Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 923 True warriors dare to admit to kidney deficiency; there are always some scientists who don't value money (two-in-one chapter)
After hearing Jin Shiyuan's words, Fang Yan said to him:
"Okay, thank you for your guidance, Professor Jin."

Jin Shiyuan waved his hand and said with a smile:

"It's not really guidance. If he could get into the research institute, he would be much better than lecturing. I feel he's more suited to getting things done."

Taking the opportunity, Fang Yan extended an invitation to Professor Jin Shiyuan:

"We're having a get-together tomorrow, why don't you come too?"

"Professor Zeng will also be going."

Jin Shiyuan was surprised that Fang Yan would invite him. After thinking for a moment, he said:

Where are you having the gathering?

He said in dialect:

"It's right at my home, on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Street across from Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Tomorrow, Professor Yue Meizhong and our class teacher, Professor Liu Duzhou, will both be there."

"If you'd like to come, you can come with them tomorrow."

Hearing that so many people wanted to go, Jin Shiyuan nodded:

"Okay, I'll definitely be there."

Hearing that Jin Shiyuan had agreed, Fang Yan was quite pleased and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, saying:
"We eagerly await your arrival."

……

After saying goodbye, Fang Yan had to go home.

The students in my class who are currently in Beijing will all be leaving school to go home tomorrow, as it's the weekend.

Only the students from other places are going back to their dorms one by one. If they don't have any plans for tomorrow, they're discussing in twos and threes about going out of the school to find a place to travel.

There are quite a few places to visit in Beijing.

Fang Yan's elite class, some of them are going to Fang Yan's house for a gathering tomorrow.

Right now, Li Zhengji is collecting information on the number of people who will be visiting tomorrow and discussing the timing of their visit.

Fang Yan didn't concern himself with the matter, leaving it all to Li Zhengji. He then went next door, got in his car, and went home.

When he got home, Anton and Sofia were there.

They usually appear together on weekends.

After giving them and little Zhao Zhengyi a half-hour lesson, the older sister returned with her younger brother and sister-in-law.

I come back once a week, and I can clearly see that my younger brother and sister-in-law have both lost weight.

There's no way around it; they're different from the older sister, as they've always eaten at school.

Even at Peking University, the living conditions are incomparable to those at home.

Upon seeing the two return, he greeted his family and went straight into the kitchen.

He grabbed a bowl of fried peanuts and ate them like a starving ghost reincarnated.

The old woman said to them:

"If you eat too much now, you won't be able to eat dinner later."

The little guy stuffed peanuts into his mouth while saying:

"No, I feel like I could eat a whole cow."

My sister-in-law is a bit more refined; she said that as soon as she entered the door, she smelled the delicious aroma from the kitchen, which made her hungry.

The older sister comes home for dinner every day, and she's completely different from him. At least she gets her daily nutrition, and she starts helping with chores around the house as soon as she gets home.

A few days ago, Fang Yan had already purchased the ingredients for tomorrow's gathering.

Some dishes are already being prepared in advance today.

For example, once steamed dishes are made into semi-finished products, they can be placed directly in the refrigerator and then steamed the next day.

These days, the first thing to consider when having a gathering is, of course, ensuring everyone is well-fed.

Steamed pork with rice flour, braised pork with preserved mustard greens, braised pork belly, stewed pig's feet—these oily and juicy dishes are naturally a welcome treat. It's fortunate that the local dialect has many connections, allowing them to purchase pork beyond the market's quota through the Peking Union Medical College Hospital's canteen supply chain. Otherwise, given their family's meat-eating efficiency, they really wouldn't be able to get enough meat for the gathering if they suddenly went to the market.

Although the capital city has priority in supply, meat is not always available.

Only institutions like Peking Union Medical College Hospital have special channels to ensure the nutritional needs of inpatients and medical staff.

Just like companies like Shougang, they also have their own breeding farms.

Tonight is a family gathering, so Fang Yan will go to the kitchen to cook a few of her signature dishes for dinner, since her father and father-in-law will be coming over later.

My father-in-law, in particular, has been focusing on these few meals over the weekend all week.

When Fang Yan started cooking, her father and father-in-law arrived. They had both taken the bus that day.

Now the family is basically complete.

My second sister is studying in Shanghai, so it's impossible for her to fly back for dinner.

In addition, my brother-in-law and his wife didn't come either. Now my brother-in-law is basically a son-in-law living with the Ye family.

There's very little time available to come over.

After a while, the food on Fangyan's side was ready.

Then he called everyone to start eating.

At this moment, Lao Hu and his wife Huang Huijie also arrived.

Recently, Huang Huijie has also experienced the joy of getting free meals.

Although their meals weren't bad—they were all ordered from the Yanjing Hotel—the couple always felt a bit lonely eating there. Even with their bodyguards Cui Changshou and Li Chuanwu, and their assistant Xiao Lin, it still didn't feel as comfortable as Fang Yan's home.

Actually, the main reason is that there are still quite a few women in the family who speak dialects, and Huang Huijie can chat with them.

Sure enough, Huang Huijie came today saying that after dinner she wanted to play mahjong with the women of the Fang family.

It's a one-stop shop for eating, drinking, and having fun.

Fang Yan always has enough left over from cooking, so having a few more people freeloading isn't a big deal.

They even invited Lao Cui, Lao Li, and their assistant Xiao Lin, who had come with them, to have dinner together.

That evening, Fang Yan's family hosted two banquets.

The family gathering was quite lively. My younger brother and sister-in-law hadn't been back for a long time, so they started talking about their lives at school.

My younger brother is basically living the happiest life. He became famous at a young age and was already a popular writer before going to university. Now, his books are being adapted into movies and TV series, and they are being filmed simultaneously in mainland China and Hong Kong.

This has practically made my little brother a star in the class. You could say that my little brother's current situation in the Chinese Department of Peking University is exactly the same as Fang Yan's in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Capital University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Whether it's the admiration of classmates or the high regard of teachers.

He let his younger brother experience the thrill of being a top student. Now, almost everyone who writes something will ask him to share and critique their work.

Aside from the food being a bit lacking on a daily basis, the emotional satisfaction was off the charts.

As for the sister-in-law, her life was a little worse.

Journalism is a subject that really tests your brainpower, especially your ability to respond to situations and your writing skills.

My sister-in-law is basically in the middle of her class now.

In addition, she's currently learning photography, and the cameras in her class are being taught in groups, so she still hasn't touched a camera yet.

Some students with the means have managed to borrow equipment, figure out how to use the camera, and have started practicing. She, on the other hand, can only stare blankly at the knowledge in the books.

"I'll borrow one for you later!" The father-in-law said, hearing that his daughter didn't have a camera, and planned to go and borrow one.

"Kaige is coming over tomorrow, let's borrow him, he'll definitely have a way," the younger brother said.

At this moment, Fang Yan said:

"No need to trouble yourself. There's a camera at home, in the study. I'll get it for you after dinner."

"However, we might not have enough film. You'll have to figure that out yourself."

The younger brother asked in surprise:
"Brother, when did you get a camera at home?"

He said in dialect:

"Some time ago, someone gave it to me. It was a gift from a Japanese businessman named Sun Menghong, who brought her first love back to treat her illness..." (See Chapter 875)
"I don't remember?" the younger brother asked in surprise.

He said in dialect:

"I definitely said that, but you were definitely distracted."

Everyone in the family said they remembered, even my sister-in-law said she remembered it, it happened just last week.

This has left my little brother stumped.

Fang Yan said to him:
"I think you've been affected by information pollution, and your memory has deteriorated."

The younger brother was puzzled:

"Huh? What does 'information pollution' mean?"

Fang Yan explained to him:

"It's just that I see too much miscellaneous information every day, my brain can't process it all, and then I start to forget things."

Now the younger brother asked, somewhat disbelievingly:

"There's such a disease?"

He said in dialect:

"Of course there are, but they are only available in developed countries abroad."

Actually, the dialect refers to digital fatigue syndrome, which is quite common in later generations.

In 2019, the WHO included "digital fatigue" in the International Classification of Diseases. Simply put, people who spend long periods of time in front of electronic devices will experience difficulty concentrating and a decline in short-term memory.

Research shows that people who receive more than 100 push notifications a day experience a 17% decrease in working memory capacity (from Nature Human Behaviour 2022).

The journal Neuron also published a study in 2021, which confirmed that when processing information from multiple sources simultaneously, the metabolic rate of the prefrontal cortex surges, leading to a decrease in the efficiency of long-term memory encoding in the hippocampus.

Of course, dialects are not entirely lying. In developed countries, as early as 1970, eight years ago, the concept of "information anxiety" was already being proposed.

As a writer, one needs to deal with a large amount of creative material, reader feedback, and communication regarding film and television adaptations. Under this "multi-source asynchronous information input," creative workers will enter a state of information overload, and their memory will begin to decline.

The most common problem is that if you watch too many short videos, your work efficiency will decrease significantly that day.

Traditional Chinese medicine also explains this state by referring to "internal injury from the seven emotions" or "excessive emotional states."

Excessive information input can lead to emotional imbalance. For example, excessive thinking can damage the spleen, and spleen deficiency can result in insufficient production of qi and blood, which in turn affects the mind.

In addition, some works are inherently the kind that evoke strong emotional fluctuations, and watching too many can disturb one's mind, leading to poor concentration and memory loss.

Fang Yan said to his younger brother:

"You must have been reviewing too many manuscripts for others every day, which has caused your memory to decline in a short period of time."

The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic states that "the spleen stores intention" and "excessive thinking injures the spleen." Long-term processing of various information leads to excessive thinking, which impairs the spleen's function, resulting in insufficient production of qi and blood, which cannot nourish the brain and marrow, leading to forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating.

"Furthermore, the Medical Classics also states that 'the brain is the sea of ​​marrow, and the kidneys are responsible for storing essence.' Staying up late for a long time and overusing the brain can deplete kidney essence, leaving the sea of ​​marrow empty, resulting in memory loss and slow reaction."

Upon hearing this, the men at the table all perked up their ears.

The younger brother asked in surprise:
"Can excessive mental exertion lead to kidney deficiency?"

The dialect responded:
"Lower back and knee pain, tinnitus, forgetfulness, lethargy, irritability, headache, red eyes, and nightmares are all symptoms."

The little brother scratched his head:
"You know what, it seems there really is such a thing." A true warrior is one who dares to admit they have kidney deficiency.

Even more impressive is the courage to admit to having kidney deficiency in front of many people.

Immediately, the expressions of everyone at the table changed.

However, it was clear that this young man, being a novice, hadn't thought of this at all, and asked Fang Yan again:
"What should we do?"

Fang Yan smiled, took a bite of food, and said:
"Read less. You're not a publishing editor, you can't read everything anyone gives you."

The little brother scratched his head:
"They're all classmates, I'd feel bad if I didn't see them."

Fang Yan said to him:
"Then I'll teach you a massage technique."

Speaking in dialect, he began demonstrating to his younger brother:

"The Baihui acupoint on the top of the head is one inch in front, behind, to the left and right. This area is called the Four Gods of Intelligence. Press each point with your thumb for 3 minutes to refresh your mind."

The young man still firmly believes in the dialect.

He put down his chopsticks and started cooking according to the local dialect.

The dialect was then taught again:

"In addition, there is the Heavenly Drumming, covering the ears with both hands and flicking the back of the head 36 times with the index finger to vibrate the marrow sea."

"Finally, there is a method called 'clenching the fist and concentrating the mind,' where you press the Ying-Spring point of the Liver Meridian at the base of your ring finger with your thumb, close your eyes, and regulate your breathing for 10 minutes."

Old Hu craned his neck to remember. He received a lot of information every day, and being older than his younger brother, he had already started to experience memory decline. He had to have his assistant write down many things and then do them one by one.

Besides him, his father and father-in-law also silently began to remember.

They also have access to a lot of information.

"Actually, there's another dietary therapy recipe, but it's a pity you can't come back for dinner, otherwise the family could make it for you," Fang Yan said to his younger brother.

Before the younger brother could answer, Old Hu couldn't help but ask curiously:
"What recipe?"

Fang Yan looked at him, and Lao Hu explained:
"What I mean is, if possible, we could turn it into a product!"

"For example, the kind that can be ground into powder in equal proportions and then brewed with boiling water to drink. There may not be a market for it in China, but the market for it abroad is huge."

"Some people have a lower acceptance of pure Chinese medicine, but a higher acceptance of dietary therapy."

"This is actually a tiered market, and we can take it all in when it comes to distribution."

Fang Yan nodded upon hearing this:

“That makes sense. I’ll write it down for you after we finish eating.”

Old Hu said with a smile:
"Okay! Write a few more."

They continued chatting and eating, and after finishing their meal, the family members started clearing the table.

Fang Yan took out the camera and film from the study.

Anyway, it's not used often at home, so giving it to my sister-in-law would solve her immediate problem.

"Wow, it's a Canon! This looks so high-end!" The sister-in-law was thrilled when she saw the camera Fang Yan handed her.

Fang Yan said to her:
"It's the Canon A-1, the latest digital control type, which has only been on the market for less than a month."

"It's still paired with a 50mm prime lens."

"There's just not enough film, so you'll have to use it sparingly."

He then handed it to his sister-in-law.

The sister-in-law nodded happily when she saw the beautiful camera in her hand:

"Yes, yes, I'll definitely use it well!"

These days, digitally controlled cameras are a rare find.

The sister-in-law was shocked to discover that the machine required batteries, as there were no such models at the school.

Her brother-in-law took out a camera and immediately equipped her with the full range of accessories.

After getting the camera, she treasured it and studied it, ignoring invitations to play mahjong.

In the end, Huang Huijie had no choice but to call her mother-in-law, Fu Zhaojun, who speaks dialect.

Zhu Lin and her older sister started playing mahjong.

In the dialect, they called Lao Hu over and wrote him some things like longan and lily porridge, and black bean and black peach drink in the study.

Fang Yan, holding the list, said to Lao Hu:

"The ingredients are 15g of dried longan pulp, 30g of fresh lily bulbs, and 100g of japonica rice."

"The other ingredient is 50g of black beans and 30g of walnuts."

"One is to strengthen the spleen and nourish the heart, and the other is to tonify the kidneys and improve intelligence."

"However, there may still be some technical challenges in producing instant-flush products."

Lao Hu said:

"I'll find out by asking someone."

Fang Yan nodded, indicating that he wasn't a professional in the field and wouldn't offer much guidance.

Next, Fang Yan and Lao Hu talked about the gathering tomorrow, and Zeng Luquan who would be joining them.

"A disciple of Wang Fengchun, one of the four most famous doctors in Beijing? And he has years of experience traveling abroad and even wrote his own list of contraindications for the combined use of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine?"

"What a talent!" Old Hu exclaimed.

After hearing Fang Yan finish speaking, he felt he had no reason to refuse.

Fang Yan naturally thinks the same way: as long as the other party is genuine, even if they have personality flaws, it's not unacceptable.

He nodded and said:

"Yes, he will come with Lao He tomorrow. If we have a good chat, I will let him join the Secret Formula Research Institute. Then, we will entrust him with the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine in our company. I hope he can develop a standard that meets international market standards and gain international recognition."

Old Hu thought for a moment and said:
"Just as you said, he has been working on international cooperation projects in traditional Chinese medicine in Africa for the past few years, leading the standardization of Chinese medicine processing and efficacy verification. This experience can directly help our company establish production process standards that meet international recognition and solve key problems such as 'unstable process' and 'large fluctuations in efficacy' faced by Chinese medicine exports."

"His addition will make our industry chain more complete. He has also been familiar with the overseas TCM market for many years, and his experience is very valuable."

If Zeng Luquan is as Jin Shiyuan said, his joining would not only be a technical supplement, but also a key step in the company's strategic layout. The only thing Fang Yan was not sure about was that he had never heard of such a capable person in his previous life.

Could it be that it has been overlooked?
Fang Yan thought about it and realized that it was absolutely wrong.

Even if his work is completely forgotten, at least we should be able to see his papers.

That leaves only three possibilities.

The first possibility is that this person's skills have been exaggerated.

They're not as amazing as people say; their actual abilities still have many shortcomings.

The second possibility is that he was poached after the reform and opening up, or perhaps he was recruited abroad, such as to Japan.

After all, traditional Chinese medicine is essentially Chinese herbal medicine, and he can also find opportunities for development there, so he certainly wouldn't know about the dialect.

Anyway, Fang Yan knows quite a few people who are not doing well in the domestic Chinese medicine industry. During the period when people were going abroad, many of them went to work as technical executives in Kampo medicine companies.

This is how brain drain occurs.

Of course, there is one last possibility, which is also the darkest one.

His life came to an abrupt end before he could even begin to shine.

No records were left.

Regardless of the possibility, we don't want dialects to become a thing of the past.

So I have to meet him in person tomorrow to find out the truth.

Fang Yan has already figured out how to talk to him after they meet tomorrow.

The simplest way is to talk to him about the Chinese herbal medicine processing science you wrote.

Next, Lao Hu told Fang Yan about the current progress of the factory.

The installation at Chaoyang Dongba has been completed. He originally wanted to offer Chen Keji a high salary to stay and help out, but Chen Keji did not agree.

“A small number of top researchers are like this,” Fang Yan said to Lao Hu.

Fang Yan knew that Chen Keji's ambitions lay elsewhere; he was a person who focused on research.

Moreover, Hu Jintao, being an overseas Chinese businessman, has limited appeal to high-level talents like Chen Keji, at least for now.

The state can offer more.

Even speaking a dialect might not be enough to get Chen Keji to join the secret recipe research institute, let alone join a company owned by overseas Chinese businessmen.

Chen Keji demonstrated an extreme focus on medical research in his compilation of "Research on Medical Cases in the Qing Palace" (see Chapters 828 and 838).

He spent several years organizing more than 30,000 medical records from the Qing Dynasty court and lent his previously unpublished precious manuscripts to Fang Yan, demonstrating that his focus in life was on the excavation and inheritance of medical literature, rather than commercial interests.

This pure pursuit of academic excellence makes them more inclined to work in state-supported research institutions.

In addition, the "secret mission" he participated in involved the compilation of the "Yongle Encyclopedia of Prescriptions" in collaboration with Ji Yao. Such projects require national-level cultural relic authority and academic network support.

In contrast, while Lao Hu's company can offer high salaries, it lacks matching academic infrastructure in core areas such as ancient book research and acquisition of historical medical archives.

In his teaching, Chen Keji emphasized that "traditional Chinese medicine should be compared with itself, rather than competing with others." This reveals that he values ​​the inheritance of medicine more than utilitarian competition.

Some people are like this; their professional values, driven by academic contributions and a sense of historical responsibility, are fundamentally in conflict with commercial corporate goals.

However, such people are still a minority. If traditional Chinese medicine wants to develop, it needs to provide more platforms for more TCM talents to demonstrate their value.

Talking about money is vulgar, but everyone likes it.

Old Hu could only nod helplessly. He now wanted to recruit any talented person he saw, especially after returning to China. He felt that there were many undiscovered talents everywhere. The saying "China is a land of outstanding people" is no joke.

It feels like you could randomly throw a brick out and hit an expert in some field.

The two chatted until late, catching up on recent events and then discussing what needed to be said at tomorrow's shareholders' meeting. They then realized it was almost eleven o'clock.

He then finished his work and came out of the study.

Huang Huijie, who was playing mahjong next door, had already become a spendthrift, losing a lot of money.

Just as Fang Yan was about to tell them to stop working, the phone in the study rang again.

The phone call must be urgent, so Fang Yan quickly went back.

As soon as the call connected, a familiar voice came from the other end:

"Fang Yan, it's me."

"Director Liao?" Fang Yan was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, it's me," Director Liao replied.

"You're still up so late? Is something the matter?" Fang Yan guessed it might be the reception banquet tomorrow night.

Then Director Liao asked:
"Um... what could be the cause of my right leg suddenly swelling up after I took a nap?"

Fang Yan was taken aback, then immediately pressed for an answer:
Is it your right leg that's swollen, or someone else's?

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

There will be an extra chapter later.

(End of this chapter)