Sacrificial Tree

When Mingyue returned to the Imperial Infirmary, a group of physicians gathered at the center of the hall. Her eyes lightened up as she stepped forward to see that the group of the physician who went to the western region has returned. She searched for Ying Yi and saw her stood at the corner of the room, away from the others.

"Ying Yi!" Mingyue waved her hand as she headed towards the girl.

The girl looked up when she heard someone calling up her name. Ying Yi's face brightened up when she saw Mingyue. She gathered her skirt in her hand and ran towards Mingyue. Then, she pulled Mingyue into a hug.

Mingyue laughed at Ying Yi's action. "Did you miss me?" She smiled again when Ying Yi nodded happily. "How was your trip to the western region? Did you learn a lot? Did anyone bully you?"

Ying Yi lifted her head. She grabbed Mingyue's wrist and pulled her into a corner and sat down.

Soon, her hands moved as Ying Yi briefed Mingyue her experience during her trip to the western region. Mingyue smiled as she listened attentively. Once in a while, she would stop Ying Yi to ask her a few things.

After some time, Ying Yi finally stopped. She lowered her gaze and her cheek reddened with embarrassment. She had not expected that she had been talking to Mingyue for too long. The hall has now emptied, and everyone else has returned to their task.

"What's wrong?" Mingyue asked when she sensed something was wrong with Ying Yi. She laughed when Ying Yi told her the reason. She patted Ying Yi on her hair and said, "Come on. Let's continue chatting later. We should go to the greenhouse first. You have helped me to tend after the herbs, and then we'll visit grandfather later. Maybe grandfather and I will give you a few tests to see how much you have improved."

Ying Yi widened her eyes at Mingyue's words. She told Mingyue that she was confident that she would pass the test.

The two girls went into Mingyue's greenhouse, and once they were inside, they went straight to tend after the herbs. Ying Yi stood straightened up her body after she helped Mingyue to loosen the soil. Then, she sat at a bench as she waited for Mingyue to finish her tasks. Afterward, the two girls headed to Han Zhenting's place.

Han Zhenting was happy when he saw Ying Yi. He sent his assistant to prepare some refreshment while the three of them chatted about Ying Yi's experience in the western region.

Both Mingyue and her grandfather was shocked upon hearing that Ying Yi almost drowned. The water came too sudden. However, Ying Yi was lucky that she could swim. She swam towards a large tree and climbed on the higher branch to take cover. When the rain stopped, a woman on a raft had rescued her. The woman was shocked when she found Ying Yi took shelter on that tree.

The woman then told Ying Yi how that large tree was cursed. The large tree was famously known as the sacrificial tree among the villagers. It was known for a long time that a few villagers had disappeared when they took sat under that tree. At one time, the villagers forbade anyone from approaching the tree.

After the villagers stopped coming to that tree, disaster struck them. A shaman was invited, and that shaman told them that a spirit guarding the tree was angered as the villagers stopped sending sacrifices. Since then, the villagers started to send someone once a year to appease the spirit of that tree.

However, a few months ago, when they conducted the ritual, the person who was chosen to be sacrifice escaped. Thus, the villagers believed that the flood happened because the spirit from that tree was angered.

Ying Yi scoffed when she finished telling them the story. She was furious upon hearing how the villagers would sacrifice a precious life for a tree. Ying Yi thought that it sounded absurd.

"You can't change their way unless if you have another way to convince them that what they believe was wrong, Even so, it will be hard to change their way. After all, they have been practicing this for years." Han Zhenting said. He had heard a few stories like Ying Yi's during his younger days.

As a physician, he valued life. He had tried to change the others opinion and never succeed.

Soon, Han Zhenting excused himself when he was needed to attend a patient while Ying Yi offered herself to help him. Mingyue sat in the dining room with the teacup in her hand while she contemplated over Ying Yi's story.

She could not help but thought that the way people disappeared sounded familiar.