Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Poor child, the family is ruined!” said Zhang Xiuying with a sigh.
Wang Yao’s father was just smoking.
People with a conscience always sighed when watching news like this. But what was the use of sighing?
“Justice will be served sooner or later!” said Zhang Xiuying.
Was it a curse or a complaint?
Wang Yao was still thinking of the news when he came out of his home. Thinking of it was all that he could do.
Aye!
A sigh went with the wind.
It was dark and gloomy the whole night, but it didn’t rain.
The next morning, the sun came out shining.
Wang Yao finished his breathing exercises early in the morning then started to get himself ready for brewing the decoction.
He set off the spirit gathering battle array. The trees started to move and dance.
“San Xian, watch out for strangers for me,” shouted Wang Yao. San Xiao came out of his dog house and sat in front of the cottage.
Wang Yao lit the firewood to boil the water.
Fritillary, keel, glossy ganoderma—Wang Yao put the herbs into the water one by one.
The sun slowly raised outside the window.
The fire was dancing; the ancient spring water was boiling.
Wang Yao was extremely careful. He was always particularly careful with new decoctions.
The herbal formulas provided by the system only had a list of herbs. No hint or instructions on how to brew the decoction was provided. Hence, Wang Yao could only work it out by himself. The nature of each herb was different; their tolerance to temperature and boiling water was also different. Although Wang Yao had a wonderful multifunctional herb pot, he needed to work out when to add each herb into the water.
Lingshanji is a root. It’s pretty hard. I should put it in the water a bit earlier.
Wang Yao took a look at the licorice root, which looked like an egg, and put it into the pot.
After Wang Yao had put lingshanji into the pot, the water started to become thick like rice porridge. It kept getting thicker and thicker.
What is going on?
It was the first time Wang Yao had come across such an issue. He suddenly became nervous.
He knew the nature of lingshanji and how it grew. All that information was documented in the Catalogue of Magic Herbs. But what would happen when it was mixed with other herbs and cooked in water was not documented in the ancient herb book. It would take Wang Yao some time to work it out by himself.
The two licorice roots are very precious. It would be such a shame to waste them. They should be fine with the multifunctional pot for herbs.
The nature of the decoction was more like paste than a powder.
After Wang Yao had put most of the herbs into the pot, he added Guiyuan into the water to combine all the effects of the herbs together. When he thought the decoction was almost ready, he added everlasting grass.
The everlasting grass melted immediately after it was put into the decoction. Suddenly, the decoction, or herbal porridge to be more precise, became light green. It released a unique and mild aroma.
Wang Yao moved the pot away from the fire after a short while.
Am I successful or not? Wang Yao stared at the light green color paste. It looked like jelly, but more diluted than jelly. How do I describe it? thought Wang Yao. It looks like green honey. How should I deal with the dregs?
Wang Yao took a look at the decoction in the pot. It was different from the decoctions he brewed previously. It was so thick that even the wonderful multifunctional pot for herbs could not separate the dregs from the liquid. So Wang Yao poured most of the herbal paste into a porcelain bottle. Then, he diluted the paste left in the pot and poured it into a different bottle. He also saved the dregs for the fertilizer.
“System, is the decoction successful?” asked Wang Yao. But the tricky system still didn’t respond to him.
Here we go again!
As the system didn’t respond, Wang Yao decided to try the decoction himself.
He rubbed a small portion of the diluted decoction on his arm, and it felt nice and cool. The cool feeling didn’t just stop at his skin; it penetrated into his muscles slowly. It was a very special but comfortable feeling.
Can it be taken orally?
Wang Yao drank a little bit. He had the same cool feeling in his stomach; then the feeling spread quickly throughout his body. Wang Yao felt cool and comfortable inside out.
It should be effective.
Wang Yao had a rough idea of the effects of the decoction after taking it internally and externally. But further tests would be required to see how effective the decoction would be.
By the time Wang Yao had finished brewing the decoction, it was lunchtime.
I’m hungry.
Wang Yao looked around his cottage and found that there was not much food left on the hill.
Wang Yao left Nanshan hill for home. When he arrived at home, he found his parents were not home.
I can live comfortably without anybody’s help.
He made himself some egg noodles then cut some sausages into the noodles. He enjoyed his simple dish.
After lunch, Wang Yao locked the door and headed back to Nanshan hill. He saw a middle-aged man riding a tricycle with a cigarette in his mouth. The man was looking around. Wang Yao was not sure what the man was looking for.
Wang Yao paid a little more attention to that man, and the man also saw Wang Yao. He smiled then slowly rode his tricycle away.
There is something wrong with him.
Wang Yao thought for a while, then he called Wang Jiangang, captain of the village security team.
I wish I was just paranoid.
After speaking to Wang Jiangang, Wang Yao went back to Nanshan hill. The man riding a tricycle was still wandering in the village.
“Captain, that’s him!” one of the villagers noticed the man.
“Right, I don’t think he’s from our village,” said Wang Jiangang.
“He does look new to the village. I’ve never seen him before. What is he doing here? Collecting rubbish? Doesn’t look like that,” said one of the villagers.
“Is he here to check out certain places?” asked another villager.
The man riding a tricycle didn’t expect the villagers to start paying attention to him.
“What for?” said a middle-aged villager.
“Stealing things or children. Haven’t you heard that there is a child missing from Li Family Creek?” said another villager
“What!” The middle-aged villager’s face changed.
“Keep an eye on him, you guys,” said Wang Jiangang.
Wang Yao didn’t expect that his call to Wang Jiangang triggered the action of the villagers wanting to follow the tricycle rider.
Suddenly, his phone started to ring. Wang Yao had a look; the number was from Beijing.
Wang Yao presumed the contents of the phone conversation must be related to Su Xiaoxue even without picking up the phone. Su Xiaoxue’s family must want to ask him when he could visit Beijing again.
The person calling Wang Yao was Chen Boyuan. Actually, he had arrived at Haiqu and was on his way to Lianshan.
Why hasn’t he picked up the phone?
Chen Boyuan was anxious although the phone had only rung for ten seconds.
“Hello, Dr. Wang?” said Chen Boyuan as soon as the call got through.
“Hello, yes, speaking,” said Wang Yao.
“Are you available now? I’m in Lianshan. I would like to visit you,” said Chen Boyuan.
“You don’t need to come. I know why you are here,” said Wang Yao.
“I want to see you in person.” Chen Boyuan sounded anxious and eager. He came to Lianshan with a task. Although the head elder didn’t say it out aloud, he had indicated that if he still couldn’t manage to bring Wang Yao to Beijing, he might as well never return to Beijing.
“Okay.”
Wang Yao eventually agreed to meet with Chen Boyuan, who was relieved at the other end of the phone.
Usually, Chen Boyuan was a highly respected person in Beijing. It was not easy to meet him, let alone ask him to do something. This time was the other way around—he had experienced how difficult it could be to ask someone to do things for him.
The decoction is ready. It’s time to visit Beijing again.
Wang Yao was also thinking of his patient in Beijing when he was on Nanshan hill. Since he had already seen the patient, he decided to continue to treat her and try his best to cure her.
The patient had a number of issues including the toxins in her body, the damaged meridians, ulcers in her skin and muscles, and destroyed internal organs.
She had so many issues, but Wang Yao had had a brief idea of how to treat her conditions.
Should I start from the internal organs or ulcers in her skin? Or should I target one thing at a time?
After thinking for a while, Wang Yao had a few more ideas, and he wrote them down in his notebook.
I think that’s pretty much it.
Wang Yao had a look outside through the window and thought that Chen Boyuan would arrive soon.
In fact, Chen Boyuan had arrived at Wang Yao’s house in the village. But no one answered the door after he had knocked for some time. He was not sure whether he should call Wang Yao or go straight to Nanshan hill.
“No one is at home,” said Wang Yao’s neighbor after hearing the knocking.
“Thank you. I’ll just wait here,” said Chen Boyuan with a smile.
At the same time, Wang Yao had left Nanshan hill. As he turned into the lane leading to his home, he saw Chen Boyuan who had been waiting for him at the entrance of the village. He had brought gifts for Wang Yao and his family again.
Wang Yao walked towards Chen Boyuan while thinking of a suitable place to meet with people he was not familiar with. He needed to be careful with the meetings. He shouldn’t invite those people to his home or Nanshan hill. He should start to consider a more suitable place to meet with those people.
“Hello, Dr. Wang.” Chen Boyuan felt so relieved after seeing Wang Yao. He was worried that Wang Yao was hiding from him just now.
“Hello, sorry for the wait,” said Wang Yao.
“That’s fine; I just arrived,” said Chen Boyuan.
Wang Yao opened the door and invited Chen Boyuan into the living room. He made Chen Boyuan a pot of tea.
“I presume you are here for Su Xiaoxue,” said Wang Yao.
He went straight to the point without beating around the bush as Chen Boyuan came to see him in person.
“Yes, I’m not sure when you are available to go to Beijing again to see her?” said Chen Boyuan.
Wang Yao didn’t answer him immediately. He was thinking. Chen Boyuan started to worry again as Wang Yao kept silent.
“In three days,” said Wang Yao calmly.
Chen Boyuan was surprised. He thought he misheard Wang Yao.
“Did you say ‘in three days?’” asked Chen Boyuan.
“Yes,” said Wang Yao.
“Great! That’s brilliant! Thank you so much!” Chen Boyuan was too excited to hide his feeling. Whoever knew him well would be surprised to see him act like this.
Was this still the calm and capable Director Chen?
Wang Yao smiled.
Since Chen Boyuan had achieved the purpose of his visit, he left after expressing his gratitude repeatedly.
After he got into the car, he called Su Xiaoxue’s family immediately.
“Three days later, are you sure?” asked the head elder on the phone.
“Yes, I just came out of Dr. Wang’s home. He just promised me,” said Chen Boyuan.
“Good, arrange the trip immediately. Satisfy all his requests if you can!” said the head elder.
“Sure!” said Chen Boyuan.
After Chen Boyuan had left, Wang Yao didn’t return to Nanshan hill immediately. He was still thinking of his conversation with Chen Boyuan and his trip to Beijing.
