Discussing the Way

Bao Mingya picked up her Chinese herbal medicine and left.

She said she still had things to do at her company and would treat Su Ziyang to a meal over the weekend, in a couple of days.

Su Ziyang did not dwell on it. With few patients over the next two or three days, he was happy to have some peace and quiet and used his spare time to do some serious reading.

The weekend.

True to her word, Bao Mingya called. They had arranged to eat at a small restaurant called the Wind and Waves Pavilion. After Su Ziyang took a taxi there, he saw that its exterior had a stylish, bourgeois look.

When he entered the small private room Bao Mingya had mentioned, Su Ziyang found that she was accompanied by a bespectacled man. He wore casual clothes and looked rather scholarly.

"Xiao Su! Come here, let me introduce you!" Bao Mingya was as enthusiastic as ever. Pointing to the man sitting beside her, she said, "This is my boyfriend. You can call him brother-in-law." Then she turned to the man. "Brother Zhen, this is Su Ziyang!"

Su Ziyang hurried forward to shake his hand. "Hello, brother-in-law!"

The man shook Su Ziyang's hand and chuckled. "Haha. My name's Li Yanzhen. I'm a few years older than you, so just call me Brother Zhen!"

"Hello, Brother Zhen!" Su Ziyang chuckled and greeted him again.

Bao Mingya patted Su Ziyang's arm. "Don't stand there. Sit, sit, sit. Let's order!"

After Su Ziyang sat down, the three ordered four dishes: crispy sweet-and-sour pork, mixed vegetable stew, crispy pork knuckle, and dry-fried green beans.

The restaurant served its food quickly, and the dishes arrived before long.

"Xiao Su, do you drink?" Bao Mingya asked.

Su Ziyang shook his head. "Maybe I won't drink."

Liu Yanzhen waved a hand. "There's nothing to do this afternoon anyway. Have a drink! Come on!"

Under Liu Yanzhen's persuasion, Su Ziyang decided it would be rude to refuse, and the two ordered a square bottle of Yuquan baijiu.

Bao Mingya was delighted throughout the meal. Though she was not drinking alcohol, she frequently raised her drink and urged the others to drink.

After two or three cups of liquor, the three were no longer as reserved as they had been at first. Drinking really did liven up the atmosphere.

"Senior, has your illness gotten better?" Su Ziyang asked as they ate.

Bao Mingya was delighted to hear him ask. "I was just thinking I should thank you! That medicine of yours didn't taste very good, but I took two doses, and I got better right away! Can't you see I've got my energy back now?"

Su Ziyang smiled. "Good, as long as you're better. Haha!"

At that moment, Liu Yanzhen, who had hardly spoken, suddenly said, "Xiao Su, that little prescription of yours really puts a postdoc like me to shame! Impressive, impressive! May I ask what prescription it was?"

Su Ziyang paid little attention to the question from the slightly flushed Liu Yanzhen and said casually, "Oh! It's a prescription from the Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Cabinet called the Danggui Beimu Kushen Pill. I changed its form a little, from pills to a decoction. It's a very simple prescription, hardly worth mentioning!"

The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart! Su Ziyang had intended the words as modesty, but to Liu Yanzhen's ears, they sounded sharp and grating.

As soon as Su Ziyang finished, Liu Yanzhen said softly, "Then do you think my prescription didn't work? Or did mine take effect, and yours merely finish the job? As they say, the unlucky doctor treats the beginning of an illness, while the lucky doctor treats its end!"

Su Ziyang had thought Liu Yanzhen was sincerely asking about the prescription, but those words sounded different to him. The tone was plainly one of dissatisfaction. Sitting beside Liu Yanzhen, Bao Mingya frowned when she heard her boyfriend speak, but said nothing.

For a moment, Su Ziyang felt awkward and did not know what to say. Men all wanted to save face in front of their women; it was a common failing.

If Su Ziyang admitted that he had treated the end of the illness, Liu Yanzhen would probably be happy, but that would go against the way of medicine!

Su Ziyang thought it over repeatedly, pursed his lips, and said, "Brother Zhen, I don't mean anything else by it. Let's just discuss the matter itself, not the person. You really did treat Sister Ya's illness incorrectly!"

Even Liu Yanzhen had not expected Su Ziyang to say that. He froze, then slammed his cup down on the table. "What did you say?"

"I said you treated her incorrectly!" Su Ziyang repeated what he had just said, then set his own cup on the table and looked calmly at Liu Yanzhen.

Liu Yanzhen seemed to have drunk too much, or perhaps he was angry. His eyebrows shot up and he started to rise, but Bao Mingya pulled him back down into his seat.

Bao Mingya widened her almond-shaped eyes and snapped, "What are you trying to do, Liu Yanzhen?"

Liu Yanzhen paid no attention to Bao Mingya's attitude and gently patted her shoulder. "Honey, don't make a fuss. I'm discussing the way of medicine with this young Brother Su!"

Bao Mingya gave Su Ziyang a look, telling him to say less.

Su Ziyang nodded. He could also see that Liu Yanzhen seemed a little drunk, so he said no more. But Liu Yanzhen refused to let it go, insisting that Su Ziyang lay out his reasoning point by point, or else he was talking nonsense!

Seeing Su Ziyang at a loss, Bao Mingya took hold of Liu Yanzhen and said, "Xiao Su, let's chat again in a couple of days. You go home first. Your brother-in-law's had too much to drink. I'll pay the bill!"

Su Ziyang nodded to Bao Mingya and was just about to get up when Liu Yanzhen grabbed his shirt. "Don't go, Brother Xiao Su. Tell me where I went wrong. Is a postdoc like me really inferior to a mere master's student like you?"

Liu Yanzhen made Su Ziyang so angry that he laughed. "Fine, then you tell me. Where were you right?"

Seeing that her attempts to persuade them were getting nowhere, Bao Mingya took a closer look at Su Ziyang and Liu Yanzhen. It seemed they had not drunk all that much, since less than half the liquor was gone from the bottle. So she stopped trying to persuade them and sat to one side, watching the two men in a huff.

When Liu Yanzhen saw Su Ziyang turn the question back on him, he made no attempt to be polite. He held out his fingers and counted off his points. "First, it was urethritis, right? Can't that be identified as damp heat pouring downward?"

Su Ziyang said nothing and merely nodded.

Then Liu Yanzhen continued, "I admit I got the first prescription wrong, because I was away at a conference at the time. Mingya said she was ill, and I prescribed it right away without making a pattern differentiation! So I admit I was wrong about that!"

Su Ziyang listened to Liu Yanzhen's explanation with a smile. He still said nothing and merely nodded.

"But I gave her the second prescription after I came back! I felt her pulse, and her central qi was weak. You could see her tongue coating too-it was completely white, with teeth marks along the sides. Besides, she normally doesn't eat much and has a history of weak spleen qi! So there was definitely nothing wrong with the Buzhong Yiqi Decoction!" Liu Yanzhen laid out his reasoning. To anyone listening, let alone Su Ziyang, it would have sounded right, with absolutely nothing to fault.

There was such a thing as this: no matter how many reasons you had, one sentence from me could break through your defenses.

When Liu Yanzhen finished and looked at him furiously, Su Ziyang said softly, "Then, according to you, you made no mistake! But why didn't you cure her? I heard Senior say she took more than ten doses of the Buzhong Yiqi Decoction, so why was there no improvement at all? Why did she still have to take an antibiotic like levofloxacin?"

Liu Yanzhen fell somewhat silent at Su Ziyang's words, but soon rallied. "Isn't she better now? To tell you the truth, how could you possibly have cured her illness with just three herbs? Even if she hadn't taken your three herbs, Mingya would have gotten better! Yet here you are claiming credit!"

"I'm afraid that's not so!" Su Ziyang shook his head. "You say Senior has a weak spleen and stomach, and I don't dispute your diagnosis. But can you tell me how a weak spleen and stomach could cause urethritis?"

Liu Yanzhen smiled smugly. "You don't even understand that? Then let me teach you!!! When a person has a history of weakness in the spleen and stomach, earth fails to grow sufficiently, leaving water unchecked. That causes a disorder of kidney water. The kidneys govern the two bodily wastes, hence the symptom of dribbling urination, which also flares up with exertion!"

When he finished, Liu Yanzhen looked smugly at Su Ziyang. Su Ziyang sighed softly. "Sigh! If we go by what you say, then every illness can be explained. And if every problem can be explained, then every illness can be treated. But whether it's cured or not depends entirely on luck, right? Is that how I should understand it?"

"What do you mean, every illness can be explained?" Su Ziyang's words made Liu Yanzhen twitch with anger again.

"That kind of explanation of yours can explain any illness at all. That's exactly what it is! It's just going around in circles, saying the same thing back and forth without explaining the actual problem!" Su Ziyang spoke as calmly as a passing cloud and a light breeze, while Liu Yanzhen was about to explode with rage!

"Then explain why! Go on, explain why!"

Su Ziyang continued in the same unhurried tone. "As I just said, I don't disagree that Senior has a history of spleen and stomach weakness. The spleen and stomach are the source of acquired transformation and generation. They digest food and provide the body with energy! You don't disagree with that, do you?"

Su Ziyang looked at Liu Yanzhen as he spoke. Liu Yanzhen said irritably, "I don't disagree!!! If you have something to say, just say it!"

"Good, as long as you don't disagree! When the foundation of acquired constitution is deficient and its ability to transport and transform is inadequate, the most direct result is poor physical constitution, which makes a person prone to low resistance. In Chinese medicine, that's called insecure external defense. What's most closely related to external defense? What's the human body's first line of defense? The foot taiyang bladder meridian, of course! That's also one part of the six-meridian pattern differentiation system. What happens when the bladder meridian is weak? Of course it's directly related to urination! So problems appeared with her urination!"

As soon as Su Ziyang said this, not only was Liu Yanzhen stunned, but even Bao Mingya, sitting silently to one side and sulking, was stunned!

Anyone with clear eyes could hear that Su Ziyang's explanation was easier to understand than Liu Yanzhen's, and sounded more reasonable as well.

Ignoring their reactions, Su Ziyang continued, "There's a question of treatment method to distinguish here. Since external defense-immunity-is low, of course immunity should be strengthened. But now the problem isn't just low immunity; it's the infection caused by that low immunity. That brings us to one of the most basic treatment methods in Chinese medicine: in an acute case, treat the manifestation; in a less urgent case, treat the root! We need to eliminate the external pathogen first. That's why I used the Danggui Beimu Kushen Decoction, simply to eliminate the external pathogen! So, one dose made a difference, two doses stopped it, and three doses finished it!"