This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

At this moment, among the group of people bowing their heads, a few felt the most embarrassed. These were the individuals from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Pediatrics Department, led by Li Shuxun. Right then, lowering their heads felt wrong, yet looking up to witness their colleague being scolded felt equally wrong. It was wrong to leave, but also wrong to stay.

Du Heng felt he was on the brink of having a stroke from anger. He swallowed the bitter words that were on the tip of his tongue. After coldly sweeping his gaze over everyone, he picked up the phone and called Qiu Pingzhen and Lu Guangying. They were both leaders who directly managed doctors and departments. Who else would he contact at this time but them?

After hanging up the phone, Du Heng looked at the people bowing their heads in silence, and once again had to suppress the urge to unleash scathing words.

Fortunately, Li Shuxun stepped forward. ”Brother, anger harms the body. Calm down. Dr. He didn’t do this on purpose; he simply used strong medicine to quickly control the pediatric patient’s condition.”

Du Heng was dumbfounded. Was he suggesting that to control an existing illness, it’s acceptable to damage other ministries of the body? What kind of twisted logic is that?

But Li Shuxun didn’t let Du Heng get a word in. Before Du Heng could even open his mouth, Li Shuxun continued, ”Brother, why don’t you explain to everyone why this child ended up like this? That way, we can all avoid such incidents in the future. Please, tell us.” While speaking, he even took the initiative to pat Du Heng’s back.

This move made Du Heng speechless; he almost burst out laughing from sheer exasperation.

”Alright, take your hand off,” Du Heng glared at Li Shuxun.

Li Shuxun laughed shamelessly, HEH HEH HEH, ”Brother, please explain to everyone.”

”Sigh.” Played by Li Shuxun like this, Du Heng could only sigh. ”According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, children are of pure yang. When their bodies are hot, they tend to crave raw and cold foods, especially enjoying icy things on hot days. I’m sure all of you who specialize in pediatrics are very clear on this point. However, from birth, regardless of age, a person’s health primarily depends on whether their spleen and stomach function is sound and well-developed. You heard what the pediatric patient’s parents said earlier: early in the morning, they took a watermelon that had been refrigerated overnight and a cup of iced sour plum soup straight from the fridge for the child.”

At this point, Du Heng sighed softly. ”I don’t know if any of you have experience with rural life. When I was young, my family owned a mule. Every time it returned from hard work in the fields, especially in summer after my brother had taken it to plow, the mule would come back drenched in sweat, its fur entirely soaked.”

Li Shuxun deeply empathized with Du Heng’s words, nodding as he added, ”That’s absolutely right. When my father came back, the first thing he always did was give our family’s donkey water.” Then, as if recalling something amusing, he continued with a smile, ”My dad was peculiar back then. When he drew water from the well and poured it into the trough, he always liked to toss a handful of dry grass into it. Our donkey never got to drink comfortably; it would always take a couple of sips, then stop and snort a few times.”

Hearing Li Shuxun speak, Du Heng also seemed to be infected by his lighter mood, and his expression softened a little. ”Do you know why that is?”

Li Shuxun paused, then shook his head. ”I never thought about it.”

Du Heng looked at Li Shuxun with a hint of disappointment. ”Mules and donkeys, after heavy work, have extremely expanded lungs, just like humans after strenuous exercise. If they drink large mouthfuls of water at this point, the water can easily be aspirated into the trachea, causing ’pulmonary edema.’ Furthermore, due to strenuous activity, blood circulation in these animals, just like in humans, speeds up. When a large amount of cold water is suddenly gulped down, what happens when that cold rapidly meets the body’s heat?”

Li Shuxun immediately replied, ”It cools them down! Just like quenching iron, it directly takes away the body’s heat, making one feel cool quickly.”

Du Heng stared intently at Li Shuxun. ”The principle is similar, but when raw and cold things enter the body, they go straight to the gastrointestinal tract. Do you think your flesh-and-blood gastrointestinal tract can be compared to iron?”

Li Shuxun paused again, then slowly shook his head.

”Such sudden changes between cold and heat can easily damage the delicate gastrointestinal tract. Once it’s damaged, aren’t vomiting and diarrhea to be expected?” Du Heng continued. ”Even farmers understand this simple principle. Yet, many of us educated city dwellers do not. Moreover, this pediatric patient is only five years old. His gastrointestinal tract is even more delicate. Ingesting a large quantity of raw and cold food will undoubtedly harm him.”

Everyone listened quietly as Du Heng and Li Shuxun spoke, but they couldn’t discern the connection between this discussion and the pediatric patient’s inability to speak and convulsions. However, given Du Heng’s earlier outburst, no one dared to voice their questions.

Du Heng scanned the crowd once more and continued, ”When the gastrointestinal tract is assailed by cold, leading to vomiting and diarrhea, it becomes too weak to function. At such times, the body’s four limbs will inevitably be weak as well. Moreover, if the Spleen and Stomach are weak, the liver cannot absorb body fluids. And in this instance, you administered medication that burdened the liver. To protect itself, the liver will inevitably encroach upon the Spleen and Stomach. However, with no body fluids to nourish the liver wood, the liver wood becomes exceedingly dry. Extreme dryness engenders fire, and extreme fire engenders wind. This is the cause of the pediatric patient’s convulsions.”