Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
âHello, Dr. Wang,â said the middle-aged man.
âHow can I help you?â asked Wang Yao.
âThe person you saw yesterday is having a headache again. It got worse,â said the middle-aged man.
âWhat? Thatâs not possible,â said Wang Yao. He was shocked.
He understood the patientâs condition. He didnât think his condition was too serious. The patient just had a headache. The cold toxin had been expelled after the message therapy. It was impossible to relapse in such a short period of time.
âWhere is the patient?â asked Wang Yao.
âHeâs just outside,â said the middle-aged man.
âTake him to the clinic,â said Wang Yao.
âOkay,â said the middle-aged man.
He notified his mother, then went to the clinic.
It was the same patient, but he looked completely different. In one day, the patientâs face had started to turn dark green. His breathing was extremely shallow. He was unsteady on his feet.
The patient didnât just suffer from a common illness. He was intoxicated.
Wang Yao could tell it with just one glance.
âYou havenât taken him to the hospital?â asked Wang Yao.
âNo, we decided to come to you first,â said the middle-aged man.
Wang Yao was speechless.
âCan you tell me why you took him to see me first?â Wang Yao was curious about the reason why the middle-aged man didnât take his friend to the hospital.
âWell, one of my friends recommended you,â said the middle-aged man.
âRecommended by your friend?â Wang Yao didnât quite buy it. Unless the friend he mentioned was a true friend.
âYou have been poisoned,â said Wang Yao to the patient.
âAm I? What poison is it?â asked the patient with surprise.
âIâm not sure at this stage,â said Wang Yao.
âCan you treat it?â asked the patient.
âI think so,â said Wang Yao.
The Detox Grass could help all kinds of toxins.
The patientâs condition was not extremely serious. Therefore Wang Yao just put a half leaf of Detox Grass in the warm water for him to take.
âCome here, drink it,â said Wang Yao.
âOkay,â said the patient.
He hesitated for a second, then drank the water which had the Detox Grass in it.
Soon, his body responded to the Detox Grass. He started to shake.
âWhat is going on?â asked the patient.
âDonât panic.â Wang Yao put two fingers on his pulse.
The patient was fine.
He didnât shake for too long. Soon he got back to normal.
The toxin was resolved immediately, and the patient already looked much better.
A small glass of green water could help remove all kinds of toxins.
âThis is amazing!â said the middle-aged man who looked like he was the patientâs secretary.
âI think the toxin has been resolved,â said Wang Yao.
âOkay, thanks. How much should we pay you?â asked the middle-aged man.
âFive thousand,â said Wang Yao.
âHow much?â The middle-aged man was surprised.
âSo?â Wang Yao didnât repeat the amount.
âPay him,â said the patient who had had his strength back.
As a patient he could feel the magical effect of the warm green water Wang Yao gave him. Initially, he had no strength and was in pain, as if he was tied up by heavy chains. However, as soon as he had drunk the herbal soup, all of his symptoms disappeared in no time.
âOkay.â The middle-aged man immediately took out his wallet and paid Wang Yao.
âDr. Wangâs reputation is truly supported by your medical skills,â said the patient.
âNow can you tell me how you found me?â asked Wang Yao.
âRecommended by a friend,â said the patient.
âSo you just came to me after being poisoned without going to the hospital?â asked Wang Yao.
âActually, we didnât leave Lianshan. We spent the night in the town center. I donât know how I got poisoned. I thought about you as soon as I realized didnât feel well. I am telling you the truth. I lied to you before. Iâm sorry. We actually have been to the hospital in town, but the doctors there couldnât do anything for me. So we came here,â said the patient.
âOh, itâs all right.â Wang Yao waved his hand with a smile.
âDo you know what toxin it is?â asked the patient.
âIâm not sure,â said Wang Yao.
âIs it food poisoning?â asked the patient.
âI donât think so,â said Wang Yao. The patientâs symptoms didnât look like food poisoning. His symptoms were much more severe.
âFortunately, you were just poisoned recently, and the poison didnât move very fast through your body, although the toxin was very strong. If you hadnât come today, your organs would be permanently damaged, if not worse,â said Wang Yao.
âI see. Thank you. Sorry to disturb you,â said the patient.
He stood up and left the clinic.
The patient and his secretary got into the car.
âBoss, the poison...â said his secretary with confusion. âIâm wondering where it is from?â
The patient had to stay overnight in Lianshan to run some errands after his visit to Wang Yaoâs clinic. He spent the night in the best hotel in Lianshan.
If it was not food poisoning, how could the poison have gotten inside my body?
The patient wondered. Then he took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up. The car was immediately filled with mild aroma.
What toxin was it?
Wang Yao was thinking about the patient in his clinic.
It was not food poisoning. The poison seemed to be made with ancient method.
Hopefully heâs not poisoned again.
It was not hard for Wang Yao to guess that someone wanted to kill that patient by poison.
Someone wants to murder that guy, who seems to be quite rich.
Because of his fortune?!
âIs he alright?â asked Zhang Xiuying as soon as Wang Yao had gotten back home.
âYes, heâs fine now,â said Wang Yao. âIâm not coming back for lunch today.â
âAre you gonna stay on Nanshan Hill?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âYes,â said Wang Yao.
He was going to brew a decoction in the morning. He had had all the herbs ready.
He was going to brew Regather Soup, which could consolidate oneâs corporeity.
He came up with the plan to brew it last night.
He still had some Guiyuan and Shanjing, which he grew in the herbal field.
He would give a small proportion of the decoction to Pan Junâs relative.
âThatâs fine. There is some marinated beef left. Take some with you. Also, donât forget to bring some food for San Xian and Da Xia. There is not much food left on the hill,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âOkay,â said Wang Yao.
He carried a big bag out of his house.
After he had left the village and reach the path leading to the hill, Wang Yao sped up. He looked around to make sure there was no one around him. Then he started to bounce forward. He moved several meters with one bounce. Wang Yao was moving rapidly if looking at him from distance. Soon he had arrived at Nanshan Hill and entered the Spirit Gathering Battle Array.
He lit the firewood.
The cottage was soon filled with smell of herbs.
San Xian was lying quietly in his dog house. He was looking up at the sky. No one knew what was on his mind.
The Regather Soup was the decoction Wang Yao brewed most frequently. Although he hadnât brewed it for a while, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do.
âDone!ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
He had finished brewing the decoction at noon.
Then he made a simple lunch for himself. He had some vegetables and meat with rice. He also offered San Xian and Da Xiao something nice to eat.
âTime for lunch, San Xian, Da Xia!â
He placed the pre-prepared food inside a big plate. It was meat with soy sauce, a combination of pork and beef.
San Xian came out of his dog house first. Da Xia flapped his wings, then flew off the tree.
They loved meat, all kinds of meat. No matter if it was baked or boiled. Their favorite food was meat with soy sauce. Wang Yao had to admit it was all really strange.
âTake your time, no hurry,â said Wang Yao.
He took his dining table out to have lunch together with San Xian and Da Xia.
âBy the way, where is Xiaohei?â asked Wang Yao.
Woof! Woof! Woof!
âHeâs gone to the back of the hill? What is he doing over there?â asked Wang Yao. âCatching rats?â
He was having a conversation with San Xian, which most people would find hard to understand.
. . .
Zhang Xiuying and Wang Fenghua went to buy some coal in the afternoon for their heat supply. It was very cold in the winter in Northern China. There was no arranged heat supply by the government in his village. Most households here used soil heating. Some households used hot water as a heater. They boiled the water with coal. It was a nice and practical way to keep warm.
âI donât think Yaoâs room has a heater,â said Zhang Xiuying. She and Wang Fenghua were thinking of their son.
âYou are right,â said Wang Fenghua.
âItâs not too late to install the heater for him now. Letâs buy some more coal and save some for him,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âOkay,â said Wang Fenghua.
Therefore, they bought twice more of coal than before.
âWhy do you buy so much coal?â asked Wang Yao.
He noticed the amount of coal in the courtyard almost doubled compared to previous years.
âWe bought some for you,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âFor me?â asked Wang Yao.
âYes, you donât have heater in your clinic yet. When will you install the soil heater?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âIâm not going to install any heater,â said Wang Yao.
âNo heater?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âRight, why should I have heater?â said Wang Yao.
Wang Yao was neither sensitive to heat nor sensitive to cold. He felt nothing in such cold weather. Even if he had a patient, there was an air conditioner in his clinic. In addition, he had built a battle array around his clinic, which would adjust the temperature accordingly. The rooms in his clinic wouldnât be too cold.
âSo what are you going to use during winter? The air conditioner?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âYes, when it is really cold,â said Wang Yao.
âHow about on Nanshan Hill?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âI donât need a heater on the hill,â said Wang Yao.
It was nice and warm in the Spirit Gathering Battle Array all year long.
âThen weâve bought too much,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âNot really, just use it more often,â said Wang Yao, smiling.
It was nice to start a fire in a fireplace during winter while he was chatting and watching TV with his family.
It was a rare opportunity for them to have a rest after a whole yearâs hard work.
Meanwhile, Long Yunfei was still trying to help build a road for the village in Jia County.
âDr. Long, why do you feel you have to do this?â asked an officer of The Department of Infrastructure.
âI just want to try my best to help them,â said Long Yunfei.
He seemed to have aged 10 years in a month.
He couldnât bear his own weight at all, and he was getting worse. He found his arms were also affected. He couldnât control the movement of his arms. He panicked. Eventually, he talked to all the people he knew and spent a lot of money to finalize a plan to build a road for the village in Jia County.
âDonât worry. We will process all the paperwork as soon as we can,â said the officer.
âOkay, thank you,â said Long Yunfei.
âDad, what are you doing this for?â Long Tianyou didnât know why his father was obsessed with building a road for that village. It was as if his father had gone crazy.
âI did this for myself, as well as for you guys,â said Long Yunfei in a hoarse voice.
âWhat?!â Long Tianyou was bewildered. This was the first time Long Yunfei had gone into the reason.
âConsider it a punishment for me. Although the punishment was too harsh, you would be relieved if I got better, right?â said Long Yunfei.