"It's so cold, Heart Fire, can you give me some warmth? My little brother is shivering again. This is already the third time. If this continues, it won't be good. If we brothers can't cooperate, it'll just get more troublesome in the future."
"I'm already busy, you think I'm just sitting around? Why do you think I jump all day? For fun? You think I don't know you're in trouble? I control the blood vessels of the whole body, you can't hide your problems from me."
"Then why do we brothers still feel cold?"
"Have you seen what he eats every day? An ice cream every few days, every few days an ice cream. Even if I'm an endless fire generator, I need you to give me something here. There's not enough energy and blood being processed, what do I have to give you fire with?"
"Oh right, and he doesn't eat breakfast, insists on waiting until my processing is weak to start eating. I hope this time my little brother's reminder will make him remember."
"I don't think it's reliable. Didn't the stomach remind him twice before, and it was still useless? And last time, when the wind pathogen invaded, it made me unable to resist."
"Right, I remember last time the wind pathogen invaded, we all suffered, and those medicines he took in were too hateful, it was like stealing my Kidney Essence. If Heart Fire hadn't given the idea to make him unable to come out, he would have continued to harm me."
"Doesn't matter, if he continues to make trouble, none of us will survive, let's see who can outlast who!"
"Liver Wood, don't be impulsive, didn't you just say he went to the clinic where he saw the doctor last time? I also found the stomach isn't pulling as hard, maybe that doctor is treating him now."
"Yeah, he went, but it was a different person, not the old doctor from before."
"Not the same one?"
Ha!
They're actually talking about me.
Interesting!
Let's say hello then!
"Hello, Five Viscera!"
Uh... this title sounds weird.
"You are... the doctor treating the Skinny Monkey?" The Five Viscera were surprised, and the big brother Heart Fire stood out.
Skinny Monkey?
Lu Jiu was bemused.
So this is how the patient's Five Viscera refer to him!
Quite a bit of resentment there.
"Yes, that's me. I heard you guys chatting just now, and I have a general idea of your current issues. The Spleen Earth is not processing smoothly, probably due to his irregular eating habits, and the cold in the stomach is not only because of his random intake of cold drinks but also possibly due to food buildup," Lu Jiu said.
The dialogue of the Five Viscera let Lu Jiu know that Wu Zengshuang had cold dampness in the spleen and stomach. The questions he asked during acupuncture also allowed Lu Jiu to judge that he had an excess condition.
Stomach pain generally requires distinguishing between cold and heat, and deficiency and excess. Cold and heat are easy to determine, even without feeling the pulse, by simply asking if the patient prefers to drink cold water or warm water when thirsty.
Normally, a person with a healthy stomach and intestines doesn't specifically choose a water temperature, but someone with stomach cold will selectively drink warm water because the body guides him to it for comfort, while someone with stomach heat will be guided to drink cold water.
The same goes for deficiency and excess. If stomach pain feels relieved when pressed, it's probably a deficiency. If pressing makes it worse, it's undoubtedly an excess.
An excess means something is blocked.
It could be leftover matter in the large intestine, or gas in the small intestine that can't be dissolved—basically, it's uncleared.
The Five Viscera are yin, they store and do not expel, full but not solid; the Six Hollow Organs are yang, they expel and do not store, solid but not full.
What does it mean?
It's like the Five Viscera and Six Hollow Organs are two different types of boxes; the Five Viscera can be filled with things, but these things must be nourishing life essence for the whole body. It can take in as much as it wants, but if something like a stone forms inside, it's a big problem.
The Six Hollow Organs are different, they can also store things, like the food we eat, chemicals, etc., but these are temporary. You can't keep them long-term. Like the large intestine, if waste stays too long and accumulates too much, it will cause problems.
Wu Zengshuang currently has something accumulated in his body that won't come out, which is causing abdominal pain, but fortunately, it's not in the Five Viscera, so it's not a big deal.
The "Yellow Emperor's Healing Secrets" mentions, "Visceral diseases are hard to treat, bowel diseases are easy to treat. Why? Visceral diseases are hard because they transmit to what's conquered; bowel diseases are easy because they transmit to their children."
When the Five Viscera are ill, they transmit the disease energy to the viscera they control.
For instance, nine out of ten patients have spleen deficiency, and one has both spleen and kidney deficiency.
The patients Lu Jiu had seen in recent days didn't have healthy spleens and stomachs, which indicates a problem.
The spleen belongs to earth, which controls water, and if the spleen is severely deficient, it harms the kidney.
Unlike the Five Viscera, when the Six Hollow Organs get sick, they transmit disease energy to the assisting viscera. For example, if the stomach is hurt, the disease energy will transmit to the small intestine because the heart and small intestine are linked, the small intestine belongs to fire, and fire generates earth.
This way of disease transmission prevents bowel diseases from worsening quickly and makes treatment relatively easy.
"What is leftover food?" Spleen Earth didn't quite understand.
"It's food you can't process, still in your stomach from the previous day," Lu Jiu said.
"Yes, he often sleeps until one in the afternoon, with the latest meal around one in the night. I'm about to rest, and he makes me process it, once or twice is okay, but this has been going on for over half a year!!" Spleen Earth's tone carried resentment, like a worker continuously working overtime for more than half a year while the boss remains indifferent, believing it to be part of the job.
"It's not just that, sometimes he even gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which takes half an hour," Hydronephrosis said.
"There's nothing I can do, he sleeps most of the day, not giving my brother a chance to excrete. Sometimes I clearly remind him, but he's not in a hurry and holds it in, relieves at night—it's his own doing," Fei Jin said.
Lu Jiu couldn't help laughing.
With such habits and eating patterns, no wonder the Five Viscera are in disorder! Is it any surprise there are problems?
"So now, those residues are likely stuck in the large intestine, right?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Right." Fei Jin paused for a moment before replying to Lu Jiu.
Understood!
Lu Jiu got it.
"What's your name?" Lu Jiu stopped inquiring the Five Viscera and slightly raised his head to look at Wu Zengshuang.
"Wu Zengshuang," Wu Zengshuang said.
"Staying up late, irregular meals, loving the cold—tch, you've already had pain quite a few times, and you haven't learned your lesson. If you keep this up, I'm afraid you'll have more than just stomach pain. It's time to change those life habits!" Lu Jiu earnestly advised.
Huh?
This... how does he know what I usually do?
But he only placed his hand on my wrist...
Last time I came here, that old doctor wasn't this exaggerated either.
Actually, Wu Zengshuang didn't realize that last time Lu Mountain didn't say anything not because he didn't know, but because he didn't bother to mention it.
And he also reminded him after prescribing the medicine to pay attention to eating habits and go to bed early, wake up early.
In the end, he didn't listen to a single word.
Seeing Wu Zengshuang's surprised expression, Lu Jiu slowly explained the root of the problem, "Your irregular schedule over the long term, sleeping in the morning and eating at night, inherently adds burden on the spleen and stomach and easily accumulates phlegm and dampness. Long-term love of the cold further weakens the spleen and stomach."
"Excessive cold in the spleen and stomach leads to insufficient fire in the small intestine, and the large intestine can't move properly, causing weakened digestion. Have you noticed any undigested food in your stool recently?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Zengshuang's eyes darted around, and he nodded.
"See, that's a sign of processing issues—eating something only to pass it out, food just takes a tour of the stomach without nourishing the Five Viscera and Six Hollow Organs, eventually weakening them over time. Of course, you'd feel deficient."