“What should I do then?” the patient asked .
“I think you should stop taking the flu medication,” Wang Yao replied . “I’ll prescribe you something else . ”
He thought for a moment before prescribing a formula that could stop diarrhea and drive away the cold .
“I need to stop your diarrhea before treating your flu . Otherwise, neither of your problems will be fixed,” Wang Yao said .
“OK, thank you,” the patient said .
Half of the patients coming to the clinic during the day had problems with their stomachs . People tended to get stomach problems in summer since they changed their diet when it was hot . Most people preferred to eat cold food and pre-cooked food during summer . That food tended to get spoiled, and pre-cooked food was often not clean . People would get food poisoning after eating them .
Wang Yao thought maybe he could develop herbal pills for food poisoning . He actually had the thought several days before . He didn’t take action because he hadn’t had so many patients with stomach problems the past few days .
“Have you turned on the air conditioning here?” a patient asked .
“No,” Wang Yao said .
“How it that possible?” the patient asked . “It is so nice and cool here . ”
“I have good airflow in this room,” Wang Yao said .
The clinic was built on elevated land . A vacant lot was in front of the clinic, and houses were behind it . None of the houses were built on elevated land, so they were all lower than Wang Yao’s clinic . This made the air flow in the clinic very good .
Wang Yao had put a lot of plants in front of the clinic and inside the courtyard . The plants had an amazing effect of turning hot air into cool air . In addition, the battle array in the courtyard also reduced the temperature . Even without air conditioning, his clinic was nice and cool . The temperature was always around 77degrees, which best suited humans .
“I think even with the air conditioning on in my own house, it is less comfortable than your place,” the patient said .
Wang Yao saw the last patient of the day away after 5 p . m . After the patient left, he started to think about the formula for treating food poisoning . The formula needed to smooth the Qi, regulate stomach function, reduce fever, and stop diarrhea .
Dark plum, atractylodes macrocephala, codonopsis, terminalia chebula, licorice roots…
Wang Yao wrote down the components of the formula and began to prepare the herbs in his clinic .
After dinner, he went back to Nanshan hill with the herbs . He repeatedly ground and sieved the herbs into powder . It was after 11 p . m . by the time he finished .
He got up very early the next morning . After having a quick breakfast, he started to make the herbal pills . He put some ancient spring water into the powder and placed the powder into the dustpan to shake . He repeated the whole process again and again until the herbal powder became small pills like rice . The pills gradually became bigger . Eventually, they were as big as soybeans .
The way Wang Yao made herbal pills was simple and old-fashioned . Ancient Chinese practitioners used the same method to make herbal pills . He didn’t wrap his pills with honey, so they didn’t look good . However, they were very effective .
He made less than a hundred pills in the morning and put them into several bottles .
In the afternoon, Wang Yao had two patients in the clinic . Both of them suffered from headaches .
“What do you do for a living?” Wang Yao asked . Both patients were women in their 40s . Their faces had turned red from being exposed to the sun for a long time .
“We work in the building industry . We tie steel bars,” one of the women said .
“You work outside at this time of the day?” Wang Yao asked .
“Yes, because it pays well,” the woman said .
This time of year, a person could earn more than $200 by working outdoors because no one wanted to . The builders couldn’t find enough contractors, so they increased the pay to attract workers .
“You got sick because you worked too hard,” Wang Yao said .
The two women had worked under the sun for more than 10 consecutive days . One could probably manage one to two days, but 10 days was too much . Wang Yao had been checking the weather forecast every day for the past two weeks, so he knew it had been very hot .
The temperature could reach 104 degrees at lunch time, which was the hottest time of the day . According to relevant regulation, no worker should work outdoors when it was over 104 degrees . However, the builders didn’t always comply with the regulation, especially in an isolated village . No one came to check on them . As long as no one got sick or injured, they all wanted to complete the work before the due date .
“Both of you need to rest . In addition, try not to work outdoors in such hot weather,” Wang Yao said .
“We don’t need to take any medication?” one of the women asked .
“No, and no needles either,” Wang Yao said .
In fact, the two women just needed to properly rest . Of course, it wouldn’t hurt for them to eat fruits and food like watermelon, which could help them cool down .
The two women left feeling a little suspicious of their visit . After they left the clinic, they received a phone call from the builder, who wanted them to continue working .
They thought about what Wang Yao had told them and decided to turn the builder down . He had said that although they could earn $200 a day, the work would cost them their health . They would probably spend 10 or even a hundred times more money to treat the illness caused by overworking .
A lot of people exchanged their health for wealth . Most of them regretted it in the end . It happened all the time in this world .
They decided to go home to rest . Perhaps they were truly exhausted .
“Fortunately, we were paid cash,” one of the women said .
Normally, the builders wouldn’t pay their contractors right away when they had finished working at the end of the day . The builders would use pay to threaten their contractors and force them to continue working . Most contractors would ask for cash at the end of the day .
Wang Yao had three patients in total in the afternoon .
It suddenly became very humid late in the afternoon . There was barely any wind in the village .
“The weather forecast said it was going to rain in the afternoon . Be careful when you are on the hill,” said Zhang Xiuying, who was concerned about her son .
“I know . Don’t worry about me, Mom,” Wang Yao said .
He knew Nanshan Hill wouldn’t be affected by the rain or a thunderstorm . The trees would protect the hill . Plus, Nanshan Hill was not that tall .
It started to rain at 8 p . m . The rain started light but became heavier after midnight . Wang Yao could hear the thunder . He laid in bed, listening to the rain .
The rain didn’t stop the next morning . Water had started to accumulate on the hill . The reservoir was soon full of water . The water followed the creek and ran all the way down to the foot of Nanshan Hill . Because there were a lot of trees on the hill, the water was very clear after being filtered .
No one came to the clinic in such heavy rain . So, Wang Yao didn’t go down to the clinic in a hurry . Instead, he stayed in his cottage reviewing the formulas, including Sanyang powder, strengthening soup, and Nine Herbs pill .
None of the formulas required licorice roots . He could manufacture a large amount of those formulas after the pharmaceutical factory had been built .
Woof! Woof! The dog suddenly started to bark .
“What’s wrong, Sanxian?” Wang Yao asked as he walked out of the cottage .
The rain was blocked one inch away from him by an invisible wall .