time they surface.’
"Sometimes, losing memories isn’t a bad thing, and recovering them isn’t always a good thing," she said with a bitter smile, a faint ache in her chest. No matter how much time passed, those memories, hidden in darkness, would always rise to the surface.
She had thrown herself into her studies, always ranking first in her grade, first in the county, and first in the entire province.
She became the first person in the country to obtain dual doctorates in both Chinese and Western medicine at the tender age of twenty-one, and by twenty-three, she was the youngest and most skilled general practitioner at Mingxing Hospital.