Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
âDo you know each other?â asked Wang Yao.
âSort of,â said Sun Zhengrong.
He didnât expect to see Chen Ying here, and neither did she expect to see Sun Zhengrong.
âYunsheng, this is Chen Ying,â said Sun Zhengrong.
âHello,â greeted Sun Yunsheng immediately.
âHello,â Chen Ying greeted back.
Because they all knew each other, they stayed in Wang Yaoâs clinic to chat for a while.
âYunsheng seems to be much better.â Chen Ying knew about Yunshengâs condition, because Sun Zhengrong had taken his son to Beijing to see the best Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners. Yunshengâs condition wasnât as bad at the time.
âYes, thanks to Dr. Wangâs extraordinary medical skills,â said Sun Zhengrong.
âI agree with you,â said Chen Ying.
âWhat brings you here?â asked Sun Zhengrong.
âOh, Ms. Song asked me to come by to invite Dr. Wang to come to Beijing,â said Chen Ying.
âI see,â said Sun Zhengrong.
He only knew that Wang Yao had seen the Head Elder, who had passed away. He didnât expect that Wang Yao had also seen Su Xiaoxue, the precious princess of her family.
Wang Yao was apparently a distinguished guest of prestigious families in Beijing.
âSince we are together here, let me take you all out for lunch. My treat,â said Wang Yao.
âSounds good,â said Sun Zhengrong.
He paid the treatment fee without thinking. He didnât care about money. Compared to money, he valued Wang Yao more. He reckoned that Wang Yao was not only capable, but also had an extended social network.
They went to the same restaurant that Wang Yao and Chen Ying visited previously in the village next door.
Wang Yao ordered food from the hill and the river.
The food didnât cost much, but tasted unique.
After Sun Zhengrong and his son had left, Chen Ying consulted Wang Yao for advice on her brotherâs condition. Due to her brotherâs mental illness, she had consulted a number of specialists for advice, including a few prominent doctors. Plus, thanks to the fact that she had practiced Kung Fu since childhood and had some knowledge of Chinese Traditional Medicine, she was practically a Chinese Traditional Medical Practitioner herself. Of course she didnât have any clinical experience. Therefore, she wanted to learn from Wang Yao. She wanted to be able to take care of her brother when Wang Yao was not in Beijing. She hoped that she could identify the changes in her brother, which might have a positive impact on future treatment.
âThank you,â said Chen Ying after Wang Yao had answered all her questions.
âYou are welcome,â said Wang Yao.
He drove Chen Ying to the hotel in Lianshan town center, when went home.
After Wang Yao had left the hotel, Chen Ying summarized the information from her meeting with Wang Yao and then called Song Ruiping.
âHello, Maâam, itâs me, Chen Ying,â said Chen Ying.
âHello, have you met Dr. Wang?â asked Song Ruiping.
âYes. He has been really busy lately, so his visit to Beijing was delayed. He said he would go to Beijing once he had everything sorted out here. He promised he would go, but didnât tell me the exact date,â said Chen Ying.
âYou can ask him if there is anything we should prepare prior to his visit, or if we could help. If so, contact Boyuan,â said Song Ruiping.
âYes, Maâamâ said Chen Ying.
Meanwhile, Wang Yao had gone back home.
âYao, what does that Chen Ying do in Beijing?â asked Zhang Xiuying during dinner.
âYou mean her occupation? Sheâs sort of a housekeeper,â said Wang Yao after thinking for a moment.
Actually, Wang Yao didnât know what Chen Yingâ role was. He only knew she worked for Su Xiaoxueâs family. He reckoned her role was similar to Chen Boyuanâs. They just had different tasks.
âHousekeeper? Does she work for a rich family?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âYeah, I think so,â said Wang Yao.
He didnât know how powerful Su Xiaoxueâs family was, but he could tell her family was one of the most prestigious families in Beijing.
âI see. That girl is quite nice,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âWhat do you mean?!â Wang Yao was dazed for a second. He didnât know why his mother suddenly made such a comment.
âWhat brings her here?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âOh, she wants me to go to Beijing to see a patient,â said Wang Yao.
âThe patient you mentioned last time? The girl who couldnât move and was stuck in bed all the time?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âYes, sheâs much better now. She can get out of the bed. Although she still canât walk, she can go out in a wheelchair,â said Wang Yao.
Before, Su Xiaoxueâs had ulcers all over her skin. She had to stay in a relatively confined space to prevent infection. Wang Yao remembered clearly that her bed was surrounded by gauze. The essential oils burning in her room could kill the germs and expel any stray insects.
âChen Ying came here not only for that girl, but also for her brother,â said Wang Yao.
âHer brotherâs sick?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âYes,â said Wang Yao.
âWhatâs wrong with him?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âA mental problem.â Wang Yao pointed to his head.
âIs it bad?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âYes, Itâs very serious. Hard to cure,â said Wang Yao.
Chen Zhouâs condition was very hard to cure.
âIt seems that girlâs got a tough life,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âYeah, her brother is her only family member left,â said Wang Yao.
He knew Chen Yingâs life was actually very stressful.
âReally? You should help her,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âIâll try my best,â said Wang Yao.
âBy the way, donât take advantage of that girl,â said Zhang Xiuying seriously.
âWhat?â Wang Yao almost spat out a mouthful of water.
âIâm serious. Donât do anything you are not supposed to do just because a pretty girl needs your help,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âOf course I wonât!â said Wang Yao. âYou know me!â
âYour mother meant well. She just wanted to remind you,â said Wang Fenghua, who had been smoking and had kept silent until now. âYou will meet more people outside the village, and have more temptations. You need to stick to your principles.â
This was a serious advice from a father.
âI will stick to my principles,â said Wang Yao.
âYou practice medicine in order to help the public. You also need to be ethical and try your best to save people,â said Wang Fenghua.
. . .
Wang Yao received a call from Li Maoshuang that evening to ask him if he could go to the hospital the next day.
âYes,â said Wang Yao.
âGreat! My cousins want to invite you for lunch to express their gratitude,â said Li Maoshuang on the other side of the phone.
âThey really donât need to do that,â said Wang Yao.
âWill you go to the hospital tomorrow?â Zhang Xiuying overheard his conversation with Li Maoshuang.
âYes, I need to visit a patient,â said Wang Yao.
âGood, Iâll go with you. I want to visit your uncleâs wife. She should be discharged soon,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âOkay,â said Wang Yao.
It was cold and windy that night.
âIs it cold on the hill?â asked Zhang Xiuying.
âNot really. Iâm pretty fit now, so Iâm not afraid of cold weather and heat,â said Wang Yao with a smile.
âJust take an extra quilt with you,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âNo, I really donât need it,â said Wang Yao, smiling.
It was actually nice and warm on Nanshan Hill. But even if he was in a freezing place, he wouldnât feel anything given his current fitness.
âAlright, take care of yourself,â said Zhang Xiuying.
âI will,â said Wang Yao.
He went up to Nanshan Hill by himself.
He couldnât see the moon and the stars in the sky tonight.
The light on the hill was like a pea looking from distance.
Wang Yao was reading a medical book, which had come from the system, called Treatise on Miscellaneous Diseases.
One of the cases in the book caught his eye: A person had ulcers all over his body. The ulcers were as big as peas, and would broke if they were touched.
Another case mentioned a skinny person, whose face turned yellow, liked eating sour food. His treating doctor gave him Deworming Soup to take three times a day. Over one hundred insects were expelled from his body. The Deworming Soup contained ebony, citrus, areca, rhubarb, pinellia, rangoon creeper, and aurantii fructus. For those who had severe stomach pain, Yuen Long could be added to the formula. For those who had haemorrhoids, areca should be removed. For those who had diarrhea, berberine and baical skullcap root should be included. For those who experienced bloating and reduced appetite, Sanxian should be included.
All the cases described in the book were considered rare. For each case, the author wrote in details of the symptoms, the formula prescribed, and what happened to the patient after taking the formula.
Wang Yao read the book slowly. He didnât want to miss any important information, because all of these cases were very rare. One of the cases was about a patient who suffered a condition similar to cancer. The patient was cured eventually. This really amazed Wang Yao. The patient underwent acupuncture as well as herbal therapy. The treatment method was unique. The patient also had an herb bath, which contained toxic grass. Apparently the practitioner tried to counteract one toxin with another.
The practitioner cured the patient, but the process was not documented in detail. Wang Yao also hadnât seen that detox grass had been ever used in any other cases, including the ones in The Catalogue of Magic Herbs.
It was getting late.
Wang Yao didnât stop studying until it was past 11 pm.
Woof!
San Xian barked.
âYes?â
Wang Yao checked the time.
He should go to bed.
San Xian was prompting him to rest.
âThank you, San Xian, good night,â said Wang Yao gently.
San Xian lifted up his head, then laid down on his stomach in his warm dog house.
Wang Yao, San Xian, and Da Xia all went to sleep.
It was unclear if they would all meet in their dreams.
The temperature seemed to go up a bit the next day. It wasnât too cold in the morning.
Wang Yao left Nanshan Hill early in the morning. He left home for Lianshan Peopleâs Hospital with his mother after breakfast.