This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

”The effects are noticeable; her white blood cell count and urinary protein levels have slightly improved, moving closer to normal.”

The two of them reviewed the disease record, but the discussion felt dry, and something always felt a bit off.

And with Lan Changhua’s previous experience, Du Heng didn’t dare to jump to conclusions now.

After some thought, Du Heng said, ”Well, Director Niu, why don’t you take me to see the patient?”

”That’s a good idea. Let’s go.” Director Niu got up first and led Du Heng to the hospital room.

The girl was beautiful. Even with her face and limbs swollen, her beauty was not diminished in the slightest.

With her looks and figure, it would have been strange if the dance troupe hadn’t valued her. Du Heng muttered to himself, then began the examination.

After the examination, Du Heng discovered that the girl’s problem was more serious than Director Niu had described.

She didn’t just have abdominal pain; it was so severe that she couldn’t bear to be touched.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe her as being in agony.

After taking her pulse and examining her tongue coating, Du Heng’s expression turned grim.

When the two returned to the office, Director Niu, seeing Du Heng’s frown, quickly asked softly, ”Deputy Director Du, do you have a solution for this situation?”

However, Du Heng didn’t answer. Instead, after further consideration, he said, ”Director Niu, find Professor Lan’s diagnostic records for me. I need to take another look.”

Director Niu was puzzled but still did as Du Heng asked and retrieved Lan Changhua’s diagnostic records.

Deep and slow pulse!

Just as I thought! Du Heng felt somewhat relieved.

It seemed Lan Changhua’s syndrome differentiation hadn’t been incorrect at the time.

He then carefully read the other records and soon found a note stating that during a performance, the patient had caught a cold due to issues with her costume.

At this point, Du Heng was completely at ease.

His examination results showed a deep and rapid pulse, with a dry yellow tongue coating.

He recalled the classic description: A deep pulse at the inch position indicates phlegm stagnation and fluid retention in the chest. At the bar position, it signifies obstruction from cold in the middle jiao and pain that doesn’t resolve. At the cubit position, it points to turbid emissions along with dysentery or diarrhea, or kidney deficiency with pain in the loins and lower abdomen.

And the characteristics of a rapid pulse were: A rapid pulse indicates Yang and heat, typically treated by addressing sovereign and phase fire. For excess syndromes, cooling and purging methods are appropriate; for deficiency syndromes, warming and tonifying methods. Lung diseases in late autumn are particularly averse to this pulse.

Combining these two findings, along with the dry yellow tongue coating, this was clearly a damp-heat syndrome.

But Lan Changhua’s diagnosis had concluded it was damp-cold.

Although it was just a one-word difference, this distinction between heat and cold meant that not only would the treatment fail, but it could also cause an accumulation of heat poison due to insufficient excretion. This, in turn, could lead to festering sores as the heat poison attacked and built up.

Fortunately, the patient had stopped the medication decisively. If she had continued, she wouldn’t have just one or two red spots, but her entire body would have been affected. It would have been agonizing if those spots had turned into open sores.

When Du Heng first finished his examination, he suspected the issue lay with Lan Changhua—perhaps he was becoming confused or had been careless.

But after careful consideration, that seemed impossible. Lan Changhua’s meticulous nature wouldn’t allow for such an oversight. Besides, while he had lost some original qi and his energy and spirit were weakened, his mind wasn’t muddled.

So, Du Heng reasoned, there must be another factor at play.

Sure enough, after a careful check of the records, he found that the patient had caught a cold from exposure.

However, from another perspective, Lan Changhua still hadn’t been rigorous enough. If he had considered it more thoroughly at the time, he wouldn’t have made such an error.

Director Niu watched Du Heng’s expression shift repeatedly, his own unease growing. Finally, when he saw a smile on Du Heng’s lips, he quickly asked, ”Deputy Director Du, do you have an idea now?”

Du Heng nodded slightly. ”I’ve figured it out. The problem isn’t too serious.”

”Not too serious?” Director Niu was stunned. ”Which aspect do you mean isn’t too serious?”

Du Heng smiled. ”Neither is a big problem.”

Director Niu’s eyes suddenly lit up. He didn’t think Du Heng was bluffing; especially after witnessing the successful treatment of acute kidney injury a week prior, such a doubt wouldn’t even cross his mind. He just asked eagerly, ”Then, Deputy Director Du, please tell me quickly.”

”First of all, the patient herself has symptoms of damp-heat. Currently, she’s experiencing difficulty urinating and hasn’t had a bowel movement in four days. This indicates an excess syndrome of damp-heat accumulating in the lower abdominal region.”

Du Heng said confidently, ”And now, the first step is to promote bowel movements. As long as her defecation and urination become unobstructed, her fever, abdominal pain, pain at the urethral opening, and hematuria will be easily resolved.”

Director Niu’s eye twitched.

Everyone understood what Du Heng was saying, but the immediate problem was how to unblock her defecation and urination.

As if sensing Director Niu’s thoughts, Du Heng immediately continued, ”Just now, Director Niu mentioned that the patient’s condition would relapse every time she was overworked, and this time is similar.

So, the patient’s constitution has been weakened by overexertion, resulting in internal injury. The medication must act swiftly; we need to aim for a rapid resolution.

If we proceed slowly with gradual medication, the medicine’s effects will be depleted before it even reaches the site of the illness.”

After a brief pause, Du Heng asked Director Niu, ”Director Niu, do you have a pen and paper?”

Director Niu glanced at Du Heng’s chest pocket, where three or four pens were conspicuously clipped.

However, Director Niu said nothing, merely removed his own pen very obligingly and handed it to Du Heng.

Du Heng took the pen and, after a moment’s thought, said, ”First, use rhubarbs. They purge and break up stagnation, clear heat and drain fire, and also have the effect of dispelling dampness. This achieves three goals at once and is perfectly suited for the patient.

Then use lygodium spores. This herb clears damp-heat, promotes urination to relieve strangury, and alleviates pain, also directly addressing her symptoms...”

Afterward, Du Heng listed several other medicinal herbs, explaining the dosage and properties of each one to Director Niu as he wrote them down.

After handing the prescription to Director Niu, Du Heng quite naturally tucked the pen into his own pocket. ”Director Niu, have someone prepare the medicine. Also, prepare six egg whites and a pot of yellow wine.

The wine must be warm; cold wine cannot be used.

Administer it once every three hours, no faster, no slower.”

Seeing Du Heng so naturally pocket the pen, Director Niu’s eyelids twitched violently.

He knew there was little chance of getting his pen back.

After Du Heng finished speaking and confirmed with Director Niu, he turned around and returned to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine Department.

In the afternoon, just as Du Heng was about to start his shift at the outpatient service, he was called back by Director Niu via phone.

By now, Director Niu no longer wore the worried frown he’d had in the morning; the joy in his eyes was impossible to conceal.

”Deputy Director Du, you’re really something!” As soon as they met, Director Niu gave Du Heng a thumbs-up.

Du Heng laughed. ”So, you’ve seen the effects already?”

Director Niu nodded happily. ”Your medicine was just a bit troublesome to prepare; we only managed to gather everything you needed about half an hour ago. And look, not even half an hour after the patient took it, her urination became unobstructed—it was all bloody urine!

Now her lower abdominal pain has also eased somewhat, and her fever has slightly subsided.”

”If the medicine is working, let her continue taking it,” Du Heng said. ”She still hasn’t had a bowel movement, right? Call me again when that happens.”

”I’m just so thrilled! And the patient also has nephritis. Although passing bloody urine is expected, please take another look to be safe. We don’t want any problems to arise before it’s too late.”

Afraid that Du Heng might leave, Director Niu hurriedly pulled Du Heng’s arm and led him towards the hospital room.

It wasn’t that he was timid.

It was just that Du Heng’s medicine acted incredibly fast.

Although Du Heng had said earlier that the treatment needed to be swift, for her urination to become unobstructed in less than half an hour... the medicine’s potency was truly startling to him.

Du Heng reluctantly allowed Director Niu to pull him along, and he wasn’t released until they reached the hospital room.

After examining her again and confirming there were no issues, Du Heng instructed them to maintain the medication schedule of once every three hours, then hurried to the outpatient service.

By this time, the entrance to the consultation room was so packed with people that they were pressed chest to back.

At the entrance, a resident doctor, an intern, and a nurse were all struggling to maintain order.

It had always been busy, but usually within manageable limits.

Recently, however, the crowds had become truly excessive.

And those scoundrels in registration just kept signing up patients for Du Heng, probably thinking that since he was young, he could take the abuse. They didn’t care if he had to work overtime or postpone patients until the next day; if someone came to register, they’d sign them up.