The night was as black as ink, the moon hiding behind the clouds.

Behind thick curtains, a gentle, delicate fluorescence glowed within a white porcelain bowl.

Advanced spiritual power could heal external wounds.

An Ning endured the pain in her mind and activated her spiritual power.

The fluorescence in the bowl shifted shapes, like a cloud transforming into water.

A small fragment of spiritual power had actually turned into a small bowl of liquid. It was crystal clear, and a shimmering light seemed to flow within it.

But when you looked closely, the light was gone.

An Ning carried this bowl of water to the Jiang family’s house.

Da Huang was the first to see her. She told the dog to go get Master Tang.

Soon enough, Da Huang came dragging Master Tang out by his pant leg.

"Housekeeper Huang, what are you doing?"

"Your master needs— An Ning?"

An Ning handed him the bowl. "Master Tang, this is a medicine made from an ancient formula. Please apply it to all of Jiang Xia’s wounds."

"If it’s not enough, just let me know."

"You must use it. It works very well."

Master Tang didn’t doubt An Ning’s words and took the bowl with great care. Da Huang obediently released his grip on Master Tang’s pant leg and stood by her side.

An Ning nodded, her steps heavy with exhaustion as she walked back to the An family’s house.

In the west room of the Jiang family house, Jiang Xia lay on the heated kang bed, shivering for warmth. His two hands rested outside the covers, wrapped in a layer of gauze.

Grandpa Jiang had seen An Ning. He looked at Master Tang as he came in.

"The medicine."

Grandpa Jiang understood and nodded. "Let’s apply it first and see."

Jiang Xia’s injuries were clearly too severe to be treated at home. Grandpa Jiang planned to take him to the city, or perhaps the provincial capital, or even all the way to Beijing.

But a bone-deep chill that wracked Jiang Xia’s body had delayed them. Besides, Master Tang had some burn cream, so they decided to wait at home for a bit.

"Who— who— medicine?"

Jiang Xia’s lips were so frozen that he could barely speak properly.

"An Ning."

Her name made Jiang Xia try to sit up, but Grandpa Jiang pushed him back down.

"Let’s put the medicine on first. An Ning wouldn’t lie, and she certainly wouldn’t do something like this for no reason."

Master Tang thought so, too.

The two of them worked together, removing the gauze from Jiang Xia’s hands. They rinsed his wounds with clean water, preparing to apply the medicine An Ning had brought.

Jiang Xia let them tend to him without a word.

’She knows.’

This was the only thought that filled Jiang Xia’s mind.

’But maybe that doesn’t matter so much anymore.’

He just hadn’t wanted to burden her, but the fact that she’d brought medicine meant she knew what had happened to him. Did it also mean that she didn’t care, or perhaps... that his injuries were more important?

As Jiang Xia mulled it over, he analyzed himself right into a state of happiness.

"Hey, have you gone stupid? Doesn’t it hurt? What are you smiling about?"

Master Tang couldn’t bear to look at the silly grin spreading across Jiang Xia’s face.

Grandpa Jiang, on the other hand, had a good guess. ’He’s gloating on the inside.’

"It doesn’t hurt. Not at all."

Jiang Xia stopped letting his mind wander. He brought his focus back to his burned hands.

A layer of the liquid from An Ning was spread evenly over Jiang Xia’s hands. He felt the throbbing pain that seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat gradually fade away.

’The effect of this medicine... is too miraculous.’

"Ah—! No, no, don’t touch me."

Jiang Xia suddenly cried out, grimacing. He didn’t dare move his hands, and the pained expression returned.

"It probably has some kind of anesthetic effect."

Master Tang guessed. Grandpa Jiang chimed in to agree, and the matter was dropped.

Jiang Xia stopped talking and shouting, merely lying there and groaning. He put on a convincing act of someone suffering but enduring immense pain.

It was so realistic that beads of sweat even appeared on his hairline.

In reality, Jiang Xia wasn’t in any pain at all.

Both the pain from his injuries and the bone-deep chill from before had vanished.

The sweat on his head now was just from the heat of the kang bed beneath him.

"You’re sweating. Does that mean you’re not cold anymore? Let’s go to the hospital. You need an anti-inflammatory shot."

Jiang Xia’s mind raced. He couldn’t go to the hospital, but at the same time, he *had* to go to the hospital.

"Grandpa, let’s just the two of us go."

"Alright. We’ll have to trouble Master Tang to watch the house. If anything comes up, just go find the An family next door."

"Li Chengze, watch the house."

Li Chengze, who had been standing at the door the whole time, was the only one who truly had no idea what was going on.

"Okay, okay, but Grandpa Jiang, how will you get there?"

Jiang Xia had already figured it out and started giving orders.

"Li Chengze, go next door and find Brother An Guoqing. Ask him to give Grandpa and me a ride to town on the tractor. Grandpa, you go to the village office and make a phone call to get things arranged."

Jiang Xia nudged Mr. Jiang Sr.’s hand with his arm. With the unspoken understanding they’d built over twenty years, Grandpa Jiang nodded.

"Okay, I’ll go."

Grandpa Jiang went out, accompanied by Da Huang. Master Tang, for his part, didn’t object.

He wasn’t very familiar with Jiang Xia yet, and besides, at a time like this, a person needed family by their side.

Master Tang stayed in the room to watch over Jiang Xia, while Li Chengze went next door.

After returning to the An family’s house, An Ning checked in on Jiang Xia’s situation. Seeing that he had used the medicine, she fell into a deep sleep.

She didn’t even notice when An Guoqing left and came back.

The next day, An Ning didn’t wake until An Guoping came knocking on her door.

Her head ached terribly, but she could endure it.

She went about her day as usual—running, attending her classes—and heard about Jiang Xia’s arrangements from Li Chengze.

’The hospital?’

An Ning’s first reaction was that it was impossible. After applying the liquid transformed from her spiritual power, he should be back to normal by the second day, and the wounds would be nearly invisible by the third.

But Jiang Xia had gone to the hospital...

"I saw Brother Jiang Xia’s injuries. They won’t heal for a few months."

’A few months... versus two days.’

An Ning understood. Jiang Xia was creating a cover for her.

The medicine was too effective.

For the first time, An Ning realized something: Jiang Xia seemed to do a lot for her. A whole lot.

’So this is what it’s like to be good friends,’ she thought. ’Perfect understanding and complete trust.’

If Jiang Xia were here, he would surely have taken a meat cleaver and hacked the words "good friends" to pieces.

An Ning finished her lessons for the day and had a meal.

After eating, she followed An Sancheng up the mountain to plant saplings.

On the mountain were two villagers An Ning had invited from the Hu Family—the fathers of the two children who had gotten lost there. They were true experts when it came to fruit trees.

An Ning learned from them while also consulting her books, combining practical experience with theory. The great undertaking of planting trees on the mountain had begun.

With every tree or sapling she planted, An Ning infused it with her spiritual power.

This eased the strain on her spiritual power. Although it was just a drop in the ocean, it was better than nothing.

A wound from depleted spiritual power was the most difficult injury to heal in the interstellar era.

But An Ning didn’t regret it.

If anything had happened to Jiang Xia’s hands, she would have found it hard to forgive herself.

Only by ensuring he was completely fine could she interact with him calmly and naturally in the future.

An Ning kept busy at home with the work on the mountain and all the matters concerning the greenhouses in the fields.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xia and Grandpa Jiang arrived in Beijing. They found a small house they hadn’t used in a long time and quietly settled in.

A month should be more than enough time.