Chapter 118 — A Master Physician

When the middle-aged man saw his wife kicking up such a scene, he nearly choked with rage. They had gone to no small trouble to find a specialist who could treat his father's illness, and now she had shouted and offended the man beyond repair. Was Guan Xuemin an ordinary doctor? Double the consultation fee — as if the man were short of money?

The middle-aged man stamped his feet in fury, swung his arm wide, and slapped the woman across the face. "Huiru, shut your mouth!"

Huiru was struck senseless. She covered her cheek and stared blankly at her husband, but he paid her no heed at all; he strode quickly after Guan Xuemin. "Elder Guan, please don't hold it against a woman's foolishness. Don't be angry — surely we can talk this over..."

This middle-aged couple were the very pair Wei Zhao had encountered in the commercial district: the man was Liu Tianyi, the woman Wu Huiru.

Guan Xuemin had only been somewhat annoyed. Hearing Liu Tianyi's words, he found them reasonable enough — there was no need to lower himself to the level of a shrew. The patient came first. So he stopped, turned, and came back.

"I'll stay here. Tianyi, you and the others go back to Yanjing." It was Old Liu who spoke. He did not so much as glance at Huiru; clearly he too was disappointed in his daughter-in-law.

"Father, you by yourself..." Liu Tianyi looked at him with some worry.

"It's fine. You go back and see to your business. This old man could use a little leisure — call it a holiday. In a while, rent me a house near here; I'll stay. It's close to Professor Guan, and the surroundings are pleasant." Old Liu smiled and waved his hand.

"Well... all right." Liu Tianyi knew that once his father made up his mind, no one could change it; he could only carry it out. He took out his phone and dialed a number. "Principal Zhang? This is Liu Tianyi. My father has decided to stay at the university. Would you arrange a house for me close to Elder Guan's home... Good, I'll wait for your word."

Yang Huaijun, standing to one side, had been quietly speculating about the identity of the old man and the middle-aged couple. Now, hearing the call, he marveled inwardly all the more. This Principal Zhang must be the president of Songshan Medical and Pharmaceutical University, and a single phone call from Liu Tianyi could get him to arrange a house near Guan Xuemin's — that was no small thing.

After all, everyone who lived in this villa district was at least a department head. Guan Xuemin's neighborhood in particular was a high-end villa area. If Liu Tianyi were not someone of special standing, the principal would hardly go to the trouble of finding him a house.

Having settled Old Liu's affairs, Guan Xuemin turned to Yang Huaijun. "Yang, you're here. Sit down for now. Once things are wrapped up here, we'll talk. Watch some TV or go online, whatever you like."

"All right, Grandpa Guan. Don't mind me — go ahead." Yang Huaijun was already well acquainted with Guan Xuemin and stood on no ceremony. He sat down before the television, flipped to a channel at random, and began watching.

Guan Xuemin, for his part, laid out Old Liu's treatment plan: the acupuncture would begin the next day. Liu Tianyi made ready to take his father and leave.

"By the way, Elder Guan, do you know a young doctor who is remarkably skilled at massage and tuina? He must be a practitioner of Chinese medicine too, I imagine?" Liu Tianyi suddenly thought of Wei Zhao. In his view, Wei Zhao's massage technique was superb; if it were combined with acupuncture, the results would surely be even more pronounced.

Wei Zhao's miraculous massage had left a deep impression on Liu Tianyi. Truly, as the saying goes, ambition does not depend on age.

"Remarkably skilled at tuina and massage?" Guan Xuemin was slightly taken aback. "You mean Chinese medical massage?"

"I believe so..." Liu Tianyi nodded. "The day before yesterday, when we first arrived, we were strolling in the commercial district when my father suddenly fell ill. We had no medicine with us, and just at the critical moment a doctor performed massage and tuina on my father, and he recovered very quickly..."

"Massage? He cured angina with nothing but massage?" Guan Xuemin was all the more astonished. He knew that Chinese medicine was a wondrous discipline — truly a field in which one learns until one dies. Even though he enjoyed fame at home and abroad, Guan Xuemin was well aware that he had only glimpsed the threshold of Chinese medicine's profundity; mastery was still far off.

But he knew even better that angina could not be resolved by massage alone. Acupuncture might possibly bring it under control — the odds were not great, but there was hope. Even he himself would use Western medication for the emergency, and only after the patient had recovered would he use acupuncture to keep the condition in check.

"Yes, he massaged him just a few times, and my father gradually recovered..." Seeing Guan Xuemin's astonished expression, Liu Tianyi felt a chill at heart. He knew nothing of Chinese medicine, but from Guan Xuemin's face he understood just how extraordinary that doctor's skill had been — even Guan Xuemin could scarcely believe it.

"How is that possible..." Guan Xuemin knit his brows. "Tuina massage, with such miraculous effects? Did he use no other means?"

"None. I was right there beside him. And he only happened to be passing by — if he hadn't known the young woman who was driving... I doubt he would have troubled himself at all..." Here Liu Tianyi flushed with embarrassment and shot his wife a venomous glare. If not for the Wu family, he would have divorced this wife long ago. She was utterly humiliating — a thoroughly unreasonable shrew. He had no idea what sort of upbringing she'd had.

Fortunately, Guan Xuemin cared about nothing beyond the massage. Hearing Liu Tianyi's words, he mused for a moment. "Chinese medicine is vast and profound. I once read in a medical text that in ancient times there were those who treated illness by combining qigong with massage, and that such effects could indeed be achieved. But the technique has long since been lost... I cannot say for certain whether the man you describe knows it..."

"Oh? If that's so, then isn't this man quite formidable?" Liu Tianyi felt some regret. Had he known the young man possessed such wondrous skill, how could he have let him go? He would have begged him, if need be, to ask whether there was any hope of curing his father's illness. But he had not known at the time. Ah...

"If everything you say is true, then this man's medical skill may well surpass my own... But when did such a formidable Chinese physician come to Songshan City? How is it I never heard of him?" Guan Xuemin searched his memory for any such talent among his acquaintances, but to his regret there was none — he had not even heard the name.

"A young man of about twenty, somewhat lean, but with very proper bearing..." Liu Tianyi carefully recalled Wei Zhao's appearance at the time.