Day Thirteen

Wen Congyin had arranged to meet Director Xu in the morning, but upon arriving at the hospital, she found the entrance to the pediatric clinic crowded with people.

Pushing through the crowd, she saw a couple kneeling on the ground, holding a child. The couple bowed repeatedly toward Xu Xiang, pleading, "Doctor, please, save our son."

Countless onlookers stood by.

Lin Hongyin and others tried to disperse the crowd, but the spectacle lovers refused to leave no matter how they urged.

Xu Xiang tried to help the couple up. "Please, stop this. You're making things difficult for me. I never said I wouldn't treat him, but Dr. Sun from pediatrics isn’t here—he’s been away on a business trip for over half a month!"

Wen Congyin noticed the child in the couple’s arms had a bluish complexion and squeezed past to grab Lin Hongyin.

Lin Hongyin, thinking it was some troublemaker, was about to scold but relaxed when she saw it was Wen Congyin. "Sister Wen."

"Yes, Hongyin, what’s going on here?" Wen Congyin asked, nodding toward the kneeling couple.

Lin Hongyin whispered, "Don’t mention it. We’re just unlucky to face this first thing in the morning. They went to other hospitals, but none could treat the child. Someone told them Dr. Sun in pediatrics could help. If Dr. Sun were here, it’d be fine, but he’s been at the military hospital in Nanjing for over half a month. We begged him to come back, but he refused."

"Is there no other doctor in the hospital?"

Wen Congyin frowned as she observed the child coughing and gasping, lips turning bluer. She instinctively began to analyze the situation.

Before Lin Hongyin could reply, she spotted someone approaching and called out, "Doctor Zhao, over here!"

Seeing Doctor Zhao arrive, Xu Xiang breathed a sigh of relief. Xu specialized in Western medicine, and while she could handle minor ailments with traditional Chinese medicine, complex cases baffled her.

Doctor Zhao was from gynecology. Though not a pediatrician, he was trained in traditional Chinese medicine.

Xu Xiang called out, "Could you please take a look at this child?"

She also instructed the crowd, "Please make way and clear the area."

Out of respect for the doctor, the crowd gradually dispersed from the office.

Xu Xiang closed the door.

Doctor Zhao greeted the couple and had them sit as he examined the child’s appearance, then took his pulse, asking, "Has the child been ill recently? Persistent cough?"

The wife shook her head. "No, he’s always been healthy. He’s never had a cough."

Doctor Zhao was puzzled. That didn’t fit.

Looking at the severity of symptoms, he asked, "Has the child eaten anything unusual lately?"

The husband quickly replied, "We don’t feed him anything harmful. No rat poison or anything like that."

Xu Xiang listened anxiously as Doctor Zhao questioned them, worrying that even he might be at a loss.

The child’s coughing worsened, gasping for air, yet no sweat appeared on his face.

The coughs and wheezing deepened anxiety.

Unable to hold back, Wen Congyin asked, "Doctor Zhao means, has there been any change in your diet recently?"

Doctor Zhao glanced at Wen Congyin, recognizing her, and nodded. Then to the couple, "That’s exactly what I mean."

The wife thought for a moment, then exclaimed, "Yesterday evening, my father bought some meat and invited me to bring the child home. He specially made braised pork, and my son ate two pieces!"

"When he was eating, was he wearing a thick coat?" Wen Congyin inquired.

The wife was surprised, "The room was heated with coal, and the child kept saying he was hot, so he took it off. Then he went outside to play snowball fights with other children, still without a coat."

"That’s it," Wen Congyin said confidently, turning to Doctor Zhao. "This looks like cold asthma combined with food retention. What do you think?"

Cold asthma with food retention refers to a condition where the patient suffers from an external cold invasion while having food stagnation in the stomach and intestines. Common symptoms include headache, fever, chills without sweating, chest discomfort, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Doctor Zhao, primarily a gynecologist, was unfamiliar with complicated pediatric disorders. He was called over hastily to support Xu Xiang. Unable to diagnose the child earlier, he felt embarrassed, but Wen Congyin’s intervention eased the situation.

Upon Wen Congyin’s reminder, Doctor Zhao immediately recalled the symptoms of cold asthma with food retention.

The child had been coughing for a long time, with a sweaty-free forehead—no doubt about it!

"Xiao Wen, I didn’t expect your knowledge to be so solid. Since you identified this as cold asthma with food retention, what prescription would you suggest?" Doctor Zhao asked, embarrassed yet grateful for the cue.

Xu Xiang and others nearby, unaware of the details, thought Doctor Zhao was lecturing Wen Congyin.

Wen Congyin thought for a moment, then asked Xu Xiang for paper and pen. She quickly wrote a prescription and handed it to Doctor Zhao.

"Minor Blue Dragon Decoction?" Doctor Zhao had forgotten the name earlier, but now seeing the formula, everything clicked. Had it not been for saving face, he might have slapped his forehead. This decoction was a classic treatment for respiratory diseases, frequently mentioned in the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders.

Looking more closely at the child’s condition—bluish-black complexion, severe cough and wheezing, slippery tongue coating, cold limbs—this prescription was exactly right.

Doctor Zhao looked at Wen Congyin with a mix of surprise and admiration, then without further ado handed the prescription to Lin Hongyin. "Prepare this medicine quickly and bring it here once it’s ready."

Lin Hongyin was momentarily stunned but quickly responded.

Though Xu Xiang was a bit surprised, she was more experienced than Lin Hongyin. "Xiao Lin, hurry up, go and come back fast!"

Only then did Lin Hongyin snap to attention and rush out with the prescription.

She personally gathered the herbs and brewed the medicine. For her, making the decoction was not difficult. What puzzled her was how much Doctor Zhao trusted Sister Wen—after all, Wen Congyin was a nurse. Who would be responsible if something went wrong with the prescription?

What she didn’t realize was that Doctor Zhao only recalled the use of Minor Blue Dragon Decoction because of Wen Congyin’s insight.

When Lin Hongyin returned with the medicine to the pediatric clinic, she saw Doctor Zhao standing beside Wen Congyin with an excited expression, and Xu Xiang looked equally amazed.

Wen Congyin was now examining an eight-year-old child—a small, thin boy with a large head and thin neck, yellowed hair, wrinkled face, looking both old and young, his gaze weak and feeble.

"You had a poor umbilical cord treatment when you were born, causing your navel to become infected, right?" Wen Congyin asked the boy’s mother, having inspected his abdomen and pulled down his clothes.

The mother nodded repeatedly. "Yes, doctor, you’re right. We had the village doctor assist with the birth, but he was careless, and our child ended up like this. We’ve seen many doctors for this illness, but it only got worse."

Tears welled as she spoke.

Dressed in a patched, dirty cotton jacket, her hair already gray, speaking Mandarin thick with an accent, her words were barely audible to Lin Hongyin’s keen ears.

Lin Hongyin entered with the medicine, about to ask where the earlier couple had gone, when Director Zhang stormed in.

"What are you doing? Director Xu, Doctor Zhao, how can you let a nurse treat patients here?" Director Zhang’s tone was accusatory.

She had clearly come rushing after hearing the news.

She glanced sideways at Xu Xiang and Doctor Zhao, but her words were aimed clearly at Wen Congyin.

Doctor Zhao was about to hear Wen Congyin’s prescription for the patient when Director Zhang disrupted the scene.

Xu Xiang responded firmly, "Director Zhang, although Sister Wen is a nurse, she learned traditional Chinese medicine from her grandfather since childhood and studied TCM in school. If it weren’t for a mishap during assignment, she would be a doctor now. Besides, we’re both here watching, and the prescription she wrote is quite good."

In truth, it was more than just good.

When Xu Xiang quietly jotted down the prescription, she noticed Doctor Zhao was also secretly taking notes.

Suddenly, she understood the situation: Doctor Zhao wasn’t instructing Wen Congyin; it was Wen who was guiding Doctor Zhao.

"Good? What good? What if something happens after the patient takes this medicine? Who’s responsible?" Director Zhang shouted.

Wen Congyin ignored her and asked Lin Hongyin, "Is the medicine ready?"

Lin Hongyin responded quickly, "Yes, it’s ready. Where is the patient?"

"This is our son’s medicine?" the couple holding the child stood up hurriedly.

Lin Hongyin realized they had been sitting quietly in a corner all along.

"This medicine cannot be taken!" Director Zhang, growing angrier at Wen Congyin’s disregard, tried to stop them.

But the couple pushed her aside. The husband took the medicine from Lin Hongyin, feeling its warmth—it was just right to drink in the cold winter. They didn’t care about titles; the young woman treating them had been spot on with her diagnosis and prescription.

More importantly, if they were allowed to take the medicine here before leaving, it meant the doctors had confidence.

In truth, Doctor Zhao wanted them to take it there first to observe the effect.

Wen Congyin’s heart ached seeing the child cough and wheeze so pitifully.

The husband handed the cup to his wife, who coaxed the child to drink slowly.

Remarkably, the child coughed once or twice at first, but then the coughing and wheezing stopped. Sweat broke out on his forehead, and his eyes grew brighter.

"No more coughing! No more!" the couple exclaimed joyfully, handing the medicine cup back to Lin Hongyin and bowing deeply to Wen Congyin and Doctor Zhao. "Thank you, thank you."

Doctor Zhao and Xu Xiang both stood with mouths slightly agape, just as astonished.

Wen Congyin checked the child again, feeling his forehead. "It’s alright now. Minor Blue Dragon Decoction releases the exterior and disperses cold, warms the lungs and resolves fluid retention. Your child’s symptoms weren’t severe, so one dose worked. But the wind is strong now; wait until your child stops sweating before taking him home. And don’t let him eat greasy food and then catch cold in the future."

"Yes, yes!" the couple replied gratefully, quickly paying for the medicine.

As they left, they told the waiting patients outside about the miraculous doctor inside.

Xu Xiang turned to Director Zhang, "Director Zhang, you saw for yourself. Sister Wen’s reliability is evident to all. We are busy treating patients here and have no time to entertain you."

Fuming and angry, Director Zhang wanted to argue further, but upon meeting the angry gaze of the child’s mother waiting with her child, she feared provoking them and reluctantly left with a dark expression.