Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 128: A Slim Chance of Survival
The three of them took the elevator down to the first floor, and the clamor of the emergency department immediately flooded their ears.
As they passed through the automatic doors, the scene before him made Li Xu stop in his tracks—
In a corner of the emergency hall, a woman in her thirties was slumped in a wheelchair, her head lolling weakly to one side.
Her complexion was ashen, her eyes were half-closed, and her lips had taken on a disturbing cyanotic hue.
Edema had left her face and limbs swollen and shiny, her clothes stretched taut against her body.
Her chest rose and fell faintly only once every few seconds, and white foam occasionally bubbled at the corners of her mouth.
Beside the wheelchair, a gaunt man was clutching the hem of the on-duty doctor’s white coat, his voice hoarse. "Please, just let that Dr. Li take a look! The city hospital said... they said my wife has three days at most..."
Behind him, two children, five or six years old, clung to each other, their small faces streaked with tears.
The crowd of onlookers whispered among themselves. Some shook their heads and sighed, while others pulled out their phones to record.
The on-duty doctor looked troubled. "Sir, please calm down. Our hospital... we really aren’t equipped to handle this..."
Dean Sun took a deep breath and strode forward. "I’m the dean here. What’s going on?"
The man turned at the sound of his voice, his bloodshot eyes suddenly brightening. "Dean! Please, let Dr. Li see my wife! We heard he’s an incredible doctor..."
His gaze darted between the three of them. "Which one of you is Dr. Li?"
Li Xu stepped forward. "I am."
The man dropped to his knees with a thud, forehead striking the floor. "Dr. Li, please save my wife! She’s only thirty-five! We still have two children..."
His voice broke, and he couldn’t continue speaking.
Dean Sun hurried to help him up. "Sir, please, calm down. Your wife’s condition is..."
He glanced at the patient in the wheelchair and lowered his voice. "It’s extremely serious. No one can make any guarantees..."
"I understand! I understand!" The man wiped frantically at his tears. "The city hospital already gave her a death sentence. I just... I just can’t accept it!"
He turned and pulled his two children forward. "Kids, kneel before the doctor..."
Li Xu quickly stopped them. "Don’t do that."
He crouched down, meeting the two children’s frightened eyes. "Don’t be afraid, kids. I’m going to take a look at your mother now."
The crowd of onlookers automatically parted to make a path.
Li Xu walked to the front of the wheelchair and gently lifted the patient’s wrist.
It was cold and clammy to the touch, like holding a waterlogged sponge.
He placed three fingers on her pulse point, holding his breath and focusing his full attention—
He felt nothing for a long time. Just as he was about to adjust his fingers, a faint beat fluttered beneath them, followed by a long stretch of silence... ten seconds... twenty seconds... Then another thready, almost imperceptible pulsation, like a single drop of water leaking from a dilapidated roof after a long, long wait.
"Wulou Vein," Li Xu said softly.
’So this is the patient from today’s intelligence report.’
The area fell silent in an instant.
The patient’s family looked on in confusion, but the expressions on Guo Yu, Dean Sun, and Gao Jiandong, who had just arrived, all turned grave at once.
"One of the Seven Extremes Veins?" Gao Jiandong blurted out.
Li Xu nodded, carefully lowering the patient’s hand. "The pulse beats only after a long delay, the intervals are uneven, and it’s slow and weak. Like water from a leaky roof, a single drop after a long wait."
He lifted the patient’s eyelid to examine her, then lightly touched the pulse point on her neck. "It’s a sign that her vital energies are on the verge of collapse."
The husband didn’t understand the technical terms, but seeing the grim expressions on the doctors’ faces, his heart sank. "Dr. Li... my wife... is she...?"
Guo Yu pulled Li Xu aside and whispered, "The Seven Extremes Vein is practically a terminal diagnosis. Don’t touch this hot potato. If anything happens..."
Dean Sun leaned in as well, his voice even lower. "Advisor Li, admitting a patient in this condition is too risky. The family is cooperative now, but if she doesn’t make it, there’s no guarantee they won’t cause a scene."
Li Xu didn’t respond immediately.
He observed the patient again. The edema had spread to her chest and abdomen, her breathing was faint and sporadic, and her pupils were slow to react to light... She was indeed at death’s door. But...
The prescription mentioned in his intelligence report flashed through his mind. ’True Martial Soup. It’s the classic formula for reviving yang and rescuing from collapse, and I have top-grade Aconite... The report said there might be a sliver of a chance...’
"Dr. Li!" The man’s cry broke through his thoughts. "I know the chances are slim, but..."
He choked back a sob and pulled out his phone. The screen showed a family photo of the four of them. His wife was smiling radiantly, with no trace of illness. "Xiao Jie and Xiao Rui are only five. They can’t lose their mother!"
In the photo, the two children were nestled between their parents, their smiles full of innocent joy.
Li Xu was silent.
"I’m a construction worker. If Xiao Yan... if she’s gone, there’ll be no one to look after the kids, and I..."
The man couldn’t go on. He covered his face with his calloused hands, his shoulders shaking violently.
The little girl seemed to understand what was happening and lunged toward the wheelchair. "Mommy! Mommy, don’t go to sleep! Xiao Rui will be good..."
Her small, choked cries echoed through the hall.
In the crowd of onlookers, several women began to wipe away tears.
Even the on-duty nurses, who were accustomed to scenes of life and death, found the sight hard to bear.
Li Xu took a deep breath and turned to Dean Sun. "I’ll give it a try."
"Are you crazy?" Gao Jiandong’s eyes went wide. "A case like this..."
"With True Martial Soup, there might be a sliver of a chance," Li Xu said, his tone firm. "True Martial Soup is the premier remedy for reviving yang and rescuing from collapse. Besides, I have some very rare Aconite on hand, which will be even more effective."
Dean Sun looked at the weeping family and sighed deeply. "Move her to Emergency Room Three. Director Guo, you’ll assist Advisor Li."
The man started to kneel again, but Li Xu stopped him. "Don’t waste time. Push the patient and follow me."
Inside the emergency room, the patient was hooked up to a monitor. The numbers were alarming: blood oxygen at 85%, heart rate at 42 bpm, and blood pressure at 80/50 mmHg. A nurse moved quickly to establish an IV line, but the patient’s veins were in such poor condition that it took two attempts to succeed.
Li Xu examined the patient while taking her medical history.
It turned out the patient had started experiencing fatigue and edema two months prior and was treated for "nephritis" at a local clinic. Her condition took a sudden turn for the worse a week ago. She was then sent to the city hospital, where she was diagnosed with heart, liver, and kidney failure—multiple organ failure from an unknown cause.
"Dr. Li, is there... is there really any hope?" the husband asked, holding his two children as he stood by the bedside, his voice trembling.
Li Xu didn’t answer directly. "Let’s have her take one dose and see how she responds."
Guo Yu asked from the side, "Should I have the pharmacy prepare the herbs?"
Li Xu shook his head. "Not yet."
He called Song Sisi. "Bring me the Aconite I just finished processing yesterday."
Guo Yu was taken aback. "The ones you just processed? I thought you brought them from Jiangyou."
Li Xu explained, "I brought some back from Jiangyou, but I picked these others myself on Qianyuan Mountain. I just finished processing them, and they’re even more potent than the high-grade commercial Aconite."
This Aconite was pure, wild-grown Aconite.
And it had grown in the unique natural environment of Qianyuan Mountain.
The kind Elder Ma had called the ’Aconite King.’
’Perhaps this can turn that ’sliver of a chance’ from the report into something more.’
Song Sisi quickly arrived with the Aconite.
The slices of Aconite were a gleaming jet-black, their edges slightly curled, shaped like the earlobes of an old monk. They were translucent where thin and as dense as sandalwood where thick.
Their surface had a matte, frost-like coating, a clear sign that this was no ordinary herb. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
Li Xu quickly wrote out the prescription. "Nine grams of ephedra; thirty grams of processed Aconite, to be decocted first; three grams of asarum; thirty grams of Red Ginseng, to be decocted separately; and sixty grams of Cornelian Cherry, to be decocted immediately. Finally, stir in 0.1 grams of Musk to be taken with the soup."
Guo Yu’s brow furrowed. "Thirty grams of Aconite?"
"Her condition is critical. Only a massive dose can revive her yang," Li Xu said, his tone resolute. "It’s all or nothing with this attempt."
