I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 74 - 67: The Stubborn Old Guard Who Goes Against the Tide
"Dr. Lu, do you always charge like this?" Wei Jun asked.
"Yes, why?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Then how do you make a living? The nine yuan fifty you charge for medicine doesn’t even cover the shipping cost, does it?" Wei Jun said.
Lu Jiu laughed, "That’s just the cost of a single prescription. If I prescribed a week’s worth like they do in hospitals, you would have to spend sixty-six yuan fifty, which isn’t exactly cheap."
Really?
That’s pretty expensive, Wei Jun thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Beep!
After successfully scanning the code and paying the medical fees, Wei Jun left the clinic with his wife.
After leaving the clinic, he couldn’t help but complain to his wife that Dr. Lu was too honest; even if the medical fees were doubled, he would still find it reasonable, anything under a hundred is really unbelievable.
If traditional Chinese medicine were this cheap, who would want to practice it? What doesn’t cost money these days?
Forget cars and houses, just living in the city means money is flying out of your pocket as soon as you open your eyes.
Traditional Chinese medicine is just a job, why limit yourself so much?
In an economic society, charging a bit more for Chinese medicine really wouldn’t hurt.
In the clinic, Lu Jiu recalled the slightly pitying look in Wei Jun’s eyes and couldn’t help but shake his head.
These days he frequently sees this kind of look. Every time he mentioned the medical fees, patients would be surprised, as if it was completely unreasonable for him to charge so little.
Lu Jiu appreciated that his patients didn’t instinctively assume that traditional Chinese medicine should be cheap, but his prices weren’t so low that they would leave him starving.
Currently, with fewer patients, Lu Jiu doesn’t earn much, but once his reputation grows and more patients come, the consultation fees alone will be enough to keep him busy. The cost of herbs isn’t a big deal.
So, not only won’t he starve, but he’ll also make a small profit. Of course, dreaming of unimaginable wealth through traditional Chinese medicine isn’t Lu Jiu’s goal.
Besides, is the downfall of traditional Chinese medicine really because it doesn’t make money?
Or, if studying traditional Chinese medicine could make one rich, would the original intention behind learning it truly be for the patients’ benefit?
A century ago, the challenges faced by traditional Chinese medicine were more than just financial. How did it manage to survive under immense pressure?
Effectiveness!
Without effectiveness and merely serving as a placebo, traditional Chinese medicine would have long since been buried in the sands of history, leaving no opportunity for Lu Jiu to run his clinic today.
Yes, having money can certainly improve the life of a practitioner of Chinese medicine. Even in today’s hospitals, consultation fees for renowned practitioners of Chinese medicine range from a few hundred to over a thousand yuan, and those practitioners often earn more than many Western doctors.
Lu Jiu has never seen any issue with this; if someone possesses the capability, receiving compensation for their time and effort is only right.
However, while seeking profits is human nature, so should selflessness be.
It’s not fair to say that if most doctors follow the market, the few who don’t are abnormal; that’s a bit too harsh, isn’t it?
Lu Jiu wants to be among those few. He doesn’t want to be swept away by the market economy, forced to choose between financial gain and virtue. Moreover, if all practitioners of Chinese medicine compromise for the sake of money, then the day of the field’s renaissance would also mark its complete downfall.
Because at that point, traditional Chinese medicine could become just another medical knife hanging over the heads of the people.
This might be Lu Jiu’s imagination running wild. Even if he charged a bit more, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but having studied history, he knows that any powerful organization or individual starts crumbling from within. If his initial pricing isn’t patient-centered, then one day, due to various cost considerations, he’ll feel justified in increasing his fees.
The man once said to stay strong, one must continuously self-reform!
Medical fees are Lu Jiu’s means of survival and also serve as a self-imposed alarm!
If most practitioners today are the pioneers chasing the times, then Lu Jiu is the stubbornly old-fashioned one going against the tide.
Lu Jiu doesn’t know how many companions share his path, and it doesn’t matter.
From the moment he decided to return home and take over this rundown clinic, he was prepared for anything.
He didn’t want to spend his life serving bureaucrats in a grandiose hospital; he wanted to return to the people and be a humble village practitioner of Chinese medicine.
Or perhaps the term "barefoot doctor" would be more fitting.
"Excuse me, is this Dr. Lu’s clinic?"
Just after grooming Xiao Tu, a woman appeared at the door. She didn’t walk in, only stood at the door clutching her stomach, her face pale, leaning against the doorframe, seemingly unable to put weight on one foot.
"Yes, can I help you?" Lu Jiu asked.
Du Ran weakly said, "I, I have a stomachache..."
A stomachache?
Is it a gastrointestinal issue, or a menstrual problem?
Lu Jiu hurriedly moved forward, assisting the woman inside and carefully seating her on a stool.
After sitting, Du Ran bent over, her right hand clutching her stomach, her left arm resting on the table, and her head laying limply on it, as if she were on the verge of collapse.
"Let me... forget it, let me check your pulse first," Lu Jiu said, seeing Du Ran’s painful expression and guessing she wasn’t in the mood to talk, he gently took her wrist to perform a pulse diagnosis.
He had seen many patients with stomachaches lately, and she was likely referred by someone familiar.
As his fingertips made contact with Du Ran’s skin, Lu Jiu’s mind was filled with various voices.
"Fei Jin, not better yet?" Spleen Earth asked.
"No way, this external evil is too hard to get rid of, it’s like it’s attached to the large intestine, hurry up and expel it, Liver Wood," Fei Jin urged.
"Working on it, stop rushing, this thing is hard to deal with, it’s too destructive, you rush me, you do it!" Liver Wood replied.
"How did the external evil suddenly invade and go straight to the large intestine, could it have come from Spleen Earth’s side?" Hydronephrosis asked.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible, I didn’t feel a thing!" Spleen Earth responded. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
"Fei Jin should know, right?" Hydronephrosis asked.
"It came from the outside." Fei Jin replied.
"...that was pretty much useless information," Hydronephrosis said.
External evil, in the large intestine, stomachache...
Not an issue of Spleen and Stomach, nor a menstrual problem, the woman was clutching her lower right abdomen, her foot seemed curled, could it be...
Lu Jiu immediately released her wrist, crouched, and pressed lightly on a point about an inch below her Zusanli.
"Ah!!!!"
Du Ran, who had been resting her head silently on the table, cried out in pain when Lu Jiu pressed the spot.
"What... are you doing?" Du Ran asked angrily, gritting her teeth as she glared at Lu Jiu.
Lu Jiu didn’t speak, he quickly took a Finest Needle from the drawer, rolled up Du Ran’s pant leg, and swiftly inserted the needle an inch below Zusanli, at an acupuncture point known as the Lanwei Point.
"You really are bold, coming here with acute appendicitis. What if the intestine ruptured and led to peritonitis?"
