Several members of the archaeological team thanked Ning Tao. A middle-aged man in his forties said to Ning Tao, "Buddy, you saved our lives this time. I won't say thank you. Please tell us your name, and we will return to you when we get back." Then he added, "By the way, my name is Ji Wengui, and I'm the captain of the archaeological team."

Ning Tao didn't want to tell these people his name just because he didn't want them to go looking for him. He didn't want them to reciprocate, but they respected him so much that it would have been rude not to tell them his name. The situation put him in a difficult position.

"Sir, my name is Jian Mi, and I live in a village near here. You have saved me. I'd like to invite you to my house to drink the wine of various flowers which was made by my mother." The village boy looked at Ning Tao with expectant eyes.

Ning Tao looked at Jian Mi's simple face with a look of expectation in his eyes and could not bear to refuse. Finally, he said, "My name is Ning Tao, and I'm here to collect herbs. Meeting you is just a coincidence, so you don't need to take it to heart. Don't thank me or repay me anymore. It's a doctor's job to cure the sickness and save the patient."

Although he said so, the rest of the people still thanked him and made a simple self-introduction.

The young man who woke up first walked up to Ning Tao, made a deep bow, and said, "I'm Yang Chen. Doctor Ning, please don't mind my politeness. If you hadn't saved me in time, I would have died here. My baby's only three months. You've saved two lives. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you."

Ning Tao could tell that Yang Chen was an upright man. He smiled and said, "You're welcome." Then he changed the subject. "By the way, this is a primeval forest. How do you come here to archaeology?"

Several members of the archaeological team unconsciously looked at Ji Wengui, the captain of the team.

Ji Wengui looked embarra.s.sed.

Ning Tao said immediately, "If you can't tell others, just forget what I asked."

Ji Wengui hesitated, and then said, "Doctor Ning, I shouldn't have told you, but since you've just saved us, it seems a little perverse to talk about rules and regulations in front of you. Let me tell you, we have obtained some information from some ancient historical books, which all point to an ancient and mysterious civilization, the Feminine-moon City."

"Feminine-moon City?" Ning Tao repeated in surprise.

"Those people wors.h.i.+p death, and sacrifice," Ji Wengui went on. "Every total solar eclipse is their festival. They built a city in Shennongjia. We've been looking for it for three years, but we haven't found it."

Ning Tao paused before saying, "It's kind of inappropriate, but I still want to say it. Mr. Ji, the Feminine-moon City you mentioned may not exist. Why do you have to find it?"

"Captain Ji, let me explain," Ma Tongtong said.

Ji Wengui nodded in agreement.

With permission, Ma Tongtong gathered her thoughts and said, "According to the secret historical records, the Feminine-moon people disappeared during our warring states period, but even during the warring states period, their cities and production techniques were even better than the Ming dynasty did 1,000 years later. They control a technology for mining and smelting ore named cloudy ores. It was said that the ore can enhance people's mental abilities and enable them to communicate without words, like some animals that communicated relying on brainwave. We came here to find not only the Feminine-moon people's city, but also that kind of ore. If it exists, it will be the greatest discovery in human archaeological history."

"Miss Ma, according to what you said, is the Feminine-moon people more powerful than Mayans?" Ning Tao asked.

Ma Tongtong nodded her head and replied, "Yes, theoretically. But we searched in Shennongjia for three years without success. They said if we didn't make any progress, they wouldn't give us any money."

Yang Chen sighed. "If there are no more funds for us, our team will have to disband. In that way, G.o.d knows how many years it will be before the Feminine-moon people's city meets the world. Perhaps humans will never see it again."

In addition to the fact that Ning Tao saved them, the fate of disbanding was probably the reason why they were willing to tell Ning Tao these secrets. Yet, although listening to what they had said, Ning Tao was skeptical about the Feminine-moon people's city and the cloudy ore. If there was a city built by Feminine-moon people in Shennongjia, how could it be impossible to find such a developed technology?

As the men of the team spoke something, Qing Zhui came out of the miasma and walked towards them with a big plastic woven bag in each hand.

These archaeologists looked at her with shocked eyes as if they were seeing a ghost. They had almost died in miasma, but the girl with the plastic woven bags was totally fine! Her look and gait looked as if she were having a walk in the woods!

Ning Tao immediately diverted the attention of those archaeologists, saying, "Well, let me introduce you. This is Qing Zhui. She's my nurse. She and I have both taken an antidote to miasma, so don't be surprised."

"Brother Ning, who are they?" Qing Zhui asked.

"They're experts in archaeology," Ning Tao replied. Then, he walked over to Qing Zhui, took off his coat and handed it to her, saying, "Give me the bags. You tie my coat around your waist. Look at you, aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"

Qing Zhui giggled and said, "Okay, I'll only show n.o.body but you the way I dress."

Ning Tao was tongue-tied.

"Achoo!" The weakest Ma Tongtong sneezed.

Ning Tao kind of wanted to give Ma Tongtong his coat. After all, Qing Zhui was not afraid of the cold, but before he could say or extend his hand, Qing Zhui had already tied his coat around her waist like an ap.r.o.n.

"Let's make a fire," Ning Tao suggested. "When the miasma is gone you can go back to the village."

Jian Mi said, "Doctor Ning, you can come with us. I want to invite you to drink the wine of various flowers made by my mother."

Ning Tao thought about it and agreed, "Okay. When the miasma clears, I'll take you back to the village. You'll be safer."

"Good, I'm going to get some wood for the fire." Jian Mi looked very happy.

"I'll go with you," Yang Chen said.

While everyone else sat down on the ground, Ning Tao took the two bags to a corner away from the crowd and sorted out the herbs. He had planned to return to the Sky Clinic immediately, but now he changed his plan because of the team of archeologists.

More than 10 minutes later, a bonfire appeared on the hillside. Making a fire in the forest was very dangerous, but sometimes people had to do it to survive, because a cold could kill people in such a condition.

Ning Tao and Qing Zhui were also around the fire, warming and chatting with these archeologists.

Suddenly Ning Tao remembered something and whispered to Qing Zhui, "Do you know the Feminine-moon people?"

Qing Zhui thought for a moment, then shook her head and replied, "I only know inters.e.x people in the world, but I don't know Feminine-moon people."

Ning Tao thought his question was in vain.

After chatting for a while, Qing Zhui lost interest and slept on Ning Tao's shoulder. Later, she simply lay down on Ning Tao's thigh and used it as her pillow. Ning Tao didn't want to wake her up and let her do it. Then he fell asleep too.

When Ning Tao woke up, it was light, the miasma had disappeared, and the fire had gone out.

As soon as Ning Tao opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful face with slight saliva hanging from the corner of her mouth. She seemed to be sleeping soundly. Then he found that he and Qing Zhui were sleeping in each other's arms. His arms were around Qing Zhui's waist, and Qing Zhui's leg was still on his leg.

"d.a.m.n, what happened?" Surprised, Ning Tao hurriedly moved Qing Zhui's leg away from him, and then shook Qing Zhui. "Qing Zhui, it's daylight. Wake up!"

However, Qing Zhui lifted that leg up again and put it on top of him.

Ning Tao reached out and pinched her nose.

"Whew!" Qing Zhui opened her mouth to exhale, and then opened her eyes.

Ning Tao took the opportunity to remove her leg and get up off the ground. Those archaeologists were still sleeping, in a disorderly position beside the fire. Ning Tao woke them up one by one and said, "I'll take you back to the village. Jian Mi, you lead the way."

"All right," Jian Mi said cheerfully.

"Doctor Ning, let's go to the camp last night," Ji Wengui said. "There's something very important in the camp that we need to get back."

"Okay, let's go to the camp first," Ning Tao agreed.

After returning to the camp, those archaeologists went into the tent to remove all the contents.

Ma Tongtong carried a heavy box. As soon as she came out of the tent, the box fell from her hand to the ground. The zipper of the box broke open, and the books, materials and maps inside fell all over the ground.

A laminated photo slipped right in front of Ning Tao and stopped in his ankle. Instantly, he could not move his eyes from the laminated photo. Looking at the photo, he even forgot to breathe.

On the laminated photo was an ill.u.s.tration of a woman with her head slightly up, as if looking at something. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the age, her face was very blurred, and could not be seen clearly.

This might be a very ordinary ill.u.s.tration, but it had extraordinary significance for Ning Tao, because the woman in the ill.u.s.tration slightly lifted her head in the same way as the woman in the red cheongsam he had seen at the j.a.panese consulate in the Shan City. Almost immediately, the woman in the ill.u.s.tration reminded him of the woman in the red cheongsam!

"I'm sorry," Ma Tongtong said, and then hurriedly pick up the books and materials on the ground.

"Let me help you." Ning Tao picked up the laminated photo that had fallen on the ground walked over to Ma Tongtong. He handed it to her and asked, "Miss Ma, where was this photo taken?"

Ma Tongtong took a look at the photo and replied, "I took this in an ancient book."

"What is it?"

"It's called a biography of the Feminine-moon people," Ma Tongtong replied. "It was written by a writer in the Ming dynasty. He said in the book that he had been to the city of the Feminine-moon people. There are many descriptions of the people in the book. The book is housed in a museum. As a result of my research, I borrowed this photo once and took it."

"Can I have a look at that book?" Ning Tao asked.

After a moment's hesitation, Ma Tongtong said, "If you want to see it, I'll try to negotiate with the museum staff to borrow it again."

"Thanks," said Ning Tao.

After packing up their things, Ning Tao set off with Jian Mi and the archaeologists to the Cloud-lying Village. All the way he thought about the woman in the red cheongsam.