Chapter 703: Adapting to the Situation

Chapter 703: Chapter 703: Adapting to the Situation

Li Xu looked at the engrossed audience below and continued, "I wonder, do any of you enjoy flying kites? There’s wind in both spring and autumn,

but relatively few people fly kites in autumn, while many do in spring.

Moreover, experienced kite-flyers know that it’s harder to get a kite airborne in the fall.

This is precisely because the qi of spring is ascendant, carrying the kite upward;

while the qi of autumn is descendant and contracting, so a kite naturally won’t fly high."

"Winter is cold, and all living things wither. Everything conserves its energy to the extreme to reduce consumption. Therefore, the characteristic of winter is ’storage’."

Li Xu gave another everyday example: "We’ve all probably eaten pork.

In the past, when pigs were raised in the countryside, they were generally raised for a full year and only slaughtered for the Lunar New Year celebrations.

The pork from that time, whether stir-fried or stewed in soup, was exceptionally fragrant and delicious.

Many pigs today are fattened with feed and ready for slaughter in just three months, but the meat is tough and tasteless."

"On one hand, this is because the pigs of the past were slowly raised on grain and got plenty of exercise. But more importantly, they were raised in harmony with the seasons.

In winter, when all things ’store’ and close off, many of the essential nutrients in the pig’s body are also ’stored’ within its muscles and bone marrow.

This is in accordance with the laws of nature.

Often, when you break the laws of growth and go against the qi of the four seasons, it affects the object’s own yin-yang balance, and the flavor will naturally be off."

"Now, let’s return to the case study."

Li Xu brought the topic back on track. "The patient gave birth, expelling the fetus and placenta. Physiologically, this is like the ’autumn harvest’—a process where the fruit ripens and falls from the vine, a process of qi and blood being discharged downward and outward."

"However, the patient suffered from postpartum qi deficiency and lacked the strength to completely expel the lochia, leading to blood stasis remaining in the uterus. If we were to rashly use strong medicine to break up the stasis and expel the blood, it would inevitably damage her qi even further. But if we were to simply tonify the qi, we’d risk ’barring the door to trap the thief’."

"Therefore, while using a modified ’Sheng Hua Tang’ (Danggui, Chuan Xiong, Peach Kernel, prepared ginger, baked licorice) to dispel stasis and generate new blood, we can cleverly harness the ’purging, contracting, and descending’ qi of autumn to enhance the medicine’s stasis-expelling and astringent effects."

Li Xu pointed to the final ingredient on the screen, the medicine guide, and said, "Using parasol tree leaves as the medicine guide is for this exact purpose."

"The Compendium of Materia Medica records that parasol tree leaves are neutral in nature and bitter in taste. But their subtlety lies not in their chemical components, but in their ’qi’. ’A single falling leaf signals the arrival of autumn throughout the land’.

The parasol tree is the plant most sensitive to the qi of autumn. As soon as the Start of Autumn arrives, its leaves are the first to fall.

It is endowed with the extremely strong purging and descending qi of autumn’s metal element."

"Using a decoction of fallen, old parasol tree leaves as a medicine guide can direct the medicinal properties downward to purge the stagnant turbidity from the uterus. At the same time, it utilizes the leaves’ astringent nature to help the damaged uterine lining quickly close and stop bleeding. This is what’s known as ’following the natural tendency’."

"In ordinary prescription and medication, many medicinal herbs must actually be used in consideration of the changes of the four seasons.

As the qi of the four seasons differs, the dosages of some medicines must be altered accordingly, or even omitted.

For example, in spring, one should use fewer diaphoretic medicines to prevent excess, and in autumn, one should be cautious with acrid, drying ingredients to avoid damaging the yin..."

Many of the doctors listened with great interest, while some murmured to each other, looks of sudden understanding on their faces.

In truth, many of the doctors understood the principles of yin-yang, the five elements, and the seasonal cycles of rising and falling that Li Xu was talking about.

How could anyone who studied Traditional Chinese Medicine not have encountered these basic theories from the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor?

But understanding the theory was one thing; being able to apply these ethereal concepts precisely and ingeniously to actual clinical prescriptions was on another level of brilliance.

The perfect integration of theory and practice requires immense insight and a wealth of experience.

An ordinary TCM doctor who could accurately diagnose a patient based on their symptoms and then properly prescribe a corresponding classic formula was already considered a good doctor.

But someone like Li Xu, who could adapt to the time and place, flexibly modifying prescriptions and medicine guides in response to the changes of the four seasons and the five movements and six qi, was as rare as a phoenix feather—a true Great Physician.

It was just like a conversation between Zhuge Liang and Lu Su in Romance of the Three Kingdoms before the "straw boats borrowing arrows" incident.

Zhuge Liang said to Lu Su: "A general who does not understand astronomy, does not recognize geography, is ignorant of esoteric arts, does not comprehend yin and yang, cannot read formation charts, and does not grasp the state of his forces is but a mediocre talent."

A great commander must not only know how to arrange troops and talk strategy but must also be able to harness the timing of the heavens and the lay of the land.

In the hands of a great commander, anything and everything can be turned into a weapon.

In fact, the same principle applies to practicing medicine.

Traditional Chinese Medicine utilizes the four qi, five flavors, and the rising, falling, floating, and sinking properties of medicinal herbs.

And 80 to 90 percent of the ingredients in Chinese materia medica are natural products derived from plants and animals.

These types of medicinal ingredients grow in nature, and their characteristics are naturally and profoundly influenced by the changes of the four seasons, the climate, and the local environment.

Only by understanding these things can one prescribe medicine as if it were an extension of one’s own arm.

"Remarkable."

In the back row of the demonstration room, two elderly men had appeared at some point.

Professor Gao Guanghui and Professor Qin Ming from Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Because of his participation in the research project on "acupuncture-drug compound anesthesia," Qin Ming had been hired as a special consultant for the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and would make time to visit for a few days each month. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

He happened to be in Feng City today.

Gao Guanghui, on the other hand, had dropped by while in town for other academic matters.

The two had quietly entered the demonstration room through the back door at around two-ten.

At that time, Li Xu had just begun explaining the first case study and had reached the crucial and brilliant part where he used the "pork" analogy for winter storage and introduced the parasol leaf as a medicine guide.

Qin Ming had only heard a few sentences before he was completely captivated by Li Xu’s novel insights, even forgetting about the tea he had just brewed.

When Li Xu finished explaining the theory, methods, formula, and medication for the case, Qin Ming couldn’t help but clap his hands in admiration.

"Haha."

Hearing his old friend’s praise, Gao Guanghui chuckled, his voice laced with unconcealable pride. He leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Old Qin, what do you think? My student’s not too bad, is he?"

Qin Ming said with a sigh, "Old Gao, this isn’t just ’not too bad’—you’ve struck gold! To have such a profound theoretical foundation and be able to apply it in a clinical setting so fluidly and effortlessly... This level of skill, this realm of understanding, already has the faint air of a master who could establish his own school of thought."

The fundamental difference between a renowned master of Chinese medicine and an ordinary doctor lies in whether one can ascend from ’prescribing by the book’ to the level of ’no fixed methods, only flexible adaptation’.

And Li Xu’s use of medicine had clearly reached this extremely high level.

"That medicine guide of the parasol leaf was indeed used brilliantly."

Gao Guanghui nodded with a smile.

In his view, the quality of this obstetrics case that Li Xu had shared was in no way inferior to the sensational "Shen Wen Incantation Case."