Chapter 987: 676 Drinking phlegm, cold fever, malaria wrapped around the body

After Du Heng finished speaking, he quietly awaited the woman’s response.

However, to Du Heng’s surprise, the woman just looked him up and down again, then shook her head and decisively rejected Du Heng’s idea.

Seeing the woman’s attitude, Du Heng knew that she didn’t trust him.

But it’s not surprising, as anyone would likely assume that someone who suddenly came to their workplace offering medical help might be either a scammer or insane.

The woman’s reaction also allowed Du Heng to fully understand the meaning of ’doctors don’t go knocking on doors.’

He had always emphasized this point to others, but his understanding of these words had only been limited to the literal interpretation and his understanding of society. This was a moment of unity between knowledge and action.

Du Heng forced a bitter smile.

Actually, at this point, I really should just keep quiet. However, he was genuinely bothered by the woman’s cough and was curious to see if her ’interstitial pneumonia’ was as hopeless as she claimed.

Taking a deep breath, Du Heng earnestly said to the woman, "You might not be familiar with me, but I used to be the Dean of our Health Clinic. I am also from Central Lake, Duke Village to be precise, so rest assured, I’m not trying to deceive you.

Additionally, if you’re not familiar with me, you can ask your father. My reputation in Central Lake should be well-known to everyone.

Moreover, I am a TCM doctor, a general practitioner in traditional Chinese medicine, which is quite different from the doctors you have seen before."

Such self-promotion made Du Heng feel very unnatural, as if his face was burning. But to satisfy his curiosity and empathy, he had to thicken his skin.

After listening to Du Heng, the woman was not entirely convinced.

Experts from major hospitals like JZU Second Hospital and the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine all say the same thing. A doctor from the Municipal Maternal and Child Health Hospital, one who just climbed out of a Health Clinic, couldn’t possibly be better than those specialists.

But seeing Du Heng’s sincere and earnest attitude, she found herself unsure how to refuse. Especially with her two sons blinking their dark eyes behind her, she felt she had to give him a chance.

"Okay, how do you want to check?"

Seeing the woman agree, Du Heng let out a sigh of relief. This is the first time I’ve had to shamelessly beg someone to let me examine them—what a novel feeling! However, after this experience, he firmly resolved to bury the idea of begging to treat someone deep in the eighteenth layer of hell. It was just too awkward, too distressing, too stifling, and too damaging to his self-esteem!

As a jumble of thoughts flashed through his mind, Du Heng quickly composed himself. Right there in the field, he swiftly adopted the professional demeanor of a doctor.

"Let me summarize what you just said. You’ve been coughing for over two years, have phlegm, lack of strength, and experience shortness of breath," said Du Heng, looking intently at the woman. "Regarding your current physical condition, do you have anything else to add?"

The woman coughed a few more times and turned slightly to spit out the phlegm before saying to Du Heng, "That’s about it. But since the Start of Autumn this month, especially during the rainy days, my cough has gotten much worse.

And I feel particularly cold – my hands and lower legs are always freezing."

Hearing the woman say this, Du Heng suddenly realized that while everyone else was merely wearing long-sleeved shirts, this woman had already wrapped herself in a thin sweater.

After a brief pause, the woman continued, "Ever since I got sick, I haven’t been able to sleep well. Either I find it ridiculously hard to fall asleep and am then plagued by confused dreams, or I wake up in the middle of the night completely alert and unable to go back to sleep."

Du Heng nodded gently, indicating he was listening attentively. "What does the phlegm you cough up look like? Is it thick and yellow or thin and watery like saliva?"

After a moment of silence, the woman said, "Not yellow, just white, like saliva, but sticky."

"I understand. Can you show me your tongue coating?"

"AHH..."

The tongue was pale with a white and slippery coating.

Du Heng blinked. A clear case of cold dampness. Combined with the symptoms she just described, this is definitely a case of deficient yang qi and internal dampness accumulation.

Just knowing these two things isn’t enough to rush into writing a prescription and preparing medicine. I still need to find the root cause, specifically where the yang deficiency lies. Otherwise, any prescription I write would be like a blind cat trying to catch a mouse—purely down to luck. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

After quickly sorting through the situation in his mind, Du Heng asked the woman again, "Give me your hand, and I’ll take your pulse."

The woman hesitated for a moment. "Is this okay? Should I find something to pad it?"

Du Heng smiled gently. "It’s fine; I’ll just use my other hand to support it."

"Oh." The woman glanced at Du Heng doubtfully. I already thought he was unreliable. Now he’s being so casual even with the pulse diagnosis. I really don’t have much hope left for his diagnosis.

However, Du Heng didn’t care what the woman was thinking and just followed his usual diagnostic procedures.

After checking both hands, Du Heng slowly released the woman’s hand.