The Cause of the Illness

At lunchtime, Su Ziyang and Daoist Jin went upstairs again.

As soon as they entered the room, Su Ziyang saw that the child was awake, half sitting and half lying on the hospital bed. He wasn't crying or making a fuss, just blinking his eyes, both covered with fleshy growths, as he looked around.

"Doctor Jin, we were just about to go downstairs and call you! The child just woke up, and his fever is gone. He looks a bit more normal now. Please come and have a look!" Zhenzhen, who was sitting near the door, immediately got up and stood in front of Daoist Jin.

Seeing that the child was awake, Daoist Jin hurried over to the bed, pulled up a plastic stool, and sat down beside it.

"What's your name, little one?" Daoist Jin asked softly.

"Son, the doctor is asking you a question. Tell him your name!" Zhenzhen's sister quickly patted her son's back and spoke gently to him.

"My name is Liu Yuchen," the child said as he played with his hands.

"How old are you?" Daoist Jin took the child's little hand and chatted with him as he examined his finger vein.

"I'm five," Liu Yuchen replied obediently.

"Does your tummy still hurt? Do you feel like eating something tasty?" Daoist Jin's voice was kind and gentle.

"No, it doesn't hurt. I want a hamburger." The child smiled at the mention of something tasty.

"Just wait, son. I'll go buy you one right now!" Zhenzhen's brother-in-law, who was sitting beside the bed, heard his son's request and got up to buy a hamburger.

"Wait a moment!" Daoist Jin pointed at Zhenzhen's brother-in-law. Seeing that Daoist Jin wouldn't let him leave, the man obediently stopped in his tracks.

"Xiao Su," Daoist Jin called Su Ziyang over, "take a look at how the finger vein has changed."

Learning depended on instruction and example. With a master like this, how could an apprentice fail to learn well?

Su Ziyang stepped forward, took the child's little hand, and gently pushed the skin a few times. A pale purple vein immediately appeared on the child's finger.

"Floating or sunken distinguishes exterior from interior, pale or stagnant determines deficiency from excess, red or purple reveals cold or heat!" Su Ziyang quietly recited the finger-vein examination mnemonic to himself.

At the hospital, Su Ziyang had seen that the child's finger vein was dark and deeply sunken, indicating an excess pattern. Now it was pale purple, which meant the interior pattern had been resolved with Major Order the Qi Decoction.

"Pale purple!" Su Ziyang said to Daoist Jin. "That means there's an exterior heat pattern!"

Daoist Jin made no comment on Su Ziyang's words. Instead, he turned to Zhenzhen behind him and said, "Zhenzhen, stay here with the child. You two, come out. I have a few things to say to you."

Daoist Jin turned back and stroked the child's head. "Sit here and be good. I'm going to have a word with your mom and dad."

The child really did listen to Daoist Jin. He blinked his big eyes, stared at him, and nodded emphatically.

Su Ziyang followed Daoist Jin and the couple into the hallway.

Daoist Jin turned to look at the couple. "I'm a Chinese medicine practitioner, so I don't know much about how Western medicine explains things. The main focus of the child's illness has now been expelled, so his life is no longer in danger. But if you want him to get better, you have to listen to me!"

"Please, tell us! Whatever you say, we'll listen!" the couple said in unison.

"First, don't argue or get angry at home. You can't even sulk in silence. However you got angry or lost your tempers at home before, that's in the past. But if you want the child to get better, listen to me! Husband and wife must love each other. You can't lose your tempers anymore!"

At Daoist Jin's words, the couple froze, then exchanged a glance. Without waiting for them to admit it, Su Ziyang could tell from their astonished expressions that Daoist Jin was right.

After a moment of silence, Zhenzhen's brother-in-law asked, "Doctor Jin, how did you know?"

The two were absolutely certain this was their first time meeting Daoist Jin. In their own social circle, they were known as a model couple, and everyone envied their loving relationship. But everyone had only seen the surface. In truth, the two often argued at home.

Not even Zhenzhen, the younger sister closest to her, knew that her sister and brother-in-law often argued and lost their tempers at home, much less Daoist Jin, who had just met them for the first time.

Now that Daoist Jin had exposed the fact that they argued behind closed doors with a single remark, how could the couple not be surprised?

"Since you've asked, I'll explain. But once I do, you must listen!" Daoist Jin spoke at an even pace. "In Chinese medicine, we value the unity of heaven and humanity. In the wider environment, we look to things far away and to the body close at hand. That's why we place greater importance on the intangible field of qi. From the illness a person has, we work backward to determine their temperament and personality, and what their family life is like! That's how the intangible field of qi affects people."

"People often say that when a family lives in harmony, everything prospers. What does family harmony mean? It means everyone in the household is happy together, the wife is virtuous, the father is kind, and the children are filial. You're always getting angry, and I suspect you get angry over the child, too. Anger is fire, and because blood is red, it belongs to fire among the five elements in Chinese medicine. So when a couple gets too anxious and heated, the child will develop a blood disease."

"Doctor Jin..." Zhenzhen's sister tried to speak.

"I know what you're going to say." Daoist Jin waved a hand and cut her off with a single sentence. "You didn't take your anger out on the child directly, and you even spoiled him. Right?"

The couple were taken aback again. Clearly, Daoist Jin was right once more.

"I already said that when a family lives in harmony, everything prospers. Family harmony is a matter of the field of qi. Because a family of three lives under one roof, their fields of qi constantly affect the people around them, especially a child who is still growing and developing! The effect is even greater! Don't think that because a child is young, he doesn't understand. In fact, children are the best at reading people's faces and picking up on their moods. He can tell at a glance who's happy and who's angry!"

The couple nodded repeatedly as they listened to Daoist Jin.

"Now for the second point: don't spoil the child. His health has only just begun to improve, and the moment he asks for a hamburger, you're ready to go buy one. A child doesn't know better, but don't you? I won't discuss whether hamburgers count as junk food. Hamburgers aren't easy to digest, and for someone whose serious illness has only just begun to improve and whose spleen and stomach are weak, eating hard-to-digest food is a major taboo."

"And you do spoil the child somewhat in your daily life. The first direct cause of his illness this time was that he usually ate too many junk-food snacks. The second was your excessive indulgence."

Daoist Jin's words made the couple lower their heads in shame.

"Doctor Jin, if we hadn't run into you today, not only would our child have lost his life, but we'd also still be repeating our mistakes. Please tell us what the right thing to do is! We'll listen to you and do our best to change!" Zhenzhen's brother-in-law said softly.

"That's what I'm going to tell you next! Remember it well."

Daoist Jin began giving the couple instructions. "First, no more snacks. For the next three months, he should mainly eat congee made by simmering three grains together: rice, millet, and wheat!"

"Second, the two of you must stop arguing. You can't sulk in silence, either. Above all, don't argue over the child. Keep that firmly in mind."

"Third, if you want a child to be well, leave him a little hungry and a little cold. Don't spoil him too much. A child's body has tender yin and tender yang, and he is constantly growing and developing, so his ability to regulate himself is also very strong. So don't worry too much about whether he's cold or hot, hungry or full!"

"Can you understand these three points?"

Daoist Jin's words were not just for the couple, but for Su Ziyang as well. This was all knowledge. Instruction and example, learning through what one constantly saw and heard-all of it happened both deliberately and without one noticing. If one deliberately set out to learn for the sake of one particular thing, it would be too tiring!

"Thank you, Doctor Jin. A single conversation with you is worth ten years of reading. We've truly benefited a great deal." The couple thanked Daoist Jin.

"You don't need to stand on ceremony with me. The child still needs to take some medicine to restore his health. I'll go downstairs and write a prescription. You can get it filled at the pharmacy, and you'll also need to pay for the medicine he drank this morning!" After giving his instructions, Daoist Jin took Su Ziyang downstairs.

"Xiao Su, what prescription do you think this child should take?" Daoist Jin asked, looking back at Su Ziyang as they walked.

Su Ziyang thought for a long time, then shook his head. "I don't know..."

"I tell you to study hard, but all you do every day is wisecrack. Now you've got nothing to say, have you?" Daoist Jin said, scolding him a little.

Su Ziyang followed Daoist Jin with his tail between his legs, not daring to breathe too loudly. This was a very serious occasion, and if he wisecracked, he would likely face Daoist Jin's punishment: either copying books or memorizing them. Daoist Jin really didn't indulge Su Ziyang.

Back in the room, Daoist Jin turned on the computer and quickly wrote the prescription.

"Come take a look!"

Daoist Jin looked at Su Ziyang with a dark expression. Su Ziyang cautiously looked at the computer screen. "Cinnamon twig, 15 g; honey-fried licorice, 15 g; four jujubes; white peony root, 20 g; fresh ginger, 15 g; maltose, 50 g."

"Isn't this Minor Construct the Middle Decoction?" Su Ziyang blurted out in surprise.

"Yes. What of it?" Daoist Jin asked.

"But didn't I just see that the finger vein was pale purple? Red or purple reveals cold or heat, and purple means heat. Minor Construct the Middle Decoction should be a warming tonic, right? How can you use Construct the Middle Decoction? Shouldn't you use medicine that clears heat?" Su Ziyang stated his view.

Daoist Jin raised an eyebrow at Su Ziyang. "I didn't pay you any attention while I was there attending the patient, but after walking all this way, you still haven't realized it! Are you color-blind? Can't you tell red from purple?"

Hearing Daoist Jin's words, Su Ziyang frowned and carefully recalled the look Daoist Jin had given him after he said the vein was pale purple. Something had seemed a little off about that look at the time, but he hadn't understood it.

Thinking back to Liu Yuchen's little finger, it did seem that the vein hadn't been pale purple. Although it had been noticeably red, it still hadn't been purple.

"I seem to have probably, possibly, maybe seen it wrong!" Su Ziyang rubbed his head and chuckled.

"You're still laughing? This is treating an illness. Do you think I'm telling you a joke? Get it wrong and someone could die! And you're still laughing. Today, copy The Great Physician's Sincerity ten times in regular script. If you don't finish, no dinner tonight!" Daoist Jin scolded him sternly. Whenever it came to treating patients, Daoist Jin had always insisted that every peg fit its own hole.

"Come on, Teacher! I'll be more careful next time!" When Su Ziyang heard that Daoist Jin was making him copy The Great Physician's Sincerity again, he hurriedly tried to bargain.

"If you hadn't bargained, I would've forgotten. When I was performing those techniques today, you didn't recognize any of them. Did you slack off and not read the Secret Manual of Pediatric Tui Na I told you to read?"

"Huh?! Daoist Jin, Teacher Jin. Well, I'll go back and copy The Great Physician's Sincerity. You've been busy all day, so you must be tired too. Have a rest! Have a rest! I'm going back to my own consultation room!"

As soon as Su Ziyang heard Daoist Jin's words, he took to his heels...