The group hurried toward Grandpa Zhang’s house.

Upon entering, they saw the young grandson lying weakly on the bed, his voice hoarse.

The grandmother was so worried that she kept shedding tears.

The child, agitated, tugged at his clothes with a painful expression. He wouldn’t let his grandmother hold him and kept pushing her away, flailing his arms, tugging at his clothes, and looking utterly miserable.

Gao-Yuan observed carefully and noticed the boy’s nostrils flaring rapidly, his shoulders rising and falling, and his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe.

"Chest raised, shoulder breathing," Gao-Yuan muttered softly.

Seeing Li Shengli arrive, the boy’s grandmother pointed at him angrily: "It’s him! My grandson only had a slight cough, but after taking his medicine, he suddenly got like this."

Li Shengli was at a loss, unsure of what to do.

The grandmother continued crying while scolding, "Everyone says that among the doctors at the clinic, you’re the least experienced. No one wants to see you. But I thought, How could you not be able to treat a simple cough? Who knew you’d make things worse?"

"Oh, my poor boy, he’s the only one we have left!" She beat her thigh and wailed in anguish.

Li Shengli’s face turned pale with embarrassment.

Gao-Yuan approached the child, intending to check his tongue, but before he could, the boy suddenly turned over and vomited a large amount of phlegm.

The grandmother wiped her grandson tenderly, "It’s been a whole day, and all he’s done is spit up phlegm. He’ll waste away at this rate! He’s so young, how can he endure this?"

Grandpa Zhang pointed at Li Shengli, demanding angrily, "What medicine did you give him? Why did he end up like this?"

Gao-Yuan also looked at Li Shengli.

"I..." Li Shengli swallowed nervously and said, "I saw he was coughing, so I prescribed Xuanfu Daizhe Decoction."

The boy’s grandparents, unfamiliar with medical terms, asked, "Is there something wrong with that medicine?"

Gao-Yuan frowned slightly and asked, "Why was your grandson coughing in the first place?"

The grandmother, wiping her tears, snapped at her husband, "It’s all this old fool’s fault! Can’t you just stay home? After work, instead of resting, he insisted on taking the boy to catch fish."

"The river water was freezing, and the sun had set. The cold wind and icy water made him cough and develop some phlegm. But it wasn’t this bad! Now it’s been a whole day, and he hasn’t urinated even once. It’s terrifying."

Grandpa Zhang, looking guilty like a scolded child, fidgeted with his dirty clothes, "The boy was craving something good. We don’t have any meat at home, so I had to catch some fish."

Upon hearing this, Gao-Yuan had most of the picture. He asked, "Did you give him any medicine before?"

The grandmother replied, "No, as soon as he started coughing, we took him to the clinic right away. If there had been another doctor, we wouldn’t have gone to him!"

Li Shengli looked mortified.

Gao-Yuan nodded and stepped forward to check the boy’s pulse.

Grandpa Zhang asked anxiously, "Gao-Yuan, I heard you’ve learned how to treat illnesses now? They say you cured Grandpa Yang?"

"Yes," Gao-Yuan replied simply.

"Then... please take a good look at our boy."

Gao-Yuan nodded and carefully took the pulse.

The pulse on the right side was deep, indicating internal cold blocking the body. The left pulse was thin and wiry, showing phlegm accumulation.

Gao-Yuan stood up.

"What is it?" Grandpa Zhang asked nervously.

"He has asthma," Gao-Yuan said.

"What’s asthma?" Grandpa Zhang asked.

Gao-Yuan explained in simple terms, "His lungs have accumulated a lot of phlegm, blocking them, which makes it hard for him to breathe, and that’s why he’s coughing up so much phlegm."

In his mind, Gao-Yuan compared it to a severe case of pneumonia in Western medicine.

"Why hasn’t he urinated all day? We’re so worried," Grandpa Zhang asked.

"The lungs control the water pathways. When the lungs are blocked, he can’t urinate. Just like with Grandpa Yang, once his lungs are treated, his urination will return to normal."

Hearing this, Grandpa Zhang’s eyes lit up with hope. "You cured Grandpa Yang, so can you cure my grandson too? What medicine did you give Grandpa Yang?"

"The conditions are different, so I can’t use the same medicine. But the boy’s situation is urgent and needs immediate treatment."

"I... I..." Grandpa Zhang stammered nervously.

Gao-Yuan pointed to Li Shengli and said, "You’ll need to go to town to get the medicine, and quickly."

"I’ll run there!" Li Shengli, feeling guilty, immediately agreed.

The grandparents exchanged glances, finally easing up on their scolding of Li Shengli.

Relieved, Li Shengli glanced at Gao-Yuan, his feelings complicated.

Gao-Yuan took out pen and paper but then paused, looking at Li Shengli as if hesitating.

"What... what’s wrong?" Li Shengli asked nervously.

Gao-Yuan wrote down the prescription for Minor Blue Dragon Decoction and said, "We’ll talk when you return."

Just as the two were about to leave, they were stopped at the corner.

It was Uncle Wei.

"Gao-Yuan, Gao-Yuan!" Uncle Wei called out urgently, grabbing his arm. "What kind of medicine did you give my wife? After taking it, she suddenly got worse."

Li Shengli looked at Gao-Yuan in shock—was he facing the same situation?

Uncle Wei gripped Gao-Yuan’s wrist tightly. "You’re not going anywhere until you explain!"

But Gao-Yuan remained calm, saying, "Shengli, come along. You might need to fetch more medicine."

Uncle Wei was taken aback by his composure.

"Why are you standing there? Let’s go!" Gao-Yuan urged.

They headed to Uncle Wei’s house, followed by curious villagers eager to witness the commotion, as Gao-Yuan had become a topic of much debate in the village.

Soon, they reached Uncle Wei’s home.

The villagers crowded around.

Gao-Yuan looked at Aunt Wei, who lay unconscious on the bed, and asked, "How did she react to the medicine?"

Uncle Wei anxiously replied, "After taking it, she suddenly passed out and couldn’t be woken. I thought she’d get better after some sleep, but later she started vomiting water."

"Then she passed out again. I was going to sleep myself, but in the middle of the night, she suddenly had diarrhea. And not just regular diarrhea—it was red like blood! It was terrifying. That’s why I came to find you first thing this morning. What medicine did you give her?"

Li Shengli also looked at Gao-Yuan.

Gao-Yuan approached Aunt Wei and began examining her.

Meanwhile, the villagers outside were abuzz with gossip.

"Blood in the diarrhea? That’s scary."

"Could it be poison?"

"I don’t think so. I haven’t heard of any grudges between the families."

"Who knows? Maybe Gao-Yuan’s been sent here to cause trouble."

...

Hearing the villagers’ chatter, Uncle Wei’s face turned pale. He pointed at Gao-Yuan, trembling, "You, you, you..."

"No way," Li Shengli muttered instinctively, but then quickly covered his mouth.

Gao-Yuan turned to him and said, "Didn’t you notice her fever has gone down?"

"Huh?" Uncle Wei quickly checked his wife’s forehead and found that it wasn’t hot anymore. "But why did she have such bad vomiting and diarrhea?"

"She ate something bad, which worsened her illness. The vomiting and diarrhea are helping to get rid of the bad stuff in her body—it’s actually a good sign."

"But why was her stool red like blood?" Uncle Wei asked, still confused.

"That’s from heat in the intestines. The medicine worked, but only partially. Were you expecting one dose to cure her completely?"

Uncle Wei was speechless.

The villagers also fell silent.

Uncle Wei, still worried, asked, "Why won’t she wake up, though? It’s terrifying to see her like this. Are you sure you’re not tricking me?"

Gao-Yuan glanced at Aunt Wei and said, "Her fever is gone, and her condition has stabilized. She should wake up soon."

As he finished speaking, Aunt Wei groaned, opened her eyes, and sat up.

"You’re awake?" Uncle Wei rushed over to help her sit up. "How do you feel? Any better?"

Aunt Wei exhaled deeply, "After that sleep, I feel much better than yesterday, though I still feel like vomiting, and my stomach is uncomfortable. Why is the house so crowded?"

The villagers stared at Gao-Yuan in astonishment.

"I..." Uncle Wei’s face flushed red.

"You ungrateful fools!" Grandpa Yang, who had hurried over, arrived just in time to see Uncle Wei, and he angrily whacked him with his cane.

Uncle Wei, his face red with shame, didn’t dare dodge.

The villagers rushed to intervene.

Grandpa Yang waved his cane wildly, causing chaos.

Li Shengli stood frozen in shock.

Gao-Yuan calmly wrote down the prescription amid the chaos: "Treat with Bai Tou Weng Decoction combined with Huangqin plus Banxia and Ginger Decoction."