Chapter 680: It Doesn’t Hurt

Chapter 680: Chapter 680: It Doesn’t Hurt

Feng City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, specialist consultation room.

Li Lin and the other new interns had just finished another round of acting as human test subjects. Although they still had a bitter taste in their mouths, their faces were all glowing with excitement.

Their "sacrifice" had earned them the precious opportunity to observe and learn at Li Xu’s side.

"DING DONG—"

The number display chimed.

A young couple walked in with a little girl.

The little girl was about five or six years old and very cute.

But right now, her brow was furrowed, her little face was deathly pale, and she was clutching her stomach with a pained expression.

"Come on, little one. Come over to me."

Li Xu beckoned gently.

The little girl was a bit shy and hid behind her mother.

Her mother quickly lifted her onto the chair in front of the consultation desk.

"What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?"

Li Xu asked.

The child’s father, his face fraught with anxiety, handed over a thick medical file. "Doctor, it’s intestinal paralysis. Our daughter had appendicitis a few days ago and underwent minimally invasive surgery at the City Second Hospital. The surgery itself was a success, and the incision healed nicely. But... she’s had abdominal bloating ever since. It’s been six days now."

"For the past six days, she hasn’t had a bowel movement—hasn’t even passed gas. Her belly is swollen up like a balloon. Yesterday, the doctors there gave her an enema, but not much came out, and her stomach was still bloated. They listened with a stethoscope and said there were no bowel sounds, that her intestines were ’paralyzed.’"

"Then they inserted a gastric tube for gastrointestinal decompression. They suctioned out a lot of yellowish-green fluid, a full 300 milliliters. It was terrifying to look at. But it didn’t take long for her stomach to bloat up again after they finished. The poor girl is in so much pain, she just keeps crying. It breaks our hearts to see her like this."

"We were at our wits’ end. We heard you have many effective treatments here, so we transferred her over immediately."

Li Xu flipped through the medical records and then examined the abdominal X-ray they had brought.

The film showed several fluid levels in the little girl’s upper abdomen, along with intestinal distension and trapped gas—a classic presentation of intestinal obstruction and paralysis.

"I’ve read the surgical report from the City Second Hospital. The procedure was done correctly."

Li Xu said calmly, "Postoperative intestinal paralysis is a common complication of abdominal surgery, especially for children, whose qi and blood are more delicate."

He put down the medical file and began a Traditional Chinese Medicine physical examination on the little girl.

Inspection: Her complexion was pale and dull, and her spirit was listless—a sign of weak qi and blood.

Her tongue was pale with a thin, white coating, indicating a deficient and cold spleen and stomach with weak transformative and transportive functions.

Palpation: The pulse under his fingers was thready, rapid, and weak.

A thready pulse indicates declining qi, a rapid pulse points to depleted blood, and a weak pulse confirms a state of deficiency.

Although the surgery removed the lesion, it also consumed the child’s Primordial Qi.

With insufficient vital qi, there wasn’t enough force to promote intestinal peristalsis. This led to qi stagnation, preventing the passage of waste and thus causing the bloating and constipation.

This is what TCM calls a "deficiency-excess complex."

The usual treatment plan involves nothing more than oral herbal decoctions and acupuncture.

Li Xu nodded slightly, a plan already formed in his mind.

’In a case like this, a combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine will yield the fastest results.’

’This condition isn’t a rare or complex disease, but the simplest ailments are often the greatest test of a doctor’s skill.’

’Is the formula’s composition precise?’

’Are the acupuncture points selected accurately?’

’Are the reinforcement and reduction techniques applied correctly?’

’These details are what make a world of difference in the therapeutic outcome.’

Li Xu said to the parents, "In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we call this ’obstructed organ qi.’ The surgery damaged the meridians, the body’s transformative functions haven’t recovered, and the large intestine lacks the strength to transport waste."

"How about this: I’ll first give the child some acupuncture to stimulate intestinal peristalsis. Then I’ll write a prescription for you to take home and brew. She should be able to pass gas soon after."

When Li Lin and the other interns heard there would be acupuncture, their eyes went wide and they craned their necks to see.

Although they had studied acupuncture in school, it was mostly theory. They were fine with memorizing acupoint charts, but in a real clinical setting, they wouldn’t know where to insert the needle, let alone what techniques to use.

Now they had the chance to see a top expert perform acupuncture with their own eyes. This was a golden opportunity for learning, and they couldn’t afford to miss a single second.

Li Xu turned to get his needles.

When she saw the Silver Needle with its cold glint, the little girl’s already pale face turned even whiter. Her lips trembled, and with a loud "WAAAH," she burst into tears, burying herself in her mother’s arms in fright.

"Sob... I don’t want the needle... I’m scared of the pain..."

"Don’t cry, sweetie. It won’t hurt."

Li Xu approached with the needle, a wide smile on his face. His tone was as gentle as the Big Bad Wolf luring Little Red Riding Hood. "My needle is very, very thin. It feels lighter than a mosquito bite. It won’t hurt at all." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Really?"

The little girl looked up at Li Xu, her face tear-streaked, her eyes full of doubt.

"Really. I’m a superman, and supermen never lie to little kids. Come on, be brave. Lie down and just lift up your shirt a little bit."

After some coaxing and cajoling from her parents, the little girl finally lay down on the treatment bed, sobbing softly, and revealed her small, swollen tummy.

"It really won’t hurt?"

she asked again, still unconvinced.

"Really. I’m not lying to you."

As he spoke, Li Xu expertly disinfected the area above the child’s navel—the Zhongwan acupoint—with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball.

Then, with a flick of his wrist, the needle flew into the point!

"WAAAAAH!!!"

A heart-rending wail erupted instantly.

The child’s cry sent her parents into a panic. They immediately rushed over. "What’s wrong? Sweetie, does it hurt a lot? Quick, tell Mommy!"

The child just kept her eyes squeezed shut and wailed, not answering, her little body just twitching with sobs.

This made her parents even more nervous, and they looked at Li Xu with pleading eyes.

Li Xu calmly waved his hand. "It’s fine, don’t worry. I’m using the thinnest type of filiform needle. The sensation is about the same as a mosquito bite—very slight. She’s just scared; it’s purely psychological. Think about it. She cries when she gets a vaccine, right? So imagine how she feels with a shiny needle going into her belly."

"Oh..."

The parents relaxed a little, but they still held their daughter’s hand tightly, comforting her.

Seeing the little girl making all that noise without shedding a single tear, Li Xu couldn’t help but tease her. "Just wailing isn’t enough, you know. You should probably squeeze out a tear or two. Otherwise, it doesn’t count as real crying, and everyone is watching."

The interns and nurses standing nearby chuckled at his remark.

Who would have thought that upon hearing this, the little girl would look deeply wronged and, with another "WAAAH," begin to cry even harder? This time, real tears streamed down her face like beads from a broken string.

Li Xu: "..."

The others were left speechless. The kid sure knew how to take a hint.

Li Xu immediately shut his mouth. He stopped teasing her and began to focus wholeheartedly on applying his techniques.

’The patient’s etiology was clear: weak qi and blood, and damaged meridians.’

’It was like a water pipe. Originally, it was clear, the water flow was strong, and water came out the other end normally.’

’But now, because the surgery had consumed qi and blood, the water pressure had dropped; a pipe that was once full was now only half-full. On top of that, the surgical trauma had damaged the meridians, causing the pipe itself to become somewhat blocked and sluggish.’

’When these two factors were combined, the water naturally couldn’t reach the end of the pipe, which perfectly explained the intestinal paralysis and the accumulation of gas and fluid.’