The Cheerful Village Healer

“Xiaofan, why don’t we wait a little while longer?”
“I’m much too nervous right now~” Li Bixian said, swallowing hard as she gently pushed Zeng Xiaofan away.
“How about you start by just feeling around, getting familiar with the acupoints first?”
Zeng Xiaofan sighed softly and set down his tools.
“Alright, then... I’ll start by finding the acupoints on your body.”
“Yes, there’s no need to rush into this...”
“Mhm~ Let’s start with the hand, then~”
As she spoke, Li Bixian extended her delicate hand to Blind Xiaofan. He took her hand in his, gently tracing its contours.
“This is the Tiger’s Mouth...”
“This is the Lesser Marsh point...”
“This is the Pass Rushing point...”
As Zeng Xiaofan moved his fingers over Li Bixian’s hand, he named each acupoint he recognized.
So it was that, early this morning, Li Bixian had come to help Blind Xiaofan teach himself traditional medicine.
He had not always been blind; once, he was a university student studying Chinese medicine.
But later, trying to protect his girlfriend from some thugs, he was blinded by their cruelty and expelled from school as a result.
Once a promising young man, he lost his future, his sight, and his lover left him as well.
For a time, Zeng Xiaofan drifted aimlessly in the village, just barely getting by.
Li Bixian, meanwhile, was a famed beauty in the neighboring villages—a young widow. On her wedding day, her husband died of drink before they could even consummate the marriage.
Newly wed, she was made a widow and blamed by he