Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 93 - 89 Cai Qiong’s Mentality
"Of course," Wang Jian explained. "Herb gathering is always a laborious task, and anything can happen. When I was studying medicine with my master, I often ventured into the deep forests to collect herbs."
"Master?" This was the first time Cai Qiong had heard Wang Jian use such a title. When Cai Xing and Cai Wenji had spoken of Wang Jian, they hadn’t gone into such detail, so she was far from knowing everything. Hearing him mention this now, her interest was immediately piqued.
Wang Jian continued, "My master is a recluse, someone outside the secular world, not a schoolteacher, so his method of teaching medical skills was unconventional. He told me that in Chinese medicine, besides treating and diagnosing diseases, the ability to identify and gather herbs is absolutely essential."
"You don’t need to go as far as Shennong, who tasted a hundred herbs, but at the very least, you must be capable of venturing deep into the mountains to gather them." Wang Jian’s movements with the machete were very skilled. If Cai Qiong hadn’t known he was a university student, she might have suspected he was a woodcutter or a herbalist who frequented the mountains. Clearly, his skill wasn’t built in a day.
Cai Qiong couldn’t help but grow curious about this man. She was a year or two older than him. This was primarily because she had studied in the United Kingdom and then worked there for several years, which delayed the start of her career compared to her peers. At her age, it was the first time she had found a younger man so intriguing and different from everyone else.
Cai Qiong asked softly, "So you must go into the deep mountains often?"
"Hmm..." A nostalgic look appeared on Wang Jian’s face as he replied quietly, "There was one period where I was immersed in the deep mountains for three months. I was practically a wild man, living, eating, and sleeping all within them."
Cai Qiong glanced at him sideways. Is this medical training or wilderness survival?
This was definitely the first time she had ever heard of such a teaching method. After all, aren’t medical students usually treated like precious treasures in school, protected from any harm? No school would ever dream of tossing its medical students—or any university student, for that matter—into the deep forests to learn a skill.
In that instant, Cai Qiong began to understand why Wang Jian’s medical skills were so mysterious and potent. The process through which he had acquired them was anything but simple.
"By the way," Wang Jian said, turning back after clearing a patch of weeds and branches. As they ventured deeper, the visibility and trail conditions had worsened. "Stick close to me from here on. The path ahead gets even tougher."
After speaking, he gathered some leaves from the nearby brush. To Cai Qiong, they were just nameless leaves or weeds. She watched as Wang Jian vigorously rubbed them in his hands, squeezing a mixed herbal juice from the stems and leaves. Without hesitation, he smeared the juice onto his own exposed skin. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Just as Cai Qiong was looking on, bewildered, Wang Jian turned back to her. He was rubbing a fresh batch of herbs as he approached, a teasing glint in his eye. "Come on, it’ll be fine in a moment. It doesn’t hurt at all."
Knowing his mischievous nature, Cai Qiong rolled her eyes. But instead of protesting, she cooperatively lifted her leg and hiked up her pant leg. "Is this to mask our scent and repel snakes and insects?"
Wang Jian froze, his gaze falling on the fair, long leg before him. For a second, he was taken aback by her astuteness.
"It seems you really do have some hiking experience," Wang Jian said with a smile. "We’re about to enter a deeper area. If I’m not mistaken, the herbs we’re looking for are in there, but it’s also a bit dangerous. Snakes and wild beasts could appear, so masking our scent and repelling insects are essential precautions."
They had entered the mountain in a hurry. Although they had changed into long pants, their clothes were certainly not as safe as specialized hiking gear. Wang Jian had to be extra cautious, especially with a girl like Cai Qiong who had no wilderness survival experience.
"Then you can help me apply it."
Hearing this, Cai Qiong promptly pulled her pant leg even higher, completely exposing her leg. Seeing Wang Jian hesitate, she said directly, "What are you staring at? Go ahead and apply it. We’re both medical professionals, so I don’t mind. Besides, I like women, so you can rest assured I won’t get any funny ideas."
Wang Jian glanced up at Cai Qiong, surprised by her bluntness. He wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but somehow, hearing her say she liked women, his mind started to wander. Such fair, long legs... what a pity.
More bizarrely, Wang Jian’s thoughts drifted to the T-shaped mark he’d seen before. Though her sweat had dried, now that he was squatting, his eyes were level with her pants, and he could just make out the faint outline of her underwear through the fabric. The subtle contour was surprisingly eye-catching.
This woman is really something else.
Wang Jian set to work, rubbing the herbal juice from his hands onto her skin. He started from the sole of her foot, slowly and evenly spreading the mixture, not missing a single spot from her arch to her toes. He had to admit, Cai Qiong’s feet were one of the few perfectly formed pairs he had ever seen. They were delicate and, even after climbing for so long, completely odorless.
A leg that was regularly exercised felt entirely different from one that wasn’t. Hers possessed both resilience and smoothness.
As he moved up from her sole, the smooth touch and the broad strokes of his application seemed to make time slow down, creating a quiet intimacy. The more he applied the concoction, the more focused he became, the distracting thoughts in his mind gradually fading away. He applied the mixture over a much wider area on Cai Qiong than he did on himself; his own senses were sharp enough that he didn’t need as much.
While Wang Jian was growing calmer, Cai Qiong was finding it hard to adjust. It was true that she liked women, and it was also true that this was the first time a man had ever touched her foot like this.
Her gaze was beyond her control. As his hands moved the juice higher up her leg, her eyes were drawn to him. A man completely absorbed in his work is often at his most attractive. The strange sensation on her leg, combined with the cool feeling and unique scent of the herbs, began to fluster her. This man... he’s actually quite handsome.
Cai Qiong’s face flushed.
"Thank you," she said softly.
Wang Jian, however, was so focused on his task that he didn’t hear her clearly. He glanced up, his eyes meeting hers. Not knowing what to say, he just gave her a generous smile. That simple smile made Cai Qiong quickly look away, finding it almost dazzling.
Wang Jian furrowed his brow slightly but didn’t dwell on it, lowering his head to continue his work. His hands moved slowly, shifting from her left foot to her right leg. Cai Qiong felt a faint warmth spreading through her leg, and her face grew hotter to match.
Ten minutes later, Cai Qiong was following behind Wang Jian as they continued their advance. They moved quickly, and thanks to Wang Jian’s familiarity with the terrain, it didn’t take long to reach a part of the mountains that even the villagers avoided.
This wasn’t Cai Qiong’s first time climbing a mountain, but it was her first time in an undeveloped, wild forest. She trailed behind Wang Jian, holding a camera, though her state of mind was far from optimal. Her gaze was no longer fixed on the lens; whether the shots were clear was the least of her concerns now.
Her eyes darted left and right, from the dense woods beside them to the towering canopy above, which allowed only slivers of light to filter through. She was certain she would be terrified if she were here alone. The massive trees blocked out the sun, and the already cool mountain air, punctuated by the occasional cry of a bird, sent a chill through her. She unconsciously drew closer to Wang Jian, her hand reaching out to pinch the back of his shirt between her thumb and forefinger—as if holding on, but not quite. It was the last remnant of her pride.
"Don’t move!"
Wang Jian, ahead of her, whispered urgently and stopped dead in his tracks. Cai Qiong didn’t react in time and bumped right into him, her front pressing fully against his back.
Wang Jian stood his ground, but the soft impact sent a slight rebound through her. She instinctively threw her arms around him to steady herself. The prominent curves of her chest pressed firmly against his back; the contact was unmistakable.
Neither of them had the presence of mind to dwell on it. Cai Qiong was only slightly shorter than Wang Jian, and as she leaned against him, her head peeked out from over his shoulder. She didn’t need him to say a word; she saw the scene ahead in an instant.
On the mountainside, about a hundred meters away, a wild boar and a giant python were locked in a struggle. Or rather, the boar was trapped in the python’s coils. The boar’s leg was caught in a hunter’s trap, and blood pooled on the ground beneath it. If not for the trap, the python would never have been able to ensnare it.
Cai Qiong’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched.
Wang Jian’s gaze, however, was dark as he stared past the fight toward a large tree in the distance.
