The team leader was nearly beside himself with angst when he heard Yunyi’s words.
But with villagers waiting for their medicine in the health clinic, he dared not be too unreasonable, "Alright, think it over again by yourself."
Watching the team leader leave, Yunyi cast a thoughtful glance at his receding figure before withdrawing her gaze.
It was only while dispensing medicine for someone else and seeing the shelf of traditional Chinese medicines that she remembered she hadn’t mentioned gathering herbs on the mountain to the team leader.
But then she thought better of it. Leaving it unsaid was probably for the best. It would be wiser to discuss this matter with the Branch Secretary to avoid an awkward conversation.
At dusk, when work was over, Yunyi stopped Branch Secretary as he passed by the village health clinic, "Branch Secretary, wait a moment." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novèlfire.net
Branch Secretary stopped upon hearing her call, "What is it, Chu Zhiqing?"
Yunyi didn’t beat around the bush, "I need to discuss something with you."
Branch Secretary took out his dry tobacco pipe and packed it with tobacco. "Go ahead." He pressed the tobacco firmly into the bowl with his thumb, then lit it, drawing deeply before blowing out a large ring of smoke.
Yunyi pointed to the cabinet full of Chinese medicines inside the room, "The herbs previously prepared by Doctor Gong are running low. I was thinking of going up the mountain to gather herbs every few days, would that be alright?"
Upon hearing this, Branch Secretary’s face twisted with conflict. He knew Yunyi was telling the truth, but Doctor Gong had had an accident while collecting mountain herbs, so how could he dare to agree?
Yet, if he did not agree and they ran out of herbs, they wouldn’t be able to concoct the medicinal soups. For a moment, he didn’t know what to do.
Yunyi knew what he was worrying about. "Branch Secretary, I grew up in an army compound; I have the skills to protect myself. I know what concerns you. You can rest assured, safety won’t be an issue."
Branch Secretary hadn’t expected the young girl to be so competent. "Really?"
Yunyi walked a few steps, pulled a piece of firewood about five centimeters thick from a nearby home’s woodpile, and with a CRACK! snapped it in two.
Even then, Branch Secretary couldn’t help but express his concern, "Better to go to South Mountain; it’s safer there. If you must go to the mountain behind us, absolutely do not enter the inner area. Do you understand?"
Yunyi quickly nodded, "Don’t worry, I’ll definitely be careful."
As for whether she would go to the inner area or not, once she was on the back mountain, that would be entirely up to her.
With this legitimate opportunity to venture onto the back mountain, her mood was quite buoyant.
After all, it wasn’t as if so many people fell ill every day. Unless there were special circumstances, there was no real need to continuously man the health clinic.
In the past, Doctor Gong often went into the mountains to collect herbs.
Seeing Branch Secretary about to leave, Yunyi quickly added, "Branch Secretary, please mention this to the other village cadres too. I’m worried there might be misunderstandings if I’m absent from the clinic. If I go to the mountain, I’ll hang a sign on the door."
Branch Secretary nodded in agreement, tapped out his pipe on the wall next to him, and then walked away with his hands behind his back.
Turning back to the health clinic, Yunyi tidied up and wrote a sign indicating she would be collecting mountain herbs. After locking the door, she hung the sign on it.
She didn’t want to come back again tomorrow. She planned to head deep into the mountains right after finishing her morning exercises.
A group was engaged in a secret search within the deep mountains. "According to the map they made, it should be around here."
"I’ve looked over this area before but didn’t find anything suspicious."
"We don’t have much time left. Although they haven’t mentioned anyone else, you’ve said before that there’s another group active in these mountains."
"Should we request K9 support from higher-ups?"
"Given the current situation, I think it’s necessary."
"Let’s split into two groups and sweep the area again. We’ll meet at the valley exit in two hours. If you encounter anything, signal immediately."