Chapter 44: The True Lie

  With the lesson of the past, Zuo Shaoyang should have learned from it, but he couldn't just watch as the medicine used by Zuo's father had no effect, and watch as the patient's condition worsened or even died. And if he directly took action to treat the patient, the patient and their family wouldn't trust his medical skills and wouldn't let him treat them, so in this dilemma, he could only choose to secretly help, now that things have been exposed, there must be an explanation.

  "This saying left Shao Yang thinking that after the first secret substitution of medicine, he had thought it through and still used the excuse of the old bell doctor from last time. He lowered his head and said: 'Father, I secretly changed the medicine, sorry.'"

  "Is a single apology enough? Do you know or not, using the wrong medicine can be fatal!"

  Next to him, Ai Xiang said with a big tone: "Brother, isn't changing the medicine saving people?"

  Zuo Gui was taken aback for a moment, his anger had just been directed at his son's theft of medicinal materials, and he had exploded in rage over this. Now that Xiang Huo brought it up again, he refocused on the outcome and said in a low voice: "Earlier, when treating the stillbirth and also the young master from Lao Huai village, was it you who secretly swapped out the medicine?"

  "Uh... sorry, Dad. Things were urgent at the time and I didn't have a chance to discuss it with you, so I made the switch on my own. It was my mistake."

  "Master, Zhong'er has admitted his mistake, so please calm down."

  Zuo Gui didn't bother with her and asked Zuo Shao Yang, "Where did you get this prescription for these medicines?"

  "It's... it's from that medical book that old Dr. Ling showed me last time."

  "Didn't you say you forgot all the formulas above?"

  "No, I've written down many methods."

  "Ah? Then why did you say you forgot earlier?"

  "I thought that old bell doctor was cheating me, and the Fangzi was fake. I was afraid you would use it and make a mistake, so I wanted to secretly try it out. I didn't expect it to be quite effective."

  Zuo Gui was overjoyed, and had already forgotten that Zuo Shao Yang had just deceitfully used medicine to infringe upon his authority. He hastily asked: "What prescriptions do you remember? Tell me about them."

  Zuo Shaoyang hastily said: "I'll write it down, you can take your time to look at it."

  "Alright, for the next two days, write down all the prescriptions you remember and give them to me. Hehe, I said that Old Bell Doctor must be an immortal, otherwise, how could he use prescriptions like a god?"

  Liang and Ai Xiang saw the old man smile, they were also very happy, but only Zuo Shao Yang was not so optimistic. Medical books and medical skills are two different things, even if there are good medical books, it doesn't necessarily mean that one has excellent medical skills. Otherwise, in modern society with so many medical books, why is it that truly skilled Chinese medicine doctors are still rare? Chinese medicine is a systematic subject that requires systematic study, long-term practice, flexible dialectics, and using prescriptions according to the diagnosis. It's not something you can become a famous doctor by just relying on a few prescriptions.

  So, in order for a father's medical skills to actually improve, it requires a relatively long process, rather than being able to do so just by looking at the few prescriptions he wrote.

  Hui Xiang listened to her father's words and happily said, "With these prescriptions, how can our medicine shop not do well? Then we won't have to move houses!"

  As soon as this matter was mentioned, Zuo Gui's mood suddenly darkened, and he sighed, saying: "This is just my guess, maybe the prescription isn't as good as I thought, some work, some don't. Who knows? Besides, even if there is a good prescription, you have to know how to use it, and even if you know how to use it, you need patients to come and ask for medical treatment. In just these few days, how can we make it in time? Alas, let's first make up our minds to prepare to move house, after the New Year, continue to go from village to village as a traveling doctor."

  Hui Xiang said: "Dad has learned the immortal formula written by his brother, our Gui Zhi Tang will definitely rise again!"

  Zuo Gui was delighted, then regained his composure, thought for a moment and sighed: "I just don't know if we ordinary people can learn these immortal formulas." At this time, the sound of the night watchman's rattle came from afar. Zuo Gui said: "The night watch has begun, let's close the door and have dinner!"

  Zuō shǎo yáng bǎ mén guān le, jìn chú fáng bāng zhe ná wǎn zhù, yī yǎn kàn jiàn qiáng biān de yí duì shuǐ tǒng, měng rán xiǎng qǐ shàng wǔ tiāo shuǐ shí, xiǎo mèi shuō le tā xià wǔ zài hé biān xǐ yī wù, ràng zì jǐ xià wǔ bǎ yī fu gěi tā ná qù, tā bāng zhe xǐ. Jié guǒ xià wǔ yù nà jí zhèng, jiù bǎ zhè chá gěi wàng le. Shuō bù dìng xiǎo mèi zhè huìr zài hé biān děng zì jǐ.

  He sprang up like a spring and ran off immediately, with Liang shouting after him: "Where are you going?"

  "Go by the river!"

  "What is he doing going to the riverbank in the dark?"

  This sentence suddenly cleared Left Shao Yang's mind, Ah, now it's dark, and it's cold winter, what is Little Sister waiting for by the river? It's not like a lover's appointment to meet or part, just because she was grateful that he had cured her sister-in-law's minor illness of milk intolerance, so she said she would help him wash his clothes. Thinking of this, Left Shao Yang returned with a sheepish expression, and seeing Huixiang staring at him, he casually made up an excuse: "Nothing, I thought I'd go see if anyone is carrying water, to carry some water, there are too many people during the day. Forget it, it's dark now, I'll go early tomorrow morning. Heh heh."

  She glared at him and said, "Fetch water? The water vat is almost full, it's uncertain whether we can still live here tomorrow, what's the point of wasting energy fetching water? Do you have nothing better to do with your strength?"

  Zuo Shaoyang thought for a moment and then went back to get bowls and chopsticks. The whole family sat down to eat together.

  After dinner, Liang said to Huixiang: "Tomorrow is the 30th of the twelfth lunar month. You've been running back and forth between your mother's home these past few days, neglecting things at home. Why don't you just stay home tomorrow and take care of things? Don't come over; it's not like you can help with anything anyway."

  Xiang said, "It's nothing, these days renting a house has been on my mind, I couldn't stay at home, so I came over to take a look. Once this matter is settled, we can talk about it later. Hou Pu also told me to come and help out. He's busy with official business and said he'll come over to pay his respects in the first month of the year."

  Li said with a sigh: "Alas! This kid Hou Pu is indeed kind-hearted. You've found him, and that's considered finding a good person."

  "It's also," An Qi said with a hint of complacency, "I've already told him to ask around his acquaintances outside, see if there are any affordable and suitable rooms for rent. We can't afford the storefront houses anymore, let's find a place to live first."

  "Yes," said Liang with a sigh. "Just find a place to spend the New Year's, that's all. The rent is cheap, nothing else matters."

  "Don't worry, I've already talked to him. He's been looking for the past few days and has checked out several places, but thinks the rent is too expensive everywhere. Let's decide again tomorrow."

  After finishing dinner, Xiang helped wash the bowls and tidy up the house before preparing to leave.

  "Wait, sister," said Zuo Shaoyang. After speaking, he went behind the counter, pulled over a medicine cabinet, and loaded it with medicinal materials, decoctions, and processed pills and powders. When it was full, he found another cloth bag to continue loading.

  Zuo Gui, Liang Shi and Huixiang saw him busy packing medicinal herbs, all of them were puzzled. Huixiang asked: "What are you doing with so many medicines?"

  Left Shǎoyáng didn't even turn his head: "It's for future preparations, I think we can't pin our hopes on that Zhao Sān Niáng anymore. She has a hard heart and won't agree to defer the rent. In the future, we'll have to rely on Lin's medical practice to make a living. How can we treat patients without medicine? Especially Lin's medical skills. That Zhao Sān Niáng said we should leave all the medicine behind to offset part of the rent, but if we leave all the medicine behind, what will we use to treat patients? I'll set aside some commonly used medicine and you take it back home to hide it away. We can use it in the future. Anyway, Zhao Sān Niáng won't know how much medicine we have at home now. As long as we can practice medicine, we can earn money, and then we can pay her back. It's not like we're taking advantage of her."

  Angelica heard this and said: "This makes sense, I'll help you pretend."

  "No need, I can pack it myself. I'm just afraid of messing up the arrangement of these drinks, it's not easy to sort them out later. You just get the cart ready."

  Angelica agreed and busied herself preparing the cart.

  Liang and Zuo Guizi looked at each other, thinking that it would be bad if Zhao San Niang found out, but then they thought again, without medicine, not even the capital to open a clinic, it would be troublesome. They exchanged a glance, sighed, and didn't say anything.

  Zuo Shaoyang quickly set aside a portion of the commonly used medicines, and after packing them up, Xiangxiang had already borrowed a handcart from the grocery store across the street. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she surreptitiously placed the medicine-filled cloth bag onto the cart. Liangshi then brought over another piece of cloth to cover it with, securing it with a thin rope.

  Angelica hung the cart's rope around her neck, grasped the handle with both hands and started pushing.

  "Hey sis, let me help you push?"

  "No need!" Xiang didn't even turn her head back and quickly pushed the cart away.