Neither of the two women were big eaters. The restaurant gave plenty of food in the warm pot, and Zhang Fan ended up eating slightly more than half.
Shao Hua's mother had recently been suffering from shoulder periarthritis. She was in a lot of pain, and went to the hospital to get it checked. The doctor gave her some pain medication and told her to exercise her shoulder at home.
But how was she supposed to exercise it? She was in such pain that she didn't even dare to raise her arm.
The atmosphere at the meal was pretty good. Thanks to Shao Hua keeping Jia Suyue in check, the latter didn't try to bully Zhang Fan during the meal.
They all chatted as they ate. Since Shao Hua just happened to run into a doctor, she decided to ask Zhang Fan for medical advice.
"My mom has shoulder periarthritis. She's in such pain that she can't even raise her arm. She went to a Chinese medicine hospital, and they gave her some anti-inflammatory medicine and told her to exercise her shoulder at home. Right now, my mom can't even raise her arm due to the pain, so how is she supposed to exercise it?"
Shoulder periarthritis, commonly known as frozen shoulder. A condition characterized by stiffness and pain in the shoulder joint which worsened over time. Pain would spread from the shoulder and perhaps even affect the neck and/or elbow. It was also likely to cause deltoid muscle atrophy.
Zhang Fan was quite happy to hear this question. Medical topics were his specialty! "The most common prescribed exercise method for shoulder periarthritis is wall-climbing. This means that your mother should face a wall and make movements as if she's climbing the wall. However, this may cause pain in the shoulder joint, and worsen the overall pain of the shoulder periarthritis. However, the shoulder periarthritis will improve after the pain. It's a type of self-limiting disease."
"Then what should I do? My mother has such pain when trying to exercise her shoulder. It pains me as well to watch her."
"Oh, how about I give her a massage? That should help reduce her pain. However, recovering from shoulder periarthritis will still require her to exercise over a period of time."
"Would that be too troublesome to ask of you? I can pay you for your treatment fee." Shao Hua was rather hesitant. Her mother did seem to be in great pain, and she would be happy to help reduce that pain for her mother. It was just that she didn't know Zhang Fan very well.
"It's no trouble at all. I am a doctor, and my job is to treat patients. It doesn't matter to me whom I treat."
Zhang Fan wasn't afraid of trouble at all.
Jia Suyue bit her chopstick while looking at Zhang Fan, and then had a wicked smile as she told Shao Hua, "Volunteering services for no reason means that he might be interested in you!"
Zhang Fan hurriedly exclaimed, "Shoulder periarthritis is quite common among middle-aged and elderly women due to old age."
"Humph!" Jia Suyue snorted at Zhang Fan, but he ignored her. Zhang Fan and Shao Hua exchanged phone numbers and arranged a time for Shao Hua to bring her mother to visit Zhang Fan.
After the meal, Jia Suyue and Shao Hua went out together. Jia Suyue kicked Zhang Fan away after he paid for the meal.
"Can't you tell? His expression is that of a wolf who wants to devour you," Jia Suyue told her friend Shao Hua.
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit? I wouldn't have given him my phone number if it weren't for my mother's shoulder. Is this making you unhappy?" Shao Hua looked at Jia Suyue.
"Relax, he's not good enough for me. Well, it would be nice to have a doctor in the family. If only he was more handsome."
"Alright, stop daydreaming about your handsome boys. Let's hurry up and go shopping. I still need to go home to cook dinner later."
Shao Hua's parents were both ordinary employees on a farm, and performed physical labor year-round. Since they were starting to get older, various small problems with their bodies kept appearing. They had strained their bodies too much over the years.
In China, many border province farms were managed by military regiments in order to help stabilize the border. Many southerners had traveled thousands of kilometers here through the government program. They truly sacrificed their youth, and even brought their descendants here. Without regards to whether this program was good or not, they truly did contribute much to stabilizing the border provinces.
Military regiment farms were a unique organization. In times of peace, they would farm, but in times of war, the farm employees would all become soldiers. There was a joke in this border province that the Uighur Muslims at the military regiment farms didn't even know how to speak the Uighur dialect. They only knew how to speak Chinese!
Shao Hua's grandfather was from Zhejiang province. He had originally been a soldier assigned to the border province, and became a farmer here due to the government's command. Shao Hua's grandmother was also truly hardworking. The government support program to run military regiment farms in the border provinces had been one of the most successful border province support programs. Later support programs had been constantly less and less successful over the years. Was that a problem of the times, or with the moral character of the people? That was unknown.
On the barren Gobi desert, the people from Shao Hua's grandparents' generation constructed numerous cities with their own hands, working hard at shoveling snow and breaking ice. The cities they constructed weren't only cities, but also memorials.
Shao Hua was the third-generation descendant from a military regiment farm. From her looks and accent, it was impossible to tell at all that her family was originally from southern China.
Shao Hua brought her mother to see Zhang Fan on the next day as agreed. Zhang Fan didn't know if he was in love at first sight with Shao Hua or not, but he was quite happy to see her.
They were both young and single. Perhaps Zhang Fan and Shao Hua were simply compatible.
Zhang Fan even especially made himself more presentable. When he looked at himself in the mirror, nice! He felt that he seemed like an excellent young man.
Shao Hua's mother was in her fifties. Although she worked year-round in agricultural labor, she still had a scholarly appearance. She had a calm disposition and treated others quite kindly, making her feel reassuring to be around.
Shao Hua had probably obtained her aura from her mother.
"Ma'am, how long has your shoulder periarthritis been causing you arm pain? Has it been one week?" Zhang Fan asked after giving Shao Hua's mother a simple checkup.
"Yes, it's been one week. The pain suddenly started last week. I can't even cook food for our family anymore."
"Let me give you a massage, Ma'am. It will be slightly painful, but after the pain, you should be able to raise your arm more, and do more things at home by yourself."
"Alright, I'll endure the pain. Please begin."
Shao Hua clutched onto her mother's hand while saying, "Doctor Zhang, please take things slowly. My mother is getting older, and she might not be able to handle too much pain."
"Rest assured, it will be fine," Zhang Fan stated confidently.
"Hup! Hup!" Shao Hua's mother truly had good pain tolerance. Massaging a stiff joint with joint adhesion would be truly painful. Most people wouldn't be able to take it. Not only would they scream or shout, many would even cry out loud. Meanwhile, Shao Hua's mother only grunted twice.
Zhang Fan used great force with his hands, securing the shoulder joint with his left hand and loosening the joint adhesion by massaging with his right hand.
The fibrous stratum was a thick and solid structure of dense connective tissue, containing many blood vessels and nerves. Loosening the joint adhesion here would speed up the recovery from shoulder periarthritis.
Shao Hua's mother and Zhang Fan were both drenched in sweat from the massage. Shao Hua's mother's sweat was due to pain, while Zhang Fan's sweat was due to fatigue.
At the end of the massage, Zhang Fan slowly released Shao Hua's mother's arm, and said, "Try moving your arm, Ma'am."
She slowly raised her arm, then turned around, and said, "Doctor Zhang, it really is much better. I can now raise it to head level. Thank you so much."
"Not a problem, it's what I should do. You need to receive daily massages for an entire week, then your condition will significantly improve. Remember to practice wall-climbing exercises every day."
"Thank you, Doctor Zhang. Here, wipe your sweat." Shao Hua handed Zhang Fan a paper towel.
"No need to be polite, it's my duty." Zhang Fan was unable to say much more since they were still at Chasu City Hospital. He simply brought them all the way to the hospital entrance.
Zhang Fan watched them leave for quite a while, feeling rather uncomfortable inside for some unknown reason.
He missed home. Seeing Shao Hua support her mother as they walked off made Zhang Fan think about his own parents.