"The sclera of the liver area is flat and unblemished, the long black hair is slightly withered and yellow, and no steam is rising from the water cup beside it, which indicates a dislike for warm water."
"It should be stagnation of liver qi with damp-heat."
...
Lin Chuqing looked calmly at the handsome female doctor opposite her.
With fair skin and a high, straight nose, the black sweater under her white lab coat could not conceal her curvaceous and perfect figure. A pair of clear, bright eyes in her delicate and pretty face were intently studying his psychological CT report.
"You do not have schizophrenia."
Female doctor Lin Chuqing put down the report in her hand, looked into the handsome face half a meter away, and said:
"The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is universally recognized as the most accurate method for psychological testing. Scores below sixty across various metrics are considered normal, while anything above sixty is abnormal."
"For the schizophrenia scale (Sc), you scored fifty-nine points. Therefore, you do not have schizophrenia."
No schizophrenia?
That means...
The corners of Lin Chuqing's—no, Lu Yi's—mouth curled up slightly, and a sharp gleam flashed suddenly in his eyes.
A surge of true qi instantly welled up from his dantian, swirling around his entire body to form a current of air that made his clothes flap without any wind. The surrounding air formed an invisible vortex around him and the female doctor, and the bird song outside the window fell silent instantly.
All of this was real!
Three days ago, he had a dream. In that parallel world, he had not only become a divine doctor, but also a supreme master of ancient martial arts!
Upon waking up, he was astonished to discover that all the memories of that parallel world were deeply engraved in his mind, just like his own memories.
As a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, he had instinctively suspected that he had developed hysteria.
However, after taking his own pulse for three consecutive days with no abnormalities found, the true qi within his body kept increasing day by day. That was why he had come to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of the People's Hospital to confirm things using Western medical methods.
"I have a suggestion for you."
Lin Chuqing pushed the report toward Lu Yi, her voice gentle as she said, "When you go back, you can seek more support from your family and society. You are currently only one point away from schizophrenia. Talking things through and receiving psychological support will help improve your current mental state."
"In addition, to ensure the accuracy of the results, you need to come back for a follow-up examination in three days."
"Alright, thank you."
Lu Yi let out a sigh of relief. Looking at Lin Chuqing's slightly haggard face, he pondered for a moment and said, "I also have a suggestion for you: stay up late less."
Lin Chuqing was slightly taken aback as she looked at Lu Yi. *How do you know I stay up late?*
"Poor sleep, distension in both ribs, dry eyes, and occasional dizziness before going to sleep—am I right?"
Lu Yi said.
"How do you know?"
Lin Chuqing stared at Lu Yi in shock and suspicion.
Lu Yi did not answer. He directly took the pen and prescription pad in front of Lin Chuqing, quickly wrote down more than a dozen medicinal ingredients and their dosages, and slid the paper forward: "If you want to cure your illness, use this formula. A single dose will suffice."
"Are you a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine?"
Lin Chuqing looked at Lu Yi in astonishment. Hesitating for a moment, she took the prescription and let her gaze fall upon it.
Vigorous and forceful, with even and moderate strokes.
According to graphology, this person's views and intentions were firm, with extremely strong self-control, which meant that the person before her had great confidence in the prescription he had written.
"Dr. Lin, Dr. Zhou personally brewed a bowl of medicine for you."
At that moment, a nurse pushed the door open, smiling as she carried a bowl of steaming traditional Chinese medicine.
She quickly placed the medicine on the consultation desk. As she turned to leave, her eyes darted quickly toward Lu Yi, and her heart skipped a beat a few times—so handsome, so extremely handsome!
Lin Chuqing glanced at the nurse's back, then frowned as she looked at the steaming traditional Chinese medicine on the desk.
She looked again at the prescription in her hand, her gaze pausing for a moment before she turned to look at Lu Yi with mockery:
"Do all you TCM practitioners use the same tricks to pick up women? Making a diagnosis and then prescribing medicine?"
"Thank you for your good intentions, but if there's nothing else, you may leave!"
With that, she placed the prescription directly back on the desk.
*I am not trying to pick you up at all; I genuinely regard you as a patient!*
Lu Yi said to himself inwardly. Looking at Lin Chuqing's cold expression, he was just about to stand up and retrieve his report when he suddenly caught the scent of medicinal fragrance drifting in the air. His brow furrowed slightly, and he said, "This bowl of medicine does not suit your condition."
"Who says the medicine I prescribed doesn't suit her condition?"
The door to the consultation room was pushed open.
A handsome young physician in his early thirties strode in, his gaze fixing on Lin Chuqing instantly, filled with boundless adoration.
Twenty-five years old, holding a doctoral degree in psychology from the United States, and his own uncle was the president of this People's Hospital.
If he could marry her, he would undoubtedly become a winner in life and rise rapidly within this hospital, achieving success in both family and career!
His gaze then landed on Lu Yi. Seeing that the other man had an even more handsome face than his own, his arrogant look faltered for a moment before he sneered and sized him up: "Are you also a TCM doctor? Which hospital are you working at?"
"Qingyun Street Community Hospital," Lu Yi said.
"A community hospital?"
Zhou Wenxuan let out a laugh of sheer disbelief. "A doctor from a grassroots community hospital dares to come to a Grade II Level A hospital and critique the prescription written by a superior hospital's doctor? Who gave you the courage?"
With that, he looked at the prescription on the desk and sneered, "Did you write this prescription? Truly, any Tom, Dick, or Harry dares to prescribe traditional Chinese medicine nowadays. No wonder TCM's reputation is so terrible—it's all ruined by people like you!"
Saying this, he snatched up the prescription.
He wanted to ruthlessly tear this prescription to shreds right in front of Lin Chuqing, letting her see his true TCM competence and his excellence among his peers!
Just as the words reached his lips, Zhou Wenxuan froze completely.
The herbs he had prescribed for invigorating blood, removing stasis, and soothing the liver were all included in this prescription!
Not only that, but this prescription contained seven or eight more herbs than his own, which didn't look like herbs for soothing the liver and promoting blood circulation at all.
He looked closely with suspicion. When he saw six grams of psoralea fruit (*buguzhi*) among them, a cold sneer formed in his heart, and he threw the prescription straight onto the floor:
"What kind of utter nonsense is this prescription? You actually prescribed psoralea fruit! Psoralea fruit tonifies the kidneys. The kidneys correspond to water, and the liver corresponds to wood. Don't you even understand the Five Elements principle that water generates wood? Dr. Lin is already suffering from liver depression, and you go ahead and tonify her kidneys—isn't that harming her? It will only make her liver depression even worse!"
Lu Yi slowly stood up, looked calmly at Zhou Wenxuan, squatted down to pick up the prescription, dusted off the grit, placed it back on the table, and asked, "Are you also a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine?"
"The youngest attending physician in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of the Qingshan County People's Hospital!" Zhou Wenxuan answered proudly.
"Have you read the *Classic of Difficult Issues* (*Huangdi Bajishi Nan Jing*)?"
"Of course I have."
"What does the seventy-fifth difficulty of the *Classic of Difficult Issues* say?"
Zhou Wenxuan was stunned. He had only skimmed the *Classic of Difficult Issues*; how could he possibly remember what was written in the seventy-fifth difficulty?
Lu Yi said indifferently, "The seventy-fifth difficulty of the *Classic of Difficult Issues* states: 'The east corresponds to the liver, so when the liver is excess, we know it; the west corresponds to the lung, so when the lung is deficiency, we know it. Purgate the fire of the south, and tonify the water of the north.' This means that in treating conditions of liver excess, one should purge the south and tonify the north. The south is fire, which is heart fire. The north is water, which is kidney water!"
Zhou Wenxuan's expression changed, and he said coldly, "You memorize book knowledge quite clearly, but books are dead while people are alive. I've never heard of a bookworm turning into a good TCM doctor."
"You cannot become a good doctor without reading medical books." Lu Yi chuckled with a soft laugh.
"You!"
Zhou Wenxuan's face instantly turned unsightly.
"So lively in here?"
At that moment, a middle-aged doctor in a white lab coat with graying hair walked in with a smile.
Zhou Wenxuan immediately straightened his posture. This was the director of their TCM department, Wang Fengnian, the foremost among the top ten renowned TCM practitioners in the county.
"Little Lin, your second uncle said your sleep hasn't been good lately, so he asked me to come and check your pulse."
Wang Fengnian smiled as he looked at Lin Chuqing, quickly scanning her up and down with his eyes, and instantly grasped the situation in his mind. Then, catching sight of Zhou Wenxuan, he greeted him: "Little Zhou is here too."
Immediately afterward, he spotted the prescription and the bowl of medicine on the desk, and his eyes lit up. "Oh, the medicine is already brewed? Little Zhou must have prescribed it."
With that, he picked up the prescription with a cheerful smile.
As soon as he glanced at it, his gaze instantly locked in place.
He quickly brought it closer to examine it carefully. The more he looked, the brighter his eyes became, and he praised aloud: "What a marvelous prescription!"
***
*This prescription is marvelous?*
Zhou Wenxuan's expression changed instantly.
Wang Fengnian looked at the formula in his hand with a gleam of excitement in his eyes, clicking his tongue in admiration: "There is tonification and there is purgation—purging the south and tonifying the north!"
Zhou Wenxuan's expression stiffened. With an ugly look on his face, he pointed at the calm-looking Lu Yi beside him and said, "He wrote it."
*Him?*
Wang Fengnian was stunned. His gaze shifted to Lu Yi, looking him up and down. Wasn't this remarkably handsome young man a patient?
"Are you also a TCM practitioner?"
"He is a doctor in the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of Qingyun Street Community Hospital," Zhou Wenxuan chimed in hastily with a sneer.
"A doctor from a community hospital is still a doctor."
Lu Yi corrected him with a smile, then turned to Lin Chuqing and said, "Thank you, Dr. Lin. I'll be leaving first. If you use this prescription, don't forget to add the last ingredient in the formula: jujubes."
Lin Chuqing gave Lu Yi a deep look. "Alright, thank you."
Lu Yi nodded, picked up the report from the desk, turned around, and walked out.
*Jujubes?*
Wang Fengnian frowned, watching the retreating figure of Lu Yi as he pushed the door open and left, feeling puzzled. Every single ingredient a TCM practitioner prescribes has a purpose and must fulfill a specific function.
Yet, jujubes...
Placing them here seemed somewhat like adding feet to a drawn snake, because the preceding ingredients in the formula alone were already quite perfect.
He immediately re-read the prescription from start to finish, and suddenly a flash of lightning seemed to cross his mind.
Jujubes: to anchor the stomach, harmonize the stomach qi, tonify the middle and benefit qi, reconcile all medicines, treat consumptive debility, and generate bodily fluids!
After the large intestines purge the liver toxins, the bodily fluids within will be diminished!
Those jujubes were used to replenish the bodily fluids of the large intestine!!
The young man from earlier had prescribed the formula with such meticulous detail that he even accounted for that!
Wang Fengnian stood frozen for a long time before suddenly sighing with emotion: "This young man's TCM skills are stronger than mine!"
*Ah?*
Zhou Wenxuan was struck completely dumb.
Lin Chuqing was also stunned. Was the medical skill of the Lu Yi from just now actually superior to Uncle Wang's?
"What a pity. Such an outstanding TCM practitioner is about to lose his job."
Wang Fengnian sighed with a bitter smile. "Qingyun Community Hospital has intentions of abolishing the TCM department due to lack of performance over the past two days. If that rumor is true, the young man who just left might be out of a job."
*Huh?*
Zhou Wenxuan was overjoyed. His mood instantly became as refreshing as drinking cold water on the hottest dog days of summer.
Lin Chuqing, however, furrowed her brows, a trace of worry involuntarily flashing in her eyes.
A blow like losing his job would be extremely detrimental to Lu Yi's mental state...
***
"I've only been at the community hospital for three days, and they're already going to eliminate the TCM department?"
Standing at the entrance of the People's Hospital, Lu Yi frowned as he looked at the phone in his hand.
He had just received a call from the community hospital stating that the hospital was preparing to dissolve the TCM department and instructing him to report to the hospital for a meeting within ten minutes.
Lu Yi walked directly to the motorcycle parking area outside the hospital, put on his black helmet, and mounted his red-and-black Haojue DR250.
Revving the throttle, he transformed into a streak of afterimages that vanished amidst the traffic, speeding straight toward Qingyun Street Community Hospital.
Qingshan County had a permanent population of 400,000, distributed across seven street communities.
Qingyun Street Community was the largest community within the area, housing 70,000 resident inhabitants.
The subordinate Qingyun Street Community Hospital was an old-style three-story building with a courtyard. Though not large, it was required to provide basic medical care, disease prevention, health preservation, rehabilitation, and other services to those 70,000-plus residents.
The hospital was fully equipped with various departments, totaling 10 medical departments including the TCM department, which had been established a little over two months ago.
When Lu Yi arrived at the conference room, a dozen doctors from various departments and more than twenty nurses were already sitting quietly inside. The atmosphere throughout the entire conference room was very solemn.
"Where is your white lab coat?"
On the podium, fifty-year-old, plump, bald-headed Dean Zhao Jinliang looked at Lu Yi with an unkind tone.
"I asked for the morning off and just rushed right over, so I didn't have time to put it on."
Lu Yi explained.
"Taking time off on your third day of work—how dedicated! I brought you here to work, not to take time off!"
Dean Zhao Jinliang sneered coldly. "Since you're here, let's discuss the first item on today's agenda: the retention or abolition of the TCM department."
"The TCM department has been established for a little over two months, has gone through three doctors, and has seen fewer than ten patients in total. It's severely running at a loss, so the hospital is currently considering whether to dissolve the TCM department."
*Abolish the TCM department?*
Hearing this news for the first time, the doctors and nurses from other departments present were all taken aback.
According to national policy regulations, every street community hospital must be equipped with a TCM department; how could they dissolve it?
Immediately afterward, they glanced at Lu Yi, who had just sat down. If the TCM department was abolished, what would happen to him?
Dean Zhao Jinliang continued with a flat voice, "The existence of a TCM department is non-negotiable, but we may adopt another approach: inviting the county TCM hospital to set up a branch outpatient clinic here and directly invite doctors from the county TCM hospital to hold consultations."
"This is Dean Wu Shengli from the TCM hospital, whom we invited to conduct an on-site inspection."
Dean Zhao Jinliang pointed to a smiling doctor in his fifties, wearing a white lab coat and meticulously combed back hair, standing beside him.
"Clatter, clatter..."
Enthusiastic applause erupted in the room.
As medical professionals, they naturally all knew Wu Shengli: the vice president of the county TCM hospital, an associate chief physician of the TCM department, and one of the top ten renowned TCM doctors in the county, ranked tenth.
Lu Yi raised his head to look at the smiling Wu Shengli.
Wu Shengli was also sizing up the calm-looking Lu Yi at that moment.
A doctor had three paths: curing illnesses, advancing professional titles, and making money.
The first was routine, while the middle one was something not to be thought about within five years.
The simplest and happiest path was making money. All one needed to do was see more patients; the more patients there were, the more prescriptions written, and the more prescriptions written, the greater the commission—plus the kickbacks and red envelopes provided by pharmaceutical reps.
Although the TCM hospital served patients throughout the entire county, many people feared the hassle and were unwilling to go to a "major" hospital, and even those who went to the TCM hospital were diverted by other doctors.
Therefore, the number of patients going to his clinic daily was only around twenty or thirty.
However, if he could open a branch clinic at the community hospital, relying on his reputation as the vice president of the TCM hospital, his outpatient volume would definitely be several times that of the TCM hospital!
Still, the remarkably handsome young man before him was a stumbling block.
"Dean Wu conducted an inspection all morning today. I wonder if you have any suggestions regarding the construction of our hospital's TCM department?"
Dean Zhao Jinliang asked Wu Shengli with a smiling face.
"I don't have any particular suggestions for the construction of the TCM department, but I do have some opinions regarding the young doctor in the TCM department."
Wu Shengli pointed at Lu Yi in the crowd and said with a smile.
Everyone looked at Lu Yi in astonishment.
"This doctor is simply too young! I looked at his resume; he only has an undergraduate degree and studied TCM for just five years. We've all been to university—what can anyone truly master in five years? His competence must be very ordinary."
"TCM doctors become more valuable the older they are. When patients come to the TCM department and see such a young doctor, they will undoubtedly feel in their hearts that someone with no hair on his face lacks firm execution."
"Therefore, I suggest that the TCM department here be directly dissolved, and our TCM hospital will establish a branch clinic here. I can apply to come and hold consultations myself."
*Directly stealing the magpie's nest?*
The room fell silent.
For a moment, Dean Zhao Jinliang didn't know what to say either. He had expected Wu Shengli to say some polite diplomatic remarks, never imagining that he would directly demand abolition.
*Someone with no hair on his face lacks firm execution?*
Lu Yi looked with a smile at the fair-skinned, beardless Wu Shengli, and asked with a chuckle, "How did you deduce that my competence is ordinary?"
*Of course by seeing it!*
Wu Shengli said with a full smile, "Young man, practicing traditional Chinese medicine does not rely on physical stamina; it relies on experience! What syndrome is identified by what pulse condition, how to treat this syndrome, what herbs to prescribe, and what dosages to use—all of this requires decades of experience. Five years of university education at most teaches you the basics, so your skill level is naturally very ordinary."
"How many years have you been practicing medicine?" Lu Yi asked.
"Thirty years, with banners filling the room," Wu Shengli answered proudly.
"Then why haven't you cured your own stomach ailment?" Lu Yi smiled like a blooming flower.