A Valiant Life

Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations

Zhao Ming Qing had a kind of blind worshipping attitude towards his teacher. He believed that as long as his teacher took up a task, he would be successful.

Chinese Medicine! Chinese Medicine!

Zhao Ming Qing could be said to have devoted his entire life to it. Initially, when he had gotten old and his medical skills weren’t progressing, he had developed a shred of doubt towards Chinese medicine. He had wondered if everyone else was right, that Chinese medicine had reached a dead-end and they could only rely on technology to tackle complicated illnesses.

But after meeting his teacher, Zhao Ming Qing understood that all this was nonsense.

So what if it was a complicated illness? The human body consisted of Yin, Yang and the five elements. It was a little version of the natural world. There was no illness that could not be treated.

Of course, he had never thought of this before. It was his teacher’s guidance and great medical abilities that proved this point.

This filled Zhao Ming Qing with confidence. He knew that he was already old but his greatest wish was for Chinese medicine to prosper. Also, for him to overcome a complicated illness with Chinese medicine before he died, he would be satisfied.

*ring ring*

Zhao Ming Qing had just spoken on the phone with his teacher. Now, another call came from Zhou Qing Quan.

“Elder Zhao, help me out. I have a patient here that I can’t do anything to help. Could you invite your teacher to come treat my patient?” Zhou Qing Quan didn’t go with Lin Fan to do voluntary medical work and it was because of a certain patient. Now that a problem had occurred and he didn’t know how to tackle it, he had to request help.

Zhao Ming Qing said, “Elder Zhou, I’ll come and help you take a look. If I can’t help, then I’ll ask my teacher.”

…

Cloud Street.

Lin Fan sold scallion pancakes in the morning, then rested for a while before going to Nanshan Children’s Welfare Institute to teach the children to draw. However, drawing every day would definitely be mundane. Hence, he had to appeal to the children’s interests.

Recently, he had been thinking about what else he knew. He couldn’t bear to use the Encyclopedic Points that he had painstakingly accumulated yet. After all, he hadn’t gotten a lot yet. When he accumulates a lot, perhaps he would bear to use them.

The eleventh page’s task wasn’t too difficult. He predicted that he would complete it in a while more.

Hence, he decided not to use the Encyclopedic Points to unlock a new knowledge for now. He could wait and see what the twelfth page’s knowledge would be first.

“Woof woof…”

Elder Dog Nicholas barked.

“Elder Dog, did you come across something good lately? Why are you becoming livelier by the day?” Lin Fan smiled. But really, Elder Dog’s personality had changed very much lately.

Moreover, Elder Dog wasn’t the little dog that he had been before. He had grown up but he was still as cute. Compared to last time, he became even lazier. If he wasn’t lying down and resting, he would be leading a pack of dogs to bring harm to other dogs nearby.

But lately, a strange thing had happened. Elder Dog Nicholas stopped going anywhere. He would just lay at the entrance and sleep. He would gaze outside intently as if he was watching something.

Elder Dog Nicholas was a Chinese countryside dog. To people nowadays, his breed was not respected and they felt that it was a low-grade breed. However, Cloud Street was different. No matter what dog it was, it would be welcomed at Cloud Street.

It was mainly because the dogs had previously been a great help to Cloud Street.

Amongst them, Elder Dog was the most well-liked. The shop owners loved Lin Fan and since Elder Dog belonged to him, Elder Dog was well-liked as well.

“Little Boss, congratulations! From now on, we’re relatives by marriage!”

Sister Hong walked in with a face full of smiles.

“Huh?” Lin Fan was dumbfounded. “Why do you say that, Sister Hong?”

Sister Hong took a glance at Elder Dog Nicholas and smiled, “You have to ask Elder Dog about that. Your Elder Dog has made my little Flowers pregnant!”

Lin Fan was flabbergasted. Then, he looked at Elder Dog. “You made someone pregnant?”

“Woof woof~” Elder Dog Nicholas barked a few times at Lin Fan, then dashed out of the shop. He pushed open Sister Hong’s place’s glass door with his head and called little Flowers out. Then, he started strolling along Cloud Street by little Flower’s side.

To other people, this didn’t make sense. However, the Cloud Street shop owners all knew that Elder Dog was very clever.

Lin Fan laughed awkwardly. He never thought that Elder Dog would actually succeed. In the past, his body had been small and he couldn’t do it. He kept thinking about it day and night and now, he finally managed to grow up and perform that errant deed on little Flowers.

Lin Fan said cheerily, “It seems that we have to find a day to have a meal together.”

Sister Hong smiled, “Little Boss, my little Flowers is my baby. Now that she’s been taken away by your Elder Dog, you have to give a statement.”

“Of course, of course,” said Lin Fan with a smile. Sometimes, small matters like pets manage to bring neighbors closer together.

The surrounding shop owners had gradually grown a seed in their hearts. Everyone was like family and no matter who was in trouble, they would always do their best to help.

In the past, this had been simply impossible but ever since Little Boss showed up, everyone had been knitted together like a rope. This kind of feeling, to them, was very pleasant.

Nighttime.

Elder Zeng’s bath center.

The three other back-scrubbing workers were watching Little Boss’ technique from the side.

“Did you see that? At this time, you have to alternate between light and heavy scrubs. One light, followed by one heavy. This causes the level of comfort to burst out,” explained Lin Fan.

The workers all nodded.

“Little Boss, your technique is amazing. We would never have expected this in the past. And those acupuncture points or whatever can actually be used in back-scrubbing? That’s the first time I’ve heard about that.”

“Hehe, with Little Boss’ teachings, I’ve gained confidence in my own skills. I never thought that back-scrubbing was such a sophisticated skill.”

Everyone had been surprised.

They had initially thought that back-scrubbing was a simple matter. They thought that it was just a matter of strength. But with Little Boss, there were all kinds of tricks that brought it to a whole new level.

And these three would never turn back on the path of back-scrubbing ever again. Years later, they would become respected masters in the back-scrubbing world. Through their struggle, back-scrubbing would no longer be an unrespected line of work. It would become a skill-based work that not anyone could learn.

Lin Fan would also become a great forebearer of back-scrubbing techniques in the back-scrubbing world.

“Grind slowly and practice often. In future, you’ll be able to become like me. Customers are here. That will be all for today,” said Lin Fan.

The three back-scrubbers nodded. In the past, they didn’t wear any underwear but after being pointed out by Lin Fan, they all started wearing underpants. Outer appearance was a good place to start.

Outside.

“This is that bathhouse. I heard that it’s very popular on the forums.”

“Is that young back-scrubber really that mystical? I have to test it out today.”

“If he’s really so mystical, that would be insane.”

Some other guests entered and said, “I come here every day now. The back scrub here is very comfortable. Their technique is amazing.”

“Brother, is it true that the young back-scrubber gives the most comfortable scrubs?”

“That is probably true but the others have amazing technique as well. They have simply become much better than before. This is what back-scrubbing should be like!”

At that moment, a middle-aged man who passed by the bathhouse heard these words and couldn’t help but stop in his tracks. He wasn’t a Shanghai local. He was here for a literature exchange program.

He had been roaming around at night. When he heard these words, he couldn’t help but gain some interest.

Since he had nothing much to do, he decided to go take a look.