Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 40: The Collapsed Wang the Third

Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic.

Since he had opened the clinic,

Li Xu saw no reason to close and continued seeing patients.

However, there weren’t many patients.

By noon, only one patient had come in.

After lunch, he went back to reading in the clinic.

"Xiao Xu, why weren’t you open this morning?"

Aunt Li had arrived.

"Oh, something came up this morning. I didn’t open until after eleven."

Li Xu asked, "Aunt Li, are you not feeling well?"

Aunt Li shook her head, sat down in a nearby chair, and sighed heavily. "My health is great. Ever since I started taking your medicine, I don’t get night sweats and I don’t have to get up to use the bathroom as often. What I’m worried about is my grandniece. Ai... That afternoon, I told my niece, and she took Wenwen to the hospital for a checkup. The result was AIDS. What terrible karma is this..."

Li Xu listened in silence.

Zheng Wenwen had been careless and contracted the disease.

’What could he say?’

"Xiao Xu, your medical skills are so amazing. Is there a way to treat AIDS?"

Aunt Li’s face was full of hope.

Li Xu shook his head. "Aunt Li, AIDS can’t be cured. There’s no cure in traditional Chinese medicine, either."

Although there were many ancient traditional medical texts in Dragon Country,

and though he had just obtained the *Commentary on the Art and Literature Record*,

which recorded many methods for treating women’s diseases,

there was no information related to AIDS.

This was because the disease didn’t exist in ancient times.

In ancient times, there was something called "flower-willow disease."

People who frequented brothels were susceptible to it.

However, flower-willow disease and AIDS were not the same thing.

Flower-willow disease was a common name for syphilis.

It was a disease caused by infection with *Treponema pallidum*.

In its early stages, syphilis is highly sensitive to penicillin and can be cured.

By late-stage syphilis, it causes lesions in organs throughout the body. While penicillin treatment can still eliminate the pathogen, it cannot repair the organ damage.

Overall, however, syphilis is treatable.

AIDS is different.

AIDS did not originally exist in human history.

The AIDS virus originated from primates in Africa, specifically chimpanzees.

In the 1920s, some person or people in Africa engaged in sexual contact with chimpanzees.

These individuals then had sexual contact with other humans,

leading to the spread of the HIV virus among the human population.

The HIV virus attacks the body’s immune cells, particularly CD4-positive T-lymphocytes, causing a decline in the body’s immunity. This leads to immunodeficiency, and eventually, severe opportunistic infections and tumors.

Therefore, there is no complete cure for HIV. It can only be managed by taking antiretroviral drugs long-term to suppress the virus, preserving as much of the patient’s immune function as possible to prevent various severe opportunistic infections and tumors.

In this regard, large, reputable hospitals have more comprehensive treatment plans and medications.

They should be trusted.

Naturally, Li Xu wasn’t going to take on a case he couldn’t handle.

"I see."

Aunt Li was very disappointed and began to ramble, "Ai, after Wenwen’s mom found out, she cried for two days straight. Wenwen is only in her twenties, and now this... Who’s going to want her in the future?"

Li Xu remained silent.

’This isn’t about whether someone will want her anymore.’

’Her future quality of life is destined to be poor.’

’She’ll be dependent on medication for years.’

’And her organs could fail at any time...’

After talking for a while, Aunt Li apologized to Li Xu again. "Xiao Xu, I’m so sorry about this. Don’t worry, I’ll keep looking for you. I’ll introduce you to a healthy girl."

"Don’t..."

Li Xu quickly stopped her. "Aunt Li, you don’t need to worry about it. I already have a girlfriend."

"Ah, so soon? Who is she?"

Aunt Li was stunned for a moment, then guessed, "Could it be that young lady who helps out? Hmm, she’s quite pretty, and she’s a nurse. You two would make a good match..."

Li Xu didn’t explain.

’Let Aunt Li misunderstand. It’ll save me from her randomly setting me up with people.’

"I’ll be going now."

Aunt Li stood up to leave.

As she did, she accidentally bumped into the desk.

The desk was knocked askew.

One of the drawers slid open,

revealing a very realistic anatomical practice model.

Aunt Li turned her head and saw it.

"..."

She glanced at the practice model, then looked up at Li Xu.

’Li Xu was panicking internally.’

On the surface, however, he was perfectly calm.

He silently closed the drawer and said in a flat tone, "It’s a medical model."

"Oh, oh."

Aunt Li was also embarrassed. She walked away, muttering, "So he doesn’t have a girlfriend after all..."

"Sigh."

Li Xu sighed. He had almost died of embarrassment.

’But when I think about it, it’s not a big deal,’ he thought.

’He was a doctor.’

’Isn’t it perfectly normal to have a practice model?’

He opened the drawer again.

After checking that no one was outside, he began practicing his massage techniques on it under the desk.

’This way, he wouldn’t be out of practice if he ever needed the skill.’

...

Feng City Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

As a district hospital of traditional Chinese medicine, it didn’t get many patients, especially since the city also had the City People’s Hospital and the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Inside the slightly dated outpatient building, patients sat in twos and threes on the long benches of the waiting area.

Wang the Third sat on a chair outside the internal medicine department, clutching a blood test report he had just picked up.

His forehead was burning hot, his cheeks were flushed an unnatural red, his lips were chapped, and he felt groggy and disoriented.

"A high fever of 39 degrees..." he muttered to himself, his hands trembling slightly.

The doctor in his village said his cold was strange. Even after several days of IV drips, the fever wouldn’t break, which was why he’d been told to come to the district hospital for a checkup.

After resting for a moment, he saw a patient leave the consultation room.

Wang the Third pushed himself up from the chair and walked into the room on unsteady feet.

Miaoli was an internal medicine physician at the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She had graduated a year ago and passed the exam to work here.

The work wasn’t busy, which made for a relatively relaxed job. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

She had only seen five patients all morning.

It was much less hectic than at the City People’s Hospital.

She was very satisfied with her current situation.

Seeing a patient enter,

Miaoli put down her phone and gestured. "Have a seat."

Wang the Third handed her the blood test report. "Doctor, the results are back. Could you take a look? My fever just won’t go down..."

Miaoli took the report. Her brow furrowed as her eyes scanned the data—

Lymphocyte count: Significantly elevated

Lymphocyte percentage: Far above the normal range

Neutrophil count: Abnormally high

White blood cell count: Clearly increased

Platelets: Low

"A typical viral infection," Miaoli said, putting down the report. "Have you had any injections?"

"Yes, back in the village."

"What did they give you?"

"It was an antiviral... something called... Ribavirin, and an anti-inflammatory," Wang the Third recalled.

Miaoli was taken aback. "Ribavirin?"

’That’s a common antiviral drug. It should have been effective.’

"How many days did you receive it?"

"Two days. No effect at all." Wang the Third coughed a few times. "The village doctor said he’d never seen such a stubborn cold and told me to get checked out here at the district hospital."

Miaoli had a growing feeling that something was wrong.

’Ribavirin is very effective against common flu viruses. Usually, the fever breaks after one day of treatment. How could it be completely ineffective?’

"Alright, I’ll switch you to a different antiviral, and we’ll supplement it with some traditional Chinese medicine..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Wang the Third suddenly swayed, his eyes rolled back, and he slid right off the chair!

"The patient’s fainted!" Miaoli shot to her feet. "Get him to the ER, now!"

A nurse rushed in at the commotion. Together with Miaoli, they lifted Wang the Third onto a gurney and wheeled him toward the emergency room.

The other patients in the hallway quickly made way, some whispering among themselves, "What happened to that old man? He seemed fine just a moment ago..."