140 Internal Qi was Like Running River, Achieving the Great by Doing Little (1/2)
After Wang Yao had finished preparing the herbs, he went out to practice Tai Chi in a seated position. He leaned against the wall and looked at the sky.
Lianshan was not an industrial city. So the air was nice and clean, and the sky always looked high and far.
Wang Yao had learned something from looking at the sky every night. He could predict the weather of the next day by observing the sky. He found the position of stars contained a lot of secrets, which were worth to observe and study.
Wang Yao didn't go to sleep until the middle of the night. It was so quiet on Nanshan hill. Only the sound of wind could be heard.
Wang Yao got up before dawn the next day. He had a lot to do during the day.
After he had had breakfast, completed breathing exercises, and finished working in the herbal field, the sun was high up in the sky.
It was a nice day. The time was right, the land was fertile, and Wang Yao was ready. It was the perfect time to brew decoction.
Wang Yao made sure he had enough firewood before starting to brew a decoction. He also called his family to tell them that he wouldn't go home for lunch.
”San Xian, I'm about to brew a decoction; don't let anyone in!” shouted Wang Yao.
Woof! Woof! Woof! San Xian barked to accept Wang Yao's instruction and then went on patrol.
Wang Yao started to brew the decoction inside his cottage.
He started a fire, put herbs inside the multifunctional pot, and adjusted the fire accordingly.
As said on TV, the taste of food depended on a cook's experience in ingredients and cooking. It could apply to brewing decoctions, too. Brewing
decoctions involved a lot of factors, including the person's ability to control
the time and fire.
The smell of herbs started to come out of the cottage from 9 am and didn't stop until the afternoon.
Wang Fengming's illness was the most serious among all three patients. Therefore, he required a large number of herbs, and it took much longer to brew the decoction for him. Professor Lu's condition was not too bad, so he didn't need a lot of herbs, and the process of brewing a decoction for him was easy. But, Wang Yao was serious about every single step of brewing decoctions from the beginning to the end.
When Wang Yao had completed brewing all the decoctions and walked out of his cottage to rest, it was late afternoon. The sun became red and was no longer shiny.
Because Wang Yao was going to meet Tong Wei in town the next day, he didn't deliver the decoctions to his patients in town immediately.
Wang Fengming had already felt much better after taking the first dose of decoction Wang Yao gave to him. His spirits had lifted, and his eyes were brighter. Wang Fengming and his wife were very touched when Wang Yao gave them another two doses and insisted that Wang Yao should stay for dinner.
”Sorry, I have to go now. I'm meeting someone in town. Make sure you and auntie rest well,” said Wang Yao.
”Okay, thank you. Let me know if you need anything,” said Wang Fengming.
”Sure, thanks,” said Wang Yao.
Wang Yao drove out of the village after he had delivered the decoction to Wang Fengming. He then drove to Riverside Town, which was located to the southeast of Lianshan to deliver a decoction to Xu Maosheng. It was a twenty minutes' drive for Wang Yao. Xu Maosheng and his wife were both at home when
Wang Yao arrived. Xu Maosheng stopped cooking tea leaves and came out to
welcome Wang Yao.
”Here is the decoction for your wife. After taking two doses, make sure she rests well, and she should be able to recover,” said Wang Yao.
”Thank you for coming here. You could have asked me to fetch it from your place,” said Xu Maosheng.
”That's fine, I like driving anyway,” said Wang Yao with a smile.
Xu Maosheng finished drinking a large glass of water as he was talking to Wang Yao.
”Uncle Xu, don't spend too much time cooking tea leaves from now on,” said Wang Yao. He noticed the redness in Xu Maosheng's eyes and his warm, heavy breathing.
Xu Maosheng had to be very close to the fire when he was cooking tea leaves. He had toxins in his body from the fire and smoke due to years of
processing tea leaves. Only young and healthy adults could resist the smoke
toxins. Xu Maosheng was strong, but he was not young anymore. His health
started to go downhill, and his immune system was no longer functioning well. Fortunately, he loved drinking green tea, which could resolve the toxins a bit.
The tea leaves cooked by fire could resolve toxins caused by fire. How magical that was!
”You are right, and I don't have the energy to work as hard as before,” said Xu Maosheng. He knew he was getting old and felt tired easily when he was cooking tea leaves. He took a whole day off to rest after cooking half a kilogram of tea leaves for Wang Yao.
”You can drink more tea,” suggested Wang Yao.
”I never stop drinking tea. I've got plenty of tea leaves at home,” said Xu Maosheng with a smile.
Wang Yao didn't stay long at Xu Maosheng's place. He drove back to Lianshan afterwards and called Tian Yuantu on his way.
Tian Yuantu insisted that Wang Yao stay after they met.
”Don't leave, let's have dinner together. Ask Mingbao if he's available. I'll call Professor Lu,” said Tian Yuantu.
”Okay,” agreed Wang Yao.
Tian Yuantu picked the same restaurant where he invited Secretary Yang for dinner last time. The restaurant was located on a quiet road. Apart from Wang Mingbao and Li Maoshuang, Tian Yuantu also invited a deputy chief of some bureau.
Wang Yao was not keen on dining with anyone from the local government. But, he found Wang Mingbao was very happy to get the opportunity to
sit with the deputy chief. After all, Wang Mingbao was a businessman. It would bring him potential business if he knew more people from the local government. Li Maoshuang had changed a lot. He no longer drank a lot of alcohol like before. He only had one glass of wine.
Wang Yao was happily chatting with Professor Lu. Professor Lu was in good spirits, especially after Wang Yao had given him a dose of herbal decoction for free.
They said goodbye to each other after dinner.
Tian Yuantu stopped Wang Yao.
”Are you available tomorrow?” asked Tian Yuantu.