At that moment, Lu Yun suddenly let out a cold shout, his gaze sweeping across the crowd with icy sharpness: "Is it impossible for a Grandmaster of Traditional Chinese Medicine's disciple to make mistakes? Are the disciples of a National Medical Master gods? Are they above questioning? Tell me, who gave you that misconception?"
His voice instantly stunned everyone present.
Next, Lu Yun turned to Li Quan, demanding loudly: "Excess internal yin and the floating of yang to the exterior—tell me, what is that?"
Thud!
As if intimidated by Lu Yun's imposing aura, Li Quan involuntarily took a sharp step back, a bead of sweat suddenly rolling down his temple.
Excess internal yin and the floating of yang to the exterior meant that the patient's internal cold was congealing while true yang floated upward, producing false signs of heat. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this was known as "True Cold with False Heat Syndrome," also called "Yang Departure Syndrome" or "Yin Excess Repelling Yang Syndrome."
The symptoms of such patients were a broad yet feeble pulse, a pale tongue with a white coating, a sensation of body heat prompting a desire for more clothing, and thirst without a strong desire to drink—which precisely matched the little girl's condition.
It was just that this syndrome was uncommon, and Li Quan had misdiagnosed it out of sheer carelessness.
Yet, faced with Lu Yun's aggressive pressing, Li Quan suddenly gritted his teeth and snapped, "Nonsense! I don't even know what you're talking about."
Initially, seeing Lu Yun speak with such conviction, the onlookers had believed him. But upon hearing Li Quan's words, they began to feel that Lu Yun was just spouting nonsense.
If even Dr. Li had never heard of this "True Cold with False Heat," it had to be fake.
Lu Yun's expression turned frosty. He shook his head in disappointment and said, "Quack. You are an absolute disgrace to the medical profession."
If Li Quan had admitted his mistake and tried to correct it, it wouldn't have been a big deal. Medicine required continuous accumulation of experience, and anyone could make a mistake.
Yet this Li Quan, clearly in the wrong, stubbornly refused to admit it.
He was unworthy of being a doctor.
"Who are you calling a quack?"
Hearing Lu Yun call him a quack, Li Quan instantly flew into a rage.
Lu Yun cursed him again: "Quack."
"Say that again?"
"Quack!"
Li Quan was hopping mad, nearly lunging forward to pick a fight with Lu Yun, but the moment he locked eyes with Lu Yun's imposing stance, he instantly lost his nerve.
Canassing no further attention for Li Quan, Lu Yun turned to the woman and said, "Ma'am, that prescription for White Tiger Decoction truly cannot be given to her. Let me change her prescription!"
"I said she can take it, and she can take it!"
Li Quan shouted. But the moment his words fell, a crisp sound of a slap rang out.
"Eat my ass!"
With a single slap, Lu Yun sent Li Quan flying through the air, clearly provoked to genuine anger.
A murderer who could disregard a little girl's life just to save his own face—if he didn't smack him, was he supposed to keep him around for the New Year?
Lu Yun naturally understood what Li Quan was thinking.
Generally speaking, even if a Chinese herbal prescription was wrong, it wouldn't immediately prove fatal. At that point, Li Quan could easily claim the therapeutic effect was poor and simply write a new prescription for the child.
However, the moment Lu Yun had examined the little girl's index finger earlier, he had discovered that her condition was already extremely severe, leaving not a single moment to spare.
A child's index finger veins, running from the inside out, were divided into three passes: wind, qi, and life. The further outward the markings reached, the graver the illness.
And this little girl's finger veins had already reached the fingertip—what was known as "penetrating the pass and striking the nail," an extremely dangerous signal.
Therefore, administering that White Tiger Decoction was tantamount to murder.
Chapter 37: Resurverting Yang to Save from Collapse, Soul-Crossing
A single slap left Li Quan stunned, and left the patients waiting in line equally dumbfounded.
Wasn't it just a diagnostic disagreement between two people? Did it call for coming to blows?
They didn't know how critical the little girl's condition was, so they couldn't possibly understand Lu Yun's frame of mind at that moment.
Having spent five years on battlefields of slaughter, Lu Yun had instead come to appreciate the preciousness of life all the more. If he didn't step in today, he would have to watch a young life slip away before his eyes.
Such a cruel thing, he could not do.
"Damn it—"
Li Quan scrambled up miserably from the ground, spat out a curse, and dialed a phone call in a frenzy of rage.
"Lin Qintan, where the hell did you recruit this lunatic? He's completely lawless!"
The call was precisely to Lin Qintan.
At that moment, Lin Qintan was still in the provincial capital purchasing stock. Receiving a baffling earful of abuse, she said dejectedly, "What is it, Dr. Li? What lunatic?"
"It's that bastard named Lu Yun! How on earth did you recruit him? Were you blind when you hired him?!" Li Quan roared.
"Dr. Li, Lu Yun is my younger brother. Please show some respect."
Hearing Li Quan curse Lu Yun as a bastard, Lin Qintan's voice turned cold as well.
"Your younger brother?"
Li Quan froze for a moment, then burst into an even more furious roar, "Oh! No wonder he was always opposing me—so he's your brother! Lin Qintan, you've had it in for me for a long time, haven't you? Fine! I'm not staying at your Xinglintang another minute!"
"Dr. Li, what on earth are you talking about..."
Before Lin Qintan could ask what had happened, Li Quan hung up the phone. When she tried calling back, the prompt stated the phone was turned off.
She tried calling Lu Yun, but nobody answered either.
Lin Qintan was instantly burning with anxiety. She hurriedly drove back toward Jiangcheng, repeating in her heart that nothing must go wrong!
Meanwhile.
Inside Xinglintang.
After turning off his phone, Li Quan glared at Lu Yun and sneered, "Consider you two siblings lucky. I'm leaving Xinglintang right now, and I'd love to see how this dump of a clinic stays open."
With that, he angrily slammed the door and stormed out, his two apprentices immediately following at his heels.
Xinglintang's business was essentially sustained entirely by Li Quan's reputation.
Now that he was gone, those patients naturally had no intention of staying either.
Before leaving, they hurled insults at Lu Yun.
"Getting mixed up with such a jinx—Xinglintang deserves to go under!"
They had waited in line for so long and were finally about to see the doctor when this mess broke out. Who could possibly be in a good mood?
All the patients left in fury.
The woman also scooped up her daughter and prepared to leave. Lu Yun immediately chased after them, calling out, "Ma'am, your daughter's illness cannot wait any longer..."
"Shut your mouth!"
Lu Yun had meant well, but who could have expected the woman to turn around and roar at him, "If you hadn't delayed us, my daughter's illness would already be cured! I'm begging you, stop trying to curse the two of us and go curse someone else!"
Lu Yun paused, stunned.
Then.
His expression turned cold as well.
"I'll only say this once: if your daughter takes that White Tiger Decoction, she will die for sure. As for whether you believe it or not, do as you please."
How could Lu Yun not feel a sense of pity? It was just that sometimes, not all kindness was met with reward.
His old Daoist master used to tell him that medical skill could be benevolent, but it must never be cheap.
At the time, Lu Yun hadn't understood. Now, he finally did.
"To think I am the world-shaking Divine Lord Yuntian, yet I only understand such a simple truth now."
Lu Yun let out a light sigh and turned back into Xinglintang.
As for the little girl's fate, let heaven decide!
As for the woman, after spitting out a curse of "lunatic," she hugged her daughter and left.
Yet.
Before they had walked very far, the little girl in her arms suddenly spoke in an extremely faint voice, "Mommy, it's cold..."
Immediately following that,
Whoosh!
A terrifying wave of chill swept over them. The heat symptoms on the little girl's body completely vanished, replaced by a bone-piercing frost.
This was because the yang qi floating on the surface of her body had completely dissipated, causing all the cold congealed within her to erupt at once.
The woman felt as though she were holding a block of ice in her arms, and she instantly panicked.
A cold syndrome.
It was a cold syndrome.
The young doctor earlier had diagnosed it correctly.
Stumbling in a panic, the woman rushed back. Before even stepping through the doors of Xinglintang, she began to cry out tearfully, "Doctor! Doctor, I was wrong! My daughter has a cold syndrome, it's a cold syndrome... I shouldn't have refused to listen to you, please save my daughter..."
Yet at that moment, unlike before when he had rushed out anxiously to treat the child, Lu Yun said with utter indifference, "Insincere hearts are not treated."
Splash!
The woman's tears poured uncontrollably. Knowing Lu Yun was angry with her, she dropped to her knees and began kowtowing desperately to him.
"Doctor, Doctor... I know I was wrong. It was my ignorance, it was my trusting the wrong person. I beg you, for the sake of how young my Nannan is, forgive me this once... Nannan is innocent!"
The woman kept kowtowing, weeping heartbreakingly.
Lu Yun furrowed his brows slightly. After pondering for a moment, he slowly spoke, "Fine. For your daughter's sake, come in."
Just as the woman had said, the little girl was innocent; her mistakes should not be borne by the child.
Besides, the woman had probably just been acting out of a mother's desperate love.
Lu Yun decided to forgive her this once.
"Thank you, Doctor! Thank you, Doctor..."
Profuse with gratitude, the woman carried the little girl into Xinglintang and laid her down on the examination bed as Lu Yun requested.
By now, the little girl's entire body was ice-cold, and her breathing had grown extremely faint—proof of how heavy the coldness inside her was.
"Wait outside for a moment."
Lu Yun sent the woman away, pulled the privacy curtain closed, and his expression turned several shades graver.
Fortunately, she hadn't taken that bowl of White Tiger Decoction before the little girl's cold affliction erupted. Otherwise, even Lu Yun would not have had much confidence in saving her.
In an instant.
More than a dozen fine needles appeared in his hand.
They swiftly pierced into the corresponding acupuncture points on the little girl's body.
At the same time, the nameless divine art within Lu Yun quietly set into motion, and wisps of warm qi flowed along the fine needles into the little girl's body.
"Resurrecting Yang to save from collapse, soul-crossing!"
Chapter 38: He Jing Resigns
Saving a life was far more difficult than taking one.
Once, a supreme powerhouse from the United States refused to accept Divine Lord Yuntian, bringing a crowd of disciples and grand-disciples to the borders of Dragon Country to challenge the majesty of Tiancha Palace—only to be swept away by Lu Yun with a single sword strike.
From the moment he struck to the end, his expression remained relaxed and at ease.
Yet today, facing the little girl's cold affliction, Lu Yun wore a look of unprecedented solemnity.
The little girl's body was frail and could simply not withstand the input of too much true qi.
Lu Yun could only control the force of his true qi with extreme caution.
This was akin to a peak grandmaster, whose casual punch possessed ten thousand pounds of force, being forced to output just the right amount of strength to crush an ant to death—not a fraction less, not a fraction more.
One could only imagine how difficult it was to control.
This treatment lasted for half an hour.
The little girl finally wailed and began to cry. The chill on her body was completely eradicated, and her little face regained a trace of healthy color.
The woman had been waiting anxiously outside the curtain. Only upon hearing her daughter's cry did the stone hanging in her heart finally drop.
"Nannan..."
Seeing Lu Yun carry the little girl out, the woman rushed over eagerly.
"Mommy, Nannan isn't cold anymore."
Hearing the little girl's voice, fresh tears of emotion rolled down the woman's face.
"Thank you, Doctor! Thank you, Doctor. Nannan's life was saved by you. Even if it bankrupts my family, I will repay you," the woman said gratefully.
Lu Yun glanced at the woman. Dressed plainly, she didn't look like someone from a wealthy household, so he said, "The consultation fee is one hundred."
One hundred?
The woman froze.
This was a human life they were talking about; she had already prepared herself to smash pots and sell iron to pay.
"Doctor, did you say... one million?" the woman asked cautiously.
"One hundred. Keep the rest of the money to buy your daughter some nutritional supplements!"
Plop!
The moment Lu Yun's words fell, the woman dropped to her knees with tear-filled eyes, refusing to get up for a long time. It wasn't until Lu Yun said with mild irritation, "Stop kneeling. Your daughter's illness has just healed; hurry up and take her back to rest" that she moved.
"Yes, yes! Thank you, Doctor. Nannan, quickly thank the doctor."
"Thank you... big brother," the little girl said in a sweet, soft voice.
Constantly expressing their gratitude, the mother and daughter left Xinglintang.
Lu Yun finally let out a long breath.
Maintaining a high level of mental concentration for half an hour while simultaneously controlling the influx of true qi—to be honest, even Lu Yun found it somewhat taxing.
Yet seeing the happy smile on the little girl's face as she left, it was all worth it.
He sat in a chair, closing his eyes to rest for a moment.
When he opened them again, he happened to see Lin Qintan hurrying back inside, asking with anxious concern, "Little brother, are you alright?"
Lu Yun shook his head and said, "I'm fine. Second Sister, slow down, you're shaking."
"As long as you're fine."
Lin Qintan let out a long sigh of relief, but immediately followed it with a reproach: "Why didn't you answer my calls? Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?"
Lu Yun took out his phone and saw there were indeed over twenty missed calls, all from Lin Qintan.
When Lin Qintan called the first time, Lu Yun had been trying to persuade the woman, so he hadn't answered. Later, when the little girl's condition turned critical, to maintain focus during the treatment, Lu Yun had simply muted his phone.
He hadn't expected to worry his Second Sister this much.
Lu Yun felt a fair amount of guilt.
"Quick, tell me what on earth happened!"
Lin Qintan was completely baffled. Returning just now, she had found Lu Yun all alone in Xinglintang, with neither Li Quan nor the patients anywhere to be seen. She had no clue what had transpired.
So Lu Yun recounted the whole sequence of events.
"Too much! I never imagined we were harboring a murderer in my own clinic. To think he even had the nerve to call and interrogate me!"
Lin Qintan was furious.
She was trained in medicine herself; after listening to Lu Yun's description of the symptoms, she knew immediately who was right and who was wrong.
Besides, she would always choose to believe Lu Yun.
Lu Yun comforted her, saying, "Second Sister, don't be angry. A medical scum like that is better off gone. Keeping him around would only cause trouble sooner or later."
Lin Qintan sighed, "I hired him in the first place because he was Elder Yu's disciple. I never expected his medical ethics to be so rotten."
She felt utterly helpless.
When it came to medical skill, Lin Qintan didn't think her standard was any lower than Li Quan's; she simply lacked his fame.
After all, the man was the disciple of a National Medical Master!
If Lin Qintan hadn't opened her own clinic and had instead chosen to stay and work at the Jiangcheng City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, her reputation would surely have spread gradually over time if she had just stuck it out.
However.
What frustrated Lin Qintan was that after she rejected the advances of the head of department's son, she faced alienation and exclusion in every department.
It was utterly disheartening.
So Lin Qintan had resigned to strike out on her own.
Yet running one's own clinic—how could it possibly be an easy task?
"Sister Lin."
At that moment, a young woman walked in from outside.
Seeing her, Lin Qintan softened her tone and said, "Xiaojing, you've worked hard covering half a shift for me yesterday. Take a good rest today!"
The young woman who had walked in was named He Jing. She was also a resident doctor at Xinglintang, having graduated from university less than a year ago, making her the least experienced staff member.
He Jing said, "Sister Lin, I've already heard about Dr. Li. Please don't be too upset."
Lin Qintan smiled with gratified relief. "I never expected you to come and comfort me at a time like this. You really are thoughtful."
"Sister Lin, actually... I came to submit my resignation." He Jing hesitated for a moment before blurting it out.
Chapter 39: Hell Freezes Over
"What, Xiaojing, you want to resign?"
Lin Qintan stared in disbelieving shock.
When this young woman named He Jing had first arrived at Xinglintang, her medical foundation was abysmal—the type who had simply coasted through university.
Before coming to Xinglintang, she had applied to many hospitals and failed every single time.
Back then, Lin Qintan had asked her if she was willing to relearn everything from scratch. He Jing had said yes, expressing deep regret for her behavior during her university years, and vowing that if she could do it over again, she would never waste her time.
Sensing her good attitude, and given that Xinglintang was short on staff, Lin Qintan had hired her.
Over the next year, Lin Qintan played the role of both teacher and friend. Whenever He Jing encountered a problem she didn't understand, Lin Qintan would patiently guide her until He Jing was capable of handling consultations entirely on her own.
To put it bluntly, although the two hadn't formally established a master-disciple relationship, Lin Qintan was essentially He Jing's teacher in practice.
For yesterday's shift coverage, Lin Qintan could easily have asked He Jing to help unconditionally, but she hadn't; instead, she offered twice the usual daily wage—she had more than fulfilled any obligation.
Yet.
What Lin Qintan never expected was that He Jing would choose this exact moment to tender her resignation.
"Xiaojing, haven't I treated you well enough?" Lin Qintan asked with a wounded heart.
"No, Sister Lin, you've been very good to me..."
"Then why are you resigning?"
"Because... I've decided to study for my graduate exams. You know how fierce the competition for Grade-III Class-A hospitals is nowadays; without a high academic degree, it's nearly impossible to squeeze in... Besides, I don't want to stay in a small clinic for the rest of my life."
He Jing's voice grew softer and softer, her eyes darting away, not daring to meet Lin Qintan's gaze.
Lin Qintan froze.
She couldn't find a single point to refute this reason; she couldn't possibly stand in the way of someone else's future!
Being inherently soft-hearted, Lin Qintan forced a nod despite her disappointment and said, "Having the ambition to study for a graduate degree is a good thing. I wish you success. Come settle your wages for this month with me!"
"Thank you, Sister Lin."
After He Jing left with her wages, Lin Qintan felt as if all the strength had been drained from her body, and she collapsed limply into a chair.
Xinglintang only had three doctors in total, and now two of them had left back-to-back—it was truly pouring on a house already leaking.
Moreover, without the celebrity-doctor effect that Li Quan brought, Xinglintang's days ahead were bound to be extremely difficult.
Looking at Sister Qintan's dejected expression, Lu Yun felt a pang of sympathy and comforted her, saying, "Second Sister, they'll regret this. Besides, don't you still have me?"
Lin Qintan rolled her eyes at Lu Yun and gave a bitter laugh. "You're comforting me, and you don't even have a medical license!"
"A medical license? If I want one, I can get it whenever I please."
"All you know how to do is brag."
A moment later, Lin Qintan rallied her spirits and asked seriously, "Little brother, do you really want to be a doctor?"
Assuming his Second Sister meant to ask whether he was willing to stay and work at Xinglintang, Lu Yun nodded.
In truth, that wasn't even a dishonest answer.