Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 213: Ren Zhong Bai

Yoshida's act was crude.

Both Li Xu and Gao Jiandong could see it.

But they couldn't call him out on it.

Because it was true that Yoshida's condition hadn't improved after using the Watermelon Frost.

Li Xu calmly pulled over a chair and sat down. "Mr. Yoshida, could you please describe your symptoms and how you've been using the product in detail?"

Yoshida took a half-used can of Watermelon Frost spray from his bag and slammed it on the table. "I sprayed it four times a day, two pumps each time, strictly following the instructions. And the result?"

He opened his mouth, pointing to the inside of his right cheek. "The ulcer has doubled in size! I've even developed a low-grade fever!"

Li Xu put on medical gloves and a mask. "Let me take a look."

Yoshida compliantly opened his mouth wide, and Li Xu used a tongue depressor and a flashlight to carefully examine his oral cavity.

The ulcer was on the buccal mucosa of his right cheek, approximately 1.5 by 1 cm in size. Its edges were irregular, its surface was covered by a grayish-white pseudomembrane, and the surrounding mucosa was clearly congested.

It was indeed much more severe than a typical canker sore.

"Have you had canker sores like this before?" Li Xu asked as he continued the examination.

"Occasionally, but never this severe."

"Have you taken any other medications recently? Or do you have any chronic illnesses?"

"No, I'm very healthy."

Li Xu gently pressed the lymph nodes under Yoshida's jaw. "Does this hurt?"

"A little..." Yoshida frowned slightly.

Swollen lymph nodes, plus a low-grade fever—these were not the signs of a common canker sore.

Li Xu continued, "Mr. Yoshida, may I see your tongue coating?"

When Yoshida stuck out his tongue, Li Xu noticed faint teeth marks on its sides, and the coating was thin, yellow, and greasy.

"Mr. Yoshida, please hold out your hand."

"What for?"

"To take your pulse."

Yoshida held out his hand.

Li Xu's fingers rested lightly on Yoshida's wrist, with his three fingers placed on the cun, guan, and chi positions.

'The pulse is deep, fine, and slow, with the right cun position being especially weak.' Li Xu furrowed his brow slightly and looked up at Yoshida. "Mr. Yoshida, do you tire easily? Do you have an aversion to cold?"

Yoshida was taken aback. "This... what does this have to do with my canker sore?"

"In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, mouth and tongue sores are most often related to accumulated heat in the heart and spleen, or fire from yin deficiency." Li Xu withdrew his hand, his voice calm and professional. "But your symptoms are different. The pale edges of the ulcer, the slight swelling, the pain that lessens with heat and worsens with cold, combined with a deep and slow pulse and a swollen tongue with teeth marks—this is a classic case of Yang deficiency with ascendant yin."

Gao Jiandong couldn't help but interject, "Yang deficiency? But aren't canker sores usually caused by 'excessive heat'?"

Li Xu shook his head. "Not necessarily. The *Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor* states: 'The Yang Qi is like the sun in the sky; if it loses its place, one's lifespan is shortened and one's vitality wanes.' Mr. Yoshida has insufficient Yang Qi in his body, allowing internal yin cold to flourish. This causes deficient yang to float upward, leading to the mouth and tongue sores. In a situation like this, using conventional medicine to clear heat and purge fire would only make matters worse."

He picked up the can of Watermelon Frost spray from the table. "Watermelon Frost is salty in taste and cold in nature, making it suitable for canker sores of the excess-heat type. But Mr. Yoshida's constitution is one of Yang deficiency. A cold-natured medicine entering his body further damages his Yang Qi. That's why it was not only ineffective but actually worsened his condition and even caused a fever."

An unnatural expression flickered across Yoshida's face. "I... how was I supposed to know any of this? Aren't you doctors supposed to consider these things when you prescribe medicine?"

Beside them, Gao Jiandong was extremely embarrassed.

If a patient bought medicine at a pharmacy without knowing whether they had Yang deficiency or excessive heat and used the wrong one, there would be nothing to say.

However, this man had sought treatment at the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

And he hadn't taken the pulse carefully.

He had simply prescribed the medicine the patient asked for.

Strictly speaking, it was a dereliction of duty.

Yoshida caught on, and his voice grew louder. "Hmph, I knew it. No wonder the spray had no effect. It turns out you misdiagnosed me."

Gao Jiandong's face flushed bright red.

His mouth moved as if to offer a defense, but he was speechless.

Li Xu took over. "Mr. Yoshida, you can't blame Director Gao. It's mainly because your constitution is exceptionally weak. Under normal circumstances, the cold energy in Watermelon Frost wouldn't affect one's foundation. Otherwise, it wouldn't be an over-the-counter drug that anyone can buy on their own."

Yoshida snorted coldly. "My weak constitution is my problem. Your failure to treat me properly is your problem. So what's the treatment now... HISS... It hurts a lot right now. If you can't stop the pain today, I'll file a complaint against you. And of course, no painkillers."

"How is that possible..."

Gao Jiandong couldn't listen anymore. This was too shameless. "Mr. Yoshida, stopping the pain today without using painkillers is completely impossible."

Yoshida said with a sidelong glance, "Isn't your Watermelon Frost supposed to be so amazing? Can't it do the job now?"

"Your constitution is different..."

Gao Jiandong argued, trying to reason with him.

Li Xu stopped him. "I have a way."

"Huh?"

Gao Jiandong grasped at this as if it were a lifeline. "What is it?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Li Xu just gave a sly chuckle and didn't elaborate.

'The root of Yoshida's illness is Yang deficiency. As long as his yang is replenished, the canker sore will eventually heal. But that would take a long time. To stop the pain today, I only need to treat the symptom. That means using a medicine that acts directly on the affected area, similar to Watermelon Frost. Watermelon Frost is cold in nature, so it's out of the question.'

Li Xu thought of a particular medicine—human urethra.

He had recently been reading the *Binhu Collection of Simple Recipes*, which recorded: "Seven parts human urethra, three parts dried alum. Grind evenly. Wipe away saliva, apply several times, and it will cure mouth and tongue sores."

Human urethra is salty in taste and cool in nature, which is different from Watermelon Frost's cold nature. In TCM theory, "cold" is more severe than "cool." A cool medicine would be less harmful to a body with Yang deficiency, and human urethra also has the effect of stopping bleeding and promoting tissue regeneration, making it perfectly suited for Yoshida's situation.

What is human urethra?

It is the grayish-white solid substance that precipitates from human urine.

To put it bluntly, it's urine scale.

A Western doctor would absolutely scoff at this. 'This can be used as medicine? What active ingredients does it contain?'

In truth, traditional Chinese medicine never really concerns itself with "active ingredients."

TCM utilizes the four properties of cold, cool, warm, and hot; the five flavors of sour, bitter, sweet, spicy, and salty; and the four tendencies of ascending, descending, floating, and sinking.

Anything and everything can be used as medicine.

This is because all things have their own properties.

A disease is treated by matching a substance's properties to the body's deficiencies.

Human urethra is salty in taste and cool in nature.

It is associated with the lung, heart, and bladder meridians.

It corresponds to conditions like consumptive fever with lung atrophy, vomiting blood, nosebleeds, throat obstruction, gum boils, mouth and tongue sores, all kinds of weeping ulcers, and burns.

Moreover...

Li Xu smiled. 'Using human urethra on the Japanese is quite fitting.'

"Mr. Yoshida, please wait a moment."

Li Xu stood up and called Gao Jiandong outside. "Director Gao, does the pharmacy have any human urethra?"

Gao Jiandong paused. "Human urethra? We do... but we use it so rarely. The batch we have in stock has an off smell, so its effects probably won't be very good..."

This delighted Li Xu even more. 'Looks like heaven itself wants the Japanese to use the fresh stuff.'

"Huh?"

Gao Jiandong was confused.

Li Xu didn't explain further. He walked down the corridor to an old-fashioned urinal in a remote corner of the hospital.

The porcelain urinal was ancient, and a thick layer of white crystals had accumulated on its edge.