Chapter 159: The Living Dead Opium Addict
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“What illness does my mom have?” the woman frowned and asked.
“She is overly melancholic, overworked and too tired. Her blood circulation is not smooth as well.”
“I don’t understand; can you be more straightforward?”
“Her sickness is in her internal organs and in the brain,” Wang Yao simply mentioned the two areas.
“Thank you. Goodbye.” The woman held and supported her mother and left. Evidently, she did not believe Wang Yao, who looked too young to be a doctor.
“Goodbye. I hope you will listen to my words.”
Wang Yao looked at the mother and daughter leave, not able to say any more than he had.
“What happened earlier?” after they left, Pan Jun came over and asked.
“It’s nothing much. The old lady’s illness is quite serious. She has too many things going on in her life and should be resting. Her daughter, on the other hand, is not afraid to speak up,” Wang Yao replied.
After the old lady, Wang Yao did not see another patient in the entire morning.
..
“Shall we have lunch together?” At noon, Pan Jun came over and asked.
“No thanks, I already have an appointment. Next time, I’ll treat you.”
“Okay.”
At noon, Wang Yao went to Wang Mingbao’s shop. The two of them found a place, ate some stuff and chatted for a bit. When they returned to the shop, Wei Hai was there waiting for them.
“Wei, you’re here early!”
“Not at all, not at all. Hello, Doctor Wang,” Wei Hai smiled and greeted Wang Yao.
Wang Yao had not seen him for a few days, and he found that Wei Hai had lost a lot of weight and looked like a “living dead” opium addict.
“Let me take a look at you.”
“Yes, please.” Wei Hai quickly extended his arm; the arm was skinny to the bone.
In just a few days, Wang Yao found that Wei Hai’s illness had exacerbated. His body’s poisonous bugs had started to move to the stomach and intestines.
“Why is the deterioration so fast?!” Wang Yao questioned. “In the last few days, have you eaten something you shouldn’t?”
“No!” Wei Hai answered. “Why?”
Wang Yao noticed that Wei Hai’s eyes were shifty and did not look directly at him. It was clear that he was not telling the truth.
“At this stage, Chairman Wei, if you don’t tell the truth, then there’s no point in me treating you!” Wang Yao exclaimed.
“Okay, okay, I’ll say it. Three days ago, I took a folk prescription.”
“Folk prescription? What folk prescription?”
“This,” Wei Hai said and took out a piece of paper showing the prescription. Wang Yao looked at it and was shocked.
This prescription contained bugs like scorpions, centipedes, geckos…
“Who prescribed it for you?”
“My wife looked around and found someone. Apparently, this is to counteract poison with poison.”
“Counteract poison with poison?!”
Wang Yao massaged his forehead.
The bugs in the folk prescription were poisonous. Consuming them would not only be unable to combat the poisonous bugs already in the body, these new bugs would damage his already weakened internal organs. This was not sending coal in the snow, but adding frost to the snow.
Wang Yao was silent for a while. His silence frightened Wei Hai.
“Doctor Wang, I did not mean to do this. I was anxious!”
“I know. I have two decoctions here. Take these in two days, then come to me,” Wang Yao had no other words to say. After all, a person who was on the brink of death would try anything if it meant living longer, no matter how dubious the method was.
“Okay, okay.” Wei Hai took the medicine. “Can I drink it now?”
“Sure, drink a little first to try out its effects.”
Wei Hai was unable to hold back and drank a huge gulp.
“Ah!” Wang Mingbao saw him and exclaimed.
The guy in front of them was no longer filled with boundless enthusiasm. He was like a drowning person, in a frenzy to grasp at every chance of survival. At this rate, even if he did not die, he might go insane.
“How much is this medicine?”
Wang Yao replied with the insanely high price, and unexpectedly, Wei Hai transferred the money over using his phone without a moment of hesitation.
Seeing the situation, Wang Yao thought of an old saying. If you knew the consequence of doing this, why get yourself into the situation of suffering the consequence in the first place?
The Regather soup’s effects could be felt quickly, especially for a deficient body like Wei Hai’s. Within 30 minutes of taking the medicine, he felt an obvious change in his body. He was ecstatic. This was a confidence booster to him.
Wang Yao checked his pulse condition.
“Can I drink some more?”
“Sure.”
Wei Hai gulped two big mouthfuls.
“Go home and rest well,” said Wang Yao.
“By the way, please continue paying attention to those matters in your daily life that I told you about. And don’t take any other medicine!”
“Okay, yes, yes!” Wei Hai nodded, looking as obedient as a student. He expressed his thanks and then left.
“He’s still driving in his condition?”
“No, he has a chauffeur,” said Wang Mingbao. “He really is…”
“He’s both pitiful and exasperating. If he had listened to the advice earlier, he wouldn’t have become like this!” Wang Yao remarked.
“Yes.”
“If there are no other matters, I’ll go home, okay?”
“Okay.”
In the afternoon, Wang Yao returned to the hill and recorded Wei Hai’s treatment and decoction. This was a rare illness and also a rare medical case.
After he was done with his notes, he took a shovel up the hill and started to dig up the soil between the herbal field and the trees in the area of the array. He intended to dig up a pit to retain water. It did not need to be too big. The pit would be the eye of the spirit gathering array.
Woof, woof, woof. Seeing Wang Yao digging, the dog appeared excited, running back and forth. It also frequently stopped to sniff at the freshly dug up soil, as if saying, “What are you doing? Is there treasure in the soil?”
There were many stones in the soil, so Wang Yao had to remove them and set them aside. He continued to be busy until evening, which was when he went down the hill for dinner.
“Yao, are you free tomorrow?” while eating, Wang Yao’s mother asked.
“Why?”
“Accompany me to the city to see your grandaunt.”
“My younger aunt’s mother?” Wang Yao asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay, I will go with you,” said Wang Yao.
The next day, Wang Yao drove his mother to the city, went to the supermarket to get a few things, and then went to see his grandaunt for the first time.
The old lady lived in a nice place. It was a two-storied house with a courtyard.
It was the first time that Wang Yao was seeing this old lady. She was very skinny and looked to be in good spirits. However, there was something about her that he disliked. By right, when your younger-generation relative came to see you, you would be smiling and expressing your welcome. However, this grandaunt had no expression on her face and was neither warm nor cold. On the other hand, the plump granduncle was all smiles. He served fruits and tea and was very hospitable.
Wang Yao felt uncomfortable at this place.
They stayed for less than 20 minutes and then departed. The old couple walked them to the door.
“Mom, Grandaunt doesn’t seem to welcome us?”
“She’s like that. When I was little, she was always a solemn person.”
“Solemn?” Wang Yao smiled. “In that case, you don’t have to come often. I think you will feel uncomfortable.”
“Your younger aunt asked me to take care of them.”
“Do you really have to do it? I see that the old couple is very healthy. I don’t see them having any problems for the next few years,” said Wang Yao.
“Really?”
“Of course; why would I lie to you?” Earlier, although Wang Yao did not take their pulse, by using the “smell” method of diagnosis, he could gauge their condition. The old couples’ breathing was even, they had sufficient Qi, and their eyes looked alert. Furthermore, the granduncle was a retiree from the national tax bureau and would go for check-ups periodically. If there were problems, it would definitely be detected.
“Okay. Actually, I don’t really like coming here.” Wang Yao’s mother was silent for a while before speaking.
“Your cousins didn’t make their fortunes in Jing City, did they?”
“You shouldn’t speak of them this way. They are your elders.”
“I have no impression of them.” Wang Yao was being honest. Apart from the two visits by his younger uncle and aunt, he had no impression of the rest of his uncles.
“Let’s stop in town for a bit to buy lamb for lunch.”
“Sure.”
Wang Yao bought half a lamb in town.
“We don’t need so much!”
“Sis is coming back. It’s not much.”
During lunch, he drank three bowls of soup with the addition of a lot of meat. In the afternoon, Wang Yao dug a pool. The size was small, and its depth was less than one meter. In its perimeter, he used the stones he had dug to surround the pool. The stones turned out to be insufficient, and hence he found some from the hill to make up for it.
…
The next day, the sky was clear.
A shovel rose up high and then descended.
A clear stream of water flowed along a water pipe no wider than a palm and then flowed into the pool. That bit of water was not retained but had seeped into the earth.
“No hurry; do it slowly.”
Wang Yao scattered the soil he dug up under the trees.
…
“I feel much better after drinking the medicine. Can you tell Doctor Wang to prescribe me some more?”
“Didn’t he tell you to come tomorrow?” Wang Mingbao looked at Wei Hai and was quite speechless. This was a display of overtly persistent behavior.
“Money is not a problem!”
“The problem is not with money. Since he told you to come tomorrow, then you should come tomorrow. Let me tell you, Doctor Wang is most annoyed by people who don’t follow the doctor’s orders. If you persist in this behavior, he may not want to treat you!” said Wang Mingbao.
“Okay, okay, I will go now and come back tomorrow!” Wei Hai said in a hurry.
Since he took Wang Yao’s decoction, he genuinely felt more comfortable. This filled him with hope. He felt as if he had seen a warm ray of light in the endless pitch blackness. He wanted to make sure he seized this opportunity, no matter what the conditions were. So long as his illness could be treated, he would agree to whatever conditions demanded of him, even if it meant giving away half his assets.
Wei Hai got up and left.
Wang Mingbao sighed and shook his head.
People can have unlimited potential!
…
The sun had set. The hill breeze was quite strong.
Brush, brush. The tray was tossed about in a regular pattern. Multiple pills formed on the tray; the size was similar to a grain of rice.
Wang Yao swabbed, scattered the grounded herbal powder, and tossed the tray repeatedly, and the pills gradually grew in size, layer by layer.
While practicing the techniques of making the pills, Wang Yao became more familiar with the process.