The deflated cultivator refused to give up and vowed to turn the tables.

Su Zinong slowly said, "Young Master Song's illness originated from anger. He must have been very angry before the onset of the illness, or he must have been holding in his anger for a long time, which caused his liver fire to be excessive and overpower his spleen and stomach. Therefore, the famous doctors you invited only treated his spleen and stomach, which is symptomatic but not the root cause."

"Master Song, I know I'm not a professional doctor, and I'm quite young, so it's understandable that you don't fully trust me. How about this: I won't prescribe any medicine or acupuncture for Young Master Song yet. I'll find the person in the household who is best at telling jokes and stories, and Young Master Song can sit in front of the garden and I'll tell him jokes or stories for half an hour each morning and evening. If his appetite increases, it means my judgment is correct, and then I'll come back to prescribe medicine and acupuncture. Does that sound alright?"

“Alright, that’s excellent. It’s not that I don’t trust Young Master Su, it’s just that there have been so many doctors these past two years, each claiming to be a miracle doctor, with generations of medical practice in their family, or even imperial physicians for generations. Now I’m starting to lose faith in doctors, which is why I have so many questions. Please don’t take offense. The best storyteller in the household is Erniu. That kid isn’t very tall, but he’s quite good at making people laugh; he’s quite comical,” Song Fulai said.

"Oh, he's a rare talent!" Su Zinong thought of Huang Chenghe.

Erniu was truly a master storyteller. The sun was warm, and Young Master Song sat at the door of his bedroom, facing the garden. Erniu and Young Master Song were already quite familiar with each other, and sure enough, as soon as Erniu started to speak, Young Master Song burst into laughter, laughing heartily from beginning to end for half an hour.

At that time, Su Zinong was having tea with Song Fulai. The two chatted about all sorts of things, both being well-traveled and knowledgeable people. A maidservant hurriedly ran over and said, "Master, the young master says he's hungry and wants some porridge."

"Ah, so fast?" Song Fulai pulled Su Zinong to the door of Young Master Song's bedroom.

Young Master Song had already finished the entire bowl of porridge, and licked his lips, saying, "The porridge tastes better than usual today! I'd like to have another bowl."

"A miracle doctor! Dr. Su, you are truly amazing! Quickly prescribe medicine and administer acupuncture for my son!" Song Fulai exclaimed, his heart filled with excitement.

Su Zinong selected three acupoints on the liver meridian of Song Gongzi and performed acupuncture. After that, he prescribed a decoction to soothe the liver and stomach: Corydalis rhizome, Sichuan pepper, Lindera root, Cyperus rhizome, red cardamom, and Perilla stem.

"You can add some Chinese yam when cooking porridge," Su Zinong instructed. "I'll come to see your son again in a couple of days. When the weather gets warmer, let him come out to bask in the sun and walk around a bit."

Su Zinong needed to rush back to the restaurant to get things done, because the restaurant was about to get busy.

Song Fulai didn't try to keep him; he just slipped a thousand-tael silver note into his pocket.

Two days later, when they returned to the Song residence, Song Fulai repeatedly held Su Zinong's hand, beaming with joy, and said, "Miracle doctor! My son not only ate porridge today, but also some rice. His appetite has improved a lot, and he's more energetic!"

“Young Master Song and Master Song are truly blessed. Since it’s effective, we shouldn’t change the prescription. Continue the original medicine for another five days, and I will give Young Master Song acupuncture again today. Also, Young Master Song is still weak, so it would be better to let him go out in the sun. Once he’s better, he can move around a bit to help his body recover,” Su Zinong instructed.

"Alright, alright, I've written it all down, thank you Dr. Su!" Song Fulai nodded and bowed, then stuffed two large silver notes into his hand, each worth ten thousand taels, which Su Zinong did not refuse.

Five days later, Su Zinong came back for a follow-up visit and found that the young master was already walking around in the yard with a smile on his face.

"It seems Young Master Song has fully recovered. He can take the medicine I prescribed for three more days and then stop taking it. He can continue eating the yam porridge for a while longer, even a month or two. After he recovers, we can cook it for him occasionally. Also, see if there are any children of similar age nearby to play with Young Master Song. Erniu is an adult after all, and playing with other children might be more effective. This illness was originally caused by his mood," Su Zinong analyzed.

"Yes, you're right, doctor. I'll go and invite some children to play with my son, and I'll pay them." Song Fulai turned to go out and find some people.

“No need. Don’t you have a lot of workers? See if any family has children who can come over and play together. You can also hire a tutor to teach them as well. This will benefit the workers, and you won’t need to pay extra for the children.” Su Zinong smiled.

“Ah, yes, you’re right, it’s mutually beneficial. My son will have a playmate, the workers’ families won’t have to worry about who will take care of their children, and they can also learn something. It’s a win-win situation,” Song Fulai said happily.

After having tea, Song Fulai said, "I mean what I say. The properties and businesses under my name are worth more than two million taels of silver. Now I will give half of them to you, Doctor Su."

“No need,” Su Zinong waved his hand and said, “It was just a small favor. There’s no need to divide up assets when it comes to treating and saving lives. Just give me whatever you want.”

After much refusal, Song Fulai finally gave Su Zinong 300,000 taels of silver, along with three shops and 300 mu of land.

*** ***

"Master Song, when did that house across the street move in? And when did they get those two little elephants? They're so unique!" Su Zinong chatted idly while sipping his tea.

“Ah, it was only built two years ago, and the little elephant was also made and placed there at that time. I don’t have much contact with his family because we have some conflicting interests in business. When we meet, we just nod and don’t talk.” Song Fulai looked somewhat displeased.

"So, in the past two years, have you felt that business has decreased, profits have decreased, and other things have also gone wrong?" Su Zinong asked.

"Yes, Dr. Su, how did you know? Did Erniu talk too much?" Song Fulai was about to find Erniu to criticize and educate him, but then he thought that was wrong. Erniu didn't handle business matters and didn't know the situation at all.

“No, no,” Su Zinong shook his head. “Erniu never mentions anything about your family. This is just my guess. There’s a plaque above your gate that says ‘Shuiyue’ (Water Moon). I wonder if you’ve noticed the two little elephants at the gate across the street, stretching their trunks right in front of your Shuiyue. Elephants’ trunks are for drinking water, and water represents wealth, so your business volume and profits will decrease. Of course, it could also be due to competition from other businesses in the same city.”

"Hey, now that you mention it, I realize it makes a lot of sense. It's definitely not just due to competition within the same city. Even in other cities without competition, business and profits have plummeted. It seems that's the reason. So Dr. Su knows about feng shui formations!" Song Fulai was slightly surprised.

"Hehe, I only know a little bit about it," Su Zinong said modestly.

"Then hurry up and give me some pointers. To be honest, I have no worries about food or clothing now, and money is just a number to me. It's not that important. I don't mind sharing half with you, but I can't stand being used like this to attack me with feng shui formations. I'm not happy about this kind of crooked and evil practice." Song Fulai said indignantly.

"There are two methods. The first is to make two large bows and arrows, or sharp spears, on either side of your mansion's gate, with the sharp blades pointing directly at the two baby elephants. However, this would be unsightly and might cause conflict, as it would be too unsightly."

"The second type is to make two tools that people use to scratch their backs. Make them a little bigger, slightly longer than the little elephants. Point to the two little elephants and scratch them. The little elephants will not only not absorb water, but will also spray water into your house. Water represents wealth, so I hope it can help you restore your business prosperity, or even make it more prosperous than before."

"Great! Then let's go with the second option." Song Fulai was so happy that he rubbed his hands together, ready to suggest giving half of his family fortune to Su Zinong.

"It's standard practice; six taels of silver will suffice," Su Zinong said.

Unable to win the argument, Song Fulai insisted on giving him 60,000 taels of silver notes...