Li's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic.
"Mr. Li?"
"Speaking."
"Your package is here. Is your clinic open?"
"It is."
"Great, I'll bring it over in a bit."
「A moment later.」
Li Xu received the package.
The first thing he did was look at the cardboard box. The word "Gift" was written on it.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he went back to the courtyard and opened the package.
It was a very realistic, fake breast model.
Even though he knew no one was around, he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder.
'Hmm~'
'Soft and smooth.'
'Just a little cold.'
He quickly reined in his inappropriate thoughts and began practicing the massage techniques from the Commentary on the Art and Literature Record.
The model changed shape in his hands.
One moment it looked like a peach, the next like a pointy pear...
He practiced for half an hour.
He went out for breakfast.
Then he opened the clinic.
Song Sisi came in carrying a meat pie.
"How's your stomach?"
"It doesn't hurt at all anymore."
"I'll check your pulse in a bit. If you're all better, you can stop taking the rest of the medicine."
"Thank you, Doctor Li."
Song Sisi said cheerfully.
'Coming to Li's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic was an incredibly wise decision.'
'I get a salary, and it's not busy.'
'Plus, I can get treated for free.'
'I even want to keep working here after I graduate.'
'Too bad my parents want me to go to a big hospital...'
Just as she was thinking this,
a mother and daughter walked in from outside.
It was the same mother and daughter who had gone to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine last week to see Gao Guanghui for fright-induced epilepsy.
In just one week, their entire demeanor had completely changed.
A week ago, their expressions were full of misery, with an irresolvable sorrow etched between their brows.
But now, they had smiles on their faces.
Genuine, heartfelt smiles.
And they were carrying a silk banner.
Li Xu understood at once: the girl's illness was cured.
Sure enough,
when the mother saw Li Xu, she hurried forward and thanked him profusely. "Doctor Li, we came early specifically to thank you."
She unfurled the silk banner, and the four large words embroidered in gold thread—"Miraculous Hands Bring Renewal"—shone brightly in the morning light.
The daughter gave a polite bow. When she lifted her head, Li Xu noticed her eyes were clear and her complexion was rosy. She was like a completely different person from the girl who had been convulsing and foaming at the mouth a month ago.
"While she was taking the medicine, she didn't have a single episode!" The mother's eyes filled with tears again as she recalled the past.
"She used to have at least two seizures a day. Her father and I didn't dare to close our eyes all night. Now..." She suddenly grabbed Li Xu's hand. "You have no idea! The day before yesterday, she took her school's monthly exam and placed third in her class!"
Li Xu invited them into the consultation room and said gently, "It's all because Professor Gao prescribed an excellent formula."
The mother hurriedly replied, "Professor Gao's formula was good, but if it weren't for your top-grade Five-Floral Dragon Bone..."
She lowered her voice. "We had the same prescription filled at a pharmacy, but the effect was nowhere near as good."
"Sit down. Let me take another look."
In the consultation room, Li Xu carefully checked the girl's pulse.
The pulse under his fingers was steady and strong, but the kidney pulse was still somewhat thready and weak—this was the root cause of her fright-induced epilepsy.
"Take one more course of treatment to consolidate the progress," Li Xu said as he wrote out a prescription. "This time, I'm halving the amount of Dragon Bone and adding some Dried Rehmannia Glutinosa and Cornelian Cherry to nourish the kidneys."
The mother nodded repeatedly.
She now had complete faith in Li Xu.
...
On the street in front of the clinic.
Aunt Li was sweeping the street.
Seeing the commotion, she put down her broom and went into the clinic to see what was going on.
After finding out what had happened,
Aunt Li thought to herself.
'Xiao Xu really has inherited his father's medical skills.'
'He's not just good at treating colds; he can even cure epilepsy.'
She thought about her own situation.
Two days ago, she had gone to the City People's Hospital for a check-up and prescription, which cost her over 400 yuan.
But after two days on the medication, her symptoms had only slightly improved.
She still broke out in night sweats.
And she had to get up frequently during the night to use the bathroom.
She still had a three-day supply of the medicine left.
She had no confidence that finishing the medicine would cure her.
'Should I have Xiao Xu take a look?'
Just then,
Aunt Li saw a luxury car pull up slowly in front of the clinic.
A young man got out of the driver's seat and opened the back door.
A middle-aged couple got out.
The young man drove off to find a parking spot.
The middle-aged couple was none other than Ding Aiguo and his wife, Xue Mei.
Ding Aiguo was helping Xue Mei walk when they ran into the mother and daughter leaving, holding the banner.
"Thank you, Dr. Li!" The girl's clear voice drifted in.
Then, he saw the banner that had just been hung up.
Ding Aiguo narrowed his eyes.
'He was all too familiar with this kind of setup—many clinics staged these "grateful patient" acts.'
"Old Ding..." Xue Mei leaned weakly against him. "Maybe we should just go back..."
"We're already here." Ding Aiguo patted his wife's hand, his gaze sweeping over the clinic's humble decor. "We're mainly here to buy his Sandalwood Fragrance."
As he entered, he made a point to observe the mother who had presented the banner—her hands were rough, she wore a faded gold ring, and there were traces of flour in her nail beds. She didn't look like a professional shill.
The girl was skipping about, chasing a butterfly, and her agile movements certainly didn't suggest she was sick.
'Was she really cured? Or is she a shill?'
The thought flickered in Ding Aiguo's mind, but he quickly shook his head. 'My own affairs are a mess; why worry about others?'
"Dr. Li."
"Mr. Ding, you've arrived. Please, have a seat."
After some brief pleasantries.
Li Xu had Xue Mei sit in front of him.
The woman was frighteningly thin. Her wrists were as slender as withered twigs, there were dark circles under her eyes, and her lips were pale.
"How long have you had insomnia?" Li Xu asked as he took her pulse.
"Three years and seven months," Ding Aiguo answered for her. "We've seen many specialists, she's had three brain MRIs..."
Li Xu raised a hand, signaling for him to be quiet.
The pulse under his fingers was wiry, thready, and rapid; the heart pulse was particularly chaotic.
"Do you often wake up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations? And after waking, are you covered in a cold sweat, as if you've just run a marathon?"
Xue Mei looked slightly surprised. "Yes."
Beside her, Ding Aiguo's spirits lifted.
'I thought since Li Xu was so young, his skills would be average at best.'
'I never expected him to accurately describe her symptoms just from taking her pulse.'
A sliver of hope rose in his heart.
"Do you have a lot of dreams?" Li Xu continued to ask.
"I always dream... that I'm being chased..." Xue Mei's voice trembled. "And as I'm running, I fall into an abyss..."
Li Xu nodded and then examined her tongue. The tongue itself was a pale purple, with a thin, white, and dry coating.
"An invasion of pathogenic qi has blocked your meridians," he said, writing down his diagnosis. "First, we'll calm the fright and soothe the spirit, then we'll nourish the heart and tonify the kidneys."
Ding Aiguo couldn't help but interject, "The Western doctors said it was an autonomic nervous system disorder and prescribed Paroxetine..."
"That only treats the symptoms, not the root cause."
Li Xu opened a medicine cabinet and took out seven sticks of the Sandalwood Fragrance he had made the day before yesterday.
He also took out ten thin slices of rosewood he had cut this morning.
He then added Polygala Tenuifolia and other medicinal herbs.
"Burn one stick of the incense per day. As for these rosewood slices, the Polygala Tenuifolia, and the other herbs, grind them up, decoct them once a day, and drink the decoction in two separate doses."
Li Xu explained in detail.
"This..."
When Ding Aiguo saw Li Xu take out the rosewood slices, he was ecstatic.
He gingerly picked one up.
Before he even brought it close, he could smell a rich rosewood fragrance.
It was even richer and more mellow than the rosewood he had spent hundreds of thousands on.
Then he looked at the grain.
"My God, this is rosewood heartwood... from a tree that was at least several hundred years old..."
Ding Aiguo's hands were trembling.