Chapter 30: Sudden Turbulent Wind

  At this moment, a commotion broke out inside, and two little maids with vertical buns came out slowly, holding hands and hugging a small child. The child was only three or four years old, wearing thick clothing like a small bear cat, but his whole body was twitching rhythmically, his head thrown back, his eyes rolled up, and his small face was pale without any blood color. His throat made a gurgling sound, and his teeth kept chattering, with some bloody white foam hanging from the corner of his mouth.

  A short and stout man, wearing a flat cap made of green sandalwood on his head, with two straps hanging behind his brain, wearing a round-necked jacket with silk lining, reaching down to his knees, and wearing cyan satin lantern pants. He looked like a local tyrant, but at this moment, there was a layer of sweat on his stout forehead, his eyes were wide open, and he kept shouting "hurry up" and "be careful". Next to him, a young woman with a cloud-like hairpin was wiping away tears, while behind them, an old man with a similar stout figure and white beard, dressed in luxurious clothes, leaned on a cane and shouted: "My little heart, what's wrong with you?"

  Two little maidservants laid the child on the soft couch, his body arched and stiffened, his belly bulging high, his hands and feet rigidly stretched out, and his mouth emitted a painful "heh heh" sound. The two little maidservants wept and called out his name, grasping his stiff hands to try to make him lie flat. Several tenants lifted the couch and were about to leave.

  "Wait!" Zuo Shao Yang hastily stepped forward and said, "You can't do it this way! The child's hands and feet will be broken! And look, he's having such difficulty breathing now. If you carry him away like this, the child won't even make it to the city before he dies on the road!"

  "What?" The young man in brocade turned around and looked at Zuo Shao Yang, "Who are you?"

  Zuo Shaoyang said, "I'm a doctor, I came to Guizhuang with my father for a medical tour. We heard that your son suddenly fell ill, so we came to take a look. What you're doing won't work, the child is experiencing opisthotonus after convulsions, and can't be forcibly pressed down, or else it will lead to fractures. The child's mouth has bloody foam, indicating that the convulsions have bitten his tongue, immediate measures must be taken!"

  The fat landlord listened to him and was quite convinced, and hastily asked: "What should I do?"

  Zuo Shaoyang put down the medicine box, took out a tongue depressor, went forward and pried open the child's mouth, placing the tongue depressor between his teeth: "If not, he will bite his tongue or even bite it off!"

  The fat landlord nodded repeatedly: "Thank you!"

  "Children's throat has a gurgling sound, and the corners of their mouth have saliva with phlegm, indicating that phlegm is abundant. If we don't take immediate action, from here to the city, at least half a day, the phlegm may block the airway, and the child will be suffocated!"

  "Ah?" The woman behind him suddenly burst into tears, "Master, what can be done about this?"

  The fat landlord didn't understand either, he leaned down and listened carefully with his ear to the side, and indeed there was a phlegm sound in the child's throat. What Left Shao Yang said made sense, and not only that, but also the color of his face changed.

  "We must first give him emergency treatment, open his airways and wake him up, let him cough up the phlegm himself, then we can take him to the city to find a famous doctor for further treatment. If not, the child won't be able to hold on for so long. Let me take a look at the child first."

  The fat landlord was also a patient who was in a hurry to find a cure, and after listening to Zuo Shao Yang's words, he thought they made sense. He hastily ordered the servant girls to step aside. Zuo Shao Yang stepped forward and carefully examined the child's symptoms, asking: "How did the child fall ill?"

  "I caught a cold the other day, and have been having a fever and coughing, sneezing and running nose, feeling chilly. I was taken to the city for a check-up and some medicine was prescribed..."

  "Where did you see it? What medicine are you taking?"

  "Huimin Hall, it seems to be called... what was it again?" The fat landlord turned his head and asked the middle-aged woman. She couldn't remember either, so she asked the maid beside her. Fortunately, the personal maid in charge of decocting medicine had a good memory and said: "It seems to be something like Ma Huang Shi Gao Gan Cao Tang, it's a very long name!"

  "Ma Huang Xing Ren Gan Cao Shi Gao Tang?" -> "Ephedra Apricot Kernel Licorice Gypsum Decoction?"

  "That's right, it is this one."

  Mahuang Xingren Gancao Shigao Tang, also known as Mahuang Xinggan Tang, is a commonly used prescription for treating pulmonary heat and cough. It is suitable for external contraction of wind evil, evil heat and lung obstruction syndrome. "How was the effect after taking this medicine?"

  "It's okay, the fever has subsided a bit, so I brought him back home. But unexpectedly, this morning his condition suddenly worsened and he had a high fever again. Just as we were saying that we should take him to the city to see a doctor again, the child suddenly started convulsing and became like this!"

  Zuo Shaoyang nodded, took the child's wrist and used a specific three-gate pulse diagnosis method. After a moment, he said thoughtfully: "The child has contracted wind evil with cold invading the lungs, which has led to prolonged illness and caused high fever and urgent asthma due to phlegm-fire suffocating the lungs. Immediate treatment is necessary to open the orifices and awaken the spirit, allowing the child to cough up phlegm on their own. If that doesn't work, there's only one other option... otherwise, I fear the child won't make it to the city before suffocating!"

  What he didn't say afterwards is that if opening the airway still doesn't work and there are obvious symptoms of asphyxia endangering life, a tracheotomy must be performed. This is only a minor surgery in modern surgical techniques, but it was not available in ancient times, so they dare not mention it easily, also fearing to cause greater panic among the patient's family members.

  These words have already frightened the fat landlord, seeing his son's lips turning purple and breathing hard, he suddenly believed it, turned his head to look at the old man with a crutch: "Dad, what...what can be done?"

  Upon hearing this, the old man with a crutch behind him also panicked. He took a glance at Zuo Shao Yang and looked around, saying: "Young gentleman, where is your respected father? Please trouble him to come over and think of a solution together!"

  Zuo Shaoyang knew that the patient's family did not believe in his medical skills and judgment, so he could only sigh silently, turn around and point to Zuo Gui who was slowly approaching from a distance: "Look, here he comes."

  The old man hurriedly stepped forward, bowing his body and said: "Old master, our child is ill. Just now that young doctor said it was a sudden attack of windstroke. Would you please take a look?"

  Zuo Gui stroked his beard as he came over, feeling very anxious. Since opening the pharmacy, most of the illnesses he treated were minor ailments such as headaches, fever, diarrhea, and dysentery. He had never encountered a case of infantile convulsions before, so he didn't know how to treat it. But having encountered it, he couldn't say that he didn't know how to cure it, or else he would lose face. However, if he treated it carelessly and delayed the child's treatment, his guilt would be even greater.

  Left Shaoyang saw the expression of Left Guizhen, and knew that he was not confident in his heart, but it was not good to point out. Fortunately, Left Guizhen was still calm, and after checking for a while, nodded and said: "It's a sudden attack of wind, this... we are just patrol doctors, only bringing some wind-cold medicine, didn't bring medicine for this aspect, let's hurry up and send him to the city."

  Zuoyang knew that his father, Zuogui, did not dare to treat the child. He suddenly became anxious, as the child's symptoms were very dangerous and immediate action was needed to ensure clear breathing, otherwise it was likely that the child would suffocate halfway through. Just as he was about to speak, the old man with the crutch had already bowed his hands and said: "Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda! You just lend a hand, - child, hurry up and offer the diagnostic fee!"

  The old man had previously heard what Zuo Shao Yang said was reasonable and trustworthy, so he already believed him. He knew that among the many itinerant doctors who relied on boasting to swindle money, there were only a few exceptions. Most of them had some secret prescriptions and pills that could cure strange diseases. It's just that Zuo Shao Yang was too young, so he wasn't allowed to prescribe medicine, but instead found Old Lang Zhong Zuo Gui. However, seeing that Zuo Gui made an excuse for not bringing the medicine, it was clear that he was making a pretext. After thinking about it, he guessed that this old doctor must be taking advantage of the situation to ask for money, and first asked for a diagnosis fee. He didn't know that previously, Zuo Shao Yang had said that they would pay after the illness was cured, so he let his son take out the money.

  That fat landlord patted his waist, but he didn't have any money on him. What would a rustic country landlord like him be doing carrying around a heavy load of copper coins? He hastily turned to the old man who had called out earlier and said: "Housekeeper, hurry up and bring some money for Old Master Zhang!"

  "Alright!" The steward, who had money on him, hastily pulled out his purse from his waist and was about to count the cash when the fat rich man grabbed it and handed a bulging package to Old Master Zhang: "Sir, this is just a small token of our appreciation. If you can save my son, we'll give you a hefty reward!"

  Zuo Gui's old face turned red, and he waved his hand in embarrassment, but did not accept the money: "I didn't mean that, I'm a traveling doctor, and I always treat the illness first, and only collect payment if it's effective."

  The more he spoke, the more the old man and the fat landlord felt that he was rushing to make money. After hearing his words, it seemed that he had a good grasp of this chest disease, and suddenly they had even more confidence, and they begged again. The fat landlord saw that Zuo Gui still looked hesitant, stroking his white beard, so he turned around and stuffed the money bag into Zuo Shao Yang's hand: "Young brother, you also help say something, let your respected father save the child!"

  "Father, saving people is urgent! Let's save them first!"

  "Right! Thank you, old fellow!" The old man and the fat landlord both exclaimed in a hurry, bowing repeatedly.

  Zuo Gui saw that the family had forcibly stuffed money into Zuo Shao Yang's hands, and it would be impolite to decline again. But if he really wanted to treat him, how could he use medicine when he didn't have a clue in his mind? He went forward to take a look, examined his pulse and tongue, and stroked his white beard, lost in thought without speaking.

  Everyone's eyes were fixed on him.