Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 88: What One Learns on Paper Remains Shallow

Su Ming almost ran out of the small courtyard.

The morning mist had not yet cleared, but the streets of Qingshi Town already carried the bustle of daily life. Breakfast vendors blew on their hands, tending steaming pots and pans.

He did not stop for a moment, cutting across most of the town until he reached the familiar old locust tree at the western corner.

Xu Qing was already there. He was squatting in front of a straw mat, carefully wiping a yellowed copy of the County Records of Qingzhou with a half-worn piece of burlap. He treated it with such seriousness, as if it were a priceless treasure.

“Brother Xu.” Su Ming stepped forward, his footsteps deliberately light.

Xu Qing looked up, saw Su Ming, rose, and brushed the dust from his sleeve. “Come for the policy discussion notes I promised last time?”

“Not entirely.” Su Ming shook his head, a trace of embarrassment on his face. “I came to ask for Brother Xu’s help. I want to find some medical books… about the human meridians and acupuncture points. Do you happen to have any?”

Xu Qing froze in place.

He looked at Su Ming with a hint of surprise, as if he could not understand why a top scorer would take an interest in medicine. He did not press the matter, however. He squatted back down and began searching through his pile of treasured old books.

“I do have some medical books,” Xu Qing said as he rifled through them, “but most are elementary rhymes like Soup Formulas and Materia Medica songs, meant to teach how to identify herbs or memorize prescriptions.”His hand wandered among the stacks and soon produced several thin booklets, which he handed to Su Ming.

Su Ming accepted them and flipped through quickly. As Xu Qing had said, they were full of catchy verses, focusing far more on the properties and effects of herbs than on the structure of the human body.

“As for meridians and acupuncture points…” Xu Qing frowned slightly, seeming to strain his memory, “those are precious. True copies of the Ling Shu or Zhen Jing are treasures locked away in major medical houses, passed down internally but not shared with outsiders. You won’t see them in ordinary markets.”

He continued searching the far corner of his stall inside a wooden box for a long while, then carefully withdrew a piece of square-folded coarse yellow hemp paper.

“This is all I have.” He unfolded it. “I copied it years ago from a damaged ancient book. It’s called the Diagram of the Correct Human Hall.”

Su Ming’s gaze was immediately drawn to it.

It was a hand-drawn figure of the human body, rough lines and smeared ink. Several lines running through the body were marked in cinnabar, and tiny regular script annotated names like Hand-Taiyin Lung Meridian and Foot-Yangming Stomach Meridian.

A few acupuncture points were labeled — Zhongfu, Tianfu, Chize — but each was only indicated by a rough dot, with no notes on depth or specific functions.

The diagram was better than nothing.

“Su Ming.” Xu Qing looked at him earnestly. “This drawing is crude and many parts are blurred. It only shows general directions. If you truly want to learn medicine, this alone won’t do.”

Ming folded the drawing carefully and tucked

Xu.” He looked at Xu Qing and said sincerely, “This will be very

Xu Qing did

their unspoken

not return to his courtyard. Instead, he turned and

Second stop, the library.

an old three-story wooden building, perennially filled with a unique scent of paper and

Ming entered, Manager Sun was dozing behind the counter, his graying beard rising and

lowered

eyelids, his cloudy eyes rolling as he recognized Su Ming, then

sleepy laziness. “Not here for county records

to find books… concerning human meridians, or guides to health-preserving exercises.” Su Ming asked cautiously. “Do you have

surprise crossed

sized Su Ming up from head to toe,

vigor.” His tone carried the admonishment of an elder. “Why are you studying the amusements of old men who are soon to be buried? You

The same old lecture.

Ming felt helpless but kept his expression composed, answering

only had some thoughts while reading lately and wish to broaden my knowledge. I would never neglect my

trying to discern something from his face. Su Ming’s expression

He fumbled under the counter for a large ring of rusted keys,

at all, are piled in the farthest corner of the

actually a dim room under the

a teeth-chattering creak. A thick smell of mildew and dust,

did not enter; he pointed inside with

own. What you find depends on your fate. Don’t linger; the lower rooms hold a cold that’s not

hands into his sleeves and shuffled back upstairs to bask in

took a deep breath and lit

feet before him; beyond it lay dark, silent shelves. The bookcases leaned crookedly, filled with an unclassified jumble of badly damaged volumes, like

a

fingers were soon nicked by

the

and fortune-telling manuals, a large number

did find some books

Living. Su Ming opened it with hope, only to find pages devoted to maintaining a cheerful disposition, taking walks, and using food to regulate mood. For acupuncture points, it casually said, “When headaches strike, one may massage the

gather spirit, and “guarding the ancestral orifice.” But what or where the “ancestral orifice” was, how large the dantian should be, none of that was explained; everything relied on