Seventh day of the first lunar month, clear skies, light breeze.

"Mr. Lin, please come quickly and save my son..." Early in the morning, just as he arrived at the diagnostic point, before he even started preparing for the consultations.

An elderly man over sixty charged straight in, and with a thud, knelt down in front of Lin Miao, banging his head on the ground.

He was genuinely kowtowing, and Lin Miao was afraid he would damage the newly laid floor tiles, which would need replacing.

"Elder, please stand up and speak slowly..." Lin Miao quickly reached out to assist the old man, but he was a step too late. The old man’s forehead was already bruised and even had some scratched skin with blood seeping out.

"Mr. Lin, my surname is Tang, everyone calls me Tang Tou. I have a son who got married a year before last. Everything was fine after the wedding, but soon after, my daughter-in-law suddenly ran away with someone else. My son didn’t eat or drink for three days and nights, then went mad..."

This is a madness triggered by emotional shock.

This illness is not easy to treat.

Tang Tou had taken him to see physicians, but with little effect. Though young Tang was somewhat manic, he was mostly quiet and didn’t cause trouble.

Tang Tou gave up on seeking further treatment for him, thinking that with time, his son might come to terms with it, and the illness would heal.

But unexpectedly, today it suddenly flared up, he went wildly hysterical, eyes red, like he was possessed, not recognizing anyone, tearing and breaking things, and turned the house into a mess. Tang Tou hurriedly locked him in the house and rushed over to ask Lin Miao for help.

This is an emergency!

Lin Miao instructed Xia Zhu to carry the medicine box and accompany him, also reminding his senior sister to stay at the consultation point and go nowhere until his return.

Sun Youwei nodded. Given her condition, going along wouldn’t be much assistance anyway, better to stay at the consultation point. She could also take the opportunity to ask Master Guan about the preparation of medicinal materials, which she was quite interested in, and she was soon to take the pharmacist exam. Guan Biyun was not only an intermediate-level physician but also an intermediate-level pharmacist.

The whole Dongshan City has only a few pharmacists, all primary level. Even in Lanzhou, intermediate-level pharmacists are few and far between.

To receive her guidance is indeed a rare fortune.

Old Tang’s house isn’t far, just two streets away, and faster through a shortcut.

In the Tang household, there were three people: himself, his wife, and his son. There was a daughter-in-law too, who ran away and is now nowhere to be found. The Shang family even reported it to the authorities, but after more than half a year, there’s been no word and no sign of her.

Alive, there’s no person; dead, there’s no corpse.

And young Tang, also known as Shang Youwei, went mad because of this. The neighbors all knew there was a mad son in the Tang household and a daughter-in-law prone to infidelity who ran away.

In the courtyard of the Tang residence, an elderly woman held a stick tightly, her expression tense, staring intently in the direction of the locked main room.

There was a constant banging sound coming from inside, clearly indicating that the mad son was locked inside by the elderly couple.

"Old lady, Mr. Lin is here!" Old Tang pushed the door open, excitedly shouting to the elderly woman.

Upon hearing this, the elderly woman instantly showed a look of excitement, wanting to speak with a choked voice, pointing to her mouth, but could only make indistinct sounds.

"Madam, don’t be agitated. Leave the upcoming matters to me." Lin Miao calmly reassured, hoping not to end up with another patient from this visit.

Tang Tou assisted his wife to a seat.

Lin Miao slowly approached the main room: "Shang Youwei, can you hear me? If you can, please respond?"

The noise inside gradually stopped, but with Lin Miao’s keen hearing, he could still hear the rapid and irregular breathing from inside.

He was probing to see if the individual’s consciousness was clear at that moment.

Being able to hear and react indicated a milder condition. If one couldn’t comprehend speech or react at all, it indicated a more severe condition.

After a few more probing calls with no particular response from inside, Lin Miao knew there was no need to wait any longer.

He asked Tang Tou for the main room’s key, unlocked the door, and went in.

A pale young man was slumped at the doorway of the left room, with tightly clenched fists covered in blood.

Looking ahead at the wall, it was full of blood-red fist marks.

This isn’t madness; it’s self-harm!

The wife ran off with someone, emotional shock is understandable, but there’s no need for self-harm. This child probably truly had psychological issues.

"Shang Youwei?" Lin Miao squatted down closer and called out.

"Mr. Lin, don’t go, it’s dangerous..." Xia Zhu followed in and, upon seeing this, quickly tried to stop him.

"It’s alright, do you think someone without martial arts can hurt me?" Lin Miao waved, signaling not to make a fuss.

Eyes vacant, no response.

Is he already exhausted?

Lin Miao advanced, grabbing an arm, placing three fingers on the pulse. It was deep, torrential, and rapid, indicating a full syndrome. The rapidity represented heat, a symptom of the Yangming heating condition.

Yangming is a syndrome of excessive stomach heat.

When heat pathogen surges upward, it disturbs the mind, causing such frenzied episodes.

Old Tang and his wife also entered, seeing their son sitting on the ground with blood on his hands. The old woman immediately cried and tried to rush over, but Tang held her back: "Mr. Lin is diagnosing our son, why are you getting involved?"

"Old man, don’t you see our son is covered in blood..."

"That’s something he brought upon himself. Do you think it was Mr. Lin who hurt him?" Old Tang scolded.

"He’s exhausted himself by smashing things around. It’s nothing serious, just superficial wounds." Lin Miao stood up and explained.

"Mr. Shang, since your son got sick, has he been fond of drinking cold water and eating cold food?" Lin Miao asked.

"Yes, Mr. Lin, how did you know?" Old Tang was astounded; he hadn’t mentioned this to Lin Miao before.

Ever since his son got sick, he liked to drink cold water and would only eat food after it cooled down.

"His illness is due to excess heat in the stomach, which has agitated him, causing him to act irrationally."

"Mr. Lin, can my son’s illness be cured?"

"It can be cured," Lin Miao nodded, "but it won’t be a quick process. You must be mentally prepared for that."

"How long will it take? We have only one son— we’ll sell everything we have if we must to cure him."

"There’s no need to go that far," Lin Miao chuckled. "Help me carry him to bed to lie down first. I will apply acupuncture to release the excess heat and then use medicine to slowly recuperate him."

"Okay, okay..." Old Tang nodded enthusiastically.

"Xia Zhu, bring the silver needles!"

"Yes, Mr. Lin." Xia Zhu took out the pouch of silver needles from the medical kit and spread it on the kit.

"I’m going to use the Ghost Gate Thirteen Needles technique. It’s specifically used for treating this kind of mental disorder. There are thirteen acupoints in total, collectively called ghost points. The first needle is called Ghost Palace, which is the philtrum point I told you about!"

"Watch my technique carefully; it will be frequently used in emergencies."

Lin Miao raised his hand, found the right acupoint, and directly inserted a needle.

This action startled Xia Zhu; the forehead is the brain’s central region. If injured, it is irreversible, and one might even die on the spot.

Mr. Lin was too bold, daring to needle this acupoint. Had it been Xia Zhu, even knowing this needed to be done, she wouldn’t have dared to needle there easily.

Old Tang and his wife didn’t understand this, but instead, they felt that Lin Miao was highly skilled and extremely courageous, displaying superb medical skills, without feeling alarmed.

"The second needle is called Ghost Letter, which is the Shaoshang Acupoint, a well of Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian, at the junction of Hand Taiyin’s end and the beginning of Hand Yangming, where it transitions from the Yin Meridian to the Yang Meridian..."

"Wait, Mr. Lin, what’s the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian?"

"Remember it for now. I’ll explain it to you in detail later," Lin Miao nodded. It was time to teach them the theoretical knowledge of the Twelve Main Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. Previously, he didn’t teach them because he was afraid they couldn’t accept or understand it, so he only passed on the knowledge of yin-yang and five elements and pulse diagnosis.

He mainly hadn’t been a master before and was figuring out how to teach apprentices from scratch.

"The third needle is Ghost Concealment..."

As he explained, he continued to perform acupuncture, piercing one needle after another. This visibly smoothed Shang Youwei’s furrowed brows, and his breathing gradually calmed.

Acupuncture stimulates the circulation of qi and blood within the body, achieving an intervention and disease treatment effect.

After removing the needles, after a little while, Shang Youwei opened his eyes. He saw the four people in front of him — he didn’t recognize Lin Miao and Xia Zhu, but he seemed to recognize his parents, and a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes: "Dad, Mom..."

The old couple hadn’t heard that familiar "calling" for half a year, and they were instantly overwhelmed with tears.

"Son, Youwei..."

"He’s very weak now. Let him rest; you can talk slowly later," Lin Miao instructed, "Remember, he must avoid hot and spicy foods, and anything that could cause internal heat."

"We remember, Mr. Lin, you are a great benefactor to the Shang family!"

"Xia Zhu, prepare the medicines, I’ll dictate the prescription," Lin Miao instructed. Since he was on a call, he naturally had to prescribe medicine, though the prescription contained some items not commonly understood or included in traditional medical ingredients.

"One liang of ash clay (boiled first for one incense), five qian each of anemarrhena rhizome, ophiopogon root, ox knee, and prepared rehmannia root, three qian each of rhubarb, astragalus, and gardenia, three fen of cinnabar (taken dissolved), and two qian of licorice."

"Mr. Lin, isn’t ash clay used to plaster walls? How can it be used as medicine?"

"Everything has its properties; we can only use its characteristics, thus it can be used as medicine. The reason no one uses it is either because they haven’t discovered its properties or they’re afraid to use something that hasn’t been tried before," Lin Miao smiled. "Don’t worry, my prescription won’t have issues."

"Oh, the cinnabar in the prescription is toxic. It has calming and sedative effects. Small amounts are not problematic, but it shouldn’t be taken in large doses or for a long time. So, as long as it’s taken according to my dosage, there shouldn’t be problems," Lin Miao added.

"Understood, Xia Zhu got it."

"Mr. Shang, you must strictly follow my instructions on preparing and taking this medicine, without altering it. Otherwise, if anything happens, the consequences would be unimaginable, alright?" Lin Miao reminded again.

It’s best to not visit alone because even if medical advice is given, if patients mishandle medications and issues arise, they often don’t admit it, and the blame falls on the doctor.

Thus, many doctors prefer safety, even if the medicine’s efficacy falls short and doesn’t work, causing patient suffering.

"Mr. Lin, I’ll remember. I’ll certainly follow your instructions." Old Tang took the prescription, expressing deep gratitude.