Chapter Thirty-One: A Peaceful Death in One's Bed

  Although I haven't been to Hongxing Street, I've long heard about the siheyuan on Hongxing Street. As time goes by, every smile of the siheyuan's vicissitudes and subtlety has a story that is either known or unknown to people. What remains is just what remains, including not only the siheyuan itself but also some memories of history. If so, the siheyuan in the wind and rain would have an extra warmth of human feelings, rather than being just an insensitive building.

  Hearing is not as good as seeing. When I arrived at Red Star Street, I realized that it was not just a building, but also a local culture and a historical witness. In fact, the typical representative of China's courtyard-style residence, the quadrangle courtyard, had already appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The Fengxu Quadrangle Courtyard Site in Qishan, Shaanxi is known as "China's First Quadrangle Courtyard". Apart from Beijing, many places such as Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei and Guizhou also have this type of building. It is called a quadrangle courtyard because it forms a flat layout with the main house, wing houses and east-west side houses surrounding the central courtyard.

  Listening to the sound of ice cream vendors in Hutong, listening to the hawkers selling watermelon... This quadrangle summer resort can also rival "Shangri-La". Tang Xiaofeng walked into Chu Tian's old house, opened the door with a key, entered the bedroom, took out a small sandalwood box, packed it in a canvas bag and returned to the hospital.

  As soon as he walked into the emergency department, he saw EICU and his heart sank. He quickly quickened his pace towards EICU. Just as he arrived at the door, Director Zhu pushed it open and came out, shaking his head at Tang Xiao Feng before heading to the office.

  Seeing the smiling face of Chu Tianjin, an old man on the hospital bed, Tang Xiaofeng felt stunned. The nurses began to collect medical equipment, and Head Nurse Wang Hui saw Tang Xiaofeng and called him out of the ICU, taking out an envelope: "This was just now, after you left, Chu Tianjin asked me for paper, pen, and envelope, and then asked me to hand it over to you. I guess he's arranging his affairs after death. Take a look." After finishing speaking, she handed the envelope to Tang Xiaofeng and turned to walk towards the nurse station.

  "When you see this letter, I will have left. Apart from the medical records and the Qi Huang Xuan Shu, there is nothing else I can leave for you. When I examined your pulse previously, I said that your pulse was unstable - you can find the answer in the Qi Huang Xuan Shu. As for my funeral arrangements, please contact the local police station to handle it. My only hope is that our family's traditional medical skills will be carried on through you. A good doctor not only lets patients leave the hospital with a smile but also lets terminally ill patients depart this world with a smile."

  Tang Xiaofeng let out a long sigh, slowly folded the letter and put it in his pocket, walking towards Director Zhu's office. He told Director Zhu about the old man's last wish and the aftermath of his death. Director Zhu said he would contact the police station to handle this matter, patted Tang Xiaofeng on the shoulder and asked him to go back and rest.

  Tang Xiaofeng returned to the dormitory, sat on the bed and took out a small wooden box from a small cloth bag. This was a purple sandalwood box, which was heavy and had no folds or buckles, but rather a sliding lid. The edges of the sliding groove were coated with sealing wax, which played a good role in moisture-proofing and sealing. Tang Xiaofeng tried to pull out the sliding lid, but it wouldn't budge, so he got up and went to the closet to find a small knife, carefully scraping off the sealing wax from the sliding groove bit by bit.

  After scraping for half a day, he finally scraped it clean. Tang Xiao Feng suppressed the wildly racing heart inside him, took a deep breath, and slowly pulled out the sliding cover of the purple sandalwood box...

  Inside the box was a small package wrapped in thick oil paper. Tang Xiao Feng slowly unwrapped the oil paper...

  The layers of oil paper were opened one by one, and in front of Tang Xiaofeng were three bound books and a box of silver needles used for acupuncture. The three bound books were written in the style of Li Shu, with the titles "Chu Clan Genealogy", "Medical Records of Acupuncture", and "Qihuang Xuan Book". As he gazed at the yellowed pages of the three bound books, Tang Xiaofeng picked up the Chu Clan Genealogy and opened it to the first page, where it was written: "In 1276 (the second year of Deyou), the Yuan army attacked Lin'an with a crushing force, and Empress Dowager Xie surrendered. Three years later, Lu Xiufu took the nine-year-old Emperor Zhao Bing and jumped into the sea to die, marking the end of the Song Dynasty. The mountains and rivers changed hands, the dynasties changed, and those scholars who had once received salaries from the Song Dynasty suddenly became wandering ghosts without a place to attach themselves. They slaughtered our people, insulted our women, and the beauty of the mountains and rivers was lost. Tang Xiaofeng's surprise grew as he read on, with cold sweat dripping down his face. Finally, he saw the last page: "Head of the family: Chu Tianjin, son: Chu Guodong, grandson: Chu Jianjun."

  Could it be that everything Old Chu said was true?

  Tang Xiao Feng's trembling hands put down the Chu family tree and picked up that book of Qi Huang Xuan. As he opened it to the first page, a diagram of the human body structure appeared before his eyes, with notes on the body's structure, organs, and more. Tang Xiao Feng looked at the annotated text in surprise, flipping to the next page, which still showed a structural diagram that clearly recorded the human skeleton, with detailed notes on the differences between males and females. As he continued to flip through the pages, Tang Xiao Feng was shocked - the recorded diagrams of the human body's acupoints were even more detailed than those in modern textbooks, and the annotated text beside them was more detailed than current medical theories.

  Tang Xiao Feng's spirit was shaken once more, and he lowered his head to gaze intently at the detailed annotations of the human body's meridians. This made Tang Xiao Feng no longer doubt Chu Tian's words, as this truly was a treasure of medicine. As Tang Xiao Feng thought about this, he felt his energy and blood surging upwards, hot tears welling up in his eyes, and his emotions uncontrollable. This was indeed the treasure that Chinese medical predecessors had poured their hearts and souls into for thousands of years! How many medical saints had yearned for this medical classic?!

  Tang Xiaofeng was infatuated with Huangdi Neijing and Shennong Bencaojing, unaware of the passing of time.

  At this time, the pager in his pocket suddenly rang. Tang Xiaofeng opened the screen and saw a few lines of small words: "Where are you? You won't even invite me to dinner after I helped you yesterday." The message was from Guo Zhicheng. Tang Xiaofeng slapped his forehead, how could he have forgotten this? He had planned to finish watching Chu Tianjin's old man and then call Guo Zhicheng out for dinner to thank him.

  Tang Xiao Feng hastily put away the medical book and stored it in a sandalwood box, locked the purple sandalwood box in the wardrobe, rubbed his eyes, saw that he had forgotten to put the silver needle in the wooden box on the bed, casually picked it up and put it on himself as he walked out of the dormitory, came to the hospital's store and called back to Guo Zhi Cheng, telling him that he was at the People's Hospital.

  The colorful sunset was changing wonderfully, the colors becoming deeper and deeper, finally turning into a few strokes of ink painting, making it even more mysterious and enchanting. The red sun sank, and the sky gradually darkened. In the west, a fiery red sunset rose... The color of the sky... Tang Xiao Feng looked at the sunset on the horizon and thought to himself, if it weren't for Chu Tian's old man passing away, today would have been perfect...

  Collect and smash recommendation votes!! During the new book period, I urgently need everyone's support. In addition, thank you to friends who have collected, smashed votes, commented, and rewarded, your support is the greatest motivation for Wenwen. [End of this chapter]