Elixir Supplier

“Her condition is even worse than your mother’s,” the doctor said. “A patient like her shouldn’t look after another patient at all. She needs to be looked after herself, so how can she look after someone else?”

Her family tried their best to convince Wen Wan to go home. As soon as she arrived at her place, she felt sick and fell on her bed. Her determination supported her to look after her mother in the hospital. However, she didn’t have that determination at home. She felt extremely weak. She was brought back to the hospital soon after she arrived at home.

The coincidence was that the doctor knew her. He found the whole thing was ridiculous.

“What can I say to you?” the doctor asked.

Wen Wan was seriously ill. She required immediate treatment. Her condition was exactly like what the doctor described. It was like a landslide on a hill. It was fierce and sudden. As soon as she was admitted to the hospital, she was transferred into ICU. Her condition was critical.

Professor Lu was desperate after hearing the news about Wen Wan. He immediately called Wang Yao. However, Wang Yao was on the plane at the time, so he couldn’t reach Wang Yao. Eventually, a worried Professor Lu got a call from Wang Yao.

“Can you please come to see her?” Professor Lu asked.

“I’m sorry,” Wang Yao said.

Even the Buddha of Mercy wouldn’t be on call. Plus, Wang Yao had already warned her of the consequences. She hadn’t listened to him, so she had to take the consequences.

“Well…” Professor Lu was desperate. Wen Wan’s condition had reached the point that she could die anytime. “Please! I beg you!”

“I’m sorry,” Wang Yao said.

Although Professor Lu was his friend, he didn’t think he could do anymore for Wen Wan.

“What can I do then?” Professor Lu asked.

“Talk to her doctor in the hospital. I have to go now if there is nothing else.” Wang Yao hung up the phone.

She seemed to be a good daughter to look after her sick mother while she was sick herself, but it was a very unwise decision. Wen Wan tried her best to look after her mother. But, it didn’t occur to her how her mother would feel if she died before her mother. Would her mother be able to bear it? What if she was too sad to continue to live?

Wang Yao didn’t go home in a hurry. He stayed in Haiqu overnight and drove home the next morning.

When he arrived home, a senior villager was chatting with his parents.

“Dad! Mom! I’m back,” Wang Yao said. “Hi, Uncle.”

“Hi, Yao,” the villager said.

“Take a rest. You must be exhausted,” Zhang Xiuying said with concern.

“I’m fine. I arrived to Haiqu last night and stayed there overnight,” Wang Yao said.

“Yao, you’ve been away?” the senior villager asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I was away for a few days. I’ll leave you here to talk.” Wang Yao went inside his room.

“How much do you need?” Wang Fenghua asked.

“Thirty thousand,” the villager said.

“OK, but you have to wait until tomorrow,” Wang Fenghua said after keeping silent for a moment.

“Oh, thank you so much,” the villager said.

Borrow money? Wang Yao had overheard the conversation.

The senior villager left after chatting with his parents for a short while.

“Dad, did he come here to borrow money?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes, his son is running his own business. They need money urgently,” Wang Fenghua said.

“Running his own business?” Wang Yao vaguely remembered that Wang Mingbao had mentioned to him the senior villager’s son worked in a factory in Lianshan. He didn’t know when the young man had started his own business.

It was easy to lend money out, but it was hard to get the money back.

Although Wang Yao had money, he wouldn’t lend it out easily unless the person who borrowed the money was a reliable family member. Otherwise, he would easily upset the borrower by pushing too hard. He didn’t want to do a thankless task.

“Dad, Mom, I don’t want to be harsh, but try not to lend money to anyone in the future,” Wang Yao said.

“We are all from the same village. He wouldn’t bend his knee to borrow money if he could solve the problem himself,” Wang Fenghua said.

Wang Yao didn’t say anything. He knew his parents were too soft.

“By the way, how was everything going in Beijing?” Wang Fenghua asked.

“It was alright,” Wang Yao said.

“A lot of people came to see you when you were away,” Wang Fenghua said.

“Did any of them come here?” Wang Yao asked.

“Not really,” Wang Fenghua said.

“That’s good.” Wang Yao didn’t want his patients to disturb his parent’s tranquil life. “I’ll go to the clinic this afternoon.”

He left for his clinic after lunch. There were quite a few patients in the afternoon, six in total.

One of them had headache. One of them had pain in his leg. One of them had weakness all over his body. It was not hard to treat those conditions.

“It seems you’ve had headache for some time. Has it been since the second day of Chinese New Year?” Wang Yao asked.

“You are right. I didn’t pay much attention to it then, but it has gotten worse,” the man in his 30s said.

“Sit down please,” Wang Yao said.

He took out three fine needles and inserted them into three acupoints on the man’s head. He then massaged the man’s head.

“How do you feel now?” Wang Yao asked after the treatment.

“Hey, I feel much better! No more headache,” the man said with surprise. “Plus, I have a warm feeling in my head. Doctor, how did I get the headache?”

“Did you go to the cemetery on the second day of Chinese New Year?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes,” the man said.

It was a local custom that people went to worship their ancestors in the cemetery on New Year’s Eve or the second day of Chinese New Year. Different places had different customs. As the old saying went, every place had its own customs.

“Was it quite cold that day?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes, it was very windy in the cemetery, and I forgot to wear a hat. It was freezing,” the man said.

“Then you drank a couple of glasses of wine after you got back?” Wang Yao asked.

The villagers often drank together after they had finished worshiping their ancestors. Plus, it was during Chinese New Year, so people tended to drink a lot. Chinese New Year provided a good opportunity for family members to get together. It wouldn’t hurt to drink a little more than usual and then take a nap in the afternoon.

“Yes, I had more than three glasses that day,” the man said.

“I guess you didn’t just drink on that day, right?” Wang Yao asked with a smile.

The man had damage in both his stomach and liver. He looked terrible. His face had turned yellow. Wang Yao could still smell alcohol on his breath. He was pretty sure this man had a lot of alcohol the previous night. The man was probably an alcoholic.

“You are right. You see, doctor, I don’t have any other hobbies other than drinking,” the man said. “But, what does drinking have to do with my headache?”

“It was very windy when you went to the cemetery, so you caught a cold. Then, you kept drinking for days. Alcohol not only damaged your liver and stomach, but it also affected your head. Your problem accumulated over 10 days, so your headache got worse,” Wang Yao said.

“I see. I think you make sense,” the man said.

“I presume you don’t just have a headache. Do you also have pain here?” Wang Yao pointed at the right side of the man’s chest.

“Yes, on and off. Why is that?” the man asked.

“Because you’ve drunk too much alcohol, which has damaged your liver,” Wang Yao said.

The man was in his 30s, so it was the best time of his life. He was supposed to be healthy and strong. If he took good care of himself and had a healthy diet and lifestyle, he would remain fit and strong for a long time. However, a lot of people couldn’t discipline themselves due to various reasons, such as work. They smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, stayed awake overnight, or had too much sex. They thought they were fit and strong and could do whatever they wanted. In the end, their health started to deteriorate. They started to feel tired, catch a cold easily, or experienced pain in different areas of their bodies. Everything happened for a reason.

“What can I do? Can you prescribe me some medication?” the man anxiously asked.

“Medication?” Wang Yao smiled. “You need to stop drinking first.”

No medication would save him if he didn’t stop drinking.

“I will,” the man immediately said.

“But, you just drank last night,” Wang Yao said.

“Oh, just a little bit,” the man said.

“A little bit? Why can I still smell strong alcohol from you? Never mind. Go home,” Wang Yao said. “Next patient!”

The man left the clinic after paying the fee.

The next patient was an old man in his 70s. It was common for people of that age to have pain in their legs.

“Do you still climb the hills often?” Wang Yao asked as he looked at the old man’s hands full of calluses. “The pain is caused by degeneration. I’ll prescribe you a formula. You need to rest.”

“OK, thanks,” the old man said.

Wang Yao wrote down a formula. It contained carthamus tinctorius, garden balsam stem, angelica, lamiophlomis root, and licorice.

“Brew a decoction using these herbs. You can drink it, as well as apply it on your leg,” Wang Yao said.

“OK, thank you,” the man said.

“Please do not let him do any labor work,” Wang Yao said to the woman who had come with the old man.

The human body was like a machine. If the machine had been running for decades without proper maintenance, a lot of parts would have problems. If nothing was done to fix the machine, it would stop working completely one day.