Chapter 599: Where Is Home?

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

Professor Wu kept saying it.

“You are too modest,” the Qi Provincial government leader said.

He knew he wasn’t modest. Thanks to the young man in the village, the crisis caused by the disease could be controlled in a short period of time. Without Wang Yao’s assistance, he didn’t know when this would have been over.

The Health Department held a party to celebrate the success. All the key personnel in the Health Department of the county, city, and province came to the party. Of course, the spotlight was on Professor Wu, the specialist from Beijing.

People were chatting and drinking happily at the dinner table. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party very much. Even Professor Wu’s two assistants received significant praise. After a few drinks, the two young men started to feel lightheaded. They couldn’t speak properly.

They often attended dinners and parties with their teacher and received flattery from the directors of big companies. It was different this time. As common folks, they were highly regarded by these senior officers from the local government. This made them feel better than liquor.

However, one person stayed calm throughout the party. He was the start of the party, Professor Wu. I have to speak to that young man!

He didn’t want anything that didn’t belong to him. He thought a lot that evening.

The clouds were accumulating in the sky. Wang Yao was looking up at the sky on Nanshan Hill.

It is going to rain tomorrow.

He then looked toward the west. Xishan Hill was not far from Nanshan Hill. It just stood there quietly. It was a bit higher than Nanshan Hill. The highest hill surrounding the village was to the north. The next highest was Xishan Hill. Nanshan was actually the lowest.

I can’t see anything.

Given his current capacity, he still couldn’t see the difference between Xishan Hill and the other hills. As for the so-called deadly aura, he couldn’t feel it from Nanshan Hill.

Never mind! Wang Yao turned the light off since it was getting late.

It started to rain the next morning. Regardless of the weather, Wang Yao had a visitor.

Although the method of treating the horrible disease had been found with Wang Yao’s assistance, and the decoctions were in production, the village was still in a state of siege. The alarm wouldn’t be taken off for a while.

“Hey, isn’t he the specialist from Beijing?” A villager recognized the visitor.

“Yes, he’s been here a number of times,” another villager said.

“I heard he found the way to treat the disease. People from Beijing are really different,” the first villager said.

“Exactly. They threw a party for him last night in the city,” the other villager said.

“What is he doing here on a rainy day?” the first villager asked.

Knowing that the doctors had found a way to treat the disease, the police and medical officers in the village were no longer as nervous as before. No matter how horrible the disease was, as long as there was a way to cure it, it wouldn’t be that bad.

“Hey, I heard something from someone,” a middle-aged villager said.

“What?” his neighbor asked..

“The local government gave him $1 million as a reward,” the middle-aged villager said.

“Are you serious?” his neighbor asked.

Professor Wu didn’t hear their conversation. He went straight to Wang Yao’s clinic and knocked on the door.

“Please come in,” Wang Yao said.

He had received a call from Professor Wu in the morning, so he had been waiting in the clinic.

“Hello, Professor Wu,” Wang Yao said.

“Hello, Dr. Wang,” Professor Wu said.

Wang Yao began brewing a pot of tea.

“Thank you for the formula and herbs. They’ve started to grow the herbs in large scale,” Professor Wu said.

“Great,” Wang Yao said.

“The key is the formula. I’ve received an offer to purchase the formula,” Professor Wu said. “However, no one knows you provided the formula. I’ve made an application on your behalf.”

He didn’t go into details. Actually, he had applied for a patent under Wang Yao’s name.

“I’m ready to tell everyone the formula is from you,” Professor Wu said.

“Just announce that the formula is created by both of us,” Wang Yao said.

“No, I did nothing to create the formula,” Professor Wu said.

“You helped test and promote the formula,” Wang Yao said with a smile. He knew Professor Wu was a person with a conscience.

“That was nothing,” Professor Wu said.

“Anyway, I prefer you not to mention my name,” Wang Yao said.

“OK,” Professor Wu said.

“You don’t look well. It seems you haven’t had a good sleep for some time. I guess you’ve been working too hard for this disease,” Wang Yao said.

Professor Wu looked exhausted. When a person was tired, they could easily get attacked by a virus or bacteria and become ill.

“You are right,” Professor Wu said.

“You need to look after yourself. Have some tea,” Wang Yao said.

“Thank you,” Professor Wu said.

The tea tasted really good. Professor Wu felt very comfortable after drinking it. The tea seemed to have driven his exhaustion away.

“Where did you learn medicine?” Professor Wu asked.

“God.” Wang Yao pointed to the sky with a smile.

Professor Wu laughed.

They chatted for a long while.

“I would invite you for dinner if our village was not in quarantine,” Wang Yao said.

“Never mind,” Professor Wu said. “You can also come to Beijing.”

It was still raining when Professor Wu left the clinic.

Wang Yao’s parent asked Wang Yao about the disease during lunch.

“I heard the specialist from Beijing has created a medication to treat the disease,” Zhang Xiuying said.

“Hmm, the medication was actually created by your son,” Wang Yao said.

“Really?” Zhang Xiuying asked.

“Of course,” Wang Yao said.

“Did it work?” Wang Fenghua asked.

“Yeah,” Wang Yao said.

“Good. That’s good.” Wang Fenghua smiled and lit a cigarette.

…

In Dali, the Han brothers were going to visit the King Pharmacist for the fourth time.

“Bro, how do you feel?” Han Zhigao asked.

“I’m fine with the trip.” The youngest brother was able to speak well inside the wrap.

“Let’s go then,” Han Zhigao said.

“OK,” the sick brother said.

A few hours later, they arrived at the small village in south Yunnan and saw the King Pharmacist. He hadn’t changed. He looked serious as he stared at Han Zhigao and his brother.

I wish I didn’t have to meet this man anymore, Han Zhigao thought.

“Jian, come here,” the King Pharmacist said.

“Yes, Master,” Jian said.

It was still Jian who applied the decoction on the sick brother. He gently removed the gauze so that the skin was exposed. A large amount of scar tissue dropped off. Everyone could see new skin on some part of the body.

The brothers were thrilled to see the change in their youngest brother.

Jian moved slowly to apply three big jars of ointment onto the youngest brother’s body. He then wrapped his body with special gauze.

“Come back in 20 days,” the King Pharmacist said.

“Sure, thank you,” Han Zhigao said.

“Wait, I need to ask you something.” The brothers were stopped by the King Pharmacist as they were about to walk out.

“Sure,” Han Xing said.

“Where is the person who made the three decoctions?” the King Pharmacist asked.

“Well, he’s from Qi Province up north,” Han Xing said.

“Qi Province?” The King Pharmacist frowned. He had lived in Yunnan for decades. Although he had traveled, he had never been north. “Never mind, off you go.”

“OK. Goodbye for now.” Han Xing and his brothers quickly walked out of the building.

“Master, do you want to meet that person?” Jian asked after the brothers left.

“Yes,” the King Pharmacist said. “I have studied the three decoctions for nearly a month, but I still can’t figure out their components.”

“I can ask my colleagues to look into it,” Jian said.

“OK. I haven’t come across anything so interesting in a long time,” the King Pharmacist said with a smile. A person who didn’t have a counterpart often felt lonely.

…

Time passed quickly. It was just a blink of the eye from winter to spring. The trees had turned green, and the flowers were blooming. Spring brought life to the earth.

The test of Wang Yao’s decoction was successful in Lianshan People’s Hospital, especially to those who were at the initial stage of the disease.

Professor Wu had said something unexpectedly during a media interview. He said the formula, which could cure the disease, was not developed by him. It was developed by a traditional Chinese Pharmacist whose surname was Wang.

People watching the interview had no idea what a traditional Chinese Pharmacist was or this Wang person was. However, some people knew what Professor Wu was talking about, like the villagers who watched the interview by accident.

“A traditional Chinese Pharmacist whose surname is Wang? Is he talking about Fenghua’s son, Yao?” a villager wondered.

Since the antidote was in production, quarantine was no longer strict in the village. However, there were still policemen around. It was arranged by the government from the city and county. Although the antidote had been developed, the disease was highly contagious and the death rate was still high, so people were still cautious.

One day, Professor Wu came to the village. “I’m here to say goodbye.”

“You are going back to Beijing?” Wang Yao asked.

“Yes. I think things are getting better here. I’ve got other business to attend to,” Professor Wu said.

He stayed in the clinic for a long while having a good chat with Wang Yao. They talked about medicine, as well as other things.

“I didn’t expect you to be so acknowledged as a young doctor,” Professor Wu said.

One could often get the whole picture by seeing only one spot. Professor Wu could get a good idea of Wang Yao’s expertise and medical skills just by discussing a medical case with him.

“When will this place stop being a quarantine?” Wang Yao asked.

“At least a month. Sorry. I can’t make a decision on that,” Professor Wu said.

“I don’t like going out anyway. I just don’t want the villagers to think too much,” Wang Yao said.

He was afraid there would be more people leaving the village after the quarantine was over. He knew the construction of the apartments developed by Sun Zhengrong’s company were almost finished. A number of people already wanted to move out. The crisis this time had caused more than 10 deaths in a village with a small population. Wang Yao didn’t think many people would want to continue living in the village.

This small village, which used to be safe and quiet, could no longer offer a sense of security to its residents. It was barely their home anymore. Plus, not many people had a strong attachment to their hometowns anymore.

People became more cowardly when they were close to their hometown because they didn’t have to miss their family so much. However, young people nowadays didn’t really care about family.

Time passed by as the villagers continued to be anxious about their future.

Meanwhile, more people were found to be infected and sent to the People’s Hospital in town. In addition to humans, some rabbits, sheep, and dogs were also infected. It seemed like the whole village was about to get infected.

“Can we move all the residents out of the village?” one of the town leaders suggested. “Of course, I’m talking about those who haven’t been infected.”

“It’s gonna be a huge task,” another leader said.

They had to find a suitable place to accommodate all the residents of the village. Since there were a lot of people involved, they had to build temporary accommodations for them. It would take a long time to get those things done.

“We need to think about it,” the leader said.

They needed to further discuss the issue. However, the villagers had started to take action and butcher and burn life stock. They wouldn’t have done that in the past. Life stock meant money to them. Now, they wouldn’t take any risks. If they got bit by an animal, they would have to go to the hospital. The worst case scenario was they could die. Money was nothing compared to life.

“Aye!’ The villagers felt hopeless and sad.

There were too many uncertainties. They were depressed. A lot of people got sick with either a headache or diarrhea. Some of them couldn’t sleep at night.

They couldn’t get out of the village, so they all went to see Wang Yao.

He was very patient. He saw them one by one and provided effective treatment. He knew all these health issues were caused by emotional distress.