Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  “Yes, I spend most of my time here on the hill,” said Wang Yao.

  “Good for you that you can tolerate the loneliness,” said Xu Maosheng.

  Most young people nowadays loved to live in big cities. They loved the busy and affluent streets and wanted to lead a voluptuous life that indulged in sensual pleasure. Only a few people could tolerate the loneliness of staying on the hill like Wang Yao did.

  Xu Maosheng didn’t stay for long; Wang Yao drove him home.

  When Wang Yao arrived at home in the afternoon, he saw his sister and realized another week had passed. Time was like flowing water, passing quickly and quietly.

  “Hey, where have you been? I went to the hill to look for you,” said Wang Ru. Wang Yao hadn’t seen Wang Ru for two weeks and found that Wang Ru was much less childish.

  “I drove a friend home just now. Hey sis, you look so different after your promotion!” said Wang Yao.

  “Of course!” said Wang Ru with a smile.

  “I heard you went to Dao City some time ago to see my future sister-in-law. Do you have a photo of her?” It didn’t take long for Wang Ru to become her old self.

  Wang Yao showed his sister Tong Wei’s photo on his phone and shook his head hopelessly.

  “Wow, she’s stunning! You should get your hands on her quickly!” said Wang Ru after seeing Tong Wei’s photo.

  “Sis, as an unmarried woman, can you please not to make vulgar jokes?” said Wang Yao.

  “What are you talking about? Are you getting stupid after staying on the hill for too long? Mom! Dad! Say something!” shouted Wang Ru.

  “Don’t worry about your brother. Mind your own business. You’ll turn thirty very soon,” said Zhang Xiuying.

  “I know, mom, let me help you cook dinner,” said Wang Ru.

  “Don’t try to change the topic,” said Zhang Xiuying.

  Wang Yao’s home would become much more alive every time Wang Ru was around.

  It didn’t take Zhang Xiuying long to get dinner ready. She cooked a lot of delicious dishes for her family. Everyone was eating happily.

  “Yao, do you know how to treat women’s diseases?” asked Wang Ru suddenly when they were having dinner.

  Wang Yao coughed. He almost choked after hearing his sister’s question. He stopped eating and looked at his sister in surprise.

  “Are you kidding me? You have a disease at such a young age? That doesn’t seem to be possible to me,” said Wang Yao.

  “Are you stupid! Of course not me. I was talking about one of my colleagues,” said Wang Ru.

  “I don’t know how to treat women’s diseases,” said Wang Yao.

  “I remember you said you could treat all sorts of diseases,” said Wang Ru.

  “It was just generally speaking. You can’t honestly believe I can treat cancer, right?” said Wang Yao while having soup.

  Wang Yao and Wang Ru were actually having fun when bickering with each other. They helped their mother wipe the table after dinner. Wang Ru also washed the dishes; then the whole family played poker games together until 9:30 pm.

  “I need to return to Nanshan hill,” said Wang Yao.

  “It’s getting late now. You’ve got San Xian and Da Xia help you look after the herbal field; no one dares to do any harm to your herbs,” said Wang Ru.

  “I’ve got used to sleeping on the hill, and you are too loud and interruptive. I can’t sleep here,” said Wang Yao with a smile.

  “Are you looking for a fight,” said Wang Ru as she pretended to beat Wang Yao.

  Wang Yao walked out of his house with a smile. After he had left the village, it was already pitch dark outside. He couldn’t even see his fingers in front of him. Wang Yao changed the way he walked. His steps and movements were taught by Zhou Xiong. He was feeling his steps while walking. Since he started to learn martial arts from Zhou Xiong, he always practiced his steps every time he walked in the dark. He improved his way of walking gradually by practicing in the dark.

  Wang Ru went to Nanshan hill to look for Wang Yao the next day when Wang Yao was still doing breathing exercises. She was looking for something in the herbal field.

  Woof! Woof! Woof! San Xian couldn’t stop barking.

  “What’s wrong with you, San Xian? You can’t recognize me? I’m not a thief! Don’t think I won’t make you into soup if you keep barking!” said Wang Ru.

  Woof! Woof! Woof! San Xiao became a bit agitated as if he could understand Wang Ru.

  “What? You know what I’m saying?” said Wang Ru.

  Da Xia came and landed on a tree nearby. He looked at Wang Ru sharply.

  Wang Ru felt uncomfortable with the staring from Da Xia and San Xian.

  “Well, well, I’ll stop, okay?” Wang Ru stopped searching and lifted her hands to surrender. Then, she backed out of the herbal field slowly. She thought Da Xia and San Xian would attack her if she didn’t stop.

  Theses two animals are so intelligent now, thought Wang Ru.

  She waited for Wang Yao inside the cottage. It didn’t take Wang Yao long to return from the top of Nanshan hill.

  “Hi sis, how come you are here?” asked Wang Yao.

  “Your pets seem to understand me. I just wandered into your herbal field, and they threatened me. They almost attacked me!” said Wang Ru.

  “What were you doing in the herbal field?” asked Wang Yao.

  “I was looking for some herbs,” replied Wang Ru.

  “Looking for herbs? You? Can you recognize any herbs?” said Wang Yao with a smile.

  “I’ve got a photo here!” Wang Ru showed a picture to Wang Yao from her phone.

  “It’s sedum; what do you need it for?” Wang Yao immediately recognized the herb on Wang Ru’s phone.

  “To treat burns,” said Wang Ru.

  “Treat burns? How did you know?” asked Wang Yao in surprise.

  “I heard it from one of my colleagues. It’s a folk prescription. What? Not right?” said Wang Ru.

  “You are right. Sedum can calm the heat, resolve poison and reduce inflammation. It can be used to treat burns. So what other folk prescriptions do you know that can treat burns?” asked Wang Yao.

  “Let me think……Eggs and sesame oil?” said Wang Ru.

  “Eggs and sesame oil? Are you gonna stir fry the eggs to eat?” joked Wang Yao.

  “Not for food. Raw eggs can be mixed with sesame oil to put on burned skin. So, do you have sedum?” asked Wang Ru.

  “Yes.” Wang Yao did have sedum in his herbal field, but he didn’t grow much. So, it was not obvious to see.

  “It’s here.” Wang Yao found sedum in the herbal field immediately. He knew exactly where the different herbs were in his own herbal field.

  Sedum was commonly seen in the south of Yangtze River and belonged to the Evergreen species. It had multiple leaves on one bud. It looked green and lovely.

  “How much did you want?” asked Wang Yao.

  “I don’t know. I just wanted to see if you had any here,” said Wang Yao.

  “Sis, please try not to tell anyone about my herbal field,” said Wang Yao when he was looking at his herbal field.

  “I know,” said Wang Ru. She knew exactly how much effort Wang Yao had put into his herbal field.

  Wang Yao returned to his cottage after Wang Ru had left to add more information to his notes. He had made notes of Xu Maosheng’s wife’s illness and treatment. He had decided to document all the weird cases he ever came across and put them together.

  Maybe after several decades, my notes will become medical classics? Sometimes Wang Yao had such thoughts, or dreams. After all the herbs he used to treat diseases and illnesses were not common. They were valuable licorice roots.

  Not long after Wang Ru had left, Zhou Xiong came to Nanshan hill with his son and started to teach Wang Yao martial arts as usual.

  “Dr. Wang, shall we discuss my son’s treatment costs?” Zhou Xiong mentioned the fees again while they were taking a break.

  “You don’t need to worry about it now,” said Wang Yao with a smile. In fact, he hadn’t decided how much he was going to charge. According to system’s calculation, the fee would be at least hundreds of thousands of yuan, but Wang Yao thought it was too expensive for Zhou Xiong.

  “I plan to go back to Cang province with Kang in two days to address some family issues. We will return after everything’s sorted, so……” said Zhou Xiong.

  “How about coming here before you leave?” said Wang Yao.

  “How about the fee?” asked Zhou Xiong.

  “One million!” said Wang Yao.

  “That’s fine,” Zhou Xiong accepted the fee without hesitation.

  Actually, the fee was a discount. One million wouldn’t even cover the cost of herbs, let alone the decoctions made by the licorice roots.

  “I’ll make another dose of Regather soup for Kang before you leave,” said Wang Yao. He had just checked Zhou Wukang’s pulse and found that Zhou Wukang’s immune system was recovering. He was still weak and required an external force to keep the immune system working. One more dose of Regather soup should do the job.

  “Okay, thank you so much,” said Zhou Xiong.

  Zhou Xiong and his son left before lunchtime.

  Woof! Woof! Woof! When Wang Yao was ready to leave for lunch, San Xian started to bark.

  “Yes, San Xian, what’s going on?” Wang Yao looked around but didn’t find any intruders. He took a closer look and noticed that San Xian was barking towards an herbal plant, which was strange.

  “What happened?” Wang Yao took a closer look at the herbal plant and found bugs on the leaves, just a few tiny insects. He wouldn’t notice them if he hadn’t look closely.

  Insects?!

  As far as Wang Yao was concerned, insects could appear on flowers, grass and trees. This was just common sense.

  In the winter time, the cold weather stopped insects from harm the plants, so Wang Yao never worried about them. He presumed the licorice roots wouldn’t have pest problems because those herbs were so special. Wang Yao hadn’t done any pest control so far. Now, it started to get warm, and the insects started to wake up. There hadn’t been many insects around the herbs and trees, but Wang Yao was worried he would face a big pest problem when the weather got warmer and warmer.

  Some insects were not harmful to plants. They could even benefit the plants. But others were pests, which ate and destroyed the plants. Those pests must be eliminated.

  How should I deal with the pests? I can’t use insecticides!

  Wang Yao only watered his herbs with ancient spring water since he had started to grow herbs. He had never used anything else to nurture his herbs. Therefore, his herbs were all naturally growing without any contamination. Wang Yao wouldn’t use any chemicals on his herbs.

  Wang Yao pinched every insect off the leaves as he was looking at them. As he did, he was thinking of how to kill the pests while walking downhill. Some herbs could cure diseases as well as kill pests. Some plants would distribute special odors to drive away pests, such as mint, telosma cordata, and deworming grass.

  Wang Yao had rich knowledge about herbs.