Travels of a Female Physician in the Ming Dynasty

I've been running around the slums with Gu Qingge these days and I'm really exhausted. I'm lying comfortably on the couch, ready to have a good rest.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, Xiao Cui suddenly rushed in, shouting, "Miss! Miss! Master Zhu is here!"

I sat up suddenly from the couch, my head a little confused: "Who? Zhu Yuan? Why is he here again?"

"Yes, he said he has something important to discuss with you!" Xiao Cui said, unable to help laughing. "Miss, look at how anxious he is. He must have made some joke again."

When I heard the name "Zhu Yuan", my forehead started to ache.

This person is simply a walking disaster. Wherever he goes, some ridiculous situations will basically occur.

"Okay, bring him in." I sighed helplessly.

This guy Zhu Yuan won't calm down until he makes a big noise.

As soon as Zhu Yuan walked in, he was still as familiar as ever. He completely ignored the fact that I was a girl and sat down across from me with a bright smile on his face. "Miss Yang! I'm here to ask for serious medical advice this time!"

I raised my eyebrows. The word "serious" sounded distrustful when it came out of his mouth.

"Oh? When did you become interested in medicine?" I asked in surprise, trying to figure out his real intentions. After all, I was extremely skeptical about Zhu Yuan's sudden desire to study medicine.

"Ah, I've been reflecting on this recently and feel like I should do something serious," he said seriously. "Look, Miss Gu is a skilled doctor. If I could learn some medical skills, wouldn't that give me a better chance to interact with her?"

As expected! I knew this guy wouldn't come here to study medicine for no reason. It turns out he was after Gu Qingge.

I rolled my eyes and bluntly pointed the finger at him, "Just tell me straight up, you're trying to pretend you're studying medicine so you can go to Gu Qingge's place every day. Do you think I don't know?"

After being exposed by me, Zhu Yuan didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled even more brightly: "Hehe, Miss Yang is really smart! That's what I thought. However, I'm not completely pretending. I really want to learn a little bit, at least to not look so stupid in front of Miss Gu."

I stared at him and couldn't help laughing in my heart: This guy is really... In order to pursue a girl, he is even willing to do such a hard job as studying medicine.

"Okay, since you said so, I will teach you a few simple tricks. But let me be clear, studying medicine is hard work. You have to be patient and not give up halfway." I decided to scare him first to see how sincere he was.

Zhu Yuan patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Miss Yang! I, Zhu Yuan, am a man who can endure hardships. This little thing won't faze me."

I squinted at him and thought to myself: Okay, I'll see how long you can last.

Thus, Zhu Yuan’s journey of studying medicine began.

For the first lesson, I decided to start with the simplest "diagnosis by observation".

After all, "observation", one of the four examinations, is the most basic and does not require much professional knowledge. It mainly relies on observing the patient's external manifestations.

"Zhu Yuan, look, the most important thing in visual diagnosis is to observe the patient's complexion, tongue coating, eyes and other external manifestations." I said, pointing to myself, "For example, how do I look today?"

Zhu Yuan squinted his eyes, leaned in close to observe me carefully, and then said seriously: "Miss Yang's complexion is rosy and her eyes are bright. It's obvious that she just woke up."

I almost couldn't help laughing out loud, what nonsense! I was just lying on the couch, how could I not be energetic?

"Okay, you're right." I nodded solemnly, "But this is just basic observation. True visual diagnosis also involves looking at the patient's tongue coating, changes in complexion, and so on. Come, I'll give you an example."

As I said that, I asked Xiao Cui to come over and demonstrate.

Xiao Cui was a little embarrassed, but seeing how serious I was, she had no choice but to stick out her tongue.

"Look at Xiao Cui's tongue coating and judge her physical condition from the color." I asked, pointing at Xiao Cui's tongue.

Zhu Yuan frowned and took a closer look. After a while, he suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "I know! She must have eaten sugar cake today!"

When Xiao Cui heard this, her face immediately turned red. She quickly withdrew her tongue and stammered, "Mr. Zhu...Mr. Zhu, how did you know?"

I looked at Zhu Yuan speechlessly: "How did you tell from the coating on her tongue that she had eaten the sugar cake?"

Zhu Yuan smiled proudly and said, "There's even candy stains on her tongue! If you don't believe me, just look!"

I stared at Xiao Cui's tongue and saw a faint trace of sugar.

"What kind of diagnosis by observation is that?" I was at a loss for words. "You're just observing too closely! You're investigating a case, not treating a disease!"

Zhu Yuan scratched his head and chuckled, "This is also observation. The key is to be meticulous."

I was speechless for a moment and thought: This guy is really funny. I don't think he understands what diagnosis by observation is at all. He can only think of random things.

Next, I planned to teach him some simple disease identification. To help Zhu Yuan get into the groove faster, I specifically looked for some common disease descriptions as examples.

"Come here, this patient has a cough, phlegm, and fever. What do you think is wrong?" I handed him a description of the symptoms and asked tentatively.

Zhu Yuan looked down for a long time, frowning, and finally raised his head and asked me, "Isn't this just a cold?"

I nodded, a little surprised that he had answered correctly. "Yes, a cold. What's the treatment for it?"

Zhu Yuan answered confidently: "Wrap yourself tightly in the quilt and drink plenty of hot water!"

"...Where did you learn this treatment method?" I almost laughed out loud at his infuriating words. "This is about maintaining health, not curing illness!"

Zhu Yuan scratched his head and smiled sheepishly: "That's what my family's doctor said."

"Please remember, medicine is not that simple, especially treating illnesses. You can't rely on a universal formula like 'drink more hot water'!" I had to correct him patiently.

This guy's thinking is still stuck at the level of "drinking more hot water can cure all diseases", which is really laughable.

Despite this, Zhu Yuan's path to medical studies continues. It must be said that while his thinking can be quirky at times, his heart is genuine.

He came to see me every day, rain or shine, to attend classes and learn medicine without any slacking off.

However, sometimes his ability to "hit the mark by accident" is really laughable.

Once, he went with me to treat a patient.

The patient was an old man who complained of back pain all day long and couldn't even get out of bed.

When Zhu Yuan saw it, he immediately squatted down and started hammering seriously.

"What are you doing?" I widened my eyes, afraid that he would do something wrong.

Zhu Yuan said seriously, "I'm checking to see if his bones are dislocated."

"What do you know about bone dislocation?" I almost laughed at him. "Have you ever learned massage?"

Zhu Yuan shook his head: "I haven't learned it, but I see the doctor at home sometimes knocking and hammering like this."

I held my forehead helplessly: "You'd better get out of the way, I'll do it."

However, to my surprise, after I carefully examined the patient's symptoms, I discovered that he really had a bone dislocation!

Zhu Yuan's random knocking actually helped me find the crux of the problem.

"Are you... are you guessing this?" I asked, staring at him.

Zhu Yuan smiled proudly: "I guessed it!"

I was speechless and thought to myself: This guy is really weird. He can come up with some results even by guessing.

Time flies, half a month has passed.

Although Zhu Yuan's medical skills did not make much progress, he did become a familiar face in front of Gu Qingge.

Every day he would take the superficial knowledge I taught him and run to Gu Qingge to pretend, which made Miss Gu sometimes look at him coldly and sometimes sigh helplessly.

However, the most surprising thing was that Gu Qingge did not completely reject him. Instead, she would occasionally patiently answer his questions.

This gave Zhu Yuan more confidence, and he felt that he had "accomplished medical skills" and had a promising future.

One day, when I was making tea for myself, Zhu Yuan suddenly ran in excitedly, his face full of excitement: "Miss Yang! I succeeded!"

I was stunned: "Successful what?"

"Miss Gu actually praised me today! She said I have studied well these past few days and have made progress!" Zhu Yuan was as excited as a child who had received candy.

I burst out laughing. "Did she praise you for your progress, or was she saying you're less stupid than before?"

Zhu Yuan chuckled and said, "Anyway, she praised me! That's enough!"

I shook my head and sighed silently in my heart: This person is really hopeless.

However, seeing him so happy, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved for him.

Perhaps, sometimes the pursuit process is more important than the result.

Even though his original intention of studying medicine was not so pure, at least he was truly devoted to it during this period.