Chapter 28: Ling Treats an Illness

  Zuo Langzhong said, "This... these past few days have been bitterly cold, and he's had chills and fever. He must have... hmm, caught a chill from the wind while working in the fields. It's... it's a case of Taiyang disease with windstroke."

  Taiyang disease has nothing to do with the sun in the sky, but is a type of meridian in traditional Chinese medicine. Simply put, Taiyang disease refers to what we commonly call external contraction diseases, or colds and flu. The medical sage Zhang Zhongjing categorized various symptom complexes that occur during the development of external contraction diseases into six channels: Taiyang, Yangming, Shaoyang, Taiyin, Jueyin, and Shaoyin, based on the location of the disease, the direction of cold and heat, and the waxing and waning of evil and righteous qi. As wind-cold and other external pathogens invade, most enter through the body's surface Taiyang channel, where the body's righteous qi resists the external pathogen, causing symptoms such as headache, stiffness in the neck, chills, and fever. Zhang Zhongjing's "Shanghan Lun" refers to this disease as Taiyang disease, which is divided into two types: Taiyang cold damage syndrome and Taiyang wind-stroke syndrome.

  "Really?" The old woman heard his hesitation and became even more suspicious.

  Zuo Shaoyang knew that his father, Zuo Gui's medical skills were still at the stage of treating symptoms with medicine, and couldn't systematically analyze the disease mechanism and causes, or explain the theoretical principles behind the occurrence of the disease, and deduce suitable treatment methods and prescription combinations. Seeing what he just said, it was clear that he wasn't confident about this illness, so he hastily interjected: "Dad, let me take a look at the pulse too, okay?"

  Zuo Gui was embarrassed and didn't know how to respond to the old woman's words. Hearing Zuo Shaoyang interrupt, he took the opportunity to think about how to explain it and hastily said: "Good, you can also learn from it."

  Zuo Shaoyang took the young man's wrist to feel his pulse, and after examining it, he looked at his tongue. The tongue coating was white, and combined with the patient's inability to move his hands and feet, Zuo determined that this was a case of wind evil invading the meridians due to deficiency of nutrient blood, leading to stagnation of qi and blood, which belonged to a type of stroke. Old man Zuo Gui diagnosed it as Taiyang disease stroke, but although the stroke part was correct, it wasn't a Taiyang disease stroke, rather a stroke caused by wind evil in the meridians. The old man had only noticed his chills and fever, or couldn't determine the cause of his crooked mouth and eyes, so he could only treat it as Taiyang disease stroke. This obviously wouldn't be effective.

  The left Shao Yang had just examined himself and found that the patient was only suffering from a slight wind evil in the meridians, and the skewing of the mouth and eyes would not last long. Left Shao Yang remembered that during his apprenticeship, he saw his teacher treat this kind of disease with Da Qin Jiao Tang plus external application of eel blood, which could quickly cure the patient. This Da Qin Jiao Tang originated from the Song Dynasty, and in the early Tang Dynasty, there was no such prescription. Old man Zuo Gui naturally did not know about it, and he couldn't tell him about this prescription either. He had to agree with his words and smile: "Auntie, this gentleman has indeed contracted a cold evil, which has injured the meridians, so his mouth and eyes are skewed. Don't worry, my father is a famous old Chinese doctor in Shijing County, and Guizhi Hall is our family's clinic. At the end of the year, my father was worried about the lack of medical care for the people in the deep mountains, so he brought me to various places to hang up the medicine box and treat the people's diseases."

  The old woman listened and nodded repeatedly: "I see, thank you very much. Please trouble the old gentleman to prescribe some medicine for my son."

  "Father, write the prescription."

  Zuo Gui listened to his son also speaking on his behalf, and it seemed that he had some confidence in his heart. Since it was a case of Taiyang Zhongfeng, then he would prescribe Guizhi Tang, which was his specialty. His nickname came from this as well. Although he was just making a casual diagnosis while traveling, he still needed to write a prescription for future reference. Therefore, Zuo Shao Yang took out paper and pen, and Zuo Gui wrote the prescription for Guizhi Tang.

  Zuo Shaoyang said to the old woman, "Do you have a sand pot for decocting medicine? I'll help you brew it. There's a knack to brewing this medicine."

  "Really? I'll take you to decoct the medicine. — How much does it cost?"

  "Doctor Ling's diagnosis is much cheaper than the pharmacy, this medicine costs six cents, and you can also give two cents for the delivery fee. Besides, you can pay after you get better!"

  The old woman was surprised and delighted: "Pay after recovery?"

  "That's it!"

  Zuo Shao Yang dares to say this for two reasons: firstly, he has confidence in curing the disease; secondly, only by boasting like this can the patient have confidence, which is even more necessary for You Fang Ling's medical practice. Moreover, a few dollars of medicine money is not a big deal, and it's worth betting on medical reputation.

  The old woman still didn't dare believe it and asked again: "Will my son's illness be cured after taking your medicine?"

  "Not bragging, my old man's medical skills are absolutely the best in the entire Hezhou Prefecture! I guarantee this illness will be cured with medicine! If it can't be cured, I won't even take the medicine money! Anyway, we're going to be traveling around this area for a while, so whenever your son gets better, you can pay me then!"

  The old woman laughed: "It's clear that you two are honest people. That doctor who came yesterday charged me 12 cents for the medicine, but it didn't even cure the illness! You only charge 8 cents and won't take the money until the patient is cured, oh my, you're really a kind-hearted person!"

  Speaking of which, they arrived at the backyard kitchen, took out a sand pot, and Zuo Shao Yang took down the medicine box from his back, saying: "Auntie, you have to think of a way to find two eels to put in the medicine."

  "Loach? Yes, there are some in the fields! I'll go catch some for you right away!" With that, the old woman hurried off.

  Zuo Shaoyang paired with a good Daqin decoction, put it in a sand pot, and started boiling on the stove. Just after finishing, the old woman came back, holding two eels in her hand. Zuo Shaoyang asked the old woman to help the sick young man over, lay him down on the bed, while he killed the eel with a knife, scooped out half a bowl of eel blood, and brought it to the bedside, using his fingers to apply the eel blood to the patient's mouth, eyes, and face, smearing it all over until his face was bright red like Guan Gong after a bloody battle.

  The old woman saw this and felt that the young man's use of medicine was novel, and suddenly more hope rose in her heart. As people often say, a strange remedy can cure a major illness, and the stranger the remedy, the better the therapeutic effect is likely to be. This is the usual way of thinking for ordinary people.

  After applying it for a while, the medicine was also effective. Zuo Shao Yang let the old woman give the patient another dose. Then he came out to chat with his father at the door.

  Zuo Gui was enthusiastically chatting with the neighbors who had gathered around, talking about things in the fields and lands. Some neighbors also asked him how to treat some minor illnesses and injuries, and Zuo Gui patiently told them everything without reservation, and they chatted happily together.

  Seeing Zuo Shao Yang come out, Zuo Gui also stood up and said: "Alright? Let's go."

  "Hmm!" Zuo Shaoyang patted the medicine box on his back and greeted the old woman before continuing to walk towards the outskirts of the village, shaking his bell.

  They had just walked to the edge of the village when they suddenly heard someone calling from behind. Turning their heads, they saw the old woman bringing several people who were trudging through the muddy snow to catch up with them. One of them, limping on one leg, waved and shouted: "Old Langzhong, wait!"

  Zuo Gui and the other person stopped and asked: "Is there something?"

  "They've also got someone ill in their family, listen to me, I told them you're cheaper and guaranteed to cure the illness, only collecting payment after recovery. So they want to ask you to take a look too."

  Zuo Gui and Zuo Shao Yang exchanged a glance, both feeling a thrill in their hearts. They hastily followed the others into the village, first arriving at the humble farmhouse of the lame woman. The thatched hut had empty walls made of tree bark, and there was no smoke coming from the stove inside. However, a large pile of firewood was stacked behind the house. In front of the door, on a stone slab, four children around several years old sat with their buttocks exposed, staring at them with big round eyes, their noses running with snot. The smallest one kept sucking on his fingers and occasionally cried out loud.

  Zuo Shaoyang thought, this family is too poor, except for the pile of firewood behind the house, there's really nothing slightly valuable. Thinking of earning medical expenses from this, it's hopeless, maybe even have to pay out of pocket. However, as a doctor, treating illness and saving lives is a doctor's duty. No choice.

  That family didn't even have a stool, only a few large stone rollers at the door, and two people could sit on the stone rollers. The neighbors gathered around to watch the excitement in no time.

  The lame-legged woman's withered face kept smiling as she sat down on the stone stool.

  (PS: Collect and recommend it.)