Sophia really wanted to give Barry a good slap right now. It was his fault that they were in this mess, and now he was acting all self-righteous. His IQ was truly questionable.
Sophia reached for her phone and found Leo’s number, then didn’t mince words with Barry. “Barry, if it weren’t for you hitting on someone else’s woman and getting me involved, do you think I’d care about your pathetic situation?”
“You…” Barry pointed at Sophia, his face dark, at a loss for words.
Keith wanted to say something but was stopped by Monica. In Monica’s eyes, the man’s target was Sophia, and whether Sophia found a way to resolve the situation or spent the night with him was none of her concern. As long as her son could safely leave this place, that was all that mattered. In short, not my business, so I’ll stay out of it.
At the Healnature Clinic, a traditional Chinese medicine clinic:
The first patient to come forward for diagnosis was a man in his thirties. He sat down in front of the examination table, pointed to his mouth, and made “wuwuwu” sounds.
Leo merely glanced at him and then took a piece of paper and a pen to start writing a prescription.
On the other hand, Nick motioned for the patient to extend his left hand and began taking the pulse.
Seeing Leo writing quickly on the paper, Nick furrowed his brows and sneered, “This is a medical examination, not a performance. You can’t just make up stuff without taking the pulse. Are you sure you’re not here to make a joke?”
“Just a minor ailment, no need to check the pulse,” Leo retorted.
This remark drew laughter from the onlookers.
Nick, irritated by Leo’s response, gave him a stern look. “You’re quite confident. Why don’t you tell us what illness this patient has and what prescription you’d recommend?”
Leo calmly replied, “Throat injury resulting in ulcers and speech impediment, with mild pus formation in the wound. If I’m not mistaken, the injury was caused by a bamboo stick.”
As soon as Leo finished speaking, the patient sitting at the examination table vigorously nodded and made “wuwuwu” sounds, giving Leo a thumbs up.
It was evident that Leo was correct.
Now Nick couldn’t express his temper, his face turned ashen, and he remained silent. In fact, when the patient had opened his mouth earlier, Nick had already recognized his symptoms. However, for added assurance, he had still taken the patient’s pulse to avoid misdiagnosis.
What surprised Nick was Leo’s sharp insight. With just a single glance, Leo accurately identified the patient’s symptoms and the cause of the illness. In haste, Nick picked up a piece of paper and began writing a prescription.
Once the prescription was written, he handed it to the patient.
Leo had already given the prescription to the patient, and when the patient compared the two prescriptions, they were exactly the same. He couldn’t help but give Leo another thumbs up.
In the first round, Nick was at a disadvantage, which left him feeling quite aggrieved. He gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s try another one!”
The second patient was a middle-aged man of average height with a yellowish complexion and a slender build.
He clutched his stomach tightly with one hand, sweat dripping from his forehead, and weakly said, “Doctor, I’ve had stomach pain for over a week. I’ve taken a lot of medicine, but it hasn’t improved. Now it hurts so much I can’t even eat.”
Nick quickly took the pulse of the middle-aged man, and this time, Leo decided to keep a low profile and also examined the patient’s pulse.
After taking the pulse, both of them began to prescribe treatment accordingly.
Soon, they had both written their prescriptions.
On Nick’s prescription, it listed: Fructus Agastachis (five grams), Rhizoma Notopterygii (six grams), Radix Bupleuri (three grams), Green Jujubes (ten pieces), Fresh Ginger (twenty grams, sliced), Rhizoma Alpiniae Officinarum (seven grams), Fructus Aurantii (thirty grams), and Radix Raphani (one portion). Boil in five liters of water for two hours, and take the warm liquid three times a day.
Leo’s prescription contained almost the same ingredients as Nick’s, but he added an extra three grams of Ephedra Sinica.
Nick snatched Leo’s prescription and looked at it, then suddenly raised his voice. “Your prescription is flawed. Adding Ephedra Sinica is a mistake. Not only does it ruin the overall efficacy of the prescription, but it also causes diarrhea. Diarrhea on top of abdominal pain? Are you trying to harm the patient!?”
Nick’s words were a bit exaggerated. While it was true that prolonged use of Ephedra Sinica could lead to diarrhea, it was generally mild and not life-threatening.
In Nick’s view, adding Ephedra to the prescription was completely unnecessary. Since the patient was suffering from abdominal pain, Ephedra might alleviate some of the pain, but it was more likely to cause side effects like diarrhea. Therefore, Nick considered Leo’s prescription to be a failure.
He saw it as an opportunity to attack Leo and chose to emphasize it to make Leo appear unqualified in front of the onlookers.
The people watching began to murmur, especially when Nick claimed that Ephedra Sinica could lead to severe diarrhea and even life-threatening situations. They started to point fingers at Leo.
“I knew it. He’s so young; how skilled can he be in traditional Chinese medicine? He’s probably just an amateur.”
“This quack is harming people! He doesn’t even have basic medical knowledge and is pretending to be a doctor!”
“That’s right. I was planning to see this young man later, but thank goodness the Healnature Clinic’s young doctor exposed his true lack of skill.”
Seeing that he had successfully riled up public opinion, Nick looked smugly at Leo, as if saying, “You thought you were so great just now. How does it feel to be humiliated now?”
Leo paid no mind to the doubts and accusations of the onlookers. Once they quieted down a bit, he explained, “The addition of a small amount of Ephedra Sinica in my prescription indeed may cause mild diarrhea. However, this diarrhea significantly reduces the patient’s pain and has no lasting effects or complications.”
Leo pointed at Nick’s prescription and continued, “Your prescription can also treat the patient’s stomach pain, but it takes longer and doesn’t offer immediate relief. Using Ephedra Sinica to relieve pain is the most effective method.”
“Humph, easy for you to say. Don’t you know this patient’s illness is caused by the failure of his bladder’s function?” Nick’s pulse examination was thorough, and he believed that his prescription was the most suitable.
Leo nodded. “Your diagnosis is correct. However, this patient’s stomach pain also has a presence of pathogenic heat, which is intensifying the pain as time goes on. Sir, do you agree with what I’m saying?”
The middle-aged man vigorously nodded. “That’s right. It started as mild stomach pain and then kept getting worse, as if someone was slashing my stomach with a knife.”