Moving house, resting for a day, and resuming consultations.

Early in the morning, there was a long line outside the consultation point, still sixty queue numbers per day, thirty in the morning, thirty in the afternoon.

One after another, seeing four or five cases in a row, all ordinary ailments, essentially requiring only two or three doses of medicine to recover, it could be said to be gaining experience.

Finally, a young woman came in.

Her complexion was dull, her eyes looked quite tired; it was clear she had some health issues and was seeking medical help.

"Madam, can you briefly describe your symptoms?" Lin Miao asked, "For example, where is your discomfort, is it a headache, or soreness, fever, that sort of thing?"

The woman sat there, lips slightly parted, wanting to speak but hesitant, suddenly feeling shy and unable to speak, stood up and said, "Mr. Lin, I, I won’t be consulted..."

"Madam, I see your complexion isn’t good, this illness might not be mild, if you don’t get examined and let the condition drag on, it won’t be good. You’re young, you must be responsible for yourself, you can’t avoid issues and shun treatment." Lin Miao could see the patient had something she was reluctant to reveal, yet since she was here, he had to try to persuade her.

But whether the patient would listen was up to her.

Good advice can’t save a dying ghost.

She doesn’t want to live, and others can’t help it.

A doctor can save lives, but patient cooperation is necessary; it’s a mutual endeavor, if only the physician exerts effort and the other not only doesn’t exert but pulls back hard, then there’s nothing to be done.

Frightened by this, the woman was about to step out but withdrew her leg, smiled awkwardly, and sat down again, "Mr. Lin, my illness is really hard to speak of."

"What illness can’t be described? Don’t have the mentality to avoid issues with doctors, even if it requires examination of private parts, if it needs to be avoided, I can avoid it, I’ll let my senior sisters examine you, you don’t need to worry." Lin Miao explained, opposite him was senior Sun Youwei.

If it weren’t for Xia Zhu or Sun Youwei, this consultation point would have one-third fewer patients, and general female patients mostly had gynecological diseases.

He’s so young and male, needing to do some examinations, which woman patient would be willing to come?

But at home, generally, women with illnesses would endure them, only when truly unbearable would they seek a physician, and in the city it might be better, in some countryside places, women falling ill wouldn’t seek treatment at all, small ailments drag into serious illnesses, young age, people just die, it’s common, due to shame mostly.

Xiuyue Square has many pleasure houses, these women in special trades naturally are more relaxed than those at home.

So, most of them speak directly, without much constraint.

"Yes, Madam, if there’s anything inconvenient to say, you can talk to me." Sun Youwei spoke.

This is a psychological effect, she says, Sun Youwei would still tell Lin Miao, but it’s entirely different for the patient’s shame.

"Well, Mr. Lin..."

"I’m going out for a breath of fresh air and to relieve myself." Lin Miao quickly understood, stood up and said.

"Mr. Lin, why..."

"Urgent need, just relieving myself." Lin Miao pursed his lips, letting Xia Zhu in to help, he was a bit uneasy with only Sun Youwei inside with the patient.

Lin Miao strolled into the backyard.

Lien Yurou was drying herbs in the yard, this young girl had a nice figure, considered quite a beauty, but her personality was a bit unappealing, only hearing her humming an unknown song while working.

It sounded quite nice.

"What song are you singing, sounds quite nice!"

"Ah!" Lien Yurou was startled by the sudden voice, turned to see Lin Miao, immediately like a cat with its tail stepped on, "Lin, you walk without sound, trying to scare me to death?"

"You didn’t hear, when entering the yard, I coughed twice to remind you!" Lin Miao explained. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"You’re not in front for consultations, what are you doing in the backyard?"

"Going to the lavatory, is that not okay?" Lin Miao strolled leisurely towards the latrine.

"No, go to another latrine." Lien Yurou suddenly dashed in front of Lin Miao, blocking him, pointing outside.

"Why, is the latrine occupied, is it Mr. Guan?" Lin Miao asked puzzled, if Guan Biyun was inside, it couldn’t be rushed.

"My master isn’t in."

"Your master isn’t in, Mr. Cui is in front, then who could be in the latrine?" Lin Miao was a bit confused, the latrine wasn’t private.

Could it be this young girl was sneaking around with a man behind Mr. Guan’s back?

This city girl sure is bold and open, her thinking sure is different from the countryside women, admirable!

"I, I just went to the latrine, haven’t had a chance to clean up..."

"No worries, I’m just gonna do a little, you can clean up afterwards?" Lin Miao suddenly understood why Lien Yurou was blocking him, this little girl probably had her ’monthly visitor’, and went to the latrine, leaving those unclean things, she’s worried he’d see them.

"I understand, well, Miss Yurou, you can drink some colored sugar ginger water, drink it hot, don’t eat cold and spicy things during your time, your master should have taught you." Lin Miao retraced his steps, turned around, and whispered.

Lien Yurou behind had her face instantly blush, obviously understanding what Lin Miao was implying.

How does an unwed young fellow know about this?

What a little rogue!

No, he’s a physician, even can examine those women, understanding this shouldn’t count as roguish...

Wandering out, found another privy to release water, washed his hands, then returned to the consultation room.

On a piece of note paper, the words "Fire Around the Waist" were written in Sun Youwei’s handwriting, and Lin Miao recognized it at a glance.

"Sister, is this your diagnosis?"

"It’s the judgment that Xia Zhu and I made together," Sun Youwei explained.

Lin Miao nodded. He trusted that Sun Youwei and Xia Zhu wouldn’t have mistaken it, since this type of skin disease is easy to recognize.

If this could be misdiagnosed, then what’s the point of even studying medicine?

The medical name for "Fire Around the Waist" is herpes zoster, a disease caused by low immunity, generally affecting children or people whose immunity suddenly decreases.

This is the term used in Western medicine, but in Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is called "Lou" syndrome.

Lin Miao carefully observed the woman and saw her complexion was sallow with a bluish tint; her expression looked fatigued, obviously a symptom of poor sleep. He then checked her tongue, which was red with a slightly yellow coating.

He took her pulse, finding it thin and wiry.

Lin Miao couldn’t help but furrow his brow; the woman’s illness was likely more complicated than "Fire Around the Waist." Simply treating the herpes might prove ineffective.

This is a classic case of liver qi stagnation and kidney yin deficiency, causing exuberant ministerial fire.

"Do you have headaches, sometimes experience palpitations, suffer from poor sleep, have many dreams, and breast tenderness?" Lin Miao asked, since the woman was too embarrassed to speak, he had to inquire himself.

After her initial shock, the woman blushed and nodded.

"What do you dream about?" Lin Miao asked.

"What does this have to do with my illness?" the woman asked nervously and changed her expression.

"Dreams reveal mental disorders. I need to know what you dream about to understand your mental condition," Lin Miao explained. "Also, did you have a previous miscarriage?"

"How do you know that!" The woman was taken aback; this was too frightening. Although she mentioned some symptoms, she hadn’t mentioned the miscarriage.

Yet this young Physician Lin could see everything clearly just by taking her pulse. It was remarkable.

"For the past two months, I’ve been dreaming constantly and can’t sleep well. Sometimes every two days, sometimes every three days, and each time with different men..." the woman said, starting to cry with grievance. She was deeply ashamed of such things and didn’t want to mention them in front of others.

Understood.

This is a classic case of "dream interaction," but hers was internally induced, leading to "Fire Around the Waist." Most likely, if not for this, she wouldn’t have sought medical advice.

This "Fire Around the Waist" must have pained her so much that sleep became impossible, affecting her normal life. What else could she do but see a physician?

This is yet another case that gives Lin Miao a headache.

This illness is often caused by yin deficiency and yang hyperactivity, usually observed in women after losing a husband or miscarriage, combined with emotional distress, unfulfilled worries, liver qi stagnation, fire born from wood, and fire scalding yin causing ministerial fire to become unruly and kidney yin deficiency. The kidney governs water and stores the essence of the five viscera.

It is said, "When water is insufficient and the liver drains but doesn’t store, then dream interaction occurs out of fright." Because the liver wood is the child, its nature is dispersive. When water is insufficient, fire cannot be contained within water. When jueyin fire is activated, dream interaction occurs.

Because this illness can indeed be treated. The prescription uses Huang Bai, Shengdihuang, Xuan Shen, Ze Xie, Chun Sha Ren, Chai Hu, Long Gu, Suan Zao Ren, Bai Shao, Mu Li, and Magnetic Stone.

Among them, Long Gu and Mu Li anchor the soaring yang qi and gather the shaky yin qi. The girl’s dream interaction is ultimately caused by the excess of yang, and the knot of yin, because yang does not return to yin, therefore it is necessary to harmonize yin and yang, and subdue yang back to its dwelling.

Long Gu is not the skeleton of a dragon but the fossils of large mammals such as elephants, three-toed horses, rhinoceroses, deer, and cattle, among others.

It must be a fossil with bones buried underground for tens of thousands of years without rotting or weathering, obviously possessing something special.

Such a thing surely exists, but in this world, who would think of using it as medicine?

Would you dare to eat it?

Only the Chinese, truly the chosen ones, dare to try anything. How else would there have been the legendary Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs, becoming the founding father of Chinese medicine?

This ingredient is the main medicine. According to the hierarchy of ruler, minister, assistant, and envoy, all the other ingredients are combined around it. Without it, the formula doesn’t exist. (In this formula, Huang Bai is the main medicine, according to the novel, so don’t take it seriously.)

Besides Long Gu, there’s also Magnetic Stone. This thing might be hard to find, but at least you can find some, because Dongshan City has iron stone mines. Although it’s unclear which type of mine it is, it’s always worth a try.

The other medicinal materials aren’t hard to find; generally, they can be bought at a pharmacy.

These two medicines must be included, otherwise, the effect wouldn’t be achievable.

The prescription is written, but the medicine is hard to find, so he can only ask for help. The first person he can turn to is Mr. Jia, next is Guan Biyun, and lastly, the Xu Family.

The Xu Family has a medicine warehouse with a lot of rare medicinal materials stored. They have a lot of good stuff, and if the pharmacy doesn’t have it, they might.

Some things are unknown to be useful, rather than useless, so gathering some and storing them in case they might be needed.

The Xu Family made this rare medicine warehouse in their own home for this purpose.

Some items were collected by the Xu Family, thrown into the warehouse, and even they didn’t know what they were, basically existing as "specimens."

"Dragon Bone, a fossil from tens of thousands of years ago, what kind of thing is this, and it can heal..." Mr. Jia, upon hearing the news, almost yanked out what little was left of his beard. The speed of his research simply couldn’t keep up with Lin Miao’s speed of inventing new medicines. The verification work alone left him feeling a sense of chasing futility.

"Never heard of it, any specific descriptions?" Guan Biyun was also confused upon hearing it, with the name "Dragon Bone" including the word "Dragon," isn’t this somewhat taboo?

Only the emperor can be called "Dragon," taking the emperor’s bones to heal illnesses, that’s disrespectful and could cost someone their head.

It needs a name change.

Going by local customs, anyway, it’s just a name. Lin Miao wouldn’t insist on calling it this, so he changed it to "Ten Thousand-Year Bone."

Since for a bone to become a fossil, it must at least be tens of thousands of years old.