Chapter 26: Skill Upgrade

At the thought of this, Jiang Xiaoman’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she felt a bit embarrassed. She remembered clearly that she had teased Zhou Yichen quite a bit about this back then, even mocking him for wasting his time and engaging in wishful thinking.

"Uh..." Jiang Xiaoman scratched her head bashfully, her eyes drifting away. "Come to think of it, back then... I really didn't see that you had this talent, and I even made fun of you for reading those medical books, thinking it was useless..."

Seeing her awkward little expression, Zhou Yichen couldn't help but smile.

Lunch concluded in a relaxed atmosphere tinged with a touch of nostalgia. Zhou Yichen stood up and began to clear the bowls and chopsticks from the table.

"Alright, you should take a break," he said to Jiang Xiaoman. "You're already this tired on your first day of work, and you still have to keep going this afternoon. Don't push yourself too hard."

Watching Zhou Yichen deftly stack the dishes and carry them to the kitchen, a wave of warmth surged in Jiang Xiaoman’s heart.

"Yichen..." she called out softly, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible emotion. "Thank you."

Zhou Yichen, standing at the kitchen doorway with the dishes, turned back and waved his hand dismissively. "What are you thanking me for?"

"We’ve been close buddies since we were kids running around in split-crotch pants; isn't it only natural for me to look after you?"

He shifted his tone, a playful smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Of course, if you really feel bad about it, I wouldn't mind if you did more chores to make it up to me later!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xiaoman’s previous touch of sentimentality was immediately swept away by a surge of bravado. She sprang up from the edge of the kang and patted her small chest with a resounding thud. "No problem!"

"From now on, the housework in this yard is covered by me, Jiang Xiaoman!"

Seeing her determined expression, Zhou Yichen shook his head with a smile and turned into the kitchen. Soon, the clattering sound of washing dishes drifted out from the kitchen.

Jiang Xiaoman rested in the room for only a short while before checking the sky outside. Estimating that the time was about right, she got up to head to work. She walked to the kitchen door and called out to the busy Zhou Yichen, "Yichen, I'm off to work!"

"Alright, watch yourself on the way," Zhou Yichen replied.

Once Jiang Xiaoman’s figure disappeared from the gate, Zhou Yichen quickly finished washing the dishes. He wiped his hands, walked out of the kitchen, and stood in the center of the courtyard, taking a deep breath of the fragrant, earthy air.

He was just one step away from a breakthrough in his Baduanjin.

Between the brigade assembly in the morning and running errands at the commune to buy supplies, he hadn't had any time to practice. Now, he finally had a rare moment of peace and quiet.

Zhou Yichen’s gaze sharpened; he decided to seize this time to see what new changes would occur once his Baduanjin reached level four.

He sank his waist, stood firm, adjusted his breathing, and slowly raised his hands. With movements as fluid and steady as flowing water, he performed the Baduanjin routine.

Once... Twice...

As he completed the final movement of the second round, Zhou Yichen felt his whole body grow slightly warm. A subtle, gentle heat flowed through his limbs and bones, creating an indescribable sense of comfort.

At that moment, the familiar sensation surfaced in his mind:

[Baduanjin LV4 (1/400)]

Upon reaching level four, Zhou Yichen discovered that his Baduanjin had achieved a balance of hardness and softness. He could now perceive the interplay between tension and relaxation, and his breathing had become deep, coordinated, and continuous.

The sensation of internal energy, which he had previously doubted, was now quite distinct. During his practice, he occasionally heard faint crackling sounds from his joints—a clear sign of his tendons and bones resonating. Beyond this, his strength, reaction speed, and stamina had all been significantly enhanced.

He estimated that with his current strength, dealing with three or five strong men would be no problem at all. Of course, that was the limit; after all, it was merely a simplified set of health-cultivation movements, so it was impossible for it to be overwhelmingly powerful. Still, at his current level, he already surpassed the vast majority of people in the world.

Zhou Yichen exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling the brimming strength within his body and the warmth flowing through his limbs. While the Baduanjin was excellent and could lead to a transformation of body and spirit if practiced to a high level, it was, at its core, just a set of movements focused on wellness. In terms of raw combat effectiveness, it was still quite a bit behind proper martial arts.

"When I have the chance in the future, I must find a way to learn a real set of fighting techniques," Zhou Yichen thought to himself. Strength is always better the higher it is. After all, although this era seemed peaceful, who knew what the future would hold? Being prepared was never a mistake.

Refocusing his mind, Zhou Yichen stopped dwelling on such thoughts. To him, the most important thing was to improve his medical skills as quickly as possible and establish a firm footing in the Xiangyang Brigade.

He turned and went back into the room. A faint warmth and the subtle, youthful fragrance of Jiang Xiaoman seemed to linger on the kang where she had been sitting. Zhou Yichen walked to the edge of the kang and sat down cross-legged with ease.

He took out the three medical books that Director Zhou had specially gifted him: *Handbook of Common Chinese Herbal Medicines*, *Exposition on Acupuncture*, and *Fundamentals of Traditional Chinese Medicine*.

In his eyes, these three books were like charcoal delivered in snowy weather—treasures more valuable than gold. Especially since the value of his *Barefoot Doctor's Manual* had been exhausted, and it was no longer providing much proficiency gain.

He first picked up the *Handbook of Common Chinese Herbal Medicines*, with its slightly yellowed pages and deep sense of history. "Let’s start with this one," Zhou Yichen mused.

Medical conditions in the countryside were extremely crude, and shortages of doctors and medicine were common occurrences. As a brigade health worker, he was essentially just a barefoot doctor with a slightly fancier title—a role self-appointed by the production team. Getting precious Western medicine from the commune’s health center was not easy. Even if he could get some, the variety and quantity would surely be stingy and unreliable.

Thus, the profound and vast world of Chinese herbal medicine had become his most realistic and reliable medical tool. The Xiangyang Brigade backed onto the sprawling Daqing Mountains, where there was no shortage of all kinds of wild herbs. As long as he could identify all these herbs and fully master their medicinal properties, compatibility, and contraindications, he could treat many common ailments without needing precious medicinal materials. He could even prepare some emergency powders, ointments, and pills.

He took a deep breath and opened the pages. A faint scent of ink mixed with the characteristic musty smell of old paper rushed toward him. The content of the book was not the beautifully printed color plates of later generations, but rather sketches accompanied by detailed textual explanations. It recorded the morphological characteristics, growth environment, harvesting seasons, processing methods, nature, flavor, meridians of entry, main functions, and reference dosages for various common Chinese herbs.

Zhou Yichen read with total absorption, almost taking in ten lines at a glance. Relying on the super-strong memory and comprehension bestowed by his "Diligence is the Path" talent, the knowledge from the book flowed into his mind like a babbling brook. As he continued to read and understand, the proficiency for his medical skill began to climb at a visible rate:

[Medical Skill LV1 (703/1000)]
[Medical Skill LV1 (704/1000)]
[Medical Skill LV1 (705/1000)]
...

This feeling of being able to clearly sense his own progress and growth every second was absolutely intoxicating! Zhou Yichen’s lips curled into a satisfied smile involuntarily. Completely immersed in the pleasure of knowledge rapidly transforming into his own strength, he found it impossible to stop.

Just as he was deep in his studies, a clear knocking sound suddenly came from outside the courtyard gate.