Old Man Xie, as Xie Bingyi was affectionally known as within the walls of the Institute, was hardly a counselor there only because of his medical knowledge and healing abilities. The National Studies Institute, for all intents and purposes, was not a medical institution after all. Old Man Xie was there because of the hereditary wizardly healing skills he inherited from his forefathers—the mystical healing skills of Zhuyou (Shamanistic Healing).

Although the technique of wishing is the first of the 13 subjects of ancient Chinese medicine, it is also a cure for the sick, but it is a thing of witchcraft, that is to say, it contains many methods for treating the evil spirits into the body. This is why Comrade Lao Xie can treat many intractable diseases. But this is also one of the reasons why Lao Xietou is not seen by his peers. Other old Chinese doctors chat about things like pharmacy. He is good. Just chatting is a matter of catching ghosts. Who is this? Still waiting for him! Although being widely accepted as one of the thirteen disciplines of ancient Chinese medicine, a field of study which faculties were mainly wielded to save lives, the arcane skills of Zhuyou was nevertheless a shamanistic discipline that blanketed a vast range of applications. The skills of Zhuyou geared its wielder the ability to heal the afflicted, the stricken, and the cursed that were suffering from maladies, be they the evocations of spiritual origins or the influence of conventional health complications alike. Then again, this was also the very reason behind Old Man Xie’s perpetual refusal to open his doors to any colleagues or fellow workers of the same trade. This was because he knew full well that he had nothing but his experiences on dealing with the supernatural to share, Old Man Xie had purposefully evaded any invitations for academic discussion to avoid any irk and ire that might later arise. Then again, even among the residents of the Institute, he was hardly known to be a friendly and loquacious person, preferring to keep mostly to himself. His intransigent abnegation to provide any response to my father’s call for dinner together when we were going for a barbecue repast was a faithful testament to his ever-more reclusive mien.

As the doctor at the hospital said, the old man never came out because no one asked him to move. As the saying goes, there is only one person who can move him under the sun. One is my father and the other is me. My dad naturally does not need to say that under the sun, the old man will not serve me to serve my dad. And I can ask him to move him. There is still a reason. Although the old man is a doctor, he is ill but he can’t cure it. Therefore, the doctor had been right when he said that Old Man Xie had never left his door to attend to a patient. There was no one whose call he would answer, save for my father’s and mine. At this point, there would hardly be any need to inflate further the balloon that was my father’s eminence and illustriousness. The old man reserved only the greatest respect and admiration for my father. But there was a tale behind the reason the old man would answer my calls. Despite being a masterful healer himself, the old man was unable to cure himself when he was once sick. He was so ill that he required immediate medical attention, yet still, he doggedly refused to admit himself into a hospital. With no other options at hand, I had had to summon for another physician who came to us and attended his illness. Since then, my father and I had become the only two whose request for favors the old man would never refuse.

I dialed the old machine of Lao Xie, and a lazy voice came out from the phone: “Hey boy, look for aunt.” I did not talk nonsense directly to the phone: “uncle! I am at school, something went wrong, someone has to blame! The doctor of the hospital is not good, you have to give it to you! ” I did not expect the old man to say in a lazy voice: “Oh? I talked to my nephew, then I have to go. Wait, uncle, go to the station and wait for the bus.” My heart is dark, you old guy, lazy you got it! So I once again made a panic, adding a bit of anxiously to the phone and said: “Oh my uncle! Hundreds of thousands of fire! I made a call to Old Man Xie’s phone. Before long, I heard the lethargic and lazy voice coming from the earpiece of the receiver. “What can I do for you, my boy?” Without a moment to lose, I blathered nervously. “I’m at my university, old man, and there are many people here who are sick! I need your help! The doctors here are hardly useful!” Still, for all the stress and jitters I had summoned into my voice, the old man still managed to remain lackadaisical and disinterested. Nevertheless, he replied, “Oh? Very well… I’ll come over and have a look since you’ve called… Give me a moment. I’ll get to the station and wave down a car.” Damn your bloody car, you old man! I thought to myself. Feigning a panic rush I did not feel, I cried into the mouthpiece. “Oh for goodness’ sakes, Old Man! Come quickly! It’s my girlfriend’s life at stake here!”

That seemed to work, for the old man’s voice rose suddenly with an anxious twang. “What!? Oh dear me! All right, my boy! Just you wait! I’ll be there in no time!” I spoke into the phone again, “Not the station, for the love of Heaven! Go downstairs and ask for Lin Feng. He’ll drive you here!” It was barely minutes after I put away my phone, and Lin Feng came calling, asking me about my location.

After some delay, I placed another call to the old man, filling him on some details about the patients’ conditions while he was on the way. Old Man Xie’s expeditious journey took more than an hour, until his old but still vigorous person rushed through the doors of the hospital, huffing and puffing for breath. Both the director and the chief physician of the hospital were already waiting by the entrance like docile little boys, humble and respectful. The welcoming entourage was hastily assembled when the news of Old Man Xie’s coming was announced.

As he paced into the hospital and saw me, Old Man Xie asked immediately, “My boy! There you are! Where’s this girlfriend of yours?” I shot him a fiery stare and said, “Just take a look at all of them together, old man. And one more thing, her parents know nothing of our relationship! Be careful with your trap!” Of course, the girl was not my girlfriend at all. I only told him this to drill a sense of urgency into the old man. He nodded thoughtfully to me and asked about more details on the patients. I told him the full story and said, “I have expelled all foul energies from the patients. But this has only helped in allowing them to regain consciousness. I’m afraid their predicament continues to deteriorate by the second…” At the mention that all the patients were kept in quarantine wards, the old man spoke plainly to the director of the hospital, “Have them all relocated from the quarantine wards. This is not an infectious disease.” But the chief physician beside him implored. “But Master Xie… We have yet to receive a confirmation… Would it not be a little risky…” Old Man Xie, prideful of his unparalleled skills in medicine, cast a cold glare at the chief physician and snapped. “You will be wise to take my word for it! The entire university would have already been lying in beds here if the disease is indeed so nastily virulent.” Otherwise, how do you explain why only those who were in the zither lessons classroom were affected, and those who were playing the erhu are all good and well?” Both the director and the chief physician fell quiet, stunned speechless without knowing how to answer. Yet, there were merits to the old man’s assertions that they had to agree with.

Nevertheless, many hurdles had to be negotiated. At long last, the patients were all released from isolation. Back at the patients’ ward, Old Man Xie first examined everyone’s pulses. When he was satisfied with his findings, he sat alone and pondered for minutes until he came to me with a question. “Have you heard of beefsteak plants, my boy?” I shook my head without saying a thing, indicating that I had not heard of the plant before. To my surprise, it was the director of the hospital beside me who said suddenly, “I have!” The old man shot him a look of disdain and hissed. “And how do you suppose you’d be able to help if you know what is it?” The director’s mouth instantly snapped shut, feeling embarrassed. I shook my head again and replied, “Just be frank, old man. What do I have to do?” Old Man Xie’s head dipped slightly as he began. “Go with Lin Feng to the villages around here and look for some. Refer to Baidu if you do not know what it looks like.” My God, I thought. The old senile knew what Baidu was! I had never thought he would keep himself abreast of modern technology! The chief physician bent down and spoke softly to Old Man Xie, “Err… Master Xie. The pharmacies around here have beefsteak plants for sale if you need them. Why do you need these boys to go around looking for them?” Seemingly annoyed by the chief physician doctor, Old Man Xie shot another cold look at the man and grumbled with apparent indignation. “And do you think I know nothing of that? Why do you think I’m here if the beefsteak plants in pharmacies around here are usable!” But the chief physician, knowing that another question would warrant another round of venomous spat by Old Man Xie, braved himself to manage another question. “Err… If you would please advise us of the reason, Master Xie.” Whatever hopes that the chief physician had to learn something would immediately fade like ebbing cinders; the flames of his inquisitiveness to learn doused by the old witch doctor’s stubborn verve to guard his secrets, for Old Man Xie snorted and merely grunted. “Why would I want old and frayed beefsteak plants! They’re useless!”

Realizing that the chief physician could inadvertently be stirring up a hornet’s nest, I rushed to stop him before he could utter another syllable. “So be it, doctor. Say no more lest you anger him. See to it that his requests are fulfilled while I’m away. We’ll be back shortly.” With that, I left the hospital with Lin Feng, who then asked me, “Shi Yan, what is actually a beefsteak plant?” I showed him an image of the plant I found on the Web with my mobile phone and replied, “I believe we’ve seen this plant before when we’re young. It’s planted in villages to be used to ward off bugs and mosquitos. I’ve heard of people stir-frying them for food. They have a very strong smell; strong but fragrant to the nose.”

In no time, Lin Feng and I went from town to town, buying bundles of the herb from the villages. On our way back, Lin Feng asked again, “What do you think these herbs will be used for, Shiyan? Surely they’re not for ingestion?” I giggled and said, “Not that it’s unusual. Old Man Xie is after all a witch-doctor skilled in the secret healing methods of Zhuyou (Shamanistic Healing). There might be myriads of ways for him to use these herbs. If I had not first expelled the foul energies from the patients, Old Man Xie might have even fed the patients with drinks mixed with talisman ashes.” With our conversation to distract us as we journeyed, we reached the entrance of the hospital. A huge flock of nurses and doctors were already waiting impatiently at the foyer of the hospital when we returned. Recognizing our vehicle, the white deluge of white-robed nurses and doctors poured out of the doors swiftly, earnestly unloading the bundles of herbs off the car.

It did not take long for the hospital staff to cook and fry the herbs. Finally, a staff member presented a bowl of the fried beefsteak plants to Old Man Xie. A cloud of appetizing aroma rose from the bowl of herbs, so tantalizing that I almost wanted to try a mouthful myself. Satisfied, Old Man Xie directed the doctors and nurses to feed the cooked herbs to all of the patients. There were whiffs of whispers and hushed words of doubts buzzing around, but the doctors could do nothing but hope that their faith in Old Man Xie was hardly misplaced. The old man stepped into the patients’ ward and saw the puzzled and uncertain look on the victims’ faces as they stared at the bowls of herbs laid before them. He said, “Go ahead. Eat up. You will be cured once you’ve eaten the herbs.” But Yang Na’s husband rose to his feet, the distrust and angst evident in his quivering voice as he cried. “But doctor, my wife is still unconscious! How can she consume this medicine!” The old man glanced at Yang Na briefly and muttered, “That’s simple. Just grind the herbs into powder and mix it with water. Feed her slowly.” …

The hospital staff busied themselves like working ants, running around to attend to everyone, making sure that everyone had taken the herbs. Some of the patients that exhibited lighter symptoms began to feel their uneasiness and difficulties in breathing slowly diminishing as they ate. They were almost fully healed by the time they finished their share, slowly fading into sleep. After being fed the bowl of herb-mixed liquid, Yang Na’s face slowly refreshed with renewed vitality and zest, the complexion on her face slowly returning to normal. Old Man Xie said suddenly, “Her condition is heavier compared to the others. It may take a night until she awakens. But be at ease. She’ll fully recover in three days.” He turned and walked out of the ward, gesturing to Lin Feng and me to follow him. But the director of the hospital, realizing that Old Man Xie was quietly taking his leave, immediately instructed his nurses and doctors to stop him. “Please stay, Master Xie. You have done us a great service today! Please allow me to offer my deepest gratitude for you coming here today!” But Old Man Xie grumbled impatiently. “I’m not here to help you. It’s all for the sake of my boy’s future wife…” I shot a swift glare at the old man, who realized that he might have misspoken and immediately feigned a cough and grunted. “Ahem. Everything’s said and done. What else do you require of an old man like me?”

Catching on Old Man Xie’s irritated impatience, the director quickly said, “Oh! No, no, no! I thought of treating you to dinner as a token of appreciation for your help today.” “This is fair,” I thought. I nudged Old Man Xie in his ribs and gestured him to agree. It was apparent that he had no intention of accepting. But at my behest, he reluctantly nodded. Afterward, three vehicles rolled out of the gates of the hospital. The director of the hospital with the chief physician led at the front in the first car while Old Man Xie and I were in the second car and Lin Feng at the back, driving his car.

Sitting next to me in the car, Old Man Xie said to me, “This is hardly just a meal, my boy.” Puzzled and confused, I asked, “How so, old man? They are treating you to a meal as appreciation.” The old man scoffed. “Do you truly believe for a second that this is a meal to thank me, you naive boy? There are thousands of ways in which they could have conveyed their gratitude. But why stop me from leaving?”