By the time she reached the vicinity of Fancao Village, her injury had already misaligned. She could only drag her left foot when she walked, leaving her with a severe limp.
Extreme worry coupled with the cold winds she endured along the way brought on a chronic cough. At its worst, she would cough all night long, lacking even the strength to speak.
She took Phelin with her to look for work in Qinghe Town.
No one was willing to hire a limping woman who coughed constantly. The few shops she asked only looked at her leg before shaking their heads.
Only Adlai was different.
That day, she stood at the entrance of the apothecary shop holding Phelin's hand. Before she could even speak, Adlai called out, inviting her to come in and sit down.
She didn't even ask if Benita knew how to work, simply pouring a cup of hot water and placing it before her.
Once Benita explained her purpose, Adlai pointed to a basket of freshly harvested herbs by the door and asked, “Do you know how to process them?”
Benita said she did.
Adlai then hauled the entire basket of herbs over to her and brought a low stool for her to rest her foot on.
Benita worked for the entire afternoon. The quality of the processed herbs was even better than what Adlai could do herself.
When it came time to pay her, Adlai gave her an extra twenty copper coins, saying it was based on the standard rate for skilled labor in town.
There was no need to mention what happened afterward.
Adlai was the one who asked around to find Benita a place to stay in Fancao Village, and she was also the one who helped establish the villagers' initial trust in Benita's medical skills.
Every time Benita came to town to sell herbs, Adlai never bargained her down. Occasionally, she would even buy extra under the pretext that the town had been short on those few herbs lately.
As for helping her gather medicinal ingredients to treat her illness—rare herbs that couldn't be bought in Qinghe Town at all—Adlai always claimed she had just picked them up in passing and refused to accept any money.
“I bet our hardworking little Phelin was the one who gathered these, right?”
Adlai had already counted out the silver coins, putting them all into a pouch and handing it to Phelin.
“And Sister Wu Yao too!” Phelin giggled, her mouth full of candy.
“Adlai, I probably won't be coming around much in the future. Please take this as my parting gift to you.”
Benita pulled several neatly folded sheets of paper from her coat and handed them over.
Since her health had recovered, she had no intention of staying in Fancao Village for long. If possible, she wanted to avenge Hilna with her own hands.
Adlai was her only true friend in Qinghe Town, and she had no idea when they would meet again after this farewell.
“Now that you're healthy, you can travel around. Remember to come back and visit if you miss me. Bring me some good herbs from the outside, and I'll definitely give you a great price!”
Adlai was open-minded and talkative by nature. Showing no signs of sadness, she readily accepted the papers.
“Since when do you write farewell letters? Let me see what you wrote...”
She only glanced over a couple of lines before recognizing that the papers contained herbal formulas and pharmacological analyses. She hurriedly folded them back up and stuffed them back into Benita's arms.
“You grabbed the wrong thing!”
With just a brief glance, she realized how incredibly precious the contents were, never imagining that this was the very gift Benita intended for her.
“It is indeed for you,” Benita said with a smile, placing them back in her hands.
“If you and Gandy hadn't helped me gather herbs and bought mine at such high prices, I wouldn't have survived to this day. Gandy has her own path to walk, and I can't be of any help to her, but you must accept this token of my appreciation.”
Adlai looked into her eyes. Four years ago, they held nothing but exhaustion and deathly silence.
But now, those eyes seemed to have been rekindled, touching Adlai so deeply that she almost shed tears.
It really hadn't been easy...
“It was nothing, really. Goodness, such a valuable thing... I can't just take it for free.” Adlai brushed at the corner of her eye to hide her emotion.
Although she couldn't refuse, she still balked at accepting it outright. “I must pay you for it.”
Benita was amused by her strictly business attitude. This woman had put on the exact same display in the past whenever she wanted to sneak benefits to her.
Phelin watched wide-eyed as the two went back and forth several times. In the end, Benita proved more persistent, and Adlai had no choice but to carefully lock the papers away in a secure iron box.
She looked into Benita's eyes and squeezed her hand tightly. “Benita, whatever it is you plan to do, you must take good care of yourself.”
Wu Yao had long since finished collecting every herb in the shop. At this moment, she was leaning against the doorway, utterly bored.
There was only one reason she had held back until now—the skill trainer was secretly observing her!
On the surface, Wu Yao remained impassive, but she was inwardly plotting how to trigger an interaction with the skill trainer.
Charging straight at them would surely result in them vanishing into a puff of blue smoke like the previous times. She had to think of another way.
Adlai insisted on walking them to the end of the alley, stuffing another handful of candies into Phelin's pocket.
Benita gave her a gentle embrace. The two women held each other quietly for a moment at the dusty mouth of the alley. Neither of them said anything overly sentimental; they only held on tightly.
Adlai stepped back, standing by the mossy wall at the alley entrance, and waved them goodbye.
The wind rushed into the alleyway, fluttering the ties of Adlai's apron and causing Benita's long hair beneath her headscarf to swell and fall. They were like two plants that had once huddled together on barren land, finally being blown in different directions by the wind.
Qinghe Town's most famous bakery was located in the middle of the main street, its wooden sign carved with the pattern of an ear of wheat.
The moment they pushed open the door, they were instantly enveloped by the warm, rich aroma of baked wheat.
Seven or eight kinds of bread were displayed on the wooden shelves, ranging from the cheapest black bread to whole-wheat bread sprinkled with oats, and sweet bread studded with raisins...
“Welcome!”
The owner behind the counter was a lean, middle-aged woman, her hair wrapped in a cloth. Hearing customers enter, she stopped kneading dough and offered a warm, welcoming smile. “What would you like to buy?”
Wu Yao pointed at the shelves, gesturing from left to right. “This, this, this... and this. I want them all.”
Benita watched with a smile and added, “Give us three of each, please.”
Wu Yao turned to look at her and emphasized, “I want one of each.”
The owner cheerfully replied, “I'll sort them out for you.”
She was nimble, introducing the prices of the breads as she picked them out, almost like casual conversation.
“Today's freshly baked black bread is finely ground with a great texture, ten coppers each. This one is brushed with honey and is wonderfully sweet, fifteen for a pair...”
Benita listened to her tallying them up, silently counting in her head until the total reached 517 coppers.
Placing the mountain of bread on the counter, the owner looked at the small cloth pouch Benita carried and frowned slightly.
“Did you bring a basket? It's going to be hard to carry so many loaves. I do have some spare baskets here, but I'll need to charge a deposit.”
Benita knew Wu Yao had the ability to store items at will, but for safety's sake, she still pulled out a large sack she had prepared from her own pouch. “We brought our own.”
The owner took it, tallying the bill as she packed the bread. “That will be 517 copper coins in total. You can just give me 510.”
Rate on N.U.
