Merchant and doctor

Chapter 2229 Memories of Midwinter
The greatest advantage of modern Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) lies in its complementary internal techniques. True TCM masters do not rely solely on one or a few conventional top-level medical skills to treat patients. They learn as much as possible about all aspects of TCM techniques and continuously improve through daily clinical practice. If certain conditions are not ideal, they can take a step back and use other TCM treatment methods to create a "combination punch," formulating a practical and highly targeted comprehensive treatment plan that is still effective!
In a short time, Bian Mu certainly couldn't gather a complete cauldron of the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) to combine. Faced with patients with more serious and difficult-to-treat illnesses, Bian Mu had no choice but to fully utilize other treatment methods and devote himself to research, constantly adjusting the treatment plans in a targeted manner. Gradually, the special patients under his care began to improve, getting better day by day...

……

That morning, just past 10 o'clock, Bian Mu had just finished writing a prescription for a female teacher patient and was about to ask his intern, Xiao Fan, to deliver it to her when he looked up and saw Nurse Xiao Sun rushing in from outside.

"I received a package! It said it must be signed for by the recipient! It's an express delivery at a high price, and two delivery guys came, driving it here!" Nurse Sun said with a surprised look.

"Where was it sent from?" A little confused, Bian Mu gestured to the intern, Xiao Fan, to see the person off first, and then got up to exchange a few polite words with the young female teacher.

Seeing the young female teacher walking further and further away, Bian Mu then walked towards the main gate with Nurse Sun.

Two deliverymen, one fat and one thin, guessed that Bian Mu might be the recipient. The fat deliveryman stepped forward with a big smile and said politely, "It looks like an oil painting. It's not very big, but it's a high-priced item! The sender specifically stated on the delivery slip that you must sign for it in person! Otherwise, we'll be reported and fined to death!"

"No way! Why don't you two come in and have some hot tea? I'll sign for the goods and check them right away." As he spoke, Bian Mu took the pen and signed his name and phone number in the area designated by the chubby deliveryman.

The two deliverymen were very busy. After thanking Bian Mu, they made no move to come inside for a cup of hot tea. The tall, thin deliveryman respectfully accompanied Bian Mu to the van and gently pushed the oil painting package out.

It's about 1.3 to 1.4 meters long, less than 50 centimeters wide, and the frame looks about 4 centimeters thick. The size isn't particularly large or small, so where did this oil painting come from?!

A little strange!
Carrying the oil painting in one hand—it wasn't heavy, probably because the frame was made of paulownia wood—Bian Mu and Nurse Sun walked back.

"Open it and take a look? What's that drawn?"

"There might be a mistake. Teacher Fang is the rightful owner. It's not our property to be touched." As usual, Bian Mu replied with a smile.

"That's true, I'll take it upstairs!"

"That's quite something! Let's talk about it after get off work, or I should just call Teacher Fang!"

"Okay!" With that, Nurse Sun made a phone call to the painter Fang upstairs.

A short while later, Nurse Sun came to the clinic door and said to Bian Mu, "Teacher Fang said that it was indeed sent to you, and it has nothing to do with her!"

"Really? You've worked hard! If you're curious, open it and take a look, but be careful not to smudge the painting."

"Let's talk about it after get off work!" With that, Nurse Sun went off to attend to her own duties.

……

Nurse Sun, Doctor Gong, and others gathered around Bian Mu, watching the spectacle unfold. Painter Fang helped Bian Mu carefully remove the three layers of packaging. A postcard was attached to the back frame of the oil painting with transparent adhesive tape, bearing the four Chinese characters "Memories of Midwinter" in regular script, interspersed with traditional Chinese characters.

Bian Mu recognized the person writing the words immediately; it was the same person as the one shown in the photo on Lao Hou's phone.

The painting appears blurry, intentionally so, but the overall outline is still quite clear. It's a still life painting, and some details are handled quite professionally. Counting from left to right, there are a total of five objects. The first one is probably a beer bottle, the sign is blurry, intentionally blurred. The second one is an old-fashioned kerosene lamp, the kind with a glass shade, long and tall, with a wick made of collodion. It's the kind of old-fashioned lighting fixture that can illuminate the whole room with a little kerosene. The third one is probably a bamboo tube for holding chopsticks, but it's not quite the same as ordinary chopsticks. The chopsticks inside are obviously extra long, and some of the chopsticks seem to have characters or patterns engraved on them. Those are the only areas that aren't blurred, so they are relatively clear.

The fourth item was something that was neither a vase nor a water bottle. Was it made of glass? Crystal? Or jade? It was long and thin, wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. I couldn't tell exactly what it was.

The last item was a porcelain vase, exquisitely painted. The style suddenly changed drastically here, becoming extremely detailed and meticulous, a true example of fine brushwork. It was long and slender, slightly tilted, as if it might tip over at any moment.

The painting below depicts a tablecloth, clearly a tablecloth. To be honest, Bian Mu could only understand half of the painting – the composition, coloring, brushwork… It looked somewhat familiar to him; at least, it resembled the brushstrokes and techniques of a proper oil painting.

The background looks like it was just randomly painted, neither like the outdoors nor like a view from a window. The color tone is neither blue nor gray, as if the artist suddenly lost interest and stopped halfway through, leaving it as an unfinished work!

Still calling it "Memories of Midwinter"?!

baffling……

Everyone present couldn't help but glance at the painter Fang several times. Among them, she was the most professional, and her speech at this moment would be the definitive assessment.

Gently shaking his head, the painter Fang said with a smile, "Don't look at me, I don't understand it either..."

"Really?! This isn't that abstract... It's a piece of cake for you!" Nurse Sun said with a smile, quick to speak her mind.

“I really didn’t understand it… I even doubted whether it was painted by the same person. But… it’s definitely a professional in the same field. In some aspects, the technique and expression even surpasses mine. Curator! Your friend?” Fang the painter said to Bian Mu with a smile.

"How could that be! I was wondering the same thing. I thought it must have been sent to the wrong recipient. It was originally meant for you! Is there some special meaning behind this image?!" Bian Mu seemed to have guessed some hidden meaning and asked casually.

Shaking his head slightly again, the painter Fang clearly indicated that he did not understand.

Just then, everyone heard a few female voices coming from not far behind them.

"I suspect this painting might be a special letter, possibly addressed to the museum owner. Its purpose is singular: to convey some kind of special message. I've handled a few similar pieces before, and at first, we were baffled. It took experts a long time to decipher them. In this day and age, it's rare to see people still playing these tricks!"

Everyone turned around to look, and it turned out that the speaker was the eldest daughter of the Zhong family. Her younger brother had obviously improved a lot, and she had handed over the affairs of the company for some time. Recently, it was said that she was running a new business project overseas. Was she back in China to visit Mr. Zhong?