Chapter 334: Chapter 301: Miss, What Is Your Surname?
"Miss, open your mouth, let me take a look at your tongue. Alright, that’s fine."
"You’ve simply caught a wind-cold; it’s not a serious ailment. I’ll prescribe a decoction of Ephedra and Cinnamon; the medicine will cure you!" Lin Miao swiftly wrote the prescription.
During the transition from autumn to winter, temperature fluctuations cause many to catch a cold. Lately, the number of patients with colds has increased, especially children and women with weaker resistance, susceptible to external pathogens, leading to a series of discomforting symptoms.
"Senior, the number of patients with wind-cold is increasing. Over half of my appointments today are wind-cold patients with similar symptoms, likely due to the sudden drop in temperature. Therefore, I plan to prepare medicine by the pot outside our diagnosis point. Anyone with similar symptoms can take a bowl of medicinal soup right after consultation, generally curing them after two or three doses."
"Are you thinking of providing free medical services?"
"Offering free services is good, but we won’t do it completely for free. We’ll set the prices lower. This way, patients save time compared to buying and preparing medicine themselves, and it saves money and avoids some waste. Just a bit of labor, and the symptoms of wind-cold can be quickly suppressed!" Lin Miao explained.
This approach treats diseases with an epidemic prevention mindset.
Seasonal climate can cause significant illnesses, and while they may not be epidemics, if they become widespread, it would turn disastrous.
Don’t say colds don’t kill; without proper control, colds can indeed be fatal, with mortality rates higher than some serious diseases.
"Alright, what will the pricing be?"
"Slightly above cost and labor, as long as we don’t lose money. Free items can’t last; small profits but quick sales maintain sustainability and encourage imitation, helping more people." Lin Miao elaborated.
"You prepare the prescription, I’ll have Xia Zhu calculate the prices. Let the children from the Prefecture rotate in handling this task; it’s a form of practice for them." Sun Youwei agreed wholeheartedly with this approach.
"Alright, let’s proceed as you suggested."
Bupleurum, Pinellia, Scutellaria, Codonopsis, Licorice, Ginger, and Red Dates—this is the classic formula for Minor Bupleurum Decoction.
Besides Codonopsis and Astragalus being slightly expensive, the other ingredients are affordable if patients buy to prepare at home.
One prescription can be taken three times; generally, one dose suffices for a typical wind-cold. In mild cases, one bowl is enough.
Preparing large quantities of medicinal soup saves ingredients and retains medicinal efficacy.
Personal medicine preparation inevitably leads to some waste.
Once this "large pot of medicine" method launched, it garnered much public praise. After all, buying medicine and preparing it oneself takes at least two hours.
It consumes time and money.
Now, once diagnosed with wind-cold by Lin Miao, you receive a note. Within three days, you pay five coins at the diagnosis point for a bowl of special wind-cold treatment soup, consuming twice a day. If not improving in three days, further diagnosis is needed.
Mostly, those diagnosed recover within three days; even if not completely cured, symptoms markedly lessen.
Diagnosis costs ten coins, and a medicinal bowl costs five coins; even several bowls total only several dozen coins, whereas earlier treatments could cost hundreds. Sometimes, spending hundreds still didn’t guarantee recovery.
Lin Miao’s method quickly won widespread acclaim in Xiuyue Square, and soon, the number of cold patients significantly decreased to a normal diagnosis range.
Elsewhere, similar easy measures didn’t exist; patients crowded major medical halls to capacity.
Those aware of Xiuyue Square’s new medical approach flocked from other districts.
Yet, only Lin Miao’s Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point and Yongning Hall provided such services; other medical halls have yet to offer similar services.
Witnessing and practicing this medical approach firsthand, Wen Ruyu, as the head of Dongshan Medical Bureau, gathered all city medical halls to announce Lin Miao’s diagnostic and medicinal methods as well as the Minor Bupleurum Decoction formula, recommending implementation.
Only a recommendation, not mandatory.
If not adopting it, with others doing so, patients might choose other halls, beyond the Bureau’s control.
The Xu Family’s Baoan Hall led the adoption, also lowering wind-cold consultation fees to twenty coins—only twenty for wind-cold diagnosis.
The Minor Bupleurum Decoction price matched Lin Miao’s pricing: a bowl for five coins.
Although the Xu Family had long considered such a move, internal pressure hindered it until Wen Ruyu promoted and supported it. Opposition in Xu Family reduced naturally—if others got ahead, what about Xu Family?
Following their lead, most other medical halls followed suit, recognizing the risks of not doing so.
Later, government statistics revealed that wind-cold deaths this year surprisingly only reached a fraction of last year. With affordable consultations and medicines...
Many used to endure illnesses, worsening minor ailments to serious ones, leading to fatalities.
Now, for as little as fifteen coins, ailments are effectively managed; even without funds, others are likely to lend. Small illnesses are addressed early.
Lin Miao’s reputation in Dongshan City soared to new heights, surpassing many experienced doctors who spent lifetimes saving lives.
Famous physicians like Xu An, already esteemed in Dongshan Prefecture, were now cautious of Lin Miao’s growing influence.
A renowned doctor’s reputation equates to immense wealth; challenging them risks backlash.
Lin Miao has achieved it now, even surpassing Xu An.
The people of Xiuyue Square even pooled money together to make a plaque for him titled "Mr. Lin", casually calling him without concern.
However, to present him with a "plaque", the significance is different; it is a recognition and affirmation. But Lin Miao knows that if he accepts this plaque, he expects a barrage of attacks and slander from the medical community.
This is human nature: why should someone so young receive such an honor? Isn’t it just practicing medicine and giving medicines? What’s so remarkable about it?
To become famous, you’ve stomped on everyone’s rice bowl, don’t act like you’re anybody’s child!
An entertainer seeking popularity!
The simple gratitude of the people cannot be ignored, especially since they don’t consider the implications, some even fan the flames.
Praise can be more ingenious than direct suppression.
Moreover, when he’s elevated, people start scrutinizing him for mistakes, even the slightest ones will be magnified.
...
At Mang Mountain North Camp, the autumn hunt has been going on for seven or eight days, and Zhao Rui is not in a good mood. The conflict between his two sons has surfaced openly.
His subordinates have also guessed his intention. He deliberately supports the Fifth Prince to ascend, but the emperor is not foolish.
Whether it’s the former Third Prince or the current Fifth Prince, he is aware that their status and position are not as high as the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince is born of the Empress and is the legitimate eldest son. If he were not barren, Zhao Rui wouldn’t consider an abdication.
Unless the Crown Prince was an idiot, then even as the eldest legitimate son, he wouldn’t be a viable Crown Prince. Since he’s made Crown Prince, it shows recognition of his capabilities, but a future ruler of this empire without offspring is absolutely unacceptable.
The Crown Prince is already thirty years old and has not had any children; this is his biggest shortcoming. If he could have a son,
he wouldn’t need to think and wouldn’t give any chances to the two brothers underneath.
Now it’s a solution of desperation. He previously wanted to use the Third Prince to stimulate the Crown Prince to quickly strive and have royal offspring. In the end, there has been no progress for years. Later, there was the scandal where Consort Yi arranged for people to drug the Crown Princess Consort of the Eastern Palace, intending to make the Crown Prince infertile, which angered him, resulting in directly dismissing Consort Yi and confining the Third Prince.
Now the Fifth Prince has come of age, been ennobled, and married. As long as he can have royal offspring, the throne’s balance will naturally tilt towards him.
However, now the brothers are in such contention over the throne that they’ve reached fratricidal levels, which he can’t stop because he also went through this.
However, the situation he faced when vying for the throne was somewhat different from now, as he solidified his position by siring the Crown Prince at the time.
Now the Crown Prince who helped secure his position faces abandonment...
The Minghe flower gives him a glimmer of hope; if he really obtains this magical flower and can reincarnate with memories, this empire will still be his.
Once someone has an obsession, no one can dissuade them; even the smartest people can become trapped.
Moreover, the news of Minghe flower evidently couldn’t be contained and has spread out. Now, not only royal people but also various ambitious individuals are entering the underground crevice of Little Dang Mountain, making the long-silent crevice extremely lively.
Yet, the Moon Worship Sect’s witch who sparked this disturbance seems to have vanished without a trace, as if she disappeared into thin air.
...
"Miss, may I ask your surname?" In the diagnosis room, Lin Miao received a patient, very young, with a somewhat strange pulse; uncertain, he asked.
"Ji."
"Which Ji? Could Miss describe it?" Lin Miao felt a pang in his heart; he hadn’t encountered such a pulse before, and upon hearing the surname "Ji", his heart instinctively reacted, prompting him to ask further.
The lady dipped her finger in some tea and wrote it on the table.
"Oh, it’s this ’Ji’, I thought it was ’season’," Lin Miao said with a sudden realization, "Your name?"
"My name is Xiaolan."
Ji Xiaolan?!
Fortunately, Lin Miao wasn’t drinking; otherwise, he would have sprayed a mouthful of water. There is no such celebrity in this world, so having this name doesn’t naturally provoke many associations.
Even the name Fahai has been taken; why not Ji Xiaolan? The character "Lan" is common in girls’ names.
"Miss Je, if convenient, shall I have my senior sister give you a comprehensive examination?" Lin Miao pointed to Sun Youwei.
Ji Xiaolan considered for a moment and nodded in agreement.
If you’ve come to see a doctor, you naturally have trust, especially as the examination is by another female, which is acceptable.
