Chapter 47: Han Xin Grass
The atmosphere was undeniably awkward. Ning Xiyue studied the unfamiliar girl before her: delicate eyebrows and eyes, a small round face dotted with light freckles, and bright, lively eyes that darted about. Right now, she was smiling nervously under the awkward tension.
Ning Xiyue also smiled. She herself felt no awkwardness at all — after all, as long as she wasn’t embarrassed, then the only one embarrassed would be the other person.
“Uh… Comrade Ning, you’re here too, huh…”
The girl, unable to withstand the embarrassment, scratched her head with a sheepish laugh. Two faint dimples appeared on her cheeks as her eyes flickered mischievously. “Ahaha… well, I’ll get going then. I think I just heard my mom calling me home for lunch. We’ll chat next time!”
Before Ning Xiyue could respond, the girl shot off like a firework, whoosh — gone in an instant.
“Hey, slow down, watch out for that—” rock.
Before Ning Xiyue could finish, she witnessed the human “firework” fall victim to gravity and plummet down like a free-falling object.
With a thud, the girl tripped over the rock and tumbled straight into a nearby ditch, disappearing from sight.
“Ah… well… sigh…” Ning Xiyue covered her face helplessly and jogged over.
“Ow, my body… my face… my forehead hurts so much—ow ow ow!”
The girl lay sprawled in the ditch, wailing dramatically.
The way she was complaining was so ridiculously funny that Ning Xiyue couldn’t help but laugh out loud, rather unkindly.
Still lying face-down, the girl raised one hand. “Comrade Ning, don’t laugh — help me up first! Oh my god, it hurts so much!”
Still smiling, Ning Xiyue jumped down into the ditch and helped pull her up, teasing as she did, “I’m not going to eat you. Why were you running so fast? Am I really that scary?”
“Ow…” The girl pushed herself up with one hand, using Ning Xiyue’s strength to get back on her feet. “It’s not that you’re scary, Comrade Ning — I’m just mortified.”
She brushed the dirt and bits of grass off her clothes, then gently touched her sore face and turned sideways to show Ning Xiyue.
“Comrade Ning, take a look at my face. Did I scrape it? Please tell me I’m not walking around with a giant dirty smudge.”
“Let me see.”
Ning Xiyue stepped closer and examined her face. She hesitated for a moment, then silently pulled a small mirror — about two fingers wide — from her pocket and handed it over. “You’d better look for yourself.”
The girl suspiciously accepted the mirror and began inspecting her reflection.
The first thing she saw was a scrape on the tip of her nose from a tiny rock in the ditch. Moving the mirror upward, she found another cut in the center of her forehead between her brows. Finally, she shifted the mirror to her aching chin — which also had several small scratches.
Unluckily, the three injuries lined up neatly in a row, and each one was oozing tiny beads of blood.
“Ah! Oh no, oh no! What am I going to do?” The girl panicked. How could she show her face now? If she went home like this, her mother would scold her for sure — and everyone else would laugh.
“Don’t worry, I have a solution.”
Ning Xiyue patted her shoulder reassuringly, then walked over to the haystack from earlier. Squatting down, she used a small pointed stick to pry up a medicinal herb that could treat external wounds — Han Xin Grass.
That was one of the great things about the countryside — you could find useful herbs growing everywhere. When she had been hiding here earlier, she had noticed a few plants with tiny purple flowers growing nearby and recognized them from her herbal medicine manual as Han Xin Grass.
Named after the historical figure Han Xin, this traditional Chinese herb was known for promoting blood circulation, relieving pain, clearing heat, and detoxifying the body.
It was commonly used in the wild for snakebites (to reduce inflammation and neutralize toxins), for mosquito bites (to relieve swelling and itching), and for bruises or minor injuries (when crushed and applied to the wound, it could reduce swelling, relieve pain, fight inflammation, and kill bacteria).
For someone like her — who would often be working in the fields — these kinds of injuries were inevitable. And in those cases, Han Xin Grass was an invaluable, simple, and practical remedy for anyone doing manual labor.
Ning Xiyue pried up a few more plants. She secretly stored the four largest ones into her space and kept three in her hands. With them in hand, she walked back to the ditch, where the girl sat curiously watching her.
“Comrade Ning, what are you doing squatting over there?”
“Here — I’m digging up this medicinal herb, Han Xin Grass. It’s great for treating the injuries on your face. Just crush it and apply it to the cuts a few times, and they’ll heal in a few days.” Ning Xiyue handed her the herbs.
She added reassuringly, “And don’t worry. The cut on my forehead was worse than yours and I barely noticed it. Yours are just minor scrapes — they won’t scar and they won’t ruin your pretty face.”
“Thank you, Comrade Ning. My name is Li Xiuxiu — you can call me Xiuxiu.”
Li Xiuxiu felt comforted by Ning Xiyue’s words and trusted her completely. She gently shook the dirt off the herbs, rubbed them in her hands until the juice came out, and applied it to the cuts on her face.
The moment the herbal juice touched her wounds, there was a slight stinging sensation. But after a short while, Li Xiuxiu felt a noticeable change — the hot, burning pain from the scrapes gradually faded.
Delighted, she looked up at Ning Xiyue. “Comrade Ning, it really works! Thank you so much!”
Ning Xiyue was pleased to hear this firsthand confirmation. It proved that the herbal medicine’s effects were real — just as the herbal manual had promised.
“As long as it works. Remember what this herb looks like — once you run out, you can find it on the hillside yourself. It’s good for clearing heat, detoxifying, and treating bruises.”
“Got it. I’ll remember.” Li Xiuxiu studied the remaining piece of Han Xin Grass carefully. “Comrade Ning, you’re amazing. You know so much.”
Ning Xiyue smiled modestly. “I only got interested in herbs because of the injury on my head. I studied a bit about them, and it seems to have paid off.”
“Are you feeling okay? Do you need me to walk you home?” Seeing that it was getting late, Ning Xiyue asked.
“No, no, that’s fine. My house is just up ahead, and I’m not really hurt — my clothes protected me.” Li Xiuxiu waved her hands quickly. Such minor injuries didn’t warrant someone walking her home, and besides, it was getting late. She didn’t want to waste Comrade Ning’s time.
“Alright then.” Ning Xiyue stood up, clapped the dirt from her hands, and reached out to help Li Xiuxiu up. “We’re going the same way for a bit anyway, so let’s walk together.”
She chuckled and added, “It’s getting late — this time, I bet your mom really is calling you home for dinner.”
“Hehe…”
Hearing her earlier clumsy excuse repeated back at her, Li Xiuxiu felt a little embarrassed. She laughed sheepishly and walked alongside Ning Xiyue as they headed back together.
