Chapter 817: Plaster

Chapter 817: Chapter 817: Plaster

For Ju Jiahong, he was currently feeling the thrill of meeting a worthy opponent. His morning defeat hadn’t discouraged him in the slightest; on the contrary, it had fueled his fighting spirit. He was more than happy to see that Li Xu actually had skill. Otherwise, out of all these people, he wouldn’t be able to find a single rival.

"You must see the strengths in others just as you see their flaws. Learn from their strengths while reflecting on and correcting your own shortcomings. Only then can you improve," Song Luojun said. "You’ve had it too easy these past few years. You really do need a rival to spur you on."

"I hope Li Xu has what it takes." Ju Jiahong nodded.

Hearing his grandson’s words, Song Luojun said no more. He knew that whatever he said now would likely fall on deaf ears. After all, to Ju Jiahong, what happened that morning wasn’t a true defeat. At this moment, Elder Song somewhat hoped that Li Xu could hand Ju Jiahong a real setback. If he didn’t experience a stumbling block, his current mindset would inevitably lead to trouble sooner or later. Having seen the comparison, Song Luojun also felt that Li Xu was indeed more mature than his grandson in certain aspects, even though Ju Jiahong was older.

After lunch, Song Luojun left the hotel, accompanied by the crowd.

He had achieved his goal for the day: he had knocked some sense into his previously smooth-sailing grandson, Ju Jiahong, and witnessed the astonishing potential of the rising star, Li Xu, with his own eyes.

After the old man departed, the atmosphere in the venue relaxed slightly. However, the lingering heat of the morning debate remained. When many looked at Li Xu, their gazes held not only their previous amazement but also an intriguing layer of scrutiny.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, the exchange conference resumed on time.

The first medical case presented was a tricky one that Ju Jiahong had specifically transferred from Renmin Hospital.

The patient, a woman in her thirties, sat in the center of the consultation room. She looked haggard and had severely chapped lips. Clutching a large water bottle tightly in her hands, she would take a massive gulp every so often.

Standing in front of the whiteboard, Ju Jiahong’s expression held less arrogance than in the morning and more professional sternness. "This patient was transferred to our department three days ago.

"The initial cause was exposure to wind and cold. Her first symptoms were aversion to wind, spontaneous sweating, and severe pain in both temples, accompanied by a fever.

"At the time, the outpatient doctor diagnosed it as an external contraction of wind-cold leading to disharmony between the nutrient and defensive levels, and prescribed a light dose of Cinnamon Soup."

Ju Jiahong paused for a moment before continuing. "After taking the medicine, she sweat, her headaches lessened, and her chills and fever seemed to subside. However, a day later, the patient erupted with a high fever again. Her pulse shifted from the previous floating and moderate state to surging and large, and her body became unbearably agitated. The outpatient doctor re-evaluated the pattern, concluding that the pathogenic evil had entered the Yangming meridian and transformed into heat, thus prescribing White Tiger Decoction.

"But," Ju Jiahong’s tone grew heavier, "after taking the White Tiger Decoction, not only was the condition not suppressed, it was like adding fuel to the fire. On the second day, she took the decoction again, and the fever worsened. The patient experienced severe restlessness, intense thirst that drove her to drink constantly, and she began sweating profusely. The current situation is what you see now—her fever simply won’t go down."

Once Ju Jiahong finished his introduction, Gu Yingyin, Liu Haixue, and a few others stepped forward one after another to examine the patient.

"A surging and large pulse, flushed face, extreme thirst leading to excessive drinking, and sweating so heavily it soaks her clothes." Gu Yingyin frowned in thought. "She has all ’four major symptoms’ for the White Tiger Decoction—high fever, extreme thirst, profuse sweating, and a surging, large pulse. Logically speaking, the White Tiger Decoction is the ultimate nemesis of Yangming meridian patterns. Why wouldn’t it work?"

"Exactly." Qu Wenxuan nodded in agreement. "There is absolutely no problem with the pattern differentiation. The White Tiger Decoction is undoubtedly the right prescription. If the medicine didn’t match the symptoms, it would simply be ineffective at worst. But now, ’the fever has worsened, and the restlessness has increased.’ That is rather strange."

Liu Haixue pondered for a moment before asking, "In the previous White Tiger Decoction, what was the dosage of the raw gypsum?"

Ju Jiahong checked the medical records. "The raw gypsum in the formula was twenty-four grams."

"Then that’s where the problem lies." Liu Haixue slapped his thigh. "Twenty-four grams? That’s not medicine to kill a tiger; that’s just scratching a tiger’s itch! We just heard Elder Song say this morning that dosage is the closely guarded secret of Chinese medicine. In a situation with such blazing, robust fire, twenty-four grams of plaster can’t suppress it at all. I think the dosage was obviously too light and needs to be increased. Dr. Ju, how much do you think we should add?"

"I think it can be increased to one hundred grams."

A wave of low gasps echoed through the conference room.

Most of the young doctors present had undergone standardized training or worked in hospitals for many years. The conventional dosage for raw gypsum in the Materia Medica was typically between fifteen and sixty grams.

One hundred grams—in the minds of many, this bordered on the unprecedented.

After all, plaster was also known as the "White Tiger Medicine" in traditional Chinese medicine.

As the ancients said, the White Tiger governs slaughter. Plaster was extremely cold in nature, sweet and pungent in flavor, and primarily used for clearing heat and cooling temperatures. It was like an ice cellar in the middle of summer, or the White Tiger Star in the forest—capable of rapidly extinguishing the raging fires within the internal organs.

However, the medicinal effects of plaster were fierce. If the dosage was improper, it could easily damage a person’s Yang Qi, leading to deficiency and coldness in the spleen and stomach.

"One hundred grams of plaster... that really is a massive dose." An attending physician shrank his neck back. "If she takes that and the suppressing effects are too strong, will the patient’s body be able to handle it?"

"As expected of Director Ju," someone murmured. "If it were me, I’d use sixty grams at most to test the waters first. I really wouldn’t have the guts to prescribe one hundred grams of raw gypsum."

Ju Jiahong surveyed the room before his gaze landed on Li Xu. "Dr. Li, what do you think? Is one hundred grams enough?"

With this question, the entire room’s attention converged once again.

Everyone wanted to see what Li Xu—who had amazed the entire room that morning with a "light and nimble small prescription"—would think when faced with a situation that demanded a heavy-handed approach.

Li Xu didn’t rush to answer. He stood up and walked over to the patient, glancing at her tongue—which was bright red and even slightly swollen due to the high fever—before reaching out to feel the temperature of her forehead.

Even without touching her skin, he could feel a searing wave of heat radiating against his hand.

"It’s been a week since the patient first fell ill, hasn’t it?" Li Xu turned around, his expression as calm as a deep pool of water.

"Yes, exactly seven days," Ju Jiahong replied.

Li Xu spoke slowly. "In a week’s time, the externally contracted pathogenic evil has completely sunk inward. From the ’exterior pattern’ treated by the Cinnamon Soup to the ’interior excess heat pattern’ treated by the White Tiger Decoction, this fire is no longer burning on the surface of the skin; it’s ’smelting’ within the internal organs. You just said that one hundred grams is a heavy dose, but in my opinion, in the face of a wildfire like this, one hundred grams of raw gypsum is still just a drop in the bucket."

Ju Jiahong’s eyelid twitched. "Are you saying we need to add even more, Dr. Li?"

Li Xu held up two fingers, paused for a moment, and then uttered a staggering number: "Two hundred and fifty grams."

"What?"

"Two hundred and fifty grams of raw gypsum?"

"That’s insane! That’s over half a pound!"

The conference room instantly exploded into an uproar.