A life of two souls traveling through time

"Here." Just after leaving the east city gate, Huifeng suddenly handed a medical book to Si Yao.

Si Yao, who was feeling sad because of the fire disaster at the Huang Mansion, was shocked to see the medical book in front of her and didn't know how to react for a moment.

"What? Are you planning to give up?" Huifeng's eyes showed a hint of indifference.

"I haven't understood the first medical book you gave me, and this one..." Si Yao hurriedly took the medical book. She didn't intend to give up, but the doubts in her heart did bother her.

"Medicine is related to people's lives, and its way is noble. Since ancient times, acupuncture and moxibustion are the quickest way to cure diseases. It is said that acupuncture is the first step, moxibustion is the second, and medicine is the third. Ancient famous doctors were the first to use acupuncture, and Huang Qi asked about the difficulties, which was unique in this field." After Huifeng finished reading this passage with a serious face, he saw that Si Yao was still confused, so he continued: "The origin of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment is far earlier than the decoction treatment method by a thousand years. If you want to study medicine, you should first understand the internal organs of the human body and the direction of the meridians throughout the body, connecting the internal organs and the external limbs. This is the first step to enter the medical field."

"So this is the introductory book on medicine? But what are meridians?" She had heard Xiaolu explain in detail the five internal organs and the solar terms when she was studying the properties of medicines in the pharmacy, but she didn't understand the meridians of the human body.

"The meridians of the human body are divided into the main meridians and the extraordinary meridians. The main meridians are divided into six yang meridians and six yin meridians, totaling twelve. The extraordinary meridians have eight meridians, namely Ren, Du, Chong, Dai, Yang Qiao, Yin Qiao, Yang Wei and Yin Wei."

"Then which six yang meridians and which six yin meridians are they?"

“The six yang meridians are the hand yangming large intestine meridian, the hand taiyang small intestine meridian, the hand shaoyang triple burner meridian, the foot yangming stomach meridian, the foot taiyang bladder meridian, and the foot shaoyang gallbladder meridian; the six yin meridians are the hand taiyin lung meridian, the hand shaoyin heart meridian, the hand jueyin pericardium meridian, the foot taiyin spleen meridian, the foot shaoyin kidney meridian, and the foot jueyin liver meridian.”

"So, the six internal organs in the human body, namely the large intestine, small intestine, triple burner, stomach, bladder, and gallbladder, are all yang, while the five internal organs, lungs, heart, spleen, kidneys, and liver, are all yin?"

"You're quite insightful, not bad." Huifeng looked at Si Yao with a little surprise and nodded.

"How do you explain the yin and yang of the human body?" After entering the pharmacy and initially realizing that Chinese medicine thinking is contrary to modern medicine, Si Yao knew clearly that if he wanted to learn medicine well in the present, he must clear his mind of his understanding of modern medicine and re-incorporate a set of Chinese medicine concepts.

"Everything in the world has yin and yang, heaven and earth, sun and moon, thunder and lightning, four seasons, male and female, hard and soft, movement and stillness. All things respect yin and yang and the five elements, and yin and yang and the five elements are both opposite and restrained, and complementary to each other. Therefore, only when yin and yang and the five elements are balanced can we be safe and sound. The way of heaven and earth creates all things with yin and yang, and people are in harmony with heaven and earth, and correspond to the sun and the moon, and use the two energies of yin and yang to nourish all bones. In the human body, qi is yang and blood is yin; the back is yang and the abdomen is yin; with the waist as the boundary, the upper part is yang and the lower part is yin; the internal organs are in the middle and are yin, and the limbs are on the outside and are yang; the skin, hair, tendons and muscles are on the surface and are yang, and the bone marrow is on the inside and is yin; the six internal organs transmit and transform things but do not store them, which is yang, and the five internal organs store essence and qi without excretion, which is yin. Therefore, the occurrence of any disease is the imbalance of yin and yang in the human body, resulting in partial prosperity or decline."

"The five elements, which are gold, wood, water, fire and earth in nature? But how does this relate to the human body?"

"There are five seasons in the universe: spring, summer, long summer, autumn, and winter. They correspond to the changes of the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. In accordance with the seasons of spring growth, summer growth, autumn harvest, and winter storage, the five climates of wind, heat, dampness, dryness, and cold are produced. These five climate changes also correspond to the qi of the five internal organs of the human body: the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys. The qi of the five internal organs can be transformed into the five emotions of anger, joy, thought, sadness, and fear."

"That is to say, using the Five Elements Principle, the five internal organs of the human body, the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, can also correspond to the five seasons, spring, summer, long summer, autumn, and winter?"

"It's not just the five seasons, there are also the five tastes of sour, bitter, sweet, spicy and salty; the five colors of green, red, yellow, white and black; the five notes of Jiao, Zheng, Gong, Shang and Yu; and the five directions of southeast, center, northwest and north. As long as you understand the mutual generation and mutual restraint of the five elements of all things, you can better understand the five internal organs of the human body."

"How do the five elements interact with each other?"

"The mutual generation and mutual restraint of the five elements is like yin and yang. There is restraint in generation and generation in restraint. The mechanism of creation cannot be without generation, nor can it be without restraint. Without generation, there is no way for development. Without restraint, it will be excessive and harmful. Wood is warm in nature. Fire hides in it and burns it out. The heat of fire burns it into ash and soil. When soil gathers into mountains, mountains will grow stones. Water can melt gold. Mountains and rocks are moistened, and water moistens them and can produce hundreds of trees."

"Wood produces fire, fire produces earth, earth produces metal, metal produces water, and water produces wood."

Huifeng nodded with satisfaction and continued, "The counteracting factors are to control their excesses. Wood rises and disperses while metal gathers it. Fire rises and water descends and moistens it. Earth moistens and wood disperses. Metal gathers too much and warms it. Water descends and moistens it while earth circulates and transforms it."

"Metal overcomes wood, water overcomes fire, wood overcomes earth, fire overcomes metal, and earth overcomes water. According to the previous principles, the mutual generation and mutual restraint of the five elements are also equivalent to the mutual generation and mutual restraint of the five internal organs. The liver gives birth to the heart and overcomes the spleen, the heart gives birth to the spleen and overcomes metal, the spleen gives birth to the lungs and overcomes the kidneys, the lungs give birth to the kidneys and overcome the liver, the kidneys give birth to the liver and overcome the heart... But how can these be used in treating diseases?" When it comes to learning, Si Yao can indeed understand things at a glance.

"This needs to be interpreted in combination with the five elements' theory of multiplication and division, the relationship between mother and child, observation, auscultation, questioning and palpation, and other medical theories. It is still too far away for you. You should finish reading this book first. When you have a certain understanding of meridians, I will slowly teach you." Although Huifeng's face was as dull as ever, he secretly admired Si Yao's amazing understanding.

"I understand. Today's profit is quite good, and I have to thank Mr. Er for clearing up my doubts."

"You were able to comprehend the essence of Yin Yang and the Five Elements so quickly, which means you are still worthy of being taught."

"I have another question, why did Mr. Er help me?"

"If I say that this is a test from the owner of the manor, would you believe it?"

The two talked as they walked, and before they knew it they had returned to Sanxiu Pharmacy. However, the pharmacy was still open for business, but the door was closed.

"Closed for today." Si Yao looked at the wooden sign hanging on the door and couldn't help but frowned: "What happened in the village?"

"Mr. Er is back!" At this time, the door opened slightly, Xiaolu poked his head out and saw Huifeng and Siyao, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Huifeng asked Xiang Xiaolu hurriedly.

"Ah, it's all because of that old lady Cheng from the rice shop!" Xiaolu sighed helplessly.

"Mrs. Cheng? Isn't she sick?"

"I don't know what evil spirit has befallen her, but she rushed to the pharmacy with two fake Taoist priests who were obviously swindlers, and insisted that our owner had cursed her son, and that was why her son always came to the pharmacy when she was seriously ill."

"This is a groundless slander. Master will probably be furious."

"Yes, the owner of the manor was so angry that he even pulled out his sword that had not been unsheathed for many years, and hacked at the two fake Taoists. It was a pity that Mr. Da and Boss Cheng were fighting on both sides, otherwise someone might have died. Mrs. Cheng even threatened to report to the police before she left!"

After Xiaolu finished his excited speech, Huifeng said nothing more and strode towards the inner courtyard. Si Yao, who had been following him silently, was stopped by Xiaolu in time:

"Sister Si Yao, the owner of the manor is angry, let's get as far away as possible."

"Yes, yes, when the owner of the manor gets angry, he will scold anyone he meets, even the first and second masters are not spared." At this time, Guo Ying appeared out of nowhere and sighed with a bitter face.