A Hero's Heart - Chapter 2

The snow in the alley was already ankle-deep.

A figure sat slumped beside the wall, buried in the snow. It was impossible to tell whether the person was a man or a woman.

A group of children circled him, chanting a cruel rhyme and throwing stones at his body.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, putting on my fiercest expression.

The children scattered at once. Even after running away, they turned back to make faces at me.

I pretended to chase them for a few steps. Only when they screamed and fled did I turn back to the person on the ground.

In weather this cold, he wore only a thin, ragged shirt. The front was torn open in several places, exposing a collarbone reddened by the cold.

He was painfully thin.

The corners of his pale lips were swollen and bleeding, probably from where one of the stones had struck him.

His high, straight nose was dripping with cold. A strip of dark cloth was tied across his eyes.

From what I could see of his face, beneath the dirt and blood, he must once have been remarkably handsome.

“Hey. Are you all right?”

I spoke softly, but he neither rose nor moved.

Judging by the song the children had been singing, he was blind. The fact that he had not uttered a word made me wonder whether he was mute as well.

Could he be deaf as well?

I walked over and crouched beside him. “Your head is bleeding. I’ll take you to a doctor.”

He still did not move.

Had he died?

I held a finger beneath his nose. When I felt the faint warmth of his breath, I finally let out the breath I had been holding.

“My brother always said that standing by while someone dies isn’t the conduct of a true hero.” I hauled his arm over my shoulder and helped him up. “You’ve met me today, so you’re in luck.”

He was frighteningly light, as if he were nothing but a frame of bones.

I supported him out of the alley and found the nearest clinic.

The old doctor recognized him as soon as he saw him. He sighed before he had even finished examining him.

I settled the man into a chair. “Doctor, what’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing serious. He passed out from the cold. Give him some hot medicine and he’ll be fine.” The old doctor turned to the young boy tending the fire and told him to prepare the herbs.

The boy pursed his lips and turned away reluctantly. “Here we go again, playing the bodhisattva. Keep playing and the shop won’t even be able to afford its medicine.”

From that, I guessed this was not the first time the beggar had nearly frozen to death.

It was not the first time the old doctor had saved him, either.

I took a piece of silver from my purse and placed it on the table. “Doctor, treat his hands, too. And the injuries on his head. Please take care of everything.”

The old doctor’s eyes lit up.

“Who are you to him?”

“I don’t know him.”

The doctor’s expression fell. He shook his head.

While the boy prepared the medicine, the doctor told me how the man had come to the town.

About a year ago, he had arrived in Qingyun City from somewhere no one knew. He covered his eyes with a strip of cloth and carried a long stick. He never spoke, and no one knew where he had come from.

Then, one day, he had saved a child who nearly died beneath a horse’s hooves in the street.

I looked at the mute man leaning against the wall. “So he’s a good person.”

“What use is being a good person?” the old doctor sighed. “He has no family, no friends, and no money. He’s blind and mute, and has to scrape by in this city. Winter makes it worse. Even if he survives today, he may not last until tomorrow.”

At first, I had only meant to help him on a whim. But after hearing the doctor say all that, I felt an uncomfortable stirring in my chest.

Perhaps I had thought of my brother.

“If he can live today, he can live tomorrow.” I smiled at the doctor. “My brother said that in this world, if you can save one person, you should save one person. When he wakes up, I’ll take him with me.”

The Carefree Sect had few people, and it would cost little to feed one more mouth.

I had felt his pulse earlier. Though weak, it was steady, and I could tell that he possessed a foundation in inner force.

He had the makings of a martial artist.

If I took him back with me, perhaps Father would be less angry.

The old doctor seemed surprised. He cupped his hands and bowed.

“Miss, you are a true benefactor. Heaven will surely reward you.”

Whether good deeds really brought blessings or not, I had already made up my mind.

I took out the portrait of my brother that I carried with me. “By the way, have you ever seen him?”

I was going to the tournament, but I also intended to find my brother myself.

The old doctor leaned closer and studied the portrait for a long time. In the end, he shook his head.

I was not surprised. If finding him were that easy, Father would not have sent people out for two years without receiving any news.