Song Sisi's heart leaped when she heard her mother's question.
She hadn't told her parents about getting the Bezoar from the slaughterhouse a few days ago.
'How did they know?'
Mrs. Song said, "So people went into town, and word got around. A lot of people know now."
"What? What about Foolish Song? Does he know?"
Song Sisi asked worriedly.
'If he finds out, he'll never let this go.'
"He wanders the streets like a loafer every day. How could he not know?"
"He hasn't co to our house to cause trouble, has he?"
"Heh, I'm sure he wanted to," Mrs. Song said. "When he heard the Bezoar could sell for millions, he was so furious and anxious that he fainted on the spot. He was sent to the hospital, and the doctor said he nearly died. They told him he can't get angry anymore, or his life will be at risk. Now everyone in the village is laughing at him for throwing away a waterlon to pick up a sesa seed."
"That's good."
Song Sisi felt relieved.
The next day, Song Sisi went to work and told Li Xu what had happened with Foolish Song.
He had expected the news about the Bezoar to spread.
After all, sothing that hadn't happened in decades had occurred in their small town. It was rarer than winning the lottery; it would have been strange if word *didn't* get out.
He just hadn't expected Foolish Song to get sick from anger.
But that had nothing to do with him anymore.
Today's intelligence was about a patient's treatnt plan.
The patient was even an acquaintance.
Six months ago, he had scored a great find at Hengchang Stone Factory on Mopan Mountain in Shanyang County: a Five-Floral Dragon Bone.
The owner of Hengchang Stone Factory was none other than Guo Hengchang.
Today's intelligence indicated that Guo Hengchang would be coming in for a consultation.
He was suffering from pneumoconiosis.
An occupational hazard for those with long careers in the mining industry.
Back when Li Xu had gone to find the Five-Floral Dragon Bone, Guo Hengchang had been coughing constantly. His condition was clearly not mild.
When two of his workers had helped move the stone,
Li Xu had treated them.
He had used a prescription his father left him.
The results had been quite good.
So, it wasn't surprising that Guo Hengchang was now coming to him for treatnt.
A little after ten in the morning.
A portly, middle-aged man wearing a mask walked into the clinic.
"Excuse ... is Doctor Li in?" His voice was muffled and weak.
"That's ." Li Xu looked up. "You must be Boss Guo, right?"
The man took off his mask, revealing a puffy, sallow face. It was indeed Guo Hengchang.
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes when he saw Li Xu still recognized him. "Well now, Doctor Li, you rember ? I'm Guo Hengchang. Last ti you were at my factory, my two guys drank the dicine you prescribed. They both said their coughs are much better and their chests feel clearer. So... so I ca to you, hoping you could take a look at this old body of mine."
He had to pause for breath several tis just to say those few sentences, and fine beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead.
"Boss Guo, please have a seat." Li Xu gestured for him to sit in the consultation chair.
Song Sisi handed him a glass of warm water.
Li Xu first observed Guo Hengchang's complexion.
His complexion was a textbook "pneumoconiosis face": dark and dull, with a sickly, grayish-yellow hue.
His lips were purplish, a classic sign of chronic hypoxia.
His eyes were swollen, with deep bags underneath.
Li Xu had him stick out his tongue. The tongue itself was pale, covered in a thick, greasy white coating.
Looking at his legs, he saw clear pitting edema around the ankles. When Li Xu pressed a finger into the skin, the indentation remained long after he removed it.
His "plumpness" wasn't a sign of healthy robustness, but rather puffiness and edema caused by steroid treatnts.
He took out a stethoscope.
He listened carefully.
Guo Hengchang's breathing was labored—more air going out than coming in—and was accompanied by a wheezing sound, like a broken-down bellows.
His cough was faint and weak, and his breath was as thin as a thread, as if it might snap at any mont.
Li Xu could clearly hear a rattle of phlegm in his lungs, but his coughs were too weak to bring any of it up.
Putting down the stethoscope,
Li Xu began his inquiry. "Boss Guo, how long have you had this cough and shortness of breath?"
"Sigh... more than ten years now." Guo Hengchang heaved a sigh. "I was in my early twenties when I started quarrying stone on Mopan Mountain with my dad. I did that for over twenty years, dealing with dust every single day. At first, it was just a cough, bringing up a little phlegm. I didn't think anything of it. But it got worse and worse, and the wheezing got so bad I'd have to rest three tis just to go up a flight of stairs. Five years ago, I went to a major hospital for a check-up. They said it was stage-two pneumoconiosis, and the workers' compensation board confird it."
He paused, catching his breath before continuing. "I've spent the last few years in and out of hospitals—been admitted more than a dozen tis. Western dicine doesn't have any real solutions, just steroids. When I'm on that stuff, my breathing gets a little easier, but the mont I stop, it all cos roaring back, worse each ti. And the side effects are killing . Look at my face, it's swollen up like a pig's head. The worst part is, the doctors told I have bilateral necrosis of the femoral heads. Now it's excruciating just to walk."
"How do you sleep at night? Can you lie down flat?" Li Xu pressed.
"Lie down flat?" Guo Hengchang let out a bitter laugh. "Impossible. The mont I lie down, it feels like a huge boulder is crushing my chest. I can't breathe, and the coughing gets even worse. Every night, I have to prop myself up with a stack of pillows and try to doze off sitting up. I haven't had a single night of proper sleep."
"And do you usually feel tightness in your chest, shortness of breath, and severe palpitations? Are your hands and feet always cold, and do you break out in cold sweats?"
"Yes! Yes! Doctor Li, you've hit the nail on the head!" Guo Hengchang nodded emphatically, as if he'd found soone who finally understood. "That's exactly it! It feels like I can't take a full breath. The air gets stuck halfway down, just hanging there. It's an awful feeling."
Next,
Li Xu had Guo Hengchang extend his arm and began to take his pulse.
He placed three fingers gently on Guo Hengchang's wrist.
The pulse was deep, fine, and weak—like a silken thread subrged in water. It was a classic sign of severe deficiency, indicating that his internal organs were in a state of extre decline.
After considering all four aspects of the diagnosis, Li Xu had reached his conclusion.
It matched the information from his intelligence perfectly.
The root of Guo Hengchang's illness was long-term dust inhalation, which had damaged his lungs and led to a deficiency of lung qi.
Over the long course of the disease, the damage had spread from his lungs to his kidneys.
In Chinese dicine, there's a saying: "The Lungs are the master of Qi, while the Kidneys are the root of Qi." The Lungs govern breathing, and the Kidneys are responsible for grasping the Qi.
The pure Qi inhaled by the Lungs requires the grasping function of the Kidneys to be drawn deep into the Dantian, thus maintaining normal respiration.
Now, his deficient Lungs could not govern Qi, and his deficient Kidneys could not grasp it. This was the cause of his critical symptoms: exhaling more than he could inhale, leaving him constantly unable to catch his breath.
The Kidneys also govern water. With his Kidney Yang Qi deficient and failing, his body's water tabolism was disrupted, causing fluid to overflow into the skin and flesh, resulting in edema.
The Heart and Lungs reside together in the upper burner. With deficient Lung Qi, the pectoral Qi is insufficient and lacks the strength to propel the blood through the vessels, hence the palpitations and chest tightness.
His Yang Qi was weak and unable to warm his limbs, which was why his hands and feet were cold and he couldn't stop sweating.
This was a classic case of "wheezing syndro due to dual deficiency of the Lungs and Kidneys, with the Kidneys failing to grasp Qi."
The illness was located in the Lungs and Kidneys but had already begun to affect his Heart and Spleen. It was a critical situation bordering on multiple organ failure.
Seeing the complex mix of pain, hope, and despair in Guo Hengchang's eyes, Li Xu put down his hand and said calmly, "Boss Guo, I understand your condition."
He didn't use any of the esoteric dical terminology. Instead, he offered an analogy. "A person's body is like a big tree. The Lungs are the branches and leaves, responsible for breathing in and out. The Kidneys are the roots, responsible for grabbing hold of the 'nutrients'—the Qi—you breathe in and anchoring them deep in the soil. With your illness, the dust first injured the 'leaves,' which is to say, your Lungs. Over ti, as the leaves withered, the 'roots' were also damaged. They beca loose and weak, unable to hold onto those 'nutrients' anymore. That's why you feel like you can't take a full breath, like the air is always floating at the top."
The analogy was simple and clear. It resonated deeply with Guo Hengchang; he felt it described his situation perfectly.
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