Chapter Seventy: An Astonishing Conclusion

  Chen Yi looked at Wu Zetian staring at him tightly, then looked at Sun Simiao with an encouraging expression, and suddenly didn't dare to respond.

  Sun Simiao understood Chen Yi's mind, looked at Wu Zetian's changing complexion, and showed Chen Yi an encouraging smile again. He said to Wu Zetian: "Your Majesty, with this device, the emperor's heartbeat and breathing can be heard very clearly. If you're interested, you can also come and listen!" As he spoke, he raised the stethoscope in his hand, with a look that said "you understand my intention".

  Wu Zetian was taken aback for a moment, looking at Li Zhi who had completely closed his eyes, then at the richly expressive face of Sun Simiao. She finally nodded and took over the stethoscope from Sun Simiao's hand, carefully listening to it with his help. After just a short while, her face showed surprise as she put down the stethoscope and signaled Sun Simiao to follow her to one side before saying in a low voice: "Master Taoist, this thing is really not bad! The breathing and heartbeat can be heard so clearly! Master Taoist is indeed a divine person, able to create such a wonderful diagnostic tool... With the help of this divine object, you will be able to practice medicine even better and more conveniently diagnose the emperor's illness. But... why haven't I seen you use it before?"

  "This thing was not made by me!" Sun Simiao pointed at Chen Yi and said: "Your Majesty, this thing was made by Ziying, not created by me! I am amazed by the many diagnostic tools he has made!"

  "Oh!?" Wu Zetian's face showed a slight surprise: "Chen Gongzi is indeed not an ordinary person, you can create such a device, it's not simple... Ah, just now Sun Daochang said your medical skills are excellent, and my sister Han Guo's illness was also cured by you, then... please diagnose the Emperor's condition for me, see how his illness should be treated!"

  Hearing Wu Zetian say this, Sun Simiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Yi also didn't decline and after making a bow to Wu Zetian, Li Zhe and Sun Simiao, he sat down without hesitation, putting the listening tube on his ear and carefully listened to Li Zhe's breathing and heartbeat.

  This stethoscope was specially made to avoid some unnecessary troubles, the tube is very long, although the listening effect is slightly different from that of a short tube, it can avoid some embarrassing and inconvenient situations, especially when diagnosing female patients or patients with special identities like Li.

  After the auscultation began, Chen Yi also gestured to the palace maid who was holding the stethoscope with a serious face, instructing her to move it according to his gestures and orders on Li Zhi's chest and back. Chen Yi listened more seriously than Sun Simiao, and when he heard some unusual sounds, his hand would stop moving, and the palace maid would no longer move either, so that he could listen more carefully. He listened for a long time at Li Zhi's chest, back, lungs, and heart position, which surprised both Sun Simiao and Wu Zetian. During the careful auscultation process, he also heard some differences from what Sun Simiao had just said. Indeed, Li Zhi's breathing and heartbeat were still normal now, but beneath the seemingly normal breath sounds, there were still some abnormal hidden sounds, which were quite troublesome. There was a faint murmur in the heartbeat, and he even detected an unusual heart palpitation in Li Zhi, with a relatively obvious early beat phenomenon.

  This is the physical condition of Sun Simiao after taking medicine for several months. It seems that some symptoms are only temporarily suppressed and have not been fundamentally alleviated, and drug resistance has increased. If the dose is reduced or insufficient, the situation may become many times worse! The respiratory and circulatory systems are the most important organ systems in the human body. If there are major abnormalities, the person's body cannot recover. Chen Yi now understands why Li Zhi became so ill after taking medicine - it turns out that his respiratory and circulatory systems had big problems before taking the medicine.

  With this in mind, Chen Yi felt relieved and worried at the same time. He had basically confirmed his diagnosis of Li's condition, which was asthma combined with chronic bronchitis and heart disease, likely moderate pulmonary heart disease. However, confirming a diagnosis did not mean everything would be okay; treatment was still a difficult problem. Treating either lung or heart diseases was extremely tricky, even in modern times with advanced medical conditions, let alone in ancient times when medicine was scarce! Treatment was the most important thing; even if you had made an accurate diagnosis, but didn't have many effective treatments, others would still consider you a mediocre doctor!

  Of course, whether it is lung or heart disease, further examination is needed, but there are no modern diagnostic tools now, and the final diagnosis of Li's condition cannot be very precise.

  In order to avoid raising any suspicions from Wu Zetian, Chen Yi also learned from Sun Simiao and took Li's pulse by holding his hand. Nowadays, the most direct way of diagnosing a patient is by taking their pulse, which naturally cannot be omitted, so after Sun Simiao did it, he also had to do it for show.

  After about half a time of examination, Chen Yi finally stopped his movements and put away the stethoscope to walk to the side where Wu Zetian and Sun Simiao were standing to observe him examining Li Zhi. It should be said that he examined very carefully, which is rare in later generations when diagnosing patients. There are many patients waiting for diagnosis, and it's impossible to do so thoroughly, otherwise the waiting patients will scold and get angry. Of course, in Sun Simiao's eyes, his diagnostic techniques were extremely professional, and the auscultation sites were all the most effective projection points of the lungs and heart. Listening at these points made it easiest to hear changes in the heart and lungs, which made Sun Simiao look at Chen Yi with even more admiration!

  The three men stopped at a place slightly far away from Li's sickbed.

  "Ziying, how is the patient's condition?" Sun Simiao asked softly.

  Chen Yi bowed to Wu Zetian and Sun Simiao, saying in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Imperial Concubine, I have made a new discovery!"

  Wu Zetian's eyebrows jumped slightly, with a somewhat fierce gaze staring at Chen Yi, urging: "You carefully tell this palace and Sun Daochang in detail, what unusual circumstances have you found?"

  "Your Majesty, Sun Simiao, by feeling the pulse, indeed cannot discover any abnormalities in Your Majesty's pulse condition. However, using a stethoscope to carefully listen to Your Majesty's breathing and heartbeat, it is still possible to detect some issues." Chen Yi gritted his teeth, since Sun Simiao dared to speak about the illness in front of Wu Zetian, who was both Li Zhi's husband and the empress. He took a deep breath and continued: "Your Majesty, Sun Simiao, after careful examination, I found that Your Majesty's exhalation time is significantly longer than inhalation time, which is not normal. For ordinary people, the time for exhalation and inhalation should be roughly equal, and breathing should be even and balanced. Moreover, when exhaling, Your Majesty needs to use more force than usual, which means that the lungs are not functioning properly! Furthermore... I also heard a faint wheezing sound during Your Majesty's breathing, which is characteristic of asthma... The heart condition is also not optimistic, as it has been overworked for a long time. Careful listening can detect early signs of heart failure, which is not a good omen!"

  Chen Yi's words shocked both Sun Simiao and Wu Zetian, especially Wu Zetian, whose face turned slightly pale!