Chapter 834: Also Wants to Become a Disciple

Chapter 834: Chapter 834: Also Wants to Become a Disciple

"I’ll write you a prescription. The focus shouldn’t be on nourishing the kidneys, but rather on ’one clearing and one nourishing.’ We’ll use Yiguan Jian to nourish the liver yin, paired with Qingwei San to suppress the stomach fire. Once this fire of ’internal friction’ goes down, the qi and blood will naturally be retained, and her weight will slowly return."

Li Xu printed out the prescription and handed it over. "I’ve prescribed seven days’ worth of medicine for now. Go back and brew it well. Remember, don’t let her touch anything spicy, and more importantly, don’t let her get angry. The atmosphere at home needs to be comfortable."

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you, Dean Li! Hearing you say that makes me feel so much better." The daughter thanked him profusely as she helped the old lady out of the consultation room.

***

Once the mother and daughter left, Li Xu looked at Li Lin and asked with a smile, "Do you understand the key to this?"

Li Lin closed his notebook, a flash of realization in his eyes. "Senior, I understand. Prescribing medicine based on syndrome differentiation is like fighting a fire. The key isn’t how much water you have, but how accurately you aim the hose. If we indiscriminately use the same fixed herbs whenever we see ’fire,’ not only will we fail to put it out, but the cold nature of the herbs might also damage the spleen and stomach, completely ruining the patient’s constitution."

"Mm, your comprehension is improving." Li Xu patted his shoulder approvingly. "This is what I always tell you. You must ’tailor the treatment to the individual and see the big picture from the small details.’ Never let yourself be restricted by established formulas and disease names. Next patient."

***

He Pengjun drove his taxi through the torrent of the evening rush hour. After a busy day, he returned home to find three dishes and a soup already set on the table.

"You’re back? Wash your hands and let’s eat."

His wife came out of the kitchen with a relieved, relaxed expression. "I took Mom to the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine this afternoon. We registered for that Dean Li Xu you mentioned."

"Oh? You saw him?" He Pengjun washed his hands while asking with concern, "How was it? What did the doctor say?"

"To be honest, I wasn’t sure about him when we first walked in." His wife sat at the table and served He Pengjun a bowl of soup. "That Dean Li... he looks way too young. He seems to be in his thirties, barely older than us. At the time, I was secretly doubting him, wondering what kind of experience a young man like him could possibly have."

"In his thirties?" He Pengjun was also taken aback, the chopsticks in his hand pausing mid-air. "That shouldn’t be. When I drove those two visiting doctors, the way they talked, they praised Li Xu like he was a Living Immortal. I thought he’d be an old man with a white beard."

"That’s exactly why you can’t judge a book by its cover," his wife sighed. "Dean Li just sat there, didn’t say much, but every word hit the root of the illness. He didn’t even look at the pile of lab reports. Just by taking her pulse and checking her tongue, he completely accurately pointed out Mom’s bad temper over the past year and her habit of drinking cold water. He also said that all those expensive traditional Chinese medicines we took before were used in the wrong place. He said it was like running on the wrong track—no matter how fast you run, it’s useless."

He Pengjun listened, his eyes lighting up. "Wow, then it seems we really met an expert. Has Mom taken her medicine?"

"She just finished her first dose. She said her stomach felt quite comfortable after drinking it, not as agitated as before," his wife smiled. "Dean Li prescribed seven days’ worth of medicine. From what I saw, he’s incredibly steady and reliable. Let’s have her take it and see. If it really works this time, we have to thank him properly."

"For sure." He Pengjun picked up his soup bowl and took a big gulp, thinking, "Let’s see how things go first."

***

At this point, He Pengjun’s wife was just treating it as a trial run, letting the old lady take the medicine to see what would happen.

After three consecutive days, the old lady’s energy looked much better. She rarely had nightmares at night anymore, and her abnormally large appetite began to decrease. Before even a week had passed, many of her symptoms began to ease. Her fatigue disappeared, she looked energized, her temper improved significantly, and her excessive thirst subsided.

"Who would have thought Dr. Li’s medical skills were this high?" His wife found it a little hard to believe. That night, she told He Pengjun, "Mom can already cook for herself now. I plan to take her back for a follow-up appointment once she finishes this batch of medicine."

"I told you Dr. Li was highly skilled, didn’t I? How about that?"

He Pengjun was feeling quite pleased with himself now. For the first two days, he hadn’t dared to say a word, afraid that his wife would complain about him if the medicine didn’t work. After all, he had only heard about it from his passengers, and it was hard to tell if such information was true or false. But now things were different. His mother-in-law had seen obvious effects after taking the medicine, and her condition had improved. This was all his credit.

"You can’t just look at a doctor’s age; you have to look at their skill."

"Right, you’re absolutely right."

His wife smiled and said, "Mom really has you to thank this time. If it weren’t for the Dr. Li you mentioned, she would still need someone to look after her, and my sister and I would have to take turns running back and forth."

Since the old lady was in poor health, she naturally needed a caretaker. Fortunately, both daughters lived in Feng City, but even so, running back and forth was exhausting. His wife had previously brought her mother to live with them for a period, but due to her illness, the old lady had a terrible temper, making her somewhat difficult to get along with.

He Pengjun had been relatively understanding about it, but the old lady’s other son-in-law wasn’t as accommodating. Spending money was one thing, but bringing her into his home to care for her only to suffer her anger? How was that fair?

"I’ll go with you for the follow-up appointment. I want to meet this Dr. Li too," He Pengjun said. "It’s not easy to find a highly skilled traditional Chinese medicine doctor these days. Whenever we need one in the future, we can just go to Dr. Li."

"Yeah." His wife was elated. Her mother’s recovering health was naturally the happiest thing of all, not to mention that her husband deserved all the credit this time.

Initially, she had been unsure, but now she was completely at ease. For over a year, her mother had seen many doctors and taken plenty of medicine; this was the first time they had seen any real results.

***

The next morning, Li Xu brought Wu Mengmeng into the consultation room. Wu Mengmeng placed a cup of tea next to Li Xu. The computer was already turned on, and the desk had been wiped spotlessly clean. Pulling up a stool, she sat right beside him.

It was not yet eight o’clock, and they hadn’t started calling patients. Taking advantage of this free time, Wu Mengmeng tentatively asked, "Dean Li, what if I become your apprentice? How about taking me on as your disciple?"

Actually, Wu Mengmeng had said something similar in a joking tone before, back when Li Xu first arrived at the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. But now, she was clearly acting with a bit of caution, showing that she was serious.

"If you want to become my apprentice, you’ll have to put in an excellent performance," Li Xu said with a smile.

When it came to taking on disciples, Li Xu was extremely prudent. Moreover, a master-disciple relationship was different from other relationships. In Xinglin, it was an incredibly intimate bond. As the saying went: *A teacher for a day is a father for life.* If a master accepted a disciple with poor moral character, they would be dragged down with them.

Therefore, he had not taken on a single official disciple up to this day. Even Li Lin was merely studying under him, receiving a bit more guidance than usual.