Chapter 545: A Girl Named Feng Xiao
The girl remained unmoved by Yang Haoran's attempts to console her. She continued to gaze distractedly at Pharmacist Feng's corpse, as if Yang Haoran's voice hadn't reached her.
Yang Haoran wasn't surprised by the girl's reaction. At a time like this, it was difficult for her to absorb anything he said; not just for her, but even he himself would find it hard to heed any reason in such circumstances.
Wasn't he the same back then?
However, whether she could listen was one thing; whether he spoke was another. Even if the girl couldn't comprehend his words of reason right now, he could still impart some warmth to her heart, which was overflowing with sorrow.
"Everyone has a day they die. No one can stay with another forever. Only by truly understanding and correctly facing this can one make the right choices," Yang Haoran said, taking a puff of his cigarette, and continued.
The girl remained unresponsive. Yang Haoran wasn't in a hurry. He looked at her, then at Pharmacist Feng's corpse on the ground, paused slightly, and then spoke again.
"I think it would be best to find a place to bury your master first. To let him remain here like this would be very disrespectful to him, don't you think?"
Yang Haoran offered this suggestion with his own considerations in mind. If the girl continued to stare at Pharmacist Feng's corpse like this, it would be difficult for her to emerge from her grief; she might even keep staring like this for days on end.
This time, although the girl still remained silent, she hesitated for a moment before nodding softly to Yang Haoran.
Though her heart was filled with reluctance, she clearly understood that burying her master at this moment was the correct course of action.
"Your master has been in this valley for many years. He must have a place he particularly loved. Burying him there should make him very happy."
Pharmacist Feng's soul had already scattered, meaning he no longer existed in either the mortal or netherworld. Thus, no matter where he was buried, there was no question of happiness or unhappiness. As an Emissary of Death, Yang Haoran couldn't possibly be ignorant of such basic common sense. His primary purpose in saying this was to comfort the grieving girl.
The girl nodded again, but this time she didn't remain silent. With a sorrowful expression, she spoke between sobs: "The herb garden was Master's lifeblood. He valued it more than his own life."
Hearing this, Yang Haoran's gaze shifted to the nearby herb garden. Various medicinal herbs were planted within it, many varieties, with flowers and grasses, some even bearing unknown fruits.
Yang Haoran wasn't familiar with medicinal herbs, so he didn't recognize a single plant. However, one thing he could tell was that these herbs were growing exceptionally well.
No weeds were visible within the herb garden; all the medicinal herbs grew in perfect order. It was evident that this herb garden had always been carefully tended to, with great dedication.
"Your master was a Pharmacist, so it's only natural for him to value this herb garden more than his own life," Yang Haoran said. "Burying him within the herb garden will allow him to merge with it, never to be separated for all eternity."
Yang Haoran spoke, and was about to move Pharmacist Feng's corpse to the herb garden, but the girl refused him.
"Big brother, let me do it."
As her words fell, she helped lift Pharmacist Feng's corpse from the ground. She didn't use any of her internal power, but instead, with her frail body, she began carrying Pharmacist Feng's corpse towards the herb garden.
Fortunately, Pharmacist Feng was also very thin, so his corpse wasn't too heavy. Otherwise, with the girl's slender arms and legs, it would have been an extremely difficult task for her to carry a corpse without using her power.
Nevertheless, even with Pharmacist Feng's frail body, carrying him was still a strenuous effort for the girl. But she didn't mind, carefully walking step by step towards the herb garden, tears streaming down her face as she bore his weight.
Upon reaching the herb garden, the girl gently set down Pharmacist Feng's corpse, then quickly ran to the small hut to fetch a hoe. She first dug out the medicinal herbs from the center of the garden, roots and all. After clearing an area, she personally dug a pit for Pharmacist Feng in this empty space.
The entire process took a long time. Yang Haoran didn't disturb her or offer help, quietly watching the girl busy herself.
It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but that the girl wouldn't let him. Moreover, he understood her actions, so he didn't insist, standing by her side and watching her do everything.
When the girl had finished digging the pit, the palms of her hands were already chafed, but she didn't take it to heart. After all, the pain from her palms paled in comparison to the sorrow in her heart.
After Pharmacist Feng was successfully buried, the girl knelt before the grave mound, her sorrow undiminished. To distract her, Yang Haoran found some topics to chat with her about.
Perhaps it was because Yang Haoran had been brought into the barrier by Pharmacist Feng, leading her to feel that he could be trusted.
Or perhaps it was because the girl herself possessed little wariness, and Yang Haoran's companionship offered her a measure of warmth.
Therefore, the girl didn't display any strong rejection towards Yang Haoran. From initially answering whatever he asked, she eventually began to voluntarily share stories about her and Pharmacist Feng.
It turned out the girl's name was Feng Xiao. She was an abandoned child, forsaken by her mother, and fifteen years ago, Pharmacist Feng had discovered her in a garbage heap.
She had been thrown into the garbage heap by her mother because her mother was merely an immature child who hadn't even figured out how to live her own life, let alone possessed the awareness of being a mother.
At the time, her mother had just graduated junior high and entered high school when she secretly "tasted the forbidden fruit" with a male classmate and became unexpectedly pregnant. This terrified both her mother and her mother's young boyfriend.
Both were still students, and if the matter were exposed, they would likely be expelled from school. Furthermore, their parents would probably be furious, possibly even beating them to death.
They couldn't afford an abortion, and even if they could, they wouldn't dare get one, because both were afraid the matter would be known by a third party, doctors included.
In their minds, once a third person knew, then surely a fourth and a fifth would follow, until eventually everyone knew, and by then, both of them would be utterly ruined.
After all, they were merely junior high graduates, encountering such a situation for the first time, and their hearts were utterly filled with fear.
Finally, after some discussion, they made a decision that was both ridiculous and tragic: they would secretly give birth to the child, then find a secluded place and immediately abandon it, so their secret wouldn't be exposed.
They decided this, and indeed, they acted upon it.
Her mother, originally quite thin, began wearing loose clothing from that day on, and wrapped layers upon layers of toilet paper around her belly.
To hide the truth, her mother racked her brains and exhausted every possible method. During that time, she suffered greatly and nearly exposed herself multiple times, but ultimately, her mother managed to keep the matter concealed.
When the time came, she successfully arrived in this world that made her both curious and fearful. However, what greeted her was not the warmth of parents, but the icy coldness of a garbage heap.
When Pharmacist Feng found her, she was already on the verge of death. Pharmacist Feng, greatly angered, called the police. The police came to handle the matter, and the whole story was quickly clarified, allowing Pharmacist Feng to learn the full circumstances of her abandonment.
Because she had been in the garbage heap for some time when Pharmacist Feng found her, her body was extremely weak. By the time she was sent to the hospital, she was already on the verge of death. The hospital, finding itself helpless, had no choice but to give up on her.
Seeing her pitiful state, Pharmacist Feng forcibly took her away from the hospital, without the consent of her parents or family.
With Pharmacist Feng's abilities, no one could naturally stop him from forcibly taking someone away in front of ordinary people.
Pharmacist Feng was, after all, a Pharmacist. His methods were different from ordinary doctors. What ordinary doctors were helpless about didn't mean he also had no solution.
The dying girl, thanks to Pharmacist Feng's help, had her life saved.
Since she had no name, Pharmacist Feng let her take his surname, Feng, and gave her the single character name Xiao.
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