Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 1346 The Prodigy of Famous Doctors: Ma Wenying Wanted to Study at Beijing Institute of Technology (Two Chapters Combined)
"Be more specific!" Fang Yan said to Zhao Zhengyi.

Zhao Zhengyi said:
“She said her stomach hurt, and then I remembered what you said, Master, ‘Cold and raw foods hurt the spleen and stomach, and cold stagnation causes stomach pain.’ I asked her what she ate for breakfast. Did she eat anything cold or raw? She nodded and said that her grandma packed three meat buns for her and put them in her schoolbag but she didn’t eat them. She ate them all in the afternoon when she was hungry. So I told her to lie down on the chair and I would massage her stomach.”

"How did you knead it?" Fang Yan pressed, gently placing the soup spoon on the edge of the clay pot, her eyes revealing a hint of approval, yet she deliberately kept a straight expression.

“Just rub around her navel, clockwise.” Zhao Zhengyi drew a circle on her belly with his finger. “Master, you said that clockwise is the direction the intestines go, which can help expel cold air. I rubbed it lightly. At first, she said it hurt a little. After about a dozen rubs, she said, ‘No more rubbing.’ Later, she sat up and drank some hot water, and then she was able to paint again.”

Fang Yan nodded after hearing this and said to him, "Not bad."

Zhao Zhengyi smiled immediately upon hearing Fang Yan's affirmation.

"Then what about this wine?" Fang Yan asked Zhao Zhengyi.

Zhao Zhengyi said:
"She went back to get this herself after class, saying that her mother was thanking everyone else for doing the same."

Fang Yan stared at the two well-packaged bottles of Xifeng liquor, then looked at Zhao Zhengyi's nonchalant "this is a thank-you gift" expression, and couldn't help but chuckle.

He put down his spoon, walked over, picked up one of the bottles, and tapped it with his fingertip: "Zhengyi, it's just a small favor to help a classmate with her medical treatment, so there's no need to accept a gift. She's not your patient, she's your classmate. Besides, this gift is too much; your family probably doesn't even know. We'll return it to her later."

Zhao Zhengyi's smile froze for a moment, and his little brows slowly furrowed: "But... Yan Minmin said that when her mother asked Uncle Wang next door to fix the water pipes last time, she gave him cigarettes and alcohol as a gift. She said it was a way of saying 'thank you'."

Uncle Wang next door?
"Uncle Wang next door repairs water pipes; he earns his living with his skills. The cigarettes and alcohol he receives are his payment for his work. But what about you? When you rub Yan Minmin's stomach, you're helping a classmate, not 'working for money,' right?"

Zhao Zhengyi's brows furrowed even more, his fingers unconsciously picking at the hem of his clothes: "But... they're all 'thank you'."

“There are many ways to say thank you.” Fang Yan squatted down, took a piece of fruit candy from her pocket, and put it in his hand. “For example, Yan Minmin can say ‘thank you, Zhao Zhengyi’ or bring you a piece of candy tomorrow. These are all ways to say thank you. But this wine is too expensive. A bottle of wine can buy a basket of candy. She’s just a little girl. She might have taken it secretly from home. Her mother will be worried later.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhengyi's eyes widened immediately: "Huh? She didn't tell her family?"

"Probably not," Fang Yan said.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhengyi immediately stuffed the candy in his hand into his pocket and tugged at Sophia's sleeve: "Senior sister, let's take the wine back now! Otherwise, her mother will scold her."

Sofia couldn't help but laugh:

"it is good."

Then asked:

"But do you know where Yan Minmin is?"

Zhao Zhengyi was taken aback; he really didn't know.

Fang Yan said to them:

"It's okay, she lives in the staff quarters, we can just go there and find her."

"When you're at the gate, you can ask the security guard for directions."

Sophia and Zhao Zhengyi nodded after hearing this, and then immediately went out to return the wine.

After they left, Zhu Xian said to Fang Yan:

"This little guy Zhengyi can actually treat patients now. It seems his studies were worthwhile."

Fang Yan said to Zhu Xian:

"This child is quite smart, especially his memory. He can remember what I say after hearing it only once. That's a talent."

Fang Yan paused, then asked Zhu Xian:

You know Zhang Zhongjing, right?

Zhu Xian responded:
"Of course I know. You all keep saying, how could I not know? The Medical Sage of the Eastern Han Dynasty."

Fang Yan smiled and said:
“Zhang Zhongjing was also such a genius. He came from a family of doctors, but he showed an extraordinary sensitivity to medicine from an early age. At the age of 10, he could read through obscure medical classics such as the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic and the Difficult Classic. He could also put forward unique insights based on his grandfather’s clinical cases. He was known as a “prodigy doctor” by his neighbors.

"During his youth, he witnessed the devastation of the plague at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty ("The great plague of Jian'an caused the pain of corpses in every family and the sorrow of weeping in every room"), so at the age of 30 he resigned from his post as governor of Changsha and devoted himself to practicing medicine and writing books."

"He took 'differentiation of syndromes and treatment' as the core, broke through the previous limitation of 'treating the head when it hurts,' and creatively proposed the 'six channels differentiation' and 'visceral differentiation' system. He completed the Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases in just a few years."

"This work is hailed by later generations as the 'encyclopedia of clinical Chinese medicine,' and more than 300 prescriptions, such as 'Guizhi Tang' and 'Mahuang Tang,' remain core prescriptions for treating exogenous diseases and miscellaneous internal diseases in Chinese medicine."

Upon hearing this story, the sister-in-law exclaimed in surprise:

"The Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases that you are studying, was written by him over several years?"

Nodding in dialect:

"Yes, that's talent."

"Not only him, but also the Medicine King Sun Simiao was able to identify the properties and effects of common local herbs when he was about seven years old. When he was 10 years old, he could independently prescribe simple heat-clearing and pain-relieving prescriptions. His fellow villagers called him the 'reincarnation of the Medicine King'."

"By the age of 20, he had already traveled all over Guanzhong and the Qinling Mountains to collect medicinal herbs, accumulating clinical experience with thousands of herbs. He also proposed 'Five Prohibitions and Ten Essentials in Medicine,' a theory that predates Western medical ethics by more than 1000 years. He emphasized the professional principle of 'benevolence in medicine.' His genius was further reflected in 'interdisciplinary innovation': integrating Taoist 'health preservation thought' into medicine, and writing 'Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold' and 'Supplement to Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold.' He was the first to propose concepts such as 'prioritizing diet therapy and supplementing with drug therapy,' 'independent division of gynecology and pediatrics,' and 'combining acupuncture and medication.' The 'onion stalk catheterization' recorded in it is the world's earliest catheterization technique, and the 'mandibular joint dislocation reduction method' is clinical wisdom that transcended that era."

Sister-in-law Zhu Xian was surprised:
Wow, that's amazing...

After saying that, she asked:
"Is there any more?"

He said in dialect:

"Yes, let me name one that's closer to our timeframe."

"Ye Tianshi of the Qing Dynasty."

The younger sister-in-law was a little unfamiliar with this, but she still listened attentively as the dialect was spoken:

"This person also comes from a family of doctors. He studied medicine from a young age. When his father passed away at the age of fourteen, he inherited his family business and began to practice medicine. In ten years, he studied under seventeen famous doctors from various places, learning acupuncture, massage, internal medicine, and gynecology. By the age of 20, he had become a famous general practitioner in Suzhou."

"The real breakthrough happened when he was 30 years old. At that time, a 'warm epidemic' broke out in Jiangnan, suspected to be cholera and smallpox. Local Chinese medicine practitioners found that the traditional 'Treatise on Febrile Diseases' treatment was ineffective. Ye Tianshi broke through the thousand-year-old conclusion that 'warm disease is the same as febrile disease' and proposed that 'warm disease belongs to heat evil and needs to be 'cleared heat and nourished yin' rather than 'warmed yang and dispelled cold'. He created the 'Wei Qi Ying Xue Differentiation' system and used 'Yin Qiao San' and 'Sang Ju Yin' to save hundreds of thousands of patients, and became famous overnight."

"His 'Treatise on Warm Diseases' and 'Clinical Guidelines and Medical Cases' were the first to incorporate 'medical case teaching' into the inheritance of traditional Chinese medicine, and they are still 'textbooks' for clinical practice in traditional Chinese medicine today."

Zhu Xian nodded, a look of realization on her face, and asked:

"Were there such people in modern times?"

He said in dialect:

"Of course, there is. Xiao Longyou, the top of the four famous doctors in the capital, is the grandfather of Xiao Chengzhi, who has visited our house a few times before. He is a self-taught doctor. He was originally a Jinshi in the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty. After his mother fell ill in middle age, he began to study traditional Chinese medicine and made a name for himself in just a few years."

“To take a closer look, let me mention someone you’re familiar with: our Uncle Liangchun, and Old Master Cheng Xinnong, who has visited several times. They both started learning medicine at a young age and became famous in their early twenties.”

Just as Zhu Xian was about to put the red dates into the casserole, she heard the words "famous throughout the world in his early twenties" and her movements suddenly stopped. She then put down what she was holding, stared at Fang Yan with bright eyes, and couldn't help but smile: "Brother-in-law, according to you, aren't you one of them too!"

Fang Yan was adding firewood to the stove when he heard this. He paused for a moment, then looked up and laughed, "I can't compare to them. Those are all masters who founded their own schools of thought."

“How could there be no comparison? Your achievements are no less than theirs now,” Zhu Xian said.

She paused and continued:
"You're the one who's holding up the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Overseas Chinese businessmen who come back to China are all coming because of you. Besides, isn't justice something you taught them?"

"Your skills are already quite remarkable; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you a renowned doctor."

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate. Sophia led Zhao Zhengyi in, and as soon as Zhao Zhengyi entered, he called out, "Master! We've taken the wine back!"

"Did you give it to Yan Minmin's family?" Fang Yan asked.

"Yes, I gave it to them!" Justice said.

Fang Yan looked at Sofia.

Sofia said:
“We asked the security guard. When we went there, his family already knew that Yan Minmin had given the wine away. They hadn’t planned to take it back, but when I said it was your idea, her mother accepted it and gave us some pastries.”

As she spoke, she took out a package of pastries from her hand and waved it around.

"This family is very kind. It's good that the wine was taken back, but they even gave us some extra snacks," Zhu Xian said.

Fang Yan recognized it as osmanthus cake. The family wasn't short of food; they often brought back food from abroad. However, Fang Yan didn't really like giving these kinds of things to the children.

Fang Yan said to Sophia:
"Give it to Zhengyi and keep it. Someone gave it to him. He can eat it however he wants."

Upon hearing this, Sofia smiled and handed the pastries to the righteous little boy.

Justice took the oil paper package with both hands and ran straight to his room.

No need to guess, it must have been saved for Mingzhu. Zhengyi isn't too greedy, especially since his family is doing well and he's learned some knowledge about traditional Chinese medicine, so he's quite restrained in that regard.

He memorized what he should and shouldn't eat after hearing it explained in dialect once.

After a while, my mother and mother-in-law also got off work, and Fang Yan started cooking.

Then my older sister rode back on her bike, and my dad and father-in-law drove back from the school. The food was ready in Fangyan's area.

As he instructed his sister-in-law and elder sister to serve the dishes, he said to his family:
"I'll send one to Huang Huijie as well."

Everyone agreed, and Fang Yan took his things and went to the hospital again.

He carefully filled a thermos with chicken soup and packed two dishes of freshly stir-fried vegetables in a food container. They were all light and simple, and Fang Yan deliberately left the largest piece of chicken leg in the soup.

Upon arriving at the hospital's inpatient ward, the corridor was quiet, with only the warm yellow light from the nurses' station. He tiptoed to Huang Huijie's ward and peered through the glass window: Huang Huijie was lying there. Fang Yan knocked on the door and brought the food to Huang Huijie's ward.

"I've brought you dinner. I made it this afternoon," Fang Yan said to her.

"Hey, I just said I was ordering food," Huang Huijie said to Fang Yan as she got out of bed.

Fang Yan opened the thermos and poured the chicken soup into a bowl:
"The chickens from Lao Hu's factory have been stewed for quite a while."

Huang Huijie took a sip of soup, raised an eyebrow, and said to Fang Yan:

"It has to be your cooking skills; they're much better than the chefs at the Yanjing Hotel!"

Huang Huijie then drank several more sips.

Fang Yan said with a smile:

"As long as it tastes good, you can eat slowly. I'm going back now."

"I'll come and collect the dishes after you've finished eating."

Huang Huijie nodded repeatedly and said to Fang Yan:

"Okay, go back now."

We're all so familiar with each other, so let's not stand on ceremony.

When Fang Yan left, she saw that Mr. Sima's ward was still quite lively, with many family members having dinner around him.

Is this happiness or torment for Mr. Sima?

Happiness is that his family is here with him, but the torment is that he's a big eater, and with so many people eating around him, he can't get any food. Given his temper, if he could swear, he probably would have already done so by now.

Fang Yan didn't bother them and went straight downstairs to go home.

When we got home, the food was already on the table, and we were just waiting for Fangyan to come home for dinner.

"Let's get started!"

They greeted everyone in their local dialect.

He first made a bowl of chicken soup for his wife.

"I've been stewing it all afternoon. Huang Huijie just drank it and said it was pretty good. Why don't you give it your opinion?"

As he spoke, he scooped up a few pieces of yam.

Zhu Lin took the soup, scooped up a spoonful, took a sip, her eyes crinkling into a smile, and said:

"I still find your chicken soup the most comforting."

Fang Yan also greeted the others:
"Everyone should try it. This is a chicken that Old Hu raised using Chinese medicine residue over several months."

Then we received unanimous praise from everyone.

Fang Yan was satisfied with the taste; he took a sip and found it to be quite good.

The father-in-law put down his chopsticks, picked up a piece of chicken, put it in his mouth, chewed it carefully, and couldn't help but nod: "No wonder the soup is so delicious. Chickens raised on Chinese herbal medicine residue are really different. The meat is firm and not dry, much better than what you buy in the market." He picked up his bowl and ate a couple of mouthfuls of rice, then said: "Xiao Hu's method is quite novel. It makes good use of waste and raises good things. But I have to give him some advice later. It would be best if the chickens were always fed the same kind of medicinal herb, so that you can tell which one tastes better."

Just look at a true gourmand.

They can quickly offer suggestions to improve the flavor.

“I have a different opinion!” Dad chimed in from the side, his chopsticks still in his hand. “The dregs of Chinese medicine contain warming and nourishing herbs like astragalus and angelica. Chickens that eat these grow strong and their eggs are more fragrant than others. Eating only one kind might not taste as good. I feel pretty good after drinking this soup today.”

Father-in-law Zhu Guangnan said:

“Old buddy, you don’t understand. Astragalus and angelica are indeed warming and nourishing, but mixed with a bunch of dregs, the taste becomes mixed. If you feed it with only one kind of herb, like pure astragalus dregs, the chicken will have the sweet aroma of astragalus; if you feed it with angelica dregs, it will have a subtle medicinal fragrance. Each has its own flavor, and that’s how you can taste the essence.” He picked up a piece of yam and slowly added, “It’s like drinking tea. Longjing tea has its freshness, and Pu’er tea has its mellowness. Mixing them together will only make them lose their original flavor.”

The old man frowned as he listened, put down his chopsticks, and retorted:
“I actually think a mixed flavor is better! Think about it, traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes the ‘principal, assistant, adjuvant, and guide’ principle. The combination of herbs in the dregs of medicine is based on certain rules. Chicken is a warming and nourishing food, and the umami flavor in the meat comes from the essence of various herbs combined together. That’s what ‘compound umami’ means. It’s much richer than a single flavor.” He looked at Fang Yan and said, “Don’t you agree? You understand herbs, so you have the most say.”

All eyes at the table immediately fell on Fang Yan. Even Zhu Xian, who was gnawing on a chicken leg, stopped and waited curiously for him to speak.

Fang Yan took a sip of soup, somewhat speechless. One of these two preferred driving a car and the other a motorcycle, yet they insisted on making him admit that his own was the best. He put down his bowl and smiled, "What the two old gentlemen said makes sense, it just depends on which angle you're looking at it from."

He turned to his father-in-law and said, "Dad, you're talking about 'flavor segmentation.' If Lao Hu wants to create something special, like raising 'Astragalus Chicken' or 'Angelica Chicken' separately and selling them, people in the know will definitely love to try it. This is a good way to do business."

Then he turned to his father and said, "What my dad is talking about is 'warming and nourishing in synergy.' When the chickens are fed with the dregs of the medicine, the medicinal properties of the herbs work together, making them grow strong and healthy with good meat quality and a more balanced flavor. This is actually the most suitable way for us to eat or give as a gift."

"Master of Balancing Water" is a dialect term that emphasizes avoiding offending anyone.

Zhao Zhengyi suddenly raised his little hand and interjected, "Master, I know! Just like when you prescribe medicine, sometimes you need to use a 'special medicine for specific treatment,' and sometimes you need to use a 'compound prescription for conditioning,' isn't that the same thing?"

Fang Yan's eyes lit up, and she reached out to rub his head: "That's right! Zheng Yi hit the nail on the head. Feeding chickens and prescribing medicine are the same thing, it depends on whether you want 'unique features' or 'effectiveness', there is no absolute good or bad."

The father-in-law laughed upon hearing this: "Fangyu really knows how to speak. I'm impressed now. I'll talk to Xiao Hu later and have him try both methods. If we're just feeding them to ourselves, we can mix them together. If we want to send them out, we can raise a few separately and feed them pure medicinal residue. That way, we can do both without any problems."

Dad laughed too: "That's more like it. As long as it tastes good, there's no need to be so particular."

The old woman wiped Mingzhu's mouth and chuckled as she tried to smooth things over: "You two can argue for ages over something as simple as eating chicken. But seriously, Fang Yan's cooking skills are truly exceptional. No matter how you feed the chicken, once he stews it, it's always delicious."

"Of course!" Zhu Xian finished chewing the last bite of chicken and licked her lips. "My brother-in-law's soup is rich but not greasy, and the chicken is tender but not falling apart. I can eat another bowl of rice today!"

Fang Yan got up and added soup for everyone: "Drink more if you like, there's still plenty left in the pot. Old Hu has a lot of chickens, he'll bring two more over later and we can cook them in different ways, like stewed mushrooms or braised potatoes."

Zhu Lin lowered his voice and said:
"It's not like we can't afford chicken, so don't keep bothering others."

Fang Yan smiled and said:
"Okay, okay, I'll just raise some chickens outside the research institute; there's some medicine residue there too."

At this moment, the father-in-law suddenly stopped eating and said to Fang Yan:

"Oh, right! I forgot to tell you something!"

"What's wrong?" Fang Yan asked his father-in-law curiously.

The father-in-law said:
"That little horse has now enrolled at our school."

"Little Ma?" Fang Yan didn't quite understand at first.

Dad reminded me:
“Ma Wenying”.

Fang Yan was taken aback:
"Her? Going to your school?"

The father-in-law nodded:
"Yes, it was arranged by Director Liao. The principal personally escorted her to school."

The dialect speaker asked inexplicably:

What can she possibly learn?

Fang Yan remembers that Ma Wenying had some talent for languages ​​and liked to work with perfumes. What did she study at the Beijing Institute of Technology, where her father and his friends studied?

Mechanical Engineering? Chemical and Environmental Engineering? Applied Physics? Applied Mathematics? Thermal Engineering? Metallurgical Engineering? Fluid Mechanics?

Build missiles? Build radar?
The father-in-law said:
"Studying chemical engineering! The principal mentioned to me that Xiao Ma is particularly sensitive to smells and ingredients. She used to work with people on perfumes and could even describe the molecular structure of different fragrances. Director Liao said that this talent should not be wasted. The fine chemical engineering direction in chemical engineering can make good use of her skills—she can study fragrance synthesis and daily chemical products in the future, and maybe she can even contribute to our country's light industry."

Fang Yan was stunned for a moment, then realized what was going on:

"You know what, her sensitivity to smells is really rare. All the perfumes I smell are pretty much the same, but she can tell you pretty much what they are."

The father-in-law said, "The principal also said that what's most lacking in fine chemical engineering is this kind of 'sensory talent.' Ordinary students have to rely on instruments to analyze components, but she first makes a preliminary judgment with her nose and then uses instruments to verify it, which is much more efficient. Moreover, she is willing to learn. When she enrolled, she took the initiative to ask the chemistry department teachers for a list of reference books, saying that she wanted to make up for the basics in advance."

The father chimed in, "This girl comes from a well-off family and has donated quite a bit to the school, so the school has no reason to refuse..."

Fang Yan nodded slightly: "That's fine, anyway, she needs to find something to do."

“That’s right,” the father-in-law said. “The principal even spoke to the professors in the chemistry department, asking them to keep a close eye on him and teach him anything he doesn’t understand. If this child can settle down and study, he might actually make some achievements in the field of fine chemicals in the future. Currently, many of our country’s daily chemical products still have to be imported. If we can develop them ourselves, we can save a lot of foreign exchange.”

Miss Ma finally triumphed over her father and successfully stayed in the capital.

PS: The basic chapter of 6000 words has been updated.

(End of this chapter)