Chapter 52: Doctor-Patient Confrontation

Huang Biao's eyes lit up the moment he heard those words.

He slammed his right hand onto the desk, stood up abruptly, and said with an excited expression, "That's right! Why didn't I think of that? A severe deficiency of yang qi leads to sinking middle qi, causing a failure of containment and consolidation. Combined with the effects of blood-activating herbs, wouldn't that result in continuous bleeding?"

"Exactly. Currently, this scenario is the most probable. However, to ascertain the true cause, we need another follow-up consultation," Zhang Jing nodded and said slowly.

"Alright, alright! I'll go call them in right now. Dr. Zhang, please sit in my chair and give her a thorough diagnosis. Since I am the party involved, whatever I say will make them think I'm just making excuses. Do you think that's okay?"

Huang Biao looked at Zhang Jing anxiously, terrified that he might refuse. After all, this was a hot potato; putting himself in Zhang Jing's shoes, he certainly wouldn't take over such a case casually.

To his surprise, Zhang Jing didn't even hesitate, nodding immediately: "Alright, Director Huang, please invite them in."

Half the weight in Huang Biao's heart instantly lifted. Regardless of the final diagnosis outcome from Zhang Jing, he had successfully dragged him into the water. This way, if Boss Ma decided to assign blame later, Zhang Jing would not be able to detach himself from it. In other words, the possibility of him getting fired would decrease significantly.

With this thought in mind, Huang Biao happily hurried out of the consultation room, walked over to the patient and her family in the waiting area, and bowed slightly.

With a polite smile, he said, "You two, our Dr. Zhang would like to invite you back for another examination. Don't underestimate him; Dr. Zhang is a disciple of a master of the classical formula school and possesses exceptional medical skills, far beyond what I can compare to."

The man in the flat-capped hat clearly did not believe him: "Stop trying to fool us! He's so young, he looks more like a traditional Chinese medicine apprentice. You've already messed us up this badly, and now you still want to push us into the fire pit?"

Huang Biao hadn't expected such strong resistance. Just as he was wondering how to persuade them, he happened to see Guicui standing nearby.

An idea struck him, and he continued, "I know that no matter what I say now, you won't believe me. However, you can ask Pharmacist Gui from our dispensary. Let her tell you whether Dr. Zhang's medical skills are any good."

Guicui was momentarily stunned. How did she get dragged into this?

Originally, due to her usual disdain for Huang Biao's character and their frequent clashes lately, she wasn't quite gloating over his medical dispute, but she certainly wasn't noble enough to repay spite with kindness and voluntarily offer help.

However, this sly old fox was too crafty, intentionally setting a linguistic trap for her to jump into. Since this concerned the medical reputation of her idol, Guicui could not brush it off with feigned ignorance.

With this in mind, Guicui immediately put on a serious face and replied, "Director Huang is right. Among everyone in our clinic, Dr. Zhang possesses the highest medical skill. Many patients recover completely after taking his medicine just once and undergoing a single treatment."

Initially, her words were simply stating the facts, but to someone unacquainted with the situation, it sounded like a gross exaggeration.

The man in the flat-capped hat scoffed, "Hah, I never would have guessed that such a tiny clinic would harbor a little miracle doctor. To be honest, we weren't planning to have her checked again, but after hearing you talk like this, we really want to see just how capable he is!"

"If we find out that you are all colluding to deceive people, I'm sorry, but we will definitely file a complaint with the Health Bureau, and then demand compensation from you so that no one else falls for this scam in the future!"

Judging by the tone of his speech, the underlying implication was that if he couldn't cure his wife's illness, he would sue the clinic until it was forced to close down completely!

Both Huang Biao and Guicui instantly grew nervous.

Especially Huang Biao, since he was the one who had stirred up this trouble in the first place. If Mingdetang had to close its doors because of this medical dispute, he would genuinely feel a deep sense of guilt. After all, over the past two years or so, the owner, Ma Hui, had treated him quite well.

People are emotional creatures. Selfish as he might be, he could never bring himself to return kindness with malice.

Moreover, there was another crucial detail: every single dose in his prescription contained 40 grams of *Milletia dielsiana*, meaning that across the seven doses of medicine, he had arbitrarily overcharged them by 280 yuan. When the experts from the Health Bureau examined the leftover herbal medicine later, it would be effortless to uncover the trickery.

Realizing this, Huang Biao immediately said solemnly, "Sir, first of all, I admit that I bear unshakable responsibility for what happened today. If it is ultimately determined that your wife's heavy bleeding was primarily caused by the prescription I wrote, I am completely willing to accept punishment."

"I will accept whatever compensation is required, and even if it's judged a medical malpractice incident and my medical license is revoked, I will have no complaints."

"However, there is one thing I want to request of you. No matter what, this incident was entirely caused by me—it is solely my responsibility, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Dr. Zhang or the clinic. Please do not implicate them, thank you!"

After saying this, Huang Biao actually bowed to them.

This gesture stunned everyone present!

Especially Guicui, who couldn't believe her eyes. Was this still the arrogant, pompous old *Milletia dielsiana* who threw his weight around all day?

Had he truly been placed under a spell by Zhang Jing?

Such an abnormality could hardly be described by saying "the sun has risen from the west"; it was more like saying "the sun has come up from the north"!

Seeing an elderly white-haired man speak with such sincere emotion, the man in the flat-capped hat, being relatively hard-hearted, managed to hold his ground.

However, the woman wearing the headscarf sitting nearby suddenly felt her eyes redden, gently tugged at her husband's sleeve, and said as loudly as she could, "How about we just forget it?"

Hearing his wife's words, the man in the flat-capped hat wavered slightly.

Ultimately, however, reason conquered emotion.

Stiffening his neck, he said, "How can we just let it go? Let's have that Dr. Zhang take a look first."

Watching the two figures walk toward the internal medicine consultation room, Guicui and Huang Biao simultaneously let out long sighs of relief.

Seeing them walk in, Zhang Jing quickly stood up from his chair.

He greeted them, "Please have a seat, both of you."

The man in the flat-capped hat first helped his wife slowly sit down on the chair opposite the consultation desk, then fetched a round stool and sat down tightly beside her.

"Hello, ma'am. I have already spoken with Director Huang and understand the basic details of your condition this time. Please refrain from speaking for a moment, and let me check your pulse now," Zhang Jing said calmly.

The woman in the headscarf nodded submissively, while the man in the flat-capped hat wore a puzzled expression.

"Alright, please place your left hand up, palm facing upward."

As soon as the words fell, the man in the flat-capped hat stood up and helped his wife rest her wrist on the pulse pillow.

Zhang Jing extended his right index, middle, and ring fingers, gently placing them over the *cun*, *guan*, and *chi* pulse positions on the woman's wrist.

Then, he closed his eyes slightly and began to slowly perceive the sensations beneath his fingers.

After finishing with the left hand, he proceeded to the right.

Zhang Jing silently recited in his mind: Across all positions on both hands, a light touch yields nothing; a moderate touch reveals a pulse extremely fine and soft; pressing heavily makes it feel as though it is barely there. Without a doubt, this is a minute and fine pulse.

Such a pulse is frequently seen in syndromes of both yin and yang deficiency.

"Ma'am, please open your mouth and extend your tongue out as far as possible."

Zhang Jing continued with the tongue diagnosis.

The results obtained were: a pale tongue body, teeth marks along the edges of the tongue, a thin white coating, and stage I sublingual stasis.

"That's enough," Zhang Jing nodded, signaling to the woman that she could retract her tongue and close her mouth.

The man in the flat-capped hat could no longer hold back his impatience and snapped sarcastically, "Little doctor, after putting on an act and fussing around for so long, can we finally speak now?"