Surgery Godfather-Chapter 1897 - 1312: Bestseller
"Inner Canon of Huangdi?"
Griffin pronounced the Chinese accurately as he retracted his extended neck.
"Yes," Yang Ping nodded, "A Chinese medical classic from two thousand years ago."
The expressions on everyone’s face were quite remarkable: confusion, curiosity, doubt, and a hint of ’this couldn’t be a joke’ absurdity.
"Professor!" Griffin asked curiously, "Are you saying that your revolutionary theories—system regulation, identity validation, TIM hubs—were inspired by this ancient medical book?"
Yang Ping corrected, "When my own research reached a certain depth, I revisited this book and found that the ancients had described concepts similar to ours in completely different language two thousand years ago, meaning that modern research aligns with the ideas of the ancients in some sense."
He pointed to the Inner Canon of Huangdi: "It says: ’To treat illnesses, one must seek the root,’ modern translation: to treat disease, one must find the root cause. Isn’t this exactly what we mean by ’regulating from the system’s foundation rather than simple surface-level opposition’?"
"When righteous energy resides within, evil cannot interfere. Righteous energy is ample; disease cannot invade. Isn’t this the classical expression of ’cell identity system stable, abnormal cells cannot survive’?"
Tang Shun flipped through the book while speaking, "But this is philosophy, not science. Philosophy can inspire, but cannot replace empirical evidence."
"Of course not," Yang Ping said, "But when we already have experimental evidence and then see the philosophical connection, the shock is like exploring a desert alone for years and suddenly finding a two-thousand-year-old map that marks the oasis you just confirmed."
He looked around the audience: "I’m not saying the Inner Canon of Huangdi contains the answers to modern biology; I’m saying that the ancients’ holistic view of life systems, dynamic balance, and regulation rather than attack should complement our modern medicine’s reductionism and opposition. This way, it forms a complete medical theory, and the former might be closer to the truth of life, being conceptually more advanced."
The meeting room was silent for a full minute.
Then Griffin took the Inner Canon of Huangdi from Tang Shun’s hand and flipped through a few pages, his brow furrowed. He recognized every word but found it extremely hard to comprehend a sentence’s meaning. He considered himself skilled in Chinese, reading Chinese academic papers with ease, yet he couldn’t understand this book at all.
"Does this book... have an English version?" Griffin had no choice but to close the book.
"There should be, but it’s best to read the Chinese version; the English one struggles to express the true meaning of the original text," Yang Ping reminded him.
Though unbelievable, since the Inner Canon of Huangdi was recommended by the professor, it must have immense value, a consensus reached during the meeting.
The meeting ended at 5 PM, and at 6 PM, Yang Ping’s international group chat began frantically streaming messages.
[What’s this book?]
[Inner Canon of Huangdi]
[I know, it’s a specialized treatise on ancient Chinese medical theory.]
[Griffin, why did you send a picture of this book?]
[This is the professor’s revered tome; he said its medical concepts are the most advanced in the world, and he’s borrowed some ideas from it.]
[Really? Let me have a good look.]
[I’m going to the bookstore tomorrow to buy it.]
[I’m going to buy it now.]
[Hold on, Chinese medicine? The primitive treatment using herbs and needles? Is the professor serious? Are you sure there’s no misunderstanding?]
[Don’t jump to conclusions; I’ve seen the astonishing effects of Chinese acupuncture on facial paralysis. Perhaps there’s wisdom we don’t understand.]
August: [I looked it up on Wikipedia: Inner Canon of Huangdi, written around 200 BC, divided into Su Wen and Ling Shu sections. Wait... it believes the human body has twelve meridians where energy flows? This sounds like the Force in Star Wars.]
Manstein: [August, set aside your stereotypes. Any tradition lasting two thousand years must have its reasoning, of course, because it’s recommended by the professor, that’s why I think so. The question is: specifically, what content did the professor cite? How does it connect with modern biology?]
Takahashi: [Actually, Japanese Kampo medicine also derives from traditional Chinese classics; the Inner Canon of Huangdi holds a significant position in the history of Japanese medicine. I read the Japanese translation when I was young but then only thought it was historical literature.]
Robert: [So what are you hesitating about now? We should all go and buy this book!]
Griffin: [I’ve already ordered the English version on Amazon, but the professor said, truly understanding requires reading the Chinese version because translation loses many subtle meanings.]
John Ansen: [Chinese??? Are you sure you can understand it?]
Li Zehui (posted a photo): [Guys, look at this, I actually have one at home! Left by my father, always a decoration on the bookshelf. The cover says... um... ’Inner Canon of Huangdi Su Wen Annotated’?]
The group chat instantly exploded.
August: [Li! Quickly take photos! Take pictures of a few pages!]
Manstein: [First take the table of contents; we need to know its structure.]
Robert: [Wait, why does your father have this?]
Li Zehui: [He was also a doctor, often said Western medicine is too mechanical, wanted me to understand the holistic thinking of Chinese medicine, at the time I laughed it off.]
Li Zehui posted over twenty photos to the group: contents pages, preface, the first Chapter ’Ancient Innocence Theory’...
John Ansen: [I recognize these characters, but together they make no sense. ’Ancients lived beyond a hundred years during spring and autumn’? People from ancient times lived for a hundred years in spring and autumn? What’s this theory?]
Takahashi: [It’s ’Ancient people, their ages all surpass a hundred years,’ expressing the ideal of longevity.]
