Revelation of the Way of Heaven

Chapter 320 Past Illusions

"Let's go ask." Guo Shiyi pulled his arm and walked to the girl. The girl was saying to the boy, "Give me the net, I'll fish it out."

The boy obediently handed the net to the girl, who vigorously scooped up a full net of duckweed from the pond, filling the red bucket in one go. She looked quite dashing, and Qin Xiaochuan suddenly felt that this personality was somewhat fitting.

"Little sister, what's your name?" Guo Shiyi asked the girl.

The girl wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm, looked at Guo Shiyi and Qin Xiaochuan curiously, and asked instead of answering, "Who are you? I've never seen you before."

"Oh, we're not locals, we're here to find someone," Guo Shiyi said.

"My name is Han Kexin. I know this place very well. I can tell you who you're looking for," the girl said confidently.

Guo Shiyi couldn't help but exchange a glance with Qin Xiaochuan, both of them with a smile in their eyes. Guo Shiyi said with a smile, "What a coincidence, the person we're looking for is your sister, Han Keyun."

"How do you know Han Keyun is my sister?" Han Kexin asked.

"I can tell from your name," Guo Shiyi said with a smile. "Can you take us there now?"

"Then come with us." Han Kexin said, using a net and wooden handle to lift the whole bucket of duckweed with Zhou Bin.

"Let me carry it for you," Qin Xiaochuan said, immediately offering to lift the red buckets for them.

"Thank you, big brother." Han Kexin smiled sweetly at him.

Qin Xiaochuan was momentarily speechless, then said with a wry smile, "I'm really not used to you calling me 'big brother'."

"Why?" Han Kexin asked, puzzled.

"Because he prefers being teased by you," Guo Shiyi said with a grin.

Han Kexin looked puzzled and said, "How can a person have such a strange hobby?"

"Hahaha." Guo Shiyi laughed even harder.

"Don't listen to her nonsense. It's nice to hear you call me 'big brother,' it's such a rare thing. I just wonder what someone will think if they find out." As Qin Xiaochuan said this, Han Kexin's eye roll flashed through his mind, and a sly smile appeared on his face.

"By the way, little sister, what are you doing collecting these duckweeds?" Guo Shiyi asked.

Han Kexin said, "Feeding pigs? Zhou Bin has two pigs at home, and I help him remove the duckweed. His pigs really like to eat it."

Guo Shiyi then asked, "Has Zhou Bin never liked to talk since he was little?"

"He's too introverted," Han Kexin replied. Zhou Bin kept his head down and walked silently on his way. As they spoke, the four of them had already left the banyan forest and then covered their heads with lotus leaves.

When Qin Xiaochuan saw Guo Shiyi's appearance, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Seeing you reminds me of a scene from 'Dream of the Red Chamber'."

"What's the plot?" Guo Shiyi asked curiously.

Qin Xiaochuan said with a smile: "One day, Xue Baochai fell ill, and Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu went to see her. Then, Aunt Xue invited them to stay for dinner. When they were about to leave after dinner, it started to rain. So, the two of them put on a straw hat, and Jia Baoyu said that the two of them looked like a fisherman and a fisherwoman. I feel like the two of us look like a fisherman and a fisherwoman now."

This scene is one of the more ambiguous ones in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Guo Shiyi naturally sensed the ambiguity in it, but deliberately snorted and said, "You are the old fisherman, and I am not the old fisherwoman."

Qin Xiaochuan chuckled and didn't argue with her. Several dragonflies flew out of the rice paddy, and Han Kexin tried to catch one from the air with her net.

The two followed Han Kexin through the country paths and soon arrived at Zhou Bin's house. Qin Xiaochuan first helped Zhou Bin pour the duckweed into the pig trough, and then Han Kexin led the two to the village primary school.

Han Keyun is both a witch and a barefoot doctor. She often needs to go to the mountains and villages to help villagers see a doctor and deliver medicine. This time, a strange disease suddenly appeared in Huaishan Village. Han Keyun needs to stay in the village for a long time to help the villagers find the source of the disease. Since it is summer vacation, the primary school students have already gone on summer vacation, and the dormitory in the primary school is empty. Han Keyun and Han Kexin stay there temporarily.

Qin Xiaochuan met Han Keyun in the backyard dormitory area of ​​the primary school. The dormitory area consisted of single-story buildings with a courtyard in the middle. In the center of the courtyard stood a locust tree, and next to the locust tree was a pergola. Inside the pergola sat five villagers who looked dejected, and Han Keyun was treating them.

"Sister, someone's here to see you," Han Kexin said, jumping up in front of Han Keyun.

Han Keyun looked up and saw Qin Xiaochuan and Guo Shiyi. She smiled and said to Qin Xiaochuan, "Oh, it's you. Why are you with a different girl this time?"

Qin Xiaochuan was embarrassed upon hearing this and could only say, "They are all my friends. I didn't expect you to still remember me."

"You all look familiar, especially that girl from last time. She even said she wanted to be my sister. Why didn't she come with you?" Han Keyun said gently.

"Oh, she's been busy lately and can't come," Qin Xiaochuan replied helplessly.

"I see." Han Keyun looked somewhat disappointed; it seemed she was indeed deeply impressed by Han Kexin from last time. "By the way, I forgot to ask your names last time. What are your names? Is there anything I can help you with?"

"My name is Guo Shiyi, and this is Qin Xiaochuan." Guo Shiyi stepped forward and introduced herself. Her face was flushed and her forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat from the hot weather. "Actually, it's nothing much. I just heard that you are a witch and can catch demons, so I wanted to come and catch demons with you."

"Oh, are you also superhumans?" Han Keyun looked at the two with newfound respect.

"Yes," Guo Shiyi said with a smile, "and I also know a little about medicine, so I can help you out."

"Really? That's wonderful! There have been a lot of patients in the village lately, and we definitely need more manpower," Han Keyun said happily.

"Why are there so many patients? Is it an infectious disease?" She leaned closer to the patient Han Keyun was treating and saw that the villager's arms were covered with reddish-brown, net-like charred marks. She frowned slightly and said, "This infection is a bit strange. It doesn't seem like an infectious disease, but it's not one of the common summer infections either."

"You're right, this is summer heat. In my experience, it should be caused by some kind of evil spirit. Let me take a look," Han Keyun said.

"Dr. Han, I'm sure I'll be alright." Hearing Han Keyun's words, the young man in his twenties who was seeing a doctor asked anxiously.

"Don't worry, even Li Laosi, who was much more seriously injured than you, has been cured. You've only just been infected, so it's not a big problem," Han Keyun reassured him. Then she gestured for Guo Shiyi to watch her actions. She drew several mysterious runes on the man's arm with her fingertips, and then quickly made a few hand gestures in front of the runes. When she stopped, a faint golden light shone from her fingertips onto the runes. Immediately afterward, Guo Shiyi saw something wriggling under the villager's skin, moving towards the runes.

A short while later, the wriggling reached the center of the rune, and then a red light emerged from the villager's pores. The red light gathered more and more, eventually coalescing into a red winged insect on Han Keyun's fingertip. The insect's abdomen resembled a burning red volcanic rock, seemingly containing golden-red volcanic magma. With each breath, tiny sparks spewed from its mouth.

"What is this?" Guo Shiyi asked in surprise, she had never seen such a strange thing before.

"Fire Plague Worm," Han Keyun said calmly. "It's a parasite created by evil spirits and that lives inside the human body, producing fire poison within the body." As she spoke, Han Keyun took out a small glass bottle from her medical kit, put the Fire Plague Worm inside, and then taught Guo Shiyi how to treat the disease.

"Since it's caused by evil spirits, we should find the source of the illness. Otherwise, just treating the symptoms won't cure the root cause," Qin Xiaochuan said from the side.

Han Keyun said helplessly, "We do need to find the source of the disease, but there are too many sick people in the village. Because it is summer, the condition is easy to worsen, so we can't delay. Although I want to go out and find the source of the disease, I have been too busy. It is so kind of you to come and help."

"Can I help you find this evil spirit?" Qin Xiaochuan asked. He saw that Guo Shiyi had already found something to do, and he wanted to help her out, but unfortunately, he knew nothing about dealing with evil spirits.

Han Keyun shook her head and said, "Evil spirits are usually mysterious and unpredictable, and it's very difficult to find them without special methods, so I'm afraid only I can find them. But don't worry, after I cure this batch of patients, I'll have time to look for them."

Hearing this, Qin Xiaochuan could only step aside and watch Han Kexin and Zhou Bin play under the tree. He didn't know where Han Kexin caught a green inchworm caterpillar, but she used two sticks to trap it in an army of ants that were moving house. This immediately attracted a swarm of ants to attack it. Han Kexin and Zhou Bin watched with great interest.

Qin Xiaochuan couldn't help but grin when he saw it. He never expected that the aloof and indifferent beauty was so mischievous and naughty when she was young.

"The ants moving house means it's going to rain," Zhou Bin said.

"It would be so nice if it rained. It hasn't rained for so many days. If it doesn't rain soon, the crops in the fields will die of drought," a villager said from the side.

"With so many ants moving house, it must be a rainstorm," Han Kexin said. There were indeed many ants moving house, including quite a few large ones, indicating a sizable colony. Qin Xiaochuan recalled how he used to enjoy watching ants move house when he was a child; the warm feeling was all too familiar.

Guo Shiyi and Han Keyun were busy until evening before they finally cured the last patient who had come to them. Then Han Keyun personally cooked a dinner, with fresh vegetables that the villagers had given her as a token of their gratitude. Since it was too hot inside, they simply set up a table in the yard, and the four of them sat around the table to eat dinner.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Sister Keyun," Guo Shiyi said politely to Han Keyun as she picked up her rice bowl.

The sun was about to set behind the mountains, and the western sky was ablaze with fiery red clouds, a beautiful and spectacular sight. Many dragonflies were flitting about in the yard, and gusts of wind blew through it, bringing a touch of coolness despite the still heat.

"I should say thank you all, you've been a great help to me today." Han Keyun smiled as she placed the last dish of cucumber salad on the table, then turned to Han Kexin, who was catching dragonflies with a net, and said, "Kexin, stop playing around and eat."

Seeing Han Kexin's appearance, Qin Xiaochuan suddenly thought of Xiaoying. That girl was always restless before meals. Thinking of Xiaoying, he couldn't help but glance at Han Keyun. If he brought Xiaoying into this world so she could see her mother, that girl would be very happy.

"Sister Keyun is not only beautiful and kind-hearted, but she also cooks so well." Guo Shiyi once again used her sweet talk to quickly become friends with everyone, no matter where she went.

"You are the truly beautiful one." Han Keyun's gentle eyes radiated a happy smile.