A Child Frightened
There were no patients in Su Ziyang's own consultation room, so after the two returned to the outpatient clinic, he went straight to Daoist Jin's room.
Daoist Jin had practiced medicine at the Daoist Medical Clinic for more than a dozen years. He saw many patients every day, more than thirty even on his slowest days.
The two had barely sat down when a middle-aged man with an anxious look came through the door, carrying a child in his arms.
The child looked about five or six. His eyes were shut tight, his brows were deeply furrowed, his cheeks were flushed, and his little nostrils flared with every breath.
Seeing someone enter, Daoist Jin hurriedly rose from his stool. "What's wrong with the child?"
The middle-aged man said, "Ah, I'm not really sure. He's had a fever for over two weeks. The hospital did every test they needed to, and everything came back normal, but he still has a fever. Now they want to do a bone marrow biopsy, but I thought he was too young, so I wouldn't let them! A friend here said you're good at treating children, so please take a look at him!"
When he finished, the man took a thermometer from the child's embrace and handed it to Daoist Jin.
Daoist Jin took one look at it: 40°C.
"Oh, his temperature is so high! Come, come, let me take a look!" Daoist Jin took the child from the man's arms.
The moment the child left his father, he began to whimper.
"There, there! Let me see. Don't cry, sweetheart!" Daoist Jin comforted the child as he gently pried his hand open.
Su Ziyang watched Daoist Jin's patient manner. He seemed like a completely different person from the man who had wanted to beat and kill him. Su Ziyang couldn't help shaking his head in wonder. People really did have two sides!
Daoist Jin held the child's little hand, first placing his thumb against the palm and feeling it for a while. Then he took the child's index finger, gently pushed it a few times with his own thumb, and examined it closely.
"Don't worry! It's nothing serious! He's just been frightened!"
Daoist Jin returned the child to the still-anxious middle-aged man. Hearing the doctor say it was nothing serious, the man breathed a sigh of relief. "Doctor, what should we do, then? If he keeps running a fever like this, won't it harm him?"
"Just a moment! Don't worry! Give me your patient card!"
Daoist Jin took the patient card from the man and swiped it through his computer terminal. The boy's information appeared on the screen. The Daoist opened the system and briskly typed in two medicinal ingredients: 7 g of mint and two cicada sloughs.
"Xiao Su, hurry and go with this patient to get the herbal medicine!" Daoist Jin sent Su Ziyang, who didn't dare delay. He quickly took the man downstairs to pay, collected the herbs from the pharmacy, and returned upstairs.
Daoist Jin took out a disposable paper cup, crushed some of the mint and cicada sloughs between his fingers, and put them in the cup. Then he poured in boiling water to steep the powdered herbs.
"You can just sit here! Once the water in the cup has cooled to a warm temperature, slowly give it to the child to drink." Daoist Jin handed the cup to the middle-aged man as he instructed him.
Worried about his child, the man kept blowing gently on the hot water, hoping it would cool faster so his son could take the medicine sooner.
Half an hour later, after a great deal of effort, he finally managed to get the medicine into the half-conscious child.
Less than half an hour after the medicine went into his mouth, the little boy actually opened his eyes slowly. Looking at the middle-aged man holding him, he called out "Dad" in a hoarse voice.
Seeing his son awake, the gloom lifted from the man's brow. His face full of joy, he looked at Daoist Jin. "Doctor, you're amazing!"
"Ha ha, let's take his temperature again!" Daoist Jin said with a chuckle.
"All right, all right!" The man took the thermometer from his pocket and used it to check the child's temperature. When he took it out, the temperature that had just been 40°C had already come close to normal.
The man hurriedly thanked him again, but Daoist Jin waved it off and said there was no need. Then he asked, "Is that ring on your hand real gold?"
"Huh?" The man was startled by the question, but then a look of realization appeared on his face. "It's pure gold. Doctor, do you like it? If you do, it's yours! It's wonderful that my child is better! It's only right that I thank you!"
With that, he generously took the large pure-gold ring off his finger and handed it to Daoist Jin.
The man's action caught Daoist Jin off guard. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he said, "What would I want that thing for?"
"Then what did you mean?" The man was puzzled too. If the doctor didn't want his ring, what did he mean?
"Oh, you people!" Daoist Jin sighed, took the heavy gold ring from the man's hand, and got a clean disposable paper cup out of his desk. He put the ring inside and poured boiling water over it.
"Once the water isn't hot anymore, give it to the child to drink!" Daoist Jin handed the cup to the man.
Although the man didn't understand what he meant, the remarkably effective treatment Daoist Jin had just given prompted him to do as he was told.
By now, the little boy was awake, and drinking water was no longer as difficult as before. He slowly drank half a cup of the water in which the gold ring had been steeped.
"Doctor, what is this for?" After his son finished the water, the man put the gold ring back on his finger.
"Your son doesn't have any serious illness. It's just childhood fright. We also call it infantile convulsions. The medicine he drank the first time was mainly for treating that condition, and steeping the gold ring in water was to settle the child's soul! He still had a low fever just now, didn't he? Take his temperature again now. He's better already! If he has a recurring low fever after you get home, just steep your gold ring in water again and give it to him to drink. That'll do!"
The man thought it was remarkable. He shook down the thermometer and tucked it under the child's arm again.
After the child had just finished the medicine, his temperature had been 37.5°C. Although the high fever had gone down, he still had a low fever.
After ten quiet minutes, the thermometer came out. 36.7°C.
"Doctor, you're amazing! Thank you so much!"
Seeing that the fever really had gone away completely, the man held his child and bowed deeply to Daoist Jin.
"There's no need to be so polite. Remember this method for treating childhood fright: first steep a gold ring in a bowl of water and give it to the child to drink. If that doesn't work, find someone else to treat him! Just remember that!"
"I will, I will! Thank you! I'll let you get back to work, and take my child home to rest!" The man thanked him again, then carried the child out.
"Daoist Jin!" After the man left, Su Ziyang could no longer contain the questions filling his mind. "What were you doing when you looked at the child's palm and finger just now?"
"You don't even know that? It's called Pediatric Finger Vein Diagnosis! Pediatric Finger Vein Diagnosis first appeared in Illustrated Verses of the Water Mirror by Wang Chao of the Tang dynasty. It developed from the Thenar Collateral Vessel Diagnosis in Spiritual Pivot: Channels and Vessels. Later physicians discussed the method in detail, including Qian Yi of the Song dynasty in Key to Therapeutics of Children's Diseases, Chen Fuzheng of the Qing dynasty in Compendium of Pediatrics, Lin Zhihan in Elucidating the Subtleties of the Four Diagnostic Methods, and Wang Hong in Inspection in Accordance with the Classics. But ancient texts say this diagnostic method was generally used on children under three. In my experience, though, it can be used on any child under seven! Ah, Xiao Su, you need to read more!" Looking at the ignorance in Su Ziyang's eyes, Daoist Jin sighed as he explained.
"There's also a mnemonic for it: the three gates measure severity; floating and sinking distinguish exterior from interior; red and purple distinguish cold from heat; pale and stagnant determine deficiency or excess."
Though Daoist Jin felt utterly helpless with Su Ziyang, he still explained in detail. "A child's index finger is divided into three gates by its joints: the first section of the index finger, between the palmar crease and the second joint crease, is the wind gate; the second section, between the second and third joint creases, is the qi gate; the third section, from the third joint crease to the fingertip, is the life gate. The location where the collateral vessel appears along the three gates of the index finger can be used to determine how deeply pathogenic qi has penetrated and how severe the illness is.
"If the finger vein appears at the wind gate, pathogenic qi has entered the collaterals. The pathogen is shallow and the illness mild; this can be seen at the onset of an externally contracted illness.
"If the finger vein reaches the qi gate, pathogenic qi has entered the channels. The pathogen is deep and the illness severe.
"If the finger vein reaches the life gate, the pathogen has entered the organs and bowels, and the condition is serious.
"If the finger vein goes straight to the fingertip, called piercing the gates and shooting to the nail, it indicates a dangerous condition and a poor prognosis.
"If the finger vein is floating and visible, the pathogen is at the exterior, as seen in externally contracted exterior patterns. If the finger vein is deep and hidden from view, the pathogen is in the interior, as seen in interior patterns caused by internal injury.
"Red and purple distinguish cold from heat. The finger vein's colors change, principally among red, purple, cyan, black, and white.
"A reddish finger vein indicates an externally contracted exterior pattern or a cold pattern. As the pathogen and healthy qi contend, qi and blood move toward the exterior, making the finger vein float and become visible, so its color tends toward red.
"A purplish-red finger vein indicates an interior heat pattern. When interior heat blazes intensely, the vessels dilate and qi and blood become congested, producing the purplish-red color.
"A cyan finger vein indicates pain or infantile convulsions. Pain means there is blockage, or internal stirring of liver wind causes the vessels to become congested and qi and blood unable to flow, turning the vein cyan-purple.
"A pale white finger vein indicates spleen deficiency or nutritional impairment. When spleen and stomach qi are deficient, they cannot generate enough qi and blood to nourish the vessels, so the vein is pale white.
"A purple-black finger vein means the blood vessels are congested and blocked, and the illness is severe and critical. Pathogenic qi is rampant, heart and lung qi are failing, and the vessels are obstructed by stasis, producing the purple-black color.
"Generally speaking, a deep, dark finger vein mostly indicates an excess pattern, with an excess of pathogenic qi; a light, pale vein mostly indicates a deficiency pattern, with insufficient healthy qi. Elucidating the Subtleties of the Four Diagnostic Methods records this verse: purple for heat, red for cold damage, cyan for fright, and white for nutritional impairment."
"That child just now had infantile convulsions, so his finger vein was cyan. As for feeling his palm, you could call that a kind of pulse-taking. Generally, after a child has been frightened, there will be a strange throbbing at the Laogong point in the palm!"
After hearing Daoist Jin's detailed explanation, Su Ziyang understood much more. "Then what was the reasoning behind the medicine you used? How could it work so well?"
"That's simple! Don't you know the properties of the medicines yet? Cicada slough tastes salty and sweet, is cold in nature, nontoxic, and is not recorded as entering any channels or collaterals. It promotes childbirth, expels the placenta, stimulates lactation, stops night crying, calms fright and convulsions, drives out pathogenic heat, kills parasites causing nutritional impairment, and can also quench thirst. It treats children's night crying by drawing on the idea that cicadas sing by day and rest at night.
"Mint tastes acrid, is slightly cold in nature, is nontoxic, and enters the lung channel. It treats loss of voice from wind-stroke, relieves abdominal distension and qi, dispels head wind, frees the joints, breaks up blood stasis and stops dysentery, clears wind and reduces swelling, guides the other medicines into the nutritive and defensive qi, induces sweating to expel toxins, clears and benefits the head where the six yang channels meet, and dispels the wind pathogens of all kinds of heat. Used together, these two medicines have an absolute effect in treating fever caused by infantile convulsions!"
"Oh! I see!" Su Ziyang nodded. "Then why steep the gold ring in water?"
Daoist Jin looked somewhat puzzled at Su Ziyang's question. "You're studying Chinese medicine, kid. Don't tell me you haven't even memorized Rhapsody on Medicinal Properties! Gold leaf calms the heart and settles the soul. You don't even know that? If there's no gold leaf, you can steep a gold ring in water as a substitute! Looks like Mengfei hasn't supervised your studies properly. I'll have to take you in hand. Starting tomorrow, memorize Rhapsody on Medicinal Properties. If you can't recite it within a week, then get lost! Some children are beyond teaching!"
Su Ziyang looked at Daoist Jin, sweat breaking out on his forehead. If Mr. Mengfei's teaching gave Su Ziyang a lofty worldview from a commanding height, then Daoist Jin's teaching gave him a practical methodology.
From then on, Su Ziyang's days grew busy. He found time during the day to practice the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Steps and memorize the various books Daoist Jin assigned him. At night, he had to cultivate and copy scriptures.