Taoist Doctor - Chapter 38

The setbacks during the journey didn’t make Rong Shouyun give up; instead, they strengthened his belief, “When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a person, it will first exhaust their spirit and make them endure hardship…”

 

Rong Xixue said, “That’s Confucian culture, isn’t it?”

 

Rong Shouyun retorted bitterly, “…Don’t come and disrupt my meditation. Just because the abbot praised you a few times doesn’t mean you’re wise. Have you seen my exam papers from the temple?”

 

Rong Xixue replied calmly, “Wisdom isn’t the Way, and the heart isn’t the Buddha. What exactly are you pursuing, wisdom or the Buddha? If it’s the former, you should have taken the postgraduate exams.”

 

Rong Shouyun was speechless.

 

Some people think that wisdom equates to having Buddha-nature, deliberately pursuing either the heart or wisdom, but this idea is somewhat mundane. Those with Buddha-nature might possess wisdom, but wisdom is not the only expression, nor is it the most important.

 

Zhou Jinyuan laughed heartily, “That’s reasonable. Don’t be envious just because your younger brother is favored by the abbot. It’s simply because he’s smarter. And don’t be discouraged if you’re not as sharp; even the most foolish can have a chance in the end.”

 

Rong Shouyun was mocked again from a different perspective and rolled his eyes wildly. These Taoists really were not pleasant, and their words were too harsh.

 

Aside from seeing a patient the day they went up the mountain, Zhou Jinyuan spent the following days resting, eating, and drinking, without encountering any urgent cases. He and Rong Xixue visited his family’s warehouse, which stored many medicinal herbs.

 

Zhou Jinyuan and Rong Shouyun were setting up a clinic in Haizhou and needed to bring some herbs for the clinic. Additionally, Rong Xixue needed to conduct more experiments with the medicinal properties. Some of the herbs were old and rare, with part of the collection dating back to Zhou Jinyuan’s grandfather, making them truly valuable.

 

These herbs were packed and shipped to Haizhou the day before they left.

 

…

 

After spending the Spring Festival at home, Zhou Jinyuan gained four pounds. By the fourth day, it was time to return to work. The clinic’s outpatient service would resume on the fifth day, and the weight he gained would likely be worked off soon.

 

“This year we’ll definitely miss the chance to worship Tai Sui. Dad, remember to do it for us!” Zhou Jinyuan, wrapped warmly, reminded Zhou’s father before leaving.

 

“Do you think I could forget that?” Zhou’s father waved his hand.

 

The three of them headed back to Haizhou. Since they had received various approvals, Zhou Jinyuan handed over the funds to Rong Shouyun to handle the clinic’s setup.

 

There were still many procedures to complete before the official opening, but since Zhou Jinyuan had been in Haizhou for a while, the process was less complicated than before. Even if there were questions, many seniors were available for consultation, so it should be manageable.

 

On the plane, Rong Shouyun kept muttering, “What should we name our clinic? How about ‘Garan Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic’?”

 

Zhou Jinyuan replied, “…”

 

“Are you crazy? Won’t people think it’s a monk’s clinic?” Zhou Jinyuan said incredulously. “It should definitely be named from the ‘I Ching.'”

 

While there are Taoist doctors and monk doctors, Rong Shouyun, despite having been a monk, definitely did not inherit the skills of a monk doctor.

 

Are you pursuing Buddhism or Taoism?

 

Rong Shouyun said, “I think ‘Garan’ sounds better…”

 

Zhou Jinyuan grabbed him by the neck, using his physical strength, “Nonsense, how is that a good name? Be quiet.”

 

“I won’t!” Rong Shouyun struggled and slapped Zhou Jinyuan’s chest, “Great Force Vajra Palm!”

 

“…What nonsense is this elementary monk talking about? When did the temple ever teach you martial arts?” Zhou Jinyuan raised his fist to hit Rong Shouyun’s head, “Xuanwu Fist!”

 

Rong Shouyun reacted after a second and became enraged. Xuanwu? It’s just a tortoise punch!

 

He felt a bit dizzy from the blow but persisted, “Just… Garan…”

 

Garan means “the place where monks live” in Sanskrit, referring to a temple.

 

Rong Xixue seemed indifferent throughout and did not glance at the two of them. She calmly said, “Wasn’t Garan already rejected?”

 

Rong Shouyun was thoroughly struck by this, and his whole demeanor drooped.

 

Their seats were towards the back. When a flight attendant lifted the curtain and came out, she saw Rong Shouyun and Zhou Jinyuan grappling with each other. She maintained a neutral expression and said, “Children, please sit properly and keep your bags under the seat.”

 

Zhou Jinyuan and Rong Shouyun fell silent, their sense of shame stopping their brawl.

 

As the cabin door closed and the plane began taxiing on the runway, waiting for takeoff, Zhou Jinyuan took out his eye mask, preparing to sleep. However, he heard commotion from the front row and noticed many passengers standing up. His window seat made it difficult to see clearly.

 

The flight attendants asked everyone to sit down, explaining that a passenger had suddenly fallen ill and they would contact medical personnel. Luckily, the plane had not taken off yet, allowing time for adjustments.

 

“Hey, this is your area of expertise.” Rong Shouyun and Rong Xixue stood up, making way for Zhou Jinyuan to come forward.

 

Hearing someone had fainted, Zhou Jinyuan quickly unfastened his seatbelt, “I’ll go check.”

 

The space was narrow, so there was no need for everyone to go. If needed, they would be called.

 

Zhou Jinyuan walked briskly to the front and saw an elderly man with gray hair lying on the aisle, unconscious. There was a large puddle of vomit beside him. Two flight attendants were attending to him, searching for an emergency card or medication and calling his name.

 

Another flight attendant saw Zhou Jinyuan and tried to stop him, “Sir, please sit down.”

 

“I’m a doctor. Let me take a look.” Zhou Jinyuan knew there was a medical emergency center at the airport, and since the plane hadn’t taken off, emergency personnel would arrive soon. However, no one knew the exact nature of the patient’s emergency, and every second could be critical.

 

The flight attendant hesitated, as she had just witnessed Zhou Jinyuan playing around, looking like an energetic teenager.

 

But seeing Zhou Jinyuan’s serious expression, she stepped aside, and he knelt down to examine the patient. She could not bring herself to object.

 

The patient was covered in cold sweat, lips and face were cyanotic, teeth clenched, and he was in a coma. The flight attendants had not found any emergency cards or medications and nervously said, “It looks like a myocardial infarction. The patient’s breathing and pulse are almost gone…”

 

Zhou Jinyuan checked the patient’s breath and pulse, finding almost no pulse.

 

He was grave and proceeded to check the patient’s Renying pulse on the neck and Fuyang pulse on the foot. This is part of Zhang Zhongjing’s three-position diagnosis method. If the pulse at the cun (寸) position is absent, the Renying and Fuyang pulses can be used to assess the patient’s condition and prognosis.

 

Fortunately, there were pulses at the other two locations.

 

The flight attendant, seeing Zhou Jinyuan’s examination extending to the patient’s feet, became anxious and said, “Sorry, are you really a doctor? Our emergency personnel are on their way—”

 

“Shh.” The flight attendant noticed Zhou Jinyuan’s ears twitching as if he heard something and could not help but remain silent and watch.

 

Zhou Jinyuan lifted the patient’s head, pressed somewhere, opened his clenched teeth, and put his fingers into the patient’s mouth, pulling out a large amount of phlegm! He even found a few broken teeth among the phlegm!

 

The flight attendants and nearby passengers were stunned, seeing the broken teeth made them feel their own teeth ache. The pain must have been intense for the teeth to break!

 

At this point, the flight attendants fully believed that Zhou Jinyuan was indeed a doctor.

 

Zhou Jinyuan didn’t mind the mess on his hands and cleared the phlegm from the patient’s mouth.

 

A passenger immediately handed him a tissue, which he used to clean his hands. He then searched the patient’s body but didn’t find what he expected.

 

Zhou Jinyuan frowned and said to the flight attendants, “It’s not a myocardial infarction. The patient has diabetes, and based on the symptoms, it’s likely diabetic hyperosmolar coma. He needs immediate fluid replacement. Do you have saline? If so, administer it.”

 

They had searched but found no emergency card or medication on the patient.

 

Typically, diabetic patients carry insulin. Although it was unclear why the patient didn’t have it, Zhou Jinyuan was nearly certain of his diagnosis based on the symptoms, signs, and pulse.

 

The flight attendants had received emergency medical training but initially misjudged the condition as myocardial infarction. Diabetic hyperosmolar coma is a rare and severe acute complication, often overlooked until it becomes severe. Despite its low incidence, it has a high mortality rate.

 

After Zhou Jinyuan’s diagnosis, he took out his acupuncture needles.

 

“Eh? Is this… acupuncture?”

 

Earlier, Zhou Jinyuan had used Western medical terms for ease of understanding. However, when he suddenly brought out acupuncture needles, everyone who had assumed he was a Western doctor was stunned.

 

“Yes, I’m a traditional Chinese medicine doctor,” Zhou Jinyuan explained. At the moment, he had no time to prepare herbal medicine, so he resorted to acupuncture to revive the patient. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, he diagnosed the patient with a severe imbalance of yin and yang, and the situation was extremely critical.

 

Despite this, no one doubted him at that moment, and they followed his instructions.

 

After Zhou Jinyuan inserted several needles, the patient’s breathing visibly improved, and there was a sound of phlegm in the throat, which was then spontaneously expelled. Zhou Jinyuan had opened the patient’s mouth earlier because he had heard this sound.

 

The flight attendant, overjoyed, called the patient’s name again.

 

“No need to call; the patient won’t fully regain consciousness right now. This is just a temporary relief of his condition. He still needs medication,” Zhou Jinyuan said.

 

“Okay, okay.” The flight attendant looked at him, initially thinking he looked like a teenager, but after seeing Zhou Jinyuan diagnose and administer acupuncture with such decisiveness and presence, the sense of his age became vague, and he appeared particularly handsome…

 

Shortly after, an ambulance arrived directly on the runway, and Zhou Jinyuan followed them out.

 

The emergency personnel had been informed that there was a colleague providing emergency care on site and deduced that the patient had diabetes.

 

When they checked with the available instruments, although they lacked laboratory results, the symptoms and signs were consistent with a diagnosis of hyperosmolar diabetic coma. Not daring to delay, they quickly started an intravenous drip to rehydrate the patient.

 

The patient still had needles in place, and the emergency personnel looked at their young colleague. “Bro, you’re a Chinese medicine doctor? You’re pretty decisive. Should we remove the needles now? We’re taking him to the Municipal Hospital.”

 

“To the Municipal Hospital? Leave the needles in for a while longer; someone at the hospital will remove them,” Zhou Jinyuan said, relieved. He had initially considered not boarding the flight and accompanying the patient to the hospital, fearing the patient might not survive, but now he had changed his mind.

 

The emergency personnel assumed he meant the hospital nurses would remove the needles, so they agreed and rushed off at top speed.

 

When they arrived at the Municipal Hospital, someone was there to meet them.

 

The emergency personnel had been here many times before, but this situation was unusual. Normally, the patient would be quickly taken for tests to lower blood sugar and control the condition.

 

However, as soon as the hospital staff received the patient, someone immediately brought over a bowl of herbal medicine to administer, while others removed the needles, clearly in an urgent manner.

 

The airport emergency team was bewildered. “What’s going on?”

 

Even in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital’s emergency department, this kind of emergency treatment is rare, right?

 

Suddenly, they recalled what the Chinese medicine doctor had said: that someone at the Municipal Hospital would remove the needles…

 

Could it be that he had arranged this?

 

They soon found out the answer, as the patient regained consciousness not long after.

 

.

 

Meanwhile, the flight bound for Haizhou City had already taken off, albeit slightly behind schedule.

 

When Zhou Jinyuan returned to the cabin, passengers started applauding, and someone exclaimed, “Young man, you’re a Chinese medicine doctor? I didn’t know Chinese medicine could be used for emergency care!”

 

Those seated nearby had witnessed Zhou Jinyuan’s actions, with some even recording videos. They were familiar with Western emergency medicine, but this was the first time they had seen Chinese medicine used in an emergency.

 

“Of course it can,” Zhou Jinyuan explained, unfazed by the common misconception that traditional Chinese medicine is slow to act. He elaborated that although clinical acupuncture is not very popular nowadays, the traditional Chinese medicine approach is to first use acupuncture in emergencies, followed by herbal decoctions.

 

“Is that so? You look familiar to me.”

 

This flight was from Yingzhou to Haizhou, so it wasn’t surprising if someone from Haizhou recognized Zhou Jinyuan…

 

“Ahem, maybe you’ve seen me before,” Zhou Jinyuan replied, not wanting to say, “Do you remember the doctor who went viral for racing in a wheelchair?”

 

He cupped his hands in salute to the applauding passengers, which made them chuckle softly; he was both dashing and endearingly quirky.

 

After sitting back down, Rong Xixue asked him a question.

 

“Wasn’t the condition quite critical? Aren’t you going with them?”

 

He had thought that, given Zhou Jinyuan’s temperament, he would have gone to the hospital with the patient and was ready to help him rebook his ticket.

 

“I called an uncle at the Municipal Hospital and sent over a prescription. They will prepare the medicine,” Zhou Jinyuan explained.

 

Unlike in Haizhou, the Zhou family was still somewhat well-known here. Several experts and leaders at the Municipal Hospital knew his father and were aware of his abilities. So, someone there fully trusted Zhou Jinyuan and would follow his prescription.

 

Zhou Jinyuan had prescribed a formula of *Si Ni Ren Shen Tang* to revive the yang and stabilize the yin. According to his estimate, the patient would fully regain consciousness within ten minutes of taking the medicine, after which all symptoms would stabilize, and the patient would be out of danger.

 

“Excuse me, would you like something to drink?” A flight attendant approached Zhou Jinyuan and asked softly.

 

“No, thank you.”

 

“May I ask for your name and place of work?” The flight attendant’s face flushed slightly. “I need to record it here…”

 

Zhou Jinyuan replied, “Sure, my name is Zhou Jinyuan, and I work in the Chinese medicine department at the Third Hospital of Haizhou.”

 

“You look really young,” the flight attendant hesitated, as if expecting Zhou Jinyuan to say something more, but he didn’t catch on. They stared at each other for three seconds before the flight attendant awkwardly smiled and quietly walked away.

 

The female passenger in the front row wasn’t so reserved and turned around to ask, “You’re from the Third Hospital? What you did just now was amazing. Could you… give me your contact information?”

 

Zhou Jinyuan enthusiastically responded, “Thank you. If you need me, you can just book an appointment with me directly. You can check our clinic hours on our public account, so there’s no need to contact me in advance!”

 

The female passenger couldn’t tell if he was serious: “…Oh!”

 

…

 

…

 

Zhou Jinyuan’s first day back at work.

 

“Happy New Year.” Although the holiday hadn’t ended, Zhou Jinyuan greeted his colleagues, noticing one of them arranging a red banner. He asked, “What’s this for? Is someone coming to visit?”

 

He had taken time off for the New Year, didn’t follow gossip, and was unaware of what was going on.

 

“Hey, Guru, they’re coming because of you. A hospital from another province heard about the big deal you did and wants to come for a visit to learn.” Liu Qi said.

 

Zhou Jinyuan thought for a moment, then laughed, “Is it a rehabilitation hospital?”

 

He had been involved in the rehabilitation of Qu Guanfeng, which had attracted a lot of attention from related institutions, even urging him to write a paper about it.

 

But just reading a medical case only gives you an understanding of the treatment process and outcomes. To fully grasp the details, one would have to study Chinese medicine in-depth or come directly to him.

 

Liu Qi laughed awkwardly, “No, it’s the XX Provincial Dermatology Specialty Hospital. They want to introduce traditional Chinese medicine for hair loss prevention…”

 

Zhou Jinyuan: “…”

 

He almost forgot, the demand for hair loss treatment is much larger.

 

Because the Third Hospital’s reputation for treating hair loss is growing stronger, they now attract patients not only from within the province but also from across the country and even internationally. This has caused the hospital to stress the importance of the foreign language skills of their guidance nurses.

 

Other hospitals focusing on hair loss prevention have noticed their rise and, of course, feel intrigued, wanting to come and observe, learn from their experience, and later hire some TCM practitioners to set up a TCM hair loss prevention clinic to ride the wave.

 

These are the ones who have the capacity to collaborate with the Third Hospital. There are even more who are enthusiastically setting up their own TCM hair loss prevention clinics.

 

…

 

Zhou Jinyuan threw himself back into his busy work. It wasn’t long before Director Xiao came looking for him.

 

“Xiao Zhou, there’s an advanced acupuncture training course hosted by the Acupuncture Association in L City, Country B. They’ve invited acupuncture teachers from the Haizhou TCM Association, and Professor Mo specifically requested you. You might have to travel across the sea to teach! And there will be extra compensation!”

 

Director Xiao was eager for Zhou Jinyuan to participate in various academic activities to further boost his reputation, not just be known for treating hair loss. Cases like Qu Guanfeng’s are more impressive!

 

“There’s such a course?” Zhou Jinyuan was puzzled; he wasn’t very familiar with these kinds of things.

 

He only knew that there were many acupuncturists abroad. Some of the foreign patients at their hospital had mentioned having acupuncture in their own cities, but he wasn’t aware of the specifics and didn’t know that the Haizhou TCM Association needed to participate in such activities.

 

Director Xiao said, “Of course. Nowadays, there are tens of thousands of acupuncturists overseas. To further promote acupuncture, there are often teaching and free clinic activities overseas, and they also accept overseas acupuncturists for further training. Or, like in this case, they invite us to go abroad and teach.”

 

Acupuncture is widely used in many countries abroad, and many universities even offer acupuncture programs and departments, training acupuncturists. Some regions require acupuncturists to complete a certain number of continuing education hours each year.

 

Continuing education can take the form of academic lectures, discussions, and, of course, acupuncture training courses like this one, which is organized by their local acupuncture association.

 

As for the teachers the TCM Association is sending, besides Zhou Jinyuan, who was specifically requested by Professor Mo, they are all faculty members, either from Haizhou Medical College or the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

 

“By the way, you might not know this, but most acupuncturists in the West use ‘soft acupuncture,’ which aims to be non-invasive and pain-free. It’s mostly used to treat pain-related conditions—like this time, your theme is pain management acupuncture. Their point selection is different from ours; they focus on finding stimulation points and tender points, without emphasizing the meridians.”

 

Zhou Jinyuan was a bit concerned, “That’s not good, how can the results be the same? Are they just too lazy to memorize the meridian points?”

 

“It’s just the twelve main meridians, twelve divergent meridians, fifteen connecting meridians, twelve sinew meridians, twelve skin regions, plus the eight extraordinary meridians, single points, paired points, extraordinary points, vital points—over seven hundred points in total… They work so well when used together!”

 

**Author’s Note:**  

Patient: In my coma, I felt like a deity came to save me. He touched my foot and then poked my mouth.