Dr. Xu: A Chinese Medicine Novel

A new day at Mingxin Clinic brings an unwelcome kind of attention.

By that evening, Evan found that the system’s bug still hadn’t been fixed. It kept sending him the occasional speed-up pack, though the amount of time each one shaved off was getting smaller and smaller.

He checked the countdown. More than half of the wait was already gone. Four years and three months remained.

What a headache. How much longer would this take? He knew nothing about running an online account or promoting himself. He was just a Chinese medicine doctor who liked to bury himself in his studies.

Besides, he couldn’t spend too much time on it. That would cut into his reading. Being able to enter the system and travel into the past to study medicine didn’t mean he could afford to waste his time in the present.

He thought of Clara again. She and the system seemed to be on the same wavelength. She was good at this online publicity business, too. Every time, she seemed to hit on exactly what the system wanted.

Maybe he should ask her to help promote him?

He considered it for a while. Would the system allow someone else to help with his publicity and account, or even do it all for him…?

He watched the system keep sending him speed-up packs now and then. The thing was riddled with bugs. It didn’t seem all that smart, either!

Might be worth a try…

He put the matter aside and went back to his book.

The next morning.

He got up, washed, and headed out. As usual, he bought two steamed buns from the shop outside the clinic.

Clara sat listlessly behind the counter again, scrolling endlessly on her phone. The dark circles under her eyes were obvious. She’d clearly been up late. Still having trouble managing her time, probably.

Evan looked at her and frowned. “Clara, have you been having trouble sleeping? Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look?”

She shook her head. “No!”

“Oh.” He thought for a moment, then ventured, “You’re running Mingxin Clinic’s Weibo account, aren’t you? Could you run mine while you’re at it?”

She glanced at him. “Sure. I’ll deduct the management fee from your salary.”

“What?” Evan was dumbfounded.

“Let me… think about it. Think about it some more.” He backed down.

Clara frowned thoughtfully.

Ben came in to work too, looking distinctly sheepish. He wouldn’t even meet Evan’s eyes. Head down, he hurried to his seat.

He’d made a complete fool of himself yesterday. He’d brought in his sister-in-law as a plant so he could show off. Then another patient had put him in his place, and his little arrangement had been exposed too.

One damn disaster after another. In the end, Evan had been the one to bail him out.

Ben was so embarrassed that if a hole had opened in the floor, he’d have crawled into it.

Evan paid little attention to any of this. He just read his book. Business had really picked up these past few days, and more patients were coming to see him. Almost all of them wanted treatment for menstrual pain, though.

That puzzled him. Why such a specific group? Had word gotten out that he was good at treating women’s conditions?

Something else puzzled him too. These women kept winking and making eyes at him. What was that about?

Three more women came in that morning.

More winking, more flirtatious posing.

Evan finished treating them as baffled as ever. Clara, meanwhile, smiled so broadly as she took their money that her eyes nearly disappeared.

Near noon, another group arrived at the door.

Three men and two women.

“Excuse me, does Dr. Xu work here?” the one in front asked.

Everyone in the clinic looked up.

Ben pursed his lips. Evan was getting more famous by the day. Everyone came looking for him.

Evan stood. “Hello, I’m Evan Xu. What can I do for you?”

They all looked at him.

“Wow, he’s so good-looking!” The two female students made exaggerated faces.

He’d been wearing a mask in yesterday’s video, so none of them had seen his face.

The student leading them was taken aback too. He hadn’t expected someone so young or so handsome. He smiled. “Hello, Dr. Xu. We arranged to meet yesterday, on Weibo.”

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Evan remembered. “You’re PingshanShrimp?”

Clara looked over too.

“That’s right. I’m Charlie Chen, a third-year at JiangMed. These are some students in the years below me.” The others nodded to Evan in greeting.

One of them, a chubby young man, let out a great sigh of relief when he saw that Evan was all right.

Clara rolled her eyes. So they were just a bunch of students!

“Is MaxMaxMax here with you?” Evan asked.

“Big Max, he’s asking for you.” Someone gave Max a nudge, and he stepped forward awkwardly.

Evan looked him over.

Max had been aggressive enough on Weibo. In person, he was suddenly shy and reserved. “Hello, Dr. Xu,” he said awkwardly.

Evan nodded. “Hello.”

Ben watched, bewildered. Evan was finding patients on Weibo now? That was quite an approach. Was he working this hard for the clinic?

“So, what did you have in mind for our discussion?” Evan asked.

Charlie smiled. “Since you champion Chinese medicine’s theories and say results are what count, perhaps you could demonstrate how you diagnose and treat patients. Give us students a lesson.”

“If you want a consultation, the registration fee is twenty yuan. Pay over there.”[1]

“All right.” Charlie turned to Max. “Big Max, you’re up.”

Max stared. “Me?”

“Obviously,” his roommate said. “You’re the one who started all this.”

“But there’s nothing wrong with me,” Max protested.

“Think of it as a checkup,” Charlie said.

“Fine.” Looking aggrieved, Max paid the fee and sat down beside Evan.

“Even the registration fee’s this expensive. Honestly,” he muttered.

Charlie took out a small handheld camera. “Dr. Xu, do you mind if I record this?”

Evan frowned.

“I’m afraid that may not be appropriate,” Clara said, displeased.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I have another, larger account. I’m a medical blogger on Weibo, and I also have a WeChat public account and a Douyin account. If you’re comfortable with it, I’d like to put the video online. It would give your clinic some publicity too.”[2]

Clara’s frown deepened.

Evan considered it. “How many followers do you have?”

“Over three hundred thousand.”

That surprised him. Quite an audience. He’d been wondering how to promote himself, and here was a major blogger delivered to his door.

“All right. But you have to promote my account too. From now on, you repost everything I put on Weibo.”

Charlie thought it over. “Agreed.”

“Evan!” Clara warned.

He nodded to her. “Don’t worry.”

They all knew these visitors hadn’t come with friendly intentions. If Evan could demonstrate real skill, fine.

But if he messed up, the video in their hands really would become evidence exposing him as a fraud.

It would give Charlie’s account a surge of attention and bring him plenty of new followers. For Evan and Mingxin Clinic, though—and even for Chinese medicine as a whole—it would be a serious stain.

Clara was very nervous.

Evan was calmer. He put on a mask, covering his face. “All right. Let’s start with your pulse.”

Max held out his hand.

Charlie raised the camera and aimed it at them.

“Wait!” Clara hurried back to the counter for her phone, then came over and started filming too. “I need to make sure you don’t edit this however you please.”

Charlie smiled.

Evan let out a few slow breaths, settling himself. This was pressure, but it was an opportunity too. The visitors might have come looking for trouble, but he wasn’t afraid of a challenge. He trusted his own medical skills.

He placed three fingers over the cun, guan, and chi positions on Max’s wrist and carefully felt his pulse. The moment his fingers made contact, he was absorbed in the examination. Every stray thought fell away.[3]

The others watched them anxiously.

All this attention was making Max uneasy too.

Evan took particular care with the examination. After a long while, he released Max’s hand. “Give me the other one.”

Max held out his other hand, and Evan examined that wrist too.

Another long while passed.

The others were getting restless.

“Does it always take this long to feel a pulse in Chinese medicine?”

“No idea. I thought it was usually quick.”

“He really is handsome, though. Even with the mask on!”

Charlie was getting impatient too. This was taking a very long time. He just hoped the visit wouldn’t be wasted.

At last, Evan released Max’s hand. “Let me see your tongue.”

Max stuck it out.

After examining his tongue, Evan studied his face as well. He had reached a conclusion.[4]

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

Charlie aimed the camera at Evan’s face and narrowed his eyes. Finally, they were getting to the point!

Max was taken aback. “N-no.”

“Have you ever had one?”

Max shook his head. “No… What’s wrong with me? Am I sick?”

“Nothing serious,” Evan replied. “Just spend less time watching those movies that only need two or three people in the cast.”

Reader Notes

↩︎ The registration fee. Guahao means registering for a visit with a clinician. The fee is paid before the consultation begins here. Chinese outpatient services may charge registration and consultation together; the exact arrangement and price depend on the institution and period. The hospital guide linked below gives one example of registration and clinical fees. It does not establish a national tariff or the fictional clinic’s pricing. The twenty-yuan amount comes from this chapter. Source: Jiangxi Provincial People’s Hospital — Outpatient guide, registration section (in Chinese).↩︎ The blogger’s platforms. Weibo is the public posting service already used in the story. A WeChat public account is a channel for publishing material to readers and followers, distinct from a private chat; these accounts can be run by individuals as well as organizations. Douyin is a Chinese short-video sharing platform. Charlie is describing several outlets for the recording. His follower figure comes from his dialogue, which does not specify whether it refers to one account or a combined audience. Sources: Tencent — Weixin Official Accounts; ByteDance — Douyin in the company history.↩︎ The three pulse positions. Cun, guan, and chi are adjacent positions along the thumb-side pulse at each wrist, not three separate arteries. The examiner uses three fingers to feel them. As in earlier chapters, this is a traditional assessment of pulse qualities, not simply a heart-rate count. The source below explains the placement and curved-finger contact; it does not verify any conclusion Evan draws from it. Source: Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare — Introduction to pulse examination (in Chinese).↩︎ Looking at the tongue and face. Both belong to inspection within Chinese medicine’s four examination methods, alongside listening and smelling, questioning, and palpation. Facial inspection means observing visible features such as complexion, rather than simply conducting a face-to-face interview. Here Evan follows pulse-taking with visual examination and questions. The terms describe traditional assessment methods; they do not, by themselves, establish a particular disease or verify his conclusion. Source: Hong Kong Department of Health — Diagnostic methods and features of Chinese medicine practitioners.