As soon as w.a.n.g Shen and Guo Huai entered the building, a youngster in his twenties stopped them, saying, “Friend, please stand at where you are. May I know which doctor you two have an appointment with?”
“I want to have a medical battle!” Guo Huai said. He could see that this youngster was no ordinary man. He was submerged in medicinal jars since young, making his veins and arteries much wider than others.
The youngster furrowed his brows, saying, “Friend, please don’t talk nonsense.”
Guo Huai took out a sandalwood casing from nowhere, like a magician. “Pa.s.s this thing to the people in charge of this place. If you guys agree to have a medical battle, this thing will belong to you all regardless if you win or lose,” Guo Huai said as he pa.s.sed the casing to the youngster.
“I don’t care how impressive you’re trying to look. If you want to go through this door, you have to go through me first,” the youngster said and posed a fighting stance, ignoring the wooden casing.
“Do I have to fight to enter the door of the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation?” Guo Huai asked the youngster who was a few years older than him, smiling.
“Apologies, it’s our mistake for this. However, if you want to enter the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation, you need to have a respectable knowledge in the field. If you can spell out the Tang Tou Verse, I’ll let you enter,” an old man said as he approached Guo Huai slowly.
[TL note: Tang Tou Verse (literally Soup Head Verse) is an ancient medical work with over 300 recipes of medicines.]
“It’s a waste of time to say everything in Tang Tou Verse out. I’ll just say a few paragraphs according to this youngster’s illness,” Guo Huai said with a smile.
“Nourishing the heart requires Gui Shen and Bai Zao Ren Er Dong Sheng Di… The blood in his heart is lacking, while his spleen and stomach are weak. You guys in the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation have done a great job in learning the Tang Tou Verse. However, you still need to improve in the application of the knowledge,” Guo Huai said, smiling.
[TL note: There are a bunch of Chinese medicinal ingredients and herbs that don’t have an English equivalent name, shortened into an ellipsis to reduce cancer.]
“Friend, please come inside,” the old man said. Before Guo Huai even finished talking, the old man was deeply astonished. He was very aware of the sickness the youngster, Zhao Tian, had. He didn’t expect Guo Huai to be able to tell Zhao Tian’s body conditions by just looking at him.
“Grandpa Shang, do we really let him in?” Zhao Tian asked softly.
“Consume this medicinal pill and the problem of blood deprivation in your heart will be cured. If you want the other diseases to be completely removed, find me when Clinic of No Treatment starts operating. At that time, whether or not you get to see me depends on whether you can get into the queue early. Hahah!” Guo Huai said as he threw a medicinal pill to Zhao Tian.
“I’ll thank you on his behalf. Let’s proceed inside,” the old man Zhao Shang said. When Guo Huai took out the medicinal pill, Zhao Shang was totally convinced by the medicinal fragrance it exerted. The youngster standing in front of him definitely came from a hidden clan, otherwise, he wouldn’t have such a deep understanding of medicinal pills.
“Grandpa Shang, do I eat it or not?” Zhao Tian asked his third grandpa loudly.
“I think your heart really needs more blood. I already thanked him for you, are you an idiot or something?” Zhao Shang asked loudly
When Zhao Shang brought Guo Huai and w.a.n.g Shen to the visitor’s room, he said, “Little Friend, please wait for a while. I’ll report to the president now.” He then left the room quickly.
“Fourth Brother, are you sure you understand Chinese medicine? Otherwise, if my grandpa knows that we came here to cause trouble, I bet he’ll break my legs at that time,” w.a.n.g Shen said softly.
“Third Brother, if you don"t trust me why did you come in with me?” Guo Huai asked. He saw that there were a brush and a paper on the table, he started drawing the renovation blueprint for Clinic of No Treatment since he had time.
“Heheh, I want to see just how much my great Fourth Brother has hidden from us,” w.a.n.g Shen said with a smile. “If you really can get recognition from the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation, the three of us brothers wouldn’t have to wipe your a.s.s every time you do something wrong anymore. Don’t simply use their stuff here, you’d only get yourself into trouble,” he reminded as he saw Guo Huai drawing like he knew what he was doing.
“I’m just going to use a few of their papers. The a.s.sociation won’t be so petty, right?” Guo Huai asked, smiling.
“Of course not, I heard from Brother Shang that we got a special guest here, so here I am,” an old man with full, white hair said as he entered the room. Guo Huai was still focused on drawing something, completely ignoring the presence of this old man.
“President Lin, you know who I am, right? I came here with Grandpa last year. You helped him with his leg injury,” w.a.n.g Shen said. It was fine if Guo Huai wanted to keep quiet, but w.a.n.g Shen didn’t dare to do the same. Lin Zhangtian was president of the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation, the place where w.a.n.g Shen’s grandpa came rather frequently for treatment. Naturally, he had to pay respect to the elder.
“You must be the grandson of General w.a.n.g. General gave me a call a while ago, telling me he would pay me a visit really soon. I didn’t expect that you’d bring someone here for a medical battle before I even met him,” Lin Zhangtian said with a smile.
“President Lin, I’m really sorry. My brother wants to open a clinic. I came here to ask for your help,” w.a.n.g Shen said with a bitter smile.
“Your grandpa doesn’t know anything about this, right? A doctor without real knowledge would be a murderer. If we open the back door for him, we’d be his accomplices. Kid from w.a.n.g family, have you considered these issues?” Lin Zhangtian asked, smiling.
“We don’t intend to get Grandpa Lin’s help to the back door. I brought my brother here to understand more about the field. If he is fortunate enough to gain your recognition, that’d be great,” w.a.n.g Shen said. He suddenly addressed Lin Zhangtian as ‘Grandpa Lin’. He knew that this old man wasn’t someone he could mess with.
After Guo Huai put the writing brush back to its original place, he looked at Lin Zhangtian and said, “Third Brother, I’m done drawing this blueprint. Pa.s.s it to Second Brother. You don’t have to step in anymore here at the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation. Since the president is here, we’ll start discussing the matter”
“Fourth Brother, can you stop joking around? Who the heck uses a writing brush to write a blueprint? Are you kidding me?” w.a.n.g Shen said. He didn’t reach out to receive the paper, but Lin Zhangtian grabbed it instead.
“Such a nice drawing and writing!” Lin Zhangtian said loudly. “Little Friend will be welcomed to join the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation just by your expertise in calligraphy writing. As long as it doesn’t offend our principle, we can spend some time together for a chat.”
“It’s merely a renovation blueprint for a small building. Please pa.s.s it to Brother Shen,” Guo Huai said, smiling. “I want to open up a clinic. Brother Shen told me that if I can get the recognition of the Chinese medicine a.s.sociation, I can skip a lot of trouble. Grandpa, can you tell me what I should do? Let’s not waste each other’s time.”
“Are you sure? Do you really know Chinese medicine?” Lin Zhangtian asked, curiously. He looked at Guo Huai seriously and thought, Perhaps it’s just as Zhao Shang said. He must be a disciple from some hidden sect or family.
“Can I make a suggestion? Since it’s a medical battle in Chinese medicine, we’ll compete on our understandings of medicinal prescription. You may form a poison and I shall prescribe the cure, or vice versa. This should be the simplest way. Grandpa, what do you think?” Guo Huai asked with a smile.
“If you really want to have a medical battle, please wait for a while. I’ll find a few people to compete with you. If you can win even one round, you don’t have to worry about the formalities for your clinic anymore. The Chinese medicine a.s.sociation will handle everything for you,” Lin Zhangtian said.
“Brother Shang, please ask the four vice presidents to come over. Tell them that someone has come to challenge us. Get it done quickly,” Lin Zhangtian shouted outside the room.
“d.a.m.n! You’re for real?!”