"Are we going to meet a physician?"
Xue Hua, as he walked closely beside the immortal
He walked with his hands behind his back, skipping ever so often with his eyes on the ground.
"We are"
"Mn"
Xue Hua looked around, trying to avoid looking at Yue Ran as much as possible, he was still a *bit* embarrassed
Despite all that, he still held onto Yue Ran's cloak
They didn't talk much, Yue Ran was a man of few words after all, and mostly only replied when asked a question.
For once though, Xue Hua was glad about his lack of words
Trying to forget only made him remember it more clearly, even so he diverted his attention as much as possible.
Xue Hua didn't know much about Yue Ran's reason to suddenly visit a physician but it didn't feel too surprising,
Since contrary to how Yue Ran came across he was considerate and kind so surely the physician would be for no one other than himself
He remembered hearing some scattered words earlier when Yue Ran walked away during breakfast, that there was a very good physician
Although Xue Hua couldn't pay attention to the conversation, he still managed to catch some key words, like "physician" "miraculous"
Allowing him to try and connect the dots himself
He just didn't know the details since he was distracted unlike Yue Ran who was keeping up with the conversation.
Who even ended up approaching them
At first they were obviously surprised by his sudden approach, even wary, but when Yue Ran politely asked them
"where to find the physician" despite her refined appearance they were willing to open their mouths rather freely as they were pleasantly surprised by it.
Even so, they still felt rather surprised as they talked about how they felt like they were being pretty quiet,
Those men were friendly despite seeming rough; they had bright smiles.
They must've also thought that he was traveling with his little brother when they saw Xue Hua stick with him which softened their heart as fathers themselves
Their tracks stopped in front of a teahouse
This was where the people from earlier had told Yue Ran to go,
There weren't many people here,
A teahouse,
Was this his first time in such a place? Or had he ever entered into places like this in the past?
He wasn't sure
Xue Hua stood dazed
His fingertips caught chill as they peeked out of his cloak
The scent of tea wafted around in the air leaking from within
While he stood staring he felt a soft grab on his head
"Let's go in"
Looking up, he saw the immortal waiting for him, the sun seemed to melt away the coldness of the place, or maybe that was just his presence.
He felt his heart warm up following Yue Ran into the place
Yue Ran tapped his shoes on the stepping stone shaking off the excess snow before entering
Xue Hua also copied him, hurriedly tapping his shoes on the stone but the way he did made loud sounds,
It didn't sound as graceful when Yue Ran did it
But Yue Ran was innately graceful so it made sense
Or so Xue Hua believed, following him with his eyes
The floor was inlaid with wooden planks and the sound that it made under a person's weight was pleasant to the ears
The interior followed a theme with woods and different earthly colours
There weren't many people inside who were drinking tea,
Seeing a lady in the counter Yue Ran approached her,
To see if he had come to the right place
"You came looking for her right?"
She asked as she saw Yue Ran approaching her
Which made him pause briefly before nodding,
Seeing that her guess was correct, her smile wavered briefly but just enough to be noticed
"She's outside, burning papers in the backyard"
She said pointing towards a door with squinted eyes
After this, she looked as though she was holding back the urge to curse, Which caught Xue Hua's attention
Was she upset over this? She did look disappointed.
Xue Hua briefly stared at that lady but she didn't even spare him a single glance, rather she began muttering wordlessly to herself
After they had passed by her whether she noticed Xue Hua's eyes or not it wasn't certain,
Burning papers?
'burning papers in the backyard'
He thought back on the lady's words,
Why was she burning papers? It surely wasn't to make fire
He drew conclusions
he doesn't seem bothered,
Yue Ran glanced at the kid
He had thought that he would get piled up with questions and he was even ready to answer most of them, so he didn't expect Xue Hua to just follow him without any questions about why they were meeting a physician or for whom.
The only question he voiced was, if they were going to meet a physician
Xue Hua really was a bizarre kid
And the trust he showed was even more bizarre,
He wasn't used to being trusted so blindly.
His fingers briefly ran across the coarse surface of the pendant
It felt weird.
Smoke rose up from a corner where a woman was burning joss papers, she wore plain robes and her cloak fell beside her on the floor where she sat down and watched the papers catch up into flames.
spirit money...? Is she grieving someone?
Xue Hua wondered,
"Excuse me"
Yue Ran spoke, making her aware of their presence before asking, "are you a physician?"
However he did not receive an answer from her
Even so Yue Ran waited without any agitation or annoyance despite being left cold
Immortals were very prideful beings and hardly cared for anything that didn't directly concern them
Despite knowing all that Xue Hua watched the immortal in front of him patiently wait on a person that rudely left him hanging.
Her eyes were dazed, clearly not even focusing on the fire in front of her when looked closer
After a couple of moments passed in silence
Yue Ran cleared his throat, about to repeat himself once more
Then she stood up, dusting her knees and slowly turned her body towards them before bringing her attention, "yes"
She answered dryly,
so she heard him
Xue Hua spoke to himself,
She glanced at Yue Ran up and down before noticing the child behind him whose ear tips and nose had turned red from the cold, but he didn't even seem bothered by it, his eyes focused on something else...above him,
Following his gaze her eyes landed on Yue Ran's face.
hmm, siblings from other territories in Shuangwei?
She then brought her focus back,
"Is something wrong with him?"
Hearing this question, Xue Hua began wondering the answer as well, after all even the subject of concern didn't know what the concern was
Then Yue Ran explained,
"He cannot recall his memories"
His eyes landed on Xue Hua's surprised face before continuing,
"I'm afraid it might be linked to some mental distress so I was hoping you'd be able to help him"
Even the physician wasn't prepared for Yue Ran's blunt words,
Xue Hua hadn't expected this to be the cause of concern, he thought that the immortal was worried about something regarding what happened before,
He had forgotten about this himself, having shrugged it off a while back, but it seemed that Yue Ran didn't really shrug it off, maybe pushed aside for a moment but it was clear that he hadn't forgotten about it.
From a usual person's perspective it was indeed worrisome
But he had thought immortals seldom cared for such, even considering it not very uncommon
well, that was as far as he knew of course; which was half derived from his own assumptions and stories about them, but even without all that, he just felt that-
that was the case since Yue Ran didn't really have much of a reaction when he found out Xue Hua didn't have past memories when they first officially met
The physician after regaining composure nodded
"...I see"
Realising that the problem with the child wasn't physical but rather mental
From what she first noticed, she had immediately recognised the young man before him as a fellow cultivator or someone similar,
Believing he had the means to heal most injuries himself she was quite skeptical of him, especially since he wore a cloak made from a rather special material that not many people even among cultivators could acquire.
Which was also why she believed that the problem must be with the child beside him, but if it was actually a mental disease rather than physique...
It made sense that he seeked out a physician
Which was still odd but in the cultivation world such things were commonly pushed aside or shrugged off with no importance to them.
It seems that this young cultivator was quite mature.
She glanced at the white haired child once more,
she doesn't usually come across people with naturally unusual hair
At first she thought that perhaps it was dyed but contrary to her assumption she soon found out that it wasn't.
So it was safe to assume the kid wasn't someone simple either, although she could sense only a faint spiritual trace from him.
She exhaled softly,
"Let's take a seat before we talk"
They were taken to a room that she was renting out temporarily,
The room was small with only basic furnitures present within, almost making it look bare
But with the lack of any bedding Xue Hua was sure this wasn't where she slept at night.
She invited Xue Hua and began her examination
She first tried to feel his internal flow but only caught on weak energy flow that were almost identical to simple people, making her brows tense slightly
As it surprised her
Was I wrong about him?
She tried to dig more but seeing that there was no problem internally or anything noteworthy she retracted her hands and began asking him questions instead
Xue Hua despite being hesitant at first answered everything truthfully, since Yue Ran had placed him in her hand himself, and even if he didn't trust her, he trusted Yue Ran so it was enough
After a handful of questions she breathed,
"Mn, alright"
She couldn't find anything obvious but she did manage to catch that the child had some mental or emotional burdens, along with the concerns his guardian came in with, concerns that were enough for them to search out for her despite it being unusual
"There's nothing of immediate harm or huge concern" she spoke,
"However, it may be wise to reduce his exposure to "shocking" events in case it burdens his mind"
Yue Ran listened to her silently,
Xue Hua, too, remained silent while they had their conversation, however he was starting to feel a prick on his thumb from pinching himself, as he worried whether his limitations to "shocking" events would slow Yue Ran down,
After all, they immediately realised what she probably meant by saying "shocking"
His hands tightened into a fist, what she was saying all made sense, they were reasonable, he also knew that as a child what he experienced wasn't good but he was worried if it would affect
Yue Ran
He didn't know why he was traveling or what he was searching for,
He hoped that he had been a bit less truthful
Yue Ran nodded,
saying "okay"
seemingly thinking deeply, making considerations for the future
Before they left, she called Yue Ran for a one on one talk without Xue Hua to add some final words, an advice from her
"Take him to the harvest festival" she blurted out,
She was too blunt, as it came out of nowhere, leaving Yue Ran unsure of what to say for a moment
before he could ask further,
She immediately corrected herself, realising that her words were too blunt.
"I mean, help him explore places someone of his age might enjoy and since the harvest festival is coming in a few days it came out suddenly"
She cleared her throat, averting her eyes
"He seems to have encountered some events which may not be the best for kids his age and since you were concerned about his lack of memories, I concluded it might be due to some trauma or fear, being in a safe environment might help him recall some pieces of his memories slowly"
Then she met Yue Ran's eyes and added her final words, "you both seem to be wandering together so I assumed you both to be travelers and gave my advice, but take it with a light demeanor, because it doesn't have to be a festival but I believe it'll help a bit more and the north...isn't really a great place for kids from outside"
She had a faraway look as she said her final words
Then with hesitance, she said
"I hope things go well for you two"
....
Leaving the place,
Yue Ran pondered on the physician's advice on the way back to their inn
maybe I should contact him