Chapter 41: The Incurable Disease That Is Not Difficult To Cure

  P.S: The New Year has arrived, I wish all book friends a happy new year and may all your wishes come true!

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  Although it was judged as a stroke, the cause and mechanism of the disease were not yet clear in his mind, and further investigation was needed. Zuo Shao Yang asked the old man, "How has your body been lately?"

  That man said: "My mother used to be in good health, it was just two years ago, my father... Alas, after the business went bankrupt and our family became poor, her body didn't work well anymore. She eats less, always says she's dizzy and lightheaded, and gets very tired from even a little exercise. In the past, she was fatter than now, even if it's like this now, this body is still considered fat, climbing up and down hills is very tiring, doesn't want to live in the old village on the mountain top, so she followed us to the construction site to help people wash clothes. Didn't expect to encounter this illness... You cheap woman! If anything happens to my mother, I'll take your life as compensation!"

  The man glared at her with wide, angry eyes. The woman let out a sob and fell to the ground on her knees: "I didn't mean it, I... I only said that one sentence, I didn't know you'd get so angry! I'm going to die! I'm going to die..."

  The woman spoke as she slapped herself hard on the face, the sound echoing loudly, and suddenly her nose and mouth were bleeding profusely.

  "Get out and teach your wife a lesson at home! This is a pharmacy, we're here to treat illnesses! What do you think you're doing?"

  The man didn't dare offend her at this time, and awkwardly smiled, staring at the woman who was slapping herself on the ear and shouted: "Alright! Go back and deal with you later! Get out of here!"

  The woman then stopped, crawled to one side, curled up her body and hid in the corner, whimpering softly.

  The old woman had previously been stout and robust, but now she was a typical case of "plump outside, weak inside". She had a long-standing spleen deficiency with internal accumulation of phlegm and dampness. When she got angry, her liver Qi was injured, leading to the transformation of Qi into wind, which in turn ignited the Ministerial Fire, causing the fluid to condense into phlegm. The phlegm-fire internally obscured the mind and externally invaded the channels, resulting in a stroke. This was an internal wind stirring up, with virtual yang dominating, Qi and blood in chaos, and phlegm-fire wreaking havoc. It was necessary to nourish yin, calm yang, clear and descend, extinguish wind and dissipate phlegm.

  Upon careful consideration, this illness is a common and frequently occurring disease, and its diagnosis isn't difficult. It's not a life-threatening condition either. So why did the doctors at Hui Min Tang and other medical halls refuse to treat it? As Zuo Shao Yang turned around to look, he saw that these men were covered in mud, wearing tattered clothes, and could even be described as disheveled and dirty. The old woman was also dressed in coarse cloth, with no hairpins on her head, only a messy bun wrapped in an old piece of cloth. They looked like they were extremely poor. The treatment process for stroke is relatively long, typically at least half a month for acute cases, and up to a month or more for cerebral stroke. The recovery period can last up to half a year, and the treatment period for sequelae can last one to two years or even longer. They wouldn't be able to earn any medical fees, and would even have to pay out of pocket for medication costs, which aren't small either, since they need to take medicine long-term. This adds up to a significant amount of money.

  Zuo Shaoyang had never opened his own clinic, and his understanding of making a living from medicine was not profound. He knew he wouldn't get paid but still ended up losing money, yet when he was worried about money at home, he couldn't bring himself to turn patients away. His only thought was how to cure the patient, everything else was forgotten.

  He thought for a while, weighing the pros and cons of each option, before finally coming up with a treatment plan. He then turned to the man and said, "Sir, the patient's condition is very critical, the sooner we administer medicine the better, let me give him some first?"

  That man didn't even ask what medicine to wear, and hastily waved his hand: "Little brother, let's wait for your father to come back and see before saying anything. - Why hasn't your father come back yet?" The man stood at the door and looked out.

  Zuo Shaoyang was stunned, the treatment plan he had carefully thought out and deliberated on wasn't even asked about by the other party. He knew it wouldn't be easy for the patient to trust this young doctor, and even if he tried to explain himself, it would likely have the opposite effect. In this situation, he couldn't use medicine, nor did he dare to secretly administer it, lest he end up doing more harm than good. Furthermore, he had never treated this illness before, despite having an idea of what to do, and still lacked confidence in his judgment, unsure whether the medication would be effective or not. So, it seemed like the only option was to use the old method - have Old Man Zuo Guizhen see the patient, while he himself secretly substituted the treatment.

  After a while, the sound of footsteps on the bluestone outside became urgent, and an old man with a white beard rushed in. It was Lao Da Zuo Gui, followed by Miao Pei Lan, who was pushing a handcart with tables and chairs on it.

  "My dad is back!" Zuo Shao Yang went forward to welcome him.

  The man's face lit up with joy as he hastily stepped forward and bowed: "Thank you for saving my life, Left General!"

  Zuo Gui waved his hand: "No need for pleasantries, how's the patient?"

  That man hastily recounted the events again. After asking a few questions, Zuo Gui glanced at several people, furrowed his brow, stroked his white beard, and slowly shook his head: "The evil is in the collaterals, the skin is numb; the evil is in the channels, it's unbearable; the evil enters the brain, and one becomes unaware of people; the evil enters the zang organs, and the tongue can't speak, spitting saliva. This disease is caused by a stroke... Alas, I'm afraid even an old man like me... has no power to help!"

  That man had been listening to him talk for a long time, and every sentence was convincing, so he had high hopes. But unexpectedly, in the end, he blurted out such a sentence, suddenly panicked, and with a thud, he knelt down on the ground and kowtowed: "Please, Left Langzhong, everyone says you have a good heart, just save my mother!"

  Everyone else also knelt down.

  Zuo Gui's father's decision made Huixiang secretly let out a sigh of relief. She looked at Zuo Gui winking, using the back of her hand to gesture to those people, indicating that they should not accept treatment. At the same time, she smiled and said: "Gentlemen, my father has said it before, this illness is really incurable, I'm very sorry..."

  As soon as they heard this, everyone was stunned and their hearts sank to the bottom. Miao Peilan, who was standing by the door, also looked gloomy and stared at Zuo Shuangyang.

  Since getting to know Miao Peilan, all he had seen was her smiling face, radiant and gentle, yet never as dull as this. This made Zuo Shaoyang's heart suddenly tighten, and without thinking of anything else, he stepped forward and said: "Father, just treat this old man!"

  "Shut up!" Xiang grabbed Zuo Shao Yang's arm and leaned in close to his ear, scolding in a low voice: "Brother! This isn't something that can be solved overnight, nor is it something that can be fixed with just a few doses of medicine! Do you think Dr. Nie and the others really can't cure it? They're hiding, for now our own backsides are still exposed, how can we have the ability to build a pavilion for others? Let's take care of ourselves first!"

  Zuo Shaoyang also got angry and said loudly: "Sister, as a doctor, can't you save someone who is dying?"

  When she heard this, Miao Peilan's eyes seemed to flash with tears at the side of the door.

  Zuo Gui's old father's thin body trembled slightly, his hand stroking the white beard stiffened for a moment, and slowly put it down.

  "Hmph! Fine, you think you're capable? Then save her!"

  "I'm trying to save him, but he doesn't believe me. What's the point of saving him anyway!" Zuo Shaoyang said indignantly.

  That man was somewhat embarrassed, and just as he wanted to explain, Zuo Gui slowly said: "Zhong Er is right, even if it's like this, Lao Gu will open a prescription to treat it. However, I must say beforehand that the old man's illness is extremely severe, and whether Lao Gu's prescription works or not is uncertain. If this prescription doesn't work either, please forgive Lao Gu for being unable to help. You all can only invite another expert."

  The man listened, his face sorrowfully gazing at the old mother on the bed, and nodded heavily. The woman in the corner of the wall was crawling on the ground, desperately controlling herself, but ultimately unable to suppress the pain of grievance in her heart, and burst into tears. Afraid that her husband would blame her, she bit her lip and restrained herself, but the sobbing sound made people's hearts even more aching.

  Zuo Gui slowly walked to the table, picked up his pen and wrote a prescription. He used cassia twig as the first medicinal herb in this prescription, but made some modifications, changing it to cassia bark. Cassia bark and cassia twig come from the same plant, Cinnamomum verum. The twig is the dried tender branch of the tree, while the bark is the skin of the tree after removing the rough outer layer. After removing both the inner and outer layers of the bark, what remains is called cassia heart. The medicinal uses of these three are slightly different: cassia twig is used to dispel wind-cold, cassia heart is used to tonify yang and activate blood circulation, while cassia bark is used for warming the interior.

  Zuo Gui's brush flew as he quickly finished writing the prescription, took a look at it himself, sighed, and handed it to Zuo Shao Yang: "Get the medicine... Alas!"