Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Keep up with the treatment and you will be fine,” Wang Yao said.
“OK,” Wen Wan said.
The previously dark sky was now full of sunshine. As long as life was full of hope, everything would look bright.
Wang Yao had many patients throughout the day. It was after 3 p.m. when he saw the last one. An hour later, Li Shiyu arrived with another truck of trees. He unloaded them at the foot of the mountain. Wang Yao transported them all to the mountains until it was dark.
It had taken about a week or so, but he tree wall between Nanshan and Dongshan was built.
…
In a village near the suburb in Lianshan County, a middle-aged man was happily strolling on the street. He was a little bit lame, but it wasn’t too noticeable unless you watched closely.
“Mr. Feng, how are you doing?” a villager asked.
“Oh, I’ll be good as new soon,” he said with a smile.
“Where are you going?” the villager asked.
“I’m going to buy some cake for some guests coming over,” Feng said. He continued on his way.
“He looks better only after a few days,” the villager said.
“Seeing his walk, he must be better,” another villager said. “Where did he get treatment?”
“I heard that it was in a mountain village in Songbai. He was treated with acupuncture,” the first villager said.
“Hey, Mao Shun has the same problem, doesn’t he?” the other villager asked. “I heard he is also looking for someone for acupuncture and that he even tried electrotherapy!”
“Electrotherapy, what is that?” the first villager asked.
“I don’t know, but look at him. He seems to be worse and worse. It might be better to ask where Mr. Feng got the treatment. He looks so good,” the other villager said.
Along the way to buy a cake, Feng met a lot of villagers on the road. They all nodded and said hello. Most of them knew about his illness. Now, if one did not know his situation before, one might think that he had just wrenched his ankle and was lame while walking.
He was very happy. His family was also very happy, perhaps even happier than him. His wife made 12 dishes at noon, even though there were not many guests. It was only Feng’s two young brothers.
“Brother, let’s have a drink,” a brother said.
“Have a drink. You won’t drive back anyway,” Feng said happily.
“Dr. Wang said you can’t drink,” his wife said.
“Just drink a little since we are so happy today,” Feng said. “I’ll add some water into the wine.”
He poured about a half of a cup of water into the wine.
…
In the mountain village a man came to the clinic in the morning.
“Dr. Wang, I have taken the medicine you gave me, but it didn’t work,” he said.
With his deep eye bags and pale face, it was not just as simple as not sleeping well the night before.
This person impressed Wang Yao. He was a taxi driver. He had first come to the clinic a few days ago. He said he always had a nightmare after carrying a passenger in the middle of the night. He repeatedly dreamed of a person with no face.
“Do you still dream of him?” Wang Yao asked.
“Yes, I do. This time, he was not sitting quietly but talking to me. Can you imagine a person without a face talking to you? What a terrible thing.” The man couldn’t help quiver with cold. It seemed that the faceless person was by his side.
“I can’t go driving my car at night. I even turn on the desk lamp when I sleep at night,” the man said.
The problem was more serious than Wang Yao imagined. He had thought the man’s condition would be alleviated after taking the medicine to help calm his nerves and sleep. But, it turned out to be more serious. The drugs had not mitigated the problem at all.
“Is it really because of some evil?” Wang Yao asked.
One might say it was superstitious, but it could not be explained by science sometimes.
“Doctor, can you help me?” the man begged.
“Well, I am thinking of a way,” Wang Yao said.
As for being scared, he saw a case in the Treatise on Miscellaneous Diseases in which a child walking on the road by a river in the evening was scared by the sound of an owl. That night, the child had a fever and talked in his sleep. The case had some similarities with this man’s illness.
The medicine prescribed by Wang Yao originated from that medical case, but the effect was not particularly obvious.
“Doctor.” The man suddenly quivered.
“Hmm?” Wang Yao was suddenly stunned. “What happened?”
“Nothing, I just couldn’t help thinking about it,” the man said.
Sometimes the more afraid one was, the more one couldn’t help thinking. But, thinking about it made one even more afraid. It was a vicious circle.
Wang Yao suddenly felt something special. What was it?
“Dr. Wang?” Seeing Wang Yao staring at himself for a long time, the man couldn’t help but whisper.
“Ah, I am thinking about your illness,” Wang Yao said. “As for that person, how is the person dressed?”
“The upper was a white shirt, and the lower part was breeches,” the man said. “He wore a pair of leather sandals.”
The man’s face changed again. His words suddenly stopped as his body quivered.
It is the feeling! Wang Yao thought. Qi. The Qi of the man is not right!
Wang Yao released his neixi outside to communicate with the world.
Everyone has their own Qi. Under normal conditions, it was very stable. If a person was sick, the Qi would became weak. But, weakness and disorder were different. The Qi of the man in front of him was turbulent, and there were some special things mixed in it. It was like the dripping of a drop of ink in the clear water.
How to evict it?
Wang Yao tried to release his neixi outside. He gathered it together like a long spear and then stabbed toward the man. Just like as the snow met the sun, the hidden evil Qi disappeared.
“What happened?” the man asked.
This was Wang Yao’s first time to encounter such a situation and use his neixi in this way. Although he knew had to release and gather Qi, he had never thought about using it in this way.
Almost at the same time, the man sighed and felt that his body was a lot more comfortable.
“Is there any medicine left that I gave you last time?” Wang Yao asked.
“There is little left,” the man said.
“I will prescribe some for you again.” Wang Yao went and got some more medicine. “Go home and continue to it for a week. If there is no effect, come here and look for me.”
“Doctor, will this medicine work?” The man was somewhat suspicious. He really didn’t want to suffer anymore. He was scared almost every night lately.
“It will work,” Wang Yao said.
“Well, I will try it for a week,” the man said. He really didn’t have any other options.
After he left, Wang Yao quickly recorded his own feelings.
Maybe this is worth watching for further diagnosis. Watching someone’s Qi!
This time, it was an unexpected harvest, which was equivalent to letting him open a door that he had never thought of and see a different world.
Ring! Ring! The phone on the desk rang.
“Mr. Wang, are you in the clinic?” On the phone was the gentle, happy voice of Su Xiaoxue.
“Yes, I have just seen a patient,” Wang Yao said.
“Mr. Wang, remember to have meal on time. Don’t leave your body hungry because of work,” she said.
“I will. You have to pay attention to your body there, too,” Wang Yao said.
The two spoke on the phone for quite a while. After ending the call, there was a very happy smile on Su Xiaoxue’s face.
“Xiaoxue, come down to have meal,” Song Ruiping said.
Su Xiaoxue went down humming a tune.
“What is it that made you so happy?” Song Ruiping asked with a smile.
“I’ll keep it secret,” Su Xiaoxue said. “Mom, I want to go out.”
“What, why?” Song Ruiping was surprised by her daughter’s unexpected request.
“I can’t always just stay at home like this,” Su Xiaoxue said.
“Why can’t you?” her mother asked.
“Mom, I am 24. I have thought about it. I have to finish my studies and then a job.” Su Xiaoxue said. She had suspended her schooling because of her illness.
“Well, it will be no problem if you want to go to school, but you can’t stay at school.” Her school was one of the best universities in China, Yanjing University, not just Jing.
“Mom!” Su Xiaoxue protested.
“There is no room for negotiation,” Song Ruiping said. She could not allow anything else to happen to her daughter.
