After Ai Shengbing took the second dose of his herbal medicine, the effects were even more pronounced than before.

He could already get out of bed by himself and walk slowly around the room.

His breathing was no longer marked by heavy gasps but had become relatively steady.

His ashen complexion had completely transformed into a healthy, rosy glow, and his eyes were bright with life.

He could even speak in complete sentences, no longer as weak and feeble as before.

"Mom, I’m hungry. I want to eat the braised pork you make..."

Ai Shengbing said, sitting at the dining table.

Wang Xiufang was overjoyed, but she remembered the doctor’s instructions. "Son, you can’t eat anything too greasy right now. Once you’ve fully recovered, I’ll make you braised pork every day."

...

Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic.

Li Xu had just called Wang Xiufang to confirm that Ai Shengbing’s condition was continuing to improve.

Treat the symptoms in acute cases and the root cause in chronic ones. Tonify what is deficient, and attack what is in excess.

Now that the patient’s deficiency was gradually improving, the next stage of treatment could include some more ’aggressive’ herbs.

Li Xu wrote down the third-stage prescription provided by the intelligence.

The prescription built upon the second-stage formula by adding Banxia and Dried Tangerine Peel.

These were ingredients in the Er Chen Decoction. Combined with the Poria Cocos and licorice from the second-stage prescription, they formed the complete Er Chen Decoction formula.

The intelligence specified using raw Banxia because it was more effective against tumors—ten grams of raw Banxia.

Since many tumors are caused by an accumulation of phlegm and blood stasis, thirty grams of Danshen were also added.

Thus, the patient’s third-stage treatment plan was to add ten grams of raw Banxia, ten grams of Dried Tangerine Peel, and thirty grams of Danshen to the second-stage formula.

Here, the plan provided by the intelligence still avoided any powerfully aggressive herbs.

And while the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Soup was a tonic, it wasn’t a *powerful* one—not like donkey-hide gelatin, deer glue, turtle jelly, or Human Placentophagy. Those substances, derived from "flesh and blood," were the truly powerful tonics.

Because the patient was so deficient, he was in a state that couldn’t tolerate strong tonification. He could only be replenished gradually. Otherwise, a sudden influx of those potent, animal-derived tonics would be more than he could handle and would harm his recovery.

That’s why the formula used the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Soup, added the Er Chen Decoction, and then Danshen—a subtle and measured approach.

The core ingredient of the second stage was raw chicken gallstone.

The core ingredient of the third stage was Banxia.

Only the best quality would do.

Speaking of Banxia, it has a beautiful name.

It is commonly believed that the name comes from the fact that Banxia grows around the summer solstice. At this point in the year, the Pure Yang energy begins to wane and the summer season is half over, hence the name Banxia, which means "mid-summer."

This explanation is, of course, perfectly logical.

But the ancients always seemed to prefer using vivid stories to reflect the rich tapestry of life.

And so, there is another story behind its name.

Legend has it that a long, long time ago, there lived a beautiful and kind young woman named Bai Xia.

Her family was poor, so she often went to the fields to cut grass to feed their fowl.

The harsh living conditions made Bai Xia weak and sickly from a young age. She had caught a "wind-cold," leaving her with a persistent cough, chest tightness, and a great deal of phlegm.

One day, while she was digging for plants in the field, she stumbled upon a tuber growing in the ground. By then, Bai Xia had been working for a long time and was feeling hungry, so she washed the tuber and ate it to fill her stomach.

To her surprise, the tuber was extremely juicy and had a pungent, spicy taste. After eating it, her throat immediately began to prickle and her tongue went numb.

Realizing she had accidentally eaten something poisonous, Bai Xia hurried home.

At the time, folk medicine already used ginger as an antidote, so when Bai Xia returned home, she picked up a small piece of ginger, chewed it thoroughly, and swallowed it. A moment later, the discomfort in her throat subsided.

Not only that, but the persistent cough, excess phlegm, and chest tightness that had plagued her for years also disappeared.

Bai Xia was overjoyed and told the other villagers what had happened. This way, those who suffered from the same chronic cough and "wind-cold" as she did would no longer have to endure the misery of constant coughing and wheezing.

At the same time, Bai Xia repeatedly warned the villagers that the tuber’s juice was poisonous and had to be washed away completely before consumption.

From then on, Bai Xia often went to dig up this medicinal plant. She would personally go to the river to wash the juice off before bringing it to the villagers to take, healing many who suffered from chronic coughs and phlegm.

But one time, while washing the herbs, Bai Xia accidentally fell into the river and drowned. The villagers were grief-stricken. To commemorate this kind girl, they named the medicinal herb Bai Xia.

Long afterward, word of Bai Xia’s medicinal properties slowly spread among the common folk.

Due to varying local dialects, "Bai Xia" was gradually corrupted into "Banxia." And since the plant always grew in the summer and autumn, later generations simply took to calling it Banxia. Thus, the name has been passed down to this day.

But don’t let Banxia’s poetic name fool you.

In reality, it’s quite common.

Li Xu grew up in the countryside.

In the villages, people would buy a certain poisonous plant: Banxia.

In that era, it grew in the village’s wheat fields, rapeseed fields, and wastelands. Its name was Banxia.

Back then, everyone was very poor.

So whenever the village children saw something they could gather and sell, they would get very excited and head for the mountains to look for it.

During the Spring Festival, they would go to the mountains to pick wild Honeysuckle to sell. In the summer, they would dig for Banxia and wild ginger. Sometimes they would catch swamp eels and loaches, or gather river snails to sell.

They sold the wild things they gathered from the mountains through their own labor to earn a little money. They couldn’t bear to spend it on snacks, so they used it all to buy school supplies.

Back then, everyone in the village grew crops, planting wheat and sweet potatoes every year.

After harvesting the sweet potatoes, they planted wheat. After harvesting the wheat, they planted sweet potatoes.

Every year around April and May, the winter wheat would be ripe.

This was the time to harvest the wheat and bring it home, then turn over the soil to plant sweet potatoes.

The planting had to be finished by the time of the Dragon Boat Festival.

The poisonous plant Banxia would grow right there in the wheat fields. Its underground corm was an excellent medicinal ingredient. By summertime, it entered its dormant period, and its leaves turned yellow.

The underground corm was about the size of a large soybean and was covered in a bit of dirt and fine roots.

You could unearth them while tilling the soil. Whenever you saw one, you would pick it up and put it in a bag or container.

Back then, buyers came to the small local shops every year to purchase Banxia.

Because of this, many people would go digging in their neighbors’ fields.

But this left the fields full of holes, and the owners would get angry and curse them out.

So people stopped daring to dig in others’ fields and would just pick up what they found while working their own land.

If you came across a patch of soil with a lot of Banxia and took the time to pick them all up, you could collect several pounds in a day of tilling. At one or two yuan a pound, you could sell them for more than ten yuan—an entire day’s wages.

You have to understand, hiring a laborer for a day’s work back then only paid about eight to twelve yuan.

Decades have passed, and now, nobody digs for this kind of Banxia anymore.

But strangely enough, the Banxia in the fields has also become incredibly scarce.

Li Xu suspected it was related to the modern use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on crops.

The chemical fertilizers and pesticides had essentially eradicated the Banxia.

Nowadays, the price of Banxia varies widely.

Ordinary Banxia usually costs between 30 and 60 yuan per pound.

But high-quality or specially processed varieties can sell for over 200 yuan per pound.

However, none of this Banxia met Li Xu’s standards.

The intelligence provided a better source.