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“How soon can he recover with your treatment?” Pan Jun asked.

The patient’s mobility was affected. Pan Jun had a good idea of the patient’s condition. After all, he had seen a lot of similar cases in the emergency department. Most stroke patients couldn’t get back to normal following the treatment in the hospital. Some deficits could be permanent. If the patient was treated in the hospital, he probably wouldn’t get better. He even might get worse.

“Ten days,” Wang Yao said.

“Only 10 days? He doesn’t need to take any decoction?” Pan Jun asked.

“Maybe less than 10 days. His condition was not too bad. I can just treat him using acupuncture and massage,” Wang Yao said.

“But, do you have any decoctions for treating a stroke?” Pan Jun asked.

“I’m making them,” Wang Yao said.

“Several stroke patients came to my sister’s clinic a while ago,” Pan Jun said. “I couldn’t make them better. Can I introduce them to your clinic if I come across them again?”

“OK, but don’t push them. It’ll be fine if they don’t want to come,” Wang Yao said. “I’m not going to take on any patients in the afternoon. I plan to only stay in the clinic in the morning the next few days. Why did you ask? Is there something you want me to do?”

“Nothing,” Pan Jun said.

He was a bit disappointed. He just wanted to learn more from Wang Yao, but he didn’t want to be too pushy. He invited Wang Yao for lunch. Afterward, he left the village.

Li Shiyu arrived as planned in the afternoon. He came with a truck of trees. Wang Yao transferred the trees onto Nanshan Hill by himself again and started to plant them.

Wang Yao saw patients in the morning and planted trees in the afternoon for seven consecutive days. Li Shiyu transferred four trucks of trees.

Wang Yao planted two lines of trees on Nanshan Hill. Arbors and bushes formed a long arc. One side of the arc was a low cliff, which was about 26 feet high. It was very steep, almost 90 degrees. The other side of the arc reached a big rock on the hill. The rock was almost 32 feet high. One side of the rock formed the south side of Nanshan Hill. It was also a steep cliff, about 49 feet high. The two lines of trees looked scarce at the moment. Once they had fully grown, they would form a wall to block the entrance from the west.

San Xian helped to water the trees happily. There was no source of water near the trees. Fortunately, Wang Yao had San Xian help him.

Wang Yao planned to grow the same amount of trees to the east. He ordered more trees from Li Shiyu. As soon as he called, Li Shiyu started to transfer the trees.

Wang Yao picked several leaves of Ziyu to make a soup. After the soup had cooled down, he poured it into a bottle. This was the final touch of the herbal pill he was going to make.

Wang Yao had everything ready. He planned to brew the decoction the next day. He walked out of his cottage with a stool after tidying things up. He placed the stool next to the wall and sat down.

San Xian came out of the dog house once he heard his master coming out.

“Thank you for helping me these days,” Wang Yao said.

Woof! San Xian happily responded.

“Good boy.” Wang Yao patted San Xian’s head gently. “Tomorrow will be a good day.”

Brewing a decoction required good timing and favorable geographical and social conditions. None of the three aspects should be missing.

Wang Yao had only one patient the next morning, He Shili. His gait looked much better. He was manipulating two walnuts with his left hand when he came in and had more color on his face.

“Good morning, Dr. Wang,” said the young woman accompanying He Shili.

“Good morning, please sit down. I think you are recovering really well,” Wang Yao said to the patient.

“Yes, I have more strength in my left leg. And, the movements of my left arm and hand are better. Look!” He Shili stretched his arm, which looked more natural than before. “I also feel less heavy.”

“Good, let me take a look,” Wang Yao said. He did a thorough check of He Shili. “You are getting better. I think you will be fine after one more treatment session. Come back in a month for review.”

“OK,” He Shili said.

Wang Yao gave him an acupuncture treatment, followed by a massage. He Shili was in good mood. He was even making jokes.

“Don’t talk too much,” his daughter said.

“Why? Am I not allowed to talk now?” He Shili asked.

“That’s fine,” Wang Yao said with a smile. “I’m glad you are in good mood. It’s helpful to maintain a good mood.”

Wang Yao finished treating He Shili at about 10 a.m. Since no other patients had come, he closed the clinic early. He put a sign on the door and told his family he was returning to Nanshan Hill.

“What is he busy with? He didn’t even come back for lunch,” Zhang Xiuying complained.

“Just leave him alone. Did you see the trucks of trees he transferred to the hill?” Wang Fenghua asked.

He and his wife wanted to help their son plant the trees, but Wang Yao didn’t need their help. Wang Fenghua had been to Nanshan Hill a couple of times to see the progress. Since everything appeared to go well on the hill, he decided to leave his son to do his job.

Wang Yao had prepared all the herbal powders for the pills on Nanshan Hill. He also had the herb basket and Ziyu soup ready to use.

He soon started to make the herbal pills. He spread the herbal powder in the basket, sprayed the Ziyu soup in the powder, and rocked the basket to even the powder and Ziyu Soup. He repeated the process again and again.

The herbal powder became little round pills under rotational force. At the beginning, the pills were as tiny as rice. They gradually became bigger as the number of pills was reduced.

The task required strength and stamina. Wang Yao was in no hurry. He kept working until afternoon. He even didn’t have time to have lunch. At last, the first group of pills were made. They were not very big, about the size or a soybean. They had a unique herbal smell.

It’s time to try the pills. He looked through the window. I don’t think the pills are suitable for San Xian.

While he was hesitating, his phone rang. It was Sun Yunsheng, who wanted him to see a patient. Sun Yunsheng asked Wang Yao when he was available to see the patient.

“Look, can you send his medical notes to me? I’ll have a look and then tell you if I can treat him,” Wang Yao said.

“OK, thank you,” Sun Yunsheng said.

He sent all the information to Wang Yao via email. The patient was a young man who was as skinny as a mummy. He had a very special condition. He took whatever medications he could find as soon as he was sick, regardless whether he required those medications or not. He had taken a large amount of various antibiotics and liked taking the cow-bezoar antitoxic bolus, which he thought could expel all the toxins out of his body.

In the end, his body because extremely resistant to drugs. He was also intoxicated by drugs. One day, he got a bacterial infection. None of the antibiotics worked for him. His family had to buy antibiotics from overseas to save his life. It took the doctors a long time to treat him. Eventually, he had multiple organ failure. He was hospitalized and in critical condition.

“I won’t leave the village in the next few days. He can come to the clinic,” Wang Yao said.

“Will you be able to see him in the hospital?” Sun Yunsheng asked.

“Sorry, not in the next few days,” Wang Yao said.

“I’ll let him know,” Sun Yunsheng said.

“OK,” Wang Yao said.

He had a quick meal at about 4 p.m. on Nanshan Hill before going to check the trees he had planted recently. The trees were growing very well.

“Excellent,” Wang Yao said.

…

In a household of Lianshan town center, a man in his 50s was manipulating two walnuts with his left hand. He appeared to be really good at it.

“You are getting better,” his wife said with a smile.

“Yes, much better,” the man said.

“He Ling’s uncle will come for dinner in the evening,” his wife said.

“That’s fine,” the man said pleasantly.

Their guest arrived as planned in the evening.

“My brother-in-law’s hand moves much better,” their guest said.

“Yes, I found a good doctor who did massage and acupuncture for me. I have had five treatment sessions in five days. The treatment is really effective. I can’t say my left hand has gone back to normal, but I don’t have any problem with regular movements,” the man in his 50s said with a smile.

“Let’s celebrate with some wine,” the guest said.

“Don’t drink too much,” the man’s wife said.

All the family members got together to have a chat after dinner.

“Would you like to play poker?” the guest asked.

“Sure,” the man said with a smile.

Many men enjoyed playing poker games, and he was no exception. Since the onset of the stroke, he couldn’t hold a poker card with his left hand. Since it was not appropriate for him to hold the cards with his mouth, he hadn’t played poker for a long time. He could only watch other people play.