Chapter 644: Dare

Chapter 644: Chapter 644: Dare

The entire room was dead silent.

Li Xu’s furious outburst was like a clap of muffled thunder, exploding in everyone’s hearts.

They were all completely intimidated.

Although Li Xu was young—in the eyes of many senior doctors, still just a "kid"—his current qualifications, status, and string of stunning successes had long since made him a towering figure in Feng City’s medical community.

From tick-borne disease to Parkinson’s, from his sobriety tea to the anti-cancer miracle, every move he made turned the tide in spectacular fashion, leaving everyone in awe.

Thus, the sheer force of his presence overwhelmed all the directors, experts, and senior physicians in the room.

It was no wonder Li Xu was angry; he was absolutely seething.

A patient in his condition should never have been allowed to decline this far.

Years ago, even when the illness first manifested a decade ago, if a doctor had just dared to use strong, "hot" and acrid herbs—to "break the ice," "open the gates and expel the thief," and drive out the latent pathogen—this disease would have been eradicated long ago.

Even now—or rather, seven months ago when he was hospitalized in the provincial capital—if they had just dared to act decisively and use a high dose of aconite-based medicine, they could have melted this "iceberg."

Why did it have to get to this point?

Why let it deteriorate into this critical state of heart and kidney yang-deficiency, a deep-seated cold that has penetrated to the very bone?

The patient had been tortured by his illness, hovering between life and death. His family had been tormented to the point of despair, their savings depleted, their hopes shattered.

Is this not the responsibility of the doctors?

Is this not a failure of Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Li Xu was so furious, he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

His face was grim, his gaze piercing as he looked at each person in the room. His eyes burned with frustrated anger, disappointed that they had all fallen so short.

When he lost his temper, he had no regard for social niceties, for face or for dignity.

He stared at them, his voice low and powerful. "Don’t think these critical cases have nothing to do with Traditional Chinese Medicine. I’m telling you, this *is* our responsibility. This is a disgrace to Traditional Chinese Medicine."

"Don’t think that when the Western medicine doctors ask for a consultation, it’s just a formality—that you can just prescribe some harmless supplementary herbs and call it a day. You have to shoulder this responsibility! When it comes to treating critical and acute illnesses, Traditional Chinese Medicine has never lagged behind. In fact, in many situations, only Traditional Chinese Medicine can pull a patient back from the brink."

"If you don’t dare to shoulder this responsibility, the patient is left to lie in his hospital bed and wait for death! If you don’t dare to shoulder this responsibility, Traditional Chinese Medicine will forever be derided as ’slow medicine,’ dismissed as mere preventative care only good for wellness, not for actual disease."

"If you don’t dare to shoulder this responsibility, the priceless knowledge for saving the critically ill—knowledge our ancestors accumulated through untold hardship, by testing herbs on their own bodies—will all be for naught! It will be severed from its roots, right here in your hands."

"If you don’t dare to shoulder this responsibility, Traditional Chinese Medicine will forever languish in this half-dead state, forever looked down upon by everyone."

Li Xu’s tirade was merciless, every word a piercing blow.

The entire room was deathly silent; everyone even seemed to be breathing cautiously.

The patient’s wife stared, stunned, at the young doctor.

She had never seen a doctor like this. He was so young, yet his tirade struck such a primal fear into everyone that no one dared utter a single word in rebuttal.

Lin Guorui’s heart pounded with anxiety.

At this moment, he was suddenly reminded of a national Traditional Chinese Medicine symposium he had attended many years ago.

A highly respected elder of Traditional Chinese Medicine had berated the attendees in the exact same way.

He had accused modern TCM practitioners of only caring about self-preservation, of only knowing how to prescribe safe, balanced formulas. He said they had become "prescription-writing machines" just to avoid risk, and in doing so, had completely ceded the field of critical care, becoming a mere appendage to Western medicine.

"This is a profound disgrace to three generations of Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners—the old, the middle-aged, and the young!"

The old master had slammed his fist on the table as he furiously condemned them at the conference.

As Lin Guorui watched Li Xu, for a fleeting moment, it was as if he saw the old master’s shadow overlaying the young man’s form.

He had spoken with the same tone.

He had worn the same expression.

He had been filled with the same anger and helplessness.

...

After what felt like an eternity, a timid voice from the crowd finally broke the suffocating silence. "But... a dose that large... are you sure nothing will happen?"

Li Xu turned his head, his expression impassive. He stated, his voice firm and resolute, "After the decoction is prepared, I’ll drink the first dose."

"What?"

Everyone present was stunned, gasping in unison.

Lin Guorui was also taken aback and rushed to intervene.

Doctors testing medicine themselves is a practice from ancient times. But in the modern medical system, it was utter madness.

The entire room fell silent again, utterly stunned by Li Xu’s unyielding resolve.

"That won’t be necessary. Once the prescription is filled and the medicine is ready, just give it to him directly."

It was the patient’s wife who spoke.

Her voice was still calm, but beneath that calm lay the resolve of someone making an all-or-nothing gamble.

"Are you..."

The patient’s brother froze, his voice laced with anxiety. "Are you sure? You have to think this through! This is potent medicine!"

The patient’s wife looked up, a glimmer of light now visible in her once-numb eyes.

She looked at Li Xu, her voice calm yet filled with a desolate sorrow. "Do I have any other choice?"

A heavy feeling settled in everyone’s hearts.

It was true. What other options were there?

The Western doctors had already issued a death sentence, and conventional Traditional Chinese Medicine was powerless.

Besides this one last gamble, what else was there to do?

Just wait to die?

Li Xu looked at her and gave a solemn nod. "Rest assured," he promised, "I will do everything in my power."

"Dean Li..."

Lin Guorui pulled Li Xu aside, out of earshot of the family. "Dean Li, please, think about this," he urged in a low voice. "With a case this severe, no one can guarantee a cure—not with Traditional Chinese Medicine, not with Western medicine. If you fail, or worse, if there’s a toxic reaction... the Materia Medica is treated as law. You’ll be held responsible."

"You have a great reputation now, I know. But if a medical accident happens—especially one involving an overdose like this—you will absolutely be held liable. And because you’re so young and so accomplished, many people are jealous of you. The public backlash will be a hundred times more vicious than for any other doctor. Your reputation will be destroyed, your career ruined!"

Lin Guorui pleaded with him, his words born from genuine concern for Li Xu’s well-being.

Li Xu just gave a relaxed smile. "Director Lin, perhaps you’re right to be worried. But I can’t just stand by and watch a patient who can be saved die because of my own cowardice. I can do more."

"Because at the end of the day... I’m a doctor."

In truth, Li Xu had another thought he didn’t voice.

’He had the intelligence system. For over two years now, it has given me so much knowledge and so many skills.’

’If I have a cheat like that and still act as timidly as any other doctor, watching someone die when I could save them, I would be failing the system that has ’nurtured’ me. More importantly, I’d be failing the white coat I wear.’

’Besides, even if it does turn into a medical malpractice case, so what? The worst that could happen is that I’d have to start over.’

’I have shares in Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory and all those secret formulas. I have more than enough capital to start again.’

’But a person only has one life. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.’

Lin Guorui looked at Li Xu’s resolute gaze, finally let out a sigh, and said no more.

’He knew, in his heart, that he could never do the same.’

And for that, his admiration for Li Xu grew even deeper.

’This,’ he thought, ’must be the true meaning of a doctor’s duty.’