Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Wang Yao documented the symptoms, diagnoses, formula, and treatment method of all of his patients. He highlighted the massage therapy, which was his own unique treatment method and not typical.

He didn’t stop working until 7 p.m. His mother had called him a few times. He put his notebook away and left the clinic.

“You are so late today,” Zhang Xiuying said.

“Yes, I had a lot of patients today,” Wang Yao replied.

He did a brief calculation and found that he had seen 37 patients. He wasn’t sure how many patients those hospital doctors saw on a typical day. He didn’t get a chance to rest except for a lunch break. He was extremely busy but feeling content.

“You should get some help,” Wang Ru suggested.

“Hire someone to help me?” Wang Yao asked. “I’ll think about it.”

He had never thought about this before. He wouldn’t trust people he didn’t know. After all, his clinic was special. Whomever worked in his clinic would find his secret one day.

“Anyway, eat your dinner first,” Wang Ru said.

Wang Yao had a few drinks with his father and Du Mingyang. He was not a big fan of alcohol, but he didn’t mind drinking it. Plus, he wouldn’t get drunk. After all, he was much more fit than average people.

Since Wang Yao got home late and had been drinking, it was 8:30 p.m. by the time he finished dinner. He chatted with his family for a while after clearing up the table.

Zhang Xiuying used a big wok to cook dinner. The heat transferred to their brick bed, so it was very comfortable lying on the brick bed.

Wang Yao’s family was a typical Chinese family. The male family members were quiet while the female members were quite talkative. Both Wang Yao’s mother and sister were outgoing. He and his father didn’t talk much. Du Mingyang was relatively talkative. He created a harmonious atmosphere in

Wang Yao’s family.

After Wang Yao had finished massaging his parents, he went back to Nanshan Hill around 9 p.m.

He had seen many patients and used up all the herbs he prepared the night before. He needed to prepare herbs for the next day. He presumed that he would have many patients the next day as well because it would be the weekend. He prepared to stay up overnight.

He started a fire, fried the herbs, grinded the herbs into powder, and sieved the powder. He didn’t stop working until midnight. Then, he turned the light off and went to bed.

It was dry and cold overnight. It seemed to be a very long night.

…

It was much warmer in South Xinjiang, which was thousands of miles away from Lianshan.

Inside a stockade village among the mountains, a middle-aged man was lying on his bed. Ahem! Ahem! Ahem!

He couldn’t stop coughing. He was so skinny that he looked like a mummy. He had deeply sunken eyes, which looked huge. He was very short of breath.

His family members stood next to his bed. An old man with white hair and a beard sat next to the bed.

“The toxin have gone inside his heart. I can’t do anything to help him,” the old man said.

“Sir, please help him,” a short and skinny middle-aged woman said with tears.

“I’m sorry,” the old man said with a sigh.

The middle-aged man was not the first person to be poisoned. Since they decided to feed the poisonous insects, they needed to take the consequence.

People died from feeding poisonous insects every year. Therefore, less and less people in the stockade village had any connection with those insects.

“Sir, that fantastic doctor is in a town nearby, can you ask him to take a look at him?” one of the middle-aged man’s family members asked.

“OK, get the car ready. I’ll ask him,” the old man said after keeping silent for a moment.

“OK,” the family member said.

The town at the border of Xinjiang was as pretty as a picture.

An old man with white hair and beard, who had slight hunchback but was in good spirits, had a pipe in his mouth. Sitting opposite him was another old man, who was of similar age but thinner. His skin was as dry as tree bark, but his eyes were very bright. He was wearing a jacket made from old coarse cloth.

“It is not good to stay up too late,” the old man smoking the pipe said.

“I’ve gotten used to it,” the old man wearing coarse cloth said.

“Tell me what brings you here?” the old man smoking the pipe asked.

“I want to invite you to our stockade village,” the other old man replied.

“Who is sick?” the old man smoking the pipe asked.

“A young person in the village. He was poisoned by those insects, you know,” the other old man said.

“OK, just give me a second,” the old man said after taking a whiff or two of the pipe. Then, he picked up his medical box from the table. “Let’s go.”

The two old men were like two old friends who hadn’t seen each other for years. They didn’t talk a lot. They kept their conversation simple.

A car was travelling on the even path among the mountains late at night. It took a long time to arrive to the stockade village.

“He is beyond cure,” the old doctor said after seeing the middle-aged man.

“How much time does he have?” the other old man asked.

“I can give him a decoction, which could make him last for another 10 days,” the old doctor said.

“OK, thank you,” the other old man said.

Some of the middle-aged man’s family members in the room started to cry. It was a sad thing to know their loved one would die soon, and they couldn’t save him.

The old doctor gave the middle-aged man a decoction and left the room.

“You should stay away from those insects,” the old doctor said before he left. “The toxin in your body is also a big problem.”

The old doctor left the village at late night without lingering.

What could a dying person do in 10 days?

…

The next day, the sun came out as usual. Wang Yao left Nanshan Hill with his herbs early in the morning.

He had breakfast at home and then went to his clinic. It was only 8 a.m. when he arrived at his clinic.

Cars started to come into the village early in the morning. Wang Yao’s first patient was Du Feng. He felt much better after taking the decoction given by Wang Yao. As advised by Wang Yao, he came to the clinic first thing in the morning.

For both men and women, 40 years old was a turning point. After people turned 40, their body function started to deteriorate. If a person always looked after them self well enough when they were in their 20s, such as doing regular exercise and keeping a good lifestyle, body function wouldn’t decline so much after turning 40. A lot of people in their 50s were more fit than people in their 40s.

Nowadays, especially in those big cities, people had a fast-paced lifestyle. The stress was huge, so they constantly lived under pressure, like a bow string. An over stretched bow string would break sooner or later. More and more people died from a heart attack or over working. More and more people died when they were still young. People started to get terrible illnesses at a young age. Du Feng was one of them.

“You are getting better. Lay down for me, I’ll give you an acupuncture treatment,” Wang Yao said after he had taken a look at Du Feng.

Last time, he had given Du Feng a decoction to take. He didn’t have herbs ready this time, so he decided to treat Du Feng using acupuncture, which could stimulate Du Feng’s acupuncture points and meridians. It was more than just improving the flow of Qi and blood.

In fact, normal human beings had the ability to heal themselves. Most people didn’t need any treatment to recover from a disease. A large number of medication and treatment methods could stimulate the human body to facilitate self recovery. Both massage therapy and acupuncture had this effect.

Wang Yao put most of his needles at Du Feng’s chest and stomach. He chose the acupuncture points and meridians closely related to heart.

While Wang Yao was treating Du Feng, another patient came into the clinic.

“Could you please wait for a while,” Wang Yao said to the other patient. Acupuncture treatment shouldn’t be disrupted.

“How do you feel?” Wang Yao asked Du Feng.

“I’m fine. I just feel a bit numb and itchy,” Du Feng replied. “Ouch!”

Du Feng suddenly had a tremor. He felt like his heart was pricked by a needle. It was painful. At that moment, his body began to sweat. He thought, I hope the needle didn’t get into my heart.

“Painful?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes,” Du Feng replied.

Wang Yao manipulated the needle gently.

More patients arrived at the clinic. It was the weekend, so Wang Yao had more patients than usual. All the patients were curiously watching Wang Yao give acupuncture treatment to Du Feng.

Wang Yao placed the needle into the skin and muscle, manipulated the needle gently, lifted the needle, and finally removed the needle from the skin.

“Done,” Wang Yao said.

“Thank you!” Du Feng got up slowly. He took a big sigh of relief. His face turned red.

“Don’t rush to walk. Sit here for a while,” Wang Yao said.

“OK,” Du Feng replied.

“Who’s next?” Wang Yao asked the patients who had been waiting.

“Hello, Dr. Wang, I’ve been coughing, having a headache, and feeling nauseous lately,” the next patient said.

It seemed the patient had gotten the flu. Wang Yao made a diagnosis, prescribed a formula, and gave advice to the patient. Then, he saw the rest of the patients one by one.

Soon, Wang Yao had finished seeing three patients. Du Feng was ready to get up. He had a warm feeling in his chest. He felt very comfortable. All those uncomfortable feelings during acupuncture treatment had gone away. Now, he felt his heartbeat was more powerful.

“I think I’m fine now,” Du Feng said.

“OK, you can go. Come back tomorrow to fetch your decoction,” Wang Yao said.

“How much should I pay you?” Du Feng asked.

“Two thousand,” Wang Yao said.

“OK.” Du Feng paid Wang Yao without hesitation.

Two thousand? The rest of the patients were all shocked. They didn’t think acupuncture treatment was special.

However, acupuncture contained a huge amount of knowledge. There was a famous story about acupuncture. In ancient China, Cao Cao suffered from a headache one day. All his men were worried about him. They invited Hua Tuo to see Cao Cao. Hua Tuo stopped Cao Cao’s headache by placing one needle into his head.