Dr. Xu: A Chinese Medicine Novel

A slow drive through Wen County brings Leo and Evan to a small roadside restaurant.

Wen County was a small town in the hills. Its oldest neighborhoods stood up on a hill. As the town grew, several nearby hills had been cut away and lakes filled in to create more level ground.

The center had gradually moved downhill too. Cutting into hills and filling lakes was no longer allowed, so the southern outskirts were being developed into a new town center instead.

The new district was already taking shape. Most government departments had moved there, along with the county general hospital. The hospital of Chinese medicine was the one left in the old town. But a hill town had its problems, and getting around was one of them.

Only one road linked the new and old districts, and it crossed a bridge. Most businesses were now in the new district, while many people still lived in the old one. Traffic was terrible at rush hour.

The old town was congested too. The hospital of Chinese medicine stood on a hill with only one road leading up to it. Evan and Leo had left right at the end of the workday. A drive of just a few kilometers took more than half an hour.

They were going to a small restaurant on the edge of the residential neighborhood behind the hospital. It was an old place, in business for decades.

Leo took Evan over and ordered a great deal of food.

The restaurant was so busy that there was no room inside. When Leo came back, they sat facing each other at a small table set up beneath a large wutong tree beside the road.

“It’s the first time I’ve invited you out for dinner,” Leo said, a little embarrassed. “This place is rather basic.”

Evan smiled slightly. “It’s fine. I like it. It feels alive here. And the evening breeze is nice.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a beer-bottle cap flew onto their table.

Leo stared, then glared. He slapped the table and was about to stand up and curse whoever had thrown it.

“Let it go,” Evan said quickly. “Let it go.”

Leo sat down again, still fuming. Before he had settled into his seat, a cigarette butt landed on their table.

“What the hell!” He slapped the table again.

Evan waved a hand. “Go on, then.”

Leo got up to have it out with them.

Evan shook his head and sighed. Alive, all right.

A loud argument followed. The owner finally came over to mediate, and things settled down.

Leo returned carrying two bottles of beer. “Dr. Xu, do you drink?”

Evan shook his head. “No.”

Leo opened one bottle himself, tilted his head back, and drank half of it. Perhaps the argument had worn him out. He let out a long breath.

“Ah… That’s better.”

Then he burped.

He plopped into his seat and began talking. “I was assigned to the county hospital of Chinese medicine after college. Next year it’ll be twenty years. This place… It looked like this twenty years ago. It still does.”

“The owner’s name is Steven Zhang. Twenty years ago, he’d just got married. He was poor, so he borrowed some money and set up a food stall here beside the road.”

“We young doctors used to come here after work for a late-night bite. He was a good cook. Almost twenty years, and Steven’s cooking hasn’t changed. But it’s been ages since I came here.”

Evan said nothing. He just listened.

Leo took several deep breaths, his brow furrowed and his face tense. Another burp worked its way up from his stomach, and he felt much better after letting it out.

He sighed again, full of regret. “I don’t know when I started worrying about eating healthily. It’s been so long since I ate at a roadside place like this, with all the oil and salt.”

“I don’t know when I stopped even thinking of saying hello to Steven as I passed. We know each other so well, yet we’ve become like strangers.”

“I don’t know when I started caring more and more about status and money. Instead of honing my medical skills, I worked at cultivating connections. I was always trying to stay on the right side of the hospital leadership so that the next assessment for a higher professional title would be easier.”[1]

“Always trying to make connections with higher-ups so I’d have someone to turn to when I needed something. Doing favors for business owners and doctors elsewhere. Always trying to get to know people with standing.”

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“Ah… When I first graduated and joined the hospital, I had such ambitions. I wanted to help people, to save patients when their lives hung in the balance, to relieve their suffering.”

“But somewhere along the way, I started going through the motions when I treated people. That ambition, that feeling for what it meant to be a doctor—I’d lost it long ago. Now all I think about is my salary, my professional title, my contacts, my connections, money…”

“That’s why I really admire you, Dr. Xu.” Leo looked at him earnestly.

Evan slowly shook his head. “Maybe I’m still young. Maybe I’m still full of ambition because reality hasn’t knocked it out of me yet.”

“Hasn’t it knocked you around badly enough?” Leo asked.

Evan turned toward him, looking a little stunned.

Leo sighed. “Your classmate Ethan Yang told me what happened to you.”

Evan frowned.

“That’s why I admire you,” Leo said sincerely. “I respect you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t think many doctors of Chinese medicine would have dared step in under those circumstances. Dr. Xu, you’re a real doctor.”

Evan breathed out deeply, his brow tightly drawn. He reached for the other bottle of beer, opened it, and took a swig.

He watched the people passing the street corner, his gaze wistful.

Leo raised his bottle. “Dr. Xu, I’ve offended you before. I hope you won’t hold it against me.”

Evan shook his head. “It’s fine.”

Leo took several more long gulps, then let out a long breath and said roughly, “To hell with whether it’s healthy. As long as it feels good! Steven, is my barbecue ready? Hurry it up!”

He laughed freely, then turned to Evan. “I’m glad I got to know you, Dr. Xu. From now on, let’s call each other brothers.”

Evan glanced at him. “Don’t try to put one over on me!”

“Huh?” Leo stared.

Evan laughed.

Still baffled, Leo asked him a few medical questions. Evan patiently explained them all, and Leo felt as though things had suddenly become clear.

“Dr. Xu, you’re really good,” he said admiringly. “Better than the specialists in the city.”

Evan smiled faintly. His ability to diagnose and treat women’s conditions was now at the level of a provincial specialist!

Leo considered for a moment. “Dr. Xu, we’ve got a patient whose condition is quite complicated. We’re finding the case difficult. Are you free tomorrow? Could you join us for a consultation?”

“Sure.” Evan agreed readily.

Leo smiled happily too. “Come on, little brother. Let’s have a drink.”

“Call me Uncle!” Evan said.[2]

Leo was utterly bewildered.

Clara went home and helped her father eat his dinner.

“Dad, the clinic’s getting on track now. Things are going well. Don’t worry. I can save the last thing Mom poured her heart into.”

Adam Zhang slumped in his wheelchair, his eyes uneven and his mouth drawn to one side. He looked as lifeless as ever. But at Clara’s words, a little moisture appeared in his dull eyes.

After dinner, Clara cleared everything away, went out onto the balcony, and took out her phone. To be honest, she felt a little guilty about what she’d done.

But she had to do it. She couldn’t tell the truth. If word of this got out, wouldn’t it ruin Mingxin Clinic’s reputation? Now she could only hope Little Octopus would give up without a fuss.

Looking at her phone, she remembered what Evan had said. She couldn’t work out why he wanted to argue with people who attacked Chinese medicine, or why he was taking it so seriously.

She couldn’t figure it out, so she stopped trying. Evan had given her the job. She would do it properly.

Besides, she’d never lost a shouting match!

“Chinese-medicine bashers, Chinese-medicine bashers…” Clara thought for a moment, then downloaded Zhihu, the Chinese question-and-answer app. She registered an account under the name DrXuChineseMedicine.

Time to post a reply!

Thanks for the invitation… On a plane. Just got off America…[3]

Reader Notes

↩︎ Professional titles and connections. A doctor’s zhicheng is a graded professional title awarded through career assessment. It is distinct from an administrative appointment such as head of a department. China’s medical title structure includes junior, intermediate, and senior levels; the exact promotion being sought here is not specified. Leo is describing how cultivating influential people has displaced his medical ambitions. Doing favors also builds relationships with people he hopes to call on later. Sources: National Health Commission — Guidance on reforming health professionals’ title assessment, section II.1 (in Chinese); Taiwan Ministry of Education — Renqing, definition 3 (in Chinese).↩︎ Brothers and Uncle. As established earlier, Evan regards himself as senior to Leo’s teacher within their medical teaching lineage. That puts him one generation above Leo, regardless of their physical ages. Calling one another “brother” would make them equals, which explains Evan’s objection and his demand to be called “Uncle.” The Chinese daye can also carry an abrasive, taunting tone. These are claims about teaching relationships, not blood relations. Sources: Taiwan Ministry of Education — Shixiong, definition 1 (in Chinese); Xinhua — Regional family terms and misunderstandings, “Daye” section (in Chinese).↩︎ Zhihu and the scrambled introduction. The source calls the app Bihu, apparently a mocking nickname for Zhihu, China’s question-and-answer community. “Thanks for the invitation” and “just got off the plane” are recognizable formulas associated with its answers. Clara’s line scrambles “In America, just got off the plane” into “On a plane, just got off America.” The odd wording is retained: she is at home using her phone, not traveling. Sources: Zhihu — 2022 ESG Report, section 4.1.1; Li Jiyuan and Sun Chao — University students’ intentions toward noninstitutional online political participation, p. 69, section 3 (in Chinese).