"Help hold her still. Don't let her thrash around," Zhao Yuan instructed.
"Alright." Boss Fang called over a few of his shop's assistants. It took all their effort to finally restrain Fang Ling, who was writhing on the floor.
Zhao Yuan knelt, first examining Fang Ling's eyes, then he began to take her pulse.
"Just for show! I don't believe for a second this kid can figure out what's wrong with Fang Ling. We couldn't do anything, so how could a boy who's barely old enough to shave be any better than us?" said one of the n who had previously tried and failed to diagnose her, a cold sneer on his face.
Several people nearby imdiately nodded in agreent.
"Exactly! With the illness Miss Fang has, even if Hua Tuo and Bian Que themselves ca back to life, they'd be helpless! For this kid to claim he can cure it... Hmph, he really doesn't know his own limits!"
"He's about to tuck his tail between his legs and admit he was wrong!"
The words had barely left their mouths when Zhao Yuan stood up. "Boss Fang," he said, "I've completed my diagnosis. Your daughter is suffering from Viper Gu Syndro!"
"Viper Gu Syndro?" Boss Fang was stunned. He'd seen his fair share of strange things, but he had never heard of such a disease.
The onlookers hadn't heard of it either.
"Viper Gu Syndro? What kind of illness is that? Have you heard of it?"
"I've never heard of it. Elder Ma, you're the most experienced person here in the dicinal herb market. Have you ever heard of this... Viper Gu Syndro?"
All at once, the crowd turned to look at a white-haired elder.
In response to the question, Elder Ma narrowed his eyes in thought for a mont before shaking his head. "I've never heard of such a disease."
The crowd imdiately erupted.
"If even Elder Ma hasn't heard of it, he must have just made up 'Viper Gu Syndro,' right?"
"Definitely made it up!"
"Making up a disease when you can't diagnose the real one... That kid's actions are beneath contempt!"
"This isn't healing, it's just causing harm!"
Just as the crowd's indignation reached a fever pitch, a different voice cut through the noise. "Viper Gu Syndro? Where is it?"
An elderly man, supported by two younger n, pushed his way through the crowd and into Zhencao Hall.
"Who's this guy? Don't tell he's a plant for that kid," soone muttered with a skeptical frown.
He had barely gotten the words out when soone next to him clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Are you blind?! Open your eyes and see who that is! That's Wang Jiasen, the nationally renowned dical expert! With his status, why would he ever be a shill for anyone?!"
"What? Wang Jiasen?"
"What's he doing here?"
"He looks like he's heard of Viper Gu Syndro... So maybe the disease isn't fake after all?"
The entire crowd was dumbfounded.
Boss Fang recognized Wang Jiasen as well and hurried forward to greet him. "Elder Wang, I can't believe you're here. I was actually planning to bring my daughter to see you, but I heard you were abroad for a dical conference..."
"Boss Fang." Wang Jiasen nodded, his expression grave. "Is your daughter the one suffering from Viper Gu Syndro?"
"I don't know if my daughter really has Viper Gu Syndro or not. But that's what this young man diagnosed." Boss Fang gestured first to his daughter, then to Zhao Yuan.
Wang Jiasen glanced at Zhao Yuan, quite surprised. "You know about Viper Gu Syndro? That's impressive."
'In his mind, Zhao Yuan had to be either a disciple from a dical Noble Family or the student of a renowned master. An ordinary Healer would never know about a disease like Viper Gu Syndro. Even he had only ever read about it in the ancient dical texts passed down through his family; he'd never encountered an actual case.'
After examining Fang Ling, Wang Jiasen said, "An abdon swollen like a drum, excruciating and unbearable pain, blood spots in her eyes, an erratic pulse... these clinical signs are an exact match for the description of Viper Gu Syndro in the texts!"
Boss Fang asked anxiously, "Elder Wang, is there any way to cure my daughter?"
Wang Jiasen sighed and shook his head. "Boss Fang, I'm sorry, but as far as I know, Viper Gu Syndro is incurable!"
"Wh-what?" Boss Fang's body swayed. His vision swam with black spots, and he felt like he was about to faint.
Just then, Zhao Yuan spoke up. "Who says it's incurable? I can cure it!"
Boss Fang and Wang Jiasen both snapped their heads toward Zhao Yuan.
The onlookers' eyes went wide with shock. They instinctively wanted to voice their doubts, but then they rembered how thoroughly they'd already been proven wrong. They quickly swallowed their words, many of them turning red in the face and breaking into coughs from the effort.
'This kid is too strange. We'd better not jump to conclusions. Let's just wait and see if he can actually cure Fang Ling.' That thought surfaced in many of their minds. They were clearly spooked by being proven wrong so many tis.
"Young man, can you really cure my daughter?" Boss Fang's entire body trembled with excitent. He was filled with hope, but at the sa ti, terrified of disappointnt.
Wang Jiasen, however, was in utter disbelief. "You can cure Viper Gu Syndro? That's impossible!"
In the dical texts passed down through the Wang Family for generations, on the very page describing Viper Gu Syndro, more than one of his ancestors had written a note in the margin: "Indeed, there is no cure." This proved that the ancestors of the Wang Family had encountered Viper Gu Syndro before, and though they had tried to treat it, they had all failed.
Besides, while examining Fang Ling, Wang Jiasen had been racking his brain for a possible treatnt, but he couldn't co up with a single idea.
'This strange disease, which had left him helpless and which generations of his ancestors had deed 'incurable,' was now claid to be treatable by so young upstart... How could Wang Jiasen possibly believe him!'
Faced with their skepticism, Zhao Yuan didn't bother with explanations and let his actions speak for him. "Boss Fang, I need you to get so minced garlic and aged vinegar. The more, the better."
"Huh?" Boss Fang was taken aback.
'If Zhao Yuan had asked for dicinal herbs, he wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest. But minced garlic and vinegar... What was this? Was he planning to cook a al?'
"Don't just stand there saying 'huh'," Zhao Yuan urged. "Hurry up and get those two things, so we can lessen your daughter's suffering."
'Hearing that, Boss Fang understood. So the garlic and vinegar were for the treatnt? But could this bizarre Viper Gu Syndro, which Wang Jiasen himself had called incurable, really be treated with just garlic and vinegar?'
Although he was skeptical, Boss Fang didn't waste any ti. He imdiately sent a shop assistant to buy the vinegar and minced garlic. He had no other options; his only hope was Zhao Yuan.
While they waited for the assistant to return with the vinegar and garlic, the onlookers began to murmur amongst themselves.
"What does this kid want vinegar and minced garlic for? He's not going to use these two things to treat Viper Gu Syndro, is he?"
"Minced garlic does have so detoxifying and antiparasitic properties, but I'll never believe it can cure whatever strange disease Fang Ling has."
"That kid is really sothing else. I'm not going to make any more rash judgnts. Let's just wait and see what happens!"
Twenty-so minutes later, the shop assistant returned with a large quantity of minced garlic and vinegar.
Boss Fang asked, "Young man, do you think this will be enough? If not, I'll send them out for more."
"It should be enough," Zhao Yuan said.
In truth, he wasn't entirely sure how much minced garlic and vinegar would be needed. In the dical records left by Wu Peng, the treatnt for Viper Gu Syndro was described in a single sentence: "Force-feed several liters of mixed garlic and vinegar, and the illness will resolve on its own."
Zhao Yuan had soone fetch a large bucket. He poured all the minced garlic and vinegar inside, mixed them together, and then said to Boss Fang, "Force-feed this to your daughter."
"Alright!" Boss Fang had his assistants help him pry open Fang Ling's clenched jaw. He scooped up a large ladleful of the garlic-vinegar mix and tried to pour it into her mouth. Fang Ling, repulsed by the taste, kept spitting it out, refusing to swallow a single drop. Left with no other choice, Boss Fang had to send soone to buy a stomach flushing kit to administer it by force.
One liter... two liters...
A large amount of the garlic and vinegar mixture was forced into Fang Ling. Her stomach, already swollen like a large jug, now looked as if it were about to burst.
Zhao Yuan kept his eyes fixed on Fang Ling.
Suddenly, he noticed a squirming movent around her neck and quickly shouted, "Stop! Don't give her any more!"
Boss Fang imdiately stopped and watched Fang Ling nervously.
At that mont, the onlookers all held their breath.
RETCH!
Fang Ling bent over and vomited violently. The garlic and vinegar that had been forced into her stomach was all spewed out.
"Quick, look! I think she threw up sothing alive! It's still moving!"
"They look like bugs. I've never seen bugs like that before."
"Are they parasites?"
"Could those be the Viper Gu?"
Everyone could see clearly now. In the vomit were strange, inch-long worms. They were grayish-brown with mottled patterns and had triangular heads, resembling miniature vipers.
Fang Ling had thrown up more than a dozen Viper Gu. Most were already dead, but a few were still wriggling, trying to escape.
Their targets were the people standing near Fang Ling.
Seeing the Viper Gu crawling toward them, the crowd scrambled backward in terror. With Fang Ling's horrible condition as a clear warning, none of them wanted to be next!
Zhao Yuan snatched the ladle, scooped up more of the garlic and vinegar mixture, and flung it at the escaping Viper Gu.
A strange "SKREEE!" erupted from the Viper Gu. Their bodies twisted violently before they suddenly went still and rigid.
The garlic and vinegar mixture was incredibly lethal to these strange worms!
Once Fang Ling had finished vomiting, Zhao Yuan gave another order. "Keep going."
Now that he had seen the results, Boss Fang followed Zhao Yuan's instructions without question, imdiately starting a second round of flushing. After several more rounds, all the Viper Gu inside Fang Ling's stomach had been expelled.
Once he confird there were no more Viper Gu in her vomit, Zhao Yuan let out a long sigh of relief. He turned to Boss Fang and said, "I'm happy to report that your daughter is cured."
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