(1)
An Jing often saw the techniques of acupuncture in all kinds of martial arts dramas.
Usually, it was used to treat patients when they were seriously injured, or when one’s martial arts reached a bottleneck and they used acupuncture to stimulate the body’s acupoints to improve their level—whenever she thought of breaking through acupoints to raise one’s realm, she would immediately think of the classic plot of opening the Ren and Du Meridians.
But in reality, being treated with acupuncture was far from enjoyable. When those thin, long needles pierced into the acupoints, there would be a wave of soreness and numbness—much worse than the tingling in your legs when you stand up after squatting too long in the restroom.
This was a small room with only one window letting the sunlight in from outside.
A single small bed and a few sets of cabinets made up all the furniture here.
And the one doing acupuncture for An Jing was an Old Chinese Doctor whose cheeks were rosy and forehead full, but despite her kindly appearance, she showed no hesitation when inserting the needles—quick and precise, almost every needle made An Jing involuntarily knit her brows or caused her body to shudder a little.
Lying facedown on the bed, An Jing felt as if she had been turned into a hedgehog, and even the slightest movement made her whole body tingle with soreness and numbness.
At times like this, the soreness and numbness felt different from the beginning—there was even a bit of pleasure in it, like that first gulp of cola after unscrewing the bottle cap, with faint electric currents zipping through her body now and then, giving her a sense of clarity from head to toe.
This reminded An Jing of being caught doing something bad as a child, and having her mother spank her hard with a clothes hanger—her bottom hurt so much she could barely sleep, but the next morning she would wake up full of energy, as if a clogged water pipe had finally been cleared.
“How are you feeling, little An Jing?” Jiang Yujing, acting as the assistant, blew a gentle breath in her ear, chuckling softly as she asked.
“…It’s itchy and numb, and honestly kind of nice.” An Jing answered truthfully.
“Once we’re done with acupuncture on your back, we have to do your front too.” “What? The front as well?”
“Of course, today’s a full treatment.”
“Uh…” An Jing rested her chin on the special pillow made just for her. “How long will this take…”
“Just wait a bit. Want to watch some TV?”
“Can I pick something…?”
“Of course.”
“Let’s watch ‘From Beijing with Love’ then.”
“I’ll find it for you.”
(2)
“Hiss… It’s bleeding here…”
“That’s normal, we’re supposed to let out some stagnant blood.”
“Bloodletting Therapy? That just sounds unreliable…”
“Don’t worry, it’s absolutely safe—just don’t do it too often.”
“I’m a bit thirsty, I want some water.”
“Not now.” Jiang Yujing refused her. “Hold on, after we finish the acupuncture and you’ve rested a bit, you can drink.”
“Do I have holes all over my body now?”
“Pfft, how could that be? These are really, really fine needles, what do you think this is?”
“Ahem… I’ve never had acupuncture before, how would I know…” An Jing looked a bit embarrassed, watching as the Old Chinese Doctor pulled out the needles one by one, then saw Jiang Yujing wipe the blood from her body, and let out a slight sigh of relief. “I’ve had a massage, a sauna, and now acupuncture—did I finish everything for today?”
“Next, you’re getting a restorative massage. Don’t worry, this time it’ll be gentle for sure!”
“I’m starting to doubt what you say these days…”
“It’s true, little An Jing, you have to trust your Sister!”
“…”
(3)
“How is it? Comfortable?” “Mm…”
“Does it itch at all?”
“A little. You can press a bit harder… mmm… that’s perfect…”
“Feeling hot all over?”
“Mm… Ah… the soles of my feet… so ticklish!”
“You have to massage the feet, too! This is my first time touching such soft feet.”
“Ahem!”
“As expected, still a kid—no calluses on your feet at all.”
“My bones are cracking!”
“It’s fine, I’m just adjusting your joints.”
“Honestly, I do feel so much better now. I bet I could run a kilometer without even running out of breath.”
“See? I told you it works wonders.”
“If I got this treatment every day, wouldn’t I live to a hundred?”
“Pfft, if you did this every day, you wouldn’t have time for anything else!”
“True… Each full session takes a whole day…”
“Normally, it’s once or twice a month at most. Too much isn’t good either—there’s a saying: too much is as bad as too little.”
“Can I take a bath today?”
“By the schedule, you’ll have to wait until it’s dark—after acupuncture, you can’t shower immediately. You should rest for a few hours—when you do bathe, do you want to add anything to the bath?”
“You can add stuff?”
“Sure, rose petals or milk—those are the most common.”
“Let’s go with both petals and milk—wait, bathing in milk, isn’t that too extravagant?”
“Of course it’s not going to be all milk.”
“Even just a big carton seems wasteful. Wouldn’t it be better to drink it?”
“Just relax and enjoy yourself here. Don’t worry about the cost—we’re state funded after all.”
“But we shouldn’t waste things…” An Jing smacked her lips.
“It’s fine, really. Oh, and you can’t soak too long today—ten minutes at most.”
“Ah… that short?”
“Yeah, after a full treatment, it’s not recommended to soak at all, but if you want to, just be sure to rinse well after and stay in an air-conditioned room for half an hour before going outside.”
“Why half an hour?”
“To avoid catching cold, of course! Don’t tell me you always go out with wet hair after a bath?”
“Ever since spring came, I hardly close my windows, and I often let the wind dry my hair.”
“That’s a bad habit.”
“But it feels so nice…”
“I know you won’t listen now, so I’ll have your Sister keep an eye on you! After washing your hair, you must dry it with a hairdryer—even in summer.”
“Is that really necessary…”
“For your health, it is! If something happens to you, it’ll be a huge loss for us… and for all mankind!”
“It’s not that serious…”
(3)
When she was back on the deck, the sky was almost completely dark.
But since they were at sea, the last glimmer of sunset could still be seen along the horizon.
Still in her nurse uniform, Jiang Yujing escorted her all the way to the dock before finally stopping, waving gently at An Jing.
“Bye-bye, see you next time, little one!”
“See you next time, Sister Jing!”
The cruise ship docked at the shore started to slowly pull away, and the research institute on the island was left behind.
“We won’t be back till May next time.” Yu Minghui gently brushed a lock of hair from her temple. “It’s only these few months that the checkups are this frequent—later you won’t have to come every month.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t really matter.” An Jing leaned lazily against the railing, eyes half-closed. “I don’t mind it here so much anymore. These researchers aren’t deliberately treating me like a lab rat—it’s just that in their fields, they instinctively filter out distractions. Really, at moments like that, I think they’re treating themselves as precise machines too…”
“Hm?”
“I mean—” An Jing reached out, trying to grab at the setting sun, but only caught a handful of air, warm and damp from the afterglow. “They’re seeking truth, not just novelty. So… being a safe little lab rat sometimes is fine by me. After all, I also want to know why I’ve become the way I am.”
“No matter what, you must treasure your own life.”
“Sister Hui, you don’t have to worry about that!” An Jing still didn’t catch that last ray of sunset, and watched it sink beneath the sea horizon. “I’m actually really afraid of dying.”
(4)
Beneath the starlight and the moon, the sea was a deep blue, with the bright moonlight like a mirror embedded on its surface, changing shape with the rolling waves.
The dock in the small city was tiny, but compared to the sea, it was much brighter.
From afar, you could see rows of orange-yellow street lamps, and many boats decked out with colored lights that flickered through the night alongside the stars in the sky.
The cruise ship docked very slowly; after all, this was a big vessel, not like the small boats that could just nudge the shore and tie up a rope to be done.
An Jing and Yu Minghui, carrying all kinds of seafood, stood on the deck watching as the gangplank slowly descended, then stepped off together.
By the time An Jing came to her senses, she was standing solidly on the mainland.
As steady as such a big cruise ship was, there was nothing like having your feet firmly on the ground.
“We’ve been away for two days. I wonder how Sister Fei has been doing.” An Jing stretched with a huge yawn. “She can’t be eating plain buns and pickled vegetables every day, right?”
“Feifei would at least go out and buy takeout.”
“But she said business has been bad and she’s broke lately.”
“Yeah, let’s hurry home then. We’ll cook a feast for her tonight.”
“Right! Fresh sea prawns! Even though we could freeze them, nothing beats having them fresh!”
“I’ll try a Chinese-style recipe—garlic flavor.”
“No dipping sauce needed?”
“That’s right.”
“Wonderful! We’ve been eating so well these days, I feel like I’m living beyond my means.”
“Living beyond your means?”
“Yeah, like enjoying all the good things in life at once—then worrying if something bad is going to happen next.”
“No way! Even better things are still ahead.”
Yu Minghui smiled and put the black plastic bag in the trunk of the car.
It was a perfectly ordinary day, so there weren’t many cars in the parking lot by the dock—it looked empty, a little lonely even.
With a soft thunk, the trunk was closed. When Yu Minghui opened the car door and sat in the driver’s seat, An Jing had already fastened her seatbelt in the front passenger seat.
“We won’t run into traffic, will we?”
“Sunday night—hard to say.”
“Hope we won’t get home too late…”
“Want to take a shortcut tonight?”
“What shortcut?”
“Mountain Road.”