"Lu Jiu, it's time to see patients!"
"Coming!"
In Lu's Clinic, with an elder's shout, the young man quickly put up the sign and sat at the table, placing a wrist pillow.
Lu Jiu, the only heir to the Lu Family's medical legacy, inherited traditional Chinese medicine from a young age. After the college entrance exam, he got into one of the top medical schools in the country, Jinling University of Chinese Medicine, with excellent grades.
Although he chose a major in Chinese medicine, he meticulously studied all the compulsory courses in Western medicine.
Five years after graduating, Lu Jiu found a job at a hospital. After obtaining his medical license in two years, he resolutely chose to return to his hometown to inherit this small broken clinic of the Lu Family.
His family unanimously opposed, even Grandpa Lu didn't agree.
The Lu Family's legacy doesn't have to be bound to a small clinic. As long as Lu Jiu practices medicine with the family's medical skills, it is not considered a break in the tradition.
But Lu Jiu was very stubborn and refused to go to a big city hospital, leaving the family with no choice but to make a pact with him in three clauses.
If Lu Jiu could earn 200,000 yuan within a year, they would agree to let him continue managing the clinic. If not, he would have to work at a hospital in a big city.
This amount is not considered large since, if Lu Jiu took a position at the major hospitals in Jinling, his annual salary would be at least hundreds of thousands of yuan. But for a small clinic, it's somewhat absurdly high.
On one hand, not many people come. On the other, traditional Chinese medicine herbs are relatively cheap. Expensive herbs do exist but either cannot be used or are not needed. Patients who come to a Chinese medicine clinic mostly have minor ailments that can be resolved with tens of yuan.
If he were to encounter those difficult diseases, like cancer, which cannot be cured even in hospitals and end up in Chinese medicine clinics to try their luck, with Lu Jiu's current level, he clearly can't earn money from such cases.
Most crucially, the Lu Family has a family precept: In learning medicine, first learn virtue, and treating illness and saving people shouldn't prioritize profit.
Grandpa Lu, Lu Mountain, practiced this all his life and now serves as the clinic's judge, keeping a close watch on Lu Jiu to ensure he earns this 200,000 yuan sensibly and morally.
Lu Jiu, being young and passionate, knew the 200,000 yuan would be hard to earn but still accepted the challenge.
He firmly believes that in this era, more people will believe in traditional Chinese medicine. As long as he continuously enhances his skills, he can easily cure various difficult diseases. A mere 200,000 yuan, haha, is nothing!
"Good morning, Grandpa Lu!"
Soon, a young man appeared at the clinic door. He looked to be in his twenties, with a relatively robust build, commonly referred to as chubby, wearing thick black-framed glasses. Through the glasses, his dark circles were obvious.
"Xiao Zhang is here, what's up, not feeling well?" Lu Mountain chuckled.
Zhang Yu lived around Garden Street and would often visit Lu Mountain for minor ailments like headaches or colds. Over time, they got familiar with each other.
In fact, Lu's Clinic has been open for many years and is quite famous among the locals. There aren't many visitors, but some people specifically come for consultations. However, as Lu Mountain only consults in the morning and occasionally closes the clinic, the reputation has never really spread. The profit, well, let's just say it's enough to live on but not to starve.
Otherwise, how else could it have supported five siblings from Lu Jiu's father's generation?
Of course, it only managed to support them, without providing more luxurious material conditions!
"I get inexplicably overheated all of a sudden, even sweating profusely while eating, which is so annoying. I've been using the air conditioner these past few days, but then... ah-choo~~ ah-choo~~ I caught a cold again..." Zhang Yu rubbed his reddening nose and pulled out a tissue to blow but couldn't get much out despite his effort.
"Here, let my grandson take a look. From now on, he'll be seeing patients at the clinic." Lu Mountain gestured with his gaze at Lu Jiu.
Lu Jiu promptly gave Zhang Yu a smile, "Have a seat."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu glanced at Lu Jiu, then at Lu Mountain, and finally back at Lu Jiu.
This... he looks about my age, can he do it?
For traditional Chinese medicine, Zhang Yu naturally trusts the older practitioners.
But questioning them right in front of their face was somewhat impolite, so Zhang Yu suppressed his doubts, agreed, and obediently sat before Lu Jiu, skillfully placing his hand on the wrist pillow on the table.
Lu Jiu then placed his hand over Zhang Yu's pulse spots. As soon as his fingertips made contact with Zhang Yu's wrist, an odd voice suddenly popped into Lu Jiu's mind.
[Ding! Great Doctor System is binding...]
[Searching for ways to improve the host's medical skill...]
[Search successful! The host may dialogue with the patient's Five Viscera to obtain information for differential diagnosis and treatment. Rewards will be determined by the patient's recovery progress!]
Huh?
Great Doctor System?
Dialogue with the patient's Five Viscera?
While Lu Jiu was bewildered, his mind started getting noisy again.
"Liver Wood, can you control this chubby guy, and make him stop staying up late? I'm already struggling to digest his food and he keeps eating at night. If this continues, I'll get weaker and weaker. If I fail, how will you guys get the nutrients?"
"I've warned him, but he doesn't care. What can I do? His staying up late hurts me too. If you want blame, you should look to Heart Fire."
"So what if he stays up late? Who doesn't do that now? Spleen Earth, endure it if you can, quit if you can't. Anyway, the body is his. At most, I give him the idea to save himself. Whether he can or not depends on the doctor he finds."
"Just finding a doctor is no use. If he keeps falling ill like this, what if one day we can't hold on?"
"Exactly, he needs to become aware of this issue. Otherwise, when will it ever end?"
"It's pointless, no one tells him how to protect us. Making him suffer from ailments or giving him some pain doesn't help."
"So we're just passively bullied by illnesses?"
"What else? We're stuck with a body like this!"
"..."
These voices... are they the Five Viscera speaking?
Lu Jiu felt a sense of incredulity. Such a subversive scenario made it hard for him to accept it all at once.
Especially the Five Viscera conversing as if they were humans, at times making Lu Jiu almost retract his hand from Zhang Yu's wrist in shock.
It was too bizarre!
He had given people pulse analyses before, so why did he suddenly acquire a so-called Great Doctor System and even gain the ability to hear the patient's Five Viscera voices!
This supernatural phenomenon was challenging Lu Jiu's worldview!
"Who? Who's talking?"
Amidst Lu Jiu's shock, a voice among the Five Viscera suddenly raised its volume.
Talking?
Referring to me?
Lu Jiu pondered.
"It's you. Who are you?"
Huh?
Can his Five Viscera hear my thoughts?
"With such a loud voice, only the blind wouldn't hear it!"
"Heart Fire, it's deaf not blind."
"You shut up! Whoever you are, stop asking questions and just say what you do!"
Lu Jiu tentatively communicated with Zhang Yu's five viscera in his mind.
"I'm a doctor, here to... treat this body of yours."
As soon as he said this, Zhang Yu's five viscera immediately lost their composure.
"Doctor?"
"Wow, our savior is here!"
"Please help us quickly!"
"Finally, someone can hear us, sob sob~~"
"...…"
Lu Jiu was at once amused and exasperated; these viscera are like little children.
"Don't worry, I'll do my best to help him."
Upon receiving Lu Jiu's reply, the viscera were instantly overjoyed.
Lu Jiu's mind was suddenly filled with a jumble of noisy voices, so instinctively he let go of his hand, and at that moment, the noisy voices ceased abruptly.
Oh?
So, by taking the pulse, he could hear the dialogue within the patient's five viscera, and letting go of the hand meant cutting off the signal?
Interesting!
But for now, the priority is treating the patient; he can study this strange occurrence later!
"Stick out your tongue for me to see," Lu Jiu said.
Zhang Yu immediately opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.
The tongue is a bit red, which is clearly a heat syndrome.
Generally speaking, if the tongue is a deeper red than normal, it's a sign of heat syndrome. Dark red with yellow coating indicates excess heat, fresh red points to deficiency heat, and pale red without coating suggests yin deficiency with excessive heat, etc.
Zhang Yu's tongue is pale red without coating, indicating a possibility of yin deficiency with excessive heat.
"Do you sweat when you sleep?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Yes, sometimes I just lie in bed feeling inexplicably irritable, and it's only slightly better after I slowly fall asleep," Zhang Yu responded.
"Oh? No night sweats?" Lu Jiu asked in surprise.
"Night sweats? Do you mean sweating after sleeping? I'm not sure about that; anyway, I rarely wake up from being too hot," Zhang Yu said.
Then it's not yin deficiency with excessive heat!
The most distinctive clinical manifestation of yin deficiency with excessive heat is night sweat.
Zhang Yu clearly doesn't match this symptom!
"Are you afraid of the wind, especially when sweating? Does the fan feel uncomfortable?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Yes, otherwise why would I use the air conditioner? I don't know why, even though it's obviously hot, I can't stand the wind, which is really weird," Zhang Yu said, puzzled.
"Have you been feeling fatigued these days? Like having no energy for anything." Lu Jiu inquired.
"Not just these days, I've been feeling exhausted for more than a year now. I just want to lie down and do nothing," Zhang Yu displayed a defeated expression.
At this point, Lu Jiu basically had an answer!
This is clearly qi deficiency leading to insecure lung and exterior!
In addition, Zhang Yu's lips are slightly red, and he has a habit of swallowing when he speaks, indicating insufficient body fluid, a sign of yin deficiency.
But as the words were about to come out, Lu Jiu recalled the earlier dialogue of those viscera.
Among those words, Lu Jiu noticed the term Spleen Earth.
The spleen indeed belongs to earth, meaning that the patient's five viscera are related by their elements.
Does that mean Zhang Yu also has a spleen deficiency issue?
Which, then, is the primary symptom?
This is what's frustrating about Chinese medicine; patients often have more than one symptom, and sometimes even disguised symptoms.
Like many patients with a high fever, despite a temperature over forty degrees, appearing burning up, they feel cold. If you administer a cold medicine at this time, it won't treat them but instead worsen their condition.
Thus, if the differentiation of syndromes is not accurate, the prescription, no matter how good, is ineffective.
Spleen deficiency…
Right!
The "Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor" in the Su Wen chapter has mentioned that the five viscera communicate and influence each other in sequence; if one viscera becomes ill, it transmits to the one it overcomes.
Transmits to what it overcomes, meaning it 'restrains'.
If one of the five viscera falls ill, it eventually transmits the ailment to the one it restrains.
Zhang Yu has a history of staying up late, which surely affects his liver.
The liver belongs to wood, which restrains earth, thus damaging the spleen.
Long-term spleen deficiency will eventually spread the illness to the next organ it restrains, earth controls water, so it's naturally the kidneys.
Afterwards, it's the heart, and lastly, the lungs.
After the disease makes its rounds through the five viscera, the body's vitality gets depleted.
Qi deficiency is precisely a manifestation of organ and vitality deficiency.
Got it!
Lu Jiu finally figured out Zhang Yu's problem!
"How's your appetite been lately?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Not great; there were days when I had diarrhea after eating, it was horrible," Zhang Yu shook his head.
"Was it dry or watery?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Watery," Zhang Yu replied.
"What time did you sleep last night?" Lu Jiu questioned.
"Around one, I went to bed a bit early yesterday," Zhang Yu said.
"..." Lu Jiu hesitated, saying nothing. He patted Zhang Yu's wrist, indicating the consultation was over, then spoke, "Alright, the main cause of your problem is staying up late for a long time, which damages your liver, leading to insufficient spleen and stomach function, meaning your digestion has issues. Essentially, your body's ability to digest and absorb nutrients has weakened, so less of what you eat turns into the nutrition your body needs for activity, naturally making you a bit qi deficient, which is why you easily sweat, catch a cold with a bit of chill, and have recurring issues without improvement."