Chapter 15: Too Expensive
After the Weimin Clinic was shut down for rectification.
The number of patients at Li Xu’s TCM clinic didn’t suddenly surge.
First, many people didn’t trust traditional Chinese medicine.
Second, brewing Chinese herbal medicine was troublesome, and some patients weren’t willing to go through the effort.
Third, there were many Western medicine clinics.
Almost every street had a health clinic.
So even with the Weimin Clinic shut down, people could just walk a little farther to the clinic on the next street to get a shot.
He saw more than ten patients in one morning.
All of them had the flu.
"Xiao Xu, why were you closed yesterday?"
Around noon, Aunt Li walked into the clinic.
"I went to restock my medicines yesterday."
Li Xu thought, ’I’ve been waiting for you.’
He had been planning to call and ask how she was doing if she didn’t show up, then steer the conversation toward her symptoms.
"Aunt Li, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
Li Xu asked, already knowing the answer.
"Ever since my cold got better, I’ve been feeling weak all over, I get night sweats, and I have to use the bathroom more often. Take a look at me, what kind of symptoms are these?"
Aunt Li sat on the stool in front of Li Xu and held out her hand.
"Let me take your pulse."
Li Xu placed his fingers on Aunt Li’s wrist.
The pulse was slow, deep, and weak. Combined with her own description of her condition, it was exactly as described in today’s intelligence report.
"Aunt Li, you were already in a weakened state, and the last cold caused a deficiency in both your qi and blood," Li Xu said.
"A qi deficiency? Then I’ll just go home, eat some better food to build myself back up, and I’ll be fine," Aunt Li said, relieved.
"You can’t just blindly try to build yourself up. At your age, it’s easy to cause a situation where your body is too weak to absorb the nutrients, which would actually make things worse. Let me prescribe you some medicine."
Li Xu gave her a heads-up. "Aunt Li, this prescription uses Dragon Bone, so it’s a bit expensive."
"How expensive?"
Aunt Li was a sanitation worker with a modest salary, so she was very sensitive about prices.
"I’ll be using Five-Floral Dragon Bone for you. The market price for Five-Floral Dragon Bone is 1,500 yuan per jin. One dose of medicine requires two liang of it, so the cost of the Five-Floral Dragon Bone alone is 300 yuan. Adding in the other herbs, it’s about 340 yuan. I’ll prescribe three doses to start, for a total of 1,020 yuan."
Li Xu explained the cost to her in detail.
"What? 1,000 yuan?"
"1,020, to be exact."
"Xiao Xu, that’s really unfair of you."
Aunt Li, like a cat with its fur on end, exclaimed, "Your business has only been good for two days and you’re already ripping people off? How does this make you any different from Old Han? Not to mention, if it weren’t for my help, do you think you could have taken Old Han down?"
"Aunt Li, please don’t be angry yet. Let me show you the price."
Li Xu took out his phone, found the price for Five-Floral Dragon Bone online, and showed it to her. "Five-Floral Dragon Bone is the highest grade of Dragon Bone. Its effects are excellent, which is why it’s so expensive."
"This..."
Aunt Li was shocked when she saw the price. "Oh my god, it really is that expensive."
She waved her hands dismissively. "Forget it, forget it. It’s not a serious illness. I won’t get treated. I’ll just go home and rest for a few days, I’ll be fine."
After saying that, she hurried out of the clinic.
Li Xu didn’t try to stop her.
As the saying goes, you help the desperate, not the poor.
Besides, Aunt Li wasn’t in a desperate situation.
So there was no need to chase after her and offer free medicine.
Charging a fair price and prescribing the correct medicine was already the greatest help he could offer a patient.
As for verifying the effects of the Five-Floral Dragon Bone... there would be plenty of opportunities in the future. There was no need to rush.
...
When Song Sisi went out for lunch around noon, Li Xu gave her 30 yuan. "Bring a meal back for me."
"What do you want to eat?"
"Get me a burger combo, but no coke."
"Wow, Doctor Li, that’s high-calorie food. Aren’t you supposed to be all about healthy living?"
"But it’s clean. There’s a braised chicken place down the street that tastes pretty good, but I don’t trust them."
"Perfect, I was craving a burger too. I’ll bring it back for you in a bit."
Twenty minutes later.
Song Sisi came back with two burger combos.
A patient had just left.
The two of them sat down to eat together.
"Doctor Li, I’m suddenly having regrets."
"Regrets about what?"
"I shouldn’t have studied nursing back then. Studying traditional Chinese medicine would have been so much better."
"What’s so good about it?"
"I’ve been here for two days, and I’ve noticed something. TCM doctors aren’t long-winded when they treat patients. There are no shots. You just prescribe herbs according to the formula. It’s so much simpler than Western medicine."
"Heh..."
"...Am I wrong?"
"You’re lucky you didn’t study TCM. Otherwise, you’d have never made it out of school."
"Why not?"
"Your teachers would have beaten you to death."
"Uh..."
A day passed.
Li Xu’s medical experience had increased a little more.
Mainly in pulse-taking and consultation.
Pulse-taking, in particular, was profound and vast.
Even though Li Xu had studied it in school and his father had taught him since he was a child, he still felt he had only scratched the surface.
He could only diagnose some basic illnesses.
Fortunately, patients with difficult and complex cases wouldn’t come to a small clinic anyway; they would go straight to a major hospital.
Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have been able to handle them.
...
[Today’s Intelligence: The renowned TCM internal medicine expert, Professor Gao Guanghui of the Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, will be giving a lecture on the development of Chinese medicinal herbs today at 9 a.m. in the main auditorium of the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.]
Just as Li Xu saw the intelligence report, his phone’s alarm went off.
It was the alarm he had set last week as a reminder to attend the lecture today.
He opened his old classmates’ group chat, turned off "Do Not Disturb" mode, and saw that everyone was discussing today’s lecture.
Lu Junwei: "@Hu Qiming, do you know what today’s lecture is about?"
Hu Qiming: "I don’t know."
Jiang Peng: "They’re keeping it that secret?"
Hu Qiming: "None of the doctors at our hospital know. Professor Gao specifically requested it be kept confidential. However, after the lecture today, Professor Gao will be seeing patients in our hospital’s internal medicine department this afternoon, and he’s selected three young doctors to observe. Me and another colleague were chosen."
Lu Junwei: "Holy shit! I’m so jealous!"
Jiang Peng: "So envious."
𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Miaoli: "You hit the jackpot."
Li Baojie: "Take me with you!"
Li Xu followed the trend and replied: "Awesome..."
Professor Gao Guanghui was a renowned TCM expert throughout the province, and was even famous nationwide.
To be able to observe his patient consultations up close was both a tremendous honor and a rare learning opportunity for a TCM doctor.
Hu Qiming: "The lecture starts at 9:00. Everyone has to be seated by 8:45, so don’t be late."
...
Li Xu checked the time. It was already 6:30.
He called Song Sisi. "You have the day off today."
"A day off again?"
"What, you’re not happy about getting a day off?"
"It’s not that. It just feels so sudden."
"I’m going to a TCM lecture. Do you want to come? It wouldn’t hurt to listen in."
"Forget it. I wouldn’t understand anything even if I went."
After washing up and eating breakfast, Li Xu took a bus to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In front of the main auditorium, many of his peers were already waiting.
There were recent young graduates, as well as senior physicians who had been practicing for many years.
Li Xu even saw some old TCM masters.
The fact that they had come to attend the lecture was a testament to Professor Gao Guanghui’s caliber.
"Li Xu, over here!"
Hu Qiming waved.
Li Xu hurried over.
Some of his former classmates who he knew had also gathered there.