Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 16

20. Good Deeds Get Good Rewards

Eileen stayed in Beijing for a week before returning to the United States, her mind now solely focused on getting a divorce. There was no need for a tearful farewell at the airport. On the way back to the World Trade Center, Hou Longtao received a call from Ru Yan. The hospital had just called his office; Zou Kangnian was awake. Hou Longtao immediately headed straight for Anzhen Hospital.

He first met with the attending physician, Old Rao. “From a medical standpoint, it’s hard to understand. The blood clot in his brain hasn’t disappeared and is still blocking the cerebral blood vessels, yet he woke up. Regardless, you should go see him.” Arriving at the ward, the nurse who had been caring for Zou Kangnian was chatting with him. Seeing Hou Longtao enter, she stood up and said to the old man, “This is the young man I told you about.” Then, nodding to Hou Longtao, she left. Zou Kangnian pointed to the chair beside the bed. “Come, sit down.” Hou Longtao sat down, observing that the old man’s complexion wasn’t great, but he seemed spirited. “Grandpa, how are you feeling?” Zou Kangnian smiled and took Hou Longtao’s hand, his fingers casually touching his wrist. “Not bad. Kid, I heard from the nurse that you come to see me often, even though we’re not related. Why is that?” Hou Longtao recounted the accident. “Although I wasn’t the one who hit you, I bear some responsibility. Later, I learned that you have no other family. It’s not that I pity you. You’re old enough to be my great-grandfather. Letting you lie here alone and desolate… I just couldn’t bear it.”

These words were reasonable and heartfelt, and the old man smiled even more kindly. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll wake up and try to extort money from you? It’s not easy to be a good person these days.” “Extort me? I feel guilty towards you. If money could solve it, I’d be more than willing.”

“Good, you’re a man of feeling and loyalty, just my type.” Zou Kangnian nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. “Kid, do a lot of girls like you?” “This… did the nurse tell you that?” Talking about such things with an old-fashioned man was embarrassing.

“Hahaha, it’s perfectly normal for a real man to have multiple wives and concubines. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. But it wasn’t the nurse who told me. Even when I was unconscious, I could still sense things. Several different girls came to see me with you, right?” The old man’s words were filled with a hearty spirit, and Hou Longtao wasn’t so nervous anymore. “Four, each one a top-tier beauty.” Zou Kangnian suddenly stopped smiling. “Kid, your health isn’t very good. If you continue like this, you might not live past sixty.”

“Huh? No way, I’m strong, I eat and sleep well, I don’t feel anything wrong.” He was a little dazed by this unexpected question. The old man shook his head. “By the time you realize it, it’ll be too late.” “How do you know?” “You have dark energy on your face, indicating that your foundation isn’t solid and you’re overexerting yourself.” He pinched Hou Longtao’s wrist. “Moreover, your pulse is unstable, though not obviously so, indicating future troubles.” “Hehe, are you a Chinese medicine doctor or a fortune teller?” At first, he took the old man’s words seriously, but after hearing his martial arts-like explanation, he just found it laughable.

20. Good Deeds Get Good Rewards (1)

“If it were someone else who didn’t believe, I wouldn’t say much, but you’re different, so I’ll tell you about it. Whether you believe it or not, just listen to it as a story.”

“Okay, please tell me.” Zou Kangnian slowly closed his eyes, exhaled gently, and began to narrate a “legend” that would benefit Hou Longtao for the rest of his life. “My family’s ancestral home is in Hangzhou. We are a well-known medical family in the Jiangnan area [the region south of the Yangtze River]. In today’s terms, we specialize in male sexual dysfunction, allowing countless men to experience the joys of the bedroom again. But precisely because of this, my family has always been regarded as a minor, unorthodox path by those in the martial arts world, unfit for polite society.”

“My family has a secret ancestral recipe for medicine. After taking it, no matter how many times one engages in sexual activity in one night, one will not feel tired. Long-term use also strengthens muscles and bones and prolongs life. Like some other prominent families, it is passed down to men only, and only to the eldest son.”

“Wait, wait, are you saying that if you take your medicine, you can be sexually invincible and live forever?” Hou Longtao felt that the old man probably wasn’t fully awake. “Hahaha,” Zou Kangnian laughed at his words. “What I practice is Chinese medicine, not Laozi’s [founder of Taoism] elixir. Although traditional Chinese medicine is profound and extensive, it cannot change the laws of nature.”

“In the late Yongzheng era [1722-1735], Zou Zhengye, the twenty-third generation successor of the Zou family, was in charge. One day, five people came seeking medical treatment, speaking with accents from the capital. The leader was a young master, not dressed lavishly, but with a distinguished bearing, clearly not an ordinary commoner, but with a faint dark energy between his eyebrows, obviously caused by excessive sexual activity.”

“In fact, Zhengye only needed to prescribe a prescription to cure him, but he didn’t want to use the ancestral secret recipe on such a lecherous official’s son, so he beat around the bush and talked about irrelevant topics. The young master didn’t mind and just chatted with Zhengye. But after this conversation, he discovered that the young man was well-read, knowledgeable, and quite ambitious, revealing his aspirations to govern the country and bring peace to the world. Zhengye became curious about his identity, but it was inconvenient to ask in front of the four attendants, so he whispered the cause of the illness in his ear.”

“Upon hearing this, the young man was overjoyed and quickly asked how it could be cured. Zhengye said that the ancestral secret recipe could not be seen by outsiders and asked the young master to follow him to the inner chamber. Although the four attendants looked hesitant, their master gladly went. In the inner chamber, the two chatted for a while, and Zhengye asked about his identity. The young man didn’t hide it and revealed that he was the Fourth Prince Hongli, traveling incognito in Jiangnan. In 1736, the first year of Qianlong’s reign [1736-1796], Zhengye was summoned to the capital and became a member of the Imperial Hospital. Because of his miraculous medicine, Qianlong bestowed upon him the Manchu surname ‘Niohuru’ of the Bordered Yellow Banner.”

“The old man has quite the imagination; he’s probably watched too many TV dramas.” The more Hou Longtao listened, the more he felt it was a fabricated story. The old man liked to talk, so he didn’t want to interrupt, but he just let it go in one ear and out the other, treating it as a way to amuse the old man. “Throughout history, there has been no shortage of lecherous emperors, most of whom neglected state affairs due to their indulgence in women, with a lack of energy being a major reason. Qianlong was naturally amorous, with three thousand beauties in his harem, plus women from the common populace during his private visits. Without my family’s secret medicine, how could he have been able to govern the country so well while engaging in nightly debauchery, and also live to eighty, becoming a rare

20. Good Deeds Get Good Rewards (2)

long-lived ruler?”

“By the late Qianlong era, Qianlong, due to his advanced age, made many mistakes in handling state affairs, refusing to learn from Western advanced technology and stubbornly believing that China was the superior nation. Zhengye had opinions about this but was powerless to do anything, so he retired, but having lived in the capital for decades, he had already settled down.”

“Too fake.” Hou Longtao couldn’t listen anymore, disbelieving in his heart but unable to say it directly. “Your medicine is so amazing, how come you have no children?” Zou Kangnian’s eyes reddened, and he actually shed tears. “I had one son and two daughters, and one grandson. My grandson was beaten to death in a factional fight among the guards. Later, the faction that opposed him somehow dug up the fact that my ancestors had served as imperial physicians in the Qing Dynasty [1644-1912], and my three children were all arrested on charges of being apologists for the feudal system. My son was tortured to death, and my daughters were raped to death by more than two hundred guards for three days and nights. My eldest daughter, because she was older, didn’t arouse their interest, but she was also raped more than ten times and died less than two days after returning home. My old wife couldn’t bear the shock and committed suicide twenty years ago. Only I am left, an old bone, lingering on my last breath.”

Unintentionally touching upon the old man’s sad past, causing him such grief, Hou Longtao felt even more guilty. “Grandpa, I’m sorry, I… I didn’t know… Since that’s the case, and we two are so destined, it must be fate. I will take care of you from now on. Let’s be like family, even though we’re not related.”

Zou Kangnian wiped away his tears. “Kid, since you have this heart, it means I didn’t misjudge you. My time is near, so I don’t need your care. I only hope that you can pass on my family’s ancestral secret recipe, so that this ‘minor, unorthodox path’ of Chinese medicine doesn’t die out.”

“Don’t say that. You look so good, how could you…” “I’ve used medicine all my life, so I know my own body very well. Have you heard of ‘a final blaze of glory’? Most people only have it for a short while, but because I’ve been taking medicine for a long time, it has prolonged this time. Actually, there’s no meaning for me to live in this world anymore, but I just haven’t found someone worthy of entrusting it to. Don’t talk nonsense anymore. Remember, ‘Angelica’ half a qian [a traditional Chinese unit of weight, approximately 0.11 ounces]…” The old man began to recite the prescription, and Hou Longtao quickly found paper and pen, recording all twenty-three ingredients and their dosages without missing a single one.

“‘Golden Scale Grass’ is the most precious and important ingredient. Without it, this is just an ordinary kidney-tonifying medicine. Taking it will only have benefits and no harm, but it won’t have that miraculous effect.” Zou Kangnian finished speaking, as if he had finally finished the last thing he needed to do, and lay down with a relaxed expression. “You go, I want to rest for a while, I’m a little sleepy.”

Walking out of the hospital, Hou Longtao thought, “This is a bit too outrageous.” Looking at the prescription in his hand, Hou Longtao didn’t know what to do. “The old man has no reason to lie to me, right? He really is a bit different from ordinary people. Damn it, there’s no harm in trying.” He went to the nearby Tongrentang pharmacy [a famous traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy] to get the medicine. “Golden Scale Grass” was indeed precious, costing more than nine thousand for half a liang [another traditional Chinese unit of weight, approximately 1.76 ounces]. Back home, he asked his mother to help brew a pot, mixed a dose into a Coke, and had Kuang Fei drink it, then took him to find two prostitutes. The next morning, the two “battle-hardened” women

20. Good Deeds Get Good Rewards (3)

were unable to get out of bed after being ravaged by Kuang Fei, who his girlfriend had called a ‘quick shooter’. “Brother Tao, that was so awesome. Last night, I shot and got hard again, and I fucked those two chicks more than twenty times. It was like divine assistance.” Kuang Fei had no idea it was the Coke’s doing.

Hearing this, Hou Longtao was overjoyed, thinking that Ru Yun and Yue Ling would be back tomorrow. “Hehehe, Yun Yun, let me show you if I’m a god.” If it weren’t for receiving the death notice from the hospital about Zou Kangnian, this day would have been perfect…

Ru Yun and Yue Ling’s flight landed at the Capital Airport at noon. Because their relationship was not public, the company driver picked them up, while Hou Longtao took Ru Yan to wait at home. He had drunk a dose of the medicine early in the morning, feeling a warm sensation in his abdomen, and a force flowing through his limbs, indescribably comfortable…

The two women returned home, sent the driver away, and called out a few times, but no one answered. Yue Ling was unhappy. “Didn’t Longtao say he’d be waiting for us at home? Where is he?” “What’s wrong? Are you afraid he doesn’t want you anymore?” Ru Yun laughed. “Yun-jie [older sister], really…” The two walked upstairs, laughing and joking.

They were stunned as soon as they reached the staircase. Pieces of clothing were scattered on the stairs, all the way to the bedroom door. Opening the bedroom door, there was a woman’s underwear on the floor, and the bedding on the bed was messy, but no one was there. “Mmm… mmm… ah… mmm… ooh…” A woman’s moans came from the half-open bathroom door. The two women exchanged glances and smiled knowingly. Without saying anything, they began to undress. It had been more than a week since they had seen their lover, and they were finding it hard to bear.

In the bathroom, Ru Yan rested her arms under her neck, lying on the edge of the jacuzzi, her head hanging out, her straight long hair falling down, covering her face, intermittently moaning. Hou Longtao licked her shoulder, rubbing her breasts with both hands, his lower body still thrusting non-stop. “Baby…”

Looking up, two naked, beautiful women walked in. Hou Longtao smiled and kissed Ru Yan’s neck. “Baby, your reinforcements are here.” Ru Yan struggled to lift her head. “Mmm… sisters… ah… save me… I’m about to be killed by gege [older brother]… mmm… mmm…”

The two women quickly entered the jacuzzi, embracing the man’s body from the left and right. “Hubby, don’t bully Ru Yan, let me do it.” Ru Yun said, turning around, her round, full buttocks gently swaying in the water, turning her head back, teasing him with a charming look. Hou Longtao pulled his meat stick out of Ru Yan’s vagina and walked behind Ru Yun, stroking her buttocks. Yue Ling quickly helped Ru Yan to sit aside, Ru Yan pulling on Yue Ling’s hand. “Ling-jie [older sister], gege is so strong today, he’s already shot inside me three times.” Hearing this, Yue Ling didn’t feel scared, but instead couldn’t help herself even more.

Hou Longtao didn’t immediately enter Ru Yun, but pulled her into his arms, their tongues reaching out of their mouths, lightly touching each other. “Yun Yun, did you miss me?” “Mmm, hubby…” Ru Yun hugged her lover tightly, tilting her head and sending her fragrant tongue into his mouth. Yue Ling pouted and leaned over, her body pressed against Hou Longtao’s back, her hands rubbing the man’s erect penis. “I missed you so much too.” Three beauties, he couldn’t bear to neglect any of them. Having too many women wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Turning sideways, he wrapped his arms around the two women’s slender waists, each of their buttocks falling into his palms, alternately sucking on the four towering breasts, all four cherries proudly pointing upwards. “Hubby… ah… I missed you so much…” “Mmm… Longtao…” The two women unconsciously began to kiss on the man’s head.

Hou Longtao pushed their heads apart, sucking on their lips separately. “Let’s go to the bed, it’s more spacious there, and I can play with all three of you.” “Ah? I… I don’t want to anymore, I’ve really had enough.” Hearing this, Ru Yan quickly tried to remove herself.

“Then fine, you just watch from the side how I love your two sisters.” Saying this, he patted Ru Yun and Yue Ling’s buttocks, pointed to his erect yang tool [penis], and patted the empty space on both sides of his legs, opening his arms to the two women… (Golden scales are not things in a pond)