Chapter 120 — Let Me See That Prescription [Begging for Monthly Tickets — Second Update, Please Give Me Monthly Tickets!]

"Sustaining it... if it were merely a matter of sustaining it, that would be all very well," Guan Xuewen said with a sigh. "But you know as well as I do that those painkillers are doing great harm to your body. In the long run—never mind whether the drugs still work, or whether your body builds up a tolerance—even if it doesn't, the side effects alone will drag you down..."

"That reminds me..." At the mention of painkillers, something suddenly occurred to Yang Huaijun—the prescription Wei Zhao had given him. That day he had merely gone to the pharmacy to fill it on a whim, just to give it a try.

At night, when the pain throughout his body was so severe he could not sleep, Yang Huaijun had brewed the medicine and taken a few sips. The effect was truly wondrous—before long the pain had vanished, and he slept soundly until dawn, his whole body filled with an indescribable freshness and ease. It was better than the painkillers by a margin he could not even calculate, those painkillers that wore off in the middle of the night and forced him to go through the whole ordeal of taking another dose.

Yang Huaijun had never expected that the prescription Wei Zhao had dashed off so casually would prove so effective. These past few days he had been drinking the medicine from that prescription, and it had kept his pain under control.

An eagle indeed—a godlike presence within the squad... Yang Huaijun acknowledged his own inferiority. And he was not alone; among all the members of the squad, there was not one who had fought shoulder to shoulder with Wei Zhao and did not admire him.

As for their idol's infatuation with Wei Zhao, no one was jealous, for they felt it was simply the natural order of things—as normal as normal could be.

Hearing Guan Xuewen bring up the painkillers, Yang Huaijun suddenly remembered the prescription Wei Zhao had given him. He hesitated. Wei Zhao had not expressly warned him to keep it secret, but Wei Zhao might well be on some special assignment right now—what if speaking of it brought him trouble?

On the other hand, Guan Xuewen was his elder. When he had come back from the battlefield, if not for Guan Xuewen, his life would have been lost long ago. All these days, he had been kept alive by Guan Xuewen's acupuncture and painkillers...

"Grandpa Guan... a few days ago, a friend of mine gave me a prescription that can replace the painkillers. I tried it, and the effect was very pronounced—the relief lasts far longer than the painkillers, too. Usually one dose a night is enough..." Yang Huaijun had decided to tell only part of the story, not the whole of it. That way he could answer to both sides.

"A prescription? To replace painkillers?" Guan Xuewen's eyes went wide. "From a Chinese herbal pharmacy?"

"Yes..." Yang Huaijun, somewhat abashed under Guan Xuewen's stare, nodded.

"And it works on you?" Guan Xuewen had received more shocks today than he had eaten meals in half a lifetime. First he had heard from Liu Tianyi that a twenty-year-old miracle doctor had, with nothing but massage, pulled Old Master Liu through a myocardial infarction. And now, on Yang Huaijun's side, someone had actually given him a prescription that could replace Western painkillers—with marked effects, even more effective than the painkillers themselves.

What has become of this world? Since when had the world of traditional Chinese medicine gone so mad? Where had all these masters come from?

"Grandpa Guan, I won't hide it from you—I can say this prescription works remarkably well for me. After drinking it, not only is the pain in my body suppressed, but the whole next day I feel clear-headed and full of vigor..." Yang Huaijun said truthfully.

"Oh? Let me have a look at that prescription?" Guan Xuewen was at first a little worried that the prescription might contain contraband substances like poppy seeds—if it did, then a marked painkilling effect would be perfectly normal, but the harm to the body would be considerable. On second thought, though, Yang Huaijun was a policeman, a captain of the criminal police at that. Could he fail to know what a poppy was? How could he possibly touch such a thing? Besides, such substances were not something an ordinary pharmacy could sell.

Since Yang Huaijun had filled the prescription at a pharmacy, the ingredients on it must all be quite ordinary, the sort any pharmacy would stock... At that, Guan Xuewen realized he had been overcomplicating things.

Seeing Yang Huaijun's somewhat taken-aback expression, Guan Xuewen smiled wryly. Many prescriptions were closely guarded secrets. Take that famous physician Kang of our times—had he not, on the strength of a single prescription for a wound medicine, built up a pharmaceutical group from nothing? He had even established a supply relationship with the military and turned the Kang family into a rising new clan.

If Yang Huaijun's painkiller prescription was truly that effective and free of side effects, then its value should be no less than that of Physician Kang's wound medicine...

And here he was, asking to see the prescription the moment it was mentioned—that really was putting the man on the spot. He hastened to explain: "Little Yang, don't misunderstand. I know many prescriptions are kept secret. The reason I wanted a look was to see whether any of the ingredients might have side effects..."

"Grandpa Guan, the prescription is not really meant to be passed around, but there is no problem with your seeing it..." Yang Huaijun was startled for a moment, then said, "I'll take it out and show you right now. Only, until my friend gives his permission, I hope Grandpa Guan will not let it go any further..."

"Naturally. I understand these rules well enough. Little Yang, rest assured, I won't put you in a difficult position. Until your friend gives his express consent, I will not use this prescription on anyone else either." Guan Xuewen was overjoyed at Yang Huaijun's words. Even if he could not use such a prescription, merely looking at it would give him much to reflect upon.

The prescription—that day, after filling it at the pharmacy, Yang Huaijun had kept it on his person. He took it out and handed it to Guan Xuewen. Yang Huaijun knew Wei Zhao's character: if there was something to be kept secret, he would have said so plainly. Since he had not, it meant no secrecy was required. But after all, he had not received Wei Zhao's explicit authorization, so Yang Huaijun still cautioned Guan Xuewen not to let it spread.

Guan Xuewen took the prescription carefully and began to read... At first it seemed ordinary enough, but as he read out the names of the herbs one by one, the astonishment on his face grew ever more pronounced...

"This is a prescription?" Guan Xuewen was dumbstruck on the spot. The ingredients listed were as ordinary as could be; not one was particularly expensive. A few of them, such as gastrodia, did indeed have the effect of easing pain and calming the nerves—but these same herbs had been given to Yang Huaijun before, and the effects had not been very pronounced. Could it be that combined together, these few herbs produced some remarkable effect?

Astonished as Guan Xuewen was, he was after all a leading figure in the world of traditional Chinese medicine, and he knew that in many cases the omission or addition of a single herb in a prescription could make an enormous difference to its efficacy...

These drugs were, by and large, medicines for treating neuralgia and muscular pain, and there was nothing particularly remarkable about them. The one thing Guan Xuewen could say for certain was that the medicine was surely not toxic, nor did it contain anything as potent as poppy seeds...

"This is the prescription, Grandpa Guan. Is something the matter?" Seeing the astonished look on Guan Xuewen's face, Yang Huaijun asked, somewhat puzzled.