The Patient Who Ate Charcoal

My studies with Qi Chu have come to a successful conclusion.

Mr. Mengfei prepared to take the two of them back.

Before leaving, Qi Chu took out a bag of dried Solomon's Seal and gave it to Su Ziyang.

"Practice medicine diligently, and help those in need!"

Qi Chu patted Su Ziyang on the shoulder, and Su Ziyang was still a little reluctant to part with him.

"I'm leaving now, Brother Chu. I'll come see you again when I have time!"

Mr. Mengfei sat in the passenger seat and waved to Qi Chu.

"Please don't come again!"

Qi Chu waved his hand at Mr. Mengfei with considerable annoyance.

"You're so petty, let's go, Brother Chu!"

Mr. Mengfei waved his hand again.

The story is long, but Su Ziyang's appearance this time was not long.

So after returning, it didn't delay my continued outpatient work.

Just as Su Ziyang sat down, a patient came in.

A female patient.

This person came over surrounded by four or five people.

"Doctor Su, we were introduced by Yu Xiushui. We told you before that we would be back today, so we came right away."

One of the young men, with a shaved head and a Buddhist amulet around his neck, spoke to Su Ziyang with a furrowed brow.

"Ah! I understand. I'll go check on the patient!"

This person spoke with Su Ziyang on the phone two days before Su Ziyang was to return.

The woman the group of people behind them brought is the mother of this bald man.

Su Ziyang said he needed to see the patient, and the others quickly made way for him.

Just as he created a gap, before Su Ziyang could even get a clear look at the patient, he saw the woman dart out of the crowd, rush to the window of Su Ziyang's consultation room, and slam the window shut...

The man moved so quickly that he startled Su Ziyang.

Fortunately, after closing the window, the woman didn't move at all; she just stood there, muttering something to herself.

The bald man watched his mother rush out, then looked at Su Ziyang somewhat embarrassedly. "I'm so sorry, doctor. My mother wouldn't let us open the windows; she kept the curtains drawn and the doors closed all the time. It took us a lot of effort to get it open for her. Please forgive us!"

Su Ziyang naturally couldn't hold a grudge against the patients; if they behaved normally, they wouldn't be patients...

Listening to the bald man's words, Su Ziyang carefully observed the woman who was muttering to herself and picking at her fingernails.

After taking a look, Su Ziyang noticed something unusual: the woman's clothes, including the cuffs and hems, were wrapped tightly with tape, clinging to her body.

"What's this?" Su Ziyang pointed to the tape wrapped around the woman's sleeve.

"Doctor, my mother put this on herself." The bald man seemed afraid that Su Ziyang Su Ziyang misunderstand something, so he leaned closer and whispered.

"When my mother first got sick, she used sewing thread to sew up all the holes in her clothes. Later, we found that she kept doing this, so we hid all the needles and thread in the house. She was quite resourceful; when she couldn't find the needles and thread, she would wrap them up with tape!"

The bald man spoke of his mother's illness with a hint of helplessness, clicking his tongue as he spoke.

Does she eat?

The patient wasn't in good spirits, and Su Ziyang couldn't make a diagnosis. At this point, he could only chat with the family members to get some useful information.

"Sometimes she eats, sometimes she doesn't. When she eats, she's the same as when she's not sick, but when she doesn't eat, she can go five or six days without eating, and she doesn't say she's hungry! We don't know what to do! But even if she doesn't eat for five or six days, we find that she's fine and it doesn't interfere with her activities, so after a while we just stopped doing anything about it!"

Hearing the bald man's words, Su Ziyang nodded. "This patient probably can't communicate with others. It wasn't easy for you guys to bring her here. You all need to catch your breath first, I'll take a look at the patient first."

"Oh, doctor, I have something else to tell you!"

The bald man spoke softly to Su Ziyang.

"You say!"

"My mother has another problem, you'll see!"

As he spoke, the bald man took a paper packet out of his pocket.

The moment the bald man opened the paper package, the woman who had been standing frozen by the windowsill suddenly brightened up.

He rushed over, snatched the contents of the paper bag, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Su Ziyang couldn't see what it was.

The woman shoved the black object in her hand into her mouth, chewing it with a crunching sound, and black liquid began to drip from her mouth.

"What did you eat? Chocolate?"

Su Ziyang stared at the bald man in surprise.

"Charcoal!"

The bald man was about to give the remaining charcoal to his mother when Su Ziyang snatched it from his hand.

What are you doing?!

Su Ziyang knew this was charcoal, and immediately asked in a low voice.

"Give it to my mom. She loves this stuff now. After eating it, she'll even talk to us for a bit. She won't say a word if she doesn't eat it all day. I don't think it'll cause any problems, so I'll just let her have some!"

The bald man clearly hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation and remained remarkably calm.

"Eating too much of this will worsen your condition!"

Su Ziyang said sternly.

"Ah!" The bald man finally realized what he meant. "Why, doctor? If you say that, then I'm harming my mother, aren't I?"

It's never too late to know!

Su Ziyang returned the charcoal to the bald man.

How long has your mother been ill?

"It's been more than three years," the bald man replied without hesitation.

"What kind of treatments have you received?" Su Ziyang asked again.

"Sigh, at first, when we took her to the hospital for a checkup, they said she had no physical illness, but a mental illness. They prescribed antidepressants, and my mom was drooling all the time, not sleeping, just sitting all day. Later, I realized this couldn't go on. If this continued, she'd be ruined!"

The bald man sighed, "Later, I tried traditional Chinese medicine, but it didn't work. Then someone said, 'What's wrong with my mom?' So we went to a shaman, and we spent a lot of money, but her illness didn't get any better!"

After listening to the bald man's account of his treatment experience, Su Ziyang paused and asked, "I won't see any Western doctors. Do you still have those traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions?"

"Yes! It's on my phone, take a look!" The bald man handed the documents in his hand to Su Ziyang.

Su Ziyang Linlin somewhat confused by the various treatment plans and prescriptions.

After studying them for a while, Su Ziyang discovered that these people probably followed a few different paths.

To replenish qi and blood, formulas like Restore the Spleen Decoction are used.

Some medicines that can open the mind, such as calamus and lotus seed hearts.

There are also some who practice classical Chinese medicine, prescribing formulas like Lily Bulb and Rehmannia Decoction, and so on.

After reviewing these people's treatment approaches, Su Ziyang had a general direction in mind.

"This illness is worth trying to treat. Because the course of the disease is relatively long, I can't guarantee the treatment results, but it is treatable!"

Su Ziyang's words were very tactful, and the bald man nodded. "Yu Xiushui introduced us, so we definitely trust you. Just treat us with confidence, any method is fine. I heard you're also good at the Thirteen Ghost Needles, so please do it, as long as it works."