The Essence of Traditional Chinese Medicine

The Essence of Traditional Chinese Medicine

While Lü Qinggong was wondering whether Huang Ji was really from his university, Huang Ji had already arrived at Tongji Hospital.

Today, while the dean was in his office, Xiao Fang from Human Resources suddenly knocked and entered. "Dean Hong, Professor Lü Qinggong just sent our hospital an email. It's a letter of recommendation, recommending an undergraduate from his university to interview here."

"He also said he sent one to you."

Dean Hong gave an acknowledging sound and logged into his email. Sure enough, there was an unread email from half an hour ago, sent from Professor Lü Qinggong's personal account.

The letter briefly introduced an undergraduate from Fudan University and included an attachment: a paper on thoracic medicine.

Dean Hong did not read the paper. He merely noticed phrases like "seek truth from facts" and "hire at your discretion" at the end of the recommendation letter, and immediately understood.

"Making Professor Lü write a recommendation letter means he has some connections. But if he were truly outstanding talent, Professor Lü would have introduced him directly to his own university's affiliated hospital. Why recommend him to me?"

"Looks like he's just average. Professor Lü probably only wrote the recommendation out of consideration for someone's favor."

Dean Hong quickly judged the nature of the letter. He did not download the paper and merely said to Xiao Fang, "All right, I understand. Contact him and have him come interview tomorrow at two in the afternoon. When he arrives, have Lao Lu meet with him."

"Uh... Dean Hong, he's already here..." Xiao Fang said.

Dean Hong was stunned. He thought the man was quite proactive. Professor Lü had sent him a recommendation letter half an hour ago, yet he had already rushed over.

"He's outside?"

Xiao Fang said, "Yes. He said his teacher had personally sent you a recommendation letter. I had him wait in the lounge while I came to verify whether you had received it."

Dean Hong could not help laughing. He thought Professor Lü had merely been polite in writing that letter; he did not really count as this person's teacher. This fellow certainly knew how to take advantage of an opening.

"All right, since he's here, have him come to my office," Dean Hong said with a smile.

Before long, Xiao Fang led a young man inside.

It was Huang Ji. He entered with a smile and said, "Hello, Dean Hong. I'm Professor Lü Qinggong's student. My name is Hua Xu."

According to the letter, Hua Xu did not count as Lü Qinggong's student. But Lü Qinggong had taught quite a few public courses, so it was not entirely wrong to call himself his student.

Dean Hong saw through Hua Xu's little scheme and smiled. "Mm. I've already read your paper. It's passable, I suppose."

He had not read it at all. Based purely on the wording of Lü Qinggong's recommendation letter and Hua Xu's eagerness to interview, he had judged the man's talent.

Sure enough, Huang Ji's expression grew a little anxious. "Actually... actually, I didn't write the paper very well. I have many more viewpoints..."

Dean Hong had not read the paper at all, so he could only say, "Is that so? Then tell me about them."

Huang Ji then began haltingly explaining the contents of his paper. He started with the inseparable relationship between the respiratory tract and the digestive system, sharply proposing that diseases of the digestive system could directly and indirectly trigger many respiratory illnesses.

The human intestinal tract was practically a second brain. It possessed the second most developed neural network in the human body, after the brain itself.

By "appeasing," "protecting," and "altering" the gut microbiome, one could directly send "commands" to the brain and all other organs.

Nearly all internal diseases affected a person's digestive function, and the reverse was true as well.

People lived for their brains and their stomachs. Thinking and digestion were the first and second most important functions of the human body.

This was actually the basic pharmacological principle of traditional Chinese medicine. Some Chinese medicines had, in this era, been identified as containing specific chemical drug components. Once absorbed, those components could cure certain illnesses and produce effects similar to Western medicine.

Those were things that had already been deciphered and could be scientifically explained.

But there were even more bizarre medicines that could not be deciphered at all, almost like witchcraft.

The formulas contained no chemical component capable of curing the disease, yet they still produced slow effects for reasons no one understood.

The reason was actually simple. Fifty percent of all orally administered Chinese medicines altered the structure of the human gut microbiome or stimulated the activity of certain specific bacteria. The chemicals secreted by those microbes would spread throughout the body, mainly reaching the brain.

The intestines would then command the brain to direct the immune system, or command other organs to mobilize what the body needed physiologically, ultimately resolving the illness.

It was a natural and gradual process, primarily making use of the microorganisms within the human body.

It was simply that even practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine themselves did not know the internal process. Whether the Compendium of Materia Medica or Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold, they were both typical works of accumulated experience.

Because they did not understand bacteria, the pharmacology of Chinese medicine was mainly based on empirical observations, supplemented by ideas such as "balancing yin and yang" and "external and internal evils" as underlying logic.

And Western medicine had never properly studied the impact Chinese medicine had on the human microbial ecosystem, so it had never understood why Chinese medicine worked.

In truth, bacteria cured diseases.

To adapt to the environmental changes caused by Chinese medicine, those microorganisms would be the first to change at astonishing speed—sometimes in days, sometimes in months—then macroscopically affect the physiological operation of the entire human body and the functions of its organs, finally allowing the diseased parts of the body to become healthy through self-regulation.

Chinese medicine contained substances that altered the microbiome and also provided corresponding nutrition. That was all. It was bacteria "treating" the human body upon which they depended for survival.

This was what Huang Ji had discovered after researching traditional Chinese medicine. Merely reading books, he could not understand the medical principles behind Chinese medicine at all.

Only after brewing and drinking Chinese medicine himself did he see the basic principle through the information.

The gradual process by which bacteria improved the human body was, to use an imperfect analogy, like humanity protecting the Earth.

After studying it repeatedly, he went back to read the Compendium of Materia Medica. Balancing yin and yang, nourishing the interior against external evils...

In the end, between those lines, he saw eight words: "Natural selection, survival of the fittest"!

Some bizarre Chinese medicine formulas even contained animal feces. In truth, that was introducing entirely new bacterial strains, creating an "ecological invasion" in the human intestines! In the end, superior strains would remain behind.

Compared with modern medicine, which violently killed pathogens with chemicals, altered physiology with physical instruments, and removed diseased tissue with surgical scalpels—simple, crude, and extremely fast-acting—

Chinese medicine relied on the microorganisms that had coexisted with the human body since ancient times, allowing the body to naturally heal itself in a more natural way. It was effective, but exceedingly slow.

Naturally, Huang Ji would not tell Dean Hong any of this.

He simply could not prove it. A great deal of the data had come from Information Sense.

So in this interview, he merely started from actual cases and said that after summarizing a large number of clinical cases, he had discovered that respiratory diseases could be cured by treating the digestive system.

Using that as his thesis, he examined and discussed the issue.

At first, Dean Hong did not think much of Huang Ji's halting explanation.

He had planned to listen a little longer, interrupt him, and casually assign him to some department.

But soon, Dean Hong found himself becoming absorbed without realizing it.

First, he discovered that Huang Ji's knowledge of internal medicine was solid and extensive.

There were even names of certain special enzymes he had never heard before, and he could not help asking follow-up questions.

Then he discovered that Huang Ji's descriptions were profound, so he secretly downloaded the paper from his inbox.

Dean Hong listened to Huang Ji while reading his paper.

He quickly discovered that the paper was terribly written!

It had started out discussing the respiratory tract, then abruptly jumped to the intestines. Though it contained many cases, the reasoning process always inexplicably skipped over huge sections.

From the perspective of academic writing, this was an utterly failed paper.

Now, paired with Huang Ji's explanation, he finally understood it.

Now I know why no one let him go to graduate school. This kid writes papers badly and speaks poorly. But there's nothing wrong with his line of thought, and nothing wrong with his reasoning. If I guided him in writing this paper, it would be good enough for a doctoral dissertation.

Dean Hong rose from his seat and began discussing the matter with Huang Ji.

He deliberately asked some difficult questions. Although Huang Ji was not eloquent, he answered them accurately and could even draw inferences from one case to another, raising deeper issues behind them.

After several exchanges, Dean Hong realized he had found a hidden gem.

He could not help asking, "Xiao Hua, do you want to pursue a doctorate?"

Everyone had the urge to pick up a hidden gem. Professor Lü Qinggong had previously felt that way too—other people's students always seemed more appealing.

Dean Hong felt the same way now. Huang Ji's paper was terribly written partly because it was his first time writing one, and partly because he had done it deliberately.

His halting interview performance was deliberate as well. Huang Ji believed that Dean Hong could tell his research ability was far beyond that of an undergraduate.

That way, Huang Ji would have more time to absorb the knowledge of a major figure like Dean Hong.

A normal interview was far too short.

If Huang Ji had performed exceptionally, overwhelmingly well, Dean Hong would have found it strange. Why would Professor Lü recommend someone like that here?

This way was just right.

At this moment, Dean Hong felt that Professor Lü had poor judgment. What was the point of judging students solely by their papers?

The Hua Xu before him was only an undergraduate, yet he could tell that he must have put in tremendous effort in private. His research ability was no worse than that of some doctoral students.

Such talent had been underestimated simply because he wrote papers poorly and stuttered when he spoke.

The feeling of having found a hidden gem instantly overtook Dean Hong.

After talking proactively for over two hours, he was certain this was doctoral material.

"I've already graduated. I plan to work..." Huang Ji said slowly.

"You can work while studying. Just apply directly to Tongji University. I'll arrange it for you," Dean Hong said.

"Really?"

Dean Hong smiled. "But I stopped supervising students long ago. I'll arrange a doctoral advisor for you. Still, working while pursuing graduate studies is very stressful. I recommend getting your doctoral degree first, then coming out to work. At that point, come directly to our hospital, and I'll arrange a position for you."

"Pursue a doctorate at Tongji?" Huang Ji asked.

"Yes. If you agree, I'll call right now. You can go directly to one of my former students. He's an associate professor now," Dean Hong said.

"Then thank you very much," Huang Ji said with a smile.

Dean Hong acted decisively and made two calls in a row.

"All right. Go directly to Tongji University and find Lin Tao. He's in the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism."

Huang Ji said sincerely, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Dean Hong. You're greatly worthy of respect."

"No need. Go on. I'll have Lin Tao guide you. In the future, make your reasoning process in your papers as detailed as possible. Don't leave anything out," Dean Hong said with a smile.

"Yes. Goodbye." Huang Ji smiled and left the office.

P.S.: Sorry. First of all, this is purely fictional. Huang Ji only wanted his knowledge. Like with the cancer case before, I'm using this plot point to clarify one of the themes. Just as Blue White Society and all the events in the universe constantly reveal the four words "Severing the Heavens" between the lines, revealing "All under heaven is white; only I am Solo Black," from the microscopic to the macroscopic, from bacteria to the universe, survival of the fittest exists everywhere. As for how Chinese medicine actually works in reality, I don't know. I'm not some heavenly ghost from our world, so please don't argue with me. (Predicting Six Nightmares Mirror: No, I'm going to argue anyway.)