Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 82: Starting Tomorrow, Study Hard

Back home, Zhang Shufen followed Li Xu’s instructions to brew the medicine.

When the 30 grams of dark-colored Aconite went into the pot, she didn’t think much of it.

But if anyone with expertise had seen it, their heart would have been pounding—it was almost five times the normal dosage!

After the decoction was ready, its color was much darker than before, and the smell was more potent.

The first sip was so bitter she nearly spat it out.

But strangely, less than ten minutes later, she felt a wave of warmth spread from her stomach throughout her entire body. It was like a frozen person suddenly being submerged in warm water, every pore relaxing and opening up.

That night, for the first time in ages, Zhang Shufen only had to change her clothes once.

What surprised her even more was that when she woke up in the middle of the night, the cotton padding she had placed behind her back was actually dry!

For the first time in three months, she wasn’t woken up drenched in a cold sweat.

The next morning, she eagerly brewed another dose.

By noon, she was brave enough to take off her down jacket and walk around the house in just a sweater.

When her husband came home from work and saw his wife cooking in the kitchen in such thin clothes, he was so shocked the bag in his hand nearly fell to the floor.

"Shufen! You... you’re not cold anymore?"

Zhang Shufen turned around and said happily, "I’m much better... so much better."

"That’s wonderful."

Her husband was overjoyed as well. "If I’d known, we should have just gone straight to Li Xu’s clinic a few days ago."

Zhang Shufen nodded. "I know, right? Who would have thought Doctor Li was so incredibly skilled."

As the two were talking, her phone rang.

It was Guo Yu. "Hello, Ms. Zhang. I wanted to ask, did you go to Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic for your condition? How did Doctor Li Xu treat you?"

"I did. He prescribed me some medicine. I’ve been taking it for two days and I’m much better. Last night, I didn’t even sweat that much."

"Oh? May I ask what medicine he prescribed for you?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Let me see..."

Zhang Shufen could hear the urgency in his voice.

Finding the prescription, Zhang Shufen read it out: "Red Ginseng 15g, processed Aconite 30g..."

"What? Are you sure you’re reading that right? Thirty grams of processed Aconite?!"

"I don’t think so. Is there a problem?"

"...You haven’t felt any discomfort? Like numbness in your mouth and tongue, or a racing heart?"

"No."

"Please, continue..."

"Astragalus Root 30g, Ophiopogon Tuber..."

"Thank you. I hope you make a full recovery soon."

...

Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Internal Medicine Department.

Guo Yu put down his phone, still muttering to himself, "Such a large dose... how could he... how did he dare..."

Miaoli, sitting at a nearby desk, had been watching him and asked cautiously, "Director Guo, what’s wrong?"

Guo Yu was looking for someone to discuss this with, so he immediately relayed the treatment plan Li Xu had given Zhang Shufen.

"Huh?"

Miaoli was taken aback as well.

The medicine Li Xu had prescribed was three to five times the normal dosage.

Especially the Aconite. Even in the heat of summer, not only did Li Xu not reduce the dosage, he actually increased it.

It was five times the amount they had prescribed for Zhang Shufen.

’Isn’t he afraid the patient will have a negative reaction?’

"What do you think the reasoning is here?" Guo Yu asked Miaoli.

Miaoli shook her head repeatedly, giving a wry smile. "I can’t figure it out."

Guo Yu’s brow furrowed into a knot. He pondered for a long while, then suddenly his eyes lit up. "Could it be..."

"Director Guo, could it be what?"

"Have you ever heard the saying?"

"What saying?"

"’A great illness requires a great prescription; a deep-seated ailment needs a heavy dose.’ Before Miaoli could answer, Guo Yu explained, "The patient’s profuse sweating was already extremely severe. Ordinary prescriptions were no longer effective. Only a heavy dose could treat such a deep-seated ailment."

Miaoli looked thoughtful and asked, "But with such a high dosage, aren’t you worried something could go wrong?"

Guo Yu sighed. "This is the difference between a master physician and a mediocre one. A mediocre doctor overthinks things and is afraid to prescribe assertively. But a master physician is confident in their diagnosis and dares to use the necessary medicine. That single word, ’dare’... already puts him ahead of most. However, I want to pay him a visit and ask what Doctor Li’s specific thought process was... Miaoli, find me the file for that patient from a few days ago, the one with the persistent cough that wouldn’t go away..."

"Oh, okay..."

After a bit of searching, Miaoli found a case file.

Guo Yu took the file, changed his clothes, and said, "You hold down the fort here. I’m going over to ask for his guidance."

After Guo Yu left, Miaoli immediately tagged Li Xu in their alumni group chat: "@Li Xu, our Director Guo is on his way to see you. He wants to ask for your guidance."

Jiang Peng: "@Miaoli, what’s going on?"

Miaoli: "A few days ago, a patient with profuse sweating came to our hospital. Director Guo diagnosed her with it and prescribed Cinnamon and Aconite Decoction, but the results were mediocre. Then Li Xu prescribed the same medicine for her, and she got better."

Li Baojie: "??? Am I hearing this right? The same medicine, but it works when Li Xu prescribes it? Did your hospital get a batch of counterfeit herbs?"

Miaoli: "We didn’t get counterfeit herbs. We used the normal dosage. Li Xu’s dosage was three to five times ours... He prescribed 30 grams of Aconite..."

Jiang Peng: "Holy shit! Isn’t he afraid the patient will have a bad reaction?"

Li Xu spoke up: "I’m not afraid. In the ’Plain Questions: Great Treatise on the Supreme Truths,’ it is written: ’If a singular formula does not suffice, pair it. This is called a heavy prescription. If a paired formula does not suffice, use a paradoxical combination, which is to say, use cold, hot, warm, or cool in opposition to the disease’s nature.’

When a singular or paired formula is ineffective for a complex disease, one must use a heavy prescription or the paradoxical combination method.

Sun Simiao also said in his ’Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold’: ’In this day and age, time is short, the potency of medicine is weak, and people are often deceitful. Sicknesses are severe, making treatment difficult. For a light illness, the medicine must be scant; for a heavy illness, the medicine must be abundant.’

For complex and severe conditions, it is necessary to use a major prescription with heavy dosages to attack it from all sides, like a grand army laying a ’ten-sided ambush’ against the disease.

Therefore, when the pathogenic evil is deep-seated, one should not be constrained by conventional dosages.

For critical and acute syndromes, the dosage should be large. When the illness is critical, the pathogenesis is profound, and the onset is sudden and violent, anything less than a large dose will be insufficient to treat it.

A severe illness with a light medicine is like trying to extinguish a cart of burning firewood with a single cup of water. But with a severe illness and a heavy medicine, the disease will yield to it."

After Li Xu finished, the group chat fell silent for a moment.

A moment later, Miaoli typed, "...Is this still the Li Xu we know?"

Jiang Peng: "Not anymore... I think he knows more than Teacher Xue... No wonder he could cure the patient."

Hu Qiming: "@Li Xu, fess up. Did you get possessed by an ancient master physician? Are you Zhang Zhongjing or Sun Simiao? Or maybe Bian Que, Hua Tuo, or Ge Hong?"

Li Xu: "Haha, this humble one is not so talented. I’ve been collectively possessed by all of my predecessors."

Jiang Peng: "Stop joking around. @Li Xu, tell everyone, how did you get so good?"

Li Xu: "Just by reading. Everything I just said is in the books."

Li Baojie: "Sigh, Li Xu’s right. When you think about it, have any of us seriously read a single medical text since graduation? Take me, for example. I don’t have time when I’m busy at work, and I can’t be bothered when I’m free. After work, I’m out drinking and eating with colleagues and friends. It’s been a long time since I’ve opened a book."

Jiang Peng: "Me too. No wonder Li Xu left us in the dust."

Miaoli: "I swear, starting today... no, tomorrow, I’m going to stop scrolling through short-form videos."

Hu Qiming: "Me too. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to stop hitting on girls and start studying."

Miaoli: "Pfft, as if anyone believes that."