Chapter 214: The fame of the doctor
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Sang Guzi laughed after hearing that.
Being youthful was sometimes a boon, but also sometimes a bane.
“If there’s a chance, would you try to treat his son again?”
“We’ll see.”
w.a.n.g Yao was currently handling multiple cases, and he needed to properly resolve each one. He understood what it meant to bite off more than one could chew.
“I met Mr. Sun not long ago.”
“Oh?” w.a.n.g Yao turned to look at Sang Guzi.
“It was just yesterday night,” Sang Guzi said.
w.a.n.g Yao nodded his head, not saying anything.
From this short conversation with w.a.n.g Yao, Sang Guzi could guess his att.i.tude towards this case and chose not to say more.
That afternoon, w.a.n.g Yao went once more to check on Zhou Wuyi.
After confirming that the patient’s condition had improved, he considered whether it was about time to leave. After all, the treatment for Zhou Wuyi needed to stretch over a long time with consistent medication. However, he also had to consider one other thing. Some of Zhou Wuyi’s channels were broken or chaotic, and if they weren’t rejoined and treated, those areas might start to break down and shrivel up. In fact, parts of Zhou Wuyi’s body were already showing signs of it. Once the break down reached a certain point, it would be impossible to recover from it. This was just like the withering of a tree. At some point, it would reach the point of no return.
With w.a.n.g Yao’s current capabilities, he could not think of any methods to treat the broken channels.
He also informed the Zhou family of his considerations and to let them prepare another doctor like Master Sang to take over the treatment.
“Could both of you continue the treatment together?” This was an idea that Zhou Xiong’s father brought up.
Truth is, the previous time, w.a.n.g Yao had worked together with Sang Guzi before. With w.a.n.g Yao’s miraculous medicines and Sang Guzi’s acupuncture, they produced effective results.
“We can discuss that,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“Sure.”
After lunch, w.a.n.g Yao and Sang Guzi sat down to discuss the matter.
“I could only diagnose the following things,” Sang Guzi said, taking out a record.
At his age, Sang Guzi no longer cared about fame or benefits. He had already seen through those things. When there were illnesses that he could not understand or diagnose, illnesses that he could not treat, and where there were other people who could do better than him, he would readily admit his lack of ability. He was not like some other people who might act as though they understood despite not having any idea.
The worst thing that anyone could do was to pretend to know something when they didn’t. This was especially the case for medicine because this affected the patients’ wellbeing.
Right now, the conundrum they were facing was that they had no way to treat the problems they had diagnosed.
However, since they had no way to resolve it yet, they would just put it off.
Sang Guzi talked with w.a.n.g Yao about various other matters, such as his experiences as a doctor. Naturally, they talked about the strange diseases that they had seen. For w.a.n.g Yao, this was a rare opportunity because after all, in the world of Chinese medicine, most pract.i.tioners did not like sharing their secrets and interacting with each other. This was also the cause of Chinese medicine’s decline.
w.a.n.g Yao listened very attentively throughout the discussion. The discussion lasted till evening. The two of them stopped talking after the sun had set.
“Thank you!” w.a.n.g Yao said as he bowed to Master Sang.
He had no idea why Sang Guzi would suddenly tell him all of these things. To any doctor, to a famous doctor, his experiences and his techniques were the basis for his pride and success.
“Hahaha, I’m getting old. There’s no need for me to keep all these to myself. I hope that it was helpful for you,” Sang Guzi said.
Whether it was experience or knowledge, these were things he had only told his disciple and his son before. Today, however, he saw something in w.a.n.g Yao that gave him hope that these forgotten practices could once again flourish.
“I think you can write a book,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
“A book?” Sang Guzi’s eyes suddenly lit up.
He had actually thought about doing so before but eventually had given up on the idea.
Such is life. There were things that you needed to do quickly while you still had the motivation and when the experiences and ideas were still fresh. Once you procrastinated, who knew when you would ever get back to doing it!
“I thought about doing it about seven or eight years ago,” Sang Guzi said.
“Your experiences are really rich and precious. It would be a shame to not pa.s.s it down,” w.a.n.g Yao said very sincerely.
“Let me think about it a bit more,” Sang Guzi replied, laughing.
“You’ve shared a lot of your experiences. Let me share some of mine,” w.a.n.g Yao said. There were some things that he had seen that he also wanted to discuss. Unfortunately, there had never been anyone suitable for him to talk about it with. After all, people of sufficient quality like Sang Guzi were hard to find.
“Please!” Sang Guzi replied.
w.a.n.g Yao began talking about various ancient techniques and practices, including the four methods of diagnosis. Of course, he left out the last “observational diagnosis.”
Sang Guzi’s eyes lit up as he listened to w.a.n.g Yao, and his body began to tremble in excitement.
w.a.n.g Yao spoke till the sky turned dark.
Bang, bang, bang. There was a knock at the door.
“Master Sang, w.a.n.g Yao, dinner is ready,” Zhou Xiong called out to them.
“Okay,” w.a.n.g Yao replied.
“We’ll go over soon,” Sang Guzi said.
“Young fellow, your knowledge of these things is impressive!” Sang Guzi said emotionally.
Records of the things that w.a.n.g Yao talked about were very rare. In some cases, they might not even exist anymore.
“There probably aren’t records anymore! Where did you learn this from?”
“I learned it from the G.o.ds,” w.a.n.g Yao replied enigmatically.
Sang Guzi laughed when he heard that. He thought that w.a.n.g Yao was joking.
“I’ve decided to write a book. If you don’t mind, I’d like to include the things you mentioned today. Of course, I will credit you,” Sang Guzi said.
After hearing the things w.a.n.g Yao said, Sang Guzi decided that he would not let them be lost. Since there was someone with this knowledge, he would make use of this chance to archive them. His own life experience could be forgotten and lost, but these gems of Chinese medicinal knowledge must not be forgotten.
“As for my name, you don’t have to include it.”
“No way!” Sang Guzi was determined to do this.
“If you have to, then use an alias.”
“What would that be?”
“Traditional Chinese Pharmacist,” w.a.n.g Yao said coolly.
“Traditional Chinese Pharmacist, the ancient Traditional Chinese Pharmacist?” Sang Guzi confirmed.
“That’s right.”
“It’s said that the great Traditional Chinese Pharmacist could cure anything.” As Sang Guzi said this, there was a faraway look in his eyes.
“Are you from the lineage of the Medicine King?” Sang Guzi asked.
“Medicine King? No, I’m not,” w.a.n.g Yao was stunned for a moment before replying. He had no idea what this Medicine King’s bloodline was.
The two of them were extremely engrossed in their conversation. They even seemed to hate that it was getting late.
“We could have had this conversation a long time ago,” Sang Guzi said, sighing.
“Yeah,” w.a.n.g Yao replied, feeling the same way.
“If only everyone could be like us, willing to sit down and share their experiences. Even if it was just a fraction of their knowledge, our Chinese medicine would not have declined as much as it has today,” Sang Guzi said emotionally.
They continued talking until Zhou Xiong came to call them for the second time. Only then did they end their conversation. It could be said that this conversation was very meaningful and would potentially set the grounds for further development.
The dinner had been prepared with simplicity as a central theme. Nevertheless, the spread of dishes was still extremely rich and nutritious.
After dinner, w.a.n.g Yao and Sang Guzi explained the treatment procedure they had come up with to Zhou Xiong’s father and Zhou Ying.
“What about the channels that are shriveling up?” Zhou Xiong’s father asked anxiously.
“We can’t do anything about that at the moment,” w.a.n.g Yao replied.
“Then, we’ll do it as you say. We’ll continue to trouble you with the treatment, Master Sang, w.a.n.g Yao,” Zhou Xiong’s father said respectfully.
“The treatment method was created by Dr. w.a.n.g,” Sang Guzi said.
Don’t claim credit for what you didn’t do.
“I will prepare the medicines. Also, I will teach you some simple Tuina ma.s.sage techniques,” w.a.n.g Yao said.
The Zhou family practiced martial arts since young and were familiar with the meridians and acupuncture points. It would not be hard for them to learn Tuina techniques.
“Okay.”
The Zhou family also knew that w.a.n.g Yao could not stay long.
After another dose of medicine that night, w.a.n.g Yao applied the Tuina ma.s.sage to treat Zhou Wuyi. Concurrently, as he was stimulating the flow of Qi and blood for Zhou Wuyi, he was also checking the progress of Zhou Wuyi’s recovery.
… (I feel like a portion of 214 is missing here. This part doesn’t connect well, and there is no mention of this scene beforehand. It just jumps to something unrelated)
“Sir, there’s something divine about you.”
“Divine?” Upon hearing this, w.a.n.g Yao stood stunned. Could it be that this monk really has some ability? Does he see my special ability?
“If Sir enters the Buddhist faith, Sir would be a Protector Bodhisattva.”
“Protector Bodhisattva? I don’t have that ability.”
“Sir is being modest. Sir is able to become one with the energies of heaven and earth at such a young age. Did you obtain some legacy?”
“What do you mean become at one with the energies of heaven and earth? You sound extremely mysterious now,” w.a.n.g Yao said. He was not ready to get caught up in a conversation with this monk.
“Amitabha. We will meet again.”
“Goodbye.”
w.a.n.g Yao exited the airport and walked around outside. However, he discovered that there was nothing interesting outside and soon returned to the airport lounge to wait. Finally, it was time for his departure. When he got on the plane, w.a.n.g Yao suddenly understood what the monk meant earlier on.