Unrestrained Heart

Chapter 19

Lan Daiyu never once cries, or even shows that she is in pain. She just sits on the bed and watches in interest as the medical disciple, Lan Liwei, examines the gash on her leg.

“What happened?” He says as he starts to clean dirt out of the cut.

The girl shrugs, “I fell out of a tree.” She says as if it’s a daily occurrence. Her tone changes to one of excitement when she asks, “Do you think I will have a scar?”

“Hmm, maybe.” Lan Liwei, says, thoughtfully. “Do you want a scar?”

“My friend Lan Dajian has a scar on his arm where he burned himself on the stove. He said it hurt a lot and he cried.” She says matter of factly.

“I imagine it did.” The doctor says with a smile. “Don’t move. I need to get some numbing herbs from the storeroom before I stitch you up.”

Lan Daiyu waits until the doctor is out of sight, then hops down from the table. The pain in her leg makes her grimace slightly but she shrugs and limps over to the other bed.

“Hello,” she says to the man lying there staring up at the ceiling. He doesn’t respond, but that doesn’t deter Lan Daiyu. “Are you sad? You look sad. When I am sad my papa makes me laugh with his paper dolls. I don’t know how to make paper dolls move on their own yet but I’m going to learn. I’m going to be a great cultivator like my brothers and parents some day. My papa plays the flute, it’s called Chenqing. My dad also plays the guqin, it’s called Wangji which is the same as his courtesy name. I want to learn both. I want to learn how to control fierce corpses too. My uncle Wen Ning is a fierce corpse.”

The man turns his head to her and blinks at this. “Your uncle is a fierce corpse?” He asks. “And your father plays a flute named Chenqing? Is it black with a red tassel?”

“You know my papa?” Lan Daiyu asks.

“Lan Daiyu!” a voice behind her makes her jump.

“Ayi!” She says happily, “This is my aunt, Wen Qing. She is Wen Ning’s jiejie and a really good doctor.”

Wen Qing looks like she isn’t sure which thing to lecture the child on first, the fact that she is currently bleeding on the medical room floor, the fact that she is bothering the other patient, or the fact that she is telling a stranger about their family. She decides to take care of the girl’s leg first. She sits her back on the table.

“Where is Lan Liwei?” Wen Qing asks.

“He went to get some herbs for my leg, he said to stay put.” Lan Daiyu answers.

Wen Qing nods as if that’s the answer she expected. “And yet you didn’t.”

“I just wanted to say hi,” Lan Daiyu pouts.

“A-Yu,” Wen Qing sighs and shakes her head. “Let’s just get you cleaned up. Lan Liwei comes back with the herbs and looks askance at the blood trail from the table to the other side of the room.

Wen Qing takes the herbs from him and uses them to numb the girl’s leg before stitching her leg up and bandaging it. “Absolutely no tree climbing for at least a month. I mean it young lady, if I hear one tale of you going near a tree I will use my needles on you.”