Chapter Fifteen: The An Gong Niu Huang Pill

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A crowd had gathered outside Su Chen’s medical hall.

All kinds of voices mingled in the air.

Song Laosan had carried his father there, originally intending to seek the elderly imperial physician who practiced at the hall. He had never expected Su Chen to take up a needle and begin treating his father himself.

Now Song Laosan was completely at a loss. He had heard that Su Chen possessed remarkable skills, but he had no idea whether the man could truly save his father.

“Doctor… my father…”

All ten of his father’s fingertips had been made to bleed, and his complexion seemed somewhat improved.

But it was still too soon to tell.

Su Chen, however, had no time to answer Song Laosan.

“A knife—and fire.”

While treating the patient, Su Chen was utterly focused. He paid no attention to anyone outside.

Cheng Chumo handed over every knife he carried and produced a fire striker, though he had no idea what Su Chen intended to do.

Su Chen used a knife to shave away a small lock of hair from the left side of the man’s head.

Then he set the hair alight with the fire striker until it became charcoal.

As he worked, he explained under his breath.

“Hair on the left belongs to yin. Burned hair becomes medicinal charcoal, a powerful means of stopping bleeding. From the patient’s condition, it is clear that he has suffered a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage.”

As he spoke, Su Chen gently turned the man onto his side.

He placed the charcoal in his palm and blew it into the patient’s ear.

This charcoal had the effect of staunching blood.

The patient had suffered a stroke accompanied by cerebral hemorrhage. Su Chen had first punctured the ten fingertip points to release blood, preventing it from continuing to surge toward the head, where the consequences would have been disastrous.

He had then blown the charred hair into the patient’s ear to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible.

Only after completing all this did Su Chen rise to his feet.

“The condition has temporarily stabilized. Carry him inside. He will need to be observed in our medical hall for several days, and he must continue taking medicine before he can make a full recovery.”

Su Chen’s meaning was perfectly clear. The patient’s condition had stabilized, and he was no longer in immediate danger.

Even Wang Wei found this unbelievable.

How could someone suffering a stroke escape danger so quickly?

Unconvinced, Wang Wei stepped forward and placed his fingers on the patient’s pulse.

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He was an experienced physician. The moment his fingers touched the man’s wrist, he could immediately feel the pulse gradually growing stronger. Clearly, the patient had passed through the critical period.

“A miracle! This is a miracle!”

For a moment, Wang Wei could not comprehend Su Chen’s method of treatment.

“I already told you he is fine. He is my patient, so I will naturally take responsibility for him. You should leave.”

Su Chen did not wish to become further entangled with the Taiyuan Wang clan. He turned and walked back into his medical hall.

Song Laosan and several others carried his father inside as well.

By then, several constables had arrived. The magistrate of Chang’an County had heard that someone had died while being treated at the medical hall and had hurried over to investigate.

The Su family, as well as several physicians at the medical hall, were imperial doctors. Their standing was no small matter.

Liu Xingmin arrived in haste with his men, only to find that the crowd was already dispersing.

Wang Dan’s expression was exceedingly grim.

“Lord Liu, I have made you come all this way for nothing. Everything has been settled.”

Wang Dan cupped his hands toward Liu Xingmin.

This matter was, after all, connected to the Taiyuan Wang clan.

Wang Wei, however, blamed everything that had happened that day on Wang Dan.

“Hmph! The man clearly possesses extraordinary skill, yet you envied his talent and accused him of deceiving people. You have made me lose face completely. I have no place left to show this old face in Chang’an. From this day forward, I will no longer practice at the medical hall. I have no face left to treat patients in this city.”

With that, Wang Wei flicked his sleeve and walked away.

This time, they had truly lost all dignity. Although Su Chen had not deliberately made things difficult for them, the fact that they had come to cause trouble at his medical hall had already spread among the common people.

Everyone would say that Wang Wei had envied a gifted physician, deliberately picked a quarrel, and ended up humiliating himself.

Watching Wang Wei leave, Wang Dan grew even angrier.

After learning what had happened, Liu Xingmin also understood that the matter was over.

“It is good that everything has been settled. There is no need to speak of inconvenience. When we have time another day, we can drink tea together. I am extremely busy today, so I shall not keep you company, Brother Wang.”

Liu Xingmin could not remain there for long.

Considering that the Taiyuan Wang clan was a prominent aristocratic family, the fact that Liu Xingmin had not made things difficult for Wang Dan was already generous of him.

Soon, only Wang Dan and several of his subordinates remained in the street. He stared viciously at Su Chen’s medical hall, yet there was nothing he could do.

“Su Chen, you have brought disgrace upon my Wang family. Sooner or later, I will make you pay.”

Although Liu Xingmin had said nothing, and Wang Wei had not openly rebuked Wang Dan before so many people, Wang Dan still felt wronged.

He blamed everything on Su Chen. There was no one else he could fault, and he was already plotting how to retaliate.

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After returning to the medical hall, Su Chen ordered his assistants to prepare the medicinal ingredients.

“Prepare the ingredients according to my prescription. Then bring me a jar of aged honey. Refine the honey, grind the ingredients into powder, and form them into pills.”

Su Chen wrote out the prescription, and several people gathered around.

Zhou Taifu and the other physicians stared wide-eyed.

The prescription was truly extraordinary.

“Cattle gallstone, rhinoceros horn, musk, pearl, cinnabar, realgar…”

There were only eleven ingredients in the prescription, yet its power to restore what was upright and dispel what was malignant was astonishing.

With such a prescription, Song Laosan’s father’s stroke could be treated with ease.

“The prescription is indeed remarkable, but several of these ingredients are extremely expensive…”

Zhou Taifu had already put the matter as tactfully as possible.

No matter how one looked at him, Song Laosan did not appear wealthy.

The prescription even called for rhinoceros horn, an ingredient worth a fortune. It would not be a problem if the medicine were intended for the imperial family or the nobility, but Song Laosan might not even be able to afford a single one of the ingredients.

“Divine physician, please save my father! So long as you can save him, I am willing to serve you as a beast of burden for the rest of my life.”

Song Laosan had overheard Zhou Taifu from nearby.

It was obvious that this medicine could save his father, but some of its ingredients were surely far beyond his means.

Su Chen had written the prescription without any intention of making money from Song Laosan.

“Rise. We practice medicine to cure the sick and save lives. We must not stand by and watch someone die simply because he cannot afford the medicine. Go and prepare it. I will cover the cost.”

Su Chen’s words left Zhou Taifu and the other imperial physicians utterly ashamed.

This was true devotion to the art of healing.

Curing the sick and saving lives was supposed to be the foremost purpose of practicing medicine. Yet in recent years, Zhou Taifu and the others had become obsessed with fame and profit. They had forgotten many things—even the ideals with which they had begun.

Now, hearing Su Chen’s words, they felt that he was entirely right and nodded repeatedly.

Looking again at the prescription, they became especially curious about its name.

“We were the ones who lost our way. We misunderstood everything before, and we have truly disgraced our forebears. It seems we still have much to improve. This prescription is so powerful—what is it called?”

Zhou Taifu could already sense that the pills made from this prescription could save lives in emergencies.

It would surely become widely known in the future, and they were all eager to learn the medicine’s name.

“It shall be called the Peaceful Palace Cattle-Gallstone Pill. For strokes, high fever, and malignant influences invading the heart chamber, it produces miraculous results.”

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