Tang Guihua held a box containing the Silver Needle, which nestled inside were three sets of needles of varying lengths, each set having nine needles, totaling twenty-seven Silver Needles.
She did not hand them over to Luo Yang.
Then she went straight to the point, "Niu Zai, Acupuncture requires a high level of skill, don't play around with it. You want to help Teacher Lin with his illness, and that's a good intention, but don't joke with human life. Think about it, how painful would it be to randomly stick someone with needles?"
Luo Yang thumped his chest and said, "Teacher Lin, Uncle An, Sister Guihua, Sister An, I'm not joking. I really understand Acupuncture."
Seeing Luo Yang speak with all seriousness, An Yuying pondered to herself, "He doesn't seem to be joking, looking all sincere. Should I let him try? Maybe he does have real skills."
While thinking, she asked, "Niu Zai, have you ever helped anyone cure an illness with Acupuncture before?"
Luo Yang replied, "No."
A boy about to enter the ninth grade, who had never practiced medicine before, suddenly wanting to use Acupuncture, a skill requiring great technique, to treat someone indeed made it hard to feel reassured. If it had been a massage, then it would have been another matter.
Tang Guihua put it bluntly, "Niu Zai, if it doesn't work, you'll owe me ten thousand yuan. Do you dare?"
Her intention was to scare Luo Yang off with this approach.
Luo Yang, with the fervor of youth, wouldn't back down easily.
"Okay. If I cure Teacher Lin's illness, you give me ten thousand yuan. How about that?" Luo Yang said with a smile.
"You're just messing around. Stop it," Tang Guihua advised.
"Sister Guihua, I'm serious," Luo Yang said.
The matter ultimately still needed Lin Jialan to decide, Tang Guihua and An Yuying both passed the final decision to the elder.
Luo Yang was a mischievous student, something Lin Jialan knew very well as she had taught him for six years of elementary school.
"Niu Zai, do you really understand Acupuncture?" Lin Jialan asked.
"I do," Luo Yang replied.
"Then please help me with the Acupuncture," Lin Jialan made her decision.
As a doctor, Tang Guihua was quite worried, never able to believe that Luo Yang could treat people with Acupuncture. It was as absurd as hearing that lions eat grass.
Watching Luo Yang disinfect the Silver Needles with alcohol, Tang Guihua tried to persuade him once more, "Niu Zai, don't mess around, this could lead to someone's death."
Luo Yang calmly said, "Sister Guihua, I'm about to start working, please don't disturb me."
Tang Guihua suddenly reached out to grab Luo Yang's wrist and said earnestly, "Niu Zai, swear to me you're not joking. I don't know Acupuncture, how would a young person like you know it?"
Having lived in the same village with Tang Guihua for so many years, this was the first time she had taken the initiative to hold his hand. It was only to persuade him not to do Acupuncture for anyone, however.
"Sister Guihua, I'm not joking," Luo Yang said with a smile.
"You look like you are joking. Do you know sticking someone with Silver Needles can cause serious injury?" Tang Guihua pulled back Luo Yang's hand.
At that moment, An Yuying also questioned Luo Yang if he really understood the art of Acupuncture.
Faced with everyone's skepticism, Luo Yang thought to himself, "If I back down now, I'll lose face, and won't be able to face them in the future. True gold is not afraid of fire."
With that in mind, he solemnly said, "Teacher Lin, Uncle An, Sister Guihua, Sister An, please believe me, I have genuine knowledge and skill. Please stop doubting me, alright?"
With the conversation reaching this point, Tang Guihua, even with her doubts, found it inappropriate to obstruct any further.
The two onlookers, An and Guihua, watched with bated breath and tense expressions, seeming almost as though they were the ones to undergo Acupuncture, not Lin Jialan.
Every time Luo Yang picked up a Silver Needle, Tang Guihua and An Yuying's flesh would twitch as if their own bodies were being pierced.
Both Guihua and Yuying privately thought, "His skilled needle technique doesn't look like that of a novice. Strange, no one in his family has been a doctor for generations, who did he learn Acupuncture from?"
After a while, Luo Yang inserted three sets of needles of different lengths, a total of twenty-seven Silver Needles, into the acupoints on Lin Jialan's body.
According to the Shennong Scripture, this Acupuncture method was called "Tai Gong's Invisible Needle Method," which, according to legend, was a set of Acupuncture techniques created by Jiang Taigong when he had nothing better to do and was inspired.
This Acupuncture method was truly miraculous and exceedingly complicated, difficult for the average person to master.
Just one set of Silver Needles had eighty-one variations, and with three sets, there were two hundred and forty-three variations. Adding different needle depths and pressure made it even more diverse.
It was said that if the needles were adjusted properly, the patient's head would ring with celestial music, sounding very comfortable and unbelievably wonderful.
Back in the day, when Jiang Taigong fished, he used a hookless method, but the wrist technique he employed was from the "Tai Gong's Invisible Needle Method". This made the hookless fishing produce a captivating melody, naturally attracting the fish to the hook.
After half an hour, Luo Yang started with the shortest needles, pulling all twenty-seven Silver Needles out, thus completing a course of treatment.
He then wrote down a prescription and handed it over to Lin Jialan.