A Clash of Gods - Chapter 152
Chapter 152 Be Infected
Mr. Song’s attitude was totally different from the other day. Yang Ning didn’t need to ask and knew that Tang Nuo’s medicinal powder must be effective.
“Mr. Song, don’t say that.” Tang Nuo was still calm as always. “Is the child out of danger?”
“He is more than out of danger. He has fully recovered and nobody can see that he was burnt by burning oil.” Mr. Song showed a thumbs-up sign and praised, “Miss Tang, it really widened my horizon.”
“Mr. Song, now you know what is called great master, right?” Yang Ning laughed loudly. “I found such an assistant for you. What do you think about her?”
“I dare not,” Mr. Song replied immediately. “My Lord, Miss Tang can bring a patient back to life, and I can’t be put on a par with her.” He sighed and then added, “I am aged. In fact…I am too conceited sometimes. Please allow me to resign. Here…”
“Mr. Song, don’t get me wrong,” Yang Ning stated at once. “Do you think that I told Miss Tang to work here in order to replace you? To be honest, I don’t know when she will leave. She just came here to familiarize herself with the job temporarily. Perhaps she will open a clinic by herself someday.”
“Oh?” Mr. Song was stunned and then said, “Miss Tang is a highly skilled doctor. My Lord, please forgive me if I say something unpleasant to hear. Our small clinic can’t show her excellent medical skills.”
Tang Nuo shook her head. “There are many people in the capital city. I just hope to see more patients and learn more medical skills.”
Mr. Song stated, “Miss Tang, since you are a proficient doctor, you must know that there are different factions in the medical industry.” He paused for a moment and then asked, “Have you been to the Herbalists Assembly?”
“Herbalists Assembly?”
Mr. Song saw Tang Nuo’s expression and knew that she didn’t know it, so he explained with a smile, “The Herbalists Assembly is a meeting of doctors which is held every three years in the capital city. It’s held by the Imperial Academy of Medicine and hosted by the director in person. All the famous doctors in the world gather in the capital city and have open exchanges of ideas and information…In the final analysis, they will compete on medical skills in the end, and the top three with excellent medical skills will be recommended. The director will ask them to work in the Imperial Academy of Medicine.” He sighed with emotion. “If you can work in the Imperial Academy of Medicine, it will bring glory for your family.”
Tang Nuo asked indifferently, “We learn medical skills just to save people. What does it have to do with the family glory?”
Mr. Song was stunned as he didn’t expect that Tang Nuo would speak so straightforwardly. He felt embarrassed and had to answer with a smile, “Miss Tang, you are indifferent to fame and wealth, so you don’t care about it. I mean, if you want to learn more medical skills, the Herbalists Assembly is a good opportunity.”
“Can anybody attend the Herbalists Assembly?” Yang Ning asked.
Mr. Song replied, “As long as you are a doctor, you can attend it no matter if you are male or female, old or young. Right, it will be held in the second lunar month when spring comes next year. It’s around the corner.”
Yang Ning smiled. “Miss Tang, this is a great chance.”
Tang Nuo didn’t make comments but asked, “Have you figured out a name?”
Yang Ning understood instantly and laughed. “I have pondered for a long time. Can it be called Rebirth Powder?”
“Rebirth Powder?” Tang Nuo thought for a moment and then continued, “This name is better than the last one.” She took out a piece of folded paper and gave it to him. “This is the prescription. You need to figure out how to use it.”
Yang Ning didn’t expect that Tang Nuo was so generous. He received it and opened it to have a look, but he didn’t understand it. Then he put it away and asked Mr. Song, “Mr. Song, do you think that the Rebirth Powder will be popular?”
Mr. Song answered immediately, “My Lord, it’s not to flatter you. As long as we put it on the shelf and sell it, I am afraid that the demand will exceed the supply then.”
Yang Ning laughed. “It’s great. We need to study this Rebirth Powder carefully.”
At the moment, they heard noises, as if some people were quarrelling. Yang Ning couldn’t help but walk out and look in the direction where the voices were, and saw that a group of people gathered in twos and threes in the east not far away and seemed to be arguing.
Yang Ning was curious and walked over. He found that it was a pharmacy called World-saving Hall. Some people pushed a man in front of the door.
About ten onlookers surrounded them, gesticulating. Three or four guys who looked like salesclerks were pushing a beggar dressed in ragged clothes, and the beggar shouted.
Yang Ning elbowed his way to the front and saw that there was another ragged beggar lying on the ground in front of the door. He was lying still with messy hair and a dirty face. A salesclerk pointed his finger at the beggar who was pushed and cursed, “If you still mess around here, don’t blame us as we will show no mercy. Get out of here.”
The beggar begged, “He is dying. You are from a pharmacy and there are doctors. Please do me a favor and save him. I will give money to you later.”
“Cut the crap.” The salesclerk cursed, “We have seen a lot of guys who are lazy and good for nothing like you. What does your life or death have to do with us?” He turned around and found a stick. Then he held it in hands and cursed, “Will you get out? If not, I will beat you.”
The beggar still said, “Believe me. I will surely figure out a way to get money. If you don’t save him, he will really die.”
“Get money?” The salesclerk sneered. “Will you steal or rob?” He waved the stick and tried to hit the beggar.
The beggar held his head with both hands. Before he was hit under the stick, Yang Ning shouted in a deep voice, “Stop.”
He was energetic, so all people were attracted by his voice, and the salesclerks also looked at him. The salesclerk who grabbed the stick saw that Yang Ning was dressed decently, so he didn’t dare to offend him and just asked, “Young Master…what do you want?”
Yang Ning walked forward and frowned. “Just talk if you have something to say. Why do you beat somebody else? You have so many people but bully him alone?”
The salesclerk explained, “Young Master, you know what? As soon as we opened the door early in the morning, this bastard blocked at the door and insisted on asking us to treat a patient. We didn’t agree, but he still wanted to break in. We naturally can’t show mercy to such a person.”
“Since he is a patient, why don’t you treat him?” Yang Ning found that the beggar lying on the ground was thin and weak, over forty years old. He lay still and his face covered with dust was full of erythema at the size of a coin, which was blood red. Some erythema was swollen with blisters and looked horrible.
The salesclerk sneered. “They have no money at all. How can we treat them?”
“Your pharmacy is called World-saving Hall, so your purpose is to save all people in the world. How can you not show mercy?” Yang Ning furrowed his brows. “Will you stand by and do nothing when somebody is dying?”
“Young Master, you are right.” The salesclerk sneered. “We also want to save all people in the world, but we are just a pharmacy, not a charity. If we treat any patient for free, we won’t need to do business.”
“He said that he would figure out a way to get money.” Seeing that the salesclerk was indifferent, Yang Ning was displeased. “You can give him special treatment and do him a favor, giving him time to get money. And you just save his companion first.”
The salesclerk said, “There are several pharmacies on this street, but I have never heard that any pharmacy offers free treatment. If others can, just let them treat him. Our World-saving Hall is not so capable.” He pointed to the beggar lying on the ground. “Look. His disease is uncommon at a glance, and others may be infected. All of you should be careful.”
Hearing that, the onlookers moved backward involuntarily and stayed away from him.
At the moment, they heard somebody cough as another man came out of the hall. Yang Ning turned his head and saw that a middle-aged man dressed in a long robe walked out. The man saw Yang Ning and immediately smiled. He sped up and cupped his hands. “Isn’t this…Marquis of Honor? Please come in. Please.”
Yang Ning recognized that this was Doctor Huang he had seen the other day and his senior fellow apprentice was a post-mortem examiner working in the Capital Bureau.
“Oh, it turns out that you are working here, Mr. Huang.” Yang Ning smiled. “Come and have a look. A patient is lying in front of the door of your pharmacy. Nobody carried him in to treat him, but because he has no money, he is kept out. I don’t know if it is the medical ethics of your World-saving Hall.”
Mr. Huang showed a cold face and rebuked, “Why not carry the patient in? It’s important to save a life. Why do you care about money at this time?”
All the salesclerks were stunned, while the beggar expressed his thanks. “Thanks, Doctor. Thanks a lot!” Since the salesclerks didn’t plan to carry the patient, he had to come up and carry the middle-aged beggar by himself.
Yang Ning frowned slightly as he saw that the middle-aged beggar moaned miserably when he was picked up. Mr. Huang seemed not to want to save the beggar hurriedly but smiled at Yang Ning. “I have heard that you inherited the title of Marquis of Honor. Congratulations. My Lord, I don’t have a chance to invite you to our pharmacy at ordinary times. You came here by chance today, so please come in and have a cup of tea. Can I have this honor?”
Yang Ning knew that Mr. Huang let the beggar in only because of him. He was easy-going and didn’t care about identity. Since Mr. Huang considered his dignity, if he didn’t come in when he passed by, he would show disrespect to Mr. Huang, so he smiled and came in. The salesclerks finally knew that Yang Ning was the Marquis of Honor, so they didn’t dare to neglect him, and somebody served tea.
The World-saving Hall was much smaller than the Yong’an Hall, and there was no single room to treat patients. They just treated patients in a corner of the pharmacy. The middle-aged beggar was carried onto a wooden bed. Mr. Huang finally walked over slowly. Yang Ning had nothing to do, so he followed the doctor. Although when a doctor treated patients, other doctors were forbidden to watch aside, Yang Ning was not a doctor, so Doctor Huang didn’t care.
Doctor Huang told somebody to roll up the middle-aged beggar’s sleeve and wanted to check his pulse, but after his sleeve was rolled up, the beggar also had erythema and blisters with the size of a coin covering his arm. Some blisters were broken, and red water with blood flowed out of it, which was disgusting.
Doctor Huang furrowed his brows and put a black scarf on the beggar’s wrist. Then he put his fingers on it. Only in an instant, he looked serious and withdrew his hand. “The pulse is in a state of disorder, and it seems that his five internal organs are damaged.” He asked the other beggar who was standing aside, “When did he have erythema?”
The beggar replied, “About ten days ago. In the beginning, they were only tiny spots. Five or six days ago, it started to become red and bigger. The day before yesterday, there were blisters with blood. At first, I thought that they would disappear, but since last morning, he can’t get up and his body is burning hot. He couldn’t even speak last night.”
Doctor Huang seemed to be deep in thought and then suddenly told the beggar, “Pull up the sleeve.”
The beggar was about to pull the middle-aged beggar’s sleeve, but Doctor Huang said with a frown, “Pull your own sleeve.”
The beggar was stunned and then pulled his sleeve. Doctor Huang glanced at it and frowned. “Do you know that you are infected?”
Yang Ning saw clearly that there was also erythema on the beggar’s arm, but it was small and thinly scattered, not as serious as the middle-aged beggar’s.
