Acupuncture Taboos

A boastful post on social media greatly satisfied Su Ziyang's smug and arrogant heart.

The next day, Su Ziyang was still excited. He took the box of gold needles to his clinic and sat down, fiddling with the needles in his hand.

Su Ziyang has been seeing patients here for quite some time, but there are still not many patients, which is largely due to the fact that Su Ziyang takes leave every few days.

"Grandpa, what's wrong?"

Hearing a shout outside the door, Su Ziyang quickly put away the needles and ran out.

The sound came from the first examination room on the second floor. The doctor in that room seemed to have just arrived yesterday, so Su Ziyang quickly ran over.

Since it was early morning and the clinic had just opened, there were relatively few patients at that time.

Inside the room, a young man of similar age to Su Ziyang, wearing a white coat, was looking somewhat anxiously at the old man who was reclining on a chair with his head tilted to one side.

Su Ziyang looked closely and saw that the old man had many acupuncture needles stuck in his head and hands.

Seeing that the young man seemed a bit helpless, Su Ziyang quickly entered the room and swiftly removed all the acupuncture needles from the old man's body.

Then, Su Ziyang placed his finger on the old man's carotid artery and felt the pulse in the artery. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm fainting from the needle! Let's get you a cup of hot water!"

Su Ziyang was a little anxious when he saw that the old man had fainted from the injection. He didn't pay attention to his tone and attitude, but to outsiders it sounded like he was speaking in a commanding tone.

The young man, who was about the same age as Su Ziyang, didn't say anything. He took a disposable paper cup and filled it with warm water.

Su Ziyang patted the old man on the shoulder. "Grandpa, Grandpa, are you feeling better?"

Fortunately, the fainting spell wasn't too serious, and the old man slowly woke up when Su Ziyang called out to him.

"It's better now, sir."

Su Ziyang said softly.

"Hmm!" The old man mumbled incoherently, his face turning from red to white, and then sweat dripped down his body.

"Have a drink of water!"

Su Ziyang handed the water glass over, and the old man took a couple of sips, his complexion slowly returning to normal.

The doctor who was seeing patients in the clinic noticed that the old man's complexion had improved, so he stood aside and said, "Sir, you have heart disease!"

"Sigh, it's been so many years, my heart hasn't been doing well!"

The old man had fully recovered and took another sip of water.

"Why didn't you tell me you would receive acupuncture treatment?"

The doctor's tone in the consultation room carried a hint of accusation.

You didn't ask me!

The old man was clearly a bit unhappy, and casually put his water glass on the table to the side.

"You old man! Really!"

The doctor in the examination room grumbled again, then waved his hand. "Sir, please go home. Go back and rest."

The old man had no choice but to stand up and Dada away.

Seeing the doctor's attitude towards the elderly patient, Su Ziyang turned to leave. But the doctor called him back.

Are you also a doctor at this clinic?

The doctor in the consultation room sat with his legs crossed, looking at Su Ziyang.

"Yes."

Su Ziyang gave a lukewarm response.

"Are you an acupuncturist?"

The doctor in the examination room asked another question.

"Yes!"

Su Ziyang frowned and looked at the doctor in the consultation room, whose attitude was somewhat unfriendly.

"I specialize in internal medicine and am not very skilled in acupuncture. The old man just now asked me to do acupuncture for him, so I reluctantly did it. I've never done acupuncture before, so I'm a bit rusty."

The doctor in the consultation room seemed to be explaining to Su Ziyang, but it was more like explaining to himself.

Su Ziyang didn't respond at all, turned around and walked out, returning to his consultation room.

As he was leaving, Su Ziyang glanced at the sign on the door announcing outpatient services; the doctor in the consultation room was named Fu Xinyu.

After a brief interlude, Su Ziyang returned to his room to continue admiring his golden needles.

Unexpectedly, a little while later, Fu Xinyu strolled into Dada Su Ziyang's consultation room.

"Your name is Su Ziyang?"

Fu Xinyu spoke rather bluntly, and Su Ziyang nodded. "Yes, is there something you need?"

"You seem to know a lot about acupuncture?"

Fu Xinyu added with particular enthusiasm, "I don't know if you guys have ever seen those thugs fighting, but they usually ask, 'You're pretty tough, huh?'"

Fu Xinyu asked Su Ziyang in this tone, which startled Su Ziyang. Su Ziyang instantly felt irritated, and his appreciation for the golden needles vanished.

"I don't really understand, but I know a little. University teaches how to handle fainting from a needle! Didn't you know that?"

When Su Ziyang mentioned university, Fu Xinyu became even more excited. "Oh, a university student! My apologies, you're studying acupuncture and massage, right!"

Looking at Fu Xinyu's expression, Su Ziyang took a deep breath. "Yes. I studied acupuncture and massage."

"What a coincidence, I'm also a university student. But I'm studying classical Chinese medicine. What was your score on the college entrance exam? It probably wasn't as high as your score on classical Chinese medicine!"

Fu Xinyu then continued.

Are you alright?!

Su Ziyang was a little unhappy and sat up from his chair.

Su Ziyang hadn't heard this kind of talk about high and low college entrance exam scores for many years. When he first entered university, his roommates would compare scores, but no one said such things anymore.

"It's nothing. I just came to tell you that from now on, you should take good care of your own patients. What are you doing going to other people's clinics and acting all high and mighty? Trying to make yourself seem more capable than others?"

Fu Xinyu slapped Su Ziyang's table and said loudly.

Looking at Fu Xinyu's arrogant face, Su Ziyang took a deep breath and nodded. "Sorry, buddy. I was meddling. I apologize!"

"Damn, good thing you know!"

Upon hearing that Su Ziyang had given in, Fu Xinyu turned and left.

After Fu Xinyu left, Su Ziyang took two deep breaths, washed his face, and muttered to himself, "Su Ziyang, Su Ziyang! You just ate too much!"

There's a saying that goes, "Extreme joy begets sorrow." Su Ziyang was probably too happy to receive the golden needle, perhaps a little too overjoyed, which led to this whole mess.

Su Ziyang's anger subsided considerably by lunchtime.

Just as Su Ziyang stepped out of the consultation room, he bumped into Yang Tianzheng, who was also walking to the door. Seeing Su Ziyang standing there with his head down, Yang Tianzheng, mimicking Su Ziyang's slightly Northeast China accent, chuckled and asked, "What's wrong, Xiao Zhuang? Why are you looking so down?"

Su Ziyang saw Yang Tianzheng making a fuss about him but didn't respond, he just pouted.

As luck would have it, Fu Xinyu also came out of the door at that moment and ran into Su Ziyang.

Fu Xinyu was on the phone. He glanced at Su Ziyang and said into the phone, "Okay, okay. I know. Working here is pretty good, except I ran into a nosy idiot today!"

Fu Xinyu spoke as he walked, and it was clear that the last two sentences were meant for Su Ziyang. Su Ziyang gritted his teeth, staring at Fu Xinyu's retreating figure without saying a word.

"What's wrong? Did he bully you?" Yang Tianzheng, being an old and cunning man, understood the situation at a glance.

Su Ziyang didn't say anything, and continued walking forward with his head down.

"You think you can let a newbie bully you? That kid was practically floating on his feet just now, you could have sent him flying with one slap!"

Yang Tianzheng, always eager for excitement and not afraid of things getting out of hand, kept talking at length.

"Stop talking, Master. I'm begging you, please! I'll treat you to mutton soup and donkey meat sandwiches. Please, please shut up!"

Su Ziyang finally couldn't take it anymore, stopped and grabbed Yang Tianzheng's arm, begging Yang Tianzheng to stop talking.

"Okay. You've successfully shut me up!"

The two hailed a taxi, and Su Ziyang took Yang Tianzheng to the mutton soup restaurant where they had previously drunk mutton soup with Daoist Jin.

They ordered six donkey meat sandwiches, Su Ziyang ordered a bowl of mutton intestine soup, Yang Tianzheng a bowl of mutton offal soup.

After adding the condiments, Yang Tianzheng took a bite of his donkey meat sandwich and then asked, "What's going on between you and that kid?"

"..."

Su Ziyang had no choice but to put the soup spoon into the bowl and start telling Yang Tianzheng what had happened that morning. Su Ziyang understood that if he didn't explain things clearly today, Yang Tianzheng would ask again tomorrow.

Everyone has Eight Trigrams side.

"This kid is like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, ungrateful for a kind heart. He's utterly despicable!"

After listening to Su Ziyang's explanation of the whole story, Yang Tianzheng angrily took a bite of the donkey meat sandwich in his hand.

"No, what kind of person did Old Daoist Xiao? If his medical skills aren't up to par, at least his character should be. What a piece of trash! I'm going to find him this afternoon."

Although Yang Tianzheng and Old Daoist Master Xiao had only known each other for a short time, capable people respect each other, and since they were both good friends of Mr. Mengfei, they had formed a deep friendship in a short period of time.

"By the way, Ziyang, there's something I need to tell you. Didn't you mention fainting from needles today? I think I need to talk to you about this."

Yang Tianzheng spoke as he ate.

"What's wrong, Master?" Su Ziyang was also quite curious about what Yang Tianzheng wanted to do.

"If you hadn't mentioned fainting from needles, I would have forgotten. When I was learning acupuncture, my grandfather told me that there are taboos associated with acupuncture, Human Spirit Taboos. It means that at different times, different spirits are on duty in a person's body, and you can't needle that area when they are on duty. If you do, it can cause boils or even death."

Yang Tianzheng slurped up his soup as he spoke.

He drank with relish, Su Ziyang, hearing this, couldn't even eat his meal. He put down his donkey meat sandwich, glared at him, and said, "What does this mean, Master!"

"It's a taboo, a place where acupuncture is forbidden. My understanding is that it doesn't necessarily mean there's a spirit there; it could be a place where qi and blood gather or something. Anyway, I don't really understand it, but since we've come this far, I think it's better if I explain it to you!"

Yang Tianzheng put down the firecracker in his hand, wiped his hands, and continued with a serious expression, "It's like this. In my clinical practice, I sometimes don't seem to shy away from this stuff, and I've never encountered such serious consequences, so I originally didn't want to teach you."

"Please teach me, Master. I've never heard of this before, and I'm quite curious."

After Su Ziyang finished speaking, he took out the notebook from his backpack and prepared to take notes.

"Carry it with you, okay!"

Yang Tianzheng gave a thumbs up when he saw the notebook in Su Ziyang's hand.

"Human Spirit Taboos and gods, specifically the ten Heavenly Stems and the twelve Earthly Branches. The ten Heavenly Stems are: Jia day (甲日) - do not treat the head; Yi day (乙日) - do not treat the throat; Bing day (丙日) - do not treat the shoulder; Ding day (丁日) - do not treat the heart; Wu day (戊日) - do not treat the abdomen; Ji day (己日) - do not treat the spleen; Geng day (庚日) - do not treat the waist; Xin day (辛日) - do not treat the knee; Ren day (壬日) - do not treat the kidney; Gui day (癸日) - do not treat the feet."

Yang Tianzheng spoke very quickly, and Su Ziyang remembered it just as quickly.

The twelve earthly branches and their corresponding deities are as follows: Zi (子) is not for treating the eyes, Chou (丑) is not for treating the ears, Yin (寅) is not for treating the chest, Mao (卯) is not for treating the teeth, Chen (辰) is not for treating the waist, Si (巳) is not for treating the hands, Wu (午) is not for treating the heart, Wei (未) is not for treating the feet, Shen (申) is not for treating the head, You (酉) is not for treating the knees, Xu (戌) is not for treating the genitals, and Hai (亥) is not for treating the neck.

"Are you done, Master?" Su Ziyang asked after finishing memorizing the notes and glancing at the contents of the notebook.

"Let me think! Right, there's also the seasonal acupuncture restrictions: left and right sides in spring and autumn, and the waist and navel in winter and summer. I should remember this; if I'm not mistaken, there's a similar saying in the * Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon *."

After Yang Tianzheng finished speaking, he pondered for a moment and then said, "Yes, yes, and the Sacral Spirit. The Sacral Spirit Taboos."

"Rely on God?" Su Ziyang frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That's not it." Yang Tianzheng looked at the words written by Su Ziyang in the notebook and shook his head, "There is a corpse on the top, and a nine on the bottom. It's the one who cursed, ."

Su Ziyang wrote it in his notebook.

"Yes, this taboo is: one year old, ankles crossed; two years old, teeth and gums. Three years old, head, mouth, and nipples; four years old, shoulders, tailbone, and buttocks. Five years old, back and ears; six years old, hands, wrists, and elbows; seven years old, neck; eight years old, knees and ribs; nine years old, elbows, feet, and calves; the Sacral Spirit moves up and down. Yes, that's how you memorize it, it should be!"

Yang Tianzheng Yang Tianzheng shook his head as he recited, clearly showing that he had long forgotten this knowledge.

"Does that mean children under ten years old shouldn't get these areas needled?"

Su Ziyang memorized the incantation and asked a question.

"No. It means that when you count to ten, ten becomes one again. You can't insert needles into these positions at different ages. It's like a cycle, a cycle of reincarnation!"

"OK."

Su Ziyang quickly added annotations to the mnemonic, afraid that if he didn't look at it for a long time, he wouldn't understand it when he picked up the notebook again.

"There's one more!"

Yang Tianzheng scratched his head and remembered another one. "Acupuncture is not performed on Xinwei day, as it is said to be the day of Bian Que's death. Acupuncture is also not performed on days with the White Tiger, Moon Dislike, Moon Killing, and Moon Punishment."

Su Ziyang was familiar with terms like White Tiger Day, Lunar Aversion Day, Lunar Killing Day, and Lunar Punishment Day; these were terms used when selecting auspicious dates.

It is mentioned in the book that Mr. Mengfei gave to Su Ziyang that these dates can be found in the Lao Huang almanac.

Having noted down so many taboo days, Su Ziyang looked at the contents of the notebook and asked in confusion, "Why? What's the origin or reason for these taboos?"

"I think this was added by later generations. There are no such statements in the ' Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon · Spiritual Pivot '. Besides, if a patient comes to you for treatment, would you refuse to treat them if there were any taboos?"

Yang Tianzheng was not superstitious at all. Although he knew about these traditional customs and taboos, he was not bound by them at all. "If we followed this all the time, wouldn't that be a joke? If a house collapses and people are trapped inside, would we have to check if it's auspicious to start construction today before deciding whether to rescue them? Isn't that absurd!"

Yang Tianzheng spoke with righteous indignation, then lowered his head and slurped down a mouthful of soup.

Su Ziyang tidied up the notebook and put it back in his bag.

"Holy crap! Guys, what do you two do? You're chatting like pros. Feng shui masters?"

Yang Tianzheng might have been speaking a bit loudly. It was lunchtime, and there were many people eating. An elderly man who looked quite old was smiling and chatting with Su Ziyang and Yang Tianzheng.

"Nonsense, it's nothing. You can eat yours!"

Yang Tianzheng smiled and replied. Seeing that Yang Tianzheng didn't intend to respond, the old man stopped talking and continued drinking his soup.