Bringing trouble to others, Gu Youyou instantly understood Jin Zijin’s meaning.
They really shouldn’t trouble them, the peaceful little mountain village, where the women and men just needed to gossip and quarrel over trifles. These minor spats were fine, but they should not be dragged into irrelevant strife.
That was also why she hadn’t mentioned when she would go to Beijing.
She just missed her grandfather a bit.
Gu Youyou thought, thankfully, although her uncles and aunts were jerks, they were still filial, so her grandfather should be fine.
She quickly cheered up and looked toward Jin Zijin, saying, "The snow is thick on the mountains to the east. There are some precious herbs that are best gathered this season. Can you accompany me there tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Jin Zijin muttered softly before replying, "Sure!"
With his agreement, Gu Youyou smiled and said, "I didn’t want to ask you initially. It would be fine just going with Banxia, but considering the clinic just reopened yesterday, it wouldn’t be good to close again so soon. So, it’s better to leave Banxia behind."
Jin Zijin laughed, touched her head, and said, "The snowy mountains are dangerous. Even if you went with Banxia, I wouldn’t be at ease. And... you can’t withstand the cold, so you must dress warmly tomorrow."
Gu Youyou propped up her chin and puffed her cheeks, saying, "Alright, I’ll wrap myself in a cotton quilt then."
Enduring the fierce cold, he had been waiting on the summit for two months now, estimating that in the next two or three days, it would bloom.
Looking at the snow-white petal buds with a hint of pink, almost translucent, his eyes sparkled like glass.
The wind from the mountain peak blew past him, and he tightened his collar, quickly running toward a nearby cave.
Even profound Inner Strength cannot withstand the poison inside his body that resonated with the severe cold weather. He sustained his body temperature by consuming a large number of seeds from the Hongxin Fruit. As long as his body temperature stayed high enough, the cold poison wouldn’t be triggered.
In the cave, he furrowed his brows as he chewed on the nasty-tasting Hongxin Fruit seeds, thinking about the woman who was just like him.
What was her name? He heard people calling her Youyou; that must be her nickname.
Ah, Youyou! A truly unique girl.
He understood why his father had left her in a coffin; he knew he was eventually meant to be a sacrifice, doomed not to live long. His time was not long, and he wanted to leave a descendant.
The girl he had chosen was good, a pity she was someone else’s wife, and his father was oblivious to the fact that she, like him, was a medicine person.
Two people with no future were indeed well matched.
Thinking this, he smiled.
In this world, apart from thinking about her, he really didn’t know who else to think about. Other people... other than her, thinking of anyone else couldn’t bring him a good mood. The millennia-old Heart-Cooling Snow Lotus was about to blossom, and these days his mood was good. Thus, he hoped to think of pleasant things and people, not wanting anyone to ruin his mood.
Gu Youyou was dressed too warmly, climbing the mountain with considerable difficulty. Her resentful eyes turned to the man responsible for this plight; this guy, she had said they were going up the mountain to gather herbs, yet he had her wear so much? How could she possibly gather herbs ?
"Come, eat this. It might taste a bit awful, but you have to endure it."
Jin Zijin said to her gently, his smile like the spring snow in March, yet he was quite domineering, giving her no chance to retort and stuffing a handful of bright red seeds into her mouth.
Bright red sesame seeds? They only looked like sesame, though.
She had seen white and black sesame seeds, but red sesame seeds were new to her.
"Ugh~so nasty." The moment the red sesame seeds entered her mouth, Gu Youyou felt a weird smell emanating from them that irritated her taste buds.