When Xue Shuheng heard Li Xu’s name, a wave of disgust washed over him.

’An insubordinate student like him, worthy of an academic exchange at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine?’

But he was a master of concealing his emotions and didn’t let his inner disgust show.

He just shook his head faintly, his tone feigning the sorrow of a senior for a junior who had failed to live up to expectations. He said insincerely,

"Sigh, that student, Li Xu... How should I put it? Back in school, his fundamentals were never very solid. He was also overly ambitious and always looking for shortcuts. To be honest, his medical skills are lacking. Very mediocre."

"Huh?" Xiao Wang was stunned. "But... Professor Xue, I heard the Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine hired him as an expert consultant. And his reputation outside the hospital seems quite good."

"Hmph, a consultant?" A disdainful sneer touched the corner of Xue Shuheng’s mouth. "It’s a small hospital. Their management is probably not up to standard; there might even be some under-the-table dealings. Besides, doesn’t he have his own little clinic? Perhaps he just bought the consultant title to advertise for his clinic. Isn’t that sort of thing common these days?"

His words were so logical and well-reasoned, delivered with the authority of an "insider."

His assistant, Xiao Wang, was now half-convinced.

He thought about it and felt that Professor Xue had a point.

’How skilled could a young man in his twenties possibly be?’

’Maybe it really is all just hype.’

He returned to the dean’s office and reported Xue Shuheng’s words verbatim to Dean Song.

After listening, Dean Song also frowned.

If Li Xu’s own university professor evaluated him this way, then it seemed the man’s reputation was indeed undeserved.

"Mm... In that case, let’s drop the matter for now." Dean Song waved his hand dismissively. "We at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine can’t be so lax as to invite just anyone."

...

Meanwhile,

In an inpatient ward of the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s internal medicine department, Associate Chief Physician Lin Guorui was stumped, facing a difficult patient.

On the hospital bed,

lay a young woman, only twenty-two years old.

The woman’s face was pale, her expression listless, and her eyes were filled with fear and anxiety.

Her illness was very strange.

Lin Guorui opened the patient’s file once again.

[Patient, female, 22 years old. Chief Complaint: A rushing sensation from the lower abdomen up to the chest and throat, accompanied by dizziness for one month.]

[History: One month ago, after an autumn rain, the weather turned sharply cold, and the patient caught a cold.

After receiving IV treatment at a community clinic, her cold symptoms subsided, but she began to feel waves of cold in her stomach and abdomen.

Shortly thereafter, a strange symptom appeared—she would frequently feel a rushing sensation originating from her lower abdomen, below her navel, that would surge violently upward to her chest and throat.

When these episodes occurred, they were accompanied by severe bloating and pain in her chest and abdomen, dizziness, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. During severe episodes, she would even faint and collapse.

These episodes occurred without any pattern—sometimes several times a day, other times once every few days—making it impossible for her to lead a normal life.]

After the young woman was admitted to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, she underwent a full battery of Western medical tests: a head CT, a color Doppler echocardiogram, an endoscopy... None of them revealed any organic lesions.

In the end, the Western medicine doctors could only reluctantly diagnose her with "neurosis."

She had also taken a considerable amount of Chinese medicine.

Previously, she had been prescribed the liver-soothing and depression-relieving "Carefree Powder," the spleen-tonifying and qi-boosting "Four Gentlemen Soup," and the dampness-drying and phlegm-resolving "Er Chen Decoction"...

But all the prescriptions were like a clay ox dropped into the sea—they had no effect whatsoever, and her condition even showed signs of worsening.

Now, this difficult "hot potato" had landed in Lin Guorui’s hands.

Lin Guorui was a key physician in the internal medicine department and highly experienced.

But even after studying the girl’s case file for several days, he was still completely clueless.

"Teacher Lin, what if... we go consult with Professor Xue?"

Hu Qiming, the graduate student interning under Lin Guorui, suggested quietly from the side, "Professor Xue is our hospital’s internal medicine expert. He’s seen and heard it all. Maybe he’ll have a solution."

Hearing this, a hesitant look appeared on Lin Guorui’s face.

He knew, of course, that Xue Shuheng was an expert, but deep down, he was reluctant to seek him out.

The reason was none other than the incident with Dong Yingying a while back.

Dong Yingying was Xue Shuheng’s prized student. Although the matter didn’t directly involve Xue Shuheng, anyone with eyes could see that Professor Xue had been significantly affected by it. He had been in a foul mood ever since, looking at everyone as if they owed him money.

Lin Guorui knew he had no particular relationship with Xue Shuheng. If he went looking for him at a time like this, he would likely be given the cold shoulder.

Moreover, Lin Guorui was a man of some pride.

He felt that, as an Associate Chief Physician, running for help at the first sign of a difficult problem would make him seem incompetent.

He wanted to try and figure it out on his own first.

"Let’s wait a little longer," Lin Guorui said to Hu Qiming, shaking his head. "I’ll look through some more books to see if there are any records of similar cases. We’ll try to find a solution ourselves first. If that doesn’t work, it won’t be too late to find Professor Xue then."

Seeing this, Hu Qiming didn’t press the matter.

...

The next morning, Lin Guorui and Hu Qiming went to the ward for their rounds.

The patient, Chen Xiuli, was in a much more serious condition than the day before.

She was curled up on the bed, her body trembling uncontrollably. Her face was as white as a sheet, and her lips had turned purple.

The heart rate monitor’s waveform was spiking erratically, showing that she was in a state of extreme terror and discomfort.

The patient’s family was so anxious they were on the verge of tears.

"It’s... it’s happening again..." Chen Xiuli forced out the words in a voice so faint it was barely audible, her eyes filled with despair. "That... that rushing feeling... it’s coming up again..."

Before she could finish, her eyes flew wide open. A pained "Urk!" escaped her throat, her body went rigid, and she fainted.

The nurses immediately rushed over to provide emergency care.

Although the young woman regained consciousness quickly, the frequency and severity of this episode far exceeded any before.

Lin Guorui’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach.

He knew he couldn’t delay any longer.

"Qiming, go... go ask Professor Xue to come for a consultation." He finally set aside his pride and said to Hu Qiming.

Hu Qiming didn’t dare to delay. Steeling himself, he knocked on the door to Xue Shuheng’s office.

After listening to Hu Qiming’s report, Xue Shuheng frowned and followed him to the ward.

He merely glanced from a distance at the young woman’s miserable state on the bed, then picked up the chart and flipped through a few pages perfunctorily, an impatient look spreading across his face.

"That’s enough. No need to look further." He tossed the chart back onto the table and said icily, in a tone that was almost a death sentence, "This patient’s Yang Qi is failing, cold-fluid is ascendant within her, and the pathogenic qi has penetrated her vital core. She’s beyond medical help."