Chapter 17: Extravagance

  The middle-aged man sighed: "Is that so?"

  "Ah, yes! Not only should Ma Huang Tang be taken in this way, but all exterior-releasing medicines for external contraction diseases, such as Ma Huang Tang and Ge Gen Tang, should be taken three times within half a day. If it's still not effective, continue taking the medicine according to this prescription, using the same method, and shorten the time interval to once every one and a half or even one hour. After taking the medicine, drink more congee. Continue until sweating occurs, then stop taking the medicine."

  After Left Shao Yang's explanation, the middle-aged man suddenly enlightened, thumbs up and said: "This little brother, you said that I understand now. Ah, I've lived for half my life, and I've taken this medicine countless times, some good, some not so good, it must be because of improper medication. After listening to you, I will take the medicine according to your method in the future, thank you very much!"

  "It should be!" Zuo Shaoyang handed him the medicine package, "During medication, pay attention to diet restrictions, do not eat raw and cold, sticky, large fish, meat and other indigestible foods and irritating foods."

  "Why?"

  "When food is raw and cold, it will hurt the defensive yang; pungent foods will hurt the stomach qi. If you eat something that's hard to digest, your body can only divert some of its normal qi from the skin surface to help with digestion, which affects the strength of the orthodox qi in fighting off wind evils, thus affecting the ability to resolve the exterior. It's like a country is fighting against foreign invasion, but if you don't treat your people well and they rebel, you'll have to withdraw troops to quell the rebellion, which will affect the fight against the external enemy."

  "Haha, little brother, this metaphor is really vivid, I understand now, thank you. How much does it cost in total?"

  "Eight cents."

  "Ah!" The middle-aged man took out his purse, pulled out a string of copper coins (ten Wen for one string) and placed it on the table: "Here, give you, more is reward for you."

  "Thank you, big brother."

  "It's only right that I thank you for explaining it to me so patiently, making me understand a lot of things. If I have any more headaches in the future, I'll come find you again."

  "Alright, big brother, take care on your way!"

  Zuo Shaoyang escorted the middle-aged man to the door, waved goodbye, and then turned back.

  Zuo Guidao said: "Zhong Er, that whole set of explanations you gave earlier sounds quite plausible, where did you learn it from?"

  "Hey, reading books? Didn't you tell me to read more?"

  "Reading books?" Zuo Gui looked at him with confusion, "In the past, you were forced to read and you didn't even bother to flip through a page of medical books, when did you change your ways?"

  Li said with a smile, "Our Zhong'er is originally very obedient, it's just that you've been pushing him too hard lately, so he doesn't want to learn. Actually, he's secretly reading books on his own."

  "Reading is a good thing, don't carry me on your back." Zuigui looked at his son carefully, "You said that 'sweat does not fear early', and also the administration method of 'three doses in half a day' for the diaphoretic medicine, where did you learn them from?"

  "Huangdi Neijing and Shanghan Lun."

  "'Huangdi Neijing'? 'Shanghan Lun'?" Zuo Gui was even more surprised, "We don't have these two books at home, neither your father nor I have read them, where did you see them?"

  Before the Tang Dynasty, medical education was mainly through apprenticeship and there were no specialized medical schools. Medical learning generally started directly from clinical practice, from symptoms to prescriptions. Except for famous doctors, many ordinary practitioners were empiricists, who would prescribe medicine based on symptoms without understanding the underlying causes or mechanisms of the disease. They only focused on the last two aspects of "理、法、方、药" (principle, method, formula, and medicine), rarely considering the first two. The main reason for this was that before the Tang Dynasty, due to limitations in printing and paper-making techniques, medical books could not be widely printed and disseminated. As a result, many practitioners spent their entire careers without even reading classic works like "Shang Han Lun", relying solely on clinical experience passed down from their masters.

  Zuo Gui was a bit better off, having studied in a private school for several years and followed his father's teacher to learn medicine, also directly practicing clinically. Fortunately, his father had a few handwritten medical books that he gave him before his death. He then taught them to his son, but Zuo Zhong didn't like reading books and didn't even look at these few medical books. What Zuo Gui learned was limited to this, without having read the "Huangdi Neijing" or "Shang Han Lun".

  "Huangdi Neijing", also known as "Huangdi Internal Classic", is one of the four great classics of traditional Chinese medicine, along with "Shanghan Lun". It was written during the Warring States period. Although it is a classic, its main function is to lay the theoretical foundation for traditional Chinese medical theory, making it a monumental work on TCM theory. However, since it only records 13 prescriptions, its clinical significance is not great, and ordinary doctors are generally not very interested in it. As a result, there were fewer people copying and spreading it at that time, and it was not widely circulated.

  "The Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases" was written in the Eastern Han dynasty. During the Warring States period, there was no printing technology or papermaking technique. Although Cai Lun invented papermaking during the Eastern Han dynasty, it had not yet been widely promoted or popularized, especially since printing technology had not yet been developed. The spread of books still relied on hand copying, and the number of copies was very small, with a limited range. Moreover, when these two books first appeared, they did not have as much fame as they do now, and there were not many people who appreciated them, so they were not widely disseminated.

  The book "Shang Han Za Bing Lun" was lost for decades after its completion. During the Jin Dynasty, Wang Shuhe, as the Imperial Physician, used his power to collect the parts related to typhoid fever from all over the country with great effort, and compiled them into "Shang Han Lun". However, the part about miscellaneous diseases could not be found anywhere. It wasn't until the Song Dynasty that a scholar discovered it in a pile of bamboo slips that had been damaged by insects, and after some effort, edited it into "Jin Kui Yao Lue", which is also known as the miscellaneous disease part of "Shang Han Za Bing Lun". One book became two books.

  Before the Tang Dynasty, due to the lack of invention of printing technology, excellent medical books were rarely seen by ordinary doctors in the folk, except for high-ranking imperial physicians. It wasn't until the early Tang Dynasty that woodblock printing appeared, and movable-type printing didn't emerge until the Song Renzong era. Therefore, the popularization of medical books truly began in the Song Dynasty.

  So, naturally, Zuo Gui had not read the "Shang Han Lun", but many famous prescriptions from the "Shang Han Lun" have been circulating among the people in various handwritten forms. Since they were all excerpts, many only copied the prescription itself, without recording the full discussion of the prescription, so many doctors only knew what disease to use what prescription for, but did not understand why it should be used that way.

  He had studied the history of traditional Chinese medicine, so he also understood why Zuo Gui was so surprised. He regretted his quick mouth and fabricated a lie on the spot: "A few months ago, I saw it from an old doctor who was about to faint from hunger. I gave him some wild vegetable buns. After eating, he said that we had a predestined relationship and took out a dirty book for me to look at. He told me to read it freely for a day, but not to copy it down. I looked at it, but there were many things I didn't understand, so...so I just remembered this method."

  Zuo Gui's eyes lit up and he hastily asked: "Really? Where is Doctor Ling?"

  "He left, but I don't know where he went."

  "Where is the medical book?"

  "He took it away after I used it for just one day. I was still thinking about going home, so I returned it to him when night fell and came back."

  "You! Do you still remember any recipes?"

  "I can't remember, he only let me see it for half a day, how could I possibly remember that much."

  "Think it over carefully!"

  "I really can't remember!"

  "You numbskull! There's no one more foolish than you under the heavens! This is an opportunity given by the heavens, and if you can really memorize that book or come to understand it, you can become a renowned divine physician in the world! Alas, you've only read for half a day, and now that night has fallen, you want to go home and not continue reading. Truly... truly, you are a rotten wood that cannot be carved!"

  No wonder Zuo Gui was so anxious and frustrated. In ancient times, medical books were often kept secret and not passed on. Sun Simiao, the "King of Medicine" of the Tang Dynasty, once lamented that many folk doctors in Jiangnan would not share their copies of Zhang Zhongjing's Shang Han Lun with others, saying: "The masters of Jiangnan keep the essential formulas of Zhang Zhongjing secret and do not pass them on!" This shows how difficult it was to obtain medical books during the early Tang Dynasty. How much more so for a precious medical classic like Zhang Zhongjing's Shang Han Lun?

  Mr. Liang saw Zuo Gui's white beard fluttering anxiously, sighing and stomping his feet, and hurried over to persuade him: "Old master, the child is still young, just looking at it for half a day and remembering so much is already very good..."

  "You know nothing!" Zuo Gui pounded his chest and stomped his feet, exasperated with Zuo Shao Yang: "Do you know how much a prescription can sell for? Your grandfather, your master, spent a whole ox to buy a treatment for diarrhea from a doctor! What a robust ox it was! If it's a lifesaving good prescription, no matter how much money you spend, you won't be able to buy it! The book that Lin Doctor let you see must have many good prescriptions! You didn't go memorize those prescriptions, but instead went to memorize these useless medication methods. What a waste of talent!"