In a small mountain village called Yun Gang Village in Jiang Ning Province, there was a long queue in front of a dispensary called "San Qi Tang." Among them were elderly people who couldn't stand straight even with the help of their children, young people whose faces were as yellow as wax, and children who cried incessantly in their parents' arms. There were even a few people sitting in their stools, waiting in line.
San Qi Tang, although referred to as a dispensary, was nothing more than a small courtyard of an ordinary rural household. However, it was unique as the house was made up of stacked wood, different from the houses in the village which were generally made of Adobe. On both sides of the door were two wooden panels with a couplet. The first line was: "Wishing everyone in the world is free from disease," and the second line was: "Why worry about the dust on the medicine shelves". Above, there was an old plaque with the strong and vigorous calligraphy that read: San Qi Tang. It was signed by Ling Guangbai.
In such a dispensary, people would naturally imagine an old man with a white beard to be the doctor, diagnosing patients with eyes closed and a sense of mystery. However, upon entering the house, you'd be surprised to find that the person seeing patients was a young man in his early twenties. He was sitting behind a desk made of elm, worn and gleaming with age, wearing a white short gown made of coarse hemp fabric and black cloth shoes. Despite his rather mature furniture and outfit, he looked quite out of place with his youthful and fair face.
At this time, an old man finished his consultation. The young doctor handed a prescription to a young girl in her early twenties standing behind him. She looked at the prescription and went to the nearby medicine cabinet to prepare the medicines.
A man in his fifties, who appeared robust, saw his turn came. He hastily walked forward, took off his shirt, and said anxiously, "Ling You, please check me. I have a lot of rashes on my body."
The young doctor, Ling You, moved closer to examine the man. He saw patches of purple rashes all over his upper body, not limited to his upper body alone. After observing, he noticed the same on his legs which were covered in shorts. Having got an overall idea, Ling You said, "Uncle Qi, don't worry, let me take your pulse first."
Hearing this, the man known as Uncle Qi immediately put his hand on the pillow. Ling You felt his pulse, while the other patients in the room looked on with bated breath. Some of the young people even dared not look too much because the patches of rashes on the man's body were so dense that anyone with a fear of clustered things would get goosebumps.
A few moments later, Ling You had felt both pulses and asked the man to stick out his tongue to check the condition of his tongue coating. Finally, he asked Uncle Qi, "Uncle Qi, do you often feel weak, short of breath, and lose appetite recently? Do you sometimes even feel dizzy and weak in your legs?"
Uncle Qi immediately nodded and affirmed, "Yes, that's true. I can't work now because I don't have the strength. Do these symptoms have anything to do with the rashes on my body?"
Ling You sat up straight and asked Uncle Qi, "If I'm not wrong, these rashes you mentioned appeared on your body two months ago, right? But you did not pay attention to them, and treated them as a common skin disease, am I correct?"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Qi slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Yes, you're right. The rashes started to appear during spring sowing. I was too busy with farm work and didn't pay much attention to them. Your Aunt Qi brought back a box of ointment for skin diseases from the town, but it didn't work even after the entire box was used up. In the past half month, the rashes have increased considerably."
Listening to this, Ling You wasn't surprised. Many farmers in the village tend to ignore their health due to their work, thinking that they are strong and a little illness wouldn't matter. They hate to delay their work and crop yield because of minor illnesses. As a result, they self-diagnose and take medicine randomly. If it works, that’s fine; if it doesn’t, minor illnesses turn into serious ones.
"Uncle Qi, this is not a rash. In traditional Chinese medicine, your condition is called 'purpura,' which is caused by subcutaneous bleeding. I believe you have had similar symptoms in previous years, but they were not serious and got better soon. Only this year, it has worsened. I will prescribe some medication for you and you'll recover soon." Ling You finished with a chuckle, picked up the pen and wrote the prescription in beautiful handwriting.
Unlike some traditional Chinese medicine doctors, members of the Ling family, never display their emotions when diagnosing patients. They always treat their patients with an ordinary heart. Indeed, sometimes the patient's condition is not a big deal, but when they see the doctor's tense expression, they get scared and start imagining they have a serious disease. Therefore, since Ling You started learning medicine from his grandfather Ling Guangbai at the age of five, his grandfather instilled this in him and he has strictly adhered to it in his practice for more than a decade.
Just as Ling You had said, Uncle Qi did occasionally have similar purple rashes on his body in previous years. However, they were not serious and got better after applying ointment a couple of times. He never took it to heart, unaware that the ointment he used didn't actually help. His disease was just not serious then but now, it had turned from a minor illness into a major one.
In a short while, Ling You wrote the following prescription: Huang Qi 20g, Bai Zhu 15g, Dang Gui 30g, He Shou Wu 30g, Bu Gu Zhi 20g, Xian He Cao 90g, Huai Hua 15g, Shi Wei 15g. Boil in water and consume. Three doses should suffice. He signed his name after the prescription.
After confirming again, Ling You handed the prescription to the girl standing behind him, "Xiao Yun, help Uncle Qi make the medication." Xiao Yun, the girl called, took the prescription and replied, "Alright, brother."
