Chapter 130: A Secret Maneuver Meets Xiang Yu

Evan comes to the hospital for a consultation. Leo has a few requirements before they can get started.

Alex was having a wonderful time showing off. The people beside him were sick of it. They wanted nothing to do with him.

“Alex.” Evan spotted him coming over and called to him.

“Who is it?” Alex turned, looking pleased with himself. The moment he saw Evan, he gave a start.

“Oh! Dr. Xu!”

“Dr. Xu.”

“Dr. Xu?”

The other young doctors were surprised too.

Alex cast an uneasy glance to the side. Had his teacher heard him showing off? Was he here to show Alex up?

Evan nodded to them. “Hello. I'm looking for Dr. Cao.”

“He's upstairs.”

“I'll take you.”

The young doctors quickly gathered around Evan and escorted him upstairs. They had wanted to get away from Alex for ages.

Alex was left behind, not quite knowing what to do. Then he recovered and hurried after them.

Evan reached Leo Cao's office. Sure enough, Leo was there.

Leo looked startled to see so many people arrive.

“What are you all doing here? Don't you have work to do?”

“It's quiet right now,” the youngsters said, laughing. “We want to learn something from Dr. Xu.”

Leo waved them out. “Go on, get back to work. Think you're getting paid to do nothing?”

He drove the whole group out into the corridor.

Evan looked baffled too. “Dr. Cao, what's going on?”

“Nothing much,” Leo said with a chuckle. “Just two patients we'd like your help with. First, put on a white coat.”

He brought one over. “It's mine. Hope you don't mind.”

Evan was more puzzled than ever. “Why do I need to wear your coat?”

Leo gave him a plausible story. “The hospital's been checking staff appearance lately. You're an invited specialist, of course, but you'd better put one on anyway. Otherwise they'll make a special trip over to question you. You don't want that bother, do you?”

“Oh.” Evan didn't give it much thought. Doctors were supposed to wear white coats, after all.

Leo brought over a surgical mask as well. “Here's a mask.”

“Hm?” Evan was even more puzzled.

Leo continued his story. “That's another requirement from medical affairs. To keep doctors and patients from passing germs to each other. You know what those people are like. They're a nuisance. Inspections every day now.”

“Oh.” Frowning, Evan took the mask and put it on.

Leo put on a mask himself. “Let's go, Dr. Xu.”

They stepped out of the office.

The young doctors were still waiting at the door.

Both men were taken aback.

Leo frowned at them. “What are you doing?”

“We'd like to come and watch,” they said, grinning.

Leo was about to speak when Evan asked, “Dr. Cao, why not let them come with us?”

“Uh…”

Leo didn't know how to answer. He didn't want anyone knowing Evan had come to treat patients. What if Evan's treatment went wrong? And these damned youngsters had planted themselves right outside the door!

Evan grew more suspicious. What was Leo up to?

Under Evan's questioning gaze, Leo felt awkward. This would be hard to explain. Besides, even if he kept the youngsters away, they were bound to ask when Evan got back, and Evan was bound to tell them. That would be even harder to control.

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Better to take them into the ward and see how Evan's treatment worked out. If it helped, everyone would be happy. If it failed, none of these youngsters would be getting away. He could bring them back and give them a proper talking-to.

Leo frowned. “You can come, but watch more and talk less. Don't start talking out of turn once we're inside. Afterward, all of you come to my office. And put your masks on before you enter the ward.”

“Masks?” The young doctors looked surprised.

Evan looked at them, puzzled too. Yes, why weren't any of them wearing masks?

Leo glared. “Hurry up. No mask, no entry.”

They hurried off to find masks, then fetched notebooks and pens as well.

The group headed for the inpatient building.

On the way, Leo explained the case.

“Dr. Xu, the patient is a woman, 55 years old. She's had intestinal spasms for over five years. They come and go, but they've never been cured.

“Four days ago she suddenly developed severe cramping in her lower abdomen. It came in waves, and the pain was unbearable, so she was admitted here. We've tried Chinese medicine and Western medicine together, but we haven't had much success.

“We treated her for qi stagnation with bowel excess and gave her Xiao Chengqi Tang. But the pain became even worse. She was practically rolling around the bed, with sweat pouring off her forehead, so we stopped that treatment. That's why we'd like you to see her. Here's her chart.”^[1]

Evan took the chart, looked through it for a while, and indicated that he understood.

They reached the ward as they were talking.

The young doctors at the back started whispering again.

Leo glared at them. “I told you not to talk out of turn. Keep making that racket and you can all go back.”

They fell silent and didn't dare say another word. Then they crowded in behind Evan, making him look every inch the eminent specialist.

They entered the room.

Leo went in first. “Ms. Qi, are you feeling any better today?”

The middle-aged woman lying in bed shook her head wearily. “No. I'm still in pain.”

“Let's have another look, then.”

“All right.” She nodded slowly.

Leo gave Evan a signal.

Evan stepped up to the bed.

With the mask on, the patient couldn't get a clear look at his face.

“What's troubling you?” he asked.

“My stomach hurts.”

“Down in your lower abdomen?”

As he spoke, Evan placed his hand on her lower abdomen.

Under his hand, he felt what seemed like gas gurgling back and forth inside. He frowned slightly.

“It hurts badly here? Where else?”

The woman pointed to a spot just above her navel. “Here too. Like a brick pounding away inside my belly. I can't move. If I do, the pain is unbearable.”

Evan placed his hand where she had pointed and pressed gently. “Here?”

“Ah! That hurts!”

She cried out at once, breaking into a sweat.

Leo was startled too. Hey, gently! That was a senior official's wife!

“Lift your top a little and let me see your abdomen,” Evan said.

But the woman was in too much pain to move. Evan simply lifted the clothing himself and felt over her abdomen. His brow furrowed slightly. Why were those two areas so cold?

He rolled up her pant legs and checked her knees, legs, and feet by touch. Her knees were very cold.

“Let me see your tongue,” he said.

Enduring the pain, the woman stuck out her tongue.

Evan looked. The coating was very yellow.^[2]

He checked the chart again. She had a bitter taste in her mouth, restlessness and thirst. When she drank water, she brought up frothy saliva. Her urine was clear and copious.

“Do you prefer hot water or cold?” he asked.

“Hot,” she said through the pain.

Evan nodded slightly and asked a few more questions. Then he sat down beside the bed and began taking her pulse. The others watched from the doorway. No one dared speak and disturb him.

“Why are there so many people here?” a voice suddenly asked outside.

Everyone gave a start.

Leo hurriedly rose and went out, coming face to face with the newcomer.

It was Director Guo.

Leo's vision went dark. That was it. He'd meant to slip secretly into Chencang, only to get there and run straight into Xiang Yu. Just his damned luck!^[3]

Reader Notes

Reader Notes

1. ↩︎ Qi stagnation, bowel excess, and Xiao Chengqi Tang. Qi is a traditional functional concept; stagnation means its movement is impeded. “Bowel excess” describes an accumulation or blockage within Chinese medicine's account of digestive function. It does not by itself establish a biomedical diagnosis of intestinal obstruction. Xiao Chengqi Tang is a classical decoction used in this framework to clear heat accumulation through relatively mild purgation. It is distinct from Da Chengqi Tang. Leo describes the hospital's earlier assessment and the patient's worsening pain; this passage has not yet supplied Evan's diagnosis. Sources: WHO — International standard terminologies, entries 424 and 1404; Hong Kong Baptist University — Formulae database, F00017, additional formula 1.
2. ↩︎ Tongue coating and the combined examination. The coating is the layer visible on the tongue's surface, distinct from the tongue body beneath it. Observing the tongue belongs to inspection, one of Chinese medicine's four diagnostic methods. Asking about symptoms belongs to inquiry; feeling the abdomen or wrist pulse belongs to palpation. Evan is gathering these different kinds of information. The yellow coating is one recorded finding. This stage of the story leaves his interpretation open. Sources: WHO — International standard terminologies, entries 634, 640 and 673; Hong Kong Polytechnic University — Four diagnostic methods.
3. ↩︎ Chencang and Xiang Yu. “Secretly taking the route through Chencang” is an idiom for a concealed maneuver. Its traditional story concerns Liu Bang's forces advancing by an unexpected route while Liu Bang appeared to pose no threat to his powerful rival, Xiang Yu. Leo imagines his own covert plan ending with the very opponent he hoped to avoid waiting at the destination. The joke combines the stratagem with an unwelcome encounter; it is not an assertion that Xiang Yu historically stood at Chencang. Source: Taiwan Ministry of Education — Dictionary of Chinese Idioms, “Secretly taking Chencang” (in Chinese).