Chapter 724: Interest

Chapter 724: Chapter 724: Interest

"This..."

The male student opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word for a long time.

Li Xu looked at his shocked expression and explained with a smile, "Listening to your voice just now, although your middle qi is still decent, the tail end of your words was weak and carried a hint of hoarseness. This means your lung qi hasn’t fully recovered. Looking at your complexion, although your face is rosy, there is a trace of bluish-white on your Forehead and the tip of your nose. This is a residual sign that the cold pathogen has just retreated and your vital qi is depleted.

"Although on the surface you seem to have recovered without any obvious discomfort, there are still internal symptoms. You are in a stage where ’the vital qi is weak and the pathogen lingers.’ Therefore, I suggest you eat less spicy and stimulating food over the next two days, and more importantly, avoid staying up late. Otherwise, it will be easy to suffer a relapse of the external contraction."

Li Xu added with a smile, "Those who study traditional Chinese medicine should know how to preserve their health. Since you understand medical principles, you can first apply them to yourself—treating the illness before it happens."

The male student stood there, entirely stripped of his previous bravado.

Li Xu said he deduced it from listening to his voice and observing his complexion, and the student had absolutely no way to refute that. It was entirely impossible for Li Xu to have known about his illness beforehand. He had only been dragged in by his mentor at the last minute this morning to attend the lecture; it was his first time meeting Li Xu in his life. Unless Li Xu had divined it with a pinch of his fingers, how else could he have known other than by using his eyes?

After all, the male student was a postgraduate majoring in traditional Chinese medicine, so he still possessed this basic level of understanding and discernment. He knew that this was what they called, "To know by mere observation is called divine." It was a solid, undeniable skill that couldn’t be faked.

"I have been taught. Thank you for the reminder, Senior."

Convinced wholeheartedly, the male student sat down, no longer possessing his previous aggressive edge.

The other students in the audience looked at each other, secretly shocked. This display of "observation diagnosis from afar" completely awed all the postgraduates present.

Li Xu propped his hands on the podium, scanning the entire room. He smiled as he glanced at the male student.

"I know what you are all thinking. You think I’m young, that I might have some special background, or that I have some Immortal master guiding me.

"Let me clarify something first. In my family, my father is a grassroots village doctor, and my mother is a laid-off worker. My grandparents passed away when I was very young. I don’t have a prominent family background, nor do I have the inherited foundation of a long line of medical practitioners."

Li Xu actively revealed his own background to tell these favored children of heaven: he was just like the vast majority of ordinary people among them who had no special background. Since he was giving a lecture, he definitely needed to build the students’ confidence and provide a replicable methodology, rather than arrogantly flaunting his talent and making them feel despair.

As for the fact that he possessed a "system cheat," that was a secret not to be shared with outsiders.

Moreover, Li Xu wasn’t simply standing here feeding them empty promises and feel-good platitudes. Over the past two years or so, with the system’s blessing, he had frantically absorbed knowledge and practiced, giving him far more insights than the average person. With the skyrocketing improvement in his clinical skills, the principles Li Xu understood became increasingly profound.

Li Xu’s voice turned serious. "People always say that it takes a long time to become a capable doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, that you have to suffer until your hair turns white before you can treat patients. In fact, this is a misconception.

"Traditional Chinese medicine indeed has a very high threshold, but there are specific methods and approaches to learning it. If you have enough passion and can master the right methods, learning TCM is not difficult, and your progress will definitely not be slow.

"It’s just like how scholars in ancient times learned medicine. ’A scholar learning medicine is like a knife splitting bamboo.’ In fact, many intelligent scholars would only dabble in medical texts for a year or two before they were able to write prescriptions and practice medicine, even becoming famous local doctors.

"Take Elder Zhang, Zhang Xichun, whom I mentioned earlier. In 1900, Elder Zhang was merely a teacher of geometry and algebra. But in order to save the country and its people, he switched paths mid-way to study medicine. In just nine short years, by 1909, he had already completed the first drafts of the first three volumes of his medical masterpiece, the *Medical Deduction and Western Record*, and with it, shocked the Xinglin community.

"There is also the well-known veteran traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, Li Ke. Elder Li didn’t begin to come into contact with and self-study TCM until 1955, in his thirties, due to special circumstances. By the early 1960s, in just a few short years, he had already achieved some success. Later, he practiced medicine for over fifty years, repeatedly curing severe and lingering illnesses, becoming a modern, universally recognized Great Physician."

Using the true stories of Zhang Xichun and Li Ke, Li Xu shattered the stereotype that "a TCM doctor must grind from childhood to old age." These were factual pieces of history that left no room for doubt. If a self-taught, mid-career changer like Elder Li could reach such heights, then the students present—elites selected through the college entrance examination and receiving the country’s most orthodox and systematic medical education—had far better conditions than their predecessors.

Continuing in a sincere tone, Li Xu said, "I personally feel that studying medicine is not just about sitting in school classrooms memorizing prescription chants, nor is it just waiting until you graduate and obtain your medical license before you finally come into contact with patients.

"In fact, during winter and summer vacations, you can take the initiative to go to a Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine or some reputable private TCM clinics. Even if it’s just to do odd jobs or dispense medicine, you should engage in clinical practice as early as possible. Go smell the fragrance of the herbs and observe the actual conditions of real patients when they are sick. This is all paving the way for your future medical practice.

"Furthermore, when you or your relatives and friends encounter common ailments, provided safety is ensured, you can also boldly attempt to treat them using TCM thinking.

"I have a friend who, although he started learning TCM from a young age, was able to achieve great success later on precisely because he dared to experiment on himself.

"For example, when he was about fifteen years old, he once caught a wind-cold, developed a high fever, and suffered from panting without sweating. Emboldened, he followed the records in the *Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases* and prescribed himself an authentic dose of Ephedra Decoction.

"As a result, after brewing and drinking the medicine, it was exactly as described in the book—’cured as soon as the cup is set down.’ With just one dose, he was miraculously cured the very next day.

"This personal experience excited him immensely. From then on, not only did he develop a fanatical interest in TCM, but he also gained more confidence and courage to use those classic ancient prescriptions in his subsequent clinical practice.

"Because he knew that what was written in the books was true, and that traditional Chinese medicine really could treat severe and acute diseases."

Li Xu looked at the excited students in the audience and concluded, "Success often brings joy; this sense of achievement from curing an illness can bring endless motivation. With this motivation, your interest will turn into your faith. At that point, studying traditional Chinese medicine will no longer be a chore.

"Think about it, everyone. No one will be interested in something where they constantly fail and receive no positive feedback. It’s like playing a video game. If the difficulty of the first level is as low as one plus one equals two, you’ll get bored after playing a couple of rounds because there’s no sense of accomplishment. However, if the difficulty is outrageously high, like a hell-level ’Souls-like’ game where you die no matter what you do, constantly failing and unable to clear the level, you’ll quickly rage-quit and delete the game, losing all interest in continuing to play."