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

People from the village are so arrogant! the officers thought.

When a person thought he was superior to other people and tried to put other people under his feet, he was probably despised at the same time.

"Humph!" The officers left grumpily.

Being angry will damage the liver. Drinking too much alcohol will damage the stomach. Smoking will damage the lungs.

w.a.n.g Yao could tell none of those officers were healthy by just taking a glance at them and smelling.

They drank day and night without knowing horrible things would happen to them soon.

"Bye," w.a.n.g Yao said.

The officers left the village in the car. w.a.n.g Jianli went back to the Village Committee with a cigarette in his mouth.

"Those villagers are so arrogant!" an officer complained.

"We should reduce the compensation, especially to the young man," another officer suggested.

It was very hot that day. w.a.n.g Yao didn't have many patients due to the weather. He had two patients in the morning and none in the afternoon. So, he spent some time cleaning the clinic.

It was nice and cool in the clinic's courtyard. The temperature was about 86 degrees. w.a.n.g Yao felt very comfortable sitting in the courtyard.

He had a visitor when it was close to dusk. It was w.a.n.g Fengming.

"h.e.l.lo, Uncle Fengming, how can I help you?" w.a.n.g Yao invited him into his clinic and made him a cup of tea.

"I do need help," w.a.n.g Fengming said.

"What's going on?" w.a.n.g Yao asked.

"Well, I've planted the seeds and seedlings you gave me. What should I do in such hot weather?" w.a.n.g Fengming asked.

"That's it?" w.a.n.g Yao laughed "You don't need to do anything special. You planted the seeds under the shade. I've checked the place. It should be fine."

The seeds were sensitive to strong suns.h.i.+ne.

"That's good," w.a.n.g Fengming said. In fact, he didn't expect to make money by growing herbs. He just didn't want to waste the seeds and seedlings.

"Is there anything else I can help with?" w.a.n.g Yao asked.

"No, not really," w.a.n.g Fengming said.

He was not a talkative person. He left the clinic after having a cup of tea.

It was still light outside when w.a.n.g Yao left the clinic, even though it was already 6:30 p.m.

The number of people leaving their houses increased after dinner, when it became cooler outside. They got together to chat with one another.

w.a.n.g Yao took a look at them. He found the youngest ones were in their 40s. Most of the people were in their 50s and 60s.

An empty nest and aging population were two problems in society. They were more serious in the countryside.

w.a.n.g Yao had a walk in the village after dinner. Everyone he b.u.mped into were seniors and kids around 5 or 6 years old. There were no young people like him.

"All the young men in the village have gone," an old villager said.

"Yes. Look, Fenghua's son," another villager said.

"He's the only young man left," the old villager said.

w.a.n.g Yao heard the conversation among those old villagers.

Am I the only young man left?

He went up to Nanshan Hill. Some of the herbs were ready in the herbal field. He was going to take the mature ones and process them the next day.

Meanwhile, in the capital city of the province, a serious looking middle-aged man was talking to his a.s.sistant. "Have you done your investigation?"

"Yes," his a.s.sistant said.

"Good, you can leave now," the middle-aged man said.

His a.s.sistant left the room quietly after closing the door.

Bang! The middle-aged man slammed his cup on the table and sighed.

The sun came out early the next morning. It was going to be another hot day.

"I hate the hot weather," Fan Youren said as he looked at the sun in the sky.

"Spring, summer, autumn, and winter should be different," Wen Wan said as she sat under the shelter.

At this time of the year, their hometown would be scorching hot, much hotter than this quiet village.

"This is a really nice place," Wen Wan said.

What was a good place? A good place was somewhere one didn't want to leave.

"You like it here, but I don't," Fan Youren said.

Not many young people would like a place like w.a.n.g Family Village. Life there was boring.

"Is Dr. w.a.n.g in the clinic today?" Wen Wan asked.

"No. I saw his post on Weibo that his clinic is closed today," Fan Youren said.

"I want to see Dr. w.a.n.g tomorrow. I think I've been recovering really fast. It's time for me to get out of here," Wen Wan said.

"Where do you plan to go?" Fan Youren asked.

"Anywhere. I know you are really bored here," Wen Wan said with a smile.

"I was not serious, Mom. Forget what I said," Fan Youren replied.

"Shall we go to the beach? I want to see the ocean," Wen Wan said.

"Sure," Fan Youren said.

Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Yao collected some mature herbs. He required the roots and stems of certain herbs, such as gentian and parsnip; leaves from certain herbs, such as pinellia; and leaves, stems, and roots from the rest of the herbs.

He picked the herbs, removed the soil from them, rinsed them, and dried them in the sun.

The majority of the herbs needed to be processed before using them to brew decoctions. Most of the herbs could be dried with suns.h.i.+ne. Some of them needed to be fried. Only a small amount of the herbs could be taken directly.

w.a.n.g Yao decided to save all these herbs for himself. He had a lot of patients coming to the clinic every day, so he required a lot of herbs. In addition, he wanted to save some for his pharmaceutical company. The first batch of products had to be from himself to guarantee the quality.

He worked in the herbal field for the whole morning.

It was very cool on Nanshan Hill. The weather was pleasant all year long.

It was totally different in Ji, which had a reputation of being one of the hottest cities in China. It was already 87 degrees. Lunch time was the hottest time of the day.

As the leader of a province with fast economic development and growing population, Guo Zhaofun was extremely busy. However, he declined all the meetings and visitors to squeeze some time in the afternoon to meet a special person.

"Dad, why did you ask me to come in such a hurry?" Guo Zhenghe asked.

He had come all the way from south Xinjiang to Ji since his father called him.

HIs father had a warm smile on his face. "Sit down. How is your work in Xinjiang?"

"Not bad. I just signed a contract with a company that will invest in Xinjiang. You know the county I'm working in is isolated. The traffic is very inconvenient, and the development is far behind. The place is too poor." Guo Zhenghe made his father and himself a cup of tea.

"What project is it?" Guo Zhaojun asked.

"The company manufactures batteries," Guo Zhenghe said.

"Lead batteries?" Guo Zhaojun asked.

"Yes," Guo Zhenghe said.

"It will cause pollution locally," Guo Zhaojun said.

"I know. I've asked the company to have the necessary equipment in place to deal with the polluted water," Guo Zhenghe said.

"Good. We sacrificed our environment to develop the economy in the past few years," Guo Zhaojun said. "Now, we have to deal with the consequences. We have to fix the environment. The Central government has emphasized that we must ensure our environment will not be further damaged and pay extra attention to workplace safety. They won't compromise the environment, so you need to make sure you are doing the right thing."

"I see, Dad," Guo Zhenghe said.

"Now, I need to speak to you about something else," Guo Zhaojun said.

Guo Zhenghe sat up. He knew his father didn't ask him all the way here to talk about his work. He had guessed what his father was about to say.

"Are you seeing anyone in Xinjiang?" Guo Zhaojun asked.

"Of course not," Guo Zhenghe said with surprise.

There were girls expressing interest in him in that isolated county. However, he believed they were just interested in his family background. He had no interest in those girls. He wouldn't even waste his time dating any of them casually.

"Are you still thinking about Xiaoxue?" Guo Zhaojun asked.

"Well, yes," Guo Zhenghe admitted.

"Your mother has spoken to your Auntie Song, and I've spoken to Xiaoxue's father," Guo Zhaojun said. "Both of them want to respect Xiaoxue's decision. I heard Xiaoxue is seeing someone else. I think you probably have already known that."

"I know, but they haven't gotten married yet," Guo Zhenghe said with a smile.

"You can't force her to marry you. If you really want her to like you, you must not do anything shameful. I want you to be an honest person," Guo Zhaojun said.

Guo Zhenghe looked down and kept silent. He knew what his father was like. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"I'm the leader of this province and responsible for the people here," Guo Zhaojun said "Changing the plan of a highway, even just a little bit, would cost several millions to compensate those people who are involved. Who's going to pay the money? The money belongs to the government. You are using government money for private purpose!"

He was disappointed in his son, who had done something shameful behind his back.