BSI Chapter 88 Turning the Tide
Chapter 88 Turning the Tide
Empress Zhangsun's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and the fingers that were gripping the corner of the quilt loosened.
The flush on her face had mostly subsided, and although her complexion hadn't fully recovered, it was no longer the frighteningly pale look it had before.
She opened her eyes, first looking at Chang Le kneeling by the bed, then at Si Zi clutching the hem of her skirt, and finally her gaze fell on Wang Zhihuan.
Her lips moved slightly, her voice soft and thin: "Young Master Wang... I'm troubling you again."
Wang Zhi poured half a bowl of warm water, gently feeding her a few sips while supporting the back of her neck: "Madam, don't speak yet. The acupuncture has just finished, rest for a while."
He put down his bowl, walked to his desk, picked up his pen, and began writing a prescription.
He paused halfway through writing, then turned to look at the silent old man by the window: "Senior, your previous approach of using ephedra to fight evil wasn't entirely wrong."
The lady's illness was indeed due to yin deficiency, but today's flare-up was also caused by an external wind-cold.
You used ephedra to clear the lungs, which was the right approach, but the ratio of asarum and ephedra was too high, and you didn't take care to protect the yin fluids, which caused the problem.
The old man paused for a moment, then remained silent.
Wang Zhi continued writing, reciting as he wrote: "Reduce the ephedra to one and a half qian—leave a little bit of lung-clearing power, but no more."
Add 5 qian of Ophiopogon japonicus, 5 qian of Adenophora stricta, 3 qian of Fritillaria cirrhosa, and 4 qian of Lilium brownii to moisten the lungs and protect Yin. Add another ingredient, 5 qian of Rehmannia glutinosa, to nourish kidney Yin from the root.
The lungs are the master of qi, and the kidneys are the root of qi. Treating the lungs without treating the kidneys is like treating the branches and leaves while ignoring the root. Finally, add two qian of roasted licorice root to harmonize all the herbs.
He finished writing the prescription, put down his pen, stood up, and handed the prescription to the old man.
This action was not a demonstration, nor was it an insult; it was simply a formality between medical professionals.
"This prescription, according to what you just said, combines ephedra to clear the lungs with nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, addressing both the root cause and the symptoms. I am young and inexperienced, so please correct me if there are any errors."
The old man looked down at the prescription and remained silent for a long time. He examined it very carefully, line by line.
Ephedra 1.5 qian. Ophiopogon japonicus 5 qian. Adenophora stricta 5 qian. Fritillaria cirrhosa 3 qian. Lilium brownii 4 qian. Rehmannia glutinosa 5 qian. Glycyrrhiza uralensis 2 qian.
He finished reading the prescription, slowly folded it up, and held it in his hand. He looked up at Wang Zhihuan, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something.
"This prescription... is fine. You've written it very well." His voice was a little hoarse. "I've learned a great deal today."
His back wasn't as straight as it had been when he said this.
During the debate just now, he was only thinking about his own face, his thirty years of seniority, and the dignity of being the chief physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau.
These things were like a wall, blocking him from seeing that every word the boy in front of him was true.
But now the wall has collapsed.
No, it wasn't that the wall collapsed; the boy himself tore it down. After he finished, he even paved a path for him to survive.
He looked down at the prescription in his hand: one and a half qian of ephedra. The young man hadn't rejected all of the ephedra; he'd kept one and a half qian.
They also said, "There is a direction."
He had practiced medicine for thirty years and knew the weight of this qian and a half—not the weight of the medicine, but the weight of the person.
It's about giving him face and room to maneuver.
Even more critically, it was only at this moment that he truly realized something else.
If that young man hadn't come tonight—if the Empress hadn't inserted the needles, if that prescription hadn't been written, and if the Empress's pulse had continued to indicate exhaustion—
Perhaps when dawn breaks tomorrow, it won't just be him kneeling outside the palace gates, but also his entire family.
The chief physician of the Imperial Medical Academy made a mistake in administering medication, which worsened the Empress's condition.
This charge can be established without His Majesty even having to speak; the documents from the Court of Judicial Review alone are enough to convict him.
At that point, forget about saving face, you won't even have your own life.
This young man not only saved his life, but also offered him a way out.
He downplayed a misdiagnosis that could have killed him on the spot, reducing it to a simple "different diagnosis".
This breadth of mind cannot be encompassed by medical skills.
Wang Zhihuan bowed slightly, his tone very calm: "Senior, you flatter me. It's common for doctors to have different diagnoses. I was just lucky to have seen a similar case."
Li Shimin stood at the foot of the couch and watched the whole scene unfold.
He watched as the young man bowed to an old man who had just been blushing, and watched him casually turn a conflict that almost escalated into a simple "different perspectives."
He suddenly remembered that last time under the jujube tree at the farm, the boy said, "If the water is too hot, it will burn"—this principle applies not only to illness but also to people.
This sense of propriety is not learned; it is innate.
Some people live to old age without ever understanding what it means to be forgiving when you're in the right, while others understand as teenagers that it's not a skill to push someone to the brink, but to pull them back from the brink.
Chang Le knelt by the couch, raised her head, and looked at Wang Zhihuan's profile.
He was tidying up his needle pouch, moving slowly, wiping each needle one by one, and then inserting them back into the pouch in order.
The candlelight cast a warm glow on his profile, and she suddenly felt her eyes sting—but her heart was filled with warmth.
Sizi crawled up from her mother's feet, walked to Wang Zhihuan, and looked up at him with her little face.
She pulled a piece of candied fruit wrapped in a handkerchief from her sleeve, stood on tiptoe, and held it high: "Brother, here's something sweet for you."
Wang Zhi also squatted down to take the candied fruit, rubbed her hair, and put the candied fruit in his mouth.
After seeing him eat, Si Zi smiled, her eyes curving into two small crescent moons.
Zhou Xia squatted in the corner, wiping each used silver needle clean. Her hands trembled slightly as she wiped the needles—not from fear, but from excitement.
He saw and learned so much tonight.
I not only learned how to manipulate silver needles and write prescriptions, but the biggest takeaway was how a doctor can cure the disease while leaving the patient a way out in such a situation.
This is perhaps the essence of how to conduct oneself in society.
As the saying goes, "Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles." And these are precisely the things that were not mentioned in the master's notes.
The carriage drove out of the side gate, across the bluestone road, through the dormant gate, and slowly headed out of the city.
Outside the carriage curtain, the night was deep and dark. Inside, Zhou Xia was asleep, leaning against her medicine box. Wang Zhi was still leaning against the carriage wall, his eyes closed.
In his mind, the notification sound of the Merit System quietly rang out.
[System notification: The host has saved a critically ill patient from the brink of death using acupuncture.]
[The host upholds the principles of medicine in medical debates, remaining humble in victory, repaying evil with kindness, and turning hostility into friendship. He embodies both benevolence and skill.]
[This rescue operation involved important figures of the current regime and has far-reaching implications. Merit points +1500.]
Wang Zhi opened his eyes and looked at the moonlight leaking through the gap in the carriage curtain, casting a narrow silvery shadow on his knees.
One thousand five hundred. More than the time we discussed philosophy by the stream.
He suddenly remembered the back view of the old man with the goatee. It turned out that in this era, even doctors could be prioritized based on merit.
Of course, saving lives is not easy, but leaving them a way out while doing so is also a virtuous act.
It seems that the wisdom left by our ancestors is everywhere, such as the Doctrine of the Mean.
As the saying goes, "Leave a way out for others, so you can meet again in the future."
Wang Zhihuan pulled the medicine box closer to his chest and closed his eyes again.
The carriage bumped along in the moonlight, heading towards Lantian.
Outside the palace gates, night had fallen. Li Shimin stood with his hands behind his back under the eaves, followed by the old man in plain robes.
The old man remained silent for a long time before finally speaking: "Your Majesty, who is that young master Wang tonight? His medical skills are so superb, and his medical ethics are so noble."
Li Shimin gazed at the flickering lights on the distant city walls, offering no reply. After a long pause, he said, "A friend."