Chapter 131: Learning a Skill

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After Wang Yao returned to his cottage, he took out his notebook to document the patient he had seen at Dao City. The patient had a very rare condition, which Wang Yao had never come across before.

How to treat this illness?

Wang Yao started to think about how to treat the patient’s illness after he had documented his symptoms. The patient’s Yin and Yang were imbalanced, which was common and easily cured. However, his imbalance was extremely severe, and he was seriously ill, so it would be tricky treat it.

I need to give him some herbs first, and the herbs should have a cool nature to reduce his Yang.

The common herbs wouldn’t work for sure, so Wang Yao needed licorice roots.

Wang Yao used his mind to get the Catalogue of Magic Herbs. In fact, he had memorized information of most of the licorice roots in the book. But, he still needed the book for reference to get a better idea of the licorice roots he wanted to use. He read both volume one and volume two and found several suitable licorice roots. Given Wang Yao’s current status, he could only get two of those licorice roots.

The first one was the Moonlight herb. Its function was to nurture Yin and calm the mind.

The second one was frost grass, which only grew in the winter. Its function was to diminish inflammation and remove Yang toxins.

The nature of the Moonlight herb was mild, much weaker than frost grass. Wang Yao had planted both licorice roots in his herbal field. He also had some Moonlight herbs in the storage of the system. But, frost grass had stopped growing since it became warmer. It wouldn’t grow even if Wang Yao watered it with ancient spring.

Wang Yao couldn’t get his mind off the licorice roots. He didn’t leave Nanshan hill until it started to get dark. It suddenly occurred to him that it was time for him to go home. He wrote down his thoughts in the notebook and put it away before going home for dinner.

His parents mentioned Tong Wei again when they were having dinner.

“Mom, please do not push me,” said Wang Yao.

“You should act quickly in case she starts to see someone else,” said Zhang Xiuying softly.

“Well, when she comes back I will invite her to our home. But I can’t guarantee she will come,” said Wang Yao.

“Sounds good. Don’t forget to make regular contact with her,” said Zhang Xiuying.

“Okay,” promised Wang Yao.

Wang Yao’s parents stopped talking about Tong Wei as Wang Yao finally decided to take some action.

…

Zhou Xiong and his son visited Nanshan hill the next day after they heard that Wang Yao had come back. Wang Yao found that Zhou Wukang continued to get better after taking Regather soup. Zhou Wukang seemed to be in good spirits.

“You look much better than last time,” said Wang Yao.

“Great! How about you? Do you want to continue learning Tai Chi?” asked Zhou Xiong.

“Sure,” said Wang Yao.

This time, Zhou Xiong taught Wang Yao how to use his strength efficiently when practicing Tai Chi. Zhou Xiong had been practicing Chinese martial arts for several decades. As an experienced martial arts expert, Zhou Xiong had a good understanding of Tai Chi, including how to control Qi and strength. Without Zhou Xiong’s demonstration, Wang Yao would take years to learn how to practice Tai Chi properly. Although Zhou Xiong was teaching Wang Yao Tai Chi, he included skills from other martial art styles. Zhou Xiong taught Wang Yao all that he knew about Chinese martial arts without any hesitation.

In fact, what Zhou Xiong did was against the rules. He shouldn’t have taught someone outside his family and passed on all the knowledge he knew about Chinese martial arts to the person. The skills he taught Wang Yao were supposed to be secretive and should only be passed on to someone in his family.

Zhou Xiong was impressed by Wang Yao’s ability to comprehend everything he demonstrated so fast. Once Wang Yao understood one point, he was able to understand the rest by analogy. Wang Yao was such a gifted person. He demonstrated his gift not only in a medical aspect but also in learning Chinese martial arts. God seemed to love Wang Yao.

“Stay for lunch at my place. I’ve asked my mom to prepare some food,” said Wang Yao.

Zhou Xiong didn’t want to stay, but Wang Yao insisted that he and his son should stay for lunch.

Wang Yao’s family was very hospitable. They really liked Zhou Wukang, and Zhang Xiuying cooked a lot of delicious dishes.

“This is enough! Please don’t cook anymore!” said Zhou Xiong repeatedly.

Both Wang Yao’s family and Zhou Xiong’s family enjoyed the meal. Zhou Xiong and his son went back to Nanshan hill with Wang Yao after the meal.

After climbing the hill for the second time of a day, Zhou Wukang was short of breath. He seemed to be exhausted.

“Come in and take a break,” said Wang Yao. He gave Zhou Wukang a glass of water.

“We can leave Kang to have a rest in the cottage while I teach you Tai Chi,” suggested Zhou Xiong.

“Sounds good,” agreed Wang Yao.

Zhou Xiong continued to teach Wang Yao the skills of Tai Chi, including attacking skills and how to use his strength in the afternoon.

Time passed quickly, and it started to get dark.

After drinking several cups of tea, Zhou Xiong and his son left Nanshan hill.

The next day, Tian Yuantu came to visit Wang Yao and told him that he had found an expert in making tea.

“Shall we go together to check it out?” asked Tian Yuantu.

“Sure! Actually, I’m available now if you want to go together,” said Wang Yao.

The two of them went down the hill and drove to a household at Lin He under Tian Yuantu’s guidance. They came to see Master Xu, a man in his 50’s with a medium build but thin stature.

“Hello, Master Xu. How are you?” said Tian Yuantu with a smile.

“Please come in,” said Master Xu with a smile. It appeared that he and Tian Yuantu had already known each other.

Master Xu made a pot of green tea for Wang Yao and Tian Yuantu after they entered his house.

“I heard you want to learn to cook tea leaves,” said Master Xu with a smile.

“Yes,” admitted Wang Yao.

“Do you want to start a career in that area?” asked Master Xu.

“Not really, I just want to learn it as a hobby,” said Wang Yao.

“A hobby?” asked Master Xu.

“Sort of,” said Wang Yao.

“That’s fine with me. Let me show you the tea garden first,” said Master Xu with a smile.

Master Xu grabbed a basket and took Wang Yao and Tian Yuantu to the tea garden next to his village. Lots of people here grew tea. The tea garden was very big and full of tea trees. Some people had already started to work in the tea garden.

“You can start picking the first tea leaves now. Look, you break the bottom of the tea leaves instead of pinching it. You are not allowed to use your fingernails. Some buds have two leaves on it, while some have only one. Do you want to try to pick some?” asked Master Xu.

Picking tea leaves looked easy, but after doing it for a while, most people would feel sore in their fingers and arms. Wang Yao followed Master Xu to learn which buds were good and which were not ready.

After picking some tea leaves, they went back to Master Xu’s house.

Master Xu then demonstrated how to cook the tea leaves. He used a big iron wok to stir-fry tea leaves on a firewood stove. This was the most traditional way of cooking tea leaves.

After having all the tools ready, Master Xu started to clean the wok and turned on the stove. Cooking tea leaves included several steps.

“First step is called removing the green. It requires a roaring fire,” Master Xu poured the fresh tea leaves into the wok and started to stir while explaining to Wang Yao the skills of stirring the tea leaves. He picked a few leaves from the wok to taste regularly and adjusted the fire accordingly.

“You try it; the leaves are almost cooked.” Master Xu gave Wang Yao a handful of tea leaves to taste, and then placed the rest of the leaves in the dustpan. Then, he started to rub the tea leaves with his palms, like kneading dough.

“You need to rub the tea leaves while they are still hot, the way you rub them is like kneading dough,” said Master Xu.

After Wang Yao tried it, Master Xu said, “Try again, looks like you are almost done.”

Wang Yao put his hands in the tea leaves again and felt that the leaves had cooled down. Master Xu then spread the tea leaves before putting them back into the wok to stir. He then repeated the same process five times.

“I think they are done!” said Master Xu.

The last step was to dry the leaves. The color of the tea leaves had completely changed from light green to dark green, almost as dark as black. Up to now, the whole process of cooking tea leaves manually was complete.

“You cannot make tea out of these tea leaves immediately after they are cooked. You have to wait until they are completely cool,” said Master Xu.

From picking the tea leaves to cooking the tea leaves, the whole process took the whole afternoon. Master Xu, Wang Yao, and Tian Yuantu hadn’t got a chance to have any food.

“Come on, Master Xu, we should grab something to eat,” suggested Tian Yuantu.

“Let’s just eat something at home. My wife has cooked dinner,” said Master Xu as he wiped the sweat away from his forehead.

While Master Xu was demonstrating how to pick and cook tea leaves to Wang Yao and Tian Yuantu, his wife had made dinner and had been waiting for them. It was the first time Wang Yao met Master Xu’s wife.

What’s happening to her? thought Wang Yao.

Wang Yao knew Master Xu’s wife was not in good health as soon as he saw her. Master Xu’s wife’s hair was almost half white. The color on her face was yellow and dark. There was not much light in her eyes, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

“Your wife is not well?” asked Wang Yao.

“No, she hasn’t been well for a long time. She always has migraines, and we couldn’t find what caused it. When she is attacked by an episode of migraines, she can’t do anything but lie in bed,” said Master Xu.

No wonder I didn’t see her when I came this morning. She must have been lying in bed at the time, thought Wang Yao.

Wang Yao and Tian Yuantu were really touched that Master Xu’s wife cooked them a meal even when she was not well. Tian Yuantu put down his chopsticks and took a look at Wang Yao. He didn’t speak until Wang Yao nodded at him.

“I have good news. He happens to be a wonderful doctor and can take a look at your wife.” Tian Yuantu pointed at Wang Yao.

“Really?” said Master Xu while looking at Wang Yao.

“I can try,” said Wang Yao with a smile.

“No rush, let’s have dinner first,” said Master Xu.

When they were having dinner, Wang Yao noticed that Master Xu often helped his wife with food subconsciously. It seemed that their relationship was really good.

None of them drank wine when having dinner, so they all finished the meal quickly. Wang Yao took a look at Master Xu’s wife after dinner.

Master Xu’s wife’s problem was similar to Tian Yuantu’s wife’s. They both had chronic illnesses. Because of the long-term migraines, Master Xu’s wife hadn’t been able to rest well, so her immune system was compromised and she had become weaker and weaker. Now she didn’t just have migraines, she had other health issues as well.

“I think I’ll be able to cure your wife,” said Wang Yao.

“Really?!” said Master Xu excitedly.

“Yes, but I need to think about it first. Give me a few days,” said Wang Yao.

“Sure.” Master Xu was so happy to hear that his wife’s illness could probably be cured. He had taken his wife to a number of doctors, none of whom could cure her.

Wang Yao asked Master Xu a few more questions related to making tea leaves and made notes before leaving with Tian Yuantu.