Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 522: Chapter 522: Up to No Good

When I was a kid growing up in the countryside, the first thing I’d do after school during this season was grab a little shovel and go looking for finger-sized holes under the poplar trees around our house.

Those were the burrows of cicada nymphs.

If you carefully dug open the entrance, you could pull out the cicada nymph still hiding inside.

It got even more exciting at night.

You didn’t have to dig. All you had to do was take a flashlight into the woods and shine it on the trees.

The cicada nymphs would emerge on their own and crawl up the trunks.

Back then, if you managed to fill a whole bottle with them,

you were the king among your friends the next day.

Later, I moved to the city.

Even though there were fewer cicadas, the woods by the city moat were still a playground for all the kids.

So many years flew by. Busy with medical school, busy with life, the joys of childhood were a distant memory.

I never thought I’d come across this scene again.

"Sisi, let’s catch some too."

Li Xu was getting into it. "When I was a kid, I was a master at catching cicadas."

The atmosphere was infectious, and Song Sisi was swept up in it. "Okay! But we don’t have a flashlight."

"There’s a little market up ahead. I’ll go buy one."

Like a kid, Li Xu dashed over to the small roadside market, spent twenty yuan on a big flashlight, and ran back, beaming with excitement.

"Let’s go. Time to get to work."

However, reality soon dealt the "former master" a resounding slap in the face.

There were just way too many people by the city moat.

It was like there was a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five.

Under a single decent-sized willow tree, you’d sometimes find three to five people crowded around it.

Flashlight beams crisscrossed, sweeping over the bark and illuminating every single groove.

This wasn’t a case of cicadas outnumbering people; the people clearly outnumbered the cicadas.

A cicada nymph would barely poke its head out, probably before it had even decided where to crawl, only to be stared down by a dozen pairs of eyes.

Li Xu led Song Sisi along the riverbank, searching as they went.

He held the flashlight, his eyes wide as saucers, carefully scanning every inch of the ground and the tree trunks.

"Look! Is that one?"

Song Sisi pointed at a fork in a branch and shouted excitedly.

Li Xu quickly shone the light over.

It was nothing.

Just a shadow.

"That one! Over there! That dark thing..."

Li Xu shone the light over again.

It was a big snail.

They searched until their eyes ached and their necks were stiff from looking up. Forget cicada nymphs, they hadn’t even found a single cicada shell.

They did see plenty of other strange bugs, though.

One was a large beetle with two long antennae. At a glance, its dark shape looked just like a cicada, making Song Sisi scream.

When Li Xu looked closer, he saw it was a longhorn beetle.

Of course, not everyone was as unlucky as they were.

Occasionally, a lucky person or a seasoned old-timer would suddenly reach out and pluck a cicada nymph from behind a leaf or out of the grass, shouting excitedly, "Got one! I got one!"

The cry drew gazes of pure envy from everyone nearby.

Li Xu and Song Sisi searched for over an hour, until the flashlight was about to die, but still came up completely empty-handed.

"Let’s go back."

Song Sisi rubbed her sore neck and said with disappointment, "Looks like we’re just not meant to catch any cicadas."

Li Xu reluctantly switched off the flashlight. "Sigh. These days, even the cicada nymphs have gotten crafty. They know there are too many people around, so they don’t dare come out."

Although he said that, deep down, his competitive spirit had been sparked.

The next day, even as Li Xu was treating his patients, images of the bobbing flashlight beams from the night before would occasionally flash through his mind.

Night fell quickly.

"Sisi, let’s go. Tonight we’ll try a different spot. That poplar grove to the west. I guarantee there’ll be fewer people there."

Li Xu declared with confidence.

But when they got there—holy cow, the place was even more crowded.

What’s more, their gear was more professional. Some people even had headlamps and specialized catching nets.

After another fruitless night of searching, all they had to show for it were a few new mosquito bites.

Watching a man next to them showing off by shaking a bottle with a dozen or so cicada nymphs inside made Li Xu incredibly frustrated.

It was a downright insult to his reputation as a "former master."

On the third morning, during a lull with no patients, Song Sisi was organizing the medicine cabinet when she saw Li Xu sitting at the computer, photoshopping something with intense focus.

She leaned over curiously to take a look.

The screen was filled with high-definition pictures of cicada nymphs, all in extremely realistic poses, as if they were crawling upward.

"What are you making these for?"

Song Sisi asked.

Li Xu looked at her with a straight face, a hint of mock solemnity in his voice. "Sisi, did you know? Cicadas may suck tree sap and be considered pests, but they’re also a vital part of the ecosystem. They’re a food source for many birds."

"Now that people are catching all the cicadas, what will the birds eat? This is a serious disruption to the ecosystem! As a person of conscience, I’ve decided to protect the ecological balance."

Song Sisi blinked, still not getting it. "What does that have to do with you printing pictures? Are you going to put up posters to advocate for protecting cicadas?"

Li Xu shook his head, a wicked smile playing on his lips. "I’m going to print these pictures in color, cut them out into the shape of cicada nymphs, and then stick double-sided tape on the back."

"Just think about it. It’s so dark at night. Someone shines their flashlight on a tree and sees a little dark shape. It’ll look just like a cicada, right?"

"And when they excitedly scramble up the tree, finally manage to peel it off, and realize it’s just a piece of paper... HAHAHAHA! The thought of it is just so exciting."

Song Sisi was dumbfounded.

She looked Li Xu up and down, as if she were seeing him for the first time.

"Li Xu, I’ll be honest."

Song Sisi couldn’t help but laugh. "I don’t think you’re doing this for any ’ecological balance.’ You just can’t catch any cicadas yourself, and you don’t want anyone else to catch them either. This is just blatant jealousy."

"Nonsense," Li Xu immediately denied. "Am I that bad of a person? This is... this is a form of performance art, a silent protest against over-harvesting..."

Watching him bustling about, clearly enjoying himself, Song Sisi laughed. "The focus you had while cutting out those pictures was more intense than when you’re taking a patient’s pulse. I’ve heard the saying, ’You never get tired when you’re up to no good,’ and now I’ve finally seen it in action."

Li Xu didn’t bother denying it. He just kept cutting and asked, "Just admit it, it’s hilarious, right?"

Song Sisi pictured the scene in her mind: a group of people cheering excitedly over a small piece of paper, followed by the looks of utter confusion on their faces...

"Pfft—"

She burst out laughing. "That’s so mean, but it’s hilarious."

"Then come and help," Li Xu said, handing her a pair of scissors. "We’ll make our move at noon. We can set up the ’traps’ while no one’s around."

...

At one in the afternoon, the scorching sun was high in the sky.

The woods by the city moat were silent; even the cicadas were too lazy to chirp.

Two figures slipped stealthily into the woods.

Li Xu was holding a stack of cut-out "paper cicadas" and a bottle of glue.

"Sisi, be my lookout," Li Xu directed. "We have to make these look convincing."

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