Physician's Odyssey

Chapter 662 - The Five Delays of TCM

Translator: Thyaeria

The reason why Mu Jingchen was willing to sit down and seek help from Su Tao wasn’t because of the latter’s medical skills, but his calligraphy instead.

Su Tao has saved many people, in which he encountered all kinds of patients in his journey. But he rarely encountered one that rejected TCM like Mu Jingchen. Although Mu Jingchen did not say anything about it, it could be inferred from his tone and attitude.

There was a 70% exaggeration and 30% truth when Su Tao said that Mu Jingchen’s condition wasn’t serious.

“To ensure Mr. Mu’s privacy, I’m afraid that I have to ask the two of you to briefly leave.” Su Tao smiled.

Gu Yin was tactful. He immediately stood up and smiled. “There’s a café on the second floor. Ms. Ni and I will be there for a cup of coffee.”

Before Ni Jingqiu left, she gave a glance at Su Tao, signaling for him to put some effort into it and treat Mu Jingchen.

When Su Tao requested for Gu Yin and Ni Jingqiu to leave, Mu Jingchen felt somewhat relieved. Gu Yin might be his friend, but no one could accept having a doctor discuss your condition with someone else around.

“Mr. Mu, I know that you don’t trust TCM!” Su Tao wore a playful smile.

“Oh?” Mu Jingchen’s eyes lit up as he asked, “What makes you say that?”

Examining at Mu Jingchen, Su Tao replied, “Because ever since you’ve known that you’re ill, you have been using western medicine for treatment, and there are no signs of TCM being used on your body. Let me make an example, while western medicine treatments will leave behind traces on your body, TCM treatment will also leave behind clues. From your body, I couldn’t find any clues of you using TCM in the past, and this is how I came to this conclusion.”

With a smile rising on his lips, Mu Jingchen waved his hand. “That’s right! Indeed, I don’t believe in TCM. Although I have been living abroad, I have an understanding of the situation in the country; there was often news of physicians scamming others.”

Waving his finger from left to right, Su Tao smiled. “I now realised that you do not understand the situation in the country as much as you thought.”

Listening to Su Tao’s words, Mu Jingchen frowned. He’s famed for being an evaluation grandmaster for Chinese enterprises, so how did he not have any knowledge of the situation in the country?

“Mr. Mu, you have your own channel for information, so you naturally know the situation back in the country. But there’s a misunderstanding about your information for TCM. Indeed, many imposters packaged themselves to obtain more attention, but TCM is also rooted in the ground. Aside from the imposters, many physicians are saving lives every day.” Su Tao smiled.

Mu Jingchen felt somewhat unhappy upon hearing Su Tao’s words and waved his hand. “I’m here to have my illness treated, so aren’t you a little off-topic to discuss this?”

“In TCM, we emphasise on treating the heart first before treating the illness. So if you don’t believe in TCM, you won\'t be able to accept anything I say.” Su Tao patiently explained and continued, “Mr. Mu, since you’re knowledgeable in calligraphy, you must know Wang Can, right?”

Nodding his head, Mu Jingchen replied, “That’s for sure. Wang Can was one of the seven scholars in Jian’an, and he’s someone who’s equally as famous as Cao Zhi. But what has that got to do with my condition?”

“When Wang Can was twenty, he met the Medical Saint Zhong Jing. Back then, Zhong Jing told him that his brows would start to fall off, and he would die at the age of forty. But if he started taking Five Rocks Soup now, he could still be saved. However, Wang Can did not feel anything unusual with his body back then, so he did not pay any attention to it. In the end, Zhong Jing’s words came true. Wang Can had Hansen\'s disease, and this disease has a strong latent ability since it can stay hidden in a person’s body for decades.” Su Tao said. He could tell that Mu Jingchen had an attachment for Chinese culture and this was the reason why he chose this story to change Mu Jingchen’s view on TCM.

Mu Jingchen was somewhat interested in this story, but because he knew that Su Tao was trying to change his mindset about TCM, he instinctively felt rejectful of it.

“Many of these famous physicians were packaged and deified by the later generations. How can there be such a skill in the world to detect someone’s illness twenty years ago?” Mu Jingchen said in a faint tone.

Su Tao let out a sigh. Mu Jingchen was more stubborn than he had imagined. Wearing a smile, Su Tao replied, “Since Mr. Mu is here, why don’t I mimic the Medical Saint Zhong Jing today. My skills might not be comparable to the Medical Saint, but I still have some confidence since I’ve read your past.”

Mu Jingchen smiled. Su Tao seemed to be deliberately making things complicated. However, Su Tao wasn’t hateful, and Mu Jingchen was also somewhat curious about what Su Tao was trying to play.

After all, he had already witnessed Su Tao’s capability during lunch. Since he could detect Chen Zhang’s frostbite ailments, it proved that he had some capabilities.

After taking Mu Jingchen’s pulse and checking his tongue, Su Tao said, “Let me ask you three questions!”

“Go ahead!” Mu Jingchen decisively replied.

“Firstly, did you have a speech delay when you were younger? Secondly, did you fall last year? Lastly, are you still without children?” Su Tao asked.

Mu Jingchen had shock flickering through his eyes since Su Tao was certain about his questions. For the last two questions, they could be obtained with a slight investigation. After all, Ni Jingqiu has spent a great deal of effort on him, and those pieces of information could be known by just asking around.

However, his speech delay when he was young was a secret known to only a few. Mu Jingchen was an all-rounder in both his morals and studies. When he was still schooling, he was viewed as a genius by everyone around him. It was only when he entered Senior High School that he got to know from his mother that he had speech delay when he was young, and he only started to speak at the age of one. All along, his family members had thought of him as a mute, but they never expected that he would display such outstanding study talents.

Shaking his head, Mu Jingchen unhappily said, “You don’t have to try and use those techniques by charlatans. I don’t believe in that.”

Su Tao sighed since Mu Jingchen was, after all, a successful person in life. Hence, it’s natural for him to have high alert as well.

“Mr. Mu, you know in your heart if I’m a charlatan. Let me put it in this way; your illness was something that was left behind when you were in your mother’s womb. It belongs to an inborn condition, and it has a long latent ability, with the main symptom being twitching when you speak in a loud voice or when you get emotional. However, it’s different from epilepsy since ordinary medication meant for epilepsy wouldn’t have any effect. The moment your condition breaks out, not only will you be in pain, but you also do not have a method to resolve it. In the end, you can only rely on your own endurance and wait it out.” Su Tao patiently explained.

Mu Jingchen widened his eyes as he looked at Su Tao in disbelief. The pain was so excruciating that his willpower nearly collapsed every single time.

He initially thought that he had epilepsy, but medication wasn\'t helpful at all. Hence, he could only rely on his willpower to endure, but the pain was a nightmare.

Actually, Su Tao had also jabbed at his sore spot. Despite his age, Mu Jingchen still did not have any children. He publicly announced that both he and his wife were both working adults, and they did not have any intention of having children. But in reality, they’ve always wanted children, but there’s an issue with his reproductive function.

Su Tao did not continue his explanation and patiently waited for Mu Jingchen to calm down. With Mu Jingchen’s wisdom, he should be able to tell if Su Tao was speaking the truth.

A few minutes later, Mu Jingchen took a deep breath and sighed, “Physician Su, I admit that ever since I fell last year, my condition has worsened. I would practically suffer excruciating pain every week. I tried seeking medical help, but none of the specialists could help me since they couldn’t even detect the cause of my condition. Hence, they couldn’t prescribe me any medication. May I ask if I can still be saved?”

Seeing that Mu Jingchen had finally admitted it, Su Tao smiled. “I told you previously that your condition might seem serious, but it’s not a terminal illness. As long as you’re willing to accept my treatment and follow my instructions, I’m confident that you can fully recover from it.”

“Is that true?” Mu Jingchen instantly lost his composure.

“There’s actually the reason why I asked those three questions earlier. As you have always been healthy, your underlying condition did not appear. But your fall last year was a spark that caused your condition to thoroughly erupt. As for the reason why you’re unable to have a child, it’s also related to your condition.” Su Tao smiled.

Mu Jingchen’s eyes lit up as if he had finally seen hope and asked in excitement, “You’re saying that I can still have kids?”

“That’s right!” Su Tao said in confidence before he continued, “There are Five Delays in TCM, which are the delay of hair growth, teeth eruption, and the ability to stand, walk and speak. Your condition belongs to speech delay, but that doesn’t mean that those with speech delays are mentally disabled. Even the publicly acknowledged smartest person in the world, Albert Einstein, had speech delay when he was young. He only learned how to speak at the age of four, in which many people had treated him as a developmentally disabled child before that. The medical book compiled during the Qianlong Emperor’s era, the Golden Mirror of Medicine, mentioned that the reason why children suffer from the five delays were due to the weak Qi and blood of their parents. This resulted in the weak muscles and bones of their children, which made walking difficult, delay in teeth growing, and the incapability to sit steadily. This is due to the lack of their Kidney energy. Putting it in a nutshell, your mother’s kidney was weak, which resulted in your condition when you were in her womb. If I’ve guessed correctly, you weren’t injured on your leg or waist from that fall, but your head, which acted as a catalyst for the insufficiency of your heart energy.”

Speech delay was related to the insufficiency of heart energy.

Listening to Su Tao’s words, Mu Jingchen had guilt and regret written on his face before he stood up and bowed, “I’m sorry. Physician Su, my words from before might sound offensive, but please do not take it to heart.”

Su Tao inwardly sighed since the key to treating Mu Jingchen’s condition was to get the latter to trust him. Mu Jingchen needed to have absolute trust for him and TCM. Otherwise, it’s impossible for him to have his condition treated. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be easy for Su Tao to treat Mu Jingchen. Hence, this was the reason why Su Tao spent so much effort in talking to Mu Jingchen.

Su Tao’s observation skills have already reached a very high level, and it’s mainly because he had taken Song Sichen as his master and found a new train of thought for diagnosis. He managed to fuse his own diagnosis with Song Sichen’s diagnosis, allowing his skills to reach a whole new level.

Song Sichen had a Heavenly Eyed title in the TCM industry. Since Su Tao has learned 90% of Song Sichen’s ability, he has also formed a Lesser Heavenly Eye.