After inserting long needles into both arms, Du Heng looked at Du Bing’s mother and was silent for a moment before refusing the long needle that Du Bing again offered. "It’s enough, Fei. We don’t need more."

Hearing Du Heng’s words, Du Fei let out a sigh of relief but was immediately confused. "Xiao Heng, what’s wrong with Auntie?"

"Qi deficiency and paralysis."

"Qi deficiency and paralysis?" A hint of confusion flickered in Du Fei’s eyes.

But Du Heng did not speak further; instead, he focused on adjusting the long needles. As the adjustment time lengthened, Du Bing’s mother gradually closed her eyes, and steady breathing sounds slowly emerged from her nasal cavity.

Once her breathing became completely steady, Du Heng started to remove the needles one by one, handing them back to Du Fei. After all the needles had been removed, Du Heng finally straightened his back and slowly twisted his waist.

At this moment, seeing Du Bing’s mother already asleep, Du Fei lowered his voice and asked, "Xiao Heng, isn’t this a stroke?"

Du Heng stepped back two paces, slightly distancing himself from the bed. "This is full-body paralysis triggered by qi deficiency. It’s completely different from a stroke. However, if neglected, the final outcome could indeed resemble that of a stroke."

After finding a place to sit, Du Heng continued, "The skin’s reaction to my touch just now was clearly not a pain response. However, the distinct discomfort during touch can only be numbness. Only that electric, tingling sensation can cause goose bumps to erupt."

Du Heng’s voice was soft. "Moreover, as you heard when I was questioning her earlier, although she could make sounds, there was no tonality. This indicates that her tongue is also numb.

This full-body numbness and speechlessness indeed resembles a stroke. But if it were a stroke, in addition to numbness and immobility, there would certainly be one or two other symptoms, the most noticeable being loss of control in a specific area.

But none of these symptoms have appeared in Auntie. She is simply immobilized due to paralysis."

As Du Heng explained, Du Fei’s eyes gradually cleared, and he began to understand the difference between paralysis and stroke. This understanding came from the knowledge he had steadily acquired from the Health Clinic over the past few months.

Speaking of the village doctors’ education, Du Heng felt a certain irony in how things had turned out.

Half a year ago, he was trying all possible ways to improve the skills of village doctors, but they were largely uncooperative, and the results had been unsatisfactory.

Later, when the Health Clinic suddenly had an opportunity for development, he temporarily focused all his energy on it, neglecting the improvement of the village doctors’ skills for the time being.

However, with the Health Clinic’s development, its reputation grew, especially when patients from other places began to fill its beds. This greatly increased the trust the villages of Central Lake had in the Health Clinic, and more and more people became willing to seek treatment there.

The large hospitals in the city were far away, and their fees were prohibitively expensive for many villagers. They would treat minor ailments at the local clinic and only go to a Big Hospital if the illness became serious and the clinic could no longer handle it.

But the Health Clinic was different. It was right on their doorstep. More importantly, the charges were affordable, and the reimbursement rate for local villagers was high, especially for hospitalization, which was more cost-effective than directly purchasing medicine.

Now that the Health Clinic’s standards were rapidly improving and its reputation was growing, people increasingly preferred to seek medical attention there.

It was precisely under this kind of indirect pressure that the village doctors began to proactively improve their own skills.

Du Fei was among those who had started studying proactively.

However, although Du Fei now understood the difference between the two conditions, he still didn’t comprehend why a perfectly healthy person could suddenly become completely paralyzed and unable to move.

Looking at his sleeping aunt on the bed, Du Heng sighed and said, "Facing such an incident, Auntie’s emotional state must have been severely affected. She definitely hasn’t been eating or resting well these past few days. Coupled with excessive grief, her visceral functions must be disrupted, and the transformation of her essence and qi is insufficient. When qi is deficient, it cannot transport blood; when blood circulation is impeded, paralysis occurs.

This is similar to how your legs go numb after squatting for a long time and then standing up, or how your arm goes numb after being pressed for too long. It’s all caused by impeded blood circulation."

Du Fei also slowly walked to the window, leaning against his father, who hadn’t spoken since entering. Pondering, he asked, "Since her entire body’s blood circulation is blocked, why did you only perform acupuncture on her head and arms, and not her torso and legs?"

"You’re right. Ideally, the torso and legs should all have been needled. But needling the torso is not very convenient. And without needling the torso, needling only the legs wouldn’t be very effective. So, I decided not to needle the legs at all."

"So, does needling only the head and arms help?"

"Of course, it does. The head is the confluence of all Yang meridians, and the face is the external manifestation of Yang. When qi is prosperous, Yang is prosperous. When Yang is prosperous, qi flows, and blood circulates."

Speaking, Du Heng frowned slightly. "However, this is only a temporary alleviation to stop the full-body paralysis. If the qi deficiency isn’t addressed, she will continue to experience numbness in her hands and feet when she wakes up."

This time, Du Fei didn’t interrupt, just quietly watched Du Heng. He knew that if Du Heng could explain this much, he must have a solution.

Du Heng thought for a moment, then abruptly stood up and went out. He fetched his bag from the car and returned to the house.

"Fei, I’ll write a prescription. Could you please decoct the medicine for Auntie? It’s not too troublesome; three doses should be enough."

"Don’t mention it, it’s no trouble at all. You write it quickly, and I’ll go decoct the medicine as soon as you’re done."

Du Heng nodded slightly and then took out paper and a pen from his bag and began to write.

Ginseng, sojutsu var, astragalus, ophiopogon, angelica...

Du Fei took the prescription and read it carefully. "Is this prescription called Paralysis-relieving Decoction?"

While tidying up his pen and paper, Du Heng’s mouth curled into a smile. "How about this name? It replenishes qi deficiency and aids Yang with the free flow of qi. When qi is vigorous, Yang is vigorous. When Yang is vigorous, blood flows smoothly. After one dose, facial numbness will recede. After two doses, numbness in the hands and feet will be relieved. After three doses, it greatly replenishes qi; when qi is vigorous, blood flows, preventing future relapses."

Du Fei nodded and said no more, intently looking at the prescription.

Du Heng packed up his things, ready to leave with his bag. "Fei, I’ll trouble you to look after Auntie. Afterwards, write up a bill and give it to the Health Clinic’s finance department. The Health Clinic can reimburse you."

Du Fei’s eyes moved away from the prescription, and then he handed it back to Du Heng.

This action left Du Heng a little puzzled; he wasn’t sure what Du Fei meant. Could he be worried about the cost? Unlikely, since Du Heng had already offered to reimburse him. Afraid of the hassle? Not likely either, as he had just volunteered to decoct the medicine. Then, was he afraid of taking responsibility? That was even more improbable; the prescription Du Heng had just written clearly bore his own name.

"Fei, what’s the matter?"

Du Fei gave a wry smile. "I don’t have all the medicine ingredients here. I’ll have to get them from the Health Clinic."

"You don’t have all the ingredients?" Du Heng took the prescription he had written. There were no particularly special medicine ingredients on it; for ginseng, common ginseng slices would suffice, it wasn’t as if he required some aged, high-quality variety.

"Yes, I don’t have aconite here."

"Aconite?"

Du Fei gave another wry smile. "Yes, aconite. I know you’ve used it before, quite a lot actually, but I don’t dare to use it, not even one gram. Besides, I basically never have a need for it, so I didn’t stock it."

Hearing this, Du Heng could only offer a helpless smile. "Alright then, you can come with me to the Health Clinic."

Leaving Du Fei’s father to watch over things at the house, Du Heng took Du Fei straight back to the Health Clinic.

New Year’s Eve was approaching, and many patients who wanted to be discharged to celebrate the New Year at home were all trying to leave within these two days. After enjoying the New Year, they would have to return for continued treatment.

Such a practice would certainly not be permitted in a Big Hospital. But in a small hospital like the Health Clinic, coupled with the special circumstances of these patients, going home for the New Year was acceptable.

However, there were still some who could not be permitted to be discharged for the New Year: elderly people whose hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia had skyrocketed from overeating in the past two days, and those with pulmonary dysfunction who had caught a cold and were struggling to breathe.

Du Heng took Du Fei to find Wang Zhenzhen. After completing the necessary procedures, he sent Du Fei to the Pharmacy to get the medicine ingredients, while he himself went to Liu Amei’s hospital room.

So far, Liu Amei had been receiving treatment for over half a month. Due to the disappearance of her ascites, her entire appearance had undergone a dramatic transformation. Now, seeing her each morning, one would find her spirits a little better than the day before, and her smile a little brighter.

However, her complexion was worsening day by day. By yesterday, it had even turned somewhat waxy yellow, giving her the distinct look of someone suffering from malnutrition.

But this was unavoidable. Her condition was more severe than that of any patient Du Heng had treated before.

It was only because it was an ovarian tumor that there was a chance of curing it. If a tumor of this severity had been located elsewhere, such as the stomach or lungs, she would never have even met Du Heng, let alone reached the Capital; she would have bid farewell to this world long ago.

So now, for her daily tumor-dissolving medicine, Du Heng’s medication regimen was not lightened in the slightest, unlike Zhu Minyan’s.

All drugs are poisons to some extent, and the medicine Du Heng used was inherently formulated with potent substances. It was understandable that her body would feel weaker and her complexion would grow paler.

To enable Liu Amei’s body to withstand the tumor-dissolving medicine, various nutritional supplements were being administered. Du Heng had also specially prescribed a dietary therapy regimen for her; otherwise, Liu Amei would have succumbed long ago.

Actually, after the first course of treatment ended, Liu Amei had another option: surgical removal of the ovarian tumor.

Du Heng had also specifically consulted others and explored this possibility.

After all, if surgery were feasible, Liu Amei would suffer much less and might even be recovering by now.

The conclusion of the discussion was that surgery was possible, with a considerably high success rate. However, there was one very difficult consequence to accept: Liu Amei would completely lose the chance to become a mother. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Du Heng deliberated on this extensively before having that conversation with Liu Amei. He was confident that his Chinese herbal medicine could cure Liu Amei. However, he couldn’t guarantee that Chinese herbal medicine could preserve her ability to become a mother; he could only say there was a chance.

Compared to surgery, his treatment plan still retained that glimmer of hope.

Upon entering the hospital room, Du Heng first explained to Liu Amei, "I had some matters to attend to at home This morning and couldn’t make the ward round. I’ve come now to ask, how are you feeling today?"

After many continuous days of treatment, Liu Amei’s lower back was particularly sore and weak. She could generally only sit up for about an hour each day, and her time walking around was also limited to about an hour. The rest of the time, she had to lie On the bed.

Otherwise, the soreness and weakness in her waist felt as if it were broken, and that discomfort could even surpass the pain caused by the tumor.

"It’s alright, Dr. Du. Please attend to your business if you have things to do. I feel a little better each day than the one before. Besides, Dr. Wu and Nurse Wang are very concerned about me. They visit me from time to time to chat."