Deterioration

The next day, Su Ziyang and the others got up early to prepare for their trip to another city.

The place we went to was a small town. It's said there's a very famous fortune teller in the town, and it was a friend of Xuhui who helped us get in touch with him.

Just as we left the city, a friend from Xuhui called.

"Dahui, where are you?" came the voice of a middle-aged man over the phone.

"I've just left the city. I'll call you when I'm almost there."

Xuhui hung up the phone and continued to focus on driving, while Su Ziyang looked worriedly at Xuyang, who was sitting in the back seat, drowsy and listless.

As soon as the car arrived at a small town, a man on a small electric scooter was waiting to greet it at the intersection.

"Dahui, just follow me."

The man, wearing sunglasses, led the way on a small electric scooter. After many twists and turns, the scooter finally arrived at the gate of a large courtyard.

To Su Ziyang's surprise, there was a large open space in front of the courtyard, and parking spaces were marked out for people to park.

It's nine o'clock in the morning, and there are already many cars parked at the entrance, including some worth hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan.

Before Su Ziyang even entered the door, he could smell a strong incense aroma.

After entering, there were many people sitting and standing in the courtyard.

The man on the electric scooter, wearing sunglasses, led Su Ziyang and his group straight into the house.

At this moment, a young man stopped the man wearing sunglasses. "They're burning incense inside, go to the back and join the queue."

"Hongyuan, we already talked to Third Granny yesterday. This person has come from afar and is sick. Cancer. Go in and tell Third Granny, and she'll know."

Judging from their conversation, the man in sunglasses clearly recognized the young man named Hongyuan who was guarding the door. However, Hongyuan seemed unfamiliar with the man in sunglasses. He glanced at the group suspiciously before going inside to report.

About ten minutes later, a happy couple came out of the house. Hongyuan followed them out and said to Su Ziyang and the others, "Third Granny wants you to come in."

Su Ziyang and Xuhui supported the weak Xuyang on either side, while the man in sunglasses, Lao Si, went into the house first.

Upon entering, one is greeted by rows of gleaming golden statues, a dazzling array of offerings, and the pervasive aroma of incense.

Beneath the altar was a grand armchair, and sitting on it was a very elderly woman.

The Lao Si man in sunglasses greeted the old lady respectfully, "Third Granny."

Then, pointing to Su Ziyang and his group, he said, "This is the younger brother of the friend I told you about yesterday. He's sick; please have mercy and take a look at him."

Although Third Granny looks very old, she is not hard of hearing or has good eyesight, and speaks very clearly.

"Come here, let me take a look."

As she spoke, Third Granny stood up from the armchair. Su Ziyang and Xuhui also helped Xuyang to get closer to Third Granny.

"Hongyuan, get him a small stool!"

Third Granny first stared at Xuyang for a moment, then asked Hongyuan to bring over a small stool and gestured for Xuyang to sit down.

After Xuyang sat down, Third Granny placed her hand on Xuyang's head and then closed her eyes.

Everyone in the room watched as Third Granny closed her eyes, holding their breath and staring intently at Third Granny.

After three minutes of Third Granny stroking Xuyang's head, Su Ziyang suddenly felt a cool sensation emanating from Third Granny.

After Su Ziyang sensed this cool aura, Third Granny also opened her eyes and looked at Su Ziyang standing to the side with some surprise.

Third Granny looked at Su Ziyang for a while without saying anything. Instead, she removed her hand from Xuyang's head, turned around, and took out a whole bunch of incense from under the altar.

"I'll offer some incense."

After untying one end of the incense stick, Third Granny held it in her hand and lit it on the red candle on the altar.

Strangely enough, according to common sense, incense should ignite quickly after touching a flame, but Su Ziyang found that the incense in Third Granny's hand was just being heated over the flame for a full half minute, and the incense was blackened by the smoke, but there was still no sign of it lighting up.

Seeing this, Third Granny frowned on her wrinkled face. Half a minute later, the incense still hadn't been lit.

The Third Granny placed the incense on the altar, clasped her hands together, and respectfully prayed to the statue of the deity, while muttering incantations. Su Ziyang clearly heard a word like "blessing."

After a prayer, Third Granny picked up the incense from the altar again and lit it on the candle.

But this time, the incense sticks only got even darker, and there was still no sign of them being lit.

Third Granny put the incense down again, repeated the procedure, and then picked it up again.

This time, the incense finally lit after burning for more than a minute.

Seeing the incense lit, Third Granny breathed a sigh of relief, placed the incense sticks into the incense burner, and prayed for a while with her hands clasped together.

But then something strange happened again. When the incense had burned down to about a third of its original length, it started to smoke but didn't ignite, and then... it went out...

Third Granny was startled when she saw the incense had gone out. Then she sighed and said, "You should all go back."

"Third Granny, is my friend's younger brother alright?"

The Lao Si man in sunglasses, unaware of what his Third Granny was doing or what the outcome would be, simply asked a very direct question.

"It's just an illness destined for you; there shouldn't be any interference from evil spirits or heretics. Go back and find a doctor to treat it properly." Third Granny continued to sit in the armchair, seemingly extremely tired.

When Xuhui heard his Third Granny say the same thing, he nodded repeatedly, "Okay, thank you, Third Granny."

After saying that, he took out five brand-new hundred-yuan bills from his pocket and placed them on a table next to the altar, which was covered with red banknotes.

After putting out the banknotes, Xuhui bowed to the statue in the house and thanked his Third Granny again.

Just as the group turned to leave, Third Granny called them back, then pointed at Su Ziyang and asked, "Kid, what do you do for a living?"

"Me?" Su Ziyang pointed to himself and said with some doubt.

"Yes, you." Third Granny smiled and looked at Su Ziyang.

"I am a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine," Su Ziyang said succinctly.

"Hehe..."

After hearing what Su Ziyang had said, Third Granny smiled but didn't say anything more. Instead, she waved her hand, signaling Hongyuan to see the guest out.

After the group left the courtyard, the Lao Si man in sunglasses grabbed Xuhui's arm and said, "Dahui, are you stupid? Third Granny didn't do anything for us, and you just left five hundred yuan. Do you have too much money to burn? Two hundred isn't enough!"

Xuhui looked at his Lao Si and gave a wry smile, "Heh, my brother's sick, just trying to put my mind at ease!"

Seeing Xuhui's wry smile, the Lao Si sighed as well, "Come sit at my place for a while?"

"I'm not going. My brother's condition is such that I don't want to trouble you, Fourth Brother." Xuhui pointed to Su Ziyang and Xuyang sitting in the car in the distance.

"Alright. Come back when Eryang is better. I'll treat you to some corn liquor my wife brewed." The Lao Si glanced at Xuyang's listless appearance and didn't try to stop him any further.

Okay! Sorry for the trouble.

"We're family, no need for formalities. Hurry back!"

The Lao Si patted Xuhui on the shoulder and rode his bicycle in the opposite direction.

It was already afternoon when Xuhui and his group returned home.

They bought some food on the way, and after a quick bite, Xuyang went back inside to lie down.

"We've consulted two people, so it seems she really is sick. Let's go to the hospital for another check-up tomorrow!" Xuhui had complete faith in his Third Granny's abilities, so he stopped worrying about anything else and prepared to focus on getting better again.

Su Ziyang agreed with Xuhui's statement, but when he went to bed at night, Su Ziyang kept recalling the scene of his Third Granny lighting incense during the day.

That fragrance smells so strange...

The next day was another hectic one.

Xuhui and his two companions went to the city hospital for X-rays and various tests.

By the end of the day, Xuyang, who was already lacking energy, was even weaker.

After the results came out, Su Ziyang secretly dragged Xuhui to a place to see them.

The results of this examination were not significantly different from the last one.

The shadow on the lung is still the same size; the only difference is that the shadow that previously eroded the collarbone has disappeared.

"It's good that it hasn't gotten any worse." Xuhui breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the test results.

You'll have to keep taking your medication, right?

Although Xuyang's cold hadn't completely cleared up, Su Ziyang still suggested that he brew the medicine that night.

"Okay." Xuhui agreed and went to soak the herbs.

The next morning, just as he got up, Xuyang limped out of the house.

"Uncle Yang, what happened to your foot?" Su Ziyang asked quickly when he saw Xuyang limping.

"I don't know, my feet hurt terribly when I woke up," Xuyang said as he walked towards the bathroom.

As they reached the bathroom door, Xuyang suddenly stopped and said to Su Ziyang, "Ziyang, could you add something to my medicine to regulate my intestines? I haven't been able to go to the toilet very often lately."

"Ah~" Su Ziyang exclaimed, and Xuyang went into the restroom.

"Uncle-Master, Uncle Yang just said his leg is hurting terribly," Su Ziyang said, looking at Xuhui who came out of the bedroom.

"Why?" Xuhui had just woken up and asked, looking slightly puzzled, "I don't know what's going on."

"I don't know. He went to the bathroom. Let's ask him when he comes out."

Su Ziyang went into the kitchen to make some porridge.

"Did your master write to you over there?" Xuhui also went into the kitchen to get busy.

"No, I don't know what's going on yet. They're probably busy."

The two were preparing breakfast when Xuyang appeared at the kitchen door, limping.

"What happened to your leg?" Xuhui asked, looking at Xuyang's limping gait.

"I don't know. It hurts terribly when I woke up." Xuyang repeated the same thing he had just said.

Su Ziyang washed his hands and said that Xuyang should lie down on the sofa so he could take a look.

Xuyang's pain is located in his hip area, specifically at the Bones.

Su Ziyang looked at the painful area, which was neither red nor swollen, and performed a simple initial examination by touching it with his hand. Xuyang's pain did not show any significant change.

Xuhui then examined the area where Xuyang was in pain, but found nothing abnormal.

Let's eat first.

Su Ziyang and Xuhui found nothing wrong, so they could only eat first.

After drinking a bowl of porridge, Xuyang said he didn't have much of an appetite and wanted to go back to his bedroom to rest.

After Xuyang returned to the bedroom, Xuhui shared his thoughts. "Could the pain have shifted to the Bones?"

"I think it's unlikely. I had a full body check-up yesterday, and it wasn't on my thigh yet. How could it have metastasized so quickly overnight?"

Su Ziyang directly rejected Xuhui's idea.

"I'll go check Uncle Yang's pulse again in a bit. He just mentioned that he wasn't having any trouble urinating. I need to see if his pulse has changed and adjust the prescription if necessary."

"Okay!" Xuhui nodded.

Half an hour after the meal, Su Ziyang took Xuyang's pulse again.

After taking Xiaochaihu granules a few times, Xuyang's cold was almost completely cured.

Therefore, this time the pulse did not show the characteristics of a wiry and rapid pulse, but instead turned into a deep pulse.

Unlike the previous deep and slow pulse, this time the blood and qi in the pulse were very sluggish, similar to the feeling of a knife scraping bamboo.

"Uncle Yang, you just said that you sometimes have diarrhea and sometimes constipation, right?" Su Ziyang asked, pressing his fingers against Xuyang's wrist.

"Yes." Xuyang nodded.

"Do you have any stomach discomfort? Do you hear any gurgling sounds in your stomach?" Su Ziyang asked again.

"Yes!" Xuyang nodded again.

"Okay. I understand."

After Su Ziyang finished speaking, he and Xuhui went to the living room, took out some papers, and prepared to write a prescription.

"Ziyang, has your condition changed?" Xuhui asked cautiously as he sat down beside Su Ziyang, seeing him preparing to prescribe a new prescription.

"Hmm. I previously diagnosed it as cold in the lungs, but the situation has changed. I think the disease has shifted from the lungs to the spleen, from cold in the lungs to cold in the spleen! The lungs are associated with metal, and the spleen with earth. Earth generates metal, and metal is the child of earth, so it's quite possible that the child's illness affects the mother!"

"The *Synopsis of Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet * states that abdominal distension, borborygmus, indigestion, diarrhea, and even weakness and inability to lift the legs, along with a slow and hesitant pulse, indicate that cold evil has invaded the spleen; if it becomes severe, there will be stiffness and pain in the hip joint, making it difficult to bend or straighten. The symptoms that Uncle Yang exhibits, combined with his pulse, are quite related to this description! I'm going to try a different prescription!"

Su Ziyang explained it to Xuhui Xuhui, who didn't quite understand such profound medical principles and was a little confused, but still nodded. "Okay, okay! I'll listen to you! I'll listen to you. After you bring the medicine, I'll go get it right away!"

"Good."

The formula for treating cold in the spleen is called Zhishi Baizhu Fuling Gancao Decoction. This formula and the formula for treating cold in the lungs both contain the herb Zhishi, but their approaches are completely different.

The herbs Atractylodes macrocephala and Poria cocos place greater emphasis on spleen health.

As Su Ziyang pondered the matter, he wrote down the prescription.

14g of immature bitter orange,

15g of Atractylodes macrocephala,

15g of Poria cocos

5g of roasted licorice root.

The prescription still contained seven doses. Xuhui glanced at the prescription, then took it without a word and went out to get the medicine.

Su Ziyang sat on the sofa and reported his diagnosis to Mr. Mengfei, but Mr. Mengfei, seemingly busy with something, did not reply immediately...