People Call Me Shu Shu

Shu Shu looked down at the cup in her hand. Black liquid was sloshing inside it, as if mocking her. She grimaced, turning the cup upside down and letting the liquid inside splashed harmlessly on the ground.

That was experiment number 3.

Still too bitter to be consumed.

Shu Shu sighed, starting to clean up her mess. She absently wondered what was wrong. Was it the roasting time? Or the roasting technique? Maybe she shouldn't roast it?

Nevertheless, she had used up all the roots she took last week. She needed to gather more.

"Teacher! I'll be going to the mountain to get more dandelions!"

Lu Tai Hu looked up from where he waa grinding herbs. "Sure. Be careful," he said as usual. The unsual thing was his intense stare and scrutiny.

Taking her harvesting gear, Shu Shu walked out as fast as she could, her teacher's gaze unnerving her.

It started since the day Shu Shu made dadelion tea. For some reason, Lu Tai Hu began watching her strangely as if contemplating something. She hoped it wasn't because of her sudden invention of dandelion tea. He had accepted her strange knowledge silently before, why was this one different?

She was sure the tea-making was not one of the weird, unacceptable thing she did.

Her medical knowledge was much, much stranger than that. At least the procedure of making the tea was similar to the procedure of making medicine, albeit with a unthinkable ingredient.

Shu Shu shook her head. Whatever the reason, she hoped Lu Tai Hu wouldn't come to hate her. She had thought of him as a grandfather of sort.

She absentmindedly walked between the foliage, her feet guiding her towards her destination in autopilot. She was practically raised in that mountain before she went to live with Lu Tai Hu. She knew the mountain like the back of her hand, at least the parts where she could get to. That's why Lu Tai Hu never seemed to worry much to let her go alone.

Not long, she arrived at a different clearing than the one she went to with Lu Tai Hu. This one didn't contain much medicinal plants, but it had an abundance of dandelions.

She had just crouched down near one of the large tree when she smelled the tangy smell of blood.

Wild animal?

There should only be birds, squirrels, and the occasional wild rabbit in the area, since it was still close to the village. The big ones almost never ventured this far.

Curiosity piqued, Shu Shu went looking. Not far, she found traces of blood. It was red and fresh, the owner should still be near. Just in case it was an injured and feral animal, she took out her sickle.

Slowly, and as stealthily as she could,--which amount to almost nothing, really--she followed the trail of blood.

"Halt!"

Shu Shu jumped at the hoarse voice. She timidly looked around a very big tree--big enough to hide two of her--and found two figures sitting not far from where she stood.

"Don't come any closer," the bigger man croaked threateningly, his hands cradling the smaller figure protectively as he eyed Shu Shu warily.

Shu Shu's mind didn't register the obvious threat, though. The moment her eyes latched onto the obviously injured figures, her feet moved on their own to get her closer.

Finally, she could clearly see the two figures. One was a grizzled, scarred man in all black clothing, the picture of a lethal assassin. His right arm was bleeding and limp by his side, while the other clutched an unconscious child. The other figure was no more than a boy. The child had on pale blue clothes, though it was dyed red by the enormous gash on his chest.

"What are you doing?! Step away!" the man shouted desperately, his hands around the boy tightening.

"...I am a physician." Apprentice, but it was a harmless little white lie.

"How do I know you're not lying?" scoffed the man with disbelieving tone.

Shu Shu ignored the man's words and crouched next to him instead. She roamed her eyes on his figure, analyzing the injury as best as she could with only her eyes.

It was, obviously, very grievous.

If Shu Shu didn't help, they would die soon. The boy's chest barely rose, and the man had lost a great deal of blood. She had a responsibility to help and heal. Didn't she? Shu Shu's memories of her last life blurred with her present one. She'd taken an oath. Had she?

Oblivious to her internal debate, the man saw the contents of her basket. It was filled with random herbs she picked on the way to the clearing filled with dandelions. The man might not be a healer, but he did recognize a few common herbs present among them.

"You... you are truly a physician?" he asked.

"En, I'm nothing fancy, but I can help you," Shu Shu replied, snapping out of her reverie.

The man gritted his teeth before bowing his head, as if swallowing his pride. "Please. I beg of you, please save my young master!"

Shu Shu nodded. "I will do my best. Can you still move?" she said as she rolled up her sleeves in preparation.

The man hesitated for a second before nodding resolutely.

"Then, follow me." Without him saying anything, she knew the man's strength wouldn't amount to much. The only place she could treat them nearby would be her old hut.

It was certainly nothing fancy, but it was at least clean and somewhat stocked. She usually visited every few days to clean them and stocking them with her own brand of poultices that she didn't dare show Lu Tai Hu. It was actually a miracle that the old man didn't catch her making them.

Now that they were out of the shadowy woods, she could see the handsome pale face of the boy, along with several obviously expensive accessories decorating him. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd made a mistake by deciding to help them. All the same, she methodically tended to their wounds.

She had the man laid the boy on her straw bed. The boy had the most serious injuries, including a broken leg and the chest wound. She set the leg, and the boy only moaned softly. Shu Shu grimaced before cleaning the gash. It wasn't infected, but the wound was very deep. It was nothing short of a miracle that the cut had avoided everything vital. After stitching it shut with hemp thread, she moved to add poultice and bandages.

"Wait." The man was holding her arm, and it took her everything not to flinch. Shu Shu's heart rate sped up. She hadn't seen him move. Not at all. Shu Shu became hyperaware of how easily he could kill her, even in his weakened state. He had begged her to save them, true, but she was very much aware that he was taking a gamble in doing so.

The man took the poultice jar from her and stared. "What is this?"

"T-Turmeric and willow bark," she stuttered. "To avoid infections and help with the pain."

The man stared at her unblinkingly, as if testing her. Finally, he nodded and handed it back.

At first, her hand trembled, but she forced it to still. Shu Shu wrapped the bandages and washed her hands. After she had disinfected everything, she approached the older man. His eyes were glazed over, and his muscles were taut.

"Sir," said Shu Shu, slowly, respectfully, trying to hide her fear, "I need to tend to your wounds."

The man's posture was the embodiment of rigidity, but he nodded.

She fixed his arm quickly, though Shu Shu worried that he'd lost too much blood. He bore the ministrations with stoic silence, which Shu Shu was happy to mimic.

"You can stay. No one comes here other than me. I'll go get you wild vegetables, bear with it for now," she said.

"Wait."

Shu Shu paused by the door. "Yes?"

"What is your name?" he asked, though it was more of a command.

She blinked, almost like an innocent little lamb that know nothing of the world. If he hadn't seen her proficiency in tending the wounds, the man would have believed that image.

Then, she smiled.

"People here call me, Shu Shu."