Urban Super Medical Saint

The next day was Sunday. Ge Dongxu wrapped the millennium wild Polygonum multiflorum in a plastic bag, put it in his backpack, and then, as usual, took the rural-urban bus back to Changxi County's Songyang Town in the afternoon.

However, after returning to Songyang Town, Ge Dongxu didn't go back to Cheng Le Hao's home but went straight to the train station. After buying a train ticket to Linzhou City in Jiangnan Province, he had a quick dinner near the train station. Around eight o'clock in the evening, Ge Dongxu boarded the train.

There were no bullet trains or high-speed trains yet, just a regular train that took a full twelve hours from Songyang Town to Linzhou City.

This meant that Ge Dongxu would not arrive in Linzhou City, the provincial capital, until eight o'clock the next morning.

Having never ventured further than Changxi County's Songyang Town, Ge Dongxu had never even visited Ouzhou City, the administrative city a level above Changxi. And now, he was about to take a train alone to Linzhou City in Jiangnan Province. It would be a lie to say Ge Dongxu wasn't nervous; after all, he was only a sixteen-year-old youth. In fact, this was his first time taking a train.

Luckily, Ge Dongxu had a strong psychological constitution and quickly steadied his nerves, starting to look around the train.

The night train didn't have many passengers. The seat beside him was empty, and across from him, there was a young couple whispering and embracing, clearly in the throes of love.

Although the young couple seemed unbothered, Ge Dongxu wasn't accustomed to watching them embrace so freely, and since there was no scenery to appreciate outside in the late evening, he decided to rest with his eyes closed, hugging his backpack containing the millennium wild Polygonum multiflorum.

The train would stop at each station, and people were constantly getting on and off. Eventually, the young couple across from him disembarked, and others took their place, but Ge Dongxu paid them no attention.

After all, everyone was just a stranger, and it was the middle of the night. Besides, Ge Dongxu was just a youth, not a great beauty or a handsome guy, so no one was interested in striking up a conversation with him.

Ge Dongxu enjoyed the quiet and even quietly circulated the True Qi inside his body to cultivate during the Chinese Hour of the Rat, but the effects were exceedingly poor. Eventually, he gave up and simply closed his eyes to sleep, as he needed to maintain his energy and spirit for selling the herbs at Yongchun Hall the next day.

However, due to his preoccupation with the millennium wild Polygonum multiflorum and being on a train, Ge Dongxu's sleep was intermittent at best. By around five o'clock in the morning, he had completely lost the desire to sleep, as this was the time he usually did his morning exercises.

At around a quarter to seven o'clock, the train arrived at a station in Kuiji City, which was next to Linzhou City.

At this point, the number of passengers clearly increased. Initially, two women with a child boarded from Kuiji City and sat opposite Ge Dongxu. Soon after, a man came and sat beside him.

One of the women opposite him looked quite young, probably not yet thirty, while the other was a bit older, around sixty years old. The child was cradled in the younger woman's arms, looking a bit over a year old. Normally, a child of this age should be chubby and cute. However, the child in front of him seemed listless and thin, with a slightly swollen abdomen, giving the appearance of being sickly. The young mother would hug the child tightly with a tender, heartbroken look and occasionally kissed his forehead. The older woman beside her would cough from time to time and even seemed to have difficulty breathing.

The man sitting beside Ge Dongxu appeared to be in his fifties, but Ge Dongxu's intuition told him he was probably older than that. The man had a lean face and a vigorous spirit, displaying a refined and scholarly temperament, which easily garnered a sense of affinity.

"Madam, is your child ill?" the man asked as soon as he boarded the vehicle, occasionally glancing at the child in the young woman's arms. Finally, he seemed unable to resist any longer and spoke up.

"Yes! My child has been lacking appetite lately, sleeping poorly, and constantly crying. It's been very distressing," the young woman replied, nodding her head.

"I see, if you don't mind, may I take a look?" said the man. Afterward, realizing how abrupt his offer may have sounded, he quickly followed up with a reassuring smile and explained, "Please don't misunderstand, I am a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, and this is my business card. It breaks my heart to see a sick child, and one shouldn't delay in such matters, so I took the liberty of offering my help. Of course, I'll just take a look—if you trust me, I can offer some treatment advice. Naturally, since we've met by fate, I wouldn't charge you."

The young woman and the older woman were initially wary upon hearing the man's offer to examine the child, as cases of child abduction and trafficking were not uncommon and one must always be cautious. However, after hearing his explanation, their expressions visibly relaxed. The younger woman even smiled apologetically as she took his business card.

A quick glance at the business card, and the young woman immediately exclaimed with delight, "So you're the esteemed Professor from Jiangnan Province's University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. That's wonderful, we're actually traveling to the provincial capital to seek out a reputable traditional medicine expert. You know, Western medicine is effective for things like colds and fevers, but for a condition like my child's, they don't have many answers. We consulted several practitioners in Kuiji City, but to no avail, and that's why we decided to look for a specialist in the provincial capital."

"So you're Professor Tang Yiyuan! I've heard of your great reputation, and I didn't expect you to look so young," the older woman chimed in with excitement when she heard that the man was an expert from the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Jiangnan Province. She eagerly leaned in to look at the business card in the younger woman's hand, her face alight with enthusiasm.

"Heh, you flatter me too much, big sister," said Professor Tang Yiyuan, who couldn't help feeling a little smug at the woman's praise and comment on his youthfulness, yet he quickly responded with modesty.

"Yes, the weather has gotten much colder recently, and worrying about my grandson has made it hard to sleep, so my asthma has started acting up again," the older woman said in response.

"Well, I'll take a look at you too in a bit," Professor Tang Yiyuan said with a smile.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Oh, thank you so much! But my condition is chronic; it's hard to treat," the older woman replied, full of gratitude.

"Asthma is indeed a difficult disease to cure completely, but that doesn't mean it's untreatable. Don't lose hope. Let me first take a look at your grandson," Professor Tang Yiyuan reassured her.

"Thank you, Professor Tang. We really appreciate your help," the two women said, overwhelmed with gratitude.

"Don't mention it," Professor Tang Yiyuan replied politely, then asked the young woman to hand him the child. However, as soon as the child left his mother's arms, he started to cry, so Professor Tang Yiyuan had no choice but to let the young woman hold him while he examined the child.

Professor Tang Yiyuan first took the child's pulse and then expended quite some effort examining his tongue coating, which wasn't easy with a small child who wouldn't stick out his tongue on command, unlike an adult, causing quite a bit of a fuss.

ps: In the wee hours, an urge to write suddenly came over me. I once wondered if many readers would laugh at my old-fashioned ways, but what I received was nothing but encouragement and support. I am at a loss for words and can only strive to keep writing, to do my best in crafting this book, as perhaps that is all I can do.