Follicular Pharyngitis

After the shopkeeper carefully collected the fingernail, he specially found a fine brocade box and placed the fingernail covered in black mud into it.

"Wow, another easy way to make some money."

The shopkeeper patted the brocade box in his hand, happily drank his tea, and the large blister in his mouth instantly dissipated by half.

The innkeeper lamented how short the first fourteen days were, wondering how a single day could pass so quickly.

Now that he's received the nail polish, the shopkeeper feels that this afternoon has taken longer than the previous fourteen days, and it's still not tomorrow.

He didn't sleep well all night, and the shopkeeper even abandoned his wife, just cuddling this brocade box.

"Shopkeeper!"

Sure enough, the elegantly dressed man appeared as promised early the next morning.

"Oh, sir, you've arrived! Please have a seat!"

The shopkeeper quickly ran over to greet them.

"No need for a seat. Did you receive what I ordered?"

The man didn't stand on ceremony with the shopkeeper and got straight to the point.

"Received it! Received it! I told you, there's no medicine I can't get in this city."

The shopkeeper proudly took out the brocade box and placed it on the table.

The man's face immediately lit up with joy. "I really received it! Shopkeeper, thank you so much! I've searched so many places and couldn't find this medicinal ingredient. You've helped me, so I'll give you an extra hundred taels of silver as a token of my gratitude!"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper's mouth blister immediately healed by half, and was completely gone!

"Thank you, sir. Please take a look at the items!"

The man picked up the brocade box and opened it, then frowned. Seeing the man's change in expression, the shopkeeper quickly explained, "This fingernail was taken from a dirty beggar; it might be a little dirty. I was afraid it would affect the medicine's efficacy, so I didn't dare touch it. If you think it's not clean enough, I'll have my assistant wash it."

The shopkeeper assumed the man was disgusted by the black dirt on his fingernails.

"That's not it. Why did you cut your nails?"

The man's question left the shopkeeper speechless. For a moment, the shopkeeper stammered, "Sir! What... what did you say? I didn't understand!"

"Why did you cut your nails?" the man repeated irritably.

"Huh?" The shopkeeper frowned. "How can I give it to you if I don't cut it off? Shouldn't I just cut it off?"

The man sighed in disappointment, "Alas, it seems this is my mother's fate. She finally received it, only to end up like this."

"No, sir? What do you mean? I really don't understand!"

The shopkeeper was stunned and asked loudly.

"I want my nails pulled out by the root, not just trimmed. Alright, shopkeeper, I won't say any more, I need to get home. Please return my deposit!"

The man wanted his deposit back, and the shopkeeper jumped up. "That's not what you said the other day! You only said it was a fingernail, not the whole nail!"

"What are you shouting for? How dare you speak to our master like that?" The attendant stepped forward and tried to shove the shopkeeper.

The man reprimanded his attendant and said to the shopkeeper, "We have a written agreement, right? On the agreement, I wrote 'a whole fingernail.' So let me ask you, was the fingernail you cut off a whole fingernail? Only when it's completely pulled out by the root can it be considered a whole fingernail."

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper trembled as he took out his half of the receipt and discovered that it was indeed written as a whole three-inch-long fingernail!

"Shopkeeper, you're not trying to steal my deposit, are you?" Seeing the shopkeeper remain silent, the man said in a very aggressive tone, "I gave you your deposit without hesitation. If you don't return it, let's go to court! Grab him! Let's go! I won't sue you for cheating me now, but I'll sue you for delaying my mother's medical treatment! You harmful pharmacy!"

"No, no, no!" The shopkeeper, startled, waved his hand and returned the three hundred taels of deposit.

The group, carrying the silver, drove their carriage out of the city...

Now the shopkeeper's mouth is full of blisters again.

The innkeeper, feeling increasingly uneasy, slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh dear! I've been tricked! Buddy, go quickly and ask at the biggest inn if they've ever seen such a group staying there!"

The waiter dashed off and returned quickly, but the innkeeper said there was no such group of people staying there!

"Oops!"

The shopkeeper fell seriously ill as a result.

A meticulously planned scam that exploits people's greed.

After Su Ziyang finished telling the story, he discovered that Fairy Li was not asleep; her big eyes were blinking as she stared at Su Ziyang.

"Su Ziyang, I've discovered you know quite a lot. Where did you learn all these stories? You're quite the con artist, aren't you? Tell me how many young girls you've fooled before!"

Fairy Li pouted and asked, pretending to be fierce.

"???" Su Ziyang looked at Fairy Li with a puzzled expression. "Little ancestor, why aren't you asleep? I told you this story for nothing!"

"You explained it so well! I was completely engrossed!"

"No, don't change the subject! Have you been deceiving a lot of young girls?"

"No."

"Definitely."

Why are you hunched over!

"This feels so comfortable."

"Lie down and hold me!"

"Don't move, I'll just lie here!"

--...--

The next day, Su Ziyang dragged his slightly tired body to work at the clinic.

Throughout the morning, most of the patients were still receiving acupuncture. Su Ziyang had been busy all morning and was just about to take a break when Ma Jun called.

"Hey, bro, what's wrong?"

Su Ziyang answered the phone.

"Master Su, may I ask you about an illness?"

Ma Jun spoke very seriously.

"Don't mess with me, just say what you have to say."

Su Ziyang laughed on the phone.

"I really need your help. Do you have any treatment options for follicular pharyngitis?"

Follicular pharyngitis is a type of chronic pharyngitis.

It differs from common pharyngitis in that it is mainly characterized by congestion and thickening of the pharyngeal mucosa, extensive proliferation of connective tissue and lymphoid tissue in the mucosa or submucosa, and multiple granular lymphoid follicles on the posterior pharyngeal wall, or multiple follicles fused together.

It's what's commonly known as small, blister-like growths in the throat. In hospitals, this condition is usually treated with laser therapy. If laser therapy isn't used, a cauterizing solution is used to burn the follicles to achieve the therapeutic goal.

"What's wrong? Are you a patient at your hospital?"

Su Ziyang then wanted to ask more questions.

"No, it's my mom. I took her to the hospital for laser treatment once, and it was fine then. How come it's recurring? Recurrences are harder to treat. Just the other day, my mom called me and said she was feeling uncomfortable again."

Ma Jun sighed on the phone, then continued, "I just remembered, do you have any good ideas, like traditional Chinese medicine? Preferably something that can cure the root cause and prevent a relapse."

"Haha, Mom! I actually have a folk remedy like that. I'll send it to you on WeChat. I have a patient coming in!"

"Good!"