Taoist Doctor - Chapter 10

In the end, due to well-known reasons, Zhou Jinyuan didn’t display the first plaque he received from San Hospital.

 

It was only with Liu Meilan’s testimony that the head believed he wasn’t engaged in superstitious activities during working hours…

 

Liu Meilan also realized what was wrong and quickly swore that although Dr. Zhou was indeed very spiritual, he didn’t do fortune-telling during working hours, and they had met at the Taoist temple before…

 

Xie Min: “…”

 

Xie Min felt her emotions fluctuating greatly, she was going to be scared to death by Zhou Jinyuan.

 

Then, for the rest of the day, Xie Min would visit Zhou Jinyuan’s office every two hours, making sure he wasn’t secretly drawing symbols or doing fortune-telling, and she asked him to promise.

 

Zhou Jinyuan: “Xie Chief, I really won’t give patients symbol water to drink! Am I the kind of unscrupulous Taoist priest?”

 

Xie Min: “…”

 

Zhou Jinyuan changed his tune: “Am I the kind of doctor who would do that?”

 

Xie Min: “…”

 

Liu Qi chimed in, “That’s right, Chief, and besides, no patients come to see the great deity.”

 

A grim yet accurate statement.

 

Xie Min: “Fine, Xiao Liu, you remind him more.”

 

The plaque Zhou Jinyuan received, although not publicly displayed, quickly spread internally, accompanied by rumors of his medical miracles, shining brightly under the starry sky.

 

—

 

Under the Xianglu Mountain on the weekend

 

“Young people should exercise more,” Zhou Jinyuan said.

 

“Okay, brother.” Rong Xixue grabbed his hand and started running up.

 

—

 

Half an hour later

 

“Stop running… Hoo, young people shouldn’t run too fast!” Zhou Jinyuan shouted.

 

My goodness, this wasn’t climbing a mountain, Rong Xixue was pulling him along, and although he was in good shape, he was exhausted like a dog, and now he had to rely on Rong Xixue to move slowly.

 

Rong Xixue put his hand on Zhou Jinyuan’s shoulder and supported his waist with one hand, innocently saying, “You said to exercise more.”

 

“Now I’m starting to wonder, what did I feed you, how come… your stamina is still so good…” Zhou Jinyuan was sweating profusely, walking slowly with Rong Xixue’s help.

 

Rong Xixue smiled slightly and asked, “Shall we take a walk on the scenic path and then visit the Taoist temple?”

 

The entire Xianglu Mountain area is actually quite large, and Xianglu Temple is only on the main peak, with crowds of citizens coming to climb the mountain during holidays. With the weather getting cooler recently, it’s even more lively here.

 

After resting for a while, Zhou Jinyuan felt better, but he didn’t have the energy to walk too fast. He released his hand from Rong Xixue’s shoulder, but before it could slide down, it was held by Rong Xixue.

 

“I’ll help you walk,” Rong Xixue said with a smile.

 

They arrived at a viewing platform, which was even more lively, with vendors selling things, including souvenirs and food and drinks. They even saw someone selling medicinal herbs—Xianglu Mountain used to produce high-quality medicinal herbs, after all, it was a paradise for Taoist priests.

 

Nowadays, wild ones are probably hard to find, but there’s still a planting base nearby. Of course, these may not necessarily be from the base, just taking advantage of it.

 

“Musk, premium musk, exquisite packaging!”

 

“Gastrodia—”

 

“Good tonic, ginseng, buy it for your elderly and sick family members to replenish their vitality!”

 

Zhou Jinyuan took a glance, some were packed in plastic bags, some were in commercial packaging, his own profession required him to study traditional Chinese medicine, not to mention Rong Xixue, who could see the quality at a glance.

 

Thinking they were interested in buying, the vendors didn’t know they were just professional curiosity. They even opened a box: “Young man, here’s a 30-centimeter-long ginseng doll, buy it to replenish your family’s vitality!”

 

The ginseng was almost brought to Zhou Jinyuan’s face, but Rong Xixue reached out and pushed the box aside, grabbing it with one hand.

 

Indeed, it looked like a doll, and he looked at it, expressionless, saying, “This isn’t ginseng.”

 

Rong Xixue didn’t intentionally lower his voice either, and the surrounding tourists looked over curiously.

 

The vendor frowned, “What are you talking about? Isn’t this ginseng?”

 

Rong Xixue glanced at him, “Did you intentionally buy this medicine, or were you deceived? This is the root of Paris polyphylla, which is not only different from ginseng in efficacy but also toxic.”

 

Now it’s getting lively, tourists are staring and whispering, what is Paris polyphylla, does it look like ginseng? And it’s poisonous?

 

The vendor panicked, trying to grab the box back, but Rong Xixue held onto it firmly, unmoved.

 

Ignoring the commotion, Rong Xixue continued, “Ginseng is grayish-yellow, Paris polyphylla is earthy-yellow; ginseng has distinct veins, Paris polyphylla only has raised pores; ginseng has a chrysanthemum-like cross-section, Paris polyphylla has a ring-shaped cross-section… Do you want me to continue?”

 

At this point, Zhou Jinyuan decided to add fuel to the fire by taking out his work permit, indicating that he is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine.

 

Some people on the scene searched and indeed found the difference between Paris polyphylla and ginseng. The roots in the box were indeed Paris polyphylla disguised as ginseng, with a sky-high price difference, not to mention that Paris polyphylla is toxic.

 

“It’s so unethical to sell fake medicine, I wonder if anyone bought it just now!”

 

“Don’t let him get away, I’ll call to report, should I call the Food and Drug Administration?”

 

“Wait a minute, I was also deceived by the medicinal material merchant!” The vendor was already submerged in the sea of ​​people.

 

Even Rong Xixue and Zhou Jinyuan, who were the first to expose it, were pushed to the edge…

 

Rong Xixue still held the box of Paris polyphylla in his hand, smiling amusedly, “Even if it’s used as a genuine medicine, the quality of this preparation is unacceptable and must be destroyed.”

 

“Although it’s disqualified as a medicinal material, did you know? Laozi once passed down a secret method. After 49 days of refining, Paris polyphylla root that grows into a human shape can be made into an earthen deity, which can predict fortune for its master.” Zhou Jinyuan picked up the Paris polyphylla root inside the box and examined it in his hand, “However, human-shaped Paris polyphylla roots are rare.”

 

Rong Xixue: “!!”

 

Zhou Jinyuan’s tone was mysterious, “In fact, this kind of human-shaped Paris polyphylla root is most likely to attract wandering souls. It’s said to be a deity, but it’s actually a ghost…”

 

Worried about disturbing the atmosphere, Rong Xixue whispered, “Brother, do you know this secret method?”

 

Zhou Jinyuan hit him on the head with the Paris polyphylla root, “Are you okay? You believe even this thing can talk!”

 

Rong Xixue: “…”

 

Zhou Jinyuan put his hands on his hips, “How did your brother and your grandfather teach you? Where did you learn in the ‘Study of Chinese Medicine’?”

 

Rong Xixue snatched the Paris polyphylla root that hit him, bent over, buried his head on Zhou Jinyuan’s shoulder, with a hint of laughter in his eyes, but said, “You deceived me.”

 

“Patient’s needle feeling, when it spreads to other parts, your palm can also feel the heaviness and tightness…” Zhou Jinyuan was explaining the method of burning mountain fire needle to Liu Qi carefully. After some practice, Liu Qi had made great progress. Although there was no immediate heat sensation after inserting the needle, the needle sensation was strong. After more than ten minutes, as the needle sensation spread, there would also be a rush of heat.

 

However, this phenomenon is still unstable temporarily and requires longer-term practice and understanding.

 

Even so, Liu Qi was already very satisfied. To achieve such results in such a short period of time, apart from her own diligence, there was also a great deal of Zhou Jinyuan’s imparting, explaining each step in great detail, and providing many cases as examples.

 

“Great deity, I’ve always found it strange, since this is a family tradition of medical skills, why haven’t we heard of your family’s reputation?” Liu Qi asked curiously.

 

Zhou Jinyuan: “If you were a Taoist, you would definitely know it.”

 

Liu Qi: “…”

 

“I’m just kidding.” Because they often teased each other about their Taoist identities, Zhou Jinyuan occasionally teased back, “But it’s also related to cultivation, my dad is not a boastful person, he never advertises. But if you go to my hometown, many people know him. There are also a few peers who understand.”

 

“I see, you practice medicine while cultivating immortality, haha, your path is different from ours.” Liu Qi was joking, but she noticed that a patient had taken Zhou Jinyuan’s appointment. “Next time, I’ll learn it! I want to experience it too!”

 

It’s rare that a patient came, and Zhou Jinyuan called the number.

 

After a while, a man and a woman came in, the woman walked in front, holding a medical record book and a treatment card in her hand.

 

She was extremely beautiful, dressed extravagantly, according to the knowledge Liu Qi learned from her girlfriend, the bag on her back could carry tens of thousands, not to mention the jewelry. However, even makeup couldn’t conceal her tired look.

 

The man behind her looked quite handsome, but the only flaw was that his hair was slightly thinning, even if he tried to cover it up, it was still noticeable. The two of them were intimate, presumably not husband and wife, but lovers.

 

The lady sat down and said, “Dr. Zhou, hello. My friend Huang Tianlin recommended me to you. He said your medical skills are excellent.”

 

Not only that, when he introduced me, he specifically said, don’t judge the doctor by his young appearance, he really has the ability. There’s also one benefit, you can get medical treatment as soon as you come, unlike other older doctors who make you wait after taking a number… if that’s really considered a benefit. She thought to herself.

 

“Hello. Um, next time you come for a consultation, don’t wear makeup. I need to see your complexion.” Zhou Jinyuan sighed inwardly. Huang Tianlin is indeed Mr. Huang. It seems he really did introduce patients to him. He took the medical record book, “Name?”

 

The lady said, “Wu Chenyu.”

 

Zhou Jinyuan conducted the consultation and recorded a series of conditions. This Ms. Wu is 33 years old, married, and the man beside her is indeed her husband. She complained that she had been suffering from insomnia for half a year. She couldn’t sleep at all without medication.

 

At first, she could still sleep for a few hours, but in the past month, her symptoms had worsened to the point where she couldn’t sleep at all, and she also experienced irritability, headaches, palpitations, shortness of breath, and had no energy to work.

 

Since the onset of insomnia, Ms. Wu has been taking diazepam, but the effect wasn’t as good later on. She also switched medication but didn’t dare to take it for long, as long-term dependence on medication to sleep caused some adverse reactions.

 

Later, she switched to traditional Chinese medicine, seeing an old doctor at a TCM hospital, receiving acupuncture, and taking herbal medicine, but unfortunately, it didn’t last long, and she still didn’t improve. She even brought the names and prescriptions of the medicines she had used before.

 

“I have neurasthenia. Sigh, the more I can’t sleep, the more troubled I become.” Wu Chenyu rubbed her forehead.

 

Zhou Jinyuan had already taken her pulse, and after reviewing the prescriptions and acupuncture points taken by Ms. Wu’s previous doctors, he could tell they were prescriptions made by a veteran TCM practitioner. The medication was quite targeted.

 

Even if he were to prescribe medicine himself, it wouldn’t be much different.

 

This was strange. Zhou Jinyuan initially thought the condition was not difficult to treat when taking the pulse, but this prescription was ineffective. Upon closer thought, he felt he must have overlooked something and continued the consultation, “What’s bothering you that’s affecting your mood?”

 

“It’s… just those business matters.” Wu Chenyu said.

 

Just as Zhou Jinyuan was about to speak, Wu Chenyu’s phone rang. She apologized to Zhou Jinyuan and answered the call, which was from a subordinate seeking instructions. She gave a few instructions efficiently, then smiled bitterly, “Just now I said it was all about business matters, and here they come. I’m really sorry.”

 

“It’s okay.” Zhou Jinyuan said a sentence, and Wu Chenyu’s phone rang again. He just raised his hand to signal Wu Chenyu to continue since he didn’t have any patients anyway.

 

And he observed Wu Chenyu’s demeanor, feeling that he had caught onto something.

 

Wu Chenyu apologized as she answered, “Hello? Yes, Chief Zhang, okay okay, I remember, our Mr. Zhao at home, haha, maybe he doesn’t have time… Eh? No need, let’s just have a gathering, why bother accommodating him… Right, hehe, Mr. Zhao won’t go, let’s talk about it later.”

 

Wu Chenyu talked for two minutes before hanging up, “I’m really sorry, please continue.”

 

At this point, through observing Wu Chenyu, Zhou Jinyuan already had an idea in his mind.

 

“It’s okay.” Zhou Jinyuan said, “Let me explain your condition to you. Your neurasthenia, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, is due to the deficiency of both the heart and spleen, and the lack of nourishment to the mind, leading to insomnia. It’s not insomnia causing restlessness, but rather, the bad mood causing insomnia, which then creates a vicious cycle.

 

“Your condition is not difficult to treat. But before I give you the treatment plan, I want you to go and make an appointment for your husband.”

 

Wu Chenyu and her husband looked puzzled, “Huh? Why?”

 

Clearly, she came for a medical consultation, why ask her husband to make an appointment too?

 

Zhou Jinyuan glanced at her, “The root cause of your insomnia is your concern that your husband has been suffering from hair loss, nearing baldness, combined with work exhaustion.”

 

Wu Chenyu and her husband: “……………”

 

Wu Chenyu felt a little embarrassed and a bit bewildered, “Uh, that… it’s true that my husband Mr. Zhao is indeed experiencing hair loss, but…”

 

“Ms. Wu, just now when you received the work-related phone call, it was evident that you were busy but handling it with ease. However, when it came to talking about your husband, you kept looking at him repeatedly, your tone fluctuating, and worry showing on your face,” Zhou Jinyuan said. “So, what do you think is the cause of this illness?”

 

He was also puzzled before, but luckily Wu Chenyu received those two phone calls. If it weren’t for those two calls, he might not have figured it out.

 

He didn’t speak too bluntly. Wu Chenyu was very concerned about her appearance, dressing exquisitely. Her husband appeared less meticulous, but his dressing style matched hers, indicating that she took care of it, especially his hairstyle, which covered the balding top of his head.

 

All these details made Zhou Jinyuan boldly speculate that the root of her illness must be on her husband, and most likely, it was due to his appearance.

 

If that was the case, it was no wonder that the treatment from the old TCM doctor wasn’t satisfactory.

 

As long as her temper didn’t change, and her husband continued to experience hair loss, the treatment wouldn’t be effective.

 

Wu Chenyu fell silent, feeling as if she suddenly understood. Yes, what she worried about the most in her daily life was indeed her husband’s hair loss…

 

She was a very face-conscious person, always striving for the best in her career, and her husband’s appearance couldn’t be lacking either. But over the past year, her husband had been experiencing hair loss, and his scalp was clearly visible, despite trying various medications, he didn’t seem to be improving.

 

Every time they went out, although her husband didn’t seem to mind, Wu Chenyu felt like everyone was looking at her husband’s head, which created immense pressure.

 

Seeing that they were about to attend a class reunion, and her husband’s hair was falling out even more, Wu Chenyu felt very anxious. If they could avoid it this time, they might not be able to avoid it next time, and by then, he might be fully bald.

 

In this way, how could she sleep? No wonder her condition worsened.

 

And because she was so conscious of her appearance, she subconsciously refused to admit that her illness was due to her concern about her husband’s baldness…

 

Otherwise, according to the time of onset and exacerbation, it wasn’t hard to think about.

 

Seeing Wu Chenyu’s tacit acceptance, Zhou Jinyuan knew he had hit the nail on the head. He said, “So, we must also cure your husband’s illness at the same time. Once the root of your illness is removed, it won’t recur!”

 

Wu Chenyu covered her forehead with one hand, “No wonder Huang Tianlin said you’re very capable… But even if that’s the case, that, Doctor, his hair, we’ve seen many specialists, but it’s still not improving.”

 

Since everything was exposed anyway, and the other party was a doctor, Wu Chenyu poured her heart out to Zhou Jinyuan, “Every day, I see piles of his hair on the floor, and it breaks my heart!”

 

Mr. Zhao also felt awkward and touched his own head, “Is it that serious? Nowadays, many people are experiencing hair loss. I can just wear a hat when I go out.”

 

And he was a bit reluctant to be treated because he had taken some hormone medications before in another treatment, which led to, uh, cough, a decrease in libido, and the treatment effect wasn’t very significant…

 

If it weren’t for this, he wouldn’t want to be bald!

 

Seeing Wu Chenyu talk about her sadness, tears almost falling, Zhou Jinyuan decided to check Mr. Zhao’s pulse first.

 

After checking his pulse, Zhou Jinyuan said easily, “The situation of depleted meridians isn’t particularly serious, so I’ll prescribe you a medicine I formulated myself, called Invincible Hair Growth Elixir. Take it for three doses to stop hair loss first, and then… according to your condition, it’ll take about ten doses to dispel stasis and promote new hair growth.”

 

Wu Chenyu’s sobbing suddenly stopped.

 

Observing her expression, Zhou Jinyuan thought to himself that he knew this grandiose name would be toxic.

 

He awkwardly said, “Um, about this, the name Invincible Hair Growth Elixir was given by my younger brother. Its original name is actually Seven Treasures Hair Growth Decoction… Ms. Wu, Mr. Zhao, do you really want to be treated?”

 

Wu Chenyu: “Yes!!!”