This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Director Niu nodded. ”I understand what you mean. Write the prescription.”

Returning to his office, Du Heng quickly drafted it. ”This time, we’ll use Polyporus Decoction to nourish yin and promote diuresis. We’ll also add white ginseng to replenish qi, along with adenophora and black plum for their sour and sweet yin-transforming properties. One prescription daily, divided into two doses. Let’s prescribe... five days’ worth.”

He handed the completed prescription to Director Niu and then hurried off.

Just as he reached his office door, Du Heng suddenly spun around. He snatched the prescription from Director Niu’s hand and quickly added more details with his pen.

”I forgot to write this down earlier. This donkey-hide gelatin shouldn’t be boiled with the other ingredients. It should be dissolved separately and mixed in after the rest have been decocted.”

Having quickly finished the additions, Du Heng hastened back to the consultation room.

Although the crowd waiting at the door was somewhat impatient and anxious, they didn’t cause a commotion.

Once Du Heng arrived, orderly consultations resumed.

Despite Du Heng’s best efforts to speed things up, it was nearly half an hour past the end of his shift when he finally saw the last patient.

It was this last patient, however, who further expanded Du Heng’s horizons.

”You’re not sick; you’re in very good health.” After finishing the examination, Du Heng laughingly told the last young male patient his diagnosis and prepared to leave work.

But it was clear that the patient wasn’t satisfied with Du Heng’s diagnosis. ”Doctor, can you please check me again? I really feel uncomfortable.”

Du Heng was rather speechless looking at the young man across from him.

He’d seen people go mad for wealth or power, but this was the first time he’d met someone so insistent on being ill.

”Mate, you’re not sick,” Du Heng said, somewhat helplessly. ”You just need to go to bed by 10:30 every night, use your phone less, and you’ll feel refreshed in a couple of days.”

After a slight pause, he continued, ”Look at all these test results you’ve shown me: a brain CT, chest X-ray, abdominal B-ultrasound, plus various blood and urine tests. All of these examinations show that you are perfectly fine.”

The young man hesitated, looking at Du Heng. ”Doctor, I just feel unwell. I don’t think Western medicine could find what’s wrong, so I came to see you.”

”You’re just a bit sleep-deprived. In other respects, there’s truly no issue,” Du Heng patiently explained. ”To be blunt, you’re one of the healthiest patients I’ve ever seen. Just listen to me. Go home, eat until you’re about seventy percent full for dinner, go to bed early, and get up early. In two days, all your discomfort will disappear.”

As he spoke, he pushed all the papers the young man had handed him back across the desk.

The young man slowly gathered his things and asked Du Heng again, ”Then, Doctor, don’t I need some medicine?”

Du Heng was slightly exasperated. ”No, as I said, you’re very healthy. Just get enough sleep.”

The young man didn’t seem to notice Du Heng’s impatience and continued his monologue, ”Doctor, you said I’m very healthy, so why do I feel so uncomfortable? Could it be because I sleep with my head facing east? I’ve heard you should sleep with your feet to the east and head to the west. That way, you’re aligned with the Earth’s rotation, and your biological magnetic field syncs with the Earth’s, which supposedly helps you sleep better. Is that true?”

As he spoke, the young man’s brow furrowed, and he murmured as if to himself, ”But the way my bed is positioned at home, my head faces east. The bed is too big, and I can’t move it by myself.”

Du Heng really didn’t want to deal with this young man anymore. He’d never met a young fellow who could be so fussy.

But his professional duty compelled him to respond, ”It might have a slight effect, but not much. Sleep whichever way you want. As long as you’re comfortable, you could even sleep spinning in circles on your bed.”

The young man said, ”Oh. Well, could it be because my feet face the door when I sleep? Doctor, I’ve heard that sleeping with your feet pointing at the door is how they lay out the dead. Do you think my discomfort is because my feet face the door, and I’ve attracted something... unlucky?”

At that, Du Heng’s eyebrows knitted into a tight frown.

There’s something not quite right about this young man, he thought. Anxiety? It seems a bit like it.

However, anxiety usually corresponds to issues with the liver, gallbladder, or spleen in TCM. But the problem was, this young man was incredibly healthy—not just his liver, gallbladder, and spleen, but every other part of him too.

On this point, Du Heng was very confident in his own medical skills.

But even if my diagnosis was wrong, what about all those test reports the young man has? Psychological factors? Or a mental issue?

Du Heng was starting to take this more seriously, and he quickly suppressed his earlier impatience.

If there’s nothing physically wrong with him, then it really could be a purely mental problem.

Du Heng took a closer look at the young man, but still, he couldn’t discern anything.

”As for your feet facing the door,” Du Heng began, comforting him first, ”if it makes you uneasy, then change your sleeping position. If you don’t believe in such superstitions, then sleep however you feel is best.” Then he proactively asked, ”Could you tell me in more detail, how exactly do you feel unwell?”

”Sometimes when I wake up, I feel a tightness in my chest.” As the young man spoke, he placed a hand on his chest. ”Sometimes, when I wake up, half my body is numb. Sometimes my arm is so numb it’s unbearable, with that pins-and-needles feeling, like an electric current. It takes a long while to get back to normal.”

He hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed, then stammered, ”And sometimes... well... down there... it feels like someone’s pinched me. It’s sore when I wake up in the morning. And my pubic hair... it falls out all over the bed, like someone’s been plucking it.”

Du Heng took a moment to seriously consider the situation.

Du Heng realized he’d experienced some of what the young man described himself, like chest tightness or a numb arm.

So, thinking about it carefully, could it be...?

”Are you a deep or light sleeper?”

”I sleep like a log. Once I’m out, you could set off a loudspeaker next to my ear and I wouldn’t wake up.”

A strange look immediately came into Du Heng’s eyes. ”Do you have a girlfriend?”

The young man shook his head. ”No, I’m a bachelor.”

No girlfriend? Du Heng was stunned. This isn’t what I was thinking at all. Nevertheless, he pressed on, ”What I mean is, do you sleep alone?”

The young man looked at Du Heng in surprise. ”Of course I do. I’m single. Who else would I be sleeping with, a ghost?”

Once he finished speaking, the young man suddenly looked shocked. ”Doctor, it’s not that I’m superstitious. I live in a shared rental. When I lived there alone, I had no problems at all. But a while ago, a girl moved in. She’s... eerie. She hardly ever speaks, walks without making a sound, and doesn’t interact with anyone. Anyway, every time I see her, I get the creeps. Do you think... she could have attracted something unclean?”

Du Heng sighed helplessly. ”Don’t talk such nonsense, and stop letting your imagination run wild. We’re successors of socialism; we must believe in materialism.”

The young man quickly shook his head. ”I’m not speaking nonsense, Doctor. I’m telling the truth. Back in my hometown, my mom used to say that some women have a strong yin qi, making them especially prone to attracting... those unclean things.”

As he spoke, the young man seemed to convince himself, as if he’d found the reason for his discomfort. ”Yes, that must be it! It’s my housemate, that girl! There’s definitely something wrong with her. Otherwise, why would I always feel she’s so eerie, not like a normal person at all?”

This was the first time Du Heng had felt so stumped by a patient’s complaints.

Yet, the young man’s description did sound a lot like the feeling of being pressed down during sleep.

Could there really be something unclean involved?

Du Heng pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. ”Alright, try to record yourself when you sleep tonight. Bring the recording to me tomorrow. Let me see what your sleep state is like, and then I’ll figure something out for you. How does that sound?”