Chapter 270: Chapter 237: Anthelmintic Medicine

"Mr. Lin, could you take a look? My little girl has been complaining about her stomach hurting for the past two days and doesn’t want to eat." In the afternoon, a woman brought a five or six-year-old girl to see the doctor.

The little girl’s complexion looked very poor.

Her face was pale, lips white; Lin Miao asked a few questions and looked at her tongue, noticing it was red with a thick, greasy coating.

He asked about her bowel movements and then took her pulse.

Diagnosing children by pulse is usually challenging, as it’s hard to determine internal ailments from the pulse alone; one can only differentiate between floating, sinking, slow, and strong pulse without seeking a specific pattern.

Moreover, when diagnosing children by pulse, typically only one finger is used, colloquially called "one finger three gates," meaning the index or thumb of the right hand is used to press on the child’s wrist to check the pulse.

"Ma’am, could you have the child lie down so I can take a look?"

"Alright."

Lin Miao carefully observed the child’s abdomen and touched the painful area, mainly around the navel; just a slight press, and the pain was evident.

This is a typical case of a child having parasites inside their body.

"Have you seen a physician before?"

"Yes, but there was no effect, so I came to see you, Mr. Lin." The woman did not conceal the fact; the child’s illness wasn’t new, so it’s impossible they just now came to seek treatment.

Obviously, another physician had been consulted before.

"Do you have the previous physician’s prescription?"

"Yes, yes, I’ve brought it..." The woman quickly took out a crumpled prescription paper. Lin Miao glanced at it and saw it was from Qingyu Hall, prescribed by a familiar physician, Hu An.

However, seeing the prescription made Lin Miao frown. The little girl was physically weak with a cold spleen and stomach, yet she was prescribed Ba Dou, a potent drug.

Not only would these medicines fail to expel the parasites, but they would also further damage her health. Even though the dosage was controlled, this was a five-year-old girl; how could she withstand such a potent medicine?

No wonder the girl’s symptoms didn’t improve; if she continued taking it, she might even lose her life.

Alas!

He didn’t know how to tell the child’s mother about this.

"This medicine shouldn’t be taken; let me prescribe a new one." Lin Miao returned the prescription, "Have her take it today on an empty stomach, and check her stool for worms thereafter. Come back tomorrow."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Lin."

Prescription used: Wu Yi San.

Mix white Wu Yi with dried lacquer, grind it into a powder, and make small pills to take half an hour before meals with rice soup.

The next morning, the woman came back with the little girl, saying that after taking the medicine, that evening they found many red worms in her stool.

The child’s stomach no longer hurt, and she could finally get a good night’s sleep.

After this incident, the woman went back and scolded Hu An, the physician from Qingyu Hall, calling him an incompetent doctor who nearly killed her daughter, causing Hu An’s reputation to plummet.

Hu An naturally didn’t believe it was the woman acting on her own; he thought Lin Miao had spoken ill of him to retaliate and tarnish his reputation.

Thus, he told everyone that Lin Miao, getting carried away with success, brought up past events with Sun Simiao to assert that he had been gracious to Lin Miao and Sun Youwei, but they repaid kindness with treachery by speaking ill of him to patients, damaging his reputation.

He argued that treating illnesses isn’t necessarily Lin Miao’s achievement; often, medicine takes time to work, and he didn’t believe there was anything wrong with his prescription.

As a physician with some reputation in Dongshan City, many physicians have had experiences with patients moving on to another doctor for successful treatment and then returning to scold the original one. It’s common, and many physicians empathize with it.

No one can claim to cure all diseases; physicians each have their specialties. When encountering something outside their expertise, failing to cure it is normal. If someone else succeeds, it just shows the other’s specialization—very common.

Reputation often brings controversy.

Moreover, Lin Miao’s fame wasn’t limited to Dongshan City; even in Li Jing, there was much discussion about him. With support from Fu Qingzhu, not many spoke ill of him openly, but gossip behind his back was normal.

The frequent comparison was among him, Sun He, and Xumi Tuo.

In conclusion, many believe Lin Miao’s abilities have some exaggeration. Even though he’s the author of the "Medical Three Character Classics" or the provider of the rabies treatment formula, it could have come from someone else.

This "someone else," however, is untraceable, and no one can stand up and prove he’s a plagiarist.

But since he had a master who passed away long ago, people reasonably speculate these were things left by his deceased master.

After all, the person is dead, so naturally, there’s no one who can verify his true knowledge or lack thereof.

Some have tried to prove he stole others’ works by searching through medical texts but found no concrete evidence.

There are always skeptics.

If Lin Miao’s excellence were proven, wouldn’t that imply everyone else is a fool?

Fu Qingzhu has yet to bring out Lin Miao’s "Pulse Study Notes." If he does, it might cause a tremor in the medical circles.

Even Fu Qingzhu himself hasn’t fully grasped the contents of the notes. Thus, he hasn’t published them and instead studies and practices on his own, not only to verify the information but also to find any errors.

However, the more he learns, the more he appreciates the intricacy of Lin’s Pulse Science. If the emperor hadn’t forbidden him from leaving Li Jing, he would have liked to visit Dongshan himself.

Therefore, when his closed-door disciple Wen Ruyu was about to take up his post in Dongshan, Fu Qingzhu called him to the mansion and had an almost all-night conversation.

When Wen Ruyu left Li Jing, his eyes were red. The night had certainly stirred him, not just because he hadn’t slept, but also due to the shock brought by Lin’s Pulse Science.

To think there exists a book in this world that can explain Pulse Science in such detail and depth—no wonder his master wanted him to take the post in Dongshan.

A genius doctor such as this, living in the same era as him, is both fortunate and unfortunate.

Wen Ruyu thought that his own skills could compare with or even surpass his master’s achievements; who would have known that before he could climb over one mountain, another—seemingly insurmountable—would appear?

In that moment, he questioned what he had truly learned in thirty years of studying medicine.

...

Another letter from Wan Bin has arrived, just a few days later than the previous one. The letter mentioned National Doctor Fu Qingzhu and Wen Ruyu.

The court unexpectedly appointed National Doctor Fu Qingzhu’s closed-door disciple Wen Ruyu to a position in Dongshan, taking over from Mr. Sang as the head of the Medical Bureau.

This appointment surprised many people.

Because Mr. Sang still had at least two years left in his term, he was suddenly granted an honorary title but remained in Dongshan and Wen Ruyu arrived.

Being appointed as the head, Mr. Sang postponed his return to Li Jing by a year, evidently paving the way for Wen Ruyu; if the path is well paved, he could be promoted upon returning to Li Jing, but if not, he might retire on the spot.

Wan Bin internally urged that Lin Miao maintain a good relationship with Wen Ruyu. If they could connect with National Doctor Fu, their future would be secure.

It’s common for the offspring of major figures to gain experience in regional posts, as many important positions require the experience of regional appointments.

Without it, one cannot assume a higher position.

Just like how those aspiring to be prime ministers must have the experience of governing a region, otherwise, they are not qualified to enter the central government.

This Wen Ruyu, being National Doctor Fu’s closed-door disciple, clearly holds great expectations, having stayed at the center of power. This time, he is descending to add to his credentials.

As for the skill of such people, opinions vary. Of course, it wouldn’t be too poor—there surely is something extraordinary about the closed-door disciple of National Doctor Fu.

Coming from Li Jing, traversing mountains and rivers along the way, if he didn’t travel quickly, it wouldn’t be possible to reach in less than ten days to half a month.

Lin Miao calculated that by the time he took office, he would have almost completed the "Path to Sagehood" trial task.

Nonetheless, two other people had long completed their trial tasks, continuing their contest, evidently aiming to win first place.

Lin Miao didn’t have such aspirations; he didn’t care much about being first or not.

Yet, the first medical case collection edited by Xia Yuan, containing over five hundred selected cases, was personally reviewed and transcribed by Lin Miao.

Besides the finalized original edition, two additional copies were transcribed—one expedited to Li Jing by fast riders, and the other sent to Dongshan Xinglin Institute.

...

Far away in Li Jing, Wan Bin had long known of the existence of the "Medical Case Collection" and eagerly awaited its arrival.

Upon receiving the "Medical Case Collection," before he could warm up to it, Fu Qingzhu summoned him to the mansion.

The collection was opened and transcribed by someone.

Even as it was being transcribed, it was studied!

After reading several cases, Fu Qingzhu exclaimed, "The depth and breadth of this medical case collection far exceed those of the previous two volumes."

"Such high praise from Mr. Fu?" Wan Bin was startled to hear it.

If the disciples of the Medicine King Sect and those at the Reclining Buddha Temple heard these words, it would astonish them. To know that when the Medicine Kings Sun He and Xumi’s medical case collections were specially transcribed and presented to Fu Qingzhu, he merely glanced at them and shelved them without further review.

"These cases, when combined with his Pulse Study Notes, are easier to understand. Wan Bin, you are really fortunate." Fu Qingzhu remarked.

"Mr. Fu, you exaggerate. I was just a blind cat meeting a dead mouse," Wan Bin replied modestly.

"Where is Ruyu now?"

"Sir Ruyu should be at Han Pass right now," answered the steward of Fu Mansion, standing nearby with hands folded.

"Nevermind, he’ll naturally see the medical cases upon reaching Dongshan; it’s unnecessary to waste manpower and resources sending him another set. When he arrives in Dongshan, let him find Lin Miao and transcribe a copy himself," Fu Qingzhu thought for a moment and said, waving his hand.

"Mr. Fu, someone from the palace has arrived, requesting your immediate presence!"

"Alright, wait a moment, I’ll change clothes and go right away." Fu Qingzhu agreed, putting down the medical case and proceeded to change clothes to head to the palace.