Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 105: Awakening

Inside a patient room at Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Bai Han’s condition was getting worse and worse.

His withered body was curled up on the hospital bed, his vacant eyes staring at the ceiling. He mechanically repeated the same question, "Where am I going? Where am I going?"

Guo Yu stood by the bed, his brow tightly furrowed.

Miaoli was looking over the latest test results, murmuring, "His liver function is continuing to deteriorate, and his electrolytes are imbalanced. If this keeps up..."

"Where on earth is Li Xu?"

Guo Yu couldn’t help but pull out his phone and dial Li Xu’s number again, but there was still no answer.

Out in the hallway, Gao Jiandong was chatting with a few other doctors, his voice deliberately raised. "Looks to me like that ’Divine Physician’ has skipped town. Who would dare take on a patient like this? Failing to cure him would just ruin your own reputation, wouldn’t it?"

"Yeah, he hasn’t shown his face all day. He must be scared," someone chimed in.

Gao Jiandong sneered. "I’m going to find the hospital director right now. What’s the point of keeping an advisor like him around?"

Just then, the elevator doors opened with a DING. Li Xu strode out, followed by Song Sisi.

Gao Jiandong was taken aback for a moment, then said sarcastically, "Well, well, if it isn’t Advisor Li, finally gracing us with his presence. We were just thinking you had..."

Li Xu didn’t even glance at him, walking straight toward the patient’s room.

Inside the room, Bai Qingqing was holding her father’s hand, her eyes red-rimmed.

Seeing Li Xu enter, she quickly stood up. "Doctor Li, you’re here! My dad, he..."

Li Xu nodded, took a dark red pill from the porcelain bottle he was carrying, and handed it to a nurse. "Dissolve this in warm water and have him drink it."

The nurse took the pill and looked hesitantly at Guo Yu.

Guo Yu nodded without hesitation. "Doctor Li is the attending physician for this patient now. Do as he says."

The pill dissolved in the warm water, and the nurse carefully helped Bai Han drink it.

The room fell silent. Everyone stared at Bai Han, waiting for a change.

One minute, five minutes, ten minutes...

Bai Han was still muttering, "Where am I going..."

Bai Qingqing couldn’t help but ask, "Doctor Li, this medicine... will it work?"

Li Xu didn’t answer.

But Guo Yu, who had just left and come back, spoke up. "It’s not that fast. With traditional Chinese medicine pills, unless it’s for an emergency, it takes at least a day to see any effect."

He then turned to Li Xu. "Doctor Li, you shouldn’t just stand around here. Go rest in the office for a bit."

Li Xu shook his head. "No need."

’The Calming Pill’s formula was provided by the system. It’s guaranteed to work. What’s more, I even used the Eight Hundred-Year-Old Purple Sandalwood Core Material, which should make it even more effective. It must be taking effect now. It’s just not obvious yet.’

’I have to seize the opportunity. A Wake-up Call at the critical moment is the only way to achieve a miraculous result.’

"Alright."

Guo Yu didn’t want to wait around for nothing. "I’m going to get back to my work. Call me if you need anything."

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, another half hour was gone.

Bai Han, who had quieted down, suddenly began to struggle again.

His shouts grew louder and louder.

"Where am I going??"

"Where am I going??"

The entire floor could hear him clearly.

Bai Han even struggled to sit up in bed, trying to run out of the room.

Bai Qingqing held on for dear life, barely managing to restrain him.

"Doctor Li, what’s happening to my dad?"

Bai Qingqing’s face was filled with anxiety.

Hearing the commotion, Guo Yu and Miaoli rushed over as well.

Even Gao Jiandong and a few others came over to watch the spectacle.

Gao Jiandong questioned him loudly, "Advisor Li, what did you just give the patient? Don’t tell me it has some kind of side effect."

Bai Qingqing looked at Li Xu, her expression equally doubtful.

Li Xu ignored them, keeping his eyes fixed on Bai Han and carefully observing his condition.

The patient’s complexion had changed from its previous dullness to a feverish flush. Fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Although his eyes still looked frantic, they now held a spark of life.

He placed a hand on Bai Han’s violently trembling wrist. Beneath his fingers, the pulse had transformed from its earlier thready and erratic state to something wiry, rapid, and strong.

Li Xu’s eyes lit up. This was a sign that the Calming Pill was taking effect.

The patient had long suffered from emotional stagnation, causing rebellious liver qi and phlegm to obstruct the clear orifices.

Now that the medicine’s power was permeating his system, the righteous and perverse qi were clashing, which was causing these symptoms of agitation.

A nurse asked, "Doctor Li, what should we do? The patient is getting more and more agitated. We can barely hold him down. Should we give him a tranquilizer shot?"

Li Xu shook his head. "Wait a little longer."

Bai Han continued to struggle, shouting as he did, "Where am I going? Where am I going?"

’Now!’ Li Xu signaled for Song Sisi to take out the platypus and the colorful paper rabbit and hold them in front of Bai Han.

At the same time,

Li Xu shouted at Bai Han, "You’re going to the Moon!"

"Into the little rabbit’s belly."

...

Inside the patient room, everyone froze instantly.

"The... the Moon?" Miaoli’s eyes went wide, thinking she must have misheard.

Gao Jiandong, standing by the door, let out a scornful laugh. "What is he doing? Filming a sci-fi movie?"

"Looks more like a kids’ show to me," another doctor scoffed.

Song Sisi was also dumbfounded.

She had watched all the videotapes with Li Xu yesterday.

She knew that Bai Han’s wife had folded many paper rabbits.

But why the Moon?

What was this inside joke about a little rabbit’s belly?

No one understood.

Not even Bai Han’s adopted daughter, Bai Qingqing, could make sense of it.

...

However, something miraculous happened.

Bai Han’s body suddenly trembled violently!

His pupils constricted abruptly, and his lips quivered as if he had been struck by lightning.

"To... the Moon..." He forced out the three words, his voice hoarse but no longer mechanical.

Immediately after, his murky gaze gradually cleared, and his whole body grew still.

Only tears streamed ceaselessly from the corners of his eyes.

Bai Qingqing covered her mouth, calling out excitedly, "Dad...?"

Bai Han’s eyes focused. He looked at his daughter, then at Li Xu, as if waking from a long nightmare.

"I... I remember... I remember..." His voice trembled as tears rolled down his sunken cheeks. "Xiao Xi... I remember now. I’m so sorry... You must have been so lonely on the Moon all these years... I’ll be... with you soon..."

The room was utterly silent.

Guo Yu watched this scene in shock, the smile frozen on Gao Jiandong’s face.

The other doctors and nurses who had gathered to watch were all dumbfounded.

What was going on?

Had the patient really recovered?

This was a mental illness.

Cured with a single pill and a single sentence?

Even a Divine Physician couldn’t have done better than this.

Meanwhile, Bai Qingqing was already sobbing uncontrollably.

She hugged Bai Han tightly. "Dad, just focus on getting better. You’re going to be okay."

But Bai Han’s eyes were ashen, devoid of life.

He had recalled many things.

Two events were seared into his memory.

The first was from his childhood, when he and Xiao Xi had watched the starry sky from an earthen mound and made a most important promise: at this same time next year, under this same starry sky, they would meet here again.

But he broke that promise.

The second was from a few months later, when he watched helplessly as his older brother, Bai Hai, was run over by a car and killed.

But he had forgotten.

...

’So... what’s the point of living anymore?’

Bai Han looked up at Li Xu and said, "Thank you."

Li Xu didn’t know how to console him, or if he even should.

"Do you want to play a song?"

Li Xu changed the subject, hoping to cheer him up. "I think your piano playing is beautiful."

Bai Han smiled, but he didn’t answer Li Xu directly.

Instead, he patted his adopted daughter’s hand. "Daughter, take me back to our hometown. I want to play a song for your mother, ’To Xiao Xi’."

"I have to tell her that the paper rabbit’s yellow belly is the Moon, and its blue body is the starry sky!"

"We are going to meet on the Moon."

...

PS: Er... this part of the story ends here.

This was a story about love, friendship, and illness.

I haven’t dared to read the comments these past few days—I’m sure a lot of people are cursing me out.

I can also tell from the data that many people have dropped the novel, which makes me even more afraid to read the comments.

Well, next up, we’ll continue gathering medicinal ingredients and treating illnesses.

I’ll shamelessly ask again for subscriptions, for you to add this to your library, for recommendation votes, and for monthly tickets.