Chapter 417: Oh! My! Cat!

Er Mao said: "Uncle Lin is a well-known veterinarian here; I heard his family has been veterinarians for generations, though he's not particularly famous outside, but his skills are still excellent. He often comes to give the big cat massages, acupuncture, etc. If the big cat gets sick and needs medicine, he even specially prepares suitable medicine for the big cat. After all, the big cat is different from ordinary cats here. Moreover, Uncle Lin often comes to keep the master company, playing chess and chatting."

Gong Qin was very interested in veterinary medicine, though she had mostly encountered Western medicine before; she never thought acupuncture could be used on animals.

"When does Uncle Lin give the big cat acupuncture? Can I watch?" Gong Qin asked.

"Sure, no problem. We used to often watch him give the big cat acupuncture. Besides the master, Uncle Lin is the second person who can make the big cat behave. However, Uncle Lin usually comes in the morning for acupuncture; coming now probably just means chatting with the master and then casually giving the big cat a massage."

"Massage?!" Gong Qin threw down what she was holding and went to study the art.

While Er Mao tidied up the remaining things, he complained to Er Yuan: "Your mom gets excited as soon as she hears about this stuff; earlier she said sitting in the car too long made her a bit dazed, but look now, full of energy!"

As Er Mao spoke, his gaze fell on Zheng Tan, who was crouched beside them with his head lowered, lost in thought. He said: "Black coal, let Uncle Lin give you some acupuncture too; the big cat's health to this day is thanks to Uncle Lin. You're getting old too—last year you got sick and were hospitalized, scaring your cat parents. Let Uncle Lin check you out. Treat any illness early; we can all guarantee Uncle Lin's skill. I once saw a cat in this household go into shock; other methods failed, but Uncle Lin's acupuncture fixed it."

Zheng Tan didn't doubt Er Mao's words; although Er Mao sometimes spouted nonsense, he wouldn't fabricate this, and given the big cat's condition, it should indeed be thanks to Uncle Lin.

Should I let Uncle Lin give me some acupuncture?

Although I'm just a cat, I still cherish this cat's life.

After the room was tidied, Er Mao took Er Yuan out, and Zheng Tan followed.

Er Mao and Wei Leng's guest rooms are on the second floor; there are many rooms here, and Er Mao is staying in the one he previously lived in. When entering, Zheng Tan also noticed a small bed had been added here. It was newly made, with thick cotton padding on top, so it wouldn't bump or hit anything. So, don't let the old man's calm demeanor fool you—he's already prepared many things meticulously.

As Zheng Tan followed Er Mao downstairs, in the first-floor hall, Uncle Lin was massaging the big cat, explaining massage techniques and some acupuncture points to Gong Qin while massaging; Gong Qin listened attentively.

"Our country's animal acupuncture originated in primitive society, then saw initial development in slave society, and by feudal society had already formed a preliminary academic system, spreading beyond borders from the Northern and Southern Dynasties…… As for the acupuncture prescription you just mentioned, we say the points in an acupuncture prescription are generally composed of sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy. The 《Suwen·Zhēn Yào Dà Lùn》 states: 'The point treating the main disease is the sovereign; assisting the sovereign is the minister; responding to the minister is the envoy.' The sovereign point is the main point in the prescription, primarily treating the main disease symptoms. The minister point assists the sovereign point and enhances its effect; the assistant point helps the sovereign point treat secondary symptoms; the envoy point coordinates the actions of all points. Let me give you an example: for the spleen deficiency diarrhea symptoms you just mentioned, the prescription consists of four points: Bladder Shu (Pishu), Nest Crossing (Chaocheng), Sweet Spring (Ganquan), and Three Li Below the Knees (Sansanli), which correspond respectively to sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy."

While speaking, Uncle Lin pointed to these four points on the big cat's body, then explained to Gong Qin why these four points were chosen.

"The sovereign point Bladder Shu is the back-shu point of the spleen, where spleen qi is transported to the back; to strengthen the spleen and stomach, regulate qi and stop diarrhea, we select it as the sovereign point……"

One spoke enthusiastically, the other listened attentively, completely forgetting the old master seated in the place of honor.

However, the old master sat beside them sipping tea, paying no attention, appearing in good spirits.

As for the big cat, his eyes were half-closed, looking blissfully content as he lay there, enjoying himself greatly. When he heard the movement of Er Mao and the others entering, the big cat merely twitched his ears, without opening his eyes.

Whenever Zheng Tan saw the two tufts of fur on the big cat's ear tips, he wanted to go over and pull them—of course, just thinking about it, not actually doing it, or he'd surely start a fight.

Seeing Zheng Tan follow Er Mao into the hall, Uncle Lin's eyes lit up; he hadn't paid much attention to Zheng Tan when he came earlier, but now he looked closely and noticed something odd.

"This cat is somewhat special." Uncle Lin said.

"How so? Please explain." Er Mao led Er Yuan to find a chair nearby and sat down, asking.

At this time, the Wei Leng family had also finished tidying up and come downstairs from upstairs; hearing Uncle Lin's words, they also wanted to know what he meant.

"This cat is probably quite old, right?" Uncle Lin said. Although he added a "ba" to make it a question, his tone conveyed certainty.

Er Mao nodded: "Yeah, at least seven or eight years old."

Uncle Lin nodded: "Among cats, he's indeed entering old age. However, I see that this cat is very robust."

Uncle Lin used the word "robust," not merely "healthy."

Er Mao gave Uncle Lin a thumbs-up: "Your eyes are truly sharp—you can see the truth without even feeling the bones or looking closely. Not that I'm saying it, but Black Coal is the only cat I've seen eating human food, eating spicy and delicious, wandering around all day causing trouble, yet still strong and healthy to this day—except for a sudden illness at the end of last year when he fell into a coma for a week, but that was the only time; after recovering, he returned to his original state, with no post-illness weakness, and even the pet center said tests showed no abnormality. So, Uncle Lin, could you take a look?"

Er Mao said all this so that Uncle Lin would examine Zheng Tan; if he didn't go into detail, Uncle Lin might not spend much effort on Zheng Tan. Now that he's piqued Uncle Lin's interest, Uncle Lin will put in more effort, and even if nothing is found now, Uncle Lin will later study and ponder it thoroughly.

When Er Mao said "causing trouble," Zheng Tan's whiskers twitched a bit, but thinking that Er Mao was doing this for his own good, Zheng Tan didn't protest.

Sure enough, after hearing Er Mao's words, Uncle Lin became curious; he paused his massage movements on the big cat, gently patted the big cat, and said: "Big cat, sit aside for a moment; I'll examine this little black cat."

After the big cat got up, he didn't jump directly to the ground; instead, he jumped onto a nearby chair, then joined everyone else in looking at Zheng Tan.

Zheng Tan (m), but if you use a 28-gauge (0.38mm) needle on a small mouse, the stimulation would be too strong—equivalent to using such a thick needle on a person." Uncle Lin gestured with his hand to show the width, making those present involuntarily shudder.

"On the other hand, animal skin is relatively thicker than human skin; if the needle is too fine, it brings great difficulty in inserting it for acupuncture. Therefore, after considering various factors, I usually use a 36-gauge (0.2mm) needle for small mice, but for cats, a 28-gauge needle also works."

While speaking, Uncle Lin had already finished the preparations.

Although Zheng Tan was nervous about being needled—he never liked needles much—but as Er Mao said, for the sake of his life, a little prick is nothing.

At first he was nervous, but once the needling actually started, it was just like that; Zheng Tan felt nothing particularly special, and gradually relaxed.

On this side, Uncle Lin was needling Zheng Tan; on that side, Er Mao had already taken out his phone to take photos. After taking the photos, he sent them to the Jiao couple, because informing them about the cat's acupuncture is a must.

At this moment, in a certain lab of the Life Sciences College at Chu Hua Da Xue, Jiao Ba was helping because a graduate student under him needed to collect samples today; the workload was large and there weren't enough helpers, so he happened to have time and put on his lab coat to go lend a hand. When Er Mao's photo arrived, Jiao Ba's phone vibrated; at that moment Jiao Ba had almost finished his work, took off one glove, reached into his pocket to get his phone, while his other hand still held a gun (a common micro-pipette in the lab, colloquially called a gun).

Upon seeing the photo of the cat with many small needles stuck in its body on the phone, Jiao Ba directly flicked the tip of the gun in his hand out with a "click."

Beside him, a few of Jiao Ba's students glanced at each other; their boss usually pays close attention to lab regulations, and used gun tips are directly thrown into the designated box for discarded gun tips, but now Professor Jiao actually flung the gun tip out! What did Professor Jiao see to become so excited?

On the other side, Jiao Ma, who was being pulled by a few students in the hallway to practice spoken English, also received the photo.

Thus, those students heard their usual gentle and mild English teacher suddenly flash a look of surprise and shout loudly: "oh！my！cat！"

Several students: "……" Teacher, you're overexcited; God isn't a cat. (To be continued…)

ps: On the first day of the National Day holiday, I went back to my hometown; the long-distance bus station was crowded, prices had risen and buses were delayed. I bought a ticket but, because there were too many people inside the station, I sat on the roadside ground outside waiting for the bus, and kept thinking: If only I had a car, that would be great t_t