Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 138 - 133 The Cost of Studying Medicine

"I want a child!"

That was the thought running through both of their minds at that moment.

「A week had passed.」

Zhang Li’s return hadn’t stirred much of a commotion among the residents of Paigou Village.

Only Wang Jian occasionally found himself wondering why Zhang Li hadn’t come to see him. In just those few days, Wang Jian’s clinic had already reopened. The injury on his shoulder had healed completely, and he’d had more than enough rest. With no reason left to stay cooped up at home, everything returned to normal.

Wang Jian had expected Zhang Li to visit within the first couple of days of the clinic reopening, but the man never showed up. Instead, the clinic’s reopening brought in a steady stream of patients.

It was only then that Wang Jian realized it wasn’t that no one had needed a doctor in the past week. Rather, people knew he was injured and didn’t want to bother him with anything that wasn’t serious. After all, in the minds of the Shanhai City villagers, a minor illness wasn’t fatal, and for a severe one, it would be too late anyway. If they just waited it out at home for a few days, a minor ailment might just go away on its own, making a special trip to Wang Jian unnecessary.

Of course, the main reason was that these people knew exactly what kind of injury Wang Jian had suffered. The incident with the two violent thugs had been deliberately kept low-profile, but in the small, neighboring villages, secrets were hard to keep. As a result, the elders all knew he had been shot. In the month or two since his return, he had done many good deeds for the village and become quite popular, so the elders naturally remembered his kindness.

Thus, it wasn’t until he reopened his clinic and started seeing a continuous flow of patients that he learned all this.

Today, after seeing out the last patient, Ren Yu turned to him with a beaming smile and a compliment. "Brother Jian, it hasn’t been long, but your Medical Skills have already impressed everyone."

"Nonsense," Wang Jian replied with a chuckle. "You said it yourself, it hasn’t been long. It’s not that easy to impress people. I think they’re just looking out for me because I’m young."

These past few days, Ren Yu seemed to have completely emerged from the shadow of Ren Jiacheng, at least on the surface. Seeing her expression, Wang Jian felt a sense of relief.

"You can’t say that," Ren Yu insisted with a smile. "Look at how people talk to you when they come for treatment—there’s no hint of doubt. It’s completely different from when the clinic first opened."

"Xiao Yu, you’re on your way to becoming a doctor yourself," Wang Jian said, shaking his head. "With our current equipment and facilities, we can only handle minor illnesses. They’re not difficult. As long as the patients follow the doctor’s advice, they’ll be better in a week or two at most. Any attending physician could achieve that. It’s not because my skills are exceptionally high."

"Any attending physician could do it?"

Ren Yu frowned, her skepticism clear. She gave him a strange look. In the two days since the clinic had reopened, Wang Jian’s methods of treating patients had changed significantly.

Wang Jian, who was washing and disinfecting his hands, turned to see the odd expression on her face. "What’s with that look?"

"Are you sure any attending physician could reach your level?" Ren Yu asked, giving him a look that said, ’Don’t treat me like a child.’ "Since you’ve reopened the clinic, the way you diagnose patients is different."

"How so?"

"It feels like you don’t even need to take a pulse. You can diagnose an illness just by looking at the patient. What attending physician can do that?"

Ren Yu was genuinely baffled. She had noticed the change on the very first day. There was something else she hadn’t dared to say. In my eyes, this isn’t medicine—it’s metaphysics.

Wang Jian just smiled lightly, not confirming her words.

It’s just as Master said. Ever since I took the human pill, I can basically see everything inside the human body like the back of my hand.

Now, forget diagnosing pathologies; he was confident he could perform surgery better than most. But if someone were to ask him to quantify his current level of medical proficiency, he honestly wouldn’t know how. He was, however, confident that if he were to encounter another case of Gu Poison, he could handle it with ease.

This was a good thing. With this newfound confidence, his village clinic could take on a wider range of illnesses. If possible, he could even consider expanding the clinic so that people wouldn’t have to go to the city for serious conditions.

The idea was excellent. Wang Jian felt a spark of interest and filed the thought away in his mind. But to reach a level where he could treat serious illnesses, he certainly couldn’t do it alone.

At this thought, he looked at Ren Yu’s curious face, and an idea began to form. "Do you want to learn?" he asked.

"Me?"

"Learn Ancient Medical Skills."

Ren Yu froze. The thought had never even crossed her mind, but the idea of getting closer to Wang Jian while also improving her medical skills was thrilling. She feigned composure, however, and asked, "Is that really possible?"

Wang Jian shook his head. Just as Ren Yu was wondering why, he continued, "Ancient Medical Skills are very demanding. You need to learn about Qi first."

"Qi?"

Although she had worked alongside Wang Jian for some time, this was the first time Ren Yu had heard the term. It wasn’t that she was unfamiliar with Chinese medicine; in her understanding, it was based on acupuncture points. This concept of "Qi" was entirely new to her.

A thirst for knowledge filled her heart. She stared at Wang Jian with rapt curiosity, waiting for him to elaborate.

"The human body is like a small universe," Wang Jian began to explain. "The various organs within it are what keep this little universe running normally. And what keeps these organs functioning and providing them with power is Qi. In biology, you could call it bio-energy.

"If there’s a problem in a certain part of the body, the Qi in that area will become imbalanced. In Chinese medicine, this corresponds to a specific illness, which can be diagnosed through observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking. In Ancient Medical Skills, many acupuncture techniques and herbal prescriptions work by manipulating Qi to restore health and cure diseases.

"In Western Medicine, there’s a theory. It doesn’t matter if you’re treated with medication or surgery; whether you ultimately recover depends on your body’s own resistance and immunity. If your immunity is insufficient, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be cured. The more severe the illness, the more this principle holds true."

Hearing this, Ren Yu’s expression showed a flicker of understanding. It wasn’t that she had grasped everything, but the analogy helped her accept the core concepts.

Wang Jian nodded, pleased. Talking to a clever person really saved a lot of trouble. He quickly continued.

"And if you want to use Qi to heal, you first need to understand what Qi actually is. Then, you have to learn to utilize the Qi within your own body—this is what Taoists refer to as Qi Cultivation.

"The more adeptly you control your Qi and the stronger it becomes, the stronger your body will be.

"Once you’ve learned these things, you’ll naturally know how to apply what you studied in university to save people."

"Actually, it’s not difficult."

Wang Jian also shared a few things his master had taught him, briefly touching on the contents of some ancient texts. He had learned all this from his master. He had a few Medical Records documenting Ancient Medical Skills, but nothing on Qi Refinement, so he could only teach Ren Yu bit by bit through oral instruction.

He spoke for a good half hour but only managed to cover the basics.

When Wang Jian finished, Ren Yu was at a loss. His final comment—that it wasn’t difficult—made her want to laugh wryly.

Perhaps for someone like Wang Jian, it really isn’t difficult.

Ren Yu didn’t consider herself a fool by any means, but what he was saying sounded like complete gibberish.

Seeing her baffled expression, Wang Jian realized he had been too hasty. With his current mastery of Qi, however, he could use a more direct method to help Ren Yu learn, just as his master had once done for him.

So, Wang Jian said, "I have a way to help you learn about Qi quickly, but I’ll need your cooperation."

Wang Jian had used a similar method before to help Xu Qian conceptualize Qi, but that had only given her a new fitness routine, like a form of yoga; she hadn’t truly learned to use Qi. What Wang Jian was proposing now, however, was to directly teach Ren Yu how to master it.

Ren Yu’s eyes lit up with excitement. "What kind of cooperation do you need?" she asked immediately.

Wang Jian laughed, though he immediately felt a pang of regret. The method required him to touch certain places, and it would be far more provocative than what he had done with Xu Qian. But Ren Yu was so eager that it made him feel a little awkward. He braced himself and said, "I’ll need to place needles on your chest, your lower abdomen, and on your back near your kidneys... basically, I’ll need to work on the points corresponding to all your major internal organs."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Ren Yu’s face turned a shade redder.

The points corresponding to all my major internal organs... Doesn’t that mean Wang Jian will see my entire body?