This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

After saying that, Du Heng paused slightly. ”Have you been to other Ophthalmology Hospitals already?”

The woman nodded blankly.

Du Heng sighed and said, ”Since you’ve already been to an Ophthalmology Department, and your eyes are red and swollen like this, it means their treatment didn’t work, right?”

The woman nodded again. ”I went there, and they gave me a lot of eye drops and some pills, but none of them had any effect.”

”Well, there you have it.” Du Heng shrugged. ”Your issue isn’t with your eyes but with something else in your body. It’s no wonder their treatment didn’t help.”

Still puzzled, the woman pressed, ”Then what’s wrong with me? What does this have to do with my menstrual period?”

Du Heng made a sound, ”Hmm,” then asked directly, ”Is your menstrual period very light?”

”Yes. Although it’s very regular, for me, it always ends in two days, sometimes even one. My friends count their sanitary pads by the pack, but I count mine by the piece; I only use one or two.”

Du Heng nodded gently, then asked, ”Has your menstrual period just started these past few days?”

The woman looked at Du Heng with astonishment. If I didn’t have absolutely no recollection of this man, I’d almost suspect he’d been following me, spying on me!

She then licked her dry lips. ”You’re right, but what does that have to do with my eye pain?”

”It has a lot to do with it.” Du Heng sighed softly. ”A woman’s menstrual period is meant to expel impure blood and excess heat from her body. This is why women generally have a cooler constitution than men. It’s also why women experience fewer strokes and cerebral infarctions than men.”

As Du Heng spoke, he lightly tapped the table with his right hand. ”Your current problem is that your menstrual period isn’t flowing properly, so the excess heat in your body can’t be expelled. So, if this heat can’t be vented, what happens to it?”

The woman stared blankly at Du Heng and murmured, ”Does the heat go up to my eyes and cause them to become inflamed?”

Du Heng almost laughed at her answer. ”Isn’t that a bit too direct? From the uterus to the eyes, there are many internal organs in between. How could this pathogenic heat travel straight to the eyes in one go?”

”Then what’s happening?” The woman still looked clueless.

Du Heng shook his head with a smile. ”As you said, the pathogenic heat cannot descend, so it can only ascend. But when it rushes upward, it ends up obstructing our normal liver qi.”

Listening to Du Heng’s explanation, the woman’s confusion deepened. ”Liver qi? What does my eye pain have to do with my liver?”

”In traditional Chinese medicine theory, the five viscera correspond to the five features, and the liver corresponds to the eyes. This principle is known as ’the liver opens into the eyes’.” Du Heng’s fingers tapped on the desk—TAP, TAP, TAP. ”In your current situation, pathogenic heat is traveling along your liver meridian, which inevitably causes redness, swelling, and pain in your eyes. Do you understand?”

The woman made an uncertain ”Oh,” then asked Du Heng, ”Doctor, you’re saying that my eye pain is because my liver qi is blocked. So, should I be treating my liver?”

Listening to her question, Du Heng felt a bit exasperated. ”The eye pain is due to blocked liver qi, but the blocked liver qi is because your menstrual period isn’t flowing. So, your problem isn’t about treating the liver qi, but about treating your blocked menstrual period. As long as your period flows properly and normally, allowing the impure blood and pathogenic heat to be expelled, your eye pain will resolve.”

This time, the woman had a moment of realization. ”I understand now.”

Du Heng picked up his pen again, preparing to complete the prescription he was writing, and casually asked, ”Now do you understand why I asked you about your menstrual period?”

”I do,” the woman nodded quickly.

”Any other questions?”

The woman shook her head. ”No.”

As Du Heng wrote, he said, ”When a TCM practitioner asks questions during a consultation, they might initially seem completely unrelated to your issue. But if you encounter such a TCM in the future, congratulations, you’ve met a good one. Just listen to what they say. Also, when treating women, in ninety-nine percent of cases, we have to ask about your menstrual period. If you ever encounter a TCM who treats women but doesn’t ask about their period, run as far away as you can. They’re fake TCMs.”

The woman giggled. ”Doctor, you’re so amusing.”

”What’s amusing about it? I’m giving you sound advice.” Du Heng finished writing and handed the prescription to the assistant doctor beside him who was typing it into the computer.

While waiting for the payment receipt, Du Heng began to explain the instructions for taking the medicine. ”...These are the main things to note. Go home and take the medicine on time. Once your menstrual period returns to normal, the redness and swelling in your eyes will disappear.”

The woman listened very attentively, nodding frequently as Du Heng spoke. When he finished, she began to praise him again. ”Doctor, your explanation is excellent. Other doctors just give me a pile of medicine and tell me to go home and try it out. None of them have ever given me such an assurance as you have. Moreover, your medicine doesn’t directly treat the eyes, yet it can cure my eye pain. It’s truly amazing!”

Du Heng found these compliments rather hard to accept; he wasn’t even sure how to respond. ’Your explanation is excellent’? What does she even mean by that?

”Once the channels are clear, the heat will dissipate; once the heat dissipates, your eyes will find relief. Go home, take the medicine as prescribed, and after two doses at most, you’ll realize I’m not just good with words.” Just then, the printer CHUGGED to a stop, and Du Heng handed the payment receipt to the woman. ”Alright, go downstairs to pay, then get your medicine from the Pharmacy.”