| Once Upon a Time in Beijing…2: “Good Medicine” | Aug 24, ’09 12:03 AM |
Once upon a time, three adventurous and unsuspecting friends named Lhooh, ChehCheh and Niao-Miao (the names are changed to protect their secret identities!) went to Beijing to see the great and famous sights of the fabled city in China.
On the second day, Niao-Miao had unfortunately not been able to get rid of her toothache which had plagued her intermittently.
Taking pity on her, ChehCheh asked Lhooh to go to the pharmacy to help the ailing Niao-Miao, since he was the only one in the trio who could understand the subtle nuances of the city’s ancient language.
Lhooh confidently ambled off to ask the nearest pharmacist for tooth medicine.
The conversation somehow went this way (no thanks to my imagination after it was retold by the leading character), taking into consideration how descriptions of people and places in China seem to be in superlative adjectives…
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Pharmacist (nods sagely and brings out a box of medicine): Where is the pain located, Foreigner-Who-Looks-Chinese?…is it in the tooth itself or is it the gum surrounding the tooth?
Lhooh a.k.a. Foreigner-Who-Looks-Chinese: I am unsure… O Great-Pharmacist-of-this-Pharmacy.
Pharmacist a.k.a. Great-Pharmacist-of-this-Pharmacy (looking bored): ……
Lhooh a.k.a. FWLC (deciding quickly): It may be the tooth itself, O Great-Pharmacist-of-this-Pharmacy.
Pharmacist a.k.a. GPOTP: Well then, Foreigner-Who-Can-Understand-Chinese, take this.. (hands over the box of tooth medicine she had taken out earlier)….it is for the pain in the tooth you have said.
FWLC (curious): Great-Pharmacist…another question, if you please.
GPOTP (looking more bored): ……hmm?
FWLC (clears throat): If this is for pain in the tooth …may I also have the one which is for the pain in the gums? Just in case?
GPOTP: Oh, it works on both the tooth and gum.
* Eh? then why in the name of Confucius did you ask in the first place which was which?Ah..maybe he was being forward-thinking *
DISCLAIMER: the tales being shared by the writer in this series of blogs, while true, have been admittedly exaggerated for humorous purposes. It is not meant to imply anything derogatory about the Chinese culture or people.
The Curious Cat 