Cold in the Lungs

"I still feel there's something fishy about this. Does your brother have any enemies?"

Mr. Mengfei tidied up the examination reports on the table and put them back in the bag.

Xuhui shook his head. "My brother's temperament is completely opposite to mine. He's quiet and never causes trouble. It's impossible for him to have any enemies. Besides, he's a master craftsman; many people in the furniture factory were trained by him, so he's well-liked!"

Hearing this, Mr. Mengfei shook his head. "No, no! I'm still worried. I have to try it myself. Go get a basin and fill it with some water."

Without saying a word, Xuhui went to the kitchen, took a small basin, filled it halfway with water, and brought it over.

Mr. Mengfei took the basin of water and entered Xuyang's room. Xuyang was listless and kept his eyes closed. When he heard someone come in, he sat up halfway and leaned against the quilt behind him.

"Eryang, this is Mengfei. We ate together before, that's his apprentice!"

Xuhui introduced Mr. Mengfei and Su Ziyang to Xuyang.

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry to trouble you all, but this illness came on so suddenly, I really can't stay with you!" Xuyang spoke very politely, and tried to struggle to get up, but Mr. Mengfei held him down.

"It's alright, it's alright. Let me check on you first, and we'll drink after you're better. Spit into this basin."

Mr. Mengfei told Xuyang to spit in the water, which startled Xuyang. Xuhui then said from the side, "Just spit it out. Take a big gulp."

When his older brother spoke, Xuyang was puzzled but did as he was told. Because he was bedridden, Xuyang's saliva was very thick, and he spat it into the bowl, where it floated on the water.

Mr. Mengfei looked at the saliva floating in the bowl of water and let out a soft sigh.

"Dahui, take this."

Xuhui took the bowl of water, and Mr. Mengfei leaned close to Xuyang and pulled open Xuyang's eyelids with his hand. "Look to the left."

Xuyang obediently looked to his left, while Mr. Mengfei did the same, looking at his right eye.

"..." After reading it, Mr. Mengfei remained silent, waved to Xuhui, and the three of them returned to the living room.

Xuhui looked at Mr. Mengfei with some anxiety, but Mr. Mengfei shook his head. "Sigh, I checked it using our own methods, and it seems there really isn't any."

"That's good. Then you should see a doctor!" Xuhui breathed a sigh of relief after emptying the basin of water.

"Master, could you have checked for poisoning or curses by doing that just now?" Su Ziyang whispered in Mr. Mengfei's ear.

"Ge Hong wrote in ' Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies - Prescriptions for Treating Gu Poisoning ' that to determine whether someone is poisoned by Gu, one should have the patient spit in water; if it sinks, it is Gu; if it floats, it is not. So, by observing whether the saliva sinks to the bottom, one can possibly determine whether someone is poisoned by Gu." Although the treatment was being conducted at Xuhui's home, Mr. Mengfei still patiently explained this to Su Ziyang.

"As for looking at the eyes, a person who has been cursed will have a very obvious bloodshot in their eyes. That's it."

"Now that we've confirmed it's not some other strange event, Ziyang, go and check Xuyang's pulse. Tell me your thoughts, what do you think?"

Instead of rushing to treat Xuyang's illness himself, Mr. Mengfei pushed Su Ziyang to the forefront.

"OK."

This is the second time Su Ziyang has encountered a cancer patient since his previous encounter with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, so Su Ziyang was very excited about this opportunity for initial diagnosis.

Mr. Mengfei and Xuhui were sitting in the living room, while Su Ziyang went into the bedroom alone.

Xuyang saw that Su Ziyang was quite young, so he smiled and said, "Young man, you have a bright future ahead of you as you study under Mr. Mengfei!"

"You flatter me. I call Xuhui' Uncle-Master,' so I'll call you Uncle Yang too. Uncle Yang, my master asked me to come in and take your pulse."

Mr. Su Ziyang exchanged a few words with Xuyang, and then directly stated his purpose.

"Okay, let's do it."

Xuyang politely lay down, leaving his wrists exposed outside the blanket.

Su Ziyang placed his hand directly on Xuyang's wrist, his three fingers defining the distance between them.

When Su Ziyang first placed his fingers on Xu Yang's wrist, he couldn't feel his pulse. Only after pressing down hard with his fingers could he feel Xuyang's pulse.

Moreover, Xuyang's pulse was beating very slowly. At first glance, it appeared to be a deep and sluggish pulse.

Su Ziyang carefully took Xuyang's pulse and found that the pulses in both of his hands were very similar, both being deep and slow. However, the pulse at the Guan position on his right hand was much weaker than that at the Cun and Chi positions.

"Are you feeling unwell at any time?" After taking his pulse, Su Ziyang began to ask questions.

Xuyang struggled to lean back against the blanket, took a breath, and said softly, "Right now, my throat feels dry, I have no strength all over my body, and I'm also short of breath. I can't catch my breath even with the slightest movement."

Do you feel cold all over?

Su Ziyang asked again.

"It's a bit cold; I feel my left leg is especially cold. Other than that, I don't feel any other cold spots."

After saying a few words, Xuyang had to gasp for breath several times, as if he was about to suffocate.

Seeing this, Su Ziyang didn't dare to ask any more questions. He looked at Xuyang's tongue coating, told Xuyang to rest, and then returned to the living room.

When Mr. Mengfei saw Su Ziyang come out, he asked, "How did the pulse diagnosis go?"

"Both hands have deep and slow pulses, especially the right hand's Guan position. The tongue coating is thin and white overall, and the tongue body is not red. The left leg feels particularly cold, the throat is dry, and there is shortness of breath and wheezing."

Su Ziyang told Mr. Mengfei the information and analysis he had just obtained, in detail.

"Tell me your judgment!" Mr. Mengfei said, staring at Su Ziyang.

Seeing Mr. Mengfei staring at him like that, as if testing him, Su Ziyang suddenly became nervous. "Master, then I'll be frank!"

"Speak. I'd like to hear the details." Mr. Mengfei used a word that made Su Ziyang even more nervous.

"Master, my consideration is that it's a case of cold-induced illness. The * Treatise on Cold Damage Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet * (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber)."

"As later generations have said, the Six Qi wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, and fire) exist between heaven and earth, so why is it that only cold qi harms people? Therefore, the opening of the book ' Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet ' records the methods for remedies when the Six Qi, wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness, and fire, damage the five internal organs."

Su Ziyang was having a good time talking, so he kept going on and on. When he got to this point, he noticed that Xuhui and Mr. Mengfei were looking at him with some surprise.

"Master, did I say something wrong?"

Coming to his senses, Su Ziyang asked nervously in a low voice.

Mr. Mengfei quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, please continue. Please continue!"

Seeing that Mr. Mengfei was genuinely listening and not just mocking him as usual, Su Ziyang composed himself and continued, "Just now, when I examined Uncle Yang's pulse, it was a deep and slow pulse, and his tongue coating was a thin white coating, indicating a cold condition. Coupled with the sudden onset of this illness and Uncle Yang's symptoms, I feel it is very similar to a description of a cold-related illness."

"Which one?" Mr. Mengfei asked quickly.

"Cold-related illnesses, wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, inability to catch one's breath, excessive salivation, deafness, and dry throat—this is due to cold pathogens invading the lungs."

Su Ziyang recited a passage directly from the original text. "This is somewhat related to Uncle Yang's test results, so this is my diagnosis!"

After saying this, Mr. Mengfei smiled knowingly, "The younger generation is truly formidable."

Xuhui also thought Su Ziyang's words made sense, and nodded repeatedly from the side. "Ziyang, what medicine should we use for this?"

Upon hearing Xuhui's question, Su Ziyang casually recited the second half of the original text. "For a deep and slow pulse, the Licorice and Dried Ginger Decoction is the main treatment; for a strong pulse, there will be pain in the inner elbow and difficulty turning over, the Immature Bitter Orange, Tangerine Peel, Platycodon, Pinellia, Fresh Ginger, and Licorice Decoction is the main treatment."

"Given Uncle Yang's condition, I don't think there's any need to use the Licorice and Dried Ginger Decoction. I'd rather just use the immature bitter orange, tangerine peel, platycodon root, pinellia, ginger, and licorice decoction. Although Uncle Yang's arm doesn't hurt, I think it's still worth a try!"

After Su Ziyang finished explaining everything, Mr. Mengfei nodded in agreement. "Alright, we'll do it your way. You can write the prescription. Dahui, do you trust him? If you say it won't work, I'll go in and check Yang's pulse again."

I trust the people you teach.

Xuhui's words warmed Su Ziyang's heart.

Cancer is not like a common cold or headache; it can be fatal. And the person suffering from it was his own brother, yet Xuhui still said one thing, "I'm at ease!"

This kind of reassurance is tantamount to entrusting one's life to the doctor's hands; what incredible courage that takes! Perhaps only those who have experienced it firsthand can truly understand.

Su Ziyang took the notebook from Xuhui and started writing prescriptions on it.

The original formula and dosage of Zhi Shi Ju Pi Jie Geng Ban Xia Sheng Jiang Gan Cao Tang are: 4 Zhi Shi, 2 liang of Ju Pi, 3 liang of Jie Geng, 0.5 sheng of Ban Xia (washed), 3 liang of Sheng Jiang (sliced), and 2 liang of Gan Cao (roasted).

Because some prescriptions in the Treatise on Cold Damage are taken as a single dose, while others are divided into three warm doses. This prescription is also one dose divided into three doses.

So Su Ziyang simply divided the dosage of this prescription by three and wrote it down.

14g of immature bitter orange

10g of orange peel

Platycodon grandiflorus 15g

15g of ginger and Pinellia

Seven slices of ginger, cut into pieces about the thickness of a coin.

10g of roasted licorice root

7 pay.

"Master, Uncle-Master, please take a look at the prescription."

After writing down the prescription, Su Ziyang handed the paper directly to Mr. Mengfei and Xuhui.

The two looked at the prescription. Mr. Mengfei didn't say anything, but Xuhui raised a question, "Ziyang, I have a question. Given my brother's current physical condition, can he take this medicine? Since Zhishi (枳实) is for regulating the middle and lowering qi, won't using this qi-dispersing medicine make his body even weaker?"

"No. As the saying goes, if you're sick, you suffer from the illness; if you're healthy, you suffer from the body. I think at this stage, the main task should be expelling the evil. Since there's cold evil present, directly expelling it is no problem!"

Su Ziyang's statement was certain, so Xuhui didn't say anything more and immediately took the prescription and went out to get the medicine.

"Master, what I just said was correct, wasn't it!" Xuhui left, leaving only Mr. Mengfei and Su Ziyang in the living room. Only then did Su Ziyang ask his master, feeling a little guilty.

Mr. Mengfei smiled and said, "I'm very pleased and happy that you could offer such insights. I originally thought you would be a bit flustered about this kind of illness, but who knew your thinking and logic were still very clear!"

Mr. Mengfei, unusually, genuinely praised Su Ziyang.

"I'm a free spirit. Although I pointed you in the right direction, you learned the specifics yourself, though Lao Jin also contributed. But you really put in the effort. I wasn't wrong about you, which proves I have excellent judgment! I'm so amazing. Hehehe."

After praising Su Ziyang, Mr. Mengfei started boasting about himself. This left Su Ziyang feeling helpless. "Master, please, can't you have some self-respect? You're making me unable to admire you anymore..."

"You think I need your admiration?" Mr. Mengfei glanced at Su Ziyang sideways. "Let me tell you, the people who admire me could line up from this building to the building across the street. Who do you think you are? You dare to admire me? You're not worthy!"

"I..." Su Ziyang watched as his master, who had been so profound and unfathomable just moments before, suddenly transformed into a scoundrel. He then sat down on the sofa and stopped talking, lest he be driven mad with anger.

Seeing that Su Ziyang remained silent, Mr. Mengfei took out his phone and made a call, "Old Xiao, how much does that expert you introduced me to charge? I'll transfer the money to him, you can give it to him!"

"Is it all done?" Old Daoist Master Xiao's voice came through the phone.

"Ah, it's over. He glanced at it, said it was nothing, and left. I didn't try to stop him, but I just wanted to ask you how much he charged!" Mr. Mengfei continued to ask.

"He's gone? That kid! Don't worry about him, I'll give it to him." Old Daoist Master Xiao a little surprised that Xue Zhen had already left.

"One thing at a time. I'll transfer the money in a bit. How much? Tell me quickly, phone calls are really expensive."

"Eighteen thousand." Old Daoist Master Xiao, unable to resist Mr. Mengfei's insistence, gave a number.

"Okay, I'll send it to you in a bit!" Mr. Mengfei hung up the phone immediately.

"That Old Xiao." Mr. Mengfei muttered, then transferred 1,800 yuan to Old Daoist Master Xiao's WeChat.

"Master, he came and said one sentence, and he's worth 1,800?!"

After Mr. Mengfei transferred the money, Su Ziyang Mr. Mengfei.

"You could make money too, the problem is you don't have the ability."

Su Ziyang thought it was expensive, but Mr. Mengfei didn't think it was a problem at all, and even said a word in support of Xue Zhen.

As soon as he entered the door, Su Ziyang started working and forgot about the matter of observing Xue Zhen's aura at the train station. Now that Xue Zhen was mentioned, Su Ziyang remembered the matter again and told him about seeing golden light on Xue Zhen's body.

"How can I explain it to you? Their system is very complex. I can't explain it in a short time. But I call them 'fragrant children,' or in some places they're called 'great immortals' or something like that. Lao Jin knows more about this, so you should ask him later!"

Mr. Mengfei's explanation was unclear, and Su Ziyang was also confused.

Su Ziyang was pondering Mr. Mengfei's words when Xuhui, who had gone out to get medicine, returned.

Not only did he take the Chinese medicine, but he also carried a medicine pot and went straight into the kitchen to brew the medicine.