Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 139: It’s All Fake

The next morning, Wang Ruiying, enduring her discomfort, opened the box of Moxibustion Sticks.

She lit one and, mimicking a video she’d seen online, aimed it at her Guanyuan Acupoint (three inches below the navel) and slowly warmed the area.

The mugwort smoke curled upwards, carrying a unique, toasted aroma. The heat penetrated her skin and seeped into her body, making her feel a little more comfortable.

’It should be working, right?’ she thought, continuing the treatment for a full twenty minutes.

But not long after she put the Moxibustion Stick down, the abdominal pain returned with a vengeance, even more intense than before.

"How could this be?" Panicked, she pulled out her phone and searched again for "Four-Ingredient Soup, menstrual pain, no effect." A slew of discussions popped up:

"Four-Ingredient Soup is for blood-deficiency type menstrual pain. If you have the qi-stagnation and blood-stasis type, drinking it will actually make the pain worse!"

"Moxibustion also depends on your constitution. People with yin-deficiency and effulgent fire shouldn’t use it carelessly, or it will cause excess internal heat!"

"The quality of herbs bought online is all over the place. Some of them aren’t even the right ones for the condition!"

The more Wang Ruiying read, the more alarmed she became. She finally realized she probably hadn’t understood her own constitution at all and had just blindly copied a remedy from the internet.

To make matters worse, not only had her abdominal pain not eased, it had intensified.

On the third day, Wang Ruiying couldn’t bear it any longer. Clutching her stomach, her face pale, she rushed to Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic.

This time, the clinic’s door was finally open.

As soon as she entered, she saw Li Xu taking an elderly woman’s pulse.

The old woman was rambling on about her symptoms, and Li Xu listened patiently, nodding from time to time.

Wang Ruiying stood to the side, and only after the old woman had left did she speak up weakly, "Doctor Li... I... my stomach hurts so much..."

Li Xu looked up, his brow immediately furrowing. "Sister Wang? Why do you look so pale?"

With a pained expression, Wang Ruiying blurted out the whole story about buying the Four-Ingredient Soup online and performing moxibustion on herself.

After listening, Li Xu didn’t say much. "Let me take your pulse first."

He had Wang Ruiying sit down and placed his fingers on her wrist, his brow knitting tighter and tighter.

A moment later, Li Xu switched to her other wrist to continue the diagnosis. He then carefully observed her tongue coating, his expression growing perplexed.

"Strange..." Li Xu muttered to himself. "Judging from your pulse, you do indeed have a pattern of blood deficiency combined with blood stasis. Your left *guan* pulse is fine and weak, your right *chi* pulse is deep and choppy, and your tongue is pale purple with teeth marks on the edges. These are all clear indications for Four-Ingredient Soup."

Wang Ruiying leaned weakly against the back of the chair. "Then why did I feel no effect after drinking it?"

Li Xu didn’t answer immediately, instead asking, "The Four-Ingredient Soup you bought, what were the proportions?"

Wang Ruiying took out her phone and found the formula. "12 grams of Dried Rehmannia Glutinosa, 10 grams of Danggui, 12 grams of white peony, and 8 grams of Chuan Xiong. The website said it was the standard ratio..."

"How many times did you use the Moxibustion Sticks? And for how long each time?"

"For two days, about twenty minutes each time..."

Li Xu thought for a moment, then said, "Sister Wang, could you bring the rest of the herbs and the moxibustion sticks for me to see?"

Wang Ruiying paused, surprised. "Now?"

"Yes, now." Li Xu’s expression was serious. "Normally, since the Four-Ingredient Soup is the correct prescription, you should have felt some relief after drinking it. The fact that it was ineffective means it’s either a problem with the herbs, or you have some other underlying condition. I need to rule things out."

"Alright."

Enduring the pain, Wang Ruiying went home to get the remaining herbs and Moxibustion Sticks.

Fortunately, she lived right next door in the Sunshine District.

She quickly returned with the herbs.

Li Xu took out a sheet of white paper and a magnifying glass.

"I’ll look at them one by one." Li Xu took the packets of herbs and spread them out on the white paper.

He first picked up a dark brown, lumpy piece. "This is the ’Dried Rehmannia Glutinosa’..."

Li Xu scraped the surface with his fingernail, then broke it open and sniffed it. He suddenly laughed.

"What is it?" Wang Ruiying asked, confused.

"This isn’t Dried Rehmannia Glutinosa at all." Li Xu handed the herb to her. "Feel it. Real Dried Rehmannia Glutinosa is soft, and the cross-section should be black and glossy. This thing is hard and dry, and it smells like sweet potato."

"Sweet potato?" Wang Ruiying’s eyes widened.

Li Xu nodded. "That’s right, sweet potato. You can eat it as a meal, but it won’t cure your stomachache."

He then picked up the Danggui. "Now look at this ’Danggui.’ Real Danggui should have a strong, rich fragrance, a yellowish-white cross-section, and a noticeable oiliness. Yours..."

Li Xu shook his head. "The color is deathly pale, and the smell is so faint you can barely detect it. It’s Du Huo passing as Danggui."

The color drained from Wang Ruiying’s face.

Li Xu continued his inspection. "This ’white peony’ is even more ridiculous. A real white peony cross-section should be a fine, powdery white with radial patterns. Yours..."

He held up a slice with tweezers, holding it to the light. "See these fibers? This is clearly a dyed slice of cassava!"

"Then... what about this one?" Wang Ruiying asked, trembling as she pointed to the last herb.

"The Chuan Xiong?" Li Xu picked up a piece, sniffed it, then placed it in his mouth and bit down gently. He immediately spat it out. "It doesn’t even have the most basic tongue-numbing sensation. I have no idea what plant root they used to fake this."

Wang Ruiying sat stunned in her chair, utterly speechless. "So... I spent 35 yuan on a pile of fake medicine?"

Li Xu sighed. "Ninety-nine percent of the cheap Chinese medicine online is fake. These counterfeiting methods are an open secret in the industry." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

He picked up the box of Moxibustion Sticks. "These are the sticks that came with it?"

Wang Ruiying nodded mechanically, still clinging to a sliver of hope. "Yes... They can’t possibly be fake too, can they?"

Li Xu broke one open, squeezed it, then lit it and sniffed the smoke. He suddenly burst out laughing. "Do you know what this is made of?"

Wang Ruiying shook her head.

"Cardboard." Li Xu snapped the stick in two, revealing the fibers inside. "Real mugwort fiber should be grayish-green, soft as cotton, and have a distinct, fresh fragrance. This..."

He pointed to the obvious cardboard fibers in the cross-section. "It’s made from shredded waste cardboard mixed with a little bit of mugwort leaf powder."

Wang Ruiying was completely floored. "So for the past two days... I’ve been drinking sweet potato soup and burning cardboard strips?"

Li Xu nodded helplessly. "That’s why your symptoms didn’t improve and actually got worse. Not only are fake herbs ineffective, but some can also place an extra burden on your body."

Wang Ruiying suddenly remembered something. "Wait, but that online store has tons of good reviews!"

"They’re faked." Li Xu shook his head. "For real Four-Ingredient Soup herbs, forget five doses—a single dose costs more than 20 yuan."

Wang Ruiying was overcome with regret.

If only she had known better than to buy medicine online.

Not only was it a waste of money, but it had also delayed her treatment.

Li Xu walked over to the medicine cabinet. "I’ll prepare a real dose of Four-Ingredient Soup for you. I guarantee it will cure you."

As Wang Ruiying watched Li Xu skillfully weigh the herbs, she asked, "Doctor Li, how can I tell the real from the fake in the future?"

Li Xu turned back, a half-smile on his face. "What? Still thinking of buying online?"

"No."

Wang Ruiying explained, "I’ve been reading a lot about Chinese medicine these past two days. I just want to understand more."

Li Xu picked up a piece of real Danggui. "You see, this is what Danggui is supposed to look like—the cross-section has visible cracks and oil chambers, and the fragrance is rich and potent."

Wang Ruiying leaned in for a sniff. A rich fragrance immediately filled her nostrils, completely different from the "Danggui" she had bought.

"In a bit, I’ll tell you more about the Four-Ingredient Soup..." Li Xu finished packing the herbs. "In the future, when you buy Chinese medicine, either go to a proper pharmacy, or..."