On the second day of the second month, the Dragon raises its head, the fragrance of fried beans fills the air, and people are busy spreading rain.
Yu Jinnian carried a basket of peanuts and soybeans. The beans had been washed and sun-dried the night before, and today they were brought into the kitchen. He brushed a thin layer of oil in the pot and fried half of the beans until fragrant. The other half was coated in red or white sugar to make candied beans.
Good candied beans are distinct and separate, a favorite among children. Every year on the second day of the second month, children would clutch them in their hands or stuff them in their pockets. A handful of these sweet beans was a source of pride. Whoever had the biggest, sweetest beans would be admired all day.
“Brother Xiao Nian! They’re burning!” Sui Sui suddenly shouted in alarm.
“Ah!” Yu Jinnian snapped back to his senses, quickly shaking the pot and stirring the spoon to break apart the sugar-coated beans that were sticking together. Although some sugar had burned at the bottom of the pot, the beans were fine. He wrapped a few packages of the candied beans and handed them to Sui Sui to show off, while he, feeling a bit troubled, took the pot to scrub and wash.
Ji Hong came in holding a few small wooden plaques and said, “See if these are okay?” While speaking, he noticed the young man absentmindedly scrubbing a piece of loofah sponge and went over to ruffle his hair, leaning down to plant a kiss by his mouth and asking, “What’s going on?”
Yu Jinnian, like a startled cat, had a few strands of hair standing on end. He looked up and mumbled, “Nothing, just startled by Su Ting.”
As he spoke, he carefully examined the characters on the small wooden plaques, which listed the new dishes for spring. Disliking his own poor handwriting, he had specifically asked Ji Hong to write them for him. Even after reading them twice, he was distracted, still unsure about Su Ting’s request to become his apprentice. For now, he decided not to trouble Ji Hong with it.
Ji Hong mused, “Come to think of it, I wonder what that kid is up to.”
“Huh? What’s he doing?” Yu Jinnian dropped the pot and ran outside to check, worried that Su Ting might be up to something irrational again.
He saw Su Ting squatting by the wall of the small courtyard, a porcelain jar in front of him. He was pulling out branches from a bamboo basket, some plum blossoms and others that were unrecognizable but still beautiful, defying the frost. Using two thin vine stems, he twisted them into a circle, then began inserting flowers one by one.
Little Dingdang lay beside him, seemingly curious or perhaps simply displeased that Su Ting had taken over his favorite sunbathing spot, staring at him with a fluffy head, occasionally letting out a disgruntled meow as if telling him to hurry up and leave.
Su Ting ignored him, and Dingdang didn’t bother to move. Thus, the two peacefully coexisted.
The winter branches were brittle, but Su Ting was patient. When one branch broke, he simply tied another. His fingers were turning red from the cold by the time he finally finished his masterpiece.
It was a flower crown.
Su Ting placed the crown on the porcelain jar, admired it from all sides, then picked up the bowl of scallion oil dragon whisker noodles Yu Jinnian had made for him earlier. Despite the noodles being cold, he slurped them down without a care. The fat cat, attracted by the smell of oil, stretched and rubbed up against him, but Su Ting misunderstood and stuck a plum blossom into Dingdang’s fur.
Dingdang was about to throw a fit when Yu Jinnian came over and tossed a few dried fish for him to chew on, then rolled up his sleeves and squatted beside Su Ting to observe.
The cat purred as it ate the fish.
Su Ting, engrossed in watching the cat, was startled by Yu Jinnian’s sudden appearance. After swallowing the cold noodles, he hiccuped, as if something had gotten stuck.
Yu Jinnian handed him a cup of hot tea. “What, are you planning to stay here just because I won’t take you as an apprentice?”
“No…” Su Ting quickly tried to explain, but his words were interrupted by another round of crisp hiccups. Feeling embarrassed, he took the tea and gulped it down, then waved his hands, face flushed. “I didn’t mean that, I just…”
He paused, fiddling with the flower crown on the porcelain jar, and said, somewhat dejected, “I have nowhere to go. I’ve packed away all of Haitang’s things, they’re all in this bamboo basket. That courtyard… I don’t dare go in, it’s too sad.”
Yu Jinnian replied, “But you still need a place to eat and sleep. You can’t just camp out here, can you?”
Su Ting frowned at him, his eyes full of hesitation, clearly having intended to sleep on the floor of the noodle shop.
He really thought of this place as some kind of temple for salvation.
Seeing Su Ting’s troubled expression, Yu Jinnian sighed, realizing that Su Ting actually had nowhere else to turn. Su Ting got up, holding the jar, and said, “Then I’ll… I’ll leave now…” After taking a few steps, he turned back, unwilling to give up. “Can’t you really teach me medicine?”
Yu Jinnian didn’t answer. Su Ting, head down, was about to walk out the door when Yu Jinnian called after him, “Why are you so insistent on learning medicine?”
The porcelain jar in Su Ting’s arms had almost warmed up from his embrace. He coughed lightly and, after a moment of thought, said, “I just feel… if Haitang had met a good doctor that day, someone like you, maybe he wouldn’t have believed that fake elixir could cure him, and he wouldn’t have died… Whenever I think of that, I just feel so angry!”
“Su Ting, Haitang, he—”
Yu Jinnian hadn’t finished speaking when Su Ting interrupted him: “I know Haitang is already dead, I know. Before he died, Haitang begged me to burn him, because he didn’t want to carry his pain into the afterlife. I don’t know if Haitang will be reincarnated, maybe?”
Yu Jinnian didn’t quite understand the meaning of this “maybe,” nor did he understand the connection between Haitang’s reincarnation and Su Ting’s desire to study medicine.
But before he could question it, Su Ting continued to ramble on: “Little doctor, do you think… Haitang should already be on the path to reincarnation by now, right? Will he be a boy or a girl? What if he gets sick again? What if he meets another incompetent doctor? What will happen then…”
Suddenly, Yu Jinnian grasped something, but it seemed so far-fetched to him that he thought it might be the most absurd reason to study medicine he had ever heard.
Sure enough, Su Ting said, “If I learn medicine, I can save more people. Though the world is vast, I can measure it with my feet. One day, I’ll meet Haitang again, and maybe, I’ll even be able to save him in a moment of crisis.”
“Even if everything changes, I know I am still me, and Haitang is still Haitang. Maybe the person I treat today is Haitang, or maybe the next one is. Who can say for sure? I will definitely meet Haitang, perhaps one day in a peaceful, quiet village, or maybe in the courtyard of some noble young lady in the capital… Even if we can no longer recognize each other.”
“He suffered too much in this life. Even the King of Hell would pity him. In his next life, he will surely find happiness and peace.” As Su Ting spoke, a faint smile appeared on his face. That smile was pure, carrying a sense of hope, a firm belief in the prospect of meeting Bai Haitang again.
Yu Jinnian realized that it had been a long time since he had seen Su Ting smile. For a moment, he was also a little dazed. He wasn’t really opposed to teaching Su Ting medicine, but this art of healing wasn’t something as simple as any other craft, where one could teach by just saying a few words. He worried that Su Ting might lack persistence, and even more so, he worried that after learning medicine, Su Ting might go to extremes.
It wasn’t without precedent. In fact, there were too many precedents, which gave Yu Jinnian ample reason for concern.
Some people generate love out of love, and naturally, some people generate hatred out of love. The so-called benevolence of doctors means that even if the world wrongs you, you must bite the bullet, swallow the blood, and refrain from hating the world. It’s not that you can’t hate, but that you must not hate. The line between a doctor and a criminal is often blurred; once crossed, it’s hard to turn back.
What they hold in their hands is not a cooking spoon, but a pen that controls life and death.
Yu Jinnian’s concern was that he didn’t know whether Su Ting, after suffering the blow of Bai Haitang’s death, would harbor resentment against the world. And if so, would the pen in his hand become the pen of a judge deciding death, or that of a doctor saving lives?
However, Su Ting said that he would treat every patient he encountered as though they were Bai Haitang. Since he couldn’t know for certain who Bai Haitang had reincarnated as, he might as well travel the world and save them all!
—By saving everyone, he would naturally save the one he wanted to save.
This wasn’t just a grand love; it was like Guanyin Bodhisattva descending to save all suffering beings.
Yu Jinnian was dumbfounded. He had never imagined someone would want to study medicine for such… mystical reasons.
Su Ting, with his bamboo basket on his back, walked further away, holding the porcelain jar adorned with the beautiful flower crown, slowly blending into the crowd.
As night fell, Ji Hong came closer and teasingly prodded him, soon waking the young little doctor below. After Ji Hong had thoroughly tended to him, Yu Jinnian lay exhausted, his limbs heavy, with a faint blush at the corners of his eyes. He then turned to reciprocate and served Ji Hong in return.
After the two of them rested, everything became calm and peaceful, and Ji Hong went out to wash up.
Yu Jinnian sat at the table, writing down the only passage from the *Heart Sutra* that he had memorized. After washing up, Ji Hong walked back in, holding a jar of hand cream, intending to apply it to Yu Jinnian’s hands. However, he noticed Yu Jinnian was copying something and took a closer look. “Why are you suddenly copying Buddhist scriptures?” he asked in surprise.
“My heart moved, so my hand followed,” Yu Jinnian replied.
“…” Ji Hong was speechless, and after a long while, he finally asked, “Did I make you uncomfortable?”
“Huh? No, no,” Yu Jinnian laughed. “I’m very comfortable, very comfortable.”
Ji Hong was skeptical. “…”
Yu Jinnian rubbed his chin, shook the freshly written Buddhist scripture, and mused, “Ah Hong, do you think… I should take on an apprentice?”
Ji Hong was puzzled. As he gathered Yu Jinnian into his arms and carefully applied the hand cream to the young man’s hands, he asked, “Why the sudden thought of taking on a student?”
Leaning against Ji Hong’s chest, Yu Jinnian looked up at him and suddenly smiled, “Perhaps I want to save all sentient beings!”
