Chapter 301: My Godfather from Sijiucheng?

At this moment, Qi Qingshan's eyes were indeed more spirited, yet they still looked very clear; Zhang Ping'an arranged another Silver Needle on his head.

"Hmm... it's almost time, just these next two days. He should be receiving external information; having not spoken for so many years, he still needs to adapt slowly."

Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Ping'an withdrew the needles, and Qi Qingshan fell into a sound sleep.

"Alright, everyone go back to sleep. Perhaps Brother Qingshan will wake up tomorrow morning."

On the way back, Zhang Ping'an kept pondering; this Qi Qingshan's symptoms were somewhat similar to Jia Youwei's, but the two men's reactions were completely different.

Qi Qingshan's condition was due to excessive worry, which damaged the spleen, and the spleen is the foundation of the postnatal constitution; it was also due to excessive grief, which damaged the lungs. With both spleen and lungs injured, the other three organs were also deeply affected.

Next, he had to continue strengthening the spleen. The spleen belongs to earth, the lungs belong to metal, and the lungs govern Qi and respiration; earth also generates metal. When supplemented with Acupuncture later, it would be very helpful for Qi Qingshan's subsequent speech.

"What's wrong, Ping'an?"

"Oh, it's nothing. He has consciousness now, and I'm thinking about adjusting Qi Qingshan's Decoction prescription."

"Will it be very troublesome?"

"No, it's just that learning to speak will be a long process." Having not opened his mouth to speak for over a decade, he likely lost some of his functionality.

"That's true."

It had already been a week since the Yi Zhonghai family came out. They had only asked for ten days of leave in total, and just the round trip took three days. Six days had already passed, and they would have to work overtime once they returned.

Zhang Ping'an was fine; with Jia Dongxu covering his registration, it made no difference whether he asked for leave or not.

Two days later, Qi Qingshan was already able to speak a few words intermittently, and it was time for Yi Zhonghai and his party to return.

"Brother Yi, you all go back first. I feel this case is quite valuable, and I want to stay behind to continue observing for a while."

"This... will it delay your work?"

Yi Zhonghai felt it would be best if Zhang Ping'an could stay, but he didn't know how to say it; after all, he himself was going back, so how could he ask someone else to stay?

Moreover, Zhang Ping'an had no obligation to treat Qi Qingshan; he had come entirely out of respect for him, which made Yi Zhonghai feel exceptionally grateful toward Zhang Ping'an.

"It's fine, I'll just be returning a few days after you."

"Alright, in any case, thank you for this time, Ping'an."

"Hey, you've already reimbursed my food and lodging anyway."

"Hahaha, reimbursed, it must be reimbursed."

In the morning, Yi Jiabao and Jia Donglai sent Yi Zhonghai and the other two to the train station, while Zhang Ping'an stayed at Qi Qinghai's house to observe the two people's conditions.

Actually, Yang Qingmei didn't really need much treatment from Zhang Ping'an now; she just needed to drink the Decoction at fixed times every day. The main thing was to constantly replenish the withered and decaying Qi and blood in her body.

Don't look at how she seemed like nothing was wrong now; in reality, it was mainly the Decoction that was continuously keeping her alive, slowly seeping into her body and trying its best to repair the trauma.

Yang Qingmei knew it herself; she now just hoped her husband could wake up, the family could reunite, and they could say a proper goodbye.

"Doctor Zhang, how much longer can I live?"

Actually, she had felt her body failing after seeing Yi Jiabao before, then she persisted until Yi Jiabei arrived, and now she was persisting until her husband woke up; she felt her body was slowly getting better;

But she could also clearly feel that her body was like a swimming pool; the Decoction was adding water, but her body always felt like there was a leak somewhere, and the added water couldn't keep up with the drainage.

"Hmm... keep drinking the medicine, about a year or so."

"And my husband?"

"About the same."

Actually, Qi Qingshan's situation was better, but if Yang Qingmei passed away in a year, it was hard to guarantee he wouldn't be struck by the blow, and the probability of them leaving together would be very high.

"That's fine too, we can still keep each other company."

"Sigh." Zhang Ping'an was powerless against this; being able to keep her alive with the Decoction was already him snatching time from the King of Hell.

Because Zhang Ping'an spent most of his time at Qi Qinghai's house, Qi Tongwei became more familiar with him and would often wobble over to play with him.

It was mainly because Qi Qinghai was now semi-paralyzed, and his wife had to go earn work points to support the family, which led to Qi Tongwei being semi-neglected.

Zhang Ping'an also had a fondness for the little guy; he went to the Black Market and bought him a set of cotton-padded jacket and trousers, and the Qi Qinghai family became even more grateful to him.

"Little Brother Zhang, I see you quite like Tongwei. How about letting this child acknowledge you as his godfather?" At noon, while eating at Qi Qinghai's house, Qi Qingbei suggested.

Qi Qingbei had also seen how Zhang Ping'an had been helping the Qi Qinghai family during this time, and even treating both families.

Qi Qinghai couldn't move now, couldn't earn money, and couldn't repay the favor; he was anxious, so it would be better for the two families to form a god-kin relationship, and let Qi Tongwei be filial to Zhang Ping'an in the future.

"That's not appropriate, not appropriate. Doctor Zhang is from Sijiucheng, how can he compare to us mud-legged folks..."

"That's fine, if Qinghai and his wife don't mind."

"This, wouldn't we be climbing the social ladder?..."

"Qinghai, sister-in-law, Little Brother Zhang just happened to come to our Qi Family Village by chance, and he happens to get along with you, and is even more compatible with Tongwei. Forming a god-kin relationship is quite good."

"Then..."

"What climbing the social ladder? My family is also from the countryside, and we also live in an Earth-walled House; it's about the same as everyone else. It was just by chance that I got a job in the city."

Qi Qinghai and his wife were both honest and simple farmers. They had indeed gotten along very well during this time, and they also wanted Qi Tongwei to acknowledge this god-kin relationship, but they were afraid others would say they were climbing the social ladder to Zhang Ping'an.

"Tongwei, kowtow to your godfather."

Qi Tongwei was over a year and a half old, almost two, and could understand some human speech. He looked at both sides, then "thump-thump" kowtowed to Zhang Ping'an, and then stammered out, "Godfather."

"Hahaha, Tongwei doesn't even call his own father and mother clearly, but he's quite fluent in calling you godfather. Little Brother Zhang, it seems you two are truly fated."

"Hahaha, indeed. Come, Tongwei, come here, godfather will give you some pocket money."

"Doctor Zhang, that won't do, we already owe you too much."

"Eh, this is for my godson." Zhang Ping'an didn't give much, just a ten-yuan note stuffed into the pocket of Qi Tongwei's cotton-padded jacket.

"Qinghai, sister-in-law, don't call him Doctor Zhang anymore, just call him Brother Zhang."

"Brother... Brother Zhang." Qi Qinghai was a bit embarrassed; calling someone younger than himself "brother" didn't feel as natural as calling him "Doctor Zhang."

"Hey."

With this layer of god-kin relationship, at the dinner table that followed, everyone toasted each other, and the atmosphere became even more enthusiastic.

Two days later, Qi Qingshan's language function had basically recovered, and what followed was cognition; Zhang Ping'an couldn't help with that, and he prepared to return to Sijiucheng.

"Jiabao, remember these medicine packets; I have already taught you the decoction method. From now on, decoct one dose every day and drink it for three days. There is enough here for you all to drink until the end of the year. If anything comes up later, contact me in time."

"Alright, thank you, Zhang Shu."

"Mm, Donglai, don't forget to exercise while you are here. If Jiabao wants to learn, you can teach him too."

"Alright, Uncle."

Zhang Ping'an left two cans of Milk Powder for Qi Tongwei, and the next morning, Qi Qingbei took him to the train station.

Rolling Mill

"Are you sure you haven't seen Zhang Ping'an these past few days?" Inside Zhao Guoliang's office, Qian Dazhuang was reporting his findings from the past week or so.

Zhao Guoliang had a mind to go and take a look, but procurement was not under his jurisdiction; if he went over, he would likely be targeted by Zhu Weiguo again, and if things went poorly, Li Huaide might even go after him.

Right now, Li Huaide was the director of the Rolling Mill's Revolutionary Committee; if he dared to act recklessly, Li Huaide could probably find some excuse to have him paraded through the streets.

"Forget it, forget it. The leadership hasn't given any orders yet, so I had better continue to lie low."