The Martial Doctor-Chapter 129 - 120: Infantile Convulsions

"Xia Cixi, this pharmacy is not suitable for me to hold shares in. Whatever I do now is under the supervision of the court and must meet the requirements of the ’Path to Sainthood’ trial."

"Then what does Mr. Lin mean?"

"I want my senior sister to hold shares. She, Xia Zhu, and that Mr. Shen of Xia Zhu’s, the three of them will jointly establish it. As for the distribution of shares, we can discuss it," Lin Miao said thoughtfully.

"That works." Xia Yuan nodded, pumped his fists with excitement, stood up, and said loudly, "Then I will focus on this matter from now on. Whoever blocks it is going against me, Xia Yuan!"

The main business was finished, and they chatted idly.

Suddenly, Mr. Xie’s voice came from the outer courtyard: "Master, master, emergency..."

Emergency?!

For an emergency to occur on New Year’s Day, it must be a matter of life and death. Lin Miao sprang up and shouted to Xia Zhu, "Xia Zhu, go get my medicine box."

"Yes, Mr. Lin."

"Master, it’s from Mrs. Liu’s house in the next alley. Her grandson suddenly has a high fever, convulsions, and is speaking nonsense this morning..." Mr. Xie had already rushed in and said loudly.

"This is a febrile seizure in a child!"

Xia Yuan exclaimed in shock upon hearing this. It’s a major cause of infant mortality, and usually, the survival rate for such cases is extremely low.

He was about to remind Lin Miao when he noticed that Lin Miao had already rushed out, clearly heading out to save the sick child.

Xia Yuan didn’t have to go, but at that moment, he could only grit his teeth and follow Lin Miao, with Xia Zhu taking Lin Miao’s medicine box and following closely behind.

Mrs. Liu’s house was very close, as she was Lin Miao’s neighbor. Turn left after leaving the door, and walk more than thirty meters to get there.

If it weren’t for being neighbors, it wouldn’t have been possible for someone to seek Lin Miao’s help on New Year’s Day.

Mrs. Liu’s husband died early. She had a son and two daughters. The daughters got married, and the son, the youngest, married and had a grandson, not even three years old yet...

This grandson was her cherished beloved. If anything were to happen to him, Mrs. Liu really wouldn’t know what to do with herself.

The little grandson lay on the bed, his limbs twitching slightly, eyes tightly shut, cheeks flushed, and white foam continuously seeping from the corners of his mouth...

The couple was dumbfounded, looking at the child without knowing how to handle the situation.

The young daughter-in-law kept wiping her tears; her eyes were already swollen from crying in such a short time. If it weren’t for Mrs. Liu’s strong presence of mind, decisively running to the Lin household for help, the family would have no one to take charge.

"Don’t panic, both of you go out, Mrs. Liu stays, quickly prepare some warm water," Lin Miao ordered in a deep voice as he stepped into the room, having glanced at the situation.

"Go, quickly go out, don’t interfere with Mr. Lin’s work!" Mrs. Liu, usually the authoritative figure at home, waved her son and daughter-in-law out directly.

Lin Miao quickly stepped forward to examine, first using his hand to check the temperature, then opening the eyelids to examine the child’s pupils, and lastly, taking the pulse.

The pulse was rapid, irregular, and string-like, indeed caused by a febrile seizure.

Xia Yuan and Xia Zhu also entered, seeing the scene on the bed made them both show shocked expressions.

"Xia Zhu, quickly, the silver needle."

"Yes, Mr. Lin." Xia Zhu immediately set down the medicine box and took out the silver needle to hand it over.

"Tongue depressor."

Xia Zhu took out a "tongue depressor" and handed it over. Lin Miao placed it into the child’s mouth to prevent the child from biting himself.

"I speak, you write, quickly prepare the medicine." Lin Miao began to loosen the tightly wrapped clothing on the child while starting to apply acupuncture, "The child’s tongue coating is red, thick, and greasy, with a string-like slippery pulse, caused by external evil wind, convulsions. Acupuncture for clearing heat and eliminating evil, opening orifices, expelling wind, taking the Governor Vessel, and the twelve wells as the main points, using the dispersion method, choosing the Great Vertebra, Hegu, Taichong, Yangling Spring, and the twelve wells. Add Quchi for severe heat, Zhongwan, and Neiguan for vomiting..."

While speaking, he acted, completely teaching the techniques hand-in-hand.

Especially about the Governor Vessel, acupuncture points, drainage methods—Xia Yuan totally didn’t understand, but seeing Xia Zhu quickly recording in a little notebook, he knew that Xia Zhu understood.

"The prescription uses Clearing Fire and Dispelling Wind Soup: three fen each of Atractylodes and Gardenia, two qian of Poria, one portion each of Dried Tangerine Peel, Licorice, and Pinellia, five fen of Bupleurum, decocted in water."

"Yes, Mr. Lin, I’ll go fetch the medicine and prepare the soup right away!" Xia Zhu quickly stopped writing, taking his little notebook, and ran out.

Lin Miao was entirely focused on continuously applying acupuncture, and the child’s symptoms of limb twitching had been alleviated; moreover, breathing was much more stable than before.

The decoction would still take time, but acupuncture and massage could continue, along with physical cooling, all of which could help alleviate the child’s symptoms and pain.

When the decoction was brought over, Lin Miao tried the temperature himself to ensure it was drinkable before pouring a bowl of the decoction into the child’s stomach.

"The child should be fine. Let him rest, don’t cover him too tightly with the quilt, as it is not conducive to breathing and heat dissipation. Also, ensure this room is well-ventilated. If the fever subsides, send someone to let me know. I’ll come again later," Lin Miao instructed after gently laying the child down.

"Thank you, Mr. Lin, you are the great benefactor of this family." Mrs. Liu, along with her son and daughter-in-law, knelt down before Lin Miao.

"Mrs. Liu, it’s New Year’s, you’re humbling me; please stand up," Lin Miao hurriedly helped Mrs. Liu’s family to get up.

"Consultation fee, consultation fee..."

Charging a fee for emergency calls is supposed to happen, but how much to charge isn’t strictly marked, especially since today is New Year’s Day, he couldn’t let people leave empty-handed. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

However, since everyone was neighbors, Lin Miao couldn’t charge them much. This was also his first house call.

Quite commemorative.

Therefore, Lin Miao symbolically accepted a two-tael piece of silver for the consultation fee, and the medicine costs and subsequent consultations were exempted.

Two taels of silver might be unaffordable for an average family, but Mrs. Liu’s family could manage it, so Lin Miao wasn’t being unreasonable.

Moreover, he waived the fees for subsequent treatments.

It should be noted that whenever a physician makes a house call, there’s a fee involved, with the minimum being one tael of silver per visit, according to Dongshan City’s rates.

Prices might be cheaper in the counties and towns below, but not by much, as expertise is invaluable, especially life-saving medical skills.

A single house call can take one to two hours at least, even half a day, sometimes a whole day. Doesn’t the physician need to earn for his time sitting in consultation?

Returning home, it was already around noon.

At this point, for Xia Yuan to leave would be inappropriate, so he stayed for lunch, and then Xia Zhu escorted him back.

However, witnessing Lin Miao save a life for the first time, his calm and collected demeanor greatly impressed Xia Yuan, especially his miraculous acupuncture skills that completely overturned his understanding.

He could hardly believe such miraculous medical skills existed in the world. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have thought he was witnessing something inhuman.

...

Good news came in the afternoon. The child had woken up, stopped convulsing, the fever had subsided, and wanted to eat.

According to Lin Miao’s instructions, since the child was still small with an underdeveloped digestive system, they could only have easily digestible liquid food.

As for why the child suddenly had a convulsion due to getting cold, the family couldn’t make sense of it themselves. After all, at three years old, the child could barely speak and had no idea what had happened to them.

This illness was sporadic but deadly if contracted.

Escaping death, this child was truly fortunate to have met Lin Miao, or else Mrs. Liu’s family might have had to hold a funeral on New Year’s Day.

"Where’s Mr. Xie? I haven’t seen him all day."

"Xie, probably in the outhouse. I’ve seen him run there five or six times today..." Mrs Luu said.

"Did he eat something bad?"

"Probably, he doesn’t look so well. Boss, maybe you should prescribe him some medicine," Luu Wan suggested.

"Alright, once he’s out of the outhouse, tell him to come see me in the study." Lin Miao chuckled. This old guy, having a tough time, huh?

"Boss, I can’t take it anymore. Can you give me some acupuncture..." Finally, Mr. Xie came, almost holding onto the door frame as he entered.

"What’s going on? We all ate the same things, why only you have diarrhea?" Lin Miao found it strange. From yesterday to today, everyone had been at home, eating the same meals, drinking the same drinks.

Why was it only Mr. Xie who had diarrhea?

Of course, if it was due to a personal health issue, that would be a different matter. Therefore, Lin Miao told Mr. Xie to sit down, examined his tongue coating, and checked his pulse.

"When did your diarrhea start?" Lin Miao asked after checking the pulse.

"Afternoon, not long after lunch, I felt something wrong with my stomach, then until now, I’ve gone to the toilet seven or eight times, though I can’t really remember clearly," Mr. Xie said, clutching his stomach, his face looking pale to the point of frightening.

"Your pulse is thin and choppy, the tongue coating is thick and greasy, it seems like you’ve been poisoned with croton seed," Lin Miao said slowly.

"What?" Mr. Xie’s face changed upon hearing this.

"But whoever poisoned you didn’t intend to kill you, it seems more like a warning," Lin Miao said. "So you’re poisoned, but your life isn’t in danger. I’ll prescribe you a dose of medicine, go find Xia Zhu to help you get it, take it as a decoction, just one dose and you’ll be fine."

"Boss, I’ve been home all day, I didn’t go out, who would poison me?" Mr. Xie was completely baffled.

"Could it be her?" Mr. Xie’s face suddenly changed as if he had remembered something.

"Who?"

"No one, I don’t know. Boss, thank you, I’ll go find Xia Zhu for the medicine." Clamping his legs, Mr. Xie ran out.

"What is this Mr. Xie up to?" Lin Miao slightly frowned, but the fact that there’s someone in the house using ’croton seed’ to poison someone is something he must take seriously. Guarding day and night, it’s hard to guard against a thief from within.

Mr. Xie certainly knew something but didn’t reveal it, obviously he was ashamed of being poisoned with croton seed.

Who could be so ruthless yet capable of not causing mortal harm? This would require knowledge of medicinal properties.

Mr. Xie should have some discretion, and among those in the house who could handle medicinal materials, who would he dare provocate? Lin Miao used a process of elimination.

His senior sister definitely couldn’t be, she’s kind-hearted and wouldn’t poison anyone, plus Mr. Xie knows very well that the senior sister is his reverse scale, he wouldn’t dare offend her.

Shi Yin wouldn’t either, she’s not someone who holds grudges, Luli shouldn’t be, nor do Yu Zhu and Xiaolian seem likely...

Mrs. Yun?

If it were Mrs. Yun, and she had been wronged, she would have complained to him long ago. Mr. Xie wouldn’t dare provoke her.

In this residence, Mrs. Yun has a status second only to the senior sister.

Then there’s only the cook, Luu Wan left.

Mrs Luu, though over forty, still maintains her charm, those round hips suggest good childbearing. Could it be Mr. Xie’s lecherous old habits? But he’s a normal man, often seen wandering around the kitchen, maybe he’s making advances, and she didn’t agree, so she slipped him some croton seed to teach him a lesson.

If it really is Mrs Luu, silently and secretly, she’s quite a ruthless person!