When Principal Lu finally contacted Ding Ning, Mr. Hu and others let out a sigh of relief.
After enjoying the treatment of traditional Chinese medicine for free, these foreign people had become obsessed with traditional Chinese medicine. They yelled and shouted in tongue-tied Shenzhou language all day, saying, “How magical Shenzhou is. How magical traditional Chinese medicine is.” At those words, Mr. Hu and others all felt both disgusted and proud and thought with disdain that those so-called experts were just a group of clodhoppers and knew nothing about broad and profound traditional Chinese medicine of Shenzhou. In their eyes, these medical skills were common in Shenzhou and nothing surprising.
This also showed that the foreign people regarded traditional Chinese medicine as pseudoscience because they knew little about and had few experiences with traditional Chinese medicine. As a result, Mr. Hu and others tried even harder to display traditional Chinese medical skills so as to make those foreign people become the propagators in helping traditional Chinese medicine out of disadvantage at an international level.
As a result, when Ding Ning arrived in his school, what he saw amused him. In the large meeting room were five massage couches, and the members of the assessment team of Lancet were lying comfortably on the couches with cups covered their naked back. They yelled and cried and did not look like the staff of an authoritative journal at all.
After sincerely and earnestly explaining it to Principal Lu and seriously apologizing to him, Ding Ning gave him his latest address and then put two papers he prepared, which were Discovery on the Microbes in Rice Grains and Bean Sprouts and Efficacy of Rice Bean Oral Solution, on the table.
Tom Cruise was very professional that he realized Ding Ning’s arrival upon seeing the surprised smiles of Mr. Hu and others despite that his back was covered with cups.
Tang Weidong went to Ding Ning enthusiastically and held his hands, saying, “Doctor Ding, you finally arrived. Mr. Hu and others would become professional massagists if you had arrived later.”
“Chief Editor Tang, I’m so sorry. I’ve been doing some researches at home these days and silenced my mobile phone. I’m so sorry that I kept you waiting.”
Ding Ning felt very sorry and apologized. He had not expected that the staff of Lancet would come to Shenzhou without informing him in advance; otherwise, he would have kept himself in touch with them even thought he was in seclusion.
“Is this Mr. Ding? He is really young and amazing.”
As it was not time to remove the cups on his back, Tom Cruise shook his beard and smiled awkwardly at Ding Ning, saying, “Hello, Mr. Ding, I’m Tom Cruise, the chief editor of Lancet. I’m sorry I have to keep you waiting for a while.”
“It’s ok. Because of my personal affairs, I have kept you, my guests from far away, waiting for so long. I have to apologize for it. I should wait for you now.”
Ding Ning bowed his head politely and answered. His fluent English refreshed Tom Cruise very much. In the past few days, he had to communicate with Mr. Hu and others through translators. However, the medicine was a kind of rigorous science, so it was difficult for those who without a medical background to translate those obscure medical terms. As a result, their words were not well translated, which made it hard for Tom Cruise to understand them.
Thus, when he found that there were no obstacles in communicating with Ding Ning, Tom was extremely happy. He lay on the massage couch, looked up with efforts, and said, “Oh, Mr. Ding, we have felt the magic of Chinese medicine in these two days. But because these doctors don’t know how to speak English, we have some obstacles in communicating with each other. It’s great that you’re here now. I have a few questions to consult you.”
“Oh, I’m just a shallow student, Mr. Cruise, but please don’t hesitate to ask me anything. I’ll give you satisfying answers as long as I know them,” Ding Ning said modestly.
.
“Mr. Ding, I’ve read your article Comparison between Anaesthesia in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine. It is wonderful, but I still cannot understand in what way the meridian exists. If it does exist, why can’t we see it when we dissect the human bodies?”
Tom Cruise’s question was very sharp and aimed directly at the core of the article. After all, the concept of anesthesia in traditional Chinese medicine was based on the real existence of meridians.
This was the question that Ding Ning had expected long ago. He did not answer the question but asked, “I believe that you must have truly felt the existence of acupuncture points in the past two days, right, Mr. Cruise?”
“Yes, I did feel the existence of acupuncture points, and I also asked these doctors about them. But I don’t know if it was because they did not explain it clearly or because their words were not well translated that I am still confused and I can feel it but cannot see it. This makes it difficult for me to understand. You know, we must base on science when we work on medical journals.”
Tom Cruise tried to express his meaning very hard. However, the Shenzhou language was so profound that he could not express them clearly just with the twenty-six English letters.
“Mr. Cruise, are you a Catholic?”
Ding Ning noticed that Tom Cruise wore a cross on his neck with visible pores and said with certainty.
“Yes, I am a very religious Catholic. Does this have anything to do with the meridians we’re talking about?”
Tom Cruise asked puzzledly.
Ding Ning smiled and did not answer the question. He continued to ask, “Do you think that the Lord you believe in really exists?”
“The Lord is omnipotent. He is everywhere, and of course, it is real.”
Tom Cruise closed his eyes reverently and whispered Amen.
“I may be a bit disrespectful to say this, but I’m just to make an analogy to make it easier for you to understand it. The meridians are similar to the Lord you believe in. They both exist, but there is no concrete to prove it. They only exist in our consciousness and heart, so, they cannot be seen with the naked eyes.”
Ding Ning made an analogy that was not particularly appropriate, but Tom Cruise immediately understood what he meant and said, “You mean, meridians exist in the spiritual realm, and they can’t be concrete, right?”
“Not really. At least, the meridians are different from the Lord you believe in. The Lord guides you, pays attention to you and loves you in your spiritual world, but there is no concretization of him. However, the meridians are different. In my eyes, the meridians and the Lord exist in our consciousness and belief in the same way. So, if this is the case, I cannot prove the existence of meridians at all. Even if you agree with me, Mr. Cruise, Lancet will not agree with my theory.”
Ding Ning said unhurriedly, “I have clearly stated in my article that the theory of anesthesia in traditional Chinese medicine is based on the existence of meridians, so it can actually be embodied by some special means. Chinese medicine believes that the human body is also in harmony with the heavens, with the division of yin, yang and five elements. Of course, I am afraid that you can’t understand these Shenzhou cultures. Facts speak louder than words. It may sound complicated but is easy to do it. You will know if the meridians really exist as long as I help you feel them.”
After the cupping was finished, Tom Cruise got up, put on his jacket, shrugged his shoulders and said, “To be honest, Mr. Ding, when I read your article, my intuitive thought was that it was nonsense, but when I watched the video of you treating patients, I thought that maybe what you said was true. As the chief editors of Lancet, we have always been devoted to search and publish high-quality clinical tests that aim to improve health level worldwide and could bring reform to the medical practice, and to make sure that it could cover the medical research and analysis from every corner of the world. So we came here to find the truth. Whether it is true or not, we will know it after an experiment. I hope that you will not let us come here for nothing, Mr. Ding.”
“Trust me, you’ll soon find out that you didn’t come for nothing.”
Ding Ning smiled and shrugged. He glanced at the camera equipment stacked in the corner of the room and said, “I guess you need some time to prepare for it.”
“Oh, yes, you are so considerate, my friend. We do need a some time to prepare for it. My companions are still enjoying the magic of Chinese medicine, so, sorry, please wait for a moment.”
Tom Cruise laughed brightly and gave Ding Ning a hug, and his beard tickled Ding Ning’s neck. Tom turned around and clapped his hands, saying, “My dear companions, get ready. It’s time to witness the miracle.”
Ding Ning smiled slightly and pulled Mr. Hu and Mr. Zhang over and whispered something to them. Mr. Hu and Mr. Zhang nodded, again and again. Mr. Hu beckoned a middle-aged man who was waiting aside, and gave him an order quickly.
Ding Ning nodded at and greeted the middle-aged man, who looked respectful. He recognized that this middle-aged man was Li Hongchun, Mr. Hu’s student and a lecturer in the School of Medicine of Ninghai University. Li Hongchun returned Ding Ning a smile and went outside quickly.
The members of the assessment team of Lancet were very efficient in working. In less than ten minutes, videographers, photographers and reporters had already been in place. They would witness and experience the anaesthesia in traditional Chinese medicine themselves.
“Who will be the first one to experience it?”
Ding Ning said with empty hands.
“Me. If it works, I hope all of them can experience it as well.”
Tom Cruise volunteered to be the first one to experience the anaesthesia in traditional Chinese. Given his status, he certainly would not stoop to deception, but to be prudent, he thought that it would be better for everyone to experience it, so as to avoid some people suspecting that he had colluded with Ding Ning.
Ding Ning made no comment about it and just said, “All right, then you’ll be the first one to experience it, Mr. Cruise.”
“Okay… uh!”
Just as Tom Cruise’s voice fell, Ding Ning gently poked his waist. With this, Tom Cruise suddenly widened his eyes and became stiff all over his body. “Oh, my God, this is so amazing. I can’t move at all now.”
“This is general anesthesia. It will last for two hours. During this period, you will lose all your senses.”
In order to make his words more persuasive, Ding Ning took out a scalpel mischievously, stood in a corner that Tom Cruise could not see, and left a cut on his right shoulder.
The four staffers of Lancet widened their eyes in astonishment. Judging from that their chief editor did not know that there was a bleeding cut on his shoulders, they could tell the anesthesia had a powerful effect.
Ding Ning smiled playfully and poked twice on Tom’s waist again, saying, “This is half anesthesia. The position of the meridians might be a little deviated, and only those traditional Chinese physicians who are very familiar with the meridians in the human bodies can accurately grasp it.”
“Hiss!”
Tom Cruise drew a cold breath and said with a fierce look, “Mr. Ding, is there any side effect of the anesthesia in Chinese medicine? Why does my shoulder hurt so much?”
The crowd laughed and looked at Tom, who was unaware of what happened. The cameraman, William, shrugged his shoulders and said, “Because Mr. Ding performed an operation on your right shoulder.”
“What?”
Tom Cruise turned his head to look at the wound on his right shoulder in shock. Instead of being angry, he had glowing light in his eyes as he said, “Oh my God, I didn’t feel it at all before. If it were not that only half of my body is in anaesthesia, I wouldn’t have known that my shoulder is wounded, and this is under the condition that I’m anesthetized when I am sober. The effect of Chinese medicine anesthesia is really amazing.”
It should be noted that even if patients under local anaesthesia didn’t feel the pain, they still knew where the operation was performed on their bodies. However, the patients under anesthesia of the traditional Chinese medicine had completely lost all their senses, which was really amazing.
However, Tom did not notice that Ding Ning left a cut on his left shoulder with the scalpel at this moment. He was bleeding again.
