The Cruel Wang Xiaoer

That morning, Zhang San opened the dilapidated wooden door of his hut, only to discover that Wang Xiaoer, who was sleeping in the next room, was gone.

The mountain village itself was built on a remote hillside, and Zhang San and Wang Xiaoer's huts were at the highest point. So when Zhang San stood at the door of his hut and looked down, he immediately saw Wang Xiaoer among the dozens of bandits gathered in the central square of the village.

Zhang San muttered to himself: "Someone's been poisoned again?"

He saw Wang Xiaoer have the two poisoned bandits lie down in the square, take their pulses and diagnose them. Wang Xiaoer also took out some medicinal herbs on site and ground them into powder for the bandits to take.

Finally, Wang Xiaoer took out a few silver needles and started using them to dispel the poison.

Seeing this scene, Zhang San thought to himself that indeed, bandits had often been poisoned these last few days. Although they seemed to be minor poisons, mostly from poisonous plants and flowers found in the mountains, they were still quite uncomfortable for these bandits who were at the basic or intermediate stages of martial arts cultivation. The poisons could even be fatal.

So Zhang San had Wang Xiaoer, who had some medical skills, dispel the poisons for these bandits. After all, they were already eating and living for free on the bandits' territory. Although Zhang San felt no shame, it would still be bad to just watch them die.

In fact, just yesterday when Wang Xiaoer had failed to dispel poison, Zhang San himself had to step in!

However...

Once or twice due to carelessness was one thing, but for there to be someone poisoned again today...

Moreover, these bandits lived on the mountain ridges year-round, digging wild vegetables, picking wild fruits, catching wild animals. Although accidentally touching some poisonous things was indeed possible, there was no way that Bandit A would be poisoned today, Bandit B poisoned tomorrow, and Bandit D poisoned the day after, in such an orderly fashion...

Were these poisonings really so sequentially arranged?

As Zhang San looked at Wang Xiaoer busily applying needles among the crowd, his expression gradually became gloomy.

Zhang San thought to himself: Speaking of which, for such minor poisons, medicine would have been enough for treatment. Why must silver needles be used perforce?

Silver needles can force out poison while medicine can resolve it. If the goal was just to save people, there would be absolutely no need to use both - using just one method would suffice!

Wang Xiaoer had studied under him for a year. There was no way he didn't understand something so basic. But if...

Zhang San suddenly thought of a possibility.

Medicine itself needs to pass through the esophagus and be digested by the stomach before entering the bloodstream and taking effect - this was a relatively slow method of detoxification.

If a novice doctor like Wang Xiaoer wasn't confident in his own silver needle poison-dispelling techniques, he could first give the patient medicine. Then, before the medicine took effect, he would have ample opportunity to freely try out his silver needle skills and see if he had trained them to the level where he could force poison out of the body. Even if he failed, the medicine would still serve as a safety net.

Now that he thought about it, Zhang San remembered that when they were leaving Xiaoyun County, Wang Xiaoer had kept looking through medical books the entire ride over. And over the past few months, it seemed Wang Xiaoer had read more books on medicine than on martial arts.

Bearing these suspicions in mind, Zhang San pushed open the door to Wang Xiaoer's hut and indeed found two things inside.

One was a book titled "On Forcing Out Poison with Silver Needles", which Zhang San recognized as a medical text he had read before.

The second was a bag of poison powder extracted and refined from toxic mushrooms, poisonous plants and other toxic substances found in the mountains.

Zhang San exclaimed, "This brat is even more vicious than I was back then!"

...

...

So I ask, what exactly is medicine?

Is it about curing illness and saving lives?

Yes, medicine is indeed meant to cure illness and save lives.

But you must know, a truly good doctor, especially one who thoroughly excels in areas like detoxification, treating illness, setting fractures, etc. - someone like Zhang San or that legendary "Ghost Doctor" - would be an absolute rarity in the jianghu.

Because medicine, just like literature and martial arts, isn't something you can simply learn or train in whenever you want.

Take for example the medical technique of setting fractures.

Aside from knowledge, what do you need most?

Of course, it's sufficient numbers of patients for you to practice on!

Surely no one actually thinks that after reading medical texts for two years, they would definitely be able to treat illnesses?

As for more profound medical techniques like using silver needles to force out poison, concocting antidotes, channeling inner energy to heal, combining needles and medicine, and so on - those require even more human experimentation and practice.

So without enough wretched souls - oh, my bad - patients for you to practice on, you cannot become an excellent doctor!

Wang Xiaoer watched Xiu Wangchou die before his eyes and swore that in the future, aside from training superior martial arts, he would also become an even better doctor than his master.

Because nine-year-old Wang Xiaoer felt that if his medical skills surpassed those of his master's, perhaps in the future if he encountered someone like Xiu Wangchou again, he would be able to save him.

So on the day he left Xiaoyun County, Wang Xiaoer gazed at Xiu Wangchou's grave for a very long time. Right up until when he boarded the horse carriage to depart, he was still looking through medical texts.

However, as Wang Xiaoer's medical knowledge grew increasingly substantial, he also gradually recognized a problem.

He understood the theory, but where could he practice the techniques?

Yet as the saying goes: Where there's a will, there's a way.

If there are conditions, then take advantage of them. If not, then I, Wang Xiaoer, will create the conditions myself!

...

...

Night time, in the hut.

"Speak! Was it you who did it?" Zhang San was quite furious.

Wang Xiaoer lowered his head, not daring to speak, secretly thinking that his master was truly bright.

Zhang San said, "How could you be even more vicious than I was back then?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaoer raised his head curiously and asked, "Master, you've done this before too?"

Zhang San was briefly rendered speechless. He coughed twice, hurriedly changing the subject. "Don't you admire your father the most? Is this how he taught you?"

Wang Xiaoer thought for a moment, then rolled up his sleeve.

Zhang San was startled to discover faint streaks of purplish-black on Wang Xiaoer's thin arms.

"What's happened to you?!" Zhang San hurriedly asked.

Wang Xiaoer kept shaking his hands, saying, "Don't worry Master, I'm fine. This shows that the poison is being dispelled from my body."

Zhang San carefully inspected Wang Xiaoer's arm several times and took his pulse. After confirming that Wang Xiaoer was telling the truth, he scolded, "You're poisoning them, yet you've poisoned yourself too?"

Wang Xiaoer explained, "Because I was afraid I'd accidentally kill them for real. So I tested the poisons and antidotes I created on myself first. Once I confirmed there were no issues, I secretly slipped some into their drinking water. This way I could practice my silver needle techniques. And with you as my Master here, nothing major could happen."

But Zhang San still angrily rebuked, "Even so, those bandits were perfectly fine and proper members of the jianghu, even if they have no credentials. Yet you used them for experimentation. Don't you think that's going overboard?"

Wang Xiaoer shook his head. "I don't feel it's excessive at all!"

Zhang San raised his hand, on the verge of flaring up.

Wang Xiaoer quickly explained, "Master, please hear me out first. First point - doesn't Master agree that we who study medicine require people to practice on?"

Hearing this question, although Zhang San didn't set his hand back down, he still replied, "It's needed...it truly is needed."

Seeing this reaction, Wang Xiaoer lightly exhaled in relief. After all, his Master's fists truly hurt. Next, Wang Xiaoer carefully analyzed for Zhang San his reasons and motives for doing what he did.