Making a House Call at a Top-Tier Hospital

Mr. Mengfei's hands-off approach made Su Ziyang feel free and easy. But with Daoist Jin at his side, Su Ziyang felt uncomfortable all over.

Although the two teachers' methods were worlds apart, Daoist Jin and Mr. Mengfei had surprisingly landed on the same idea: making Su Ziyang practice his handwriting.

Daoist Jin himself wrote beautiful clerical script, so every day, whenever he had a spare moment, he taught Su Ziyang pen calligraphy.

The way Daoist Jin taught him reminded Su Ziyang of his mother teaching him to write when he was in first grade. It had been enough to make ghosts weep and wolves howl, shaking heaven and earth.

Su Ziyang had copied the Scripture of Purity and Tranquility many times, but he never again experienced the wondrous sensation he had felt the first time he copied it. After a while, he stopped dwelling on that feeling and simply treated copying the scripture as a way to cultivate self-discipline.

That morning, after practicing the Midnight-Noon Heaven and Earth Art, Su Ziyang went to the square in front of the Daoist medical clinic and practiced the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Steps, walking around the circles.

As he walked, Su Ziyang felt his mind drift into a daze. He seemed to have left the square, and everything around him grew utterly quiet. He was walking briskly through a void, continuously following the sequence of the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Steps.

In an instant, Su Ziyang was back among the nine circles he had drawn. At that moment, he felt a few faint circles arranged in the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams sequence at the Niwan Palace between his brows.

Though he found it wondrous, Su Ziyang kept practicing for nearly an hour. When he arrived at the clinic, he told Daoist Jin what he had experienced.

Daoist Jin was delighted to hear it. "No wonder an expert like Mengfei would teach you. You may be a little playful, but your comprehension is truly good. Back then, it took me nearly three months to reach this level, but you managed it in less than one. What you just described shows that you've mastered the mental method. I can teach you the next part of the practice!"

"Mental method..." Su Ziyang muttered to himself as he listened to the mysterious term. When he heard that Daoist Jin was going to teach him something new, he came back to his senses and nodded happily.

This time, Daoist Jin did not demonstrate anything. He simply told Su Ziyang not to face the same direction all the time when practicing the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Steps, but to practice facing each of the eight directions in turn: east, south, west, north, southeast, northeast, southwest, and northwest.

Once he was familiar with all eight directions, he was to put an obstacle in each of the nine palaces and walk around them. When he could do it with his eyes closed without bumping into an obstacle, he would have basically succeeded!

The requirement sounded like something out of the Arabian Nights to Su Ziyang. He wasn't a robot, so how was he supposed to walk back and forth along a set route? He kept that thought to himself, not daring to ask. If he did, he would probably get another scolding.

Since Daoist Jin said it could be done, it could be done. Su Ziyang silently hypnotized himself into believing it.

"Why don't you have any patients today?" After spending a little while in Daoist Jin's room, Su Ziyang had noticed that, unlike its usual busy state, the consultation room had no patients coming in for treatment.

"Oh! Right! I haven't told you yet. I have to go to the city hospital's pediatrics department at eight thirty to see a patient. Are you coming? Do you have any patients today?" Su Ziyang's question suddenly reminded Daoist Jin of something. He looked at his watch. It was already eight.

"Huh? You're going out to see a patient? At the city hospital, no less!? Why? You're not going there to smash the place up, are you?" Su Ziyang was quite surprised. He had never seen a doctor from an outside private clinic go to a major hospital to treat a patient.

What's this? A challenge? Challenging a top-tier hospital?

"Why do you have so much to say? Are you coming or not? I've noticed you run that smart mouth of yours every day."

Seeing that it was time for the appointment, Daoist Jin scolded Su Ziyang a little. Su Ziyang saw that the old man was getting worked up and hurriedly agreed. "I'm coming, I'm coming. When you go out, how could I not attend to you?"

"All right, you do know how to respect your elders and care for the young! Go get my house-call case from that cabinet in the back and carry it on your back. Let's go!"

Daoist Jin could do nothing about Su Ziyang's wisecracks, so he tossed a joke back at him.

"Right away!"

Su Ziyang opened the cabinet and saw a wooden house-call case with a very antique look. A few plum blossoms were simply carved on it, and a leather strap was tied to the floral-inlaid brass clasps on either side so it could be carried on the back.

Looking at the exquisitely crafted case, Su Ziyang found the grain of the wood somewhat familiar. He hugged it to his chest and felt it with his hand. "Damn. This... this is huanghuali!"

"Old Master Jin, you're way too extravagant! A medical case made of huanghuali!"

Su Ziyang shouted as he followed Daoist Jin, drawing the attention of many patients in the corridor.

Daoist Jin felt his back itch under everyone's gazes, so he hurriedly quickened his pace and went downstairs.

Seeing Daoist Jin hurry down the stairs, Su Ziyang quickly followed. "Daoist Jin, Daoist Jin. Don't walk so fast! Is this huanghuali or not?"

Su Ziyang kept asking all the way from upstairs until they were out the door. Black lines covered Daoist Jin's face, and he finally couldn't take it anymore. "So what if it's huanghuali? Look at you, boy, acting like you've never seen the world! What are you hollering for? Aren't you embarrassed?"

"Hehe!" Su Ziyang ignored Daoist Jin's scolding and gently stroked the huanghuali case as though he were holding a beautiful woman.

Su Ziyang had no particular hobbies, except that he rather liked antiques, jade, and the like. He also liked handling bead bracelets and walnuts.

Huanghuali bead bracelets were expensive. Su Ziyang had always wanted to buy one, but he had never been able to bring himself to spend the money. Now that he saw Daoist Jin's house-call case was made of such a large piece of huanghuali, he naturally lost his composure a little.

Feeling the delicate texture of the huanghuali beneath his hand, Su Ziyang cast Daoist Jin a somewhat lecherous look and said something utterly brainless. "Teacher, could you take a piece off this case for me? I'll have it made into a bead bracelet!"

Daoist Jin stared at Su Ziyang with wide eyes. "Boy, listen to me. You'd better take good care of that case. If it gets damaged even a little, I'll turn you into a medical case."

After Su Ziyang had the idea of taking Daoist Jin's house-call case apart to make a bead bracelet, he never saw the huanghuali case again. That was both the first and last time he saw it. The sight of Su Ziyang looking ready to drool had frightened Daoist Jin. He believed that if Su Ziyang could really do such a thing, and hid the case away.

They waited at the entrance for a moment and hailed a cab. The old man and the young man arrived at the city hospital's pediatric inpatient department.

A young woman had long been waiting by the elevators at the entrance to the inpatient department, looking anxiously around. When she saw Daoist Jin and Su Ziyang, she hurried over to greet them. "Doctor Jin, you're finally here. Come, quickly!"

"Oh, Zhenzhen. Sorry, traffic held us up a little." Daoist Jin cupped his hands toward the woman named Zhenzhen.

"It's all right, it's all right. Please, come quickly!" Zhenzhen led Daoist Jin to a ward room around a corner. From the room, Su Ziyang could tell that, at the very least, the family who had invited Daoist Jin was extremely wealthy.

This room could be called the P in VIP. Not only was it a private room, but it also had every daily necessity and plenty of space, like a luxury star-rated hotel.

Zhenzhen led Daoist Jin inside. A man and a woman sat on the sofa beside the hospital bed, their faces full of worry.

When the two saw Zhenzhen enter, they both rose from the sofa. Zhenzhen introduced them first. "Sis, brother-in-law, this is Doctor Jin, the one I told you has excellent medical skills. Doctor Jin, this is my sister and brother-in-law."

"Hello, hello. Doctor Jin, I've long heard of your great reputation! The child's situation is special, and he really can't be moved, or we wouldn't have asked you to come all this way! I'm truly sorry for the trouble!" Although Zhenzhen's brother-in-law looked worried, he still spoke with impeccable courtesy.

"It's no trouble, no trouble. It's what a physician should do. We can exchange pleasantries later. Let's look at the child first!" Daoist Jin said directly.

At the mention of the child, Su Ziyang finally noticed the child lying on the hospital bed. The child's face was dark, and his eyeballs protruded badly. Though his eyes were closed, red fleshy growths turned outward at their corners. An oxygen tube was inserted in his nose, and he had an IV in his hand. A heart-monitoring clip was attached to his finger, and the machine beside him showed that his vital signs were stable for the time being.

"The child is only five, right? I heard from Zhenzhen that it's leukemia!" Daoist Jin asked, frowning at the sight of the child's face.

"Yes..." Zhenzhen's sister spoke, her single word choked with tears. "Doctor Jin, if there's anything you can do, I'm begging you to save my child!"

As she spoke, tears streamed down the woman's face.

"What are you crying for?!" Zhenzhen's brother-in-law was already upset, and seeing his wife cry made him even more agitated.

"Hey, Sis, brother-in-law. Just answer whatever Daoist Jin asks you. The two of you keep saying useless things!" Zhenzhen said, trying to smooth things over. "Doctor Jin, ask whatever you want. I know some of what happened too!"

"Mm. How long has the child been ill?" Daoist Jin nodded to Zhenzhen and asked.

"Three months!" Zhenzhen's brother-in-law was a man, after all, and he composed himself a little before answering.

"When did this fleshy growth appear in his eyes?" Daoist Jin asked.

"A week ago." Zhenzhen's brother-in-law answered promptly, then continued without waiting for another question. "He was diagnosed with leukemia three months ago. We immediately pulled some strings and got him a bone marrow transplant. The doctor said it had gone quite well at the time. Who could have known it would suddenly relapse a month later? He's been kept going here at the hospital ever since. Now the child wakes for a while, then sleeps for a while. Then, somehow, his eyeballs started to protrude. The hospital said it was inflammation, and afterward they treated the inflammation and such-I don't really understand it. A week later, this suddenly grew in his eyes!"

"I see!" Daoist Jin indicated that he understood. "Xiao Su, take a look at the child first."

Daoist Jin did not immediately step in himself, instead letting Su Ziyang take a look first. Su Ziyang had already possessed a good foundation, and after studying under Daoist Jin for a month, he had made rapid progress. He was no longer the little Ah Meng of Wu who knew nothing about pediatrics.

So when Daoist Jin told him to take a look first, Su Ziyang was not intimidated. He walked quietly to the child's side and picked up the hand without the IV needle.

Holding the child's index finger, Su Ziyang gently pushed along it several times from the tip toward the base. Slowly, a dark black line gradually extended from the base to the tip of the finger.

Su Ziyang drew a sharp breath at the sight of the dark marking. In the pediatric method of examining finger markings, a marking that passed through the gates and reached the nail was a sign of impending death. Though he had studied under Daoist Jin for a month, this was the first time he had seen such a marking.

A sunken marking indicated an internal condition; a black marking indicated blood disease and blood stasis. Su Ziyang had once been proud of being able to diagnose ailments accurately, but today was the first time he felt that his diagnosis was useless.

Even if he recognized the pattern of symptoms, what medicine was he supposed to use? Being able to diagnose but not treat was as good as useless. Su Ziyang thought for a while, then quietly told Daoist Jin what he thought.

Daoist Jin listened to Su Ziyang's judgment and nodded slightly. Then he personally crouched beside the hospital bed and took the child's little hand to examine him.

Daoist Jin had just crouched down when the ward room door opened, followed by a jumble of footsteps. Su Ziyang heard a sharp rebuke: "Who are you? Who let you touch the patient?!"

Su Ziyang looked back and saw a familiar person...