Scene 9 Time/Day Location/Road Up to Chashan Village Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Uncle Ali, Voyu, Pasuya
△The mobile medical van is driving along the mountain road (County Route 129) leading to Chashan Village. Along the way, most of the landscape consists of terraced fields carved out following the terrain, mainly tea plantations, interspersed with orchards, coffee plantations, and vegetable gardens. The houses of the Tsou people are dotted among them.
△As they pass a small settlement in Shanmei Village, three villagers carrying shoulder poles with bamboo baskets wave to the mobile van. Wenhua stops the vehicle and exchanges greetings with them.
Uncle Ali: Wenhua, youve come back to serve the hometown again.
Yang Wenhua: Uncle Ali, the tea harvest has been pretty good this year, right?
Uncle Ali: Good weather and timely rain. Thanks to good fortune!
Voyu: Hey, Wenhua, is this young lady your girlfriend? Shes really pretty!
Yang Wenhua: Shes my junior schoolmate. Anzai, youre overthinking it.
Pasuya: Come by Shanmei Village on your way back! Lets drink cherry blossom brew together.
Yang Wenhua: Well be staying in Shanmei for two days on the way back, and well drink the cherry blossom wine you brewed. Were heading to Chashan Village now!
△Yang Wenhua and Lin Xiuling wave to the three men, and the three men wave back to them. The van continues driving forward.
Yang Wenhua: Those two young men just now are my classmates from junior high school.
Lin Xiuling: I really envy you. You can still run into your classmates. As for my classmates, after graduation we all went our separate ways. Its rare for me to run into even one or two of them.
Yang Wenhua: Actually, some of my classmates, like me, went down the mountain to study or work. The reason they stayed up in the mountains to farm was because their families were short of hands.
Lin Xiuling: To be able to live in such an earthly paradise, living a simple and plain life—when you really think about it, perhaps were not even as happy and carefree as they are!
Yang Wenhua: My family has always farmed. During the busy farming season, it really isnt easy.
Lin Xiuling: Oh? It cant possibly be more exhausting than our long shifts and the pressure on both body and mind, can it?
Yang Wenhua: Ha! Once you see our tea-picking season, youll be able to experience it for yourself.
Scene 10 Time/Day Location/Chashan Village Community Activity Center Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Li Yuyan (Village Chief), Villagers
△The mobile medical van arrives at the Chashan Village community activity center. Village chief Li Yuyan and more than a dozen villagers have already prepared a simple welcoming ceremony. The villagers stand in two lines, and Li Yuyan is holding two flower garlands in her hands.
△Yang Wenhua and Lin Xiuling get out of the van. Li Yuyan steps forward and places the garlands around their necks.
Li Yuyan: (smiling) Junior Wenhua, thank you for coming back to serve the villagers. This beautiful young lady is your junior schoolmate, right?
Yang Wenhua: Senior Yuyan, you have sharp eyes. This is my junior schoolmate, Lin Xiuling.
Li Yuyan: (smiling) Doctor Lin, nice to meet you!
△Li Yuyan takes the initiative to shake hands with Lin Xiuling.
Li Yuyan: (winking) A handsome man and a beautiful woman—you two make a perfect match! Director Li from the health center told me over the phone that you were bringing your junior schoolmate along, so on a whim I prepared two flower garlands.
△The three walk into the line of welcoming villagers, who applaud enthusiastically.
Lin Xiuling: (leaning close to his ear) Senior, I feel like were walking down a red carpet! The villagers are so enthusiastic.
△The villagers follow them into the activity center.
△Li Yuyan leads the two of them onto the stage. Yuyan picks up the microphone.
Li Yuyan: My junior schoolmate Yang Wenhua has come back to his hometown to serve again this year, and he has even brought his junior schoolmate with him. On behalf of the villagers, I welcome the two of them.
△Several dozen villagers applaud in welcome.
Li Yuyan: For these three days, we will trouble these two. At night, they will rest at my guesthouse. Fellow villagers, unless your illness or pain is urgent, please come here during the daytime for treatment, and try not to disturb their resting time.
Scene 11 Time/Day Location/Chashan Village Community Activity Center Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Village Clerk, Several Dozen Villagers
△The villagers waiting for treatment sit on the benches outside the door, waiting for the village clerk to call their numbers.
△Inside the activity center, Yang Wenhua is cleaning and disinfecting the wound of a villager with a foot injury.
Yang Wenhua: This wound of yours isnt small. It needs stitches, otherwise it will get infected.
△Holding a stethoscope, Lin Xiuling listens to a childs chest. The child is sitting in his mothers arms.
Lin Xiuling: Slowly breathe in, breathe out; once again.
△Lin Xiuling puts down the stethoscope.
Lin Xiuling: Its a seasonal flu with a slight fever. Ill prescribe three days of medicine. Take one packet after each meal and one before bed. Take the red packet before bed. If the fever exceeds 38.5 degrees Celsius, use the rectal suppository to bring the temperature down. After the medicine is finished in three days, please come to the Xinmei Village activity center next door to see me again for a follow-up.
Village Woman: Thank you, doctors wife.
Lin Xiuling: (smiling faintly) Im not the doctors wife. I am the doctor.
△The mother stands up, grinning foolishly the whole time, pulls her child along, bows, and leaves.
△Yang Wenhua, who has been listening nearby, bursts out laughing.
Yang Wenhua: Haha! The doctors wife.
Lin Xiuling: (puzzled) Senior, I really am not the doctors wife!
△Yang Wenhua nods, still laughing.
Village Clerk: Number seven, its your turn.
Villager: Coming!
△A villager enters the activity center.
Scene 12 Time/Night Location/Yemoye Guesthouse, Chashan Village Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Li Yuyan (Village Chief), An Quanmao (40 years old), An Jiayang (17 years old), An Meili (15 years old)
△Night has fallen over Chashan Village. Insects chirp continuously, and a cool breeze blows gently.
△At Yemoye Guesthouse, in the courtyard, the host Li Yuyan and her family accompany Yang Wenhua and Lin Xiuling as they drink tea and eat tea snacks.
An Quanmao: Jiayang, you should follow Uncle Yangs example! Uncle Yang is the first doctor from National Taiwan University in our Alishan Township!
An Jiayang: Dad, youre thinking too much! How could I possibly even get close to National Taiwan University?
Li Yuyan: Husband, our Jiayang plans to study agriculture in the future! Otherwise, who is going to take over your tea plantation and coffee plantation?
An Quanmao: If Jiayang gets into medical school and becomes a doctor in the future, then well move to the city and enjoy life.
An Meili: Dad, in the future I want to get into a nursing program and become a nurse.
Yang Wenhua: Senior An, the children have their own ideas. Whats important is that they are willing to work hard to make them come true.
Li Yuyan: Junior Wenhua is right. We should respect the childrens ideas.
Li Yuyan: Doctor Lin, listening to the way you speak, you dont seem to be from Taiwan, right?
Lin Xiuling: (smiling) My Mandarin has a Shanghai accent. I was born and educated in Shanghai, and only returned to Taiwan when I entered university. My father is from Tainan and has long been doing business in Shanghai.
Li Yuyan: No wonder! I kept wondering how there could be a mainland girl working as a doctor in Taiwan, and one so young and beautiful.
Lin Xiuling: Sister Li, your life in the mountains is truly enviable.
Li Yuyan: As for us, were just preserving what we already have! Young people still need to stay in the city and struggle if they want to have a future.
Scene 13 Time/Day Location/Shanmei Village Community Activity Center Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Uncle Ali, Pasuya, Nurse, Villagers
△In the square in front of the Shanmei Village community activity center, a mobile medical van and several motorcycles and bicycles are parked.
△A row of villagers waiting for treatment are sitting on the bench by the door.
△Inside, four long tables are arranged. Yang Wenhua and Lin Xiuling are seeing patients separately.
△Pasuya opens his mouth for Lin Xiuling to examine his oral cavity. Xiuling is wearing a mask, with a stethoscope hanging around her neck and shoulders.
Lin Xiuling: You must undergo a smear test. White patches have already appeared on your oral mucosa. I reasonably suspect that this is the early stage of oral cancer.
Pasuya: (shocked) Early-stage oral cancer? Dont scare me!
Lin Xiuling: If the smear test confirms that it is early-stage oral cancer, you must actively receive treatment. Otherwise, if the illness worsens, you may eventually have difficulty even opening your mouth to drink water.
Pasuya: (frightened) Is it really that serious?
Lin Xiuling: During the treatment period, you must give up the habit of chewing betel nut and avoid cigarettes and alcohol as much as possible.
Pasuya: Oh my! Wouldnt life be terribly boring then? Can I just give up betel nut?
Lin Xiuling: (unhappy) Youre being very naughty! Im telling you to avoid these things because I dont want you meeting the King of Hell too early, and youre still bargaining with me.
Pasuya: (looking unwilling) Fine, fine! Pasuya will listen to the beautiful doctor.
Lin Xiuling: Heres a cotton swab. Go sit in the chair over there and scrape some oral mucosa with the swab. I want to send it for testing.
Pasuya: (lazily) As you command, beautiful doctor.
△Uncle Ali has Yang Wenhua examine his knee joints, ankle, and finger joints.
Yang Wenhua: Uncle Ali, your degenerative arthritis is continuing to worsen.
Uncle Ali: I have followed the doctors instructions. Ive been controlling my diet all along. I try not to eat too many foods high in purines.
Yang Wenhua: Recently, have your urination frequency and urine volume gradually decreased?
Uncle Ali: Yes! Its made me not dare to drink much water.
Yang Wenhua: Then thats it. You may have kidney stones. I suggest you go to the health center and have Director Li do a kidney ultrasound for you. Deal with the kidney stones first. Otherwise, the more you avoid drinking water, the higher the uric acid concentration in your body will become. In this vicious cycle, your gout and joint degener
Scene 14 Time/Night Location/Pasuyas Home, Shanmei Village Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Pasuya, Paicu, Voyu
△In the courtyard of Pasuyas home in Shanmei Village, several young people are sitting around a solid wood table. On the table are a jar of osmanthus wine, a plate of stir-fried wild boar meat, two plates of stir-fried wild vegetables, and a bag of peanuts in their shells.
Paicu: Pasuya, you should behave yourself a little. As for the wine, you had better not drink it.
Pasuya: (pressing his palms together pleadingly) Making me watch all of you drink the wine I brewed is too cruel, Paicu.
Lin Xiuling: A small amount of alcohol is still allowed.
△Pasuya stands up and bows three times to Lin Xiuling.
Pasuya: (pressing his palms together) Thank you, Doctor Lin, for pleading on my behalf!
Paicu: Fine then! Tonight you may only drink one cup.
△Paicu picks up the ladle and is just about to pour Pasuya some wine.
Pasuya: (reaching out to stop the ladle) Wait a moment! Ill go change to another cup.
△Like a gust of wind, Pasuya rushes into the house and comes back carrying a large draft beer mug, which he places on the table. Everyone is stunned for a moment, then they burst out laughing.
Pasuya: (urging) Paicu, pour the wine!
△Paicu refuses to indulge him and forcibly switches that large beer mug with Yang Wenhuas wine cup.
Paicu: You can only drink this cup.
Pasuya: (jumping up) Wali le! Thats such a huge difference...!
Paicu: Stop whining! Your classmate Yang Wenhua only comes to our house as a guest once in a year.
Voyu: Ha! One thing restrains another; mutual generation and mutual restraint. Thats exactly what this married couple is like. They quarrel and bicker like children.
Yang Wenhua: Quarreling and bickering—that is what makes a married couple!
Voyu: Wenhua, has Cien replied to your message?
△Yang Wenhua shakes his head. His expression immediately darkens. Beside him, Lin Xiuling notices the violent fluctuation in Wenhuas emotions.
Pasuya: Wenhua, are you still going to keep waiting?
Yang Wenhua: (nodding) In another two years. Cien and I made a promise.
Pasuya: Oh dear! Ten years! The two of you are practically Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü from The Return of the Condor Heroes.
△As Lin Xiuling listens, she has already begun to sort things out in her mind.
Lin Xiuling: (OS) That girl called Cien must be Senior Wenhuas first love.
△Lin Xiuling looks at Wenhua. In her eyes there is not only tenderness, but also pity born of understanding.
Yang Wenhua: (pretending to be strong) Lets not talk about this. Lets drink!
Pasuya: (understanding) Drink, drink! We must not waste such a wonderful moment and beautiful scenery before us.
△The five of them raise their cups and clink them together.
Scene 15 Time/Early Morning Location/Danaiku Suspension Bridge, Shanmei Village Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling
△In the early morning, Danaiku is shrouded in a thin mountain mist, like a hazy dreamscape from an ink-wash landscape painting.
△On the suspension bridge spanning the deep valley, the figure of a young man gradually comes into view. Yang Wenhua is leaning over the cable rope, looking toward the upper reaches of the river.
△At one end of the suspension bridge, the figure of a girl gradually approaches Yang Wenhua. Lin Xiuling comes to Wenhuas side, holding onto the cable rope, her eyes fixed on the profile of Wenhuas face.
Lin Xiuling: Senior, are you willing to let me ask you something?
Yang Wenhua: I know what you want to ask.
Lin Xiuling: Then, are you willing to face me and look into my eyes when you answer?
Yang Wenhua: (turning around) Go ahead and ask.
Lin Xiuling: That girl named Cien—is she your first girlfriend?
Yang Wenhua: Mm. Xie Cien was the girlfriend I dated during high school.
Lin Xiuling: Why did she ask you to wait for her for ten years?
Yang Wenhua: Cien had leukemia. Her parents took her back to Canada for treatment, and Cien made a ten-year promise with me.
Lin Xiuling: If—I mean if—she does not come back in two years to keep that promise, then what will you do? Will you continue shutting yourself away in an ivory tower?
Yang Wenhua: I dont know. I dont want to think about that question yet.
Lin Xiuling: Senior, ever since I borrowed your notes from you last year, I have secretly observed you for an entire year. I feel that you are like a nut—always alone, completely sealing yourself away.
Yang Wenhua: Junior, I know that you are curious about me.
Lin Xiuling: Im not only curious about you. I also want to try to crack open this nut of yours.
Yang Wenhua: Why bother? Junior, I cannot give you any promise.
Lin Xiuling: Its only two years. I can wait. As long as you are willing to let me wait for you.
△Yang Wenhua falls silent. He turns around and looks beneath the bridge, at the stream fish swimming among the ripples in the water...
Scene 16 Time/Day Location/Shanmei Village Community Activity Center Characters/Yang Wenhua, Lin Xiuling, Nurse, Villagers
△Inside the Shanmei Village Community Activity Center, Yang Wenhua and Lin Xiuling are examining and treating the villagers.
Yang Wenhua: (examining the lower leg, surprised) How could you have delayed coming until now? The affected area is already swollen like this. Cellulitis can lead to sepsis and endanger your life!
Villager A: (startled) I just thought it was a small wound and that putting ointment on it would be enough. I still had to work during the day, so I didnt pay much attention to it.
Yang Wenhua: (advising) If you do not take a small wound seriously, one careless mistake can cost you your life. First I will give you an antibiotic injection and arrange for you to be hospitalized for treatment. You must remember that a complete course of antibiotics lasts about seven days, so that the treatment will not be incomplete and the bacteria will not develop drug resistance. In other words, during your hospital stay, you must suspend your work.
Villager A: Then what about my job? If I dont work, I wont have any income!
Yang Wenhua: (puzzled) Dont you usually have any savings?
Villager A: I do temporary labor jobs. I never have much money on hand to begin with.
Yang Wenhua: Then call the social affairs section of the township office. They have emergency relief funds that can help you get through this.
△At this moment, two young men hurry in, carrying an elderly woman between them with their hands linked together like a chair. A belt is wrapped around the old womans right arm.
Yang Wenhua: Bring Grandma over here.
Yang Wenhua: (waving and calling out) Nurse, Ill handle this emergency patient first. Please give this gentleman an antibiotic injection. Later I will write him a referral form.
Nurse: Okay, Doctor Yang.
△The elderly woman is carried before Yang Wenhua and seated in the examination chair. Her face is deathly pale, her mind dazed, her muscles convulsing, and saliva is even seeping from the corners of her mouth.
Yang Wenhua: (in Tsou language) Grandma, what color was the venomous snake that bit you?
Villager B: My grandmother has dementia. She cant explain it clearly.
Yang Wenhua: Did any of you see the venomous snake that bit her?
Villager B: None of us had time to see it clearly. We heard Grandma cry out. By the time I rushed to the vegetable garden, the venomous snake that bit her had already slithered away.
Yang Wenhua: (thinking for a moment) Judging from the symptoms, it should be a neurotoxic snake venom. I have a way!
△Seeing this, Lin Xiuling comes over, wanting to help.
Lin Xiuling: Senior, let me help you...
Yang Wenhua: Junior, help me take out the banded krait antivenom and the cobra antivenom from the refrigerator. Put two drops of each into a Petri dish and put labels on them. Once I squeeze the snake venom out of Grandmas wound, we will immediately carry out an acid-base neutralization test.
Lin Xiuling: Okay, Ill prepare it right away.
△Yang Wenhua opens a stainless steel box on the table, takes out a small scalpel, and wipes it with an alcohol swab.
Yang Wenhua: I am going to cut open the wound and squeeze out the poisoned blood. One of you help me hold her hand, and the other hold down Grandmas upper body and turn her face away.
△The two young men follow Yang Wenhuas instructions.
Yang Wenhua: It will hurt a little.
△Holding the scalpel, Yang Wenhua concentrates intently and makes two cuts in each of the four wounds, forming a cross-shaped incision. He then squeezes the poisoned blood from the blood vessels near the wounds. Some brown blood flows out. Wenhua takes a straw and draws up the poisoned blood, then hands the straw to Lin Xiuling.
△Lin Xiuling squeezes the poisoned blood from the straw in two separate portions, dripping it respectively into the two Petri dishes.
△Yang Wenhua continues squeezing the muscles and blood vessels around the old womans wound until fresh red blood begins to flow from the wound.
Yang Wenhua: Let me see the Petri dishes.
△Lin Xiuling brings the two Petri dishes before Wenhuas eyes.
Yang Wenhua: Junior, look carefully! The one on the right changed color very quickly. Thats the one.
Lin Xiuling: This is the cobra antivenom.
Yang Wenhua: Right! Thats the one!
△Yang Wenhua immediately takes out a syringe. Xiuling hands him the vial of cobra antivenom. Wenhua draws the antivenom from the bottle and injects it into the elderly woman.
Yang Wenhua: Actually, cutting open the wound locally has its risks.
Lin Xiuling: (confused) What do you mean?
Yang Wenhua: Because in an emergency, surgical instruments are often incompletely sterilized or not sterilized at all, which instead can easily cause infection. Moreover, venom is often injected into deeper tissues, so cutting open the wound cannot completely remove the venom.
Lin Xiuling: But if we dont squeeze out the snake venom to conduct the test, it would be difficult to determine what type of venomous snake it was, wouldnt it?
Yang Wenhua: The muscles at Grandmas wound were contracting and convulsing, making it difficult to squeeze out the poisoned blood. I only cut open the wound because the situation was urgent. Unless it is truly an emergency, this method should be avoided as much as possible.
Lin Xiuling: I understand now! This is very valuable clinical experience.
△The nurse hands an elastic bandage to Yang Wenhua. Wenhua slips the bandage onto the upper part of the elderly womans arm above the joint, then loosens and removes the belt from her arm.
Yang Wenhua: All right. Let Grandma lean back against the hospital bed and rest for a while. Keep her elbow l
