Chapter 240: 239: Opening a Big Blind Box
Chapter 240: Chapter 239: Opening a Big Blind Box
Yu Zhiming gave Zeng Yan a full-body examination and found that aside from having an extra kidney, she was perfectly healthy.
Given Zeng Yan’s current good health, Yu Zhiming suggested she adopt a “wait-and-see” approach and maintain the status quo, leaving the extra kidney alone for now.
“Uncle, this won’t affect my career as a doctor, will it?”
Yu Zhiming chuckled. “Not at all. You’re perfectly healthy.”
Fu Xiaoxue grinned. “Zeng Yan, this is great news! Just think, if a friend or family member ever needs a kidney transplant, you can just donate one without a second thought. It wouldn’t affect you in the slightest.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Zeng Yan said carefreely. “It’d be even better if I grew a spare heart.”
’Suddenly, I don’t want to know these two girls,’ Yu Zhiming thought.
Yu Xiangwan chuckled and changed the subject. “Are your legs and feet still sore? Come on, let’s go get a foot soak and a massage!”
Hearing this, Fu Xiaoxue put on an aggrieved look. “Auntie, you should have said something sooner! Then I wouldn’t have let Uncle give me that massage.”
“That was so painful I thought I was going to die.”
Yu Zhiming raised his hand and flicked Xiaoxue on the forehead. “Complaining, are we? Don’t your legs feel better after my massage?”
Fu Xiaoxue clutched her forehead and pouted. “They feel a little better, but it was also really, really painful.”
“Otherwise, do you think I would’ve screamed that loud?”
“Uncle, your technique is too rough. It’s not relaxing at all. You need a lot more practice.”
When Fu Xiaoxue saw Yu Zhiming raise his hand again, she zipped behind Gu Qingning in a flash.
She was as slippery as an eel, showing no trace of the soreness in her legs and feet she’d just been complaining about.
In truth, now that he’d had a moment to rest, Yu Zhiming’s own legs and feet were aching, but he didn’t let it show in front of the girls.
His Fourth Sister’s suggestion was exactly what he had in mind.
The group of five ambled over to the lakeside complex, where they first had an herbal foot soak, followed by full-body massages.
Yu Zhiming felt completely relaxed.
’Every trade has its master,’ Yu Zhiming had to admit. The professional masseuses’ techniques were leagues better than his own amateur attempts.
As Yu Zhiming and his group left the building, they saw a crowd of twenty or thirty people gathered around a yellow ox in an open area up ahead.
A yellow ox?!
Fu Xiaoxue, filled with curiosity, asked, “Housekeeper Yan, what are all those people doing?”
“What’s so interesting about an ox?”
Yan Ling replied quietly, “A guest was out sightseeing today and bought that ox from a local farmer. He said it might have a bezoar.”
Yu Zhiming asked curiously, “He’s sure it has a bezoar?”
Yan Ling shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
“A colleague told me the guest saw the ox grazing, asked the herdsman a few questions about it, and then bought it on the spot for eighteen thousand.”
“Uncle,” Zeng Yan asked, eager to learn, “what exactly is an ox bezoar?”
“An ox bezoar is actually a gallstone,” Yu Zhiming explained. “It’s a valuable ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, worth its weight in gold.”
Zeng Yan let out an “oh.”
Fu Xiaoxue was already looking at her phone. “I looked it up. The internet says it takes a while for a bezoar to form, so usually only oxen over five years old have them.”
“Also, an ox with a bezoar is usually thin and weak, with bristly, messy fur and chronically loose manure.”
“It will have a poor appetite for fodder and prefer to drink water.”
“When it lies on its left side, it often stares at the spot between its last two or three ribs on the right side…”
After Fu Xiaoxue rattled off the information she’d found online, she added excitedly, “Uncle, let’s go get a closer look, what do you say?”
Yu Zhiming nodded and headed down the steps…
As they approached the ox, they saw a man in his thirties or forties with a crew cut, smugly holding forth to the crowd.
“To be honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure it has a bezoar. One year, I was at my grandma’s for the Spring Festival.”
“The village was butchering an ox, and I went to help out.”
“We found a bezoar inside that ox—a good four hundred grams or so. It sold for almost two hundred thousand.”
“The moment I saw this ox today, it reminded me of the one from my grandma’s village…”
Fu Xiaoxue sidled up to Yu Zhiming, her voice filled with excitement. “Uncle, Uncle, look at this ox! It’s skinny, its fur is a mess, it has tears in the corners of its eyes, and its lips are yellowish.”
“Uncle, its symptoms are a perfect match for what I read online! It’s almost certain to have a bezoar.”
Yu Zhiming sized up the ox.
It was indeed gaunt, severely malnourished, and listless.
Yu Zhiming walked right up to the ox. Seeing it didn’t react aggressively, he reached out and gently patted the area between its second and third ribs a few times.
The ox’s owner, the man with the crew cut, glanced at Yu Zhiming before loudly announcing, “Bezoar or not, I’m treating everyone to a beef feast tonight!”
“So please, everyone, dig in!”
A skinny ox wasn’t much of a spectacle. After watching for a short while, Yu Zhiming and his group decided to leave.
Once they were a ways off, Yu Xiangwan said, a little puzzled, “From the way that man was talking, it sounds like he’s going to have the ox butchered soon.”
“Can individuals even slaughter their own cattle?”
“I thought it all had to be done at designated slaughterhouses and points of sale?”
Yan Ling chimed in, “He’ll probably take it to a nearby slaughterhouse.”
“When the Lodge buys large livestock, we also have them taken to a local slaughterhouse to be processed.”
“Oh,” Yu Xiangwan said.
Gu Qingning tugged on Yu Zhiming’s sleeve and asked quietly, “You seemed to be checking when you patted the ox’s side. Did you find out if it has a bezoar?”
Yu Zhiming shook his head. “I checked its gallbladder and bile ducts. No sign of any stones.”
Gu Qingning chuckled. “Sounds like he spent eighteen thousand on a giant blind box, only to end up with nothing.”
Yu Zhiming smiled, just as Zeng Yan asked, “Uncle, if ox bezoars are just gallstones and are as valuable as gold in traditional medicine, what about human gallstones? Do they have any medicinal value?”
“Well…”
Yu Zhiming searched his memory. “There are no studies or records about any medicinal value for human gallstones.”
“Today, any gallstones removed from patients in a hospital are disposed of as medical waste.”
“Oh,” Zeng Yan said, then continued, “But ox bezoars have been used as a valuable medicine since ancient times, right? That tradition has been passed down.”
“As for the use of human gallstones in Chinese medicine, I bet no ancient doctor would have dared to research that.”
“If ancient doctors had promoted human gallstones as a precious medicine like they did with ox bezoars, the consequences would have been dire.”
“Right, Uncle?”
Yu Zhiming was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. “Zeng Yan, you’ve got a point.”
“However, according to the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, anything can be used as medicine. The problem was that in ancient times, surgical medicine was extremely underdeveloped.”
“They couldn’t detect gallstones in a living person, let alone remove them. Without any samples to work with, ancient doctors naturally couldn’t study their medicinal properties.”
“That makes sense,” Zeng Yan said, as if a lightbulb had gone on.
It was their last night at the Lake and Mountain Lodge. Yu Zhiming and the others strolled along the path by the lake, chatting casually and admiring the scenery.
Fu Xiaoxue looked contemplative and sighed, “Mountains, water, delicious food, fun activities, and none of the noise of a big city… this really is a wonderful place to unwind.”
“It’s also a place where you can spend money like water,” Yu Zhiming added.
Fu Xiaoxue giggled. “Uncle, money is meant to be spent! Once I graduate and start making the big bucks, I’ll let you spend as much as you want. I’ll make you financially independent!”
Yu Zhiming patted her head. “If I have to rely on you for my financial freedom, I’ll be waiting till pigs fly.”
’It’s more reliable to count on myself…’
Just then, Yan Ling, who had been trailing a few steps behind the group, hurried to catch up with Yu Zhiming.
“Dr. Yu, a female guest has come to the clinic with persistent abdominal pain. Doctor Chu is having trouble diagnosing the cause…”
“Send her to the hospital,” Yu Zhiming cut in.
“Send her to… what?” Yan Ling looked at Yu Zhiming, confused, as if she’d misheard him.
Yu Zhiming said in a firm voice, “Housekeeper Yan, I came here to spend money on a vacation, not to work.”
“I stepped in before because that person’s life was in imminent danger. As a doctor, it was my duty to act.”
“But in this case, the patient is not in mortal danger, so there’s no need for me to get involved.”
Yan Ling looked ashamed and gave a slight bow. “Dr. Yu, I’m so sorry. We’ve overstepped our bounds and forgotten our place.”
“My sincerest apologies.”
After her apology, Yan Ling stepped back behind the group and quietly made a phone call.
Yu Zhiming and the others had dinner back at their villa.
The dinner was a lavish spread featuring venison and donkey, with dishes like roasted deer ribs, stir-fried venison, dry-pot donkey meat, and donkey meat hot pot.
They were halfway through their meal when a server brought another dish: a large platter of braised beef.
It was a gift from another guest at the Lodge, he explained; every table was getting some.
“Looks like that guy is a man of his word.”
Fu Xiaoxue remarked, before asking, “So he didn’t get the bezoar after all. Wasn’t he disappointed?”
“He did get a bezoar! Who said he didn’t?”
The server’s face was alight with excitement. “He said they found a huge one! More than two pounds of it.”
“They’re saying it’s worth at least six or seven hundred thousand.”
After the server left, Yu Zhiming found everyone staring at him.
He said slowly, “All I can say is, when I examined it, I didn’t find any gallstones.”
“Maybe its body was too large, and I missed it.”
Seeing them still staring, he added, “It was just a casual check, and I’m not familiar with bovine anatomy. It’s perfectly normal to make a mistake.”
“It’s nothing to make a big deal about.”
“Exactly!” Yu Xiangwan chimed in.
“I saw you just pat the ox a few times. In that chaotic environment and with so little time, it’s completely understandable that you’d miss something.”
“Come on, let’s try this beef.”
Yu Zhiming picked up a piece of beef first and tried it.
It had a very strong, gamy flavor and a tough texture. It was definitely the meat of an old ox…