Dr. Xu: A Chinese Medicine Novel

A publicity plan gives the morning a promising start.

“Morning, Clara.” Evan arrived at the clinic.

“Morning, Evan. I’ve thought of a great way to get you some publicity,” Clara said, her face lighting up.

“What is it?” He returned to his seat.

Clara chuckled. “We’ll get one of the big WeChat public accounts to do a feature on you. Remember those patients of yours, Lily and April? That’s what they do.

“Once their article is out, we’ll register an account too and get some of their readers to follow us. Then we can start posting proper information about staying healthy through Chinese medicine. Give it time, and we’ll build something up.”[1]

“Good idea,” Evan said approvingly.

“I’ve arranged for them to come. Oh, here they are.” Clara waved toward the entrance.

The two women came in together.

“Good morning, Clara. Good morning, Dr. Xu.”

“Morning, Clara. Hello, Dr. Xu.”

Evan looked over. He remembered them. They had both come for follow-up visits a few days earlier: Lily and April. One had menstrual pain; the other had menstrual pain and difficulty conceiving.

He smiled and nodded. “Hello.”

“They have to write an article that gets over a hundred thousand views every week. Their audience is modern women,” Clara said. “And you specialize in women’s health, don’t you? We take care of their physical health; they take care of their emotional well-being. A perfect match!”

Lily grinned at him. “We’ll be interviewing you in a little while, Dr. Xu.”

“All right.” Evan nodded, then asked April, “How have you been feeling? Was your period still painful?”

“Not much this time. And I’m not as sensitive to the cold as I used to be.”

“Good. Come over and let me check your pulse again.”

“Okay.” April came over and sat down.

Evan had her place her wrist on the pulse cushion, then rested three fingers on it. The difference was immediate. The pulse beneath his fingers seemed suddenly clearer and more lively.

Before, it had taken him a long time to feel his way through the superficial, middle, and deep levels. Now he could control his pressure precisely, applying the degrees of force described in bean weights with ease.[2]

The patient’s pulse almost seemed to be responding to him.

Delight showed on his face. All that work on the fundamentals had paid off. He felt that his pulse diagnosis had taken a great leap forward.

After a while, he finished examining April’s pulse. “Good. There’s been a lot of improvement. Keep taking the medicine for a while longer. Once your womb is fully warmed, your chances of conceiving will be much better.[3]

“If you’re still worried, you can have your husband come in too.”

“All right.” April blushed, looking a little embarrassed.

A commotion came from outside.

“There. This is the place. You wanted to see him, didn’t you? Go on, then.”

“Oh, listen to that tone! Is that any way for a young man to speak?”

“All right, all right. Stop arguing. We’re all here to get someone treated. Let’s stay calm. Ha ha. Nice and calm.”

Everyone inside turned toward the noise.

A crowd had gathered outside the door. Those in the room stared. What was going on?

Evan’s gaze sharpened a little. Leo Cao was there too.

The whole group hurried in.

Leo greeted him awkwardly. “Dr. Xu… ha ha… let me introduce Dr. Henry Zhong, head of Chinese internal medicine at our hospital.”

Puzzled, Evan nevertheless nodded. “Hello, Dr. Zhong.”

Henry was studying him too. He looked the young man up and down. “Hello, Dr. Xu.”

“You’re Evan Xu?” Alex asked, his expression hostile.

“That’s right.” Evan nodded.

Alex gave a quiet snort, his displeasure plain.

“So you’re Dr. Evan Xu?” the patient’s wife asked.

“Yes,” Evan said helplessly. “That’s the third time I’ve answered.”

Still not satisfied, she asked, “You’re the one who cured Evie, aren’t you?”

The author’s story is published on NovelPhoenix; this copy was made without permission, and the official publication supports the creator.

“Yes. Why? Has her condition changed?”

The woman’s words came in a rapid burst. “No, no. It’s my husband. He’s ill. He keeps coughing. We heard you cured Evie, so we made a special trip to the Chinese medicine hospital to book an appointment with you. I told them I wanted Dr. Evan Xu in Chinese medicine.

“And they booked us in with Dr. Alex Xu! Then they said we’d got it wrong and started arguing with us. I’ve never met such an unreasonable doctor. Honestly, it’s more than I can stand!”

“How was I being unreasonable?” Alex protested at once. “He doesn’t even work at our hospital—”

“Enough! Haven’t you argued enough already?” Henry snapped.

Alex fell silent.

The wife looked Alex up and down several times. “At least your department head has some sense. You young people, every one of you has such a temper. No sense of how a doctor ought to behave.”

“I…” Alex was furious.

Henry turned and glared at him again.

Alex didn’t dare argue anymore. He turned his head away in resentment.

“Dr. Xu, I’ve heard a great deal about you, but we’ve never had a chance to meet,” Henry said evenly. “You did a great deal to help when you came to our hospital for that consultation. I never had the opportunity to thank you in person.”

“You’re welcome.”

Henry showed little warmth. His question was matter-of-fact. “May I ask who your teacher is?”[4]

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Oh?” Henry’s expression darkened at the blunt refusal. “These patients came to the wrong hospital and insisted on seeing you. We felt we had a responsibility to them, so we’ve come along to observe. I hope you don’t mind?”

Only then did Evan turn his attention to the patient, who was coughing from time to time. “If you’re here for a consultation, registration is over there.”

“I’ll go register,” the wife said, and went over.

Standing at the entrance, Leo beckoned to Evan. Evan paused in surprise. Leo hurriedly beckoned again, and Evan went over.

“What is it?”

Leo lowered his voice. “Dr. Xu, they’re not here with the best of intentions. I’m telling you, this patient’s case isn’t simple. He’s seen plenty of doctors, Chinese and Western, and none of them could cure him.”

“But why has your hospital sent such a crowd? Even the department head?” Evan asked, bewildered.

Leo gave him an exasperated look. “Because you talked Dr. Liu into leaving! A lot of people in our department are unhappy with you. And then you said integrating Chinese and Western medicine was no good. Do you know how many people you’ve offended?

“That young fellow is Alex Xu, Dr. Liu’s disciple. The patients booked the wrong doctor, they had words, and it turned into an argument. Their department head came over. Henry went through the patient’s records and examined him himself.

“Then he sent them here, and came along too. I was worried when I saw what was happening, so I followed. I’m telling you, this has to be a difficult case. Henry wants to test you. He wants to see what you’re capable of, after you fooled Dr. Liu into leaving—no, persuaded him. Persuaded him.

“Don’t underestimate Henry. He’s the best Chinese medicine doctor in our hospital. If he’s come in person, it must be a tough one. Be careful. If you’re not sure, find a way to bluff your way past it. Don’t lose face and ruin your reputation!”

Evan sighed helplessly. How had he managed to offend people again without even realizing it?

He went back inside. Leo followed.

Leo took his place beside Henry. There could be no confusion about whose side he was on.

Henry glanced at him. “Finished briefing him?”

Leo looked uncomfortable. “We’re all friends. There’s no need for this, is there?”

“I haven’t done anything,” Henry replied evenly. “Have I?”

Leo was left without an answer. “Fine. You haven’t done anything.”

Registration complete, the patient came over and sat beside Evan.

The others could tell something was wrong too. They exchanged glances as the atmosphere grew tense.

Clara pointed in their direction and whispered to Lily, “Look. There’s your material!”

“Oh!” Lily’s eyes lit up. She carefully raised her phone and began discreetly recording the scene.

Evan began questioning the patient. “What’s the trouble? Where are you feeling unwell?”

The man was about to answer when his throat began to itch. “Cough, cough, cough… cough, cough, cough…”

Only after a bout of dry coughing could he catch his breath.

His wife answered for him. “There’s nothing else wrong. Just this dry cough that won’t go away. He’s been checked at the hospital. No other discomfort, but nobody can get rid of the cough.

“We’ve seen all sorts of doctors, Chinese and Western. Test after test, and all that money spent. We’ve been to the big hospitals in the city and to experienced old Chinese medicine doctors. None of them could cure it.”

She pulled out a tissue. Her husband took it and wiped away the tears brought on by coughing.

His wife put the tissues back, then took a thick sheaf of papers from her bag. “These are all the medicines he’s taken and the tests he’s had.”

Evan took the records of the earlier consultations. As he read them, his brow furrowed. “Hm?”

Leo’s heart sank at the sight of his expression.

Henry folded his arms, looking as though this was just what he had expected.

Reader Notes

Reader Notes

↩︎ WeChat public accounts. A public account can publish articles for readers to follow within WeChat, rather than functioning only as a private chat. Clara plans to use the larger account’s feature to attract readers to a new clinic account. The “hundred thousand-plus” figure is the writers’ weekly view target in the story, introduced earlier; it is not a claim about a platform rule or the number of people who will visit the clinic. Source: Tencent — Weixin Official Accounts.↩︎ Pressure and depth. Superficial, middle, and deep describe levels at which the examiner feels the wrist pulse by varying finger pressure. The bean-weight comparisons continue the training in Chapter 73: the Nanjing uses different numbers of beans to describe degrees of pressure. No beans are placed on April’s wrist. Evan is applying that control by touch, rather than weighing his fingers or measuring a blood-pressure value. Sources: WHO — International standard terminologies, entries 856 and 859–860; Nanjing Benyi — Difficulty Five (in Chinese).↩︎ “Warming” the womb. This returns to April’s earlier consultation and its traditional cold-pattern explanation for menstrual pain and difficulty conceiving. Cold here describes a Chinese medicine pattern involving signs such as cold intolerance; it is not a measured temperature inside the uterus. WHO terminology includes a uterine deficiency-cold pattern associated with menstrual and reproductive complaints. That definition explains the language Evan uses. His prediction about April’s chances of conceiving remains his clinical judgment in the novel, not a fertility outcome established by this scene or by the terminology standard. Source: WHO — International standard terminologies, entry 1343, p. 169.↩︎ A physician’s teacher. In the medical lineage tradition, apprenticeship transmits a teacher’s clinical methods and experience. Henry is asking whose teaching Evan comes from, rather than simply which university he attended. The distinction also matters when Leo identifies Alex as Dr. Liu’s disciple. This is a reminder of the teacher–disciple relationships in earlier chapters; Evan’s refusal to name his teacher does not itself disclose a new identity. Source: National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine — Measures on apprenticeship education, articles 3 and 6 (in Chinese).