The little miracle doctor Xu Ze twitched the corners of his mouth, looking as if he might cry, and forced a stiff, dry smile onto his face. Amidst the urging of the crowd, he accepted the large sandalwood plaque presented by the three families.
“This sandalwood really is heavy…” Xu Ze gripped the large wooden board, glancing at the five bold characters carved on it, and chuckled wryly to himself. But since they had gone to the trouble of presenting it, he couldn’t very well refuse. He quickly handed the plaque carefully to Xu Hao behind him and invited everyone inside for tea.
However, the three families had only come to express their gratitude. Seeing the clinic already packed with patients waiting to be seen, with people even sitting at the entrance, they didn’t want to add to Xu Ze’s burden by coming in.
They elected an elder to step forward. Cupping his hands in a traditional salute, he delivered a few flowery phrases of polite thanks. Then the three families took their leave, disappearing into the crowd, leaving behind the sea of over a thousand onlookers that clogged the old street.
It took a full half an hour for the crowd to finally disperse, but the area around the Xu Family Medical Clinic remained buzzing with activity.
Most of the nearly one thousand people drawn here hadn’t known Xu Ze was back home or that he possessed such remarkable skills. Seeing the clinic filled with people obviously waiting for consultations, many grew curious and surged toward the entrance, craning their necks to peer inside.
With so many patients waiting, Xu泽 knew if he didn’t hurry, he wouldn’t even get lunch. So he had no time to dawdle. He quickly sat back down at his consultation desk and continued seeing patients.
As for Xu Ze’s parents, after beaming with joy at the sandalwood plaque, they were soon rushed back to the pharmacy and injection room by the steady stream of patients arriving with prescriptions from Xu Ze, needing shots or medications.
Only Xu Hao and Xu Qing’er, their faces lit up with brilliant smiles, carefully carried the large plaque to a table and set it down. Turning to look at the crowded doorway, they felt a swell of pride.
Among the crowd at the entrance, a spirited old man with graying hair watched the scene with keen interest. He observed the patients seated outside waiting and then Xu Ze inside, treating people.
“This young doctor is way too young, isn’t he?” Seeing Xu Ze’s appearance, the old man confidently estimated he couldn’t be more than twenty-two years old.
“A doctor this young… tsk tsk… can he really be that skilled?” The old man shook his head with a smile. To be honest, he found it hard to believe.
But listening to the crowd nearby, who were vividly describing how this young doctor had saved lives at the accident scene a couple of days ago, and seeing that someone had actually presented such a plaque, it didn’t seem fake.
Glancing at the patients at the entrance, he couldn’t resist stopping one of them and asking, “Excuse me, is this young doctor really that good at treating illnesses?”
The person he stopped was a middle-aged man, sitting there bored, waiting his turn. Seeing the old man’s question, he perked up and started chatting with him.
“Didn’t you just see that big plaque? That’s sandalwood, worth a lot of money… Dr. Xu saved several lives to earn that plaque…” The middle-aged man pointed at the plaque on the table inside and said with emotion.
The old man glanced at the large plaque, smacked his lips, and then asked, “I’ve heard about Dr. Xu saving people. Aside from that, has he done anything else impressive?”
“Yes… of course he has…” Seeing the old man’s curiosity, the middle-aged man smiled smugly, pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, offered one to the old man, and they started chatting.
The middle-aged man took a drag, gently blew out two smoke rings, and then laughed, “Old sir, you’re not from around here, are you?”
“No, I’m from Star City…” the old man replied with a smile.
“Oh, that explains it. If you were from one of the nearby towns, you’d have heard of Dr. Xu’s reputation…” The middle-aged man nodded with a smile. “They say the first time Dr. Xu made a name for himself was last year, when he was a junior in college…”
“Last year, when he was a junior in college?” Hearing this, the old man was taken aback again. Then he asked, puzzled, “Is Dr. Xu still in school then?”
“Yes, he’s a senior at Star University Medical School…” The middle-aged man turned to look at Xu Ze and sighed, “My son is also in college… but how can he be so far behind Dr. Xu? All he does all day is play on the computer, can’t do anything useful…”
“A senior…” The old man gasped. Could young people these days be so impressive? Still a senior, hasn’t even started his internship, yet he’s already… and he made a name for himself last year…
The old man’s curiosity and amazement grew. He looked at the middle-aged man and said, “Tell me more… tell me what happened?”
“Last year, Dr. Xu was on his way home and single-handedly saved a child who was choking to death on a meatball…” Here, the middle-aged man tilted his head toward the inside of the clinic and gestured. “See that silk banner on the wall? That family presented it last year, setting off firecrackers just like today…”
“And a few months ago, a child drowned in this small Chengtang River. His parents took him to several clinics, all said there was no hope… Finally, with no other options, they brought him to Dr. Xu… Dr. Xu gave him an injection in the chest and brought him back to life. It scared another doctor who was watching half to death…”
After speaking, the middle-aged man looked proudly at the old man and laughed, “So, what do you think? Pretty impressive, right?”
The old man pondered the two incidents the middle-aged man mentioned. They both seemed to involve emergency resuscitation. But such things could be exaggerated; how could they be possible otherwise…
He then looked at the middle-aged man and continued asking, “Besides saving children, has Dr. Xu cured any other serious patients?”
“Yes, of course he has!” The old man’s seeming disbelief made the middle-aged man a bit displeased. He laughed, “Just ask anyone in Chengtang Town. We have a few long-time chronic patients here who were cured by Dr. Xu a few months ago…”
“There was one with over ten years of asthma, and another with many years of rheumatism… Those people were lucky. When Dr. Xu came back for a couple of days, they happened to come to him. He treated them for a few days, then went back to school. They went to Star City twice a week to see him. He used acupuncture on them for about a month, gave them some medication, and they were cured…”
Speaking of this, the middle-aged man shook his head and sighed regretfully. “Later, when I heard about it and planned to go to Star City to find Dr. Xu, he had already gone to Yanjing… Luckily, I heard yesterday that Dr. Xu was back. I rushed over early this morning, but who knew I’d still end up at the back of the line…”
Looking at the dozen or so people ahead of him, the middle-aged man said gloomily, “It’s because I live a bit farther away. Otherwise, how could they all be ahead of me…”
“He also knows acupuncture? Can he cure chronic asthma and rheumatism?” The old man was still somewhat incredulous. How could such a young man, still a senior in college, have such great skill? Finally, he couldn’t help but ask, “You’re not just repeating what you’ve heard from others, are you?”
Seeing the old man still seemed skeptical, the middle-aged man snorted, “I live far away, how could I have experienced it myself? Of course, I heard it from others…”
“But when I came this morning, I personally heard an old man who had received injections here from Dr. Xu a couple of days ago talk about his own experience. This old man had stomach pain for many years. The county hospital treated him for stomach disease for years, but it kept recurring. The day before yesterday, after Dr. Xu returned, this old guy came to see him. Dr. Xu examined him and said it was a gallbladder issue, might need surgery.”
“This old man got two days of anti-inflammatory injections here. Yesterday, following Dr. Xu’s advice, he went to the hospital for an ultrasound, and sure enough, it was gallstones. He came early this morning to thank Dr. Xu before leaving… going to the hospital for surgery… I saw this with my own eyes this morning. If you don’t believe me, you can ask others…”
Hearing such a detailed account, the old man stopped doubting. He looked at Xu Ze with even greater curiosity. A senior in college, yet possessing such remarkable medical skills, proficient in both Western and traditional Chinese medicine – it was truly incredible.
“Are the young people of today really so formidable?” With a mix of doubt and curiosity, the old man quietly stepped into the clinic.
Xu Hao, who was free inside, saw the old man enter and, assuming he was a patient, quickly found another chair and politely offered it to him.
The old man smiled at Xu Hao, thanked him, and unceremoniously took the chair, sitting down not far from Xu Ze. He then began carefully observing how Xu Ze treated his patients.
At that moment, Xu Ze was unaware of the old man sitting nearby, watching him intently.
He was currently seeing an elderly woman who had twisted her back. The woman was unlucky – she was a childless widow supported by the Five Guarantees program, surviving by collecting scrap to sell.
A few days ago, she spotted four or five beer bottles. Thinking they’d fetch her a bit of money, she happily rushed over to pick them up. But in her excitement, she stepped on one of the bottles, fell, and though she didn’t break any bones, she twisted her back…
She spent dozens of dollars at a nearby clinic on medication and adhesive plasters over two days, with no improvement. Distressed, she heard that Dr. Xu was back. She rushed over early this morning, hoping he could help. Unexpectedly, there were so many people. After waiting in line for over half an hour, it was finally her turn.
She quickly explained her situation to Xu Ze and showed him the medication and plasters she had used over the past two days. She hoped Xu Ze could treat her back and that it would heal quickly. If it didn’t, she wouldn’t have money for food…
Xu Ze had known this elderly woman, who spent her days collecting scrap around town, since he was a child. Seeing her pitiful state, he could only sigh inwardly. Although his energy wasn’t sufficient and he had already used a lot today, he would have to treat her for free today. Otherwise, if she couldn’t collect scrap for a few more days, she really wouldn’t have anything to eat!
