21 Room for Survival (1/2)
The room was filled with stillness after Suyin's attempt to diagnose the child's symptoms. The trees howled with the sun setting up high in the sky, leaving its light through the open window in the room. The mother and Suyin observed as the child gradually drift off to sleep while they sat next to each other.
”I apologize, but what was your name?”
Suyin didn't mean to just barge into their room. The mother gave her a small smile.
”My name is Xu Meifeng. My son's name is Xu Yahui.” Meifeng responded.
Suyin sprang up from the bed and bowed, ”My name is Han Suyin.” Now all the introduction had been placed, Suyin could start asking more questions then. Specifically, something that had been bothering her for a couple of minutes ago.
”Do you know anything about the bugs here?” Suyin questioned, looking around for the mosquito that was there a second ago.
Meifeng shook her head. ”I apologize, but I don't think I can give you an answer to that.”
Suyin bit her upper lips, thinking about what she should do next. Now that she at least knew someone from the village, it was a good start.
”Do you think that there is anyone who knows about the village the best?” She stuttered, placing her hands up before Meifeng could speak. ”B-Besides Shi Zhang! (Of course)” Suyin uttered.
She knew that Shi Zhang had the upper hand in this ”trial” since he has the Prince and Weizhe at the grip of his hands.
”Ah..” Meifeng quietly thought about what Suyin said. ”If it isn't the Shi Zhang...” She turned around to Suyin, covering her mouth with her right hand. ”I think there is possibly one person that can kind of help us,” Meifeng commented.
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Meifeng and Suyin traveled to her older brother's home, but upon arriving there, he was nowhere to be found. His neighbor suggested going up to the woods since he often gets wood at the forest nearby. The two marched off to find Meifeng's brother, who somehow knows how the illness started.
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Meifeng's brother could be seen from afar in the woods, assembling the chopped wood and neatly piled it on top of each other on a frame backpack. The woods were as dry as the area-- opposite of the agriculture in their village. Tall, shriveled trees mostly fell from the wind and weather, and it was the best place to collect wood. Endless rows of trees were fallen with not a single leaf in sight in any of the branches, and a couple of people were scattered all over to scout for wood for their own homes.
Suyin and Meifeng had just arrived at the woods and had been searching for Meifeng's dear brother. After noticing a familiar figure from afar, Meifeng had the biggest smile in her face- something Suyin hasn't seen from the woman.
”Brother!” Meifeng yelled out his name, flapping her hands at him. After hearing his name being announced, he turned to see Meifeng's hands waving in the air with an excited expression on her face.
”My dear sister!” He called out, greeting back to her with a smile on his face. He carried the backpack now filled with chopped wood on his back and went towards the duo, who waited for him at the bottom of the hill.
”How are you doing?” He said, turning to Suyin who gave him a small grin.
”Who is this?” His facial expression shifted due to an unexpected surprise. He recognized that Suyin wasn't someone from the village, and it was strange for his older sister to be hanging out with someone out of town.
”This is Han Suyin.” Meifeng turned to Suyin and shifted her attention back to her brother. ”She is helping us with the disease that's been spreading around.” Meifeng had a lively and hopeful appearance on her face, opposite of her brother's who had nothing but skepticism about the woman.
”Suyin, this is my brother, Huang Wen,” Meifeng revealed. Suyin slightly bent her knees and clasped her hands to bow to her brother.
”It is nice to meet you, Huang Wen.”
Huang Wen's eyes were narrowed the whole time, suspecting her.
”What's the point of finding someone out of our village to cure the disease?” Huang Wen blurted out to Meifeng.
Suyin was caught off guard, shocked at his response to her. Were they all always this obstinate and arrogant?!
”Brother, you have to understand that no one has found a cure to the disease yet, and if we don't take the chance of having her help us, we would just let all of the other people die from this disease... including my son.” Her voice began to tremble, holding back her tears.