Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“I still want to try,” Li Shengrong said at the other end of the phone.
“You are too old for this. Anyway, if you don’t have any other business, I have to go,” Dr. Chen said.
Such a stubborn person!
Toot! Toot!
Dr. Chen hung up the phone and shook his head. It is not going to be that easy!
He also wanted to know the components of the decoctions. After all, these decoctions were magical. He tried several times to analyze the components, but failed. Sol he gave up.
Not everything was worth it to a person to keep trying.
It was nice and sunny the next day.
Wang Yao had a guest in the clinic. It was Pan Jun.
“Good morning, teacher,” Pan Jun said.
“You are not on duty today?” Wang Yao was used to be called teacher, although he was uncomfortable with it at the beginning.
“I have today off,” Pan Jun said.
“Good, let me ask you some questions,” Wang Yao said.
“OK,” Pan Jun happily said.
He came to the clinic because he thought he had made good progress in his study. Therefore, he wanted to learn some treatment techniques from Wang Yao.
Wang Yao asked Pan Jun a lot of questions, mainly related to the meridians and acupuncture points. These were basic knowledge one had to grasp to learn Chinese massage.
Pan Jun answered all the questions correctly.
“Good,” Wang Yao said.
Pan Jun was in his 40s. His background was Western medicine. He must have worked really hard to make such progress.
“I’ll teach you the massage technique,” Wang Yao said.
“Great,” Pan Jun said. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Wang Yao started from the basic massage technique, including pushing, pressing, and rubbing. Pan Jun listened carefully to what Wang Yao was teaching him. He even took notes from time to time.
“Come here, let me show you,” Wang Yao said.
After explaining the techniques, Wang Yao demonstrated the techniques on Pan Jun’s body. He also repeated what he had said and reminded Pan Jun to remember the feeling on his body.
Pan Jun had a nice and warm feeling at the areas being massaged by Wang Yao, especially on his back. He even felt more comfortable than staying in the hot spring.
“How do you feel?” Wang Yao asked.
“I feel very comfortable,” Pan Jun said.
“I didn’t ask you whether you feel comfortable or not. I was asking if you can remember the feeling of massage,” Wang Yao said.
“I see. I have memorized the feeling,” Pan Jun said.
Actually Wang Yao didn’t explain a lot. Pan Jun had study the reference books before he came to the clinic, so he already had a good understanding of the massage techniques. He learned fast after combining theory with practice.
“OK, now it’s your turn. Give me a massage.” Wang Yao pointed at his own back.
“OK.” Pan Jun was keen to have a go.
“Use technique, not just strength.” Wang Yao prompted Pan Jun after he pressed on Wang Yao’s back twice. “Make sure you follow the meridians.”
“And, don’t rush.” Wang Yao continued to prompt Pan Jun while Pan Jun was giving him a massage.
Wang Yao could identify certain health issues by giving his patients a massage.
“I see,” Pan Jun said.
Wang Yao spent the whole morning teaching Pan Jun massage techniques.
“Let’s call it a day. Call me when you have time. I’ll see if I can squeeze some time to teach you,” Wang Yao said.
“OK,” Pan Jun said. “By the way, can I give a massage to my family members?”
“Yes, but make sure you take all the precautions. Massage is not suitable to everyone. You have just started to learn the techniques, so make sure you avoid vital parts of human body,” Wang Yao said.
“Sure,” Pan Jun said. He left the clinic with a big smile on his face. Although he was in his 40s, he smiled like a child. He was really happy.
After lunch, Wang Jianli visited Wang Yao.
“Hi, is Yao at home?” Wang Jianli asked.
“Hi, Uncle Jianli. What can I do for you?” Wang Yao asked.
“I need to ask you something,” Wang Jianli said.
“Please come in.” Wang Yao invited Wang Jianli into the house and made him a cup of tea.
“Mr. Sun came to speak to me yesterday. He asked me to confirm the number of villagers who wanted to swap their old house for a new apartment in the town center,” Wang Jianli said. “I kept thinking about this last night. I went to the town center again this morning to confirm the numbers.”
“That should be fine,” Wang Yao said.
He had heard from Sun Yunsheng that there wouldn’t be any problem with the paperwork. Sun Yunsheng had done everything to make sure they were compliant with legal requirements.
“The only thing is there are really a lot of people wanting to swap the houses,” Wang Jianli said with a sigh.
“How many households exactly?” Wang Yao asked.
“One hundred and forty one,” Wang Jianli said.
“What?” Wang Yao was shocked. The number had doubled compared to what he had heard yesterday.
“About 150 in total,” Wang Jianli said.
“So, the majority of the villagers want to move out,” Wang Yao said.
“Yes, you are right,” Wang Jianli said.
He was worried about it. Not many people were willing to continue to live in the village. Most of them would move to the town center. What would happen to the village? People were required to look after the crops in the fields. The number exceeded his expectation. He thought maybe only tens of households wanted to move out. One hundred and fifty was beyond his imagination.
“The value of properties in the town center has gone up,” continued Wang Jianli. “A number of the villagers wanted to swap houses for their children. Some of them had paid deposit for other apartments in the town center. They were going to breach the contract since they hadn’t decorated the apartment. They didn’t mind losing the deposit.”
For an ordinary family in most areas of China, not just in those big cities, purchasing a property was a huge financial burden. They had to save for the deposit, and then apply for a mortgage from the banks. Often, the mortgage was 10 to 20 years long.
“Do they have enough apartments for the villagers?” Wang Jianli asked.
“Yes, I’ve been to the construction site. The land is very big,” Wang Yao said.
There wouldn’t be enough people from his family to fill in two buildings of apartments. The land was big enough to accommodate tens of buildings. Sun Zhengrong might not be the biggest real estate developer in China, but he was very experienced. It was just a piece of cake for his company to build a group of residential apartments.
“Great! I’ll ask those people to confirm again tomorrow,” Wang Jianli said.
“OK,” Wang Yao said. “Is there anything else I can do?”
“No, thanks,” Wang Jianli said.
He chatted with Wang Yao and his father for a short while before leaving.
“I don’t think your Uncle Jianli is keen in this thing,” Zhang Xiuying said.
“Well, after those people have moved to the town center, the ones left will all be in their 50s, like me and your mother, or even older. They will constantly require help and won’t be able to do much if anything happens. All the workforce will leave. Do you think he’ll be happy?” Wang Fenghua asked. “And, eventually, the fields on the hill will become deserted.”
“No, it won’t happen. If no one wants to look after the fields on the hills, I’ll do it,” Wang Yao said with a smile.
“Why do you need so many fields? Aren’t you busy enough with your herbal field on Nanshan Hill?” asked Zhang Xiuying, who had overheard the conversation between Wang Yao and Wang Fenghua.
“I can grow trees and herbs. I don’t have much vacant land on Nanshan Hill,” Wang Yao said with a smile.
He planned to grow more trees when spring came. However, he needed a good plan. The new trees couldn’t affect his Spirit Gathering Battle Array.
On his way to Nanshan Hill, he bumped into the old man who came to see him in the clinic a few days ago. The old man looked even worse. His eyes were blurry, and his gait was unsteady. It seemed he would be blown to the ground by a gust of wind.
“Sir, have you been to the hospital?” Wang Yao asked.
“Not yet,” the old man weakly said. His voice was blown away by the wind.
The old man was beyond cure. His Yang energy was disappearing, indicating he was going to die soon.
“How about calling your daughter?” Wang Yao asked.
“Well, she’s got two little kids to look after. Her life is not easy,” the old man said with a sigh.
Most parents didn’t want to bother their children unless they were desperate. This old man was like that. He would rather put up with the pain than bother her daughter.
The old man continued to walk but almost fell. Wang Yao helped him stand steadily.
“Be careful. Let me take you home,” Wang Yao said.
When he helped the old man to have his feet on the ground, he rapidly transferred some Qi into the old man’s body.
“No, thanks. I know you are busy,” the old man said. “You have a lot of patients in your clinic, right?”
“That’s fine. I’ll take you home.” Wang Yao accompanied the old man to his house.
“Where have you been?” the old man’s son shouted as soon as he saw his father. He didn’t look happy.
“Yao!” He immediately changed his face when he saw Wang Yao. He gave Wang Yao a big smile.
Wang Yao was absolutely disgusted by the face changing. He probably wasn’t aware that many people in the village were a bit scared of him. They knew he had connections with a number of powerful people and had sent several criminals to jail. All the slovenly young men didn’t dare to muck around in front of Wang Yao.
