1、Fathers illness It is probable over ten years now since this story of a well-known doctor was the talk of the town in s-:He charged one dollar forty a visit, ten dollars for an emergency call, double the amount for a night call, and double again for a trip outside the city. One night the daughter of
2、 a family living outside the city fell dangerously ill. They sent to ask him out there and, because he had more money at the time than he knew what to do with, he refused to go for less than a hundred dollars. They had to agree to this. Once there, he simple gave the girl a perfunctory looking over.
3、“It isnt serious,” he said.Then he made out prescription, took his hundred dollars, and left.Apparently the patients family was very rich, for the next day they asked him out there again. The master of the house met him at the door with a smile. “Yesterday evening we gave her your medicine, Doctor,
4、”he said,”and shes much better. So were asked you to have another look at her. ”He took him as before into the bedroom, and a maid drew the patients hand outside the bed curtain. The doctor placed his fingers on the wrist and found it icy cold, without any pulse.“Hmm.”He nodded.“I understand this il
5、lness ”.Quite calmly he walked to the table, took out a prescription from, and wrote on it:“Pay the bearer one hundred silver dollars.”Beneath he signed his name and affixed his seal.“This illness looks rather serious, Doctor,”said the master of the house, behind him.“I think the medicine should be
6、a little more potent.”“Very well,”said the doctor. And he wrote another prescription:“Pay the bearer two hundred silver dollars.”Beneath he signed his name and affixed his seal again.This done, the master of the house put away the prescription and saw him politely out.I had dealings with this famous
7、 physician for two whole years, because he came every other day to attend my father.Although by that time very well known, he had not yet more money than he knew what to do with; still, his fee was already one dollar forty a visit. In large towns today a ten-dollar fee is not considered exorbitant;
8、but in those days one dollar forty was a great sum, by no means easy to raiseespecially when it fell due every other day. He probably was unique in some respects. It was generally agreed that his prescriptions were unusual. I know nothing about medicine : what struck me was how hard his“adjuvants ”w
9、ere to find. Each new prescription kept me busy for some time. First I had to buy the medicine, then look for the adjuvant. He never used such common ingredients as two slices of fresh ginger, or ten bamboo leaves minus the tips. At best it was reed roots, and I had to go to the river to dig them up
10、; and when it came to sugar-cane which had seen three years of frost, I would have to search for two or three days at the least. But, strange to say, I believe my quest was always successful in the end. It was generally agreed that herein lay his magic. There once was a patient whom no drugs could c
11、ure, but when he met a certain Dr. Ye Tianshi, all this doctor did was to add phoenix-tree leaves as the adjuvant to the old prescription. With only one dose the patient was cured. “Medicine is a matter of the mind. ” Because it was autumn then, and the phoenix tree is the first to feel the approach
12、 of autumn, where all other drugs had failed, Dr. Ye could now use the spirit of autumn. When spirit reacted on spirit, the patient was thus Although this was not clear to me, I was thoroughly impressed and realized that all efficacious drugs must be difficult to get. Those who want to become immort
13、als even have to risk their lives to go deep into the mountains to pluck the herb of long life.After two years of his visits, I gradually came to know this famous physician fairly well; indeed we were almost friends. Fathers dropsy grew daily worse, till it looked as if he would have to keep to his
14、bed, and by degrees I lost faith in such remedies as sugar-cane which had seen three years of frost, and was not nearly as zealous as before in finding and preparing adjuvants. One day just at this time, when the doctor called, after inquiring after my fathers illness he told us very frankly:“Ive us
15、ed all the knowledge I have.There is a Dr. Chen Lianhe here, who knows more than I do. I advise you to consult him. Ill write you a letter of introduction. This illness isnt serious, though. Its just that he can cure it much more quickly”The whole household seemed rather unhappy that day, but I saw
16、him out as respectfully as ever to his sedan-chair. When I went in again, I found my father looking very put out, talking it over with everyone and declaring that there was probably no hope for him. Because this doctor had treated the illness for two years to no purpose, and knew the patient too wel
17、l, he could not help feeling rather embarrassed now that things had reached a crisis: that was why he had recommended someone else, washing his hands of the whole affair. But what else could we do? It was a fact that the only other well-known doctor in our town was Chen Lianhe. So the next day we en
18、gaged his services.Chen Lianhes fee was also one dollar forty. But whereas our first well-known doctors face was plump and round, his was plump and long: this was one great difference between them. Their use of medicine was different too. Our first well-known doctors prescriptions could be prepared
19、by one person, but no single person could cope satisfactorily with Dr. Chens because his prescriptions always included a special pill or power or an extra-special adjuvant. Not once did he use reed roots or sugar-cane that had seen three years of frost. Most often it was “a pair of crickets, ”with a
20、 note in small characters at the side:“They must be an original pair, from the same burrow. ”So it seems that even insects must be chaste; if they marry again after losing their mates they forfeit even the right to be used as medicine. This task, however, presented no difficulties to me. In hundred-
21、Plant Garden I could catch ten pairs easily. I tied them with a thread and dropped them alive into the boiling pan, and that was that. But then there was “ten ardisia berries. ”Nobody knew what there were. I asked the pharmacy, I asked some peasants, I asked the vendor of herb medicines, I asked old
22、 people, I asked scholars, I asked a carpenter: but they all simple shook their heads. Last of all I remembered that distant great-uncle of mine, the old fellow who liked to grow flowers and trees, and hurried over to ask him. Sure enough, he knew: the ardisia was a shrub which grew at the foot of t
23、rees deep in the mountain. It had small red berries like coral beads, and was usually known as Never-Grow-Up. You wear out iron shoes in hunting round, When all the time its easy to be found!Now we had the adjuvant, but there was still a special pill: broken-drum bolus. Broken-drum boluses were made
24、 from the leather of worn-out drums. Since one name for “dropsy”is “drum-tight,”the leather from worn-out drums can naturally cure it. Gangyi of the Qing Dynasty, who hated “foreign devils,”acted on the same principle when he prepared to fight them by training a corps of “tiger angels, ”for the tige
25、rs would be able to eat the sheep, and the angels could subdue the devils. Unfortunately there was only one shop in the whole town which sold this miraculous drug, and that was nearly two miles from our house. However, this was not like the case of the ardisia which we groped in the dark to find. Af
26、ter making out his prescription Dr. Chen Lianhe gave me earnest and detailed instructions as to where to obtain it.“I have one medicine, ”Dr. Chen told my father once, “which applied to the tongue would do you good, Im sure. For the tongue is the intelligent sprout of the heartIt is not expensive ei
27、ther, only two dollars a box”My father thought for some time, then shook his head.“This present treatment may not prove too effective,”said Dr. Chen another day. “I think we might ask a diviner if there is not some avenging spirit behind thisA doctor can cure diseases but not fate, isnt that correct
28、? Of course, this may be something that happened in a previous existence”My father thought for some time, then shook his head.All the best doctors can bring the dead to life, as we know from the placards hanging outside their houses which we see when we walk past. But now a concession has been made,
29、 for physicians themselves admit:“Western doctors are best at surgery, while Chinese doctors are best at internal medicine. ”But there was no Western-trained doctor in S at that time. Indeed it had never occurred to anyone that there was such a thing in the world as a Western doctor. Hence, whenever
30、 anyone fell ill, all we could do was ask the direct descendants of the Yellow Emperor and Qi Bo to cure him. In the days of the Yellow Emperor, wizards and doctors were one; thus right down to the present his disciples can still see ghosts and believe that “the tongue is the intelligent sprout of t
31、he heart. ”The is the“fate”of Chinese, which not even famous physicians are able to cure. When he would not apply the efficacious remedy on his tongue and could not think of any avenging spirit he had wronged, naturally it was no use my father simple eating broken-drum boluses for over a hundred day
32、s. These drum pills proved unable to beat the dropsy, and finally my father lay at his last gasp on the bed. We invited Dr. Chen Lianhe once more-an emergency call this time, for ten silver dollars. Once more, he calmly wrote out a prescription. He discontinued the broken-drum boluses, however, and
33、the adjuvant was too mysterious either;so before very long this medicine was ready. But when we poured it between my fathers lips, it trickled out again from one side of his mouth.That ended my dealings with Dr. Chen Lianhe; but I sometimes saw him in the street being carried swiftly by in his fast
34、sedan-chair with three carriers. I hear he is still in good health, practising medicine and editing a paper on traditional Chinese medicine, engaging in a struggle with those Western-trained doctors who are good for nothing but surgery. There is indeed a slight difference between the Chinese and Wes
35、tern outlook. I understand that when a filial son in China knows that his parents end is approaching, he buys several catties of ginseng, boils it , and gives it to them, in the hope of prolonging their lives a few more days or even half a day. One of my professors, whose subject was medicine, told
36、me that a doctors duty was to cure those who could be cured, and see to it that those who could not die without suffering. But this professor, of course, was Western-trained.Fathers breathing became very laboured, until even I could scarcely bear to hear it; but nobody could help him. Sometimes the
37、thought flashed into my mind,“Better if it could all be over quickly” At once I knew I should not think of such a thing, in fact I felt guilty. But at the same time I felt this idea was only proper, for I loved my father dearly. Even today, I still feel the same about it.That morning Mrs. Yan, who l
38、ived in the same compound, came in. An authority on etiquette, she told us not to wait there doing nothing. So we changed his clothes, burnt paper coins and something called the Gaowang Sutra, and put the ashes, wrapped in paper, in his hand“Call him!” said Mrs. Yan.“Your fathers at his last gasp. C
39、all him quickly!”“Father!Father!”I called accordingly. “Louder. He cant hear. Hurry up, cant you?”“Father!”“What is it?.Dont shoutDont.”His voice was low, and once more he started panting for breath. It was some time before he recovered his earlier calm.“Father!”I went on calling until he breathed his last. I can still hear my voice as it sounded then. And each time I hear those cries, I feel this was the greatest wrong I ever did to my October 7
