Chapter 743: Explaining the Situation

Chapter 743: Chapter 743: Explaining the Situation

When Nurse Xiaozhou brought over the traditional Chinese medicine, the feisty woman finally stopped resisting.

She didn’t even need Xiaozhou to coax her. She picked up the bowl herself and downed it, GLUG GLUG GLUG.

Her fever was gone, her body no longer ached, and the effects of the traditional medicine were so immediate. What was left to resist? Pride wasn’t nearly as important as her life.

However, after finishing the medicine, a heavy weight still hung in her heart. Her only worry was whether the fever would rebound. When she had been getting IV drips at the outpatient clinic earlier, the fever had also subsided after she took antipyretics. But once the medicine wore off, it spiked right back up. Over the past ten days or so, her temperature had constantly fluctuated, never truly stabilizing, torturing her so much that she wished she were dead.

She feared this traditional medicine would be just like the fever reducers—treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

However, the outcome gave the woman a massive surprise.

One day passed, then two. She never developed a fever again. The high fever that had persisted for over a dozen days was actually completely under control. Her temperature stayed down without any rebound. Even her coughing had eased significantly.

The feisty woman was utterly thrilled. Once lifeless and lethargic, she felt like she had truly come back to life.

Watching Uncle Guo and Xu Huimin from the neighboring beds practicing in the hallway every day, she finally swallowed her pride and actively joined their "Ward Eight Brocades Practice Group." Although her movements were clumsy and crooked, she was at least moving. Working up a light sweat made her body feel much more relaxed.

Several severely ill patients in the other beds watched the three of them practicing with such enthusiasm and recovering so quickly. They also wanted to practice the Eight Brocades to flush out toxins. However, their pneumonia was still quite severe, and their lung function had not yet recovered. Let alone standing up to exercise, even taking a couple of steps would leave them gasping for breath. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.

Li Xu noticed this situation during his ward rounds and pondered for a moment.

The next day, he specifically had the head nurse distribute a new illustrated booklet to every ward—the "Seated Eight Brocades."

This came from the system’s intelligence. It drew on the experience of past generations of health experts to create a modified regimen tailored for chronically ill patients with limited mobility and weak qi and blood, but who still maintained decent energy levels. This exercise routine did not require standing; it only required sitting on the hospital bed. Paired with special breathing techniques, it utilized upper body extensions, twists, and torso stretches to achieve the same goals: clearing the meridians, harmonizing qi and blood, and ventilating the lungs to regulate qi.

With this, the severely ill patients confined to their beds could also follow the booklet and slowly start moving.

However, what Li Xu absolutely never expected was that the most enthusiastic learner of this "Seated Eight Brocades" wasn’t one of the severely ill patients unable to get out of bed, but rather the energetic, soon-to-be-discharged Uncle Guo.

"Uncle Guo, you’ve already mastered the ’Standing’ Eight Brocades. Why are you so eager to learn the ’Seated’ version?" Li Xu teased with a smile during his rounds.

Uncle Guo sat on the edge of the bed, performing an impeccably standard "Holding Up the Heavens to Regulate the Sanjiao" movement. He lowered his voice and said to Li Xu, "Dean Li, you don’t understand. I call this ’having more skills never hurts.’

"I figured that once I’m discharged and go back to my residential community, I can teach this to the other elderly folks. A lot of those old men and women aren’t very agile on their feet. Their backs and knees ache if they stand too long, so they definitely can’t practice the standing version. If I teach them this ’Seated Eight Brocades,’ everyone can practice it sitting on a folding stool or in a wheelchair!"

He flashed a knowing smile. "When the time comes, I’ll be the Master of Health and Wellness in the eyes of the square-dancing aunties... I mean, my old buddies! Practicing while seated... can also strengthen the body and build relationships, you know."

Listening to this and seeing the excited gleam in Uncle Guo’s eyes, Li Xu was utterly speechless. This old man really knew how to scheme. So he was learning this just to go back to his neighborhood and flirt with the old ladies.

Li Xu sighed inwardly; the old man certainly still had it. With that kind of vitality and mindset, he had no choice but to be impressed.

Just then, the feisty woman, who was resting in bed, seized the opportunity to chime in.

"Dean Li." Her attitude had taken a complete 180-degree turn, and her face was beaming with smiles. "Look, my fever is gone, and I’m feeling so much more energetic. When can I be discharged?"

Li Xu flipped open her medical record and took a look before replying, "Your discharge will depend on the recovery of your various follow-up indicators. However, based on your clinical symptoms, you’ve already made significant improvement and are past the critical period. As long as you cooperate well with the treatment from here on out and clear out the residual toxins in your lungs, there shouldn’t be any major issues. If all goes quickly, maybe in another five or six days."

Hearing this, the feisty woman finally felt at ease, even though she still had to wait a few more days. Earlier, when her high fever refused to break, she had genuinely feared she was going to die right here.

"Oh, right, Dean Li," the feisty woman asked, still curious. "I’ve been trying to figure this out. Why is the traditional medicine I’m taking different from what those two are drinking?

"I know it’s because everyone’s condition is different. But could you tell me exactly what my situation is? Why did I absolutely have to take that Chaihu Decoction?"

Li Xu looked at her in amusement and said, "Ma’am, traditional Chinese medicine’s syndrome differentiation is highly complex. It involves Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the Wei, Qi, Ying, and Xue systems. Even if I explained it to you, would you be able to understand?"

"Uh..." The feisty woman was momentarily speechless, but her stubborn streak flared up again. "Well, just tell me anyway. Whether I understand it or not is my problem, but as a patient, I have the right to know!"

Seeing that she was in good spirits, Li Xu didn’t argue further and patiently explained.

"Alright, I’ll explain it to you.

"After you were admitted, your follow-up complete blood count showed a very low white blood cell count. Because of that, the Western medicine treatment group decisively stopped your antiviral medication, Ribavirin. They were worried that the drug’s severe bone marrow suppression side effects would kill off your already pitifully low white blood cells even further.

"In our traditional Chinese medicine framework, we attribute this to your chronically poor foundational health, a condition known as ’weak fundamental qi.’ It’s like a frail and sickly soldier suddenly facing off against a powerful enemy.

"Therefore, our treatment plan absolutely couldn’t involve a brute-force approach.

"Even though you had recurrent high fevers, spiking over 39 degrees Celsius, we practitioners of traditional medicine absolutely couldn’t use large doses of plasters, Huang Lian, and other ’bitter and cold fire-purging’ herbs to forcefully bring the fever down. Bitter and cold properties ruin the stomach. Doing so would bring the fever down, but it would also severely damage the little Yang Qi and spleen-stomach qi you have left. Once your vital qi collapsed, the virus would march straight in without resistance.

"That is also related to why you received IV drips at the outpatient clinic for so many days but kept having recurrent fevers that wouldn’t break. The pure antiviral drugs were too cold and cooling, harming your vital qi and causing your body’s defenses to be overpowered by the pathogen, which created a stalemate.

"The regimen we used for you this time utilized the Minor Chaihu Decoction as a base, combined with herbs that ’promote qi circulation, invigorate the spleen, and ventilate damp toxins.’ It was like opening a window inside your body to slowly and systematically dissipate the damp-heat and toxic pathogens trapped within.

"Because of this, without using any glucocorticoids or strong antipyretics, we were able to help your body naturally break the fever in just two days—and it never rebounded."