Under the faint blue-gray night sky, the woods and village lay half in light, half in shadow. A thin figure hurried along, arriving outside the courtyard gate of an earthen-walled Thatched Hut.
He stopped, looked to either side, then spoke quietly.
"Aunt Liu-it's A Suo. Sorry for the trouble, but could you look into something for me?"
His voice was low, but anxious.
After a while, an aged voice, tinged with weariness, came from inside.
"I don't look into things at night. That's the rule."
There was a moment of silence inside.
"Come early tomorrow. Being anxious won't help."
Then there was no further sound.
The thin figure stood frozen outside the gate. His lips moved, but he swallowed whatever he had wanted to say.
Helpless, he turned and left, walking even faster than before, almost running home.
His mind was full of the medicinal herbs on the mountain. There were enough to change his fate and his whole family's. The more he thought about them, the more anxious and regretful he became.
It was all his own fault. He had panicked after coming home and blurted everything out. Now the whole village knew there was a talking Great Black Snake on Rabbit Tooth Ridge, and medicinal herbs growing everywhere.
Though he had not given the exact location, everyone in the village had grown up in the mountains. They all knew where the springs were, which cliffs had medicinal herbs, and what trees grew on which slopes.
As long as they knew it was somewhere around Rabbit Tooth Ridge, they could follow that direction and search. Sooner or later, they would find the Medicine Field.
He had to get the herbs before anyone else did. He knew the rule against consultations after dark, but he had still been unable to