Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 167: Nosebleed

The clear water in the basin sloshed around, reflecting Li Xu’s face, which was covered in black ash.

He bent down, scooped up a handful of water, and scrubbed it messily across his face. It only smeared the black ash around, making him look like a calico cat from his forehead to his chin.

"Oh, honestly, you call that washing your face?" Song Sisi couldn’t stand to watch any longer. She snatched the white towel hanging on the wall. "Don’t move. I’ll wipe it for you."

She rose onto her tiptoes and gently pressed the towel to Li Xu’s cheek.

The distance between them suddenly shrank. She was so close she could smell the faint scent of herbs on him, mingled with the woodsy aroma of the ash from the bottom of the pot.

Li Xu held his breath without realizing it. His eyes fixed on Song Sisi’s fluttering eyelashes, which trembled as if powered by tiny motors.

"Th-There’s still a spot here..."

Song Sisi’s voice trailed off. Her fingers, separated from his skin only by the thin towel, brushed over his brow bone.

Li Xu’s skin was warm, making her fingertips feel hot.

"Is it clean?" Li Xu asked in a low voice, his Adam’s apple bobbing involuntarily.

"A-Almost..." Song Sisi’s hand trembled even more violently.

She had never been so aware of a man’s features before—the high bridge of his nose, his sharp, chiseled jawline, and those eyes, usually as placid as a lake, now fixed intently upon her.

A soft chuckle.

Grandma had been watching the whole time, beaming.

"It’s clean now. I’ll go wash the towel."

Song Sisi hurried away with the basin, nearly tripping in her haste.

"Be careful! Don’t be so clumsy."

The near-fall gave Grandma a scare.

...

They stayed at Grandma’s and tasted her freshly steamed buns.

They were delicious.

It brought back memories of childhood—of eating with great relish, even without an abundance of side dishes.

After about an hour, Li Xu and Song Sisi were getting ready to leave when the courtyard gate was suddenly thrown open with a BANG.

A woman in a headscarf burst in, frantic. She was clutching a little boy of about five or six in her arms.

The boy’s head was tilted back. Blood streamed from his nose in two red rivulets, running down his chin and dripping onto the front of his shirt, soaking a large patch.

"Sisi! Quick, you have to help Haochen!"

The woman—known in the village as Third Auntie—cried out in a strained voice, "The bleeding won’t stop!"

Song Sisi rushed forward, her professional instincts kicking in immediately.

She took the child from the woman, sat him on a low stool, and pinched the sides of his nose. "Haochen, don’t be afraid. Lean your head forward, not back!"

The little boy was sobbing, tears mingling with the blood to smear his entire face.

Song Sisi took a damp towel from Grandma and gently wiped his face, all while maintaining pressure on his nose to stanch the bleeding.

The courtyard fell silent, the only sounds being Haochen’s sobs and Third Auntie’s frantic pacing.

"Why is he suddenly bleeding so much?" Grandma asked anxiously.

Third Auntie wrung her hands. "He was just playing at the village entrance when it started out of nowhere! He’s always been prone to nosebleeds, but it’s never been this bad!"

Five minutes passed. When Song Sisi released the pressure to check, blood immediately began to flow again.

A patch of her sleeve was already stained red, and fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

"It’s not working..." Panic began to set in for her, too. "We need to get him to a hospital. A blood vessel in his nasal cavity may have ruptured."

’If he loses too much blood, it could be very dangerous.’

Hearing this, Third Auntie grew even more frantic. "But... but the city hospital is over an hour away!"

As for the town clinic,

it wasn’t even a consideration.

Their first instinct was to go to a major hospital.

Just as everyone was panicking, Li Xu gently tapped Song Sisi on the shoulder. "Let me try."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot you’re a doctor."

A look of surprise and hope washed over Song Sisi’s face, but it was quickly replaced by worry. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

’In her experience, Western medicine was the fastest for this sort of thing.’

’Could Chinese medicine really stop bleeding this quickly?’

Li Xu understood her concern. He smiled. "As long as you use the right method, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Chinese or Western medicine. Both can be fast and effective."

He turned and took the pot-bottom ash he had just collected from his bag, pinching a small amount at his fingertips.

The black ash was as fine as frost, incredibly delicate.

Third Auntie asked, "What’s that?"

"Soot from the bottom of a pot," Li Xu said calmly. "It stops bleeding."

"Huh?"

Third Auntie’s expression became conflicted. On one hand, she wanted to trust this doctor from the city; on the other, this folk remedy seemed completely unreliable.

She glanced at her son’s pale face, then back at Li Xu. Finally, she clenched her jaw and nodded.

’It couldn’t hurt to try.’

’If it didn’t work, we’ll just have to go to the hospital.’

Li Xu knelt to Haochen’s eye level. "Hey, buddy. I’m going to show you a magic trick, and then it won’t hurt anymore, okay?"

Through his sobs, Haochen nodded.

Li Xu gently moved the boy’s hand away from his nose. He held the pinch of soot on his fingertip, brought it to the child’s nostril, and blew softly.

The black powder drifted into the boy’s nostril like a puff of smoke. Everyone held their breath.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds...

"The... the bleeding stopped!" Song Sisi was the first to cry out in amazement.

And sure enough, the two red rivulets had miraculously stopped.

Haochen blinked. He timidly touched his nose, his finger coming away black with powder, but with not a single trace of red.

Third Auntie snatched her son into a hug, overjoyed. "It’s a miracle! A real miracle!"

She turned to Li Xu with a warm invitation. "You must be Sisi’s boyfriend, right? Thank you so, so much. Please, you both must come to our house for lunch. I insist on thanking you properly."

Li Xu politely declined. "You’re too kind. It was just an old folk remedy. The important thing is that your son is all right."

He wiped the lingering black powder from the tip of Haochen’s nose. "Don’t touch your nose for the next couple of days, and make sure to drink lots of water."

With that, he made a move to leave.

But Third Auntie was insistent, grabbing Li Xu’s arm and holding fast. "No, no, you absolutely must come for lunch! Sisi, you too!"

Farm work had given her a strong grip, and she was wrinkling the sleeve of Li Xu’s shirt.

Seeing the situation, Song Sisi had no choice but to whisper, "Boss, maybe... we should just go? Third Auntie is a really good cook."

Li Xu sighed in resignation and could only nod in agreement.

As the three of them left Grandma’s courtyard, they were immediately surrounded by a few women who had been cooling off in the shade of a tree on the street.

"Third Auntie, how’s your Haochen?" a woman in a floral headscarf asked. "We saw you running with him earlier. You gave us such a fright!"

Third Auntie’s spirits instantly lifted, and she began to recount the miracle with great animation. "Oh, you should have seen it! Blood was just GUSHING out, even Sisi couldn’t stop it! But then this Doctor Li from the city..."

She gestured dramatically. "He just used a pinch of soot, blew on it gently, and the bleeding stopped instantly!"

The women gasped in amazement, their eyes on Li Xu now filled with a new light.

"Really?" A woman in a floral print shirt leaned in to get a better look at Li Xu. "This young fellow doesn’t look that old. Are his skills really that miraculous?"

"Da Zhu Mother, if you don’t believe me, why don’t you have Doctor Li take a look at that old back of yours!" Third Auntie teased.

Da Zhu Mother’s eyes lit up. Without another word, she clutched her lower back and shuffled closer to Li Xu. "Oh, Doctor, this back of mine has been hurting for more than six months, and it’s absolute murder when it’s damp and rainy..."

Before Li Xu could even respond, she had launched into a detailed description of her symptoms.

Song Sisi stamped her foot in frustration. ’Oh no,’ she thought, ’at this rate, the entire village is going to line up for a consultation!’