So what if I, as a chef, make elixirs?

Looking back, that was the first time I realized that I was a lonely being.

The girl looked at the flying shadows passing by the window, and her mind recalled the forgotten past.

Or rather, it was a memory that had to be sealed.

The girl was born in a poor house, or under a broken roof.

The identity of the mother is difficult to say, and she can only live on money and cheap drinks from men she doesn't know.

The pressure of bearing weight makes the girl pick up the burden of the family early.

But how could those immature hands hold something so heavy?

"Click!".

The clay rice bowl accidentally fell to the ground, followed by a slap that the mother's fragile nerves couldn't grasp.

"Smack!".

The girl covered her red and swollen right cheek, and her teeth were clenched so that the cry would not escape.

Because my mother's alcohol-damaged nerves could not withstand the stimulation, she would only get a more severe beating when she cried.

But the tears were not so sensible, and they dripped down their bodies, seeping through the rags and into the wounds underneath.

The girl's skin was always accompanied by wounds, not only from her mother's beatings, but also from the innate plum blossom-shaped spots.

When her mother is deflated and the alcohol is not enough, a rare peace will come to her.

She carefully lifted the bucket to a nearby well to draw water, closed her eyes and threw the bucket down, then struggled to lift it out.

She never looked at the reflection in the water, because the ugliness of her face would only make her lose the strength to live.

However, such a life ended on that day

"Water...... water ......

".

The mother woke up and searched for the liquid around her as usual, but this time her voice was so weak and hoarse.

The girl handed her mother a bowl of water made of wood, but she could not catch it.

The mother's hand hung lightly on the ground, and no matter how much the girl cried, she would not move again.

Liberation?freedom?

The girl just watched silently at her mother on the ground and muttered in confusion.

"Water...... I'm going to fetch water, ......

."

She didn't know, wasn't clear, didn't understand.

She lives just to help her mother share the pressure, and after losing her mother, she is like a puppet who has lost her thread.

She finished the chores that used to take a whole day to do, but her mother would not come to accuse her, not to beat and scold her, not even to praise her.

Three days have passed after understanding the fact that the mother is dead.

Food, gone.

Water, gone.

Mother, too.

The meaning of living is gone.

The motivation to live is something that does not exist.

"Uh...... Whoa...... Boom, ah, ah......

".

The girl used her last strength to cry out loud, there was no need to endure it, and there was no need to live.

Then let the grievances suffered in the past four years be released at this moment.

"Hey, there's someone's crying over there. "

An unfamiliar voice came from a distance, and the girl hurriedly covered her mouth, a habit or reflex she had developed in the past four years.

"The voice is gone?".

The unfamiliar voice drew nearer, and the girl shivered as she looked at what had once been her mother on the ground.

Men are all coming to their mothers, and mothers are dead, so ...... Is it going to be my turn?

The more she thought about her mother's experience, the more frightened she became, and fear hovered in her mind for a long time.

She wanted to escape, but she didn't have the strength to do so.

She sat slumped on the ground, motionless, waiting for an unknown fate.

After a while, a man's face appeared in front of her.

It was a face she had never seen before, an expression she had never seen before.

The man who came before would have had a similar smile on his face, but this man frowned deeply.

It was an expression of disgust, and the girl had seen it on her mother's face countless times, but why did this man have such an expression?

"Ahh

Realizing that it was her appearance that caused the other party's disgust, the girl quickly lowered her head and covered the rags on her body in front of her eyes.

But through the hole in the rag, the girl noticed that the man's brow in front of her was furrowed even tighter.

Why? Why do I have that expression? Am I so unsightly?

The girl buried her head deeper, but a pair of warm palms touched her head unconsciously.

"How could there be such a thing. "

The girl looked up and saw a pair of eyes with tears in them.

Why? Why do you have to touch me so gently when you have such a nasty expression?

The girl thought about what she had done wrong, but she couldn't get a satisfactory answer.

"It's painful, it's painful. "

Gentleness, for the first time, I felt the tenderness and warmth from others, and tears overflowed unconsciously.

"Do you want to come with me?".

The man asked quietly.

The girl looked down at her hands and feet, disgusting red spots and pimples, she felt unworthy, but she didn't have the courage to shake her head, just silently lowered her head.

"Really...... That...... Do you want to live?".

The man's words shot into her heart like the sunlight that had been inadvertently gliding in the morning.

She lifted her little face in surprise, and saw the man's serious and resolute face, and something in her heart seemed to wake up.

She turned her head to look at her mother's bones, then at the man.

"I think...... I want to live, I want to live!".

Knowing that she could break free from the cage that had trapped her for four years, the girl cried loudly, and the heart that had been carried all the time slowly fell, and ...... along with tears

I don't know how long it took, but the girl cried until she lost her voice, cried until she was dehydrated and fainted.

The man gently picked up the girl, took out a Bigu Dan from his arms, crushed it and mixed it into a water bag.

"Whew!".

The flames rose and gently enveloped the water bag, carefully heating it slowly.

Slowly pouring the warm liquid into the girl's mouth, the man didn't say a word, just quietly lit the fire, held the girl and waited silently.

The night passed, and the girl slept peacefully for the first time until noon the next day, and she opened her eyes in confusion and saw the man in front of her.

"Ahh

The girl screamed and struggled to escape, only to find that the man had untied his coat and wrapped himself firmly in it.

It was late autumn now, and the wind outside the door was blowing on his face, but the man in front of him was wearing thin clothes to protect himself.

Feeling the constant warmth of the man, the girl seems to be in her mother's body, and she doesn't need to be afraid of anything, she doesn't need to care about anything.

"Father?".

It was a very unfamiliar word, she had heard it from a strange man, and it was the same existence as her mother.

But not once did she hear anything about her father from her mother.

And the man in front of her makes her want to rely on and accompany her, and that kind of existence should be her father.

Awakened by the sound of a girl or by the cold wind, the man opened his sleepy eyes and saw the girl staring at him in his arms.

"Ah, you're awake. "

The man lifted the water bag next to him and put it on his face to feel the temperature.

"You're weak now, drink some of this water. "

The warm and sweet liquid slowly flowed into the throat, as if I had a sense of self and as if I was longing for that warmth.

"Thank you...... Father. "

The man's hand moved slightly, and then he burst out laughing.

"Poof, hahahahaha, okay, okay, if you don't dislike it, be my adopted daughter. "

When the girl had drunk her fill, she closed her eyes again and fell into a deep sleep, and when she opened her eyes again, she had come to a place called the Medicinal Mountain.

(I had a cold, so I got a rare day off, so let's see how much I can write tomorrow.) ）