The carefree life of Yang Shuisheng, the village miracle doctor

After leaving the village office, Yang Shuisheng went straight home.

He took a small half-bag of flour, a few pounds of meat, and some dried mushrooms and wood ear fungus from the rice, flour, and cooking oil that Su Danian had given him.

Then, from the herbs he had dug up, he selected a few herbs that could promote blood circulation, remove blood stasis, reduce swelling, and relieve pain, and wrapped them in cloth.

After packing everything up, he carried these things to Guo Cuihong's house.

"Knock knock knock—"

This time it was daytime, and he knocked on the door openly.

Guo Cuihong paused for a moment when she saw Yang Shuisheng carrying large bags and packages, then quickly stepped aside: "Brother Shuisheng, what's this...?"

"These are for Lin Wan—some food, supplies, and medicine for her foot injury." Yang Shuisheng walked into the courtyard, placed the items on the table in the main room, glanced at the tightly closed curtain of the inner room, and asked in a low voice, "How is she?"

"I'm much better. I just ate some porridge and went back to sleep."

"Although my feet are still swollen, I feel much better than last night," Guo Cuihong said softly, a gentle smile on her face. "You've come at the right time. Have lunch here; I'll make the noodles."

"Okay, then I'll trouble you, sister-in-law." Yang Shuisheng didn't stand on ceremony. For him, getting a free meal was better than cooking for himself.

Guo Cuihong happily agreed and went to the kitchen to get busy.

The two chatted intermittently.

When Guo Cuihong asked him if he should forget the meeting Zhao Youcai had invited him to, Yang Shuisheng said he had already gone and even mentioned that Zhao had asked him to be the village doctor.

"That's wonderful! From now on, Taohe'ao will have a village doctor too."

Guo Cuihong was overjoyed; she was genuinely happy for Yang Shuisheng.

"Officer Yang?"

Just then, an old but excited voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard gate.

Yang Shuisheng turned his head and saw Uncle Shuanzhu standing somewhat awkwardly outside the fenced yard, his back hunched, holding two steaming white steamed buns wrapped in a clean blue cloth, peering inside.

"Uncle Shuanzhu? What brings you here?" Yang Shuisheng greeted him quickly.

Uncle Shuanzhu carefully pushed open the fence gate and came in, his face full of grateful smiles. He stuffed the steamed bun in his hand into Yang Shuisheng's hand: "Officer Yang, we owe you a lot in town yesterday."

"If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be back. These two steamed buns are freshly made this morning. Don't mind them, take them and eat them."

The old man's hands trembled slightly, his eyes filled with sincere gratitude, and a hint of embarrassment at not being able to offer anything better.

"Uncle Shuanzhu, you're too kind."

Yang Shuisheng felt a warmth in his heart, took the still-warm steamed bun, and smiled, "It was just something I did on the spur of the moment yesterday, don't hold it against me."

"I'll take one of these steamed buns; you can take the other one back. Thank you."

He wouldn't take advantage of an elderly person living alone; if he weren't worried about the other person thinking something, he wouldn't even want to take the steamed bun in his hand.

"Of course, of course." Seeing that Yang Shuisheng had at least accepted one, Uncle Shuanzhu didn't try to persuade him further, and breathed a sigh of relief as a smile spread across his face.

He glanced at Yang Shuisheng, then, remembering something, said with concern, "By the way, Officer Yang, I heard from Cuihong that you often go into the mountains?"

"I guess so, we need to go into the mountains to find some herbs or something."

"You'd better be careful, there are lots of poisonous snakes in the mountains this time of year."

"Especially that old forest behind the mountain, I saw a black rat snake as thick as an arm a few days ago, it was terrifying, you must never go deep into it alone."

Poisonous snake?

Yang Shuisheng's heart skipped a beat. Guo Cuihong had reminded him before, and he had indeed seen a few a few days ago when he and Lin Wan were in the mountains.

"Thank you for the reminder, Uncle Shuanzhu. I will be careful."

"Uncle Shuanzhu, you don't know yet, do you?"

At this moment, Guo Cuihong, who was kneading dough in the kitchen, poked her head out and said with a smile, "Brother Shuisheng is now our village doctor."

"Village Chief Zhao decided this himself. From now on, if we have a headache or fever, we can go to him for treatment."

"A village doctor?" Uncle Shuanzhu was taken aback, looking at Yang Shuisheng in disbelief. "Cadre Yang, you...you can treat illnesses?"

Yang Shuisheng smiled, taking this opportunity to change the subject and prevent Uncle Shuanzhu from keeping an eye on Guo Cuihong's house and noticing Lin Wan.

"I studied with Lao Lang for a few years, so I know a little bit about it."

"By the way, Uncle Shuanzhu, you mentioned yesterday that you were selling vegetables to earn some money for medicine?"

Where on your body are you feeling unwell?

"If you don't mind, may I take a look at it for you?"

"Oh, it's an old problem."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Shuanzhu's face showed a bitter and helpless expression. He waved his hand and sighed, "My legs are not very nimble, especially my knees. I worked hard when I was young, and this is the root of the problem."

"Now that I'm getting older, I'm becoming less and less useful. If I walk for a long time or if the weather changes, I get a lot of pain. Sometimes I can't even sleep at night."

He paused, then lowered his voice even further: "I went to the town clinic, and they said it was something like bone hyperplasia and rheumatism."

"They said it's incurable, they can only prescribe some painkillers, and you can take one when the pain becomes unbearable."

"But that medicine is expensive, one pill costs several cents. How can I afford to take it every day with the little money I make selling vegetables?"

"I only dare to take one when the pain is absolutely excruciating..."

As he spoke, he lifted up his patched trouser leg, revealing his thin legs. His knees were noticeably swollen and deformed, making him look very uncomfortable.

Yang Shuisheng saw this and felt a little uneasy.

People in the countryside work hard all their lives and end up with a lot of illnesses, but they don't have the money to treat them, so they can only tough it out.

"Uncle Shuanzhu, please sit down and let me take a look at you." Yang Shuisheng moved a stool for Uncle Shuanzhu to sit down, and then squatted down in front of him.

He first carefully examined the appearance of Uncle Shuanzhu's knee, then reached out and used his fingertips to press and touch the bones, ligaments, and muscles around the knee with moderate pressure, feeling the condition under the skin.

At the same time, he secretly gathered a faint sense of energy at his fingertips and slowly probed into them to perceive the deeper causes of the illness.

The information he received from the Qi sensation, combined with his inherited medical knowledge, gave him a clear understanding of Uncle Shuanzhu's condition.

It is indeed a severe case of bone hyperplasia and degenerative changes, coupled with the invasion of wind, cold and dampness, which leads to blocked meridians and stagnation of qi and blood, resulting in recurrent pain.

Western medicine's painkillers only numb the nerves, treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

However, his inherited medical skills include acupuncture and massage techniques for this type of bone pain, combined with internal and external herbal remedies. Although these methods cannot reverse bone hyperplasia, they can certainly clear the meridians, dispel cold and dampness, relieve pain, and improve function.

"Uncle Shuanzhu, your illness is caused by overwork when you were young, coupled with exposure to wind, cold and dampness, which has accumulated in your knees."

After the examination, Yang Shuisheng looked up at Uncle Shuanzhu's pained yet numb eyes and said earnestly, "Over time, the bones grow crooked and the meridians become blocked, which is why it hurts."

"The bone hyperplasia mentioned by the health department is a result, not a cause."

Uncle Shuanzhu seemed to understand but not quite, and just stared at him blankly.

"Western medicine's painkillers make you feel no pain, but the root cause of the problem remains," Yang Shuisheng continued. "I can use acupuncture combined with massage and herbal medicine to try to expel the cold and dampness from your knees and clear the blocked meridians."

"While we can't make the bone growth shrink back, we can reduce your pain and make walking easier."

"However, this won't get better in just one or two days; you have to persevere for a while."

"If you trust me, I can give you a couple of acupuncture needles right now to see how it feels."

"Needles... acupuncture?" Uncle Shuanzhu's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief and deep doubt.

He's lived to such an old age, and it's not like he hasn't seen traditional Chinese medicine doctors. He's consulted doctors in his younger years, drunk a lot of bitter medicine, and had acupuncture, but none of it helped much. He still felt the pain.

Over time, he gave up hope, thinking that his leg was beyond saving.

He looked Yang Shuisheng up and down. The man had helped him a lot in town yesterday, and he was truly grateful.

But if we're talking about treating illness... acupuncture is the best treatment for his chronic leg pain.

He simply couldn't believe it.

"Officer Yang, you're not just trying to make this old man happy, are you?" Uncle Shuanzhu shook his head with a wry smile. "I've seen so many doctors about this leg, and they all say there's nothing they can do."

"You're only going to give me two injections... is that enough?"

"To be honest, I've also seen traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, but...sigh..."

His tone was full of helplessness, clearly indicating that he didn't believe even a fraction of what Yang Shuisheng said.