Taoist Doctor - Chapter 27

Dr. Mao wanted to resist but couldn’t outmatch Zhou Jinyuan, who almost lifted Dr. Mao aside and took over his consultation seat.

 

What was this maneuver?

 

Seeing the two doctors switch places, the queue suddenly had a young doctor at the front. The people in line were stunned, then moved en masse to Dr. Mao’s side.

 

Including the middle-aged woman, who was about to slip away.

 

But Zhou Jinyuan’s intention was to catch as many as he could, and he had already set his sights on the first few.

 

He grabbed her hand immediately. “Sit, sit, sit, sister, where do you feel uncomfortable?”

 

Middle-aged woman: “…”

 

She felt awkward, being someone who wasn’t good at refusing others. Caught by the enthusiasm of this young doctor, she was at a loss.

 

Since coming to the Third Hospital, Zhou Jinyuan’s greatest improvement was in self-promotion. Back in Yingzhou, there were skeptics too, but it being his hometown, there were many who could vouch for him.

 

In Haizhou, as Liu Qi often said, sometimes you had to compete for patients. Liu Qi often went to gather experience just to become familiar with the patients.

 

Zhou Jinyuan felt her pulse and, without waiting for her to speak, looked at her complexion and listened to her breathing. “Do you have bronchitis?”

 

“?” The middle-aged woman sat down slowly on the stool. “Yes.”

 

Those who had moved away but could still hear their conversation exclaimed, realizing this doctor had some skill.

 

Zhou Jinyuan checked her pulse carefully. “Chronic bronchitis for many years, right? The weather’s gotten cold recently, so it must be severe. Is there blood in your phlegm?”

 

“Yes!” The middle-aged woman nodded repeatedly. “I’ve had it for nearly ten years, and there’s often blood in the phlegm when I cough.”

 

“Do you have chest pain?” Zhou Jinyuan asked further.

 

The middle-aged woman nodded again, not having connected her occasional chest pain to this condition.

 

“Is your stool dry?” Zhou Jinyuan continued.

 

“…Yes.” The middle-aged woman was speechless, his diagnosis was spot on.

 

“I’ll prescribe you a medicine, take it for three doses and you should get better. If not, or if you need a follow-up, go to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of the Third Hospital and register under my name, Zhou Jinyuan.” Zhou Jinyuan wrote the prescription. “Today, we’re giving away medicine, but it doesn’t include traditional Chinese medicine. You’ll have to get it yourself, but the ingredients aren’t expensive.”

 

She was most pleased with the last sentence and took the prescription. “Okay, thank you!”

 

It took less than five minutes in total. In this open-air venue, those nearby could hear Zhou Jinyuan’s diagnosis. Soon, a few patients voluntarily lined up in his queue.

 

Zhou Jinyuan smiled at Dr. Mao. “Thank you, Dr. Mao.”

 

Dr. Mao: “…”

 

He squeezed out a few words through his teeth: “You’re welcome.”

 

Don’t argue with young people, don’t argue with young people, Mao Zhengyi, you’re a veteran of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department!

 

“Next, please.” Zhou Jinyuan saw the next patient was a woman with a child. “What’s the situation?”

 

Having shown his skill, he could now proceed with normal consultations.

 

“My child is in eighth grade and has been possessed by the sleep demon these past months!” The mother said earnestly.

 

Zhou Jinyuan looked at the small boy beside her. “You mean, excessive sleepiness?”

 

“Pretty much, he falls asleep in class all the time, even rubbing essential balm on his temples doesn’t work. At home too, and his grades have dropped.” The mother patted the boy’s shoulder as she spoke.

 

Ever since this strange condition started, she had tried various remedies, including essential balm and other invigorating home remedies, but her child was still drowsy every day.

 

They went to the clinic, but no cause was found. It was called a strange illness, and the neighbors suggested it might be a sleep demon. Some told her to take him to a big hospital, but she hesitated. They tried some local rituals at home until his grades dropped significantly, and she got really worried.

 

Just as she was about to go to a big hospital, the Third Hospital came for a free clinic, so she brought her child to check. Orthopedics and gynecology didn’t seem suitable, so they came to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department.

 

Zhou Jinyuan half rose to look at the child’s tongue and felt his pulse. “Phlegm-dampness and spleen deficiency, lack of spirit. Daytime corresponds to yang, if one is sleepy during the day, it indicates yang deficiency. I’ll prescribe a medicine, take it for five days, and make sure it’s taken during the day.”

 

He quickly wrote down the prescription, his consultation speed much faster than the typically slow-paced traditional doctors, yet he was very accurate. By the time he saw his second patient, the other doctors were still inquiring about symptoms.

 

Even fellow doctors envied him. Zhou Jinyuan’s practice style was very classical, skilled in differentiation and pulse diagnosis, often seeing more patients in a day than others, and often adding extra slots during consultations.

 

A man behind them exclaimed, “Doctor, my son is also possessed by the sleep demon, can you give me that prescription too? I’ll brew it for him.”

 

“Prescriptions can’t be given casually; everyone’s situation is different.” Zhou Jinyuan saw the man pulling his son over and was about to remind him to queue up when he noticed the boy’s complexion and demeanor. Smiling, he said, “First, there’s no such thing as a sleep demon. Second, your son doesn’t need medicine.”

 

The man: “Huh? Then what does he need? He also falls asleep in class all the time!”

 

Zhou Jinyuan: “…Your child definitely plays with his phone or computer at night. It’s not sleepiness, it’s simply reversed sleep patterns!”

 

The man: “……”

 

The crowd burst into laughter. The man was stunned for a while, then poked his child’s forehead. “And you dared to tell me you dreamed of the sleep demon! I see that’s how you fall asleep!”

 

From this interaction, it was clear that in just a short time, they no longer doubted Zhou Jinyuan.

 

After diagnosing several patients in a row and showcasing his skills, more people naturally wanted to consult Zhou Jinyuan.

 

.

 

They had lunch at the township government canteen and continued the clinic in the afternoon. Some villagers lived far away and couldn’t make it in the morning.

 

“You have wind-cold-dampness invading your meridians, causing stagnation of qi and blood, which leads to joint pain, or arthritis. Previous treatments with steroids didn’t help, right?” Zhou Jinyuan was in the middle of a consultation when he heard a commotion. A group of people was noisily approaching.

 

“What’s going on? Is there going to be trouble?” Dr. Mao said cautiously.

 

“I’ll protect you, Dr. Mao!” Zhou Jinyuan immediately stood up.

 

Dr. Mao felt an immediate sense of safety but still said sternly, “Why would I need your protection? We doctors know human anatomy and specialize in vulnerable points. I can take on three people.”

 

“Uh…” Zhou Jinyuan recalled the day Dr. Mao was punched into a panda eye by a manic patient and didn’t say anything.

 

A township cadre came forward to stop them and asked what the commotion was about.

 

A woman immediately shouted, “We’re here to see the doctor!”

 

“Seeing the doctor? What’s with all this noise?” The cadre frowned. “And making such a ruckus.”

 

“My sister-in-law refuses to see the doctor, insisting she’s possessed. She’d rather kneel in front of the ancestral tablet all day than see a doctor. She’s pregnant and spotting!” The woman pulled a young woman forward. Spotting meant bleeding below.

 

The young woman, about twenty-five or six, wasn’t visibly pregnant, with long hair and tear stains on her face. Beside her were family members, both in-laws and her own, as well as neighbors.

 

“You don’t understand, she’s possessed. The fortune-teller said we must kneel and beg our ancestors for forgiveness, or we can’t save this baby!” The young woman’s mother-in-law said.

 

“Auntie, you’re too superstitious. Sister-in-law, you’ve gone to school, how can you believe this?” The woman criticized.

 

Their chatter made the cadre dizzy. “Stop, everyone quiet!”

 

“Now that we’re here at the doctor’s, and it’s a free clinic, let’s see what’s going on?” The woman insisted loudly.

 

The mother-in-law kept muttering, “Everyone in the neighborhood knows about this…”

 

The cadre, likely familiar with cases of attributing illness to possession, shielded them and said, “These are city experts here for a free clinic. It’s advantageous to get checked out, stop with the possession talk.”

 

The young woman was brought to the front of the line, with many people aware of her situation, curious, they let her go first.

 

Today, the gynecology department had people present, though they had no equipment, they mainly provided consultations and preliminary diagnoses. Upon inquiry, they found out the young woman was pregnant for the third time, having had two previous miscarriages.

 

Every time she got pregnant, she would start spotting at three months and then miscarry. Now, she was a little over two months pregnant and was feeling unwell again, suspecting she might miscarry once more.

 

“It does seem like a sign of a miscarriage. You should quickly go to the hospital to save the baby!” the doctor said sternly.

 

“What’s the use? During the second pregnancy, she stayed in the hospital and still lost the baby,” the young woman’s mother-in-law complained as she squeezed to the front. “Besides, these are all signs. Going to the hospital won’t help.”

 

The doctors thought she might be referring to spotting, which is indeed a sign and reason enough to go to the hospital.

 

They didn’t know the specific circumstances from before; maybe it was too severe, or perhaps the hospital at that time wasn’t competent enough, or even that the pregnant woman didn’t take care of herself. They could only continue to advise them to view it from a scientific perspective.

 

But this family wouldn’t listen and kept saying nonsensical things, even insisting that the doctors explain the situation accurately.

 

Without any examination, how could the doctors give a precise judgment? They could only say that it was currently a sign of miscarriage, leading to an argument.

 

At this point, Zhou Jinyuan squeezed over, “What’s going on? Still not willing to go to the hospital?”

 

“Oh, Dr. Zhou,” the gynecologists saw him and reacted, “Take a look at her, we don’t have any equipment here, and she insists it’s due to an unstable fetus caused by being possessed. In this situation, they still want to listen to a charlatan and have the pregnant woman kneel before an altar.”

 

Traditional Chinese medicine often seems mystical, and Zhou, being adept at pulse diagnosis, was well-known among his colleagues. Without equipment, wasn’t this the perfect situation for him?

 

Zhou Jinyuan’s face immediately darkened, “Do you want to save the baby or not? Can you treat a pregnant woman like this?”

 

Despite his young age, the family was initially dismissive of him. But seeing his angry expression, they were scared.

 

Even the colleagues from the third hospital were stirred. Zhou Jinyuan usually appeared easygoing, never getting angry when teased, always approachable with his baby-faced look. But now, seeing him angry was intimidating, making the place extremely quiet.

 

“Sit down!” Zhou Jinyuan told the pregnant woman to sit and took her pulse on the spot.

 

The pregnant woman didn’t dare refuse and obediently sat down.

 

Her pulse indicated insufficient kidney yin and excessive heart and liver fire, which were causing fetal movement. The fetus was unstable, hence the spotting. Zhou Jinyuan glanced at the pregnant woman and, in a profound tone, asked, “Your heart and kidneys are not in harmony, disturbing your sleep. What exactly have you been dreaming about?”

 

The young woman shuddered, and her family was equally shocked.

 

Her symptoms during pregnancy weren’t just spotting but included other issues. Yet, Zhou Jinyuan specifically mentioned this one, the most crucial, which deeply affected them.

 

After all, Zhou Jinyuan wasn’t just a seasoned doctor but also a Taoist practitioner, well-versed in understanding the psychology of both his followers and those who believed in superstitions.

 

Based on the pregnant woman’s pulse, it was likely that she firmly believed in being possessed. The most probable symptom would be frequent dreams. For thousands of years, dreams have been interpreted as meaningful reflections of life.

 

Being a doctor sometimes requires bold assumptions and careful verification.

 

He deliberately adopted a profound demeanor, thinking if a charlatan could deceive people, why couldn’t he, as a professional, present himself as a higher authority?

 

Sure enough, the young woman was stunned by his accurate statement and blushed, asking, “Can I speak to you alone?”

 

Her address changed to a respectful “您” (Nín), indicating a shift in attitude, making Zhou Jinyuan’s colleagues feel he was indeed the right choice.

 

Zhou Jinyuan surveyed the area and then said, “Come with me.”

 

Since the place was crowded, he led her to a car, stopping her husband and mother-in-law from following.

 

“Go ahead,” he said after closing the car door.

 

Although Zhou Jinyuan was a doctor, he was still of the opposite sex, making the young woman feel embarrassed at first. After some hesitation, she finally spoke, “Every time I’m pregnant, around two to three months, I dream of ghosts and spirits from an evil temple coming to me and…”

 

An evil temple refers to those not formally recognized and considered sinister by folklore.

 

Haizhou, a place with superstitions like Laodiaoling, indicated a strong presence of such beliefs. In the city, it was slightly better than in rural areas, but Zhou Jinyuan had often encountered people attributing medical conditions to possession.

 

The woman hadn’t finished, but Zhou Jinyuan already understood and noted, “Dreaming of interacting with ghosts and spirits.”

 

—— Essentially, engaging in some indescribable relations.

 

“And then, I feel abdominal pain, start bleeding, and the baby is lost,” she continued, her eyes reddening. This was her third pregnancy. “My mother-in-law consulted a spiritual teacher who said the evil spirits have taken a liking to me, preventing me from carrying a child, and only ancestors can protect me. But the evil spirits are powerful, so I must kneel long to beg the ancestors…”

 

Hearing this, Zhou Jinyuan sighed. Such free clinics were necessary to spread medical knowledge to the rural areas.

 

The focus shouldn’t just be on doctors or equipment but on educating people about who to seek help from.

 

Shaking his head, Zhou Jinyuan said, “Before you got married, you must have had menstrual cramps and poor liver and kidney health. With a strong desire to conceive, your sleep quality during pregnancy worsened, leading to these vivid dreams, thirst, irritability, and an unstable fetus. How could you not miscarry?”

 

Though he had only just met her, his deductions were close to the truth.

 

“But I always dream of that…” she mumbled.

 

Considering she hadn’t saved the baby even after the third pregnancy in a hospital, she was starting to believe it was due to supernatural causes.

 

“What you think about during the day affects your dreams at night. You must have visited or heard about that evil temple, leaving a deep impression,” Zhou Jinyuan explained, understanding the principle behind his diagnosis.

 

Blessing techniques might have been stripped from modern Chinese medicine, but techniques themselves are neutral; it’s the user who determines their intent.

 

Seeing her still hesitating, Zhou Jinyuan added, “Think carefully. Can kneeling save your baby? If the baby is lost, that spiritual teacher might claim you weren’t devout enough. Could you accept that?”

 

Being pregnant, with an unstable fetus, and yet kneeling long?

 

She trembled, “But I’ve already knelt for half a day, what now?”

 

“I took your pulse just now, it’s not too late. I’ll prescribe you a few doses to stabilize the pregnancy, or you can come to our hospital’s obstetrics department,” Zhou Jinyuan’s steady demeanor provided the distressed woman with a sense of security, making her immediately nod.

 

“….Is it really not too late?” she murmured.

 

Zhou Jinyuan knew she would come to her senses, but still worried it might not be enough. After getting out of the car, he pulled aside the local official and quietly entrusted him with the task of supervising her to ensure she wouldn’t be fooled again.

 

“Alright, I’ve explained everything to her. That so-called master is just a fraud, cheating people out of their money,” Zhou Jinyuan said. Seeing her family seemed a bit unhappy about his “slander” of the master, he added, “If anyone has any complaints, let him come to me personally. Let’s see if his skills are better than mine?”

 

That guy probably didn’t even have the proper credentials as a religious practitioner. If he continued to make trouble, Zhou Jinyuan would just report him.

 

The people from the Third Hospital burst into laughter.

 

It was too funny. They should have Director Xie come and see this. They were always dealing with superstitions, and here was Zhou Jinyuan debunking a fraud. How could a rural so-called master compare to a certified practitioner like Zhou?

 

Those in the know laughed, but others thought Zhou meant to diagnose whether it was an illness or some supernatural cause.

 

Some even called the master, telling him his reputation was being destroyed.

 

Zhou Jinyuan, watching, didn’t care and said, “If he can’t come here, tell him to find me at the Third Hospital of Haizhou in the Traditional Chinese Medicine department. My name is Zhou Jinyuan, make sure he schedules an appointment.”

 

“Hahahahaha!” The crowd erupted in laughter.

 

Earlier, Zhou Jinyuan had spent the whole morning diagnosing, earning the trust of many villagers. Not everyone believed in ghosts, and seeing Zhou speak like this, they found it amusing and wanted to support him.

 

…

 

Unnoticed, the clinic was nearing its end as the doctors prepared to leave.

 

Despite it being the end of the day, the crowd had only grown larger, with many drawn by the earlier commotion involving the young woman.

 

The doctors, having worked overtime, began packing up.

 

At that moment, a van sped to the scene, raising dust. The driver rolled down the window and shouted, “Wait, doctor, we have a patient here!”

 

When the door opened, several Taoist priests in robes got out, one with an injury on his forehead, being carried with eyes closed.

 

The doctors from the Third Hospital rushed to ask what happened and took his blood pressure and pulse.

 

Zhou Jinyuan noticed they were Taoists from Xianglu Temple, and the injured one was Zhao Daoshang, who had once picked him up. He quickly went to help. The other Taoists recognized him but didn’t want to interrupt the emergency care.

 

Fortunately, the diagnosis was just a mild concussion. As they gave Zhao Daoshang medicine, a junior Taoist explained they had been hired for a ritual.

 

——A local factory had spent a lot of money on new machinery and invited the Taoists to bless it.

 

While Zhao Daoshang was placing talismans inside the factory, he accidentally fell and hit his head, losing consciousness. The driver, knowing the clinic was nearby, brought him over instead of going to the health clinic.

 

“Is Master Zhao going to be okay?” the junior Taoist asked.

 

Zhao Daoshang, still dizzy, managed to open his eyes after Zhou Jinyuan administered acupuncture.

 

A doctor said, “He seems to have a mild concussion. The medicine is helping, but he needs rest. We lack the full equipment here; he should get a more comprehensive check-up and be observed for a day.”

 

Zhou Jinyuan, after taking his pulse, agreed it was only a mild concussion, but he didn’t object to further checks.

 

The junior Taoists were relieved. A concussion, being the least severe brain injury, was manageable if there were no other complications.

 

They discussed briefly, then worriedly said, “But if Master Zhao can’t move, what about the ritual? The auspicious time is approaching.”

 

They were there for a job, and the blessing ceremony was crucial.

 

Villagers kept a respectful distance but listened in. Knowing the local factory, they understood the situation.

 

An elderly villager suggested, “Why not have someone else lead the ritual? The master can’t move.”

 

The junior Taoists looked troubled; it wasn’t easy to find a replacement. They were inexperienced and not fully trained, and the factory owners might not accept them. It seemed unlucky.

 

Zhao Daoshang, unable to speak, glanced at Zhou Jinyuan.

 

From what he knew, Zhou was more than capable of performing the ritual flawlessly.

 

Villagers watched as the young miracle doctor, who had impressed them all day, took off his white coat and, with a commanding presence, said, “In an emergency, we must act. Bring me the ritual robe!”

 

Villagers: “???”

 

What was he saying?

 

The junior Taoists, realizing, joyfully unfolded a bright ritual robe and respectfully dressed Zhou Jinyuan in it, “Thank you, Master!”

 

Villagers: “…………”