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

The patient's face was pale, and his breath was weak. He was very ill.

 “Have him lie down,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 After entering the room and laying the patient on the bed, w.a.n.g Yao began to examine him. His internal organs were ruptured. The blood vessels in his chest, abdomen, and limbs had all been damaged.

 “How did he get so seriously injured?” w.a.n.g Yao asked.

 “He was hurt while fighting with someone,” Zhou Xiong said. “The opponent was a master of shadowboxing.”

 “Was it a life-and-death fight?” w.a.n.g Yao asked.

 “No, it was because of a personal vendetta,” Zhou Xiong said. “The opponent did a sneak attack.”

 “Alright, I got it,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 He gave the man a nine herbs pill to stabilize his heartbeat.

 “His internal organs are damaged, and there are many bruises on his body,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “Haven't you been to the hospital?”

 “Yes, we have,” Zhou Xiong said. “They dealt with it urgently before we came to you. Mr. Sang was also there. He suggested that we come here.”

 “Alright, I got it,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 The prescription for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis had to be used.

 “Is this your friend?” w.a.n.g Yao asked.

 “Yes, strictly speaking, he's a relative, a fellow villager, and a very talented young man,” Zhou Xiong said.

 “You should know my rules,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “I understand. You only have to worry about the treatment,” Zhou Xiong hurriedly said.

 “OK, his life will not be in danger for the time being,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “I need to brew two kinds of medicine for him. Please wait here.”

 “Alright,” Zhou Xiong said.

 w.a.n.g Yao left the clinic and went to the acacia tree.

 “I'm sorry, Brother Hai, the patient's condition is very urgent, so I can't accompany you to have tea today,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “It doesn't matter. I'll leave the tea here and come back some other day,” Wei Hai said with a smile.

 “OK, I won't see you off,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “I'm in a hurry to brew the medicine.”

 “You go on with your stuff,” Wei Hai said.

 w.a.n.g Yao went into the clinic to prepare the herbs. He took out the multifunctional pot he needed to brew the herbal medicines.

 He was making Blood Deblocking Powder to promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, unblock the meridians, and dredge collaterals.

 Ephedra, angelica, paeony, Panax notoginseng, Wuteng, Ziyu…

 The firewood was burning. The spring water was soon boiling. All kinds of herbs were added in one after another. The taste and color of the medicine soup were changing.

 w.a.n.g Yao sat quietly beside the medicine pot and added firewood from time to time. Time went by slowly as the medicine in the pot changed.

 All done!

 The herbal medicine was done. He placed it aside to wait for it to cool down.

 w.a.n.g Yao went into the next room. The man lying on the bed had pa.s.sed out. His breathing was considered stable. Two men were at his bedside.

 “He should stay here for a while and continue treatment,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “Alright, you wait here. I'll go and get the room ready,” Zhou Xiong said to the younger man next to him.

 “Yes, Uncle,” the young man said.

 Zhou Xiong went to prepare the place where they were going to stay. He had bought a house there but had not lived in it for a long time. It needed to be cleaned up.

 “You call him Uncle?” w.a.n.g Yao asked.

 “Yes, in terms of seniority, he is one generation older than me,” the man in his 30s said with a smile.

 “What about him?” w.a.n.g Yao pointed to the man lying in the bed.

 “He has to call him Uncle too. We are of the same generation,” the man said.

 “Oh,” w.a.n.g Yao replied.

 After chatting with the man, who was several years older than him, w.a.n.g Yao brought over the cooled-down medicine.

 “Come on, get him up. Be gentle,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 w.a.n.g Yao fed him a small bowl of Blood Deblocking Powder. About 20 minutes after taking the medicine, he began to ma.s.sage the patient with unique techniques to dredge his meridians and promote the absorption of the medicine. However, in those abdominal places where he was seriously injured, his technique was particularly gentle. Excessive force could cause his internal organs to be injured again.

 Mmph!

 The comatose man uttered a sound of pain.

 “Is he all right, Sir?” the man in his 30s asked.

 “The danger to his life has been lifted momentarily, but it will take some time for his body to recover,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “That's good,” the man said.

 After a while, Zhou Xiong returned.

 “Please wait for a moment, and I'll make more medicine for him,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “Thank you for your hard work, Sir,” Zhou Xiong said.

 For this medicine, w.a.n.g Yao was going to brew regathering soup to help speed up the recovery.

 While he was brewing the medicine in the next room. The comatose man woke up.

 “Uncle, Second Brother, where are we?” he asked.

 “We are at Dr. w.a.n.g's clinic,” Zhou Xiong said. “How do you feel?”

 “It still hurts terribly,” the injured man said.

 “Dr. w.a.n.g said that you are no longer in danger for the time being,” Zhou Xiong said. “What you need to do next is recuperate. I have gotten the place where we are going to stay ready. We will stay here for a while. We will leave when you are almost completely recovered.”

 “Alright, I'll have to trouble you guys then,” the injured man said.

 “We're all family, so you don't have to be so polite,” Zhou Xiong said. “As long as you can recover, all our hard work will be worth it.”

 “Is he awake?” w.a.n.g Yao entered the room with the brewed medicine in his hands.

 “How are you feeling?” he asked. “Does it hurt all over, especially in the chest and abdomen area?”

 “Ah, yes, like countless needles are p.r.i.c.king me,” the injured man said.

 “That is a normal reaction,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “Your meridians are severely damaged. If you want to recover, there has to be a process. The stasis in your body needs to be resolved and discharged. Come, drink this bowl of medicine.”

 This regathering soup could help speed up recovery but its efficacy was gentle.

 After drinking that bowl of medicine, the injured man rested for a while. Some other patients arrived at the clinic.

 “Alright, help him back to rest,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “I'll take the time to go come check on him. There's no need to come again.”

 “Yes, thank you for your hard work, Sir,” Zhou Xiong said.

 The slightly younger man left with the injured man on his back while Zhou Xiong supported him.

 The new patient was an old man in his 70s. He was accompanied by his son.

 “Dr. w.a.n.g, I'm so fl.u.s.tered that I can't sleep well,” the old man said.

 Recently, he had been in a state of fl.u.s.tered panic. He always felt as if he had left something undone. In fact, he had nothing to do. He could not sleep at night. He would always hear some noises outside. When he got up and went out to check, he would find nothing. As a result, he felt as if he had some heart problems. After going to the hospital for a checkup, he discovered that his heart was fine. His blood pressure was normal as well.

 There was nothing wrong with his body, but the symptoms kept persisting. The old man kept feeling suspicious. He suspected that his children were hiding something from him. When he heard about w.a.n.g Yao's extraordinary medical skills, he kept pressing and asking his son to take him to the clinic.

 “Alright, I'll take a look for you,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 w.a.n.g Yao found out the reason after he took his pulse.

 The old man's problem was in his head. His brain was shrinking, which had led to all his discomfort.

 The problem had been discovered, but it was difficult to treat. It was an illness common with the elderly. It was because of aging body parts, but the speed of the aging was abnormal. This kind of situation was not rare. In the later stage, when it was serious, it would cause serious amnesia and incontinence. After eating, the patient would think he had not eaten. He would forget where his home was after he had just left the door. This was the first time w.a.n.g Yao had encountered a case like this. There were no previous treatments to refer to. It was a challenge for him.

 “Alright, I know what this illness of yours is,” he said. “Please wait for a moment. I'll go get your medicine.”

 “Ah, sure,” the old man's son said.

 “Hey, my illness is not too serious, is it?” the old man asked.

 “It's not a big problem. If you take your medicine, you'll recover,” w.a.n.g Yao said with a smile.

 “That's good, that's good,” the old man happily said.

 “Come on, follow me to get the medicine.” w.a.n.g Yao waved to the man's son.

 “Doctor, what is my father's disease?” the middle-aged man asked in a low voice.

 “In layman terms, it's brain atrophy,” w.a.n.g Yao softly said, making sure his voice could only be heard by the middle-aged man in front of him.

 “What?” The middle-aged man was stunned. “Is that serious?”

 “It's not particularly serious, but it is just in the early stages,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “Will it be like the TV shows where in the later stages he will not be able to recognize anyone?” the man asked in a whisper. “Will he get lost when he leaves the house and be incontinent? Will he be able to take care of himself?”

 “If it becomes serious, those things will happen, but it will not happen for now,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “Will you be able to treat it here?” The man was stunned for a while before he asked. If it were to really turn into the way the TV shows portrayed it, it would be unthinkable.

 “Yes,” w.a.n.g Yao replied.

 “Re… Really?” The man felt unsure.

 “Of course, but the cost of treatment will be very high, so think it through,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “Are you not done yet?” The old man was a little impatient.

 “All done, all done,” w.a.n.g Yao called out. He quickly took out several herbs from the medicine box, weighed them, and packed them.

 “Is this medicine?” the middle-aged man asked.

 “It's for peace of mind so that he can sleep at night,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “Ah.” The man was frightened by w.a.n.g Yao's words. He was still thinking about the terrible consequences that might happen.

 “Take him back now,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “I need to prepare a special medicine to treat his disease.”

 “Alright,” the middle-aged man said.

 “Come back in two days,” w.a.n.g Yao said. “You don't have to bring the old man with you.”

 “Sure,” the middle-aged man said.

 The medicine didn't cost much money. The middle-aged man left with his father.

 Atrophy and degeneration…

 w.a.n.g Yao sat down and thought about the old man's condition.

 How do I delay the decline and aging of internal organs?

 Ordinary herbs would not make the cut. He needed to use magic herbs.

 Moonlight herb nourished the Yin and calmed the nerves, so it had to be added.

 Changyang and Happiness leaf nourished the vital organs and cleared the nine orifices, so they were also suitable herbs.

 He had to add an herb to connect meridians and collaterals, so he selected Ziyu.

 A main reason for the declining function of the body's internal organs and the emergence of diseases was that unsmooth channels and collaterals and the poorly flowing Qi and blood. That led to the decline of the body.

 He had to calm the mind, open the mind, and ensure smooth flowing channels.

 This was w.a.n.g Yao's initial idea for treatment. Generally speaking, there was no problem. Now, several other auxiliary herbs needed to be determined.

 The prescription had been fixed, so brewing the medicine and testing it was next.

 Ring! Ring! Buzzzz… His cellphone began ringing. Su Xiaoxue was calling.

 “h.e.l.lo, Xiaoxue,” w.a.n.g Yao said.

 “I heard from my older brother that elder sister is getting married,” Su Xiaoxue said.

 “Yes, on Oct. 1,” w.a.n.g Yao replied.

 “Why did you not tell me about such a big thing?” Su Xiaoxue asked.

 “Ah, I was afraid that you would be too busy studying so I didn't tell you,” w.a.n.g Yao said.