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

“I've told you that you should lose some weight, but you wouldn't listen to me.” Apparently, the two middle-aged men were friends.

“Have you been here before?” asked w.a.n.g Yao.

“Yes, I've come to see you before. You didn't even charge me. You gave me a ma.s.sage and I got much better. Because you are such a wonderful and nice doctor, I recommended my friend come see you,” said the middle-aged man with a smile.

A person's reputation was like a shadow in that it tended to grow larger than the person himself. By now, w.a.n.g Yao's name was well-known to quite a few people living nearby. After all, he was truly a fantastic doctor. With the a.s.sistance of licorice roots and Qi therapy, his treatment methods were unique and absolutely effective. Most of people coming to see w.a.n.g Yao had fully recovered. Sometimes he only used Qi therapy to cure certain patients.

In small cities and even smaller counties and villages, some reputable doctors, even those ones without certification, had a lot of patients. Because smaller areas had limited medical resources and it was inconvenient to go to a hospital in a big city, residents would rather see a local doctor. It was the same case in Lianshan, not to mention the fact that w.a.n.g Yao was a truly extraordinary doctor and had a medical certificate. Even unqualified pract.i.tioners had a lot of patients.

“Please lie down, I'll give you a ma.s.sage,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“Okay,” said the overweight man.

He laid down on his back with his stomach popping out, like a woman who was several months pregnant.

“You must lose weight, otherwise my treatment will only work temporarily for you. Your problem will come back,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“Oh, I see,” said the overweight man.

w.a.n.g Yao started to ma.s.sage his abdomen.

He didn't need to use his Qi while ma.s.saging the man's abdomen. He only used some techniques to stimulate some meridians and acupuncture points in his abdomen. He tried to increase the man's gastrointestinal mobility to create bowel movement.

Chronic constipation was very harmful to a person's health.

The poison absorbed from three days constipation was worse than smoking two packs of cigarettes.

After w.a.n.g Yao had ma.s.saged the man's abdomen for a while, the man felt warm and comfortable inside his belly. Then he heard his stomach rumbling.

Prrr! The man pa.s.sed gas, which was very smelly.

“Sorry about that,” said the overweight man. He was embarra.s.sed, but he couldn't control it.

“Never mind,” said w.a.n.g Yao with a smile.

The ma.s.sage lasted for about 20 minutes. The overweight man kept pa.s.sing gas, which made the room fill up with an unpleasant smell.

“I'll prescribe a formula for you,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

He wrote down Coptis chinensis, Astragalus, Forsythia, Angelica dahurica, and licorice on a piece of paper.

All the herbs w.a.n.g Yao chose were able to reduce excessive heat energy and had a detox effect.

After he had written the prescription and packed the herbs, he also told the overweight man of precautions he needed to take in daily life.

“Oh, I see. Okay.” The patient kept nodding.

“Dr. w.a.n.g, is my problem serious?” asked the patient.

“At the moment it is not life-threatening. However, a minor problem may end up a bigger health concern if it is ignored. You need to nip the problem in the bud. Otherwise, it will get worse. The Yin and Yang energies are imbalanced in your body. As a result, your blood flow and Qi are blocked. Your liver has also been seriously affected. If you don't do anything about it, your liver will get worse,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“Oh,” The patient started to feel scared after listening to w.a.n.g Yao's explanation. “Doctor, please don't scare me like that.”

“I was telling you the truth. If you don't change your lifestyle, you'll face terrible consequences,” said w.a.n.g Yao honestly.

“Okay, I'll follow your instructions.” The patient nodded hard.

A ma.s.sage therapy session plus a prescription cost over 400 yuan.

“Is it that serious?” The patient said to his friend after they had left the clinic.

“You should listen to Dr. w.a.n.g,” said his friend.

“That young doctor?” questioned the patient.

“If you don't trust him, just stop coming.” His friend seemed to be unhappy.

“Don't take it the wrong way,” explained the patient.

The two of them got into the car and left the village. The construction of new road around the village was almost complete. The new road was much wider. There was a river at one side of the road, and fields on the other side.

The overweight guy's stomach kept rumbling, then he kept pa.s.sing gas, one after another. The car was full of awful smell.

“Wait, stop the car, I need to go to the toilet,” said the overweight man.

His friend pulled over the car. The overweight man opened the door and rushed out of the car. He ran into the field and found a place with shade. His face was red. He pulled down his pants, squatted down, and released the stuff he acc.u.mulated for days out of his body.

“Gee! It's so comfortable,” said the overweight man.

One sentence from a cla.s.sic advertis.e.m.e.nt could describe his feelings now: You'll feel relieved after the toxin has been driven out of your body.

“That doctor is pretty good,” said the overweight man.

Initially he didn't take w.a.n.g Yao's words seriously. He knew he needed to lose weight. However, he couldn't control himself when in front of delicious food. He was also not keen to exercise as he was overweight. He seemed to have entered a vicious cycle. The more he ate, the less he wanted to exercise. It became increasingly difficult for him to lose weight. As a result, he had more and more health problems.

“I'll start to lose weight!” said the overweight man.

He had said the same thing more than once. However, he never put it in action.

Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Yao doc.u.mented the treatment session in his notebook in the clinic. The treatment session included ma.s.sage therapy and a prescription of herbal formula. He used neither Qi therapy nor licorice roots. He reckoned such treatment method was good and should be promoted.

After he had finished doc.u.menting, he started to read Treatise on Miscellaneous Diseases. This book was given to him by the system. It contained a lot of information about weird diseases. The book was a good guide and inspiration for w.a.n.g Yao to treat tricky diseases

The mission had become quite difficult now. w.a.n.g Yao had only three months left to finish the mission. However, he only cured three people.

“Hmmm, it's not going to be easy to complete the mission,” murmured w.a.n.g Yao.

He needed to cure Sun Yunsheng as soon as he could. He also needed to cure Su Xiaoxue and Zhou Wuxing. Those patients had made good progress. His treatment had been effective.

It suddenly occurred to him that he had also seen the women brought by Professor Lu. She had serious problem with her kidney, so-called renal failure.

“Let them all see me.” He called Sun Zhengrong and Zhou Xiong after thinking for a while.

“Okay, I'll come to your clinic tomorrow.” Sun Zhengrong was happy to bring his son to the clinic. He promised to go the next day. After all, it was related to his son's well-being.

Zhou Xiong's uncle was better, but it was too much for him to travel long distance. Therefore, w.a.n.g Yao decided to pay him a visit.

At the same time in Bingzhou, which was thousands of miles away, Long Yunfei was completely wheelchair-bound. He had seen a number of medical experts, none of whom could make him better. Up till now, he realized that his condition started after his meeting with w.a.n.g Yao at a restaurant. He blamed himself for being too greedy.

Did that little b.a.s.t.a.r.d drug me? He started to suspect that w.a.n.g Yao was responsible for his condition. However, he couldn't think about what poison could do such weird harm to him. More importantly, he didn't know where he could find w.a.n.g Yao. He only knew that w.a.n.g Yao lived in Lianshan, Haiqu City. Fortunately, he kept w.a.n.g Yao's contact number, which he got from the secretary of the village.

He attempted to call w.a.n.g Yao.

“h.e.l.lo? Dr. Long?” w.a.n.g Yao was a bit surprised to hear from Long Yunfei. The call came later than he had expected.

“Is my problem related to you?” asked Long Yunfei directly.

“Your problem? Are you sick? If so, you should see a doctor. Oh, I almost forgot that you are a doctor yourself. Is your problem serious?” said w.a.n.g Yao calmly.

“What can make it stop?” asked Long Yunfei.

“How can a smart person like you not get it?” said w.a.n.g Yao.

Long Yunfei hung up the phone. Then he pressed a b.u.t.ton on his phone. The phone repeated his conversation with w.a.n.g Yao. He had recorded his conversation with w.a.n.g Yao.

“What do you think?” asked Long Yunfei to a middle-aged man sitting next to him.

“You can't use the conversation. It's too short and can't prove that your condition was caused by him. The law nowadays is very strict with audio evidence,” said the middle-aged man.

Long Yunfei looked unhappy.

My problem must be caused by him! Now he's become more and more certain about it.

He was in Qinzhou while w.a.n.g Yao was in Qizhou. Even he knew a lot of important people in Qinzhou, he could do little to someone in Qizhou.

On the same day, w.a.n.g Yao went to see a person in town in the afternoon.

“You want to see patients with tricky and weird conditions?” Pan Jun was curious about w.a.n.g Yao's request. He didn't expect w.a.n.g Yao to ask to see patients from him.

“Yes,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“Well, what are considered tricky and weird conditions?” asked Pan Jun.

“Hmmm, it's not easy to define tricky and weird conditions. I think renal failure is one of them,” said w.a.n.g Yao after thinking for a moment.

“Seriously! Don't tell me you can cure renal failure!” Pan Jun was completely astonished. The only way in western medicine to treat renal failure nowadays was to have kidney transplant. Even if a suitable kidney was found, the patient could face other problems, such as organ-graft rejection.

“I can't cure renal failure at this stage,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“So, what about paralysis?” asked Pan Jun.

“I'm not sure until I see the patient,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“Well, one of my relatives has been paralysed for over three years. He has lost ability to take care of himself,” said Pan Jun.

“Does he live far from here?” asked w.a.n.g Yao.

“No,” said Pan Jun.

“I can take a look at him, but it will cost a lot,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

He thought that he would probably need Meridian unblocking powder to treat Pan Jun's relative. Meridian unblocking power was very expensive.

“How much it might cost?” asked Pan Jun.

“Could be over a million,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

Pah-tah! Pan Jun dropped his cigarette. “Gosh, it is really expensive! Let me think about it.”

Not every family could afford such a high medical expense. In fact, most families in China wouldn't have over one million of savings.

“Too expensive. My relative is a farmer. He can't afford it,” said Pan Jun after a moment.

w.a.n.g Yao didn't say anything. He was staring at the cup and thinking.

He had thought about situations like this. Given his current situation, he could treat those conditions effectively with Qi therapy and licorice roots. Qi therapy didn't cost anything, but licorice roots could cost a lot if he used the prescriptions from the system. Even though the system occasionally gave him prescriptions for free, it had its restrictions. After all, not everyone was as rich as Sun Zhengrong, who was a billionaire, or from a powerful family like Su Xiaoxue.

I have to make smart use of the rules established by the system.

“Let me take a look at him first,” said w.a.n.g Yao. He hoped that he could just treat him with Qi therapy.

“Okay,” said Pan Jun.

He drove w.a.n.g Yao to his relative's house right away.

His relative was an old man in his 60's. He was lying on the bed. He looked very skinny and old, like someone in his 80's.

w.a.n.g Yao took at close look at him.

The old man's problem was basically in his head. He had multiple thrombosis in his brain. Thrombosis could be tricky, because the formation of thromboses indicated that he had problem with blood flow. A thrombosis was like a small s...o...b..ll, which would become bigger as it was moving. The existing thromboses would become bigger, and new thromboses would appear. Once a thrombosis had been formed in a blood vessel of the brain, the person would have a stroke. As a result, the person would be paralysed. Once a thrombosis was formed in a blood vessel of the heart, the person's life would be threatened.

The system considered the old man's condition difficulty to treat.

“What do you think?” asked Pan Jun.

“His condition is difficult to treat,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

The old man had thrombosis in multiple locations.

w.a.n.g Yao thought for a while after he had seen the old man.

“Let me try,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

He decided to give the old man Qi therapy at this stage to see if it worked. However, the treatment process could be risky. The old man's blood vessels could rupture due to blocked blood flow. If it happened, the old man would start bleeding in his brain and his condition would become worse.

Therefore, w.a.n.g Yao gave him a very gentle ma.s.sage to test his response.

The old man felt warm and full in his head.

After ma.s.saging the old man for over 10 minutes, w.a.n.g Yao stopped to check him again.

“This is not going to work, he needs herbs,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

w.a.n.g Yao needed an herb which could resolve the thromboses but wouldn't rupture the blood vessel.

He thought about Wuteng, which could strengthen the meridians.

He needed another herb to resolve thrombosis and improve blood flow.

“I have a good understanding of his condition now. Let's go,” said w.a.n.g Yao to Pan Jun in private.

“Okay,” said Pan Jun.

He left his relative's house with w.a.n.g Yao after saying goodbye.

“How is he?” asked Pan Jun.

“He is very unwell. I need to go back to think about how to treat his condition,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“I see. Can I ask why you are picking those patients with conditions difficult to treat?” asked Pan Jun curiously. He wanted to ask w.a.n.g Yao a long time ago.

“I need to improve my medical skills and experience urgently,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“Why urgently?” asked Pan Jun.

“Because G.o.d wants me to,” said w.a.n.g Yao as he pointed to the sky. “Not much time left.”

Pan Jun was dazed.

“Watch out! There is a car in front!” shouted w.a.n.g Yao.

“What do you mean?” asked Pan Jun.

“Is he your uncle?” w.a.n.g Yao didn't answer Pan Jun's question.

“Yeah, my father's cousin. He came to me when he was in the hospital,” said Pan Jun.

“Did you feel powerless when someone in your family was seriously ill, especially you are a doctor?” asked w.a.n.g Yao.

“Well, I did feel powerless at the beginning, but I gradually got used to it. I am a doctor, but I can't cure everyone. Some conditions are beyond cure,” said Pan Jun with a sigh.

“You are right.” w.a.n.g Yao nodded.

Something he asked himself was what he would do if one of his family members got ill and he couldn't cure him or her.

“I heard you took a trip to Qinzhou a while ago?” asked Pan Jun.

“Yes,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“There was an outbreak of some sort of disease in Qinzhou. Were you there at that time?” asked Pan Jun.

“Yeah, but how do you know about the disease?” asked w.a.n.g Yao curiously.

“I saw it online by accident. I'm an online group with my university colleagues. One of them was in Qinzhou. He mentioned it to me. Then I noticed Mingbao's posts on WeChat which said that that he was in Jia county of Qinzhou at that time,” said Pan Jun.

“Yes, we were at Jia County,” said w.a.n.g Yao.

“So, you helped them prevent the disease from spreading?” asked Pan Jun.

“No, how was I supposed to do that?” said w.a.n.g Yao, smiling.

“Do you have to go home tonight? How about I bring you and Mingbao over for dinner?” asked Pan Jun.

“Okay,” said w.a.n.g Yao.