Chapter 389: She Left a Letter
Chapter 389: Chapter 389: She Left a Letter
As it turned out, while Shen Ningning was busy saving people in the city, she overheard passersby talking.
Xiangyun Village had sealed its entrance. It seemed something terrible had happened in the village.
The little girl’s heart pounded with fear; she immediately had a bad feeling.
So she hastily gave some instructions, leaving the Divine Doctor Sima Han and the Imperial Physicians to manage the free clinic, and asked the guards from the Xie Mansion to rush her back to the village at top speed.
Thankfully, she made it in time!
Shen Ningning handed the medicinal fruit—grapes—that she had brought back to Dong Sanhua and Chen Ye.
"Feed a little to every patient. For those who can’t eat, crush it into a paste and make them drink it with Spiritual Spring Water, even if you have to force it down." The little girl spoke with an air of authority, and everyone obeyed her orders.
The dark clouds hanging over the hearts of the Xiangyun Village villagers began to scatter with Shen Ningning’s return.
Everyone knew there was hope now.
The little girl didn’t rest after she came back, going from house to house to check on the sick and deliver the medicinal grapes.
She filled the water vat at Dong Sanhua’s house with Spiritual Spring Water and had everyone line up to collect the water to drink.
The clothes of the plague patients had to be gathered and burned.
But that wasn’t enough. Shen Ningning found several strong men in the village to help her splash boiled spring water over the soil of Xiangyun Village.
After a full day of this hard work, the next day arrived.
The previous night, Shen Ningning had only slept for a short while, curling up against the Black Wolf King’s fluffy body when she was utterly exhausted.
She was up before dawn.
"She’s better! The Liu Family’s Sister-in-law is awake!" Dong Sanhua shouted happily as she ran out of a house.
In just one night, after eating Shen Ningning’s medicinal fruit, the sick villagers with mild symptoms had completely recovered, while those with severe symptoms had also improved significantly.
Granny Chen and Sister-in-law Liu wept as they embraced their families. The villagers congratulated one another, saying through tears, "Thank goodness we’re all okay. May everyone live a long and healthy life."
Someone sighed with emotion. "It’s all thanks to Ningning this time. If it weren’t for her, our entire village would have been doomed!"
"How can we ever repay Ningning? What if we build a memorial shrine for her?"
"I don’t think so. Our Ningning is more amazing than any immortal! Why don’t we create a village genealogy record, starting with Ningning’s generation, and give her a volume all to herself!"
"That’s a great idea! All of us with children, no matter how old, should have them acknowledge Ningning as their elder sister."
"To become Ningning’s younger brother or sister would be a blessing earned from a past life."
Everyone chattered excitedly, and after reaching an agreement, they planned to go home, gather gifts of chicken, duck, meat, and eggs, and go find Grandma Qin to discuss the matter.
However, when Grandma Qin heard their plan, she quickly waved her hands, giving a helpless smile.
"Doing something like this will only bring the child misfortune; it’s not a good thing. If you really want to thank her, just telling everyone you meet about our Ningning’s good deeds is more than enough."
Shen Ningning, hiding behind Grandma Qin, peeked out at the fiery-spirited villagers, her big eyes blinking.
"That’s right! I’m still little, how could I take on so many younger brothers and sisters? Uncles, I truly appreciate your kind intentions, but what’s most important is that we all live well from now on."
After some gentle coaxing and refusal, they finally managed to persuade the excited and grateful villagers to leave.
Shen Ningning had been busy for several days, and both the Black Wolf King and Grandma Qin’s hearts ached for the little girl.
That night, Grandma Qin insisted that Shen Ningning go back to the mountain to stay.
She needed a quiet night to get some proper rest.
Before bed, Shen Ningning snuggled into her Ice Silkworm Silk quilt.
Moonlight streamed through the half-open window, pooling on the floor.
A candle with a flame the size of a soybean flickered unsteadily on the table.
Grandma Qin came in to tuck the little girl in.
Shen Ningning wasn’t sleepy yet, muttering, "I have to go to the city tomorrow to see how the free clinic is doing."
Seeing her working so hard, Grandma Qin’s heart ached.
"It’s alright if you go in a day or two. The city has the Divine Doctor and so many Imperial Physicians on duty. How can they let a little child like you run back and forth all the time?"
That might be true, but Shen Ningning couldn’t help but worry.
She smiled sweetly. "I need to see the people fully recovered with my own eyes."
Grandma Qin knew the little girl had a kind heart. She thought for a moment and said, "Ningning, there’s something I learned by chance that I wanted to tell you."
Shen Ningning wasn’t tired to begin with. Hearing this, she sat up, hugging her soft pillow, her watery eyes shimmering with pure innocence.
"What is it?"
"Granny Chen must have met your mother." Grandma Qin then recounted to Shen Ningning what Granny Chen had told her.
The little girl’s dark eyes widened as she listened, her face filled with disbelief.
"But when we first discovered this mansion, I asked Langlang. He said that fifty years ago, this mansion was the old residence of a wealthy family, but something had happened to make the family suddenly move away."
The Black Wolf King had learned this from his father’s father’s generation.
Grandma Qin nodded. "That was fifty years ago. The time Granny Chen saw your mother was exactly thirty years ago."
Lying to the side, the Black Wolf King perked up his ears to listen, his cool, yellow wolf eyes calm and composed.
Thirty years ago, he hadn’t even been born yet, and none of his kin had ever mentioned a woman living in these mountains.
Shen Ningning was overcome with immense joy. She looked around the room with her watery eyes, an indescribable feeling welling up inside her.
’So the place where I live now... Mother might have lived here too. Maybe she used to lie right here, or perhaps she once stood in the very same hallway where I walk now, watching the sunset all those years ago.’
At this thought, Shen Ningning felt that her mother wasn’t so far away after all.
Grandma Qin watched her with gentle, loving eyes. "Yes. Grandma guessed you would be happy after hearing this news."
"Ningning, there are many mysterious and inexplicable connections in this world. Heaven keeps a record of them for us. Perhaps one day, somewhere, you might meet your mother again."
You might find her footprints in the surrounding mountains, or even just some faint trace that she lived here.
After she finished speaking, Grandma Qin told Shen Ningning to get some sleep and blew out the candle before leaving.
But the little girl was too happy to fall asleep.
She felt a sense of joy, as if she were spending time with her mother across the vast expanse of time.
"Langlang, so this mansion is where Mother used to live! I wonder if she ever guessed when she left that her daughter would live here one day too!"
Unable to sleep, Shen Ningning held the Black Wolf King’s paw in her little hand and chattered nonstop.
Her high, sweet voice would sometimes rise in a happy laugh, and at other times she would roll around on the bed in delight.
Suddenly.
Shen Ningning sat bolt upright.
This startled the Black Wolf King, who was lying beside her.
"What’s wrong?" he asked anxiously, speaking in a human voice.
Shen Ningning’s soft, black hair fell over her small shoulders as she stared with wide, watery eyes.
"I just remembered! When I first came to this mansion, I found something!"
It was a letter!
She couldn’t read back then, so she didn’t understand it and just put it away safely in the Immortal Realm.
Maybe her mother had left it behind.
Shen Ningning eagerly entered the Immortal Realm.
Inside, she began rummaging through everything, searching for it.
"Where is it? Where did I put it back then? Argh!" The little girl scratched her chubby cheek.
Finally!
She found the yellowed letter in a corner of the Medicine Hall.
Shen Ningning eagerly opened it.
When she saw the contents, her clear, dark eyes suddenly reddened and welled up with tears.