Chapter 4

Chapter 4

To my surprise, Doctor Fang didn’t look like the kind of charlatan I had imagined.

From his appearance to his attire and his speech, he seemed quite reliable and composed.

Doctor Fang was a kindly-looking old man. He began by taking my pulse, performing the traditional diagnostic steps of looking, listening, smelling, and asking with clear expertise.

Afterward, he introduced his Fasting Therapy and handed me a stack of materials to look over.

I still held the same doubt as before: “If I starve the cancer cells to death, the normal cells will starve too. Maybe I’ll die before the cancer cells do.”

He smiled slightly. “Western medicine talks about radiation and chemotherapy. You must be taking chemo drugs yourself; those also attack human cells indiscriminately, regardless of whether they’re good or bad. Otherwise, since you haven’t had a craniotomy, why did you shave your head? Isn’t it because the medication made your hair fall out? You’re educated and cultured; you should know that the drugs you’re taking don’t just attack cancer cells-they attack your hair follicle cells as well.”

He spoke slowly, his tone peaceful.

Seeing that I remained silent, he chuckled. “I can understand why some young people are biased against traditional Chinese medicine. After all, you’ve been raised on a scientific education, studying biology and chemistry. You’ve never been willing to, nor have you ever truly been able to, understand concepts like Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, or the organs and meridians.”

Pausing for a moment, he continued, “If I’m not mistaken, the reason your Grandma invited me here is that Western medicine has stopped working for you. Am I right?”

That was it. That was the most important point.

I took a slow breath, that familiar sense of powerlessness wrapping around me once again, suffocatingly tight.

Doctor Fang observed my expression and said kindly, “Since that’s the case, let’s proceed with my treatment plan.”

In his plan, the first diagnostic cycle lasted two weeks.

During these two weeks, I could only drink the herbal medicine he prescribed; I wasn’t allowed to eat anything else.

Doctor Fang said, “I was originally going to let you be discharged so you could recover at home, but knowing you’re still not quite convinced, let’s wait until this course of treatment is over to see the results.”

As he reached the door, he added one last thing: “By then, you will believe me.”

Two weeks later, all my medical indicators had improved.

Even more obvious than the indicators was the fact that my energy and spirits were much better.

Grandma couldn’t stop exclaiming that Doctor Fang truly was a Divine Doctor, but I remained skeptical.

This was because, during this same period, I was also taking my specialized medication.

When we conducted experiments at school, we emphasized controlling variables.

Right now, with both the specialized medication and the herbal medicine as variables, I couldn’t truly attribute my improvement to the single variable of the herbal medicine.

When Doctor Fang and Aunt Li came to see me again, I told them exactly that.

Doctor Fang smiled. “If we must talk about science, you’ve used other types of specialized drugs before. You should know how effective those were. Doesn’t that allow you to eliminate that variable?”

I fell silent, and Doctor Fang didn’t say anything more.

Instead, it was Aunt Li who spoke up. “Qianqian, did you know your Grandma has started asking people for loans?”

Borrowing money?

My fingernails suddenly dug hard into my palms.

The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom; Grandma was inside washing fruit, preparing to entertain Doctor Fang and Aunt Li.

Aunt Li continued, “She’s at such an advanced age, and she approached me to borrow a few thousand yuan. There was no way I could refuse. I told her she didn’t need to pay it back-Qianqian is the same age as my own daughter, and my heart aches for her too. But Qianqian, if she’s even borrowing from me, I’m afraid she’s already gone through every relative and friend she has.”

I looked down at the IV needle in the back of my hand. Why did it suddenly hurt so much? Even breathing seemed to hurt.

It took a long time before I found my voice. “I thought… I thought we still had money.”

Ever since I fainted last time, I had transferred all the money in my card to Grandma’s account. I was afraid that if I suddenly passed away, the poor old lady wouldn’t have the money to settle the medical bills.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t asked her lately if she had enough money; she always said she did.

So, had it really come to the point where she had to borrow money from someone she’d only known for a few months?

Aunt Li continued, “Your Grandma told me before that Qianqian is capable and started earning money back in university. But she definitely didn’t tell you that almost all of it has been spent on your treatments. Those special drugs cost tens of thousands per dose-no matter how deep your pockets are, they can’t withstand that kind of burn.”

Grandma brought out the washed fruit, and our conversation came to an abrupt halt.

Completely unaware, she still had a smile on her face. “Come, have some fruit, Doctor Fang.”

Doctor Fang stood up and pushed the fruit platter toward her. “You should eat more fresh fruit yourself. You need to stay healthy to take good care of Qianqian. We won’t stay for snacks; we’ll be heading out now. You two discuss it and see if you want to continue your treatment with me next month.”

Grandma hesitated. “Doctor Fang, you’re leaving already? Please, stay a little longer.”

Doctor Fang paused in his tracks. “But there’s one thing I have to say in advance: if you’re going to continue treatment with me, you absolutely cannot touch anything from Western medicine during the second course.”

Grandma moved to see him out, but he signaled for her to stay. He sighed again. “You must take good care of your own health, too. Compared to the last time I saw you, you seem to have lost quite a lot of weight.”

I pursed my lips and looked at Grandma.

The floral padded coat she had started wearing years ago had fit her perfectly back then. Now, it looked a bit hollow on her.

I only knew how many pounds I had lost since being hospitalized, but I hadn’t noticed that Grandma had also thinned down considerably.

Doctor Fang’s figure disappeared outside the door.

Grandma turned back, muttering to herself, “Oh, that Doctor Fang is such a busy man. He can never stay for long. But his medical skills are truly brilliant. It’s only been two weeks, and your complexion is already looking better.”

I remained silent throughout, and she didn’t notice. She handed me an orange, then pulled her hand back halfway. “Look at me, I forgot. You can’t eat anything right now; you can only drink the Chinese medicine.”

I reached out and grabbed the orange, clutching it in my palm.

Grandma was startled, then smiled. “What’s wrong? Are you craving it? I’ll put it away so you don’t have to look at it and feel hungry…”

I gripped the cold orange tightly and asked, “Are we out of money?”

The smile on her face froze.

“Have you… been asking a lot of people for money to pay for my treatment?”

Grandma didn’t say a word.

I couldn’t imagine her asking relatives and friends for money… A woman in her seventies, a woman who had never bowed her head even in the hardest of times-how exactly did she bend her back for my sake?

The special drugs cost tens of thousands per injection. How many times did she have to bend her back, how many times did she have to lower her head, just to borrow enough for a single dose?

I tilted my head back, tears falling one by one, choking my throat.

“Give all the money back. I want to be discharged from the hospital,” I said.

Grandma looked up sharply. “No! You’ve only just started to get a little better. You can’t leave the hospital.”

I wiped away my tears and forced a smile. “Leaving the hospital doesn’t mean I’m stopping treatment. I’ll take Doctor Fang’s Chinese medicine; his medicine works quite well too.”

Grandma hesitated for a moment.

What kind of tone would sound confident and steady? Ah, right-the debate team teacher had taught me.

First, you must believe it yourself, and only then can you persuade your audience.

“The special drugs only do so much anyway. It’s better to focus on Doctor Fang’s medicine. You heard what he said before he left-he said we absolutely can’t touch Western medicine during the second course. Are you going to listen to Doctor Fang or not?”

Grandma was stunned for a moment, then nodded. “Doctor Fang must be right. Then… then we’ll go home and take the Chinese medicine to nurse you back to health.”