Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor Gao-Yuan

Since it was free and didn’t involve medication, the child’s grandmother let Gao-Yuan give it a try. She carried the child inside.

Gao-Yuan rolled up his sleeves and followed her in.

Li Shengli was right beside him.

Shen Congyun also walked over, leaning against the door frame of the consultation room, sleeves folded, absentmindedly picking at his nails while watching the scene inside.

Meanwhile, Liu Sanquan stayed furthest back, peeking in from a distance, curious but unwilling to get involved.

Once inside, Gao-Yuan asked the grandmother, "What's going on with the child?"

The grandmother replied, "He ate something bad. He’s been vomiting all day since yesterday. What he threw up hadn’t even been fully digested."

Gao-Yuan nodded. "How old is the child?"

"Two years old," she answered.

"Let him lie down."

The grandmother laid the child down on the consultation bed.

As soon as Gao-Yuan pressed gently on the child’s abdomen, the little boy cried out in discomfort.

"Distended abdomen, resistant to pressure," Gao-Yuan noted. Then he opened the child's mouth to inspect: "Red tongue, thick yellow coating, foul, sour breath."

He inquired further with the grandmother and learned that the child had been experiencing chest tightness, loss of appetite, occasional abdominal pain, no bowel movement today, and yellow urine.

Continuing his examination, Gao-Yuan found that the child’s hands and feet were warm, and his pulse was slippery and forceful. He also checked the child’s finger veins and found them purple.

The diagnosis was clear: the child had overeaten, leading to food retention and indigestion.

The stomach is the sea of water and grains, and it must descend to function properly. The child had accumulated food in the middle burner, which damaged the spleen and stomach, disrupting the ascending and descending functions of the spleen and stomach. As a result, the stomach qi rebelled upward, causing vomiting. The foul, sour breath indicated undigested food, a typical case of food retention leading to vomiting.

With the diagnosis complete, it was time for treatment.

"Okay, lie on your back and be good," Gao-Yuan said gently to the child, who was comforted by his grandmother.

Shen Congyun, seeing Gao-Yuan flex his hands, furrowed his brows slightly.

The grandmother reassured the child, making sure he lay down properly.

Gao-Yuan took the child’s hand and began massaging the fleshy area below the thumb.

Shen Congyun frowned even more and murmured, "Massaging the Banmen point?"

After that, Gao-Yuan pinched the child’s palm between his index and middle fingers, using his thumb to rub in circles on the child’s palm.

"Working the Internal Eight Trigrams," Shen Congyun muttered as he stood up straight, watching intently. "Nourishing the Spleen Meridian... clearing the Large Intestine... pushing across the Banmen Point... vibrating the abdomen..."

As he watched Gao-Yuan work, Shen Congyun grew more and more astonished but also increasingly puzzled.

Li Shengli, who had been worried at first, was now beaming with excitement. "Turns out Dr. Gao knows this kind of skill too!"

Liu Sanquan was craning his neck, trying to get a better view from outside.

As Gao-Yuan continued, the child started to burp and pass gas, signs that his digestive system was beginning to function normally again.

Finally, the massage was done, and the child exclaimed, "Grandma, I need to poop!"

"Oh my goodness, he’s been holding it in all day, and now he finally needs to go," the grandmother said, lifting the child up. She was about to rush out but glanced back at Gao-Yuan.

Gao-Yuan waved her off. "Go on, take him to relieve himself. No need to pay. Just make sure not to feed him anything before dinner tonight. And in the future, control his portions. If you want your child to stay healthy, a little hunger and cold won't hurt. Don’t let him overeat—his digestive system is still developing."

The grandmother thanked him profusely, "Oh, oh, I’ll remember that. Thank you so much, doctor. Thank you!"

"No need to thank me," Gao-Yuan smiled. "Just hurry, or he’ll go right here."

The grandmother hurriedly carried the child out.

Li Shengli grinned. "Now that’s how you should treat the public!" He glanced over at Shen Congyun, his expression immediately changing into one of disdain. "Well? What do you have to say now?"

But Shen Congyun was staring at Gao-Yuan as if he had seen a ghost.

"Hey, say something! Why are you acting all mute now?" Li Shengli continued to nag.

"You..." Shen Congyun ignored him completely, still fixated on Gao-Yuan. His voice was incredulous as he asked, "How do you know the techniques of my Shen family? And how do you know so much about us? Do you have some kind of connection to my family? Where did you learn these external treatment methods?"

Gao-Yuan wiped his hands and glanced at Shen Congyun, his expression complicated.

Where did he learn it? Who else could have taught him? It was Shen Congyun himself.

In his past life, Gao-Yuan had studied massage techniques under Shen Congyun for three days.

On the third night, Shen Congyun had confided in him, sharing not only his massage techniques but also the personal and family history that had weighed heavily on him. He had asked Gao-Yuan to come earlier the next day.

When Gao-Yuan showed up early the following morning, he found that Shen Congyun had hanged himself. That request to come early had been a request for Gao-Yuan to find his body in time.

The final memory Gao-Yuan had of Shen Congyun was of a lonely old man, bathed in the dim light of an oil lamp, sorrowfully recounting all the wrong choices that had defined his later years.

It was a tragic end Gao-Yuan was determined not to see repeat in this life. He genuinely hoped Shen Congyun wouldn’t follow the same path again.

"Say something!" Shen Congyun, now both anxious and excited, took two quick steps forward, his eyes fixed on Gao-Yuan. "Do you have a connection with my family?"

Li Shengli and Liu Sanquan both stood there dumbfounded, their eyes wide as they stared at Gao-Yuan.

After a brief pause, Gao-Yuan nodded slowly.

Shen Congyun took another two steps forward, his excitement growing. "Who taught you? Who’s your master?"

Gao-Yuan glanced again at Shen Congyun.

At that moment, a couple burst through the door, holding a child in their arms. "Doctor! Doctor! Is there a doctor here?"

"Huh?" Liu Sanquan, standing furthest outside, was the first to notice them.

But it was Li Shengli who rushed forward like a gust of wind, shouting, "What happened? What’s going on?"

"Our child is terribly sick!" the mother cried anxiously.

"Hurry, hurry, bring them in!" Li Shengli ushered them in.

Inside the consultation room, Gao-Yuan sensed something was wrong and moved to head outside.

But Shen Congyun grabbed his arm. "Wait, you haven’t answered me. Who taught you?"

Gao-Yuan was about to shake him off when he saw the couple had already carried their child inside.

Liu Sanquan had followed them in too.

The parents scanned the room, passing over Liu Sanquan, Li Shengli, and Gao-Yuan, before rushing straight toward Shen Congyun. "Dr. Shen! Dr. Shen! Please, look at our child! What’s wrong with him?"

Shen Congyun frowned, taking a glance at the child. The child was already unconscious. He tapped the child’s body but got no response. When he felt the child’s body temperature, he was shocked by how hot it was, yet the child’s hands and feet were ice cold.

The child’s eyes were rolled back, his jaw clenched tight, and his entire body was arched like a taut bow. He was experiencing opisthotonus, and his body was convulsing violently, presenting an alarming sight.

"Acute convulsions..." Shen Congyun muttered, checking further before finally declaring, "I can’t treat this. Take him away."

"What?" The parents were stunned.

The mother’s legs gave out beneath her, and she nearly collapsed.

Her husband quickly caught her. He was a simple, honest farmer, and with tears in his eyes, he begged Shen Congyun, "Doctor, our first two children didn’t make it, and now this is the only child we have left. Please, you have to save him! I’m begging you. He’s only four months old."

Shen Congyun waved them off. "It’s not that I don’t want to help, but he’s too far gone. You need to take him elsewhere."

The father clutched Shen Congyun’s sleeve, pleading desperately, "At least take a look. We walked all night to get here from the village. Please, I’m begging you!"

Shen Congyun pulled away, growing impatient. "I’ve told you, I can’t treat a case this severe. You’ll have to find another doctor or take him to the county hospital."

The parents looked utterly devastated. Their faces turned deathly pale, as if the world had collapsed around them.

Gao-Yuan stepped forward without hesitation. "There’s no time to get to the county hospital. Let me handle it. Give me the child, now!"

The child's parents stared blankly at Gao-Yuan.

Shen Congyun blocked Gao-Yuan’s way. “Don’t cause trouble; it’s already this serious. You can’t save him!”

But Gao-Yuan forcefully shook Shen Congyun off. He fixed his gaze on him and said firmly, “I’m not like you!”

Shen Congyun was taken aback.

Li Shengli then pointed angrily at Shen Congyun’s nose. “If you don’t want to treat him, then get out! If you say one more word, I’ll break your teeth!”