Perhaps having pondered too much about that bird before sleep, she drifted into a dream teeming with fowl.
In her dream, the mess cooks’ iron pot simmered with goose, while riflemen roasted chickens over their bonfires.
The rich aroma of poultry wafted across the foothills, at one point even overpowering the scent of blood and disinfectant from the medical station.
Lin Yu tore off a chicken leg, her bowl brimming with goose meat.
Shoveling a mouthful of rice, she bit into the chicken leg, chewing with such gusto that her mouth shone with grease.
The savory broth from the iron-pot-stewed goose was ladled over her rice, soaking each grain.
With a mere press of her tongue, the rice in her mouth separated into distinct kernels.
Spices bloomed on her taste buds, making her feel that such a meal in wartime was worth dying for…
Ah…
Lin Yu was jolted awake by hunger.
Having been utterly exhausted for days, she should have woken the moment hunger struck, yet she had been forced to endure its pangs for a long while before reluctantly stirring.
Waking from her sleep, not only was her stomach empty, but her spirits hadn’t lifted much either.
Thankfully, in her dream, she had devoured an entire bowl of rice and goose, and nearly finished the chicken leg in her hand.
There was no regret of waking mid-dream to find her hands empty, though the stark contrast between the dream’s feast and reality’s hunger would undoubtedly leave her profoundly disappointed.
Enduring the gnawing hunger in her stomach and the aches in her lower back, Lin Yu trudged back to the tent where she had slept the previous night.
She quickly retrieved her mess kit from beside her bunk.
She ambled over to the lunch distribution point, only to find a nearly empty bucket of plain congee, with a few stray green vegetable leaves clinging to its sides.
“Is this all there is to eat? The rations are abysmal,” Lin Yu muttered, her head drooping in disappointment.
‘Involuntarily, her mind drifted back to the stewed goose of her dream.’
‘If her seniors were still here, they would surely procure a goose for her, stewing it until it was fragrant and delicious.’
“Coming for food at this hour, of course there won’t be any good dishes,” the mess cook, squatting nearby and scrubbing pots, handed her a wooden spoon.
“There’s still a bit left if you scrape it; if you don’t eat it, I’ll wash the congee bucket.”
Lin Yu looked up at the setting sun, confirming that it was indeed past mealtime.
She could only attribute the meager offering to her own tardiness.
‘Who was to blame but herself for oversleeping?’
Taking the heavy wooden spoon, Lin Yu tilted the congee bucket, scraping all the rice grains clinging to its sides.
She gathered them into a small mound and deposited them into her mess kit.
Then, with effort, she lifted the empty bucket, pouring out the pale, slightly viscous liquid from its bottom.
Carrying her mess kit, she sat aside.
Before her sat a bowl of vegetable congee that was utterly lacking in appearance, taste, and nutritional value—and it was stone cold.
Picking up her chopsticks, Lin Yu stared at the floating vegetable leaves and rice grains on the surface of the congee, unable to bring herself to eat immediately.
Though ravenously hungry, this meal felt far too paltry.
After a long period of mental preparation, urged on by her rumbling stomach, she finally steeled herself to pick up a single green vegetable stalk and put it in her mouth.
Mmm-hmm.
In truth, the taste was utterly unremarkable, like boiled greens that had simply been left to cool.
Chewing a few times and swallowing, she lifted her mess kit and drank the plain congee like soup.
Still unsatisfied, she rubbed her stomach, which was only partly filled, and once again found herself longing for the meals her seniors used to prepare.
‘My great goose, oh my great goose…’
Still enveloped by the pangs of hunger, Lin Yu returned to the spot where she had started that morning, standing before the military doctor leading the medical company, beside the unusually busy surgical tent.
“Sir, I’m back. Is there anything else you need me to do here?”
The doctor, holding a cigarette in his left hand and a potion bottle in his right, looked considerably more haggard than when Lin Yu had seen him that morning.
“Ah, it’s you… I didn’t see you among the returning medics and thought you had perished on the left bank.”
“Not at all, I just didn’t come back with them,” Lin Yu quickly waved her hands in explanation, hearing that he had presumed her dead.
“After returning ahead of them, I made a round in the rear, lending a small hand with transporting the wounded.”
Had it not been for Yang Xi’s protective entrenching tool, the military doctor’s words might very well have become reality.
Speaking of which, that fellow fought with such ferocity in close combat.
Without him, Lin Yu would undoubtedly have perished in the trenches.
‘No, that’s not right. Without him, Lin Yu wouldn’t have even run into the trenches in the first place.’
“Then continue to assist. We can never have too many hands for caring for the wounded. After this morning’s attack, there are many more casualties, and we won’t be able to treat them all anytime soon.”
Before leaving, she made a small request: could she work alongside Nangong?
The military doctor wasn’t aware of Nangong’s full name, only understanding who she meant when Lin Yu reminded him of “the last one to make an outlandish request.”
“Go ahead,” he assented to Lin Yu’s small request, adding, “To be honest, I don’t hold much hope for you helping treat the wounded. After all, you aren’t my subordinates, and you don’t even serve in the same unit.”
Lin Yu, however, responded with the most important phrase Nangong had taught her: “A healer’s heart is compassionate. How could we stand idly by and watch the wounded die?”
“Is that so… That’s truly admirable.”
He extinguished the cigarette in his hand and gulped down the last mouthful of the magic potion.
‘He seemed like someone with a story to tell.’
****
—A Young Woman’s Healing—
As the sun dipped lower in the west, Lin Yu completed another minor surgery and stepped outside the tent, gazing towards the river’s left bank.
With the sun shining from behind and to her side, gazing across to the left bank wasn’t blinding.
She could take in everything: the bridge spanning the two banks and the fortifications on the left bank’s position.
“What’s wrong, are you tired?” Nangong emerged from the tent after her, gently nudging Lin Yu’s shoulder with her elbow.
“How could I not be tired…” Expelling the pent-up frustration from her chest, Lin Yu stretched vigorously and rubbed her once again empty stomach.
“So, shall we go tell the commander that we can use magic?” Nangong moved closer, standing beside her.
“We have some free time now, the Lanforthians aren’t attacking, and the commander doesn’t seem to be busy directing operations.”
Lin Yu shook her head adamantly, refusing: “No.”
“It’s only safe in the rear! Didn’t we agree on this when we were on the other side of the river?” she took a step forward, standing before Lin Yu.
“Don’t think that just because we’re far from the river, the Lanforthian cannons can’t reach us. You’ve experienced it yourself; you must know, right?”
“If we tell anyone about our healing magic at this critical juncture, we might not only be held accountable for concealment but also be forced to continuously gulp down ten magic potions and treat the wounded all night long.”
As she spoke, the image of the military doctor guzzling potions, along with his haggard expression as if he had aged ten years, flashed before Lin Yu’s eyes.
“Nangong, you once said that using too much of this stuff would stunt our growth.”
“…Heh-heh, so you have your own little schemes, do you?” Nangong, after a long while, reached out and flicked her forehead.
This time, Lin Yu didn’t dodge.
“Didn’t you just speak of a healer’s compassionate heart? How can you now hide your abilities and be unwilling to treat the sick and save lives?”
“Because Nangong, you also said that there are limits to helping others.
Before I am a medic, I am a ‘little girl’ who hopes to develop well and grow tall quickly.”
In other words, if helping others would harm her own interests, she wouldn’t do it.
At least for now, she had no desire to become a human machine, constantly consuming potions and churning out healing spells.
“Since that’s how you feel, let’s leave it at that for now. We can consider the magic situation once the fighting subsides. For now, let’s complete the task at hand—come on, let’s go get some food.”
No longer contemplating revealing their magical talents to others, Nangong took Lin Yu’s hand and led her to the dinner distribution point in the camp.
Staring at the steaming, finger-sized piece of goose meat in her mess kit, Lin Yu couldn’t help but wonder if she had heard the cries of a slaughtered goose before sleeping, thus prompting her dream of the iron-pot-stewed goose.
Then, looking at the large, full bucket of stewed goose meat guarded by the mess cook, she mused that what she might have heard was perhaps the sound of the cook being chased by a flock of geese.
“Mmm, truly fragrant~”
Her beautiful dream had become reality; the rice in her mouth seemed incredibly sweet and rich, as if the usually terrible mess cook had suddenly inherited the true culinary secrets of several masters.
“Tonight’s dinner is much more substantial than lunch, isn’t it?”
“Because they’re about to rotate to the left bank’s defensive sector, this last meal must be much more generous.”
Nangong’s words made the rice in her mouth lose its flavor.
She paused her chopsticks, turning her head to gaze towards the left bank.
Beyond the distant small hills, numerous plumes of smoke drifted upwards; the Lanforthian mess cooks were also lighting fires and preparing meals.
‘Those foreign devils would also have a lavish, final supper.’
‘What was the traditional cuisine of the Lanforthians? Surely it wasn’t just fish and chips?’
‘In any case, goose meat was more fragrant than any of that.’
Picking up the piece of goose meat and putting it into her mouth, Lin Yu thought silently.