Chapter 130: Advanced-Stage Cancer

Indeed, although Zhang Can was not a real doctor, he had heard plenty of legends about miraculous medicines and celestial herbs. They were nothing more than things like lingzhi, ginseng, and fleeceflower root. Such things did exist, and they were not impossible to find; wild specimens of great age were simply harder to come by. But even if one truly found them, they could not bring the dead back to life or restore flesh to bare bones as the legends claimed. That was certainly an exaggeration.

“Brother Wang, well...” Zhang Can hesitated, but finally spoke. “Brother Wang, I should tell you that back home I once studied medicine under an old traditional physician. I can treat certain illnesses. When we return from the Tianshan Mountains, let me go and have a look at the patient in your family.”

Wang Qian gave a wry smile and waved his hand, sighing without replying. He gazed out of the window. By then, the train had begun to move, and he had paid little attention to Zhang Can’s words. So many major medical institutions abroad had already examined the old man and concluded that surgery was impossible. Even if Zhang Can had learned some medicine, what difference could it make? No matter how skilled he was, he could hardly surpass the world’s leading medical experts. Still, Wang Qian was grateful for his concern. He could hear and see that Zhang Can was being completely sincere.

Zhang Can naturally knew that Wang Qian had not taken his words seriously, but he did not mind. He had merely mentioned it in advance, so that he could bring it up again after they returned and have an excuse to examine the patient. If he could cure him, he would try. If not, there was no harm done; after all, he had made no guarantees. Of course, if he really could cure him, he would have to think of some explanation.

This express train would take approximately twenty-two hours to reach its destination. There were still more than twenty long hours ahead. Wang Qian had originally planned to fly, but Su Xue insisted on taking the train so that her vacation would not be wasted, and thus they had decided to travel by rail. Driving would have been far too troublesome, especially since this journey was not purely for pleasure.

Once the train had reached its normal speed, Wang Qian turned back and glanced at Zhang Can before speaking again.

“Young brother, thank you for your kindness. We’ll talk about it when we return. But I am curious—did you study medicine, or did you study antiques appraisal? Your appraisal skills are extraordinary, far better than those of the master appraisers working under me. To be honest, I have never met anyone with a sharper eye or greater attention to detail than you. And you are still so young!”

Zhang Can smiled. He understood what Wang Qian meant. In the antiques trade, people were indeed not particularly fond of young men. When antique shops hired skilled masters, they required not only a good eye and technical ability, but usually a certain age as well—generally at least forty. Someone too young was often considered impetuous, lacking both technical refinement and experience, and therefore unlikely to please the owner of an antique shop.

This was different from other professions. In most fields, youth was more attractive than age because the young possessed drive, energy, and vitality.

Wang Qian pressed an electronic button beside the bed. Before long, a uniformed woman entered. She was evidently a train attendant. After knocking, she came in and asked Wang Qian politely, “Sir, is there anything you need?”

Wang Qian nodded. “Two cups of hot coffee.”

The woman nodded, then left, gently closing the door behind her.

This was the first time Zhang Can had seen such service on a train. Perhaps Wang Qian was the only exception.

The scalding coffee revived Zhang Can at once, dispelling the drowsiness that had been settling over him. He took a few sips, but it was too hot, so he blew on it between drinks. The coffee was faintly bitter, though sugar had been added, giving it a richer fragrance.

“Brother Wang, after drinking this coffee, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep at all. How will we manage once it gets dark?” Zhang Can said with a laugh. He had originally thought that if he could simply fall asleep, he would awaken at their destination and spare himself the long wait along the way. Whenever he had traveled to or from his hometown, he had slept through the journey—falling asleep as soon as he boarded and waking only when he arrived. That way, the distance never seemed very far.

“Young brother, tell me about your family. How did you learn the art of antique appraisal?” Wang Qian asked, turning to another subject. Though they had known each other for quite some time, this was the first opportunity they had ever had to be alone together.

Zhang Can laughed. “Brother Wang, I believe I’ve mentioned it before. I’ve been in Jincheng for more than three years. Entering the antiques trade was actually an accident. Before that, I had never imagined I would do anything like it. When I first came to Jincheng three years ago, I found work at a construction site. I worked myself to the bone for two months and earned only a little over three thousand yuan. Whenever I had free time, I would wander around the city, though I never bought anything because I couldn’t afford to. Once, I happened to see Master Su from Old Stone Studio examining a piece of jade at the antique market. I stood nearby watching, of course without understanding a thing. Master Su bought the jade from a man who had picked it up for six hundred yuan, but he paid him twice that amount—twelve hundred. My heart began pounding right then. Six hundred had become twelve hundred in the blink of an eye. A business like that—legal, quick, and easy—where else could you find it?”

Zhang Can laughed again and took another sip of coffee. Only a little remained in the cup, so he drained it in one swallow before continuing.

“From that moment on, I completely fell in love with the antiques trade. The first things I tried to make money from, and the things that earned me the most, were pieces of jade. They were all small items, and I usually made only a few hundred yuan, with a few thousand at most. It was not much money, but compared with the hard labor I did at the construction site, it was far easier and paid considerably better.”

Wang Qian smiled. “Then did you really learn such excellent appraisal skills from a tattered old book?”

That was the explanation Zhang Can had given him before, and Wang Qian was asking again because he suspected there might be more to it.

“Brother Wang, I truly wasn’t lying about that. I really did come across an old book—a handwritten copy so battered that nobody wanted it. It was devoted entirely to methods of appraising antiques and jade. Whenever I had nothing else to do, I practiced according to its instructions, then combined what I learned with my own experience and skills. Somehow, it turned out like this.”

Zhang Can spoke with such conviction that he almost believed the experience and skills had truly come to him in that way. Wang Qian smiled and believed him as well.

“Young brother, then it seems you were blessed with good fortune. Your luck finally turned. It is much the same with antiques. Sometimes an object can be placed right before someone’s eyes, yet they still fail to recognize it. What belongs to you will be yours; no one else can take it away.”

Whenever he had nothing else to do, Zhang Can chatted with Wang Qian about his family—his parents, his older brother, his younger sister, and his nephew. Wang Qian listened attentively. He could see how deeply Zhang Can cared for and protected his family, and he could hear the sincerity and steadiness in his words.

As they continued talking, sleep eventually overcame them despite the coffee. Two or three hours later, they had both fallen asleep. Near dawn, the train suddenly stopped. Zhang Can and Wang Qian were awakened by the sound of an announcement. Only after waking did they hear the broadcast explaining that heavy rain had triggered a landslide ahead, blocking the railway. They could only wait for instructions and see how the repairs proceeded. But the rain was extremely heavy and the landslide severe; it would probably not be cleared quickly. It might take a day or two.

Because it was an express train that had departed at three in the afternoon the previous day, it had already been traveling for fourteen or fifteen hours. They had covered more than half the route into Xinjiang and were now near the border region. The mountains there were high and the roads steep, making trouble common. Whenever it rained, landslides of varying severity occurred along both the railways and the highways.

Wang Qian froze for a moment, then immediately rose and used the communicator to summon one of his bodyguards, ordering him to find out what had happened.

About ten minutes later, the bodyguard returned and reported to him.

“Mr. Wang, there has been a landslide ahead, about a kilometer away. The rain is very heavy, and the repair vehicles haven’t arrived yet. It will probably take at least a day to restore the line. But railways are different from roads. On a road, you can clear away the obstruction and force your way through, but a railway still needs its tracks. If the tracks aren’t repaired, the train cannot pass. I was thinking...” The bodyguard hesitated, then continued, “Should I contact the military stationed nearby and ask them to send several vehicles? We could continue by car.”

Wang Qian fell silent in thought. He glanced out the window at the rain pouring down and realized that it would be difficult to wait for the railway to be repaired. He made up his mind at once.

“All right. Contact the military stationed here. We may not know them well, but if you can reach them, do so. If not, contact the local government and have them send several vehicles to take us around the obstruction.”

The bodyguard acknowledged the order and left immediately.

Wang Qian then turned to Zhang Can, who was still staring blankly.

“Young brother, don’t worry. If the train is delayed, we’ll take cars instead. The one thing I dislike most about traveling is waiting for transportation. Having to sit around and wait makes me anxious.”

Zhang Can nodded. The decision was naturally Wang Qian’s to make, and he had no objection. If this had merely been a pleasure trip, Wang Qian probably would not have been in such a hurry. Zhang Can had always thought of him as a deeply composed man, not someone whose emotions were easily revealed. The fact that he was now so anxious showed that the illness of his family member must truly be urgent.

Because Zhang Can knew nothing about the patient’s condition or even what illness he suffered from, he did not dare promise that he could cure him. That also made it difficult for him to suggest turning back and treating the man immediately.

After hesitating for a while, Zhang Can thought that if they continued on to Xinjiang and then to the Tianshan Mountains, too much time would be wasted. It might be better simply to return and examine Wang Qian’s family member. Yet he did not know how to say this, and he still knew nothing about the actual illness. After thinking it over, he asked, “Brother Wang, what illness does your family member actually have?”

The moment illness was mentioned, Wang Qian’s expression darkened. He sighed.

“Young brother, it’s my father’s illness. He is eighty-nine this year and has late-stage stomach cancer. With that illness and his advanced age, surgery is out of the question. Even if surgery were possible, a man his age would never be able to withstand it...”

Zhang Can fell silent as well. Stomach cancer—cancer—was an illness he had never encountered before. Still, he understood what late-stage stomach cancer meant: there was no cure. The old man was already advanced in years. And unlike the kidneys or certain other organs, the stomach was not something that could be treated casually.

Although Zhang Can had never dealt with or personally witnessed many illnesses, he had heard of them: cancer, leukemia, AIDS, uremia, and so on. These were all considered incurable. With the level of medical science available at present, once such diseases reached their final stages, there was essentially no way to treat them. If cancer was detected early, surgery might remove the malignant cells. But once it reached an advanced stage, it was as good as a death sentence.

And Wang Qian’s father was already eighty-nine. At such an age, the body’s functions were nearly exhausted, like a lamp whose oil had run dry. Even a minor operation could lead to complications, let alone one as major as this. If the stomach cancer had spread extensively and the entire stomach had to be removed, then there truly was no way to cure or resolve the condition.