Xiao Man memilah barang antik yang diperolehnya ke dalam tiga tingkat: pertama, kedua, dan ketiga. Ia memotret barang-barang tingkat pertama dan kedua, lalu mengirim fotonya kepada kakeknya di Beijing, sekadar untuk memberi pandangan awal tentang temuan-temuan barunya itu. Ia tidak terburu-buru menjualnya, memutuskan menunggu sampai ia pergi ke Beijing saat libur sekolah.
Adapun barang-barang tingkat ketiga, ia terlebih dahulu menyerap delapan puluh persen Energi Spiritual yang terkandung di dalamnya, menyisakan dua puluh persen untuk terus menutrami benda-benda itu sendiri. Setelah itu, ia meluangkan waktu berkunjung ke kota provinsi, menemukan sebuah toko antik, meminta barang-barang itu dinilai, dan menjual seluruhnya untuk mendapatkan sejumlah uang.
Sibuk mengumpulkan antik dan menyerap Energi Spiritual, kultivasinya tentu berkembang. Xiao Man menerobos Tingkat Keempat Kultivasi Qi dan memasuki Lapisan Kelima. Pada tahap ini, jika ia punya banyak waktu, ia bisa mulai mempelajari beberapa Sihir di samping mempraktikkan Alam Pemurnian Tubuh. Namun, sepertinya hal itu harus ia kesampingkan dulu. Ujian sudah dekat, dan ia sibuk dengan ini itu. 'Lebih baik fokus memadatkan kultivasi dulu, sisanya biar kutangani saat liburan.'
Minggu terakhir Juni, Zheng Shaolian datang dari Wancheng pagi-pagi sekali untuk menjemput Xiao Man. Mereka hendak kembali ke Desa Gongdao menengok Kakek dan Nenek serta memeriksa kebun herba Kakek. Herba-herba yang berasal dari dimensinya itu tumbuh subur dan mengesankan di dunia luar. Kakek ceria sekali, menyebut beberapa rombongan pedagang herba sudah datang berkunjung. Semuanya ingin memesan lebih dulu, tetapi ia menolak semuanya.
Xiao Man heran kenapa orang-orang sudah datang menengok kebun itu. Kakek menjelaskan bahwa para kadre dari stasiun ilmu pertanian komune yang membawa mereka. Saat desa-desa mulai mempelbagaikan tanaman demi kesejahteraan, para kadre stasiun itu terus-menerus mengunjungi desa. Setelah melihat betapa baiknya kebun herba Kakek dan melaporkannya kepada atasan, kini mereka membawa orang-orang berkeliling setiap kali ada pertukaran atau kunjungan resmi.
Xiao Man terdiam. 'Aku lupa betapa ini era perubahan,' pikirnya. 'Berusaha kaya diam-diam di sampingan itu cukup tidak realistis.'
Sudah lama tidak pulang, Xiao Man melihat desa itu berubah. Banyak keluarga sudah membangun pelataran jemur gandum sendiri di halaman atau mulut rumah, bersiap menghadapi panen musim panas. Tanah sudah dibagikan ke rumah tangga masing-masing. Kini setiap keluarga memanen padi sendiri, menjemurnya, dan mengantarkannya ke stasiun gandum untuk membayar pajak padi wajib. Tidak lagi dikelola bersama oleh tim produksi. Kenyataannya, tim produksi kini cangkang kosong tanpa fungsi nyata; bahkan gudang-gudangnya sudah dijual ke perorangan.
Bahkan mesin brigade—traktor roda besar, traktor jalan, dan transplanter padi—sudah dijual dengan diskon. Toko koperasi dan klinik brigade juga sudah dioperasikan kepada perorangan. Akibatnya, Lin Liuping kehilangan pekerjaannya, sebab Direktur Mo mendapatkan kontrak toko koperasi dan menyerahkannya kepada menantunya untuk dikelola. Bukan semuanya buruk, toh Lin Liuping memang tidak menginginkan peluang itu. Ia dan Komandan Regu Zhao—oh, kini Wakil Komandan Kompi Zhao—sudah mendaftarkan pernikahan mereka. Tinggal menunggu cutinya disetujui agar mereka bisa pulang ke rumah keluarganya untuk mengadakan pesta pernikahan!
Klinik desa juga sudah dioperasikan, tetapi bukan kepada dokter desa semula. Pengelola barunya adalah Mo Chengfu.
'Yang penting bukan apa yang kamu tahu, melainkan siapa yang kamu kenal.' Prinsip itu berlaku di mana pun. Kakek telah mendatangi Direktur Mo, yang kemudian mengamankan satu slot pelatihan untuk Mo Chengfu di pusat kesehatan komune. Mo Chengfu menghabiskan dua bulan di pusat kesehatan untuk "belajar dan pelatihan", setelah itu ia menerima sertifikat yang memenuhinya untuk berpraktik pengobatan di pedesaan.
Sebenarnya, keterampilan Mo Chengfu dalam pengobatan Tiongkok tradisional kini setara dengan para dokter muda di Rumah Sakit Pengobatan Tradisional Tiongkok Wancheng. Teknik akupunkturnya, khususnya, begitu mumpuni sampai sebagian praktisi senior mungkin bukan tandingannya.
Xiao Man adalah guru yang sangat rajin. Mo Chengfu memang agak lambat menangkap, tetapi ia menebusnya dengan keteguhan hatinya. Ia orangnya satu jalur, dan ketika seseorang seperti itu memutuskan untuk menguasai sesuatu, ia melakukannya dengan ketekunan luar biasa. Lagipula, sejak ia melakukan akupunktur pada ibu dan ipar perempuannya—menyembuhkan keluhan bertahun-tahun nyeri bahu beku dan sakit kaki rematik—aliran orang tanpa henti berdatangan setiap hari. Hanya karena Kakek melihat bahwa ia benar-benar mampu berdiri sendiri, barulah ia mendatangi Direktur Mo.
Maka Mo Chengfu kini bukan lagi sosok murung dan destruktif seperti dulu. Begitu melangkah masuk ke klinik desa, ia akan dengan khidmat mengenakan jas putihnya. Rambutnya disisir rapi, sepatu kulitnya dipoles mengkilap seperti cermin. Dengan fitur wajahnya yang tegas dan kulitnya yang berseri, ia tampak benar-benar segar. Fokus intensnya saat meraba nadi, mendiagnosis pasien, dan melakukan akupunktur membuat setiap gerakannya tampak sangat profesional. Ia cukup tampan, dan jelas upaya Zheng Shaolian menyeretnya ke rumah sakit kota untuk observasi membuahkan hasil.
Satu-satunya yang tidak berubah adalah ia masih belum bisa menjadi pemurah kata. Ia hanya bicara bila punya sesuatu untuk dikatakan; selain itu, bibirnya tetap terkatup. Justru itu memberinya kesan kedalaman yang tak terduga, dan kemungkinan ia sendiri tidak sadar betapa menawan orang menemukannya.
Xiao Man menghabiskan waktu di klinik Mo Chengfu, memberi beberapa catatan di sana sini. Karena lebih banyak orang datang pada hari Minggu, ia pun ikut membantu memeriksa beberapa pasien. Tepat saat hendak pergi, dua wanita muda masuk. Wajah mereka asing, artinya bukan orang desa. Dari pakaian mereka—satu mengenakan gaun kasa bercorak bunga merah, satu lagi celana hitam lurus dan blus kuning pucat—mereka bersih dan bergaya. Kemungkinan mereka bekerja di pabrik atau tambang terdekat. Keduanya berpipi merona dan tampak bersemangat, sama sekali tidak seperti pasien.
Mo Chengfu mendongak menatap kedua wanita itu, wajahnya tanpa ekspresi. "Kenapa ke sini lagi?" katanya datar. "Aku sangat sibuk, dan hari ini penuh. Tidak ada tempat duduk untuk kalian. Sebaiknya pergi."
Wanita muda bergaun itu melirik Xiao Man, lalu tersenyum pada Mo Chengfu. "Oh, Chengfu," katanya, "kita semua di sini teman. Tidak perlu segitu formalnya.}
Xiao Man sorted the antiques she had acquired into first, second, and third tiers. She photographed the first and second-tier items and mailed the pictures to her grandfather in Beijing, just to give him a first look at her novel finds. She wasn’t in a hurry to sell them, deciding to wait until she went to Beijing during her school vacation.
As for the third-tier items, she first absorbed eighty percent of the Spiritual Energy they contained, leaving the remaining twenty percent to continue nourishing the objects themselves. Afterward, she found time to make a trip to the provincial city, where she located an antique shop, had the items appraised, and sold the entire lot to secure a sum of money.
Busy with acquiring antiques and absorbing Spiritual Energy, her cultivation naturally progressed. Xiao Man broke through the Fourth Level of Qi Refining and entered the Fifth Layer. At this stage, if she had ample time, she could have started learning some Spells in addition to practicing the Body Refinement Realm. However, it seemed she would have to put that aside for now. Her exams were imminent, and she was busy with one thing after another. ’It’s better to focus on consolidating my cultivation and leave the rest for my vacation.’
On the last Sunday of June, Zheng Shaolian drove over from Wancheng early in the morning to pick up Xiao Man. They were heading back to Gongdao Village to visit her Grandpa and Grandma and to check on her Grandpa’s herb plantation. The herbs, which originated from her dimension, were growing robustly and impressively in the outside world. Grandpa was delighted, mentioning that several groups of herb merchants had already come to visit. They all wanted to place advance orders, but he had turned them all down.
Xiao Man wondered why people were already coming to see the plantation. Grandpa explained that cadres from the commune’s agricultural science station had brought them. With the countryside starting to diversify crops in the push for prosperity, the station’s cadres were constantly visiting the villages. After seeing how well Grandpa’s herb plantation was doing and reporting it to their superiors, they now brought people over for tours whenever there was an official exchange or visit.
Xiao Man was speechless. ’I completely forgot what an era of change this is,’ she thought. ’Trying to get rich quietly on the side is pretty unrealistic.’
Having not been back for some time, Xiao Man noticed the village had changed. Many families had built their own grain-drying grounds in their yards or doorways in preparation for the summer harvest. The land had been allocated to individual households. Now, each family harvested their own rice, dried it, and delivered it to the grain station to pay their public grain tax. This was no longer managed collectively by the production team. In fact, the production team was now an empty shell with no real purpose; even its warehouses had been sold off to individuals.
Even the brigade’s machinery—the large-wheeled tractors, walking tractors, and rice transplanters—had been sold off at a discount. The brigade’s co-op store and clinic had also been contracted out to individuals. As a result, Lin Liuping had lost her job, since Director Mo had secured the contract for the co-op store and given it to his daughter-in-law to run. It wasn’t all bad, though, as Lin Liuping hadn’t wanted the opportunity anyway. She and Squad Leader Zhao—oh, that’s Deputy Company Commander Zhao now—had already registered their marriage. They were just waiting for him to get approved for leave so they could go to his family’s home for the wedding banquet!
The village clinic had also been contracted out, but not to the original barefoot doctor. The new operator was Mo Chengfu.
’It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ That principle held true everywhere. Grandpa had approached Director Mo, who then secured a training spot for Mo Chengfu at the commune’s health center. Mo Chengfu spent two months at the health center for "study and training," after which he received a certificate that qualified him to practice medicine in the countryside.
In reality, Mo Chengfu’s current skill in traditional Chinese medicine was comparable to that of the young doctors at Wancheng’s Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. His acupuncture technique, in particular, was so advanced that some veteran practitioners might not even be his match.
Xiao Man had been a very diligent teacher. Mo Chengfu was a bit slow to grasp things, but he compensated with his steadfastness. He had a one-track mind, and when such a person decides to master something, they do so with incredible perseverance. Furthermore, ever since he had used acupuncture on his own mother and sister-in-law—curing their years-long struggles with frozen shoulder and rheumatic leg pain—a ceaseless stream of people sought him out daily. It was only because Grandpa saw that he could truly stand on his own that he had approached Director Mo.
And so, the Mo Chengfu of today was no longer that dejected, self-destructive wreck from before. The moment he stepped into the village clinic, he would solemnly don his white coat. His hair was meticulously parted, his leather shoes polished to a mirror shine. With his sharp features and radiant complexion, he looked completely refreshed. The intense focus he displayed while taking pulses, diagnosing patients, and administering acupuncture made his every gesture seem utterly professional. He looked quite handsome, and it was clear Zheng Shaolian’s efforts in dragging him to the city hospital for observation sessions had paid off.
The only thing that hadn’t changed was that he still hadn’t learned to be a smooth-talker. He spoke only when he had something to say; otherwise, his lips remained sealed. This actually lent him an air of inscrutable depth, and he was likely unaware of how captivating people found him.
Xiao Man spent some time in Mo Chengfu’s clinic, offering a few pointers here and there. Since more people came in on Sundays, she also helped by treating a couple of patients. Just as she was about to leave, two young women entered. Their faces were unfamiliar, meaning they weren’t from the village. Judging by their attire—one in a red-flowered, white seersucker dress, the other in black straight-leg trousers and a pale-yellow blouse—they were clean and fashionable. They probably worked at a nearby factory or mine. Both had rosy complexions and seemed in high spirits, not at all like patients.
Mo Chengfu looked up at the two women, his face devoid of expression. "What are you doing here again?" he said flatly. "I’m very busy, and it’s crowded today. There’s no room for you to sit. You should go."
The young woman in the dress glanced at Xiao Man, then smiled at Mo Chengfu. "Oh, Chengfu," she said, "we’re all friends here. No need to be so formal."
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