Everyone gathered around Auntie Chen and it was clear that they were all very curious to know what was wrong with her.
It wasn’t clear whether they were more concerned about Auntie Chen’s illness or his medical skills but they stared at Fang Qiu and Auntie Chen as they asked curiously.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“This sounds very abstract. Why does it look like physiognomy?”
“Fang Qiu must be an amazing physician if he managed to tell what’s wrong with her just by taking her pulse.”
“I guess Fang Qiu is good enough to be a physician at a hospital, right?”
“Fang Qiu, tell us what’s wrong with Auntie Chen?”
Fang Qiu smiled as everyone urged him to reveal Auntie Chen’s ailment and said, “Auntie Chen’s ailment isn’t serious.”
Auntie Chen breathed a sigh of relief at his words but her gaze never left his face as she waited for him to reveal what was wrong with her.
“If I were to use Chinese Medicine jargon, there’s too much dampness in your body which results in your body unable to convert everything into Qi. This has also led to a deficiency in your kidney-yang.” Fang Qiu said.
He thought for a moment before he added, “The Black Turtle Decoction would be able to cure you of your symptoms.”
When everyone heard that, their eyes lit up.
Fang Qiu had proved that he could diagnose patients after taking their pulse and issue a prescription, so this meant that he was skilled enough and was not blindly doing this.
Naturally, everyone left out a sigh of relief when they heard that it wasn’t anything serious.
“That’s good.”
“You’ll be fine after you head to the clinic to collect the medicine and take several servings of it.”
Auntie Chen nodded with a smile and said, “Thanks, Fang Qiu.”
“You’re welcome, Auntie Chen,” Fang Qiu replied with a smile.
“I’m done,” he said.
He turned to face the room after Auntie Chen had risen to her feet and asked, “Who wants to be next?”
Everyone hesitated but they weren’t as worried or as hesitant as before.
After all, Fang Qiu had proved that he was a skilled physician.
“I’ll go first.”
Someone said.
Everyone turned to see a chubby and voluptuous middle-aged woman walk up to Fang Qiu.
“Aunt?”
Fang Qiu froze in surprise.
This woman was named Fang Ping and she was his father’s elder sister.
“What’s wrong?” She said with a smile. “Do you not dare to treat me?”
“That’s not it,” he said as he scratched his head. “I thought that you were in good health. I don’t recall you having ever fallen ill before either.”
“Do you think I’d let you know if I wasn’t feeling well?” His aunt walked up to him and took a seat. “While it is true that I don’t have any serious health problems, my stomach has been bothering me. I often have gastric pains and I feel bloated. This illness isn’t obvious but when my stomach hurts, I don’t even want to head out. Naturally, you haven’t seen me in this state before.”
“Have you been to the hospital for a check-up?” Fang Qiu asked.
“Yes, I have,” Fang Ping nodded and said, “I’ve been to many doctors and they’ve all diagnosed me with chronic gastritis but it still hurts no matter how much medication I’m on. The pain has not stopped.”
“Hmm?” Fang Qiu said.
Fang Qiu froze in surprise.
“Come over here and tell me what’s wrong,” Fang Ping said.
“Sure,” Fang Qiu didn’t hesitate.
He started using the four diagnostic methods to diagnose her.
He didn’t discover anything unusual after he took her pulse.
“There’s nothing wrong,” he said as he arched his eyebrows.
He had detected several minor issues after he used the four methods of diagnosis on her but logically, these minor issues should not cause her any discomfort.
If the root of the problem wasn’t internal, then there was only one conclusion!
Her spine!
He was familiar with medical texts and thus, he knew that one’s spinal column could cause pain and it was also closely connected to one’s internal organs.
“Fang Qiu, what’s wrong?” Fang Ping asked anxiously when she noticed that Fang Qiu did not speak for some time.
“Oh, there’s nothing wrong,” he said with a chuckle.
“Could you stand up with your back facing me? Let me have a look at your back,” he added.
Fang Ping immediately rose to her feet.
Fang Qiu stretched out his left hand and used his palm to slowly run down each vertebra.
Then, he discovered that it was indeed a problem with her spinal column.
He had the sense of Absolute Touch, so he could clearly feel that Fang Ping’s spinal column was slightly slanted.
“Aunt, this isn’t a gastric problem,” he said with a smile. “The root of the problem lies in your spinal column and this is why you haven’t been able to get better even though you’re on gastric medication.”
“Ah?” Fang Qiu exclaimed in surprise.
Everyone else seemed equally astonished.
Her spinal column was the root cause?
Didn’t the doctors at the hospital diagnose her with chronic gastritis? Why was Fang Qiu now saying that it wasn’t chronic gastritis?
“I performed a check-up on you earlier,” Fang Qiu started. “There’s nothing wrong with your body and I only noticed several minor issues that were negligible and wouldn’t cause any swelling or gastric pain. This was when I suspected that the problem lay in your spinal column. After I did a check-up earlier, I’ve noticed that your spinal column is slightly slanted and this is likely because of your incorrect sitting or working posture.”
# #
“If the problem lies in my spinal column, then why would it cause me to have gastric issues and swelling?” Fang Ping asked curiously.
“Yes, the doctors at the hospital have already diagnosed her with chronic gastritis, so this should be the correct diagnosis, right?”
“Fang Qiu, she’s your aunt, so you mustn’t treat this lightly.”
“Exactly, how is her gastric problem related to her spinal column?”
Everyone voiced their doubts.
They were afraid that Fang Qiu was not as good as he seemed and was making this up.
“Auntie, don’t worry. I wouldn’t give you the wrong diagnosis,” he said as he shook his head. “Your spinal column is closely related to your internal organs and this is such a complicated concept that I wouldn’t be able to cover this topic unless you gave me several hours. I’ll skip the theoretical portion but in any case, you’ll be cured once your spinal column is straightened. You’ll also have to take note of what you eat and your sitting posture in the future,” he said.
“Boneset?” Fang Ping said with a frown. “This would mean that I’ll need to make another trip to the hospital and they’ve already diagnosed me with chronic gastritis. Moreover, I don’t know any good orthopedic physicians, so how do I go about finding a good physician?”
“I could do it for you,” Fang Qiu said.
The moment he uttered those words, everyone paused and looked at Fang Qiu in astonishment.
Did he know how to do boneset as well?
How could that be?
He had only been at University of Chinese Medicine for six months, so how was he so accurate in diagnosing patients and even knew how to do boneset?
Everyone knew that the famous orthopedic physicians were all very experienced and were of a certain age group.
How did Fang Qiu manage to learn these skills when he was still a college student?
Did he learn it from college?
Impossible!
Furthermore, boneset was a dangerous process. If the physician wasn’t skilled enough or if he wasn’t familiar with the bone structures, it would be easy for the physician to make a mistake. One mistake could develop into a serious problem for the patient.
“Are you sure?” Fang Ping looked doubtfully at Fang Qiu. “Don’t make my condition worse than before.”
“Of course,” Fang Qiu nodded confidently.
“Uh… alright then,” Fang Ping hesitated for a moment before she finally nodded. “I trust you.”
Fang Qiu didn’t hesitate either and immediately started working on adjusting her spinal column.
Soon.
“I’m done,” Fang Qiu said after he finished adjusting her spinal column. “How do you feel?”
“Eh?” Fang Ping exclaimed as she touched her stomach. Then she paused and a look of joy suddenly spread across her face. “It doesn’t hurt as much as before and I feel much better.”
Fang Qiu smiled.
Everyone was shocked.
“Did he just manage to cure her?”
“Fang Ping, did you come over to support your nephew?”
“Is he really that amazing?”
“It’s truly miraculous!”
“How did he manage to cure her of an ailment that even the doctors at the hospital couldn’t do?”
“Amazing!”
Everyone let out astonished exclamations.
Most people were amazed because this was the first time they witnessed a physician treat a patient so effectively without the use of acupuncture or medication. It was simply incredible.
Naturally, a small minority were still suspicious.
After all, it seemed too good to be true and they couldn’t believe that a student would be able to become such a skilled physician with such good boneset skills after six months at college.
They were suspicious but the look in their eyes had completely changed when they looked at Fang Qiu.
They were no longer as doubtful as before and they thought that he was truly extraordinary.
This kid seemed to be as skilled as his mother made him out to be!
There were many people who believed in Fang Qiu’s abilities.
This was because most of them knew Fang Ping and they also knew that Fang Ping had gastric problems. Fang Qiu had just returned home, so there wasn’t time for him to collude with Fang Ping.
Moreover, was there any need to do so?
The more they thought about it, the more capable Fang Qiu seemed.
Thus, those who had been hesitant earlier immediately stepped forward.
“Is it time for the next patient? Why don’t you treat me first?”
“Take a look at me.”
“Why are you cutting the line? Couldn’t you tell that I’ve been standing in the queue?”
“Fang Qiu, take a look at me first, won’t you? The rest of them have doubts about your abilities but I don’t, so you should treat me first.”
…
Everyone started clamoring for Fang Qiu to treat them.
After all, it would be a waste to pass up on an opportunity for a free treatment.
Fang Qiu seemed to have the ability to cure others instantly. If he managed to diagnose them, it was possible that they could be cured even without needing to get a prescription.
Who would be willing to pass up on this opportunity?
Fang Qiu smiled wryly to himself as he watched the crowd clamoring to be treated.
On the other hand, Fang Qiu’s mother was beaming from ear to ear.
This was the moment she had been waiting for after boasting to all these people about her son. She felt extremely proud when she saw how everyone loved Fang Qiu and thought that he was amazing.
This meant that she would be able to enjoy some measure of status at Linxi County in the future.
On the other hand, Fang Qiu calmed the crowd down.
Then, he organized the crowd into a long line.
He saw these people one at a time.
He didn’t expect to be seeing patients for the next two hours.
He let out a huge sigh of relief after he finally finished seeing them all and looked exhausted.
He didn’t find treating patients exhausting but seeing patients amidst the constant chatter of these relatives and neighbors made his head hurt.
Fang Qiu lay sprawled out on the sofa in exhaustion and then he heard footsteps outside the door.
He looked up and saw a middle-aged man who was 1.8 meters tall and had good proportions at the doorway.
“Dad,” Fang Qiu greeted him feebly when he spotted this man.
This man was his father, Fang Liwen.
“You’re home?” Fang Liwen broke into a smile and said, “What are you doing? Why do you look so exhausted? Did the train journey drain you of all your energy?”
“No,” Fang Qiu said and shook his head.
Then, someone said, “Hubby, you’re home?”
Fang Qiu’s mother emerged from the kitchen and greeted him in high spirits. “Our kid is exhausted. Let me tell you, your precious son is amazing! He is not only able to diagnose patients, he is totally the reincarnation of Hua Tuo!”
