Medical Master

“Don’t worry. What I’m doing is what I like and enjoy the most, so I wouldn’t feel tired at all,” Zhao Shanlin immediately said with a smile after hearing Fang Qiu’s words.

“Though you enjoy working, you must get enough rest and stay healthy,” said Fang Qiu with a smile.

“All right.”

Zhao Shanlin looked at the people who were opening the land up and said, “I will study this book carefully. Even if I have to risk my life, I will definitely help you complete this great plan!”

“Well, as for the plan, we can take it slow. Your health is what concerned me the most. We still have time. There’s no hurry.” Fang Qiu comforted him.

“Alright. I’ll go and help them first.”

As soon as Zhao Shanlin said that, he couldn’t help rushing forward again and working with everyone.

Fang Qiu went to find Zhu Benzheng and his two companions. He told them to take good care of Zhao Shanlin and not to exhaust him. The three men knew well that they should take good care of Zhao Shanlin without needing Fang Qiu to tell them. After all, they were Zhao Shanlin’s students when they were still in the school.

After making all the arrangements, Fang Qiu was ready to leave the village.

Everything here was on the right track, and there was nothing that needed his help, so he decided to leave.

Moreover, it was time to carry out his third plan.

But before he left the village, he had one more thing to do.

That was to ask Old Yang to leave the village and use his medical skills in the outside world.

After going down the mountain and returning to Leprosy Village, Fang Qiu went to Old Yang’s room, a place he was very familiar with. When he arrived, the class happened to be over.

“Hello, Mr. Yang.”

Fang Qiu went straight to Old Yang, who was sitting in his seat. He reached out his hand to him.

“Did you learn my surname from the Village Chief?” asked Old Yang with a smile.

“No.”

Fang Qiu shook his head and said, “I learned it from a friend of mine.”

“Oh?”

Old Yang was stunned and asked, “I don’t know many people in my life. Are you sure that you didn’t mistake me for the person your friend mentioned?”

“Yes.”

Fang Qiu nodded with a smile and said, “My friend’s name is Lin Yu!”

“Lin Yu?”

Old Yang was stunned for a moment. The young man who went up the mountain to contract the virus several days ago, stayed in the village with him, and came up with a method to cure the infected people, appeared in his mind.

He vaguely remembered that one day when they were chatting in this room, that young man told him that his name was Lin Yu.

Thinking of this, Old Yang immediately laughed and said, “Did he ask you to come here?”

Fang Qiu nodded and said, “Yes. He was the one who told me about the situation here. He also told me that there were dendrobes and that the people here needed help. So I came.”

“I see,” Old Yang immediately smiled with relief and said. “He did what he promised, and he didn’t let me down. He is a good man and good doctor.”

“But he told me that you’re a good doctor. To cure the disease, you got yourself infected and stayed here for forty years to take care of the patients. You’re really a good doctor,” said Fang Qiu.

“He actually told you so much about me.”

Old Yang shook his head and smiled.

He was not angry when he said those words. On the contrary, he thought that Lin Yu told Fang Qiu so much about him just because Lin Yu trusted Fang Qiu.

Besides, he had seen everything Fang Qiu did for the village. Thus, he had a particularly good impression of Fang Qiu.

“Mr. Yang, actually, I came to you because I hope that you can promise me something,” Fang Qiu said with a smile.

“What is it?” asked Old Yang.

“I hope that you can leave the village and use your medical skills in the outside world.”

Fang Qiu continued, “Lin Yu told me that you refused to leave the village because you wanted to teach the children here about medicine. But it would be a waste of your medical skills if you stay here.”

“Since Lin Yu had told you about it, I won’t repeat it,” Old Yang shook his head and said. “I really appreciate what you did for the village. But stop inviting me to leave the village.”

“Please don’t get angry, Mr. Yang. I have my own reason for asking you to leave the village. Could you please allow me to finish my words first?” asked Fang Qiu.

“Okay, go ahead.”

Old Yang gave a wry smile.

Fang Qiu was being too polite to him, so polite that he felt he must allow him to finish his words though he didn’t want to leave the village.

“I know you’re concerned about the children in the village and want to teach them about medicine. But have you ever thought that you would be able to teach more people about medicine if you leave the village? If you’re worried about the children, you can take them with you to the outside world so that they can see what the outside world is like and learn some modern knowledge. More and more people would come to this place with the continuing development of the village, and the villagers would be able to know more things. But what you could teach them is just medical skills, instead of modern technologies and other modern knowledge. So even if they could master all your medical skills, they would not be able to adapt to the modern world.”

Fang Qiu paused for a moment and asked, “Do you really want that to happen?”

Hearing that, Old Yang smiled.

“I don’t think it will become a problem. Since the village has begun to develop, it would definitely be able to keep up with the development of the modern world someday, though it may take a rather long time. The children are still young, and when they grow older, schools may be established in the village. They could even go to the urban areas in the counties and cities to study in the schools there. So you didn’t have to worry about that,” he said.

“Children in modern times would go to school at a young age. The children in the cities would go to school at the age of six. However, among the children in the village, the younger ones are about six or seven years old while the older ones are about ten years old. They have already been left behind by the children in the cities. If they couldn’t attend a school now, the gap between them and the children in the cities would grow bigger and bigger.”

Speaking of this, Fang Qiu smiled and continued, “Of course, this is just one of the reasons for my asking you to leave the village. The most important thing is, are you really willing to stay here for the rest of your life?”

“Yes,” Old Yang replied with a smile.

“You’re an outstanding doctor with superb medical skills. Yet, you achieved nothing during the years you stayed in the village. The prime of your life has been short. Are you really willing to stay here for the rest of your life?” Fang Qiu asked.

Old Yang was taken aback.

Ever since he became a highly-skilled doctor, he had spent almost all his time treating the patients in the village. He had only spent a few months treating his wife.

Did he learn all those medical skills just for them to be wasted like this?

“I’m getting old.”

Although Old Yang was moved by Fang Qiu’s words, he still shook his head and said, “It’s impossible for me to leave the village.”

“In that case, I won’t try to persuade you anymore.”

Fang Qiu gave a wry smile and added, “How about this? You leave the village with me for just ten days. I’ll take you to the university where I study, and could you please give lectures to the students in that university in those ten days?”

“Well…”

Old Yang hesitated.

“Chinese Medicine has developed very well recently in Huaxia, and it has become famous internationally. As far as I know, you’re a practitioner of Miao medicine, which has declined in the outside world. There is no major such as Miao medicine in regular schools, and most people who claimed themselves to be Miao Doctors are just swindlers. Could you bear to see those swindlers ruin the reputation of Miao medicine?” Fang Qiu asked again.

“Okay, I’ll go with you,” Old Yang no longer hesitated and replied directly. “But just for ten days. I’ll show the people in the outside world what the real Miao medicine is like, and then I’ll come back.”

“Okay.” Fang Qiu nodded with a smile.

“In addition, I hope to take the children in the village with me.

“You’re right. They were born in this poor village, which caused them to be left behind by the children in the cities. They have never left the village even once since they were born, so I want to take them with me to see what the modern world is like, and I want to see it for myself as well.”

“No problem.”

Fang Qiu nodded at once and said, “Now pack up, and we can leave.”

Old Yang went to find the children’s parents and gained their consent before he left the village with those children and Fang Qiu. They headed for the city by car.

Along the way, Old Yang kept looking out of the window to enjoy the scenery just like those children. However, his eyes were bleared, giving a sense of vicissitudes, while those children’s eyes were full of curiosity.

“The world outside has already changed so much?”

Old Yang had all kinds of feelings along the way.

“Mr. Yang, what is this?”

“Brother Fang, what’s this?”

“What is that?”

The children kept asking questions while enjoying the scenery outside the window and chatting with each other and laughing.

Soon, they arrived in the urban area of the city.

The children became a little timid and hid behind Fang Qiu and Old Yang. They looked even more scared when they came to a crowded place. Old Yang kept looking around and when he saw those towering buildings, he was stunned.

The world outside had changed a lot from what he could remember.

Fang Qiu first took Old Yang and the children to buy some clothes and suitcases for them. Then, he dressed them up. When he was booking flight tickets on his mobile phone, he noticed that the children, who had been playing around, suddenly became quiet. He turned around and looked at them, only to find that they were staring at a man who was eating instant noodles on the side of the road. The children kept sniffing the noodle smile in the air and swallowed their throats.

Seeing that the children were timidly suppressing their desire for the noodles, Fang Qiu was heartbroken.

He hurriedly took Old Yang and the children to eat delicious food.

Although Old Yang didn’t eat much, he was very happy. The children got food all over their faces while eating and even grabbed the food with their hands instead of using chopsticks.

Fang Qiu didn’t stop them.

He knew that those children couldn’t behave in such a naive way for long because they would learn table manners gradually. After they learned table manners, it would be hard to make them eat in such a way.

After the meal, Fang Qiu took Old Yang and the children to the airport. When he was about to buy flight tickets, he was suddenly stunned.

Old Yang and the children hadn’t gone through the household registration procedures!

So how was Fang Qiu going to buy tickets for them?