During this time, Song Hao, Tang Yu, and Luo Feiying had become renowned figures at the hospital. This was mainly due to the remarkable effectiveness of their acupuncture techniques and prescribed medications, attracting patients from far and wide. Taking advantage of this success, the hospital increased its fees, raising the registration fee from three yuan to twenty yuan, euphemistically called the "Expert Team Registration Fee." Numbering was now sequential, with the first fifty numbers being particularly sought after, leading to the emergence of scalpers reselling "registration slips." The black market price for the first fifty slips had exceeded one hundred yuan, and demand far exceeded supply. Lin Fengyi, Song Hao, and the others remained completely unaware of this situation. Faced with the ever-increasing number of patients, Song Hao and Tang Yu would often exchange smiles, seeing the bright future of Tianyitang.
The three young, seemingly random, but highly skilled traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, Song Hao, Tang Yu, and Luo Feiying, had long attracted the attention of Dean Wang. Through observation, he discovered that Song Hao was the most important among them, while Tang Yu and Luo Feiying were merely "accompanying students." Dean Wang then secretly approached Song Hao, hoping to offer him a high-paying job at the hospital. Song Hao politely declined. Dean Wang then approached Lin Fengyi, hoping he could, in the name of his master, retain Song Hao at the hospital. Lin Fengyi replied, "This boy is no ordinary person! No one can keep him here."
Seeing that he couldn't force Lin Fengyi to open clinic, Dean Wang tried to seize the opportunity and asked Lin Fengyi to open clinic every other day to increase the number of patients. Lin Fengyi flatly refused. Besides wanting to teach Song Hao pulse diagnosis theory in his spare time, his main concern was not being too tired, otherwise he might misdiagnose. This was naturally something Dean Wang, who was only interested in increasing the hospital's profits, couldn't understand.
Meanwhile, Song Hao, Tang Yu, and Luo Feiying also attracted the attention of another group: salespeople from various pharmaceutical companies, including the medical representatives of Tianyi Group stationed in the city. They tried every means to get close to the three, hoping to prescribe more of their own pharmaceutical companies' Chinese and Western medicines, promising generous commissions and rewards. However, the three had no time for such things and naturally refused. Thus, Song Hao, Tang Yu, and Luo Feiying, these three seemingly invulnerable young people, inevitably aroused much speculation. Who exactly were they? Their sudden appearance, their superb medical skills, yet their refusal to accept any benefits—it was truly incomprehensible.
On this day of rest, Song Hao was in his room organizing his insights from studying pulse diagnosis when Lin Fengyi came over and said, "Director Wang from the hospital just called me. He said that an important patient has developed a special illness and I need to make a diagnosis. You three should go and see for yourselves. Typical special illnesses are hard to come by."
Song Hao, Tang Yu, and Luo Feiying listened and happily went.
In the hospital director's office, I first met Director Wang.
"Old Lin, here's the thing." Upon meeting, Dean Wang began by introducing a patient to our hospital. "A friend introduced a patient named He, a wealthy businessman with assets worth hundreds of millions. About two weeks ago, he contracted a strange illness. Every noon, he feels extremely weak, barely able to stand, and only gradually recovers after two or three hours. He underwent a full-body examination at several renowned hospitals, but found nothing; all his physiological indicators were normal, with no pathological changes. We consulted five or six leading neurological experts nationwide, but they could only diagnose him with 'suspected specific myasthenia gravis.' No one could give a correct diagnosis, and Western medicine couldn't treat it. He heard about your reputation in diagnosis and wanted to find a traditional Chinese medicine explanation and treatment method."
“Oh! That’s quite a strange illness! I’ll take a look first. Where is the person?” Lin Fengyi asked.
Luo Feiying, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but frown slightly.
"He's in the reception room. Let's go over there now. Your three students are here too. After you make the diagnosis, you can discuss a solution. This Mr. He is quite disheartened about his illness. I hope you and your students can give him confidence in traditional Chinese medicine." Dean Wang said, leading the four people into a reception room in the hospital.
There were seven or eight people in the room, most of them standing. A burly middle-aged man sat listlessly on the sofa, his eyes vacant, his face weary, and he seemed utterly devoid of life.
"Mr. He, this is Dr. Lin Fengyi, the foremost expert in modern TCM pulse diagnosis!" Dean Wang introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you! My name is He Chengzhong." He Chengzhong stood up to greet him, a hint of expectation in his eyes.
"Sit down and let's talk." Lin Fengyi sat down on the sofa next to He Chengzhong and carefully observed the other's face. It was dull and lifeless, and he looked tired and weak.
Someone brought over a thick stack of documents and said, "These are the tests our boss had done at several major hospitals, all using the world's most advanced equipment, and all functions showed normal results."
Lin Fengyi subtly adjusted his breathing and said, "Oh! Normally I wouldn't look at these things. Let's take Mr. He's pulse instead."
He Chengzhong quickly extended his right hand and said, "Please, Dr. Lin."
Lin Fengyi placed three fingers on his pulse, gently stroking it as if tuning a zither, opening and closing it with measured control, before settling still.
A moment later, Lin Fengyi looked puzzled and examined the patient's left hand again.
After examining both hands, Lin Fengyi remained silent, but beckoned to Song Hao, signaling him to come for a follow-up examination.
Song Hao stepped forward, gently placing three fingers of his right hand on He Chengzhong's pulse point. He felt the pulse was even, slightly weak, which seemed normal. Suddenly, he felt an unusual movement under his fingers, moving from the cun to the chi position, then disappearing without a trace. It then returned, faintly and persistently. However, it only moved around the edge of the main pulse, barely perceptible upon close inspection, and vanished completely upon heavy pressure. It did not resemble any pathological pulse, which seemed quite strange.
“There is no internal disease; the illness lies in the meridians,” Lin Fengyi said.
“Experts also suspect a neurological problem,” an attendant replied.
“Meridian and nerve are two different things,” Lin Fengyi said.
"There are abnormalities in the flow of qi and blood in the meridians, especially in the yang meridians, which is why the illness occurs at noon," Song Hao said.
“For illnesses that occur at this time of year, medicine is temporarily ineffective; acupuncture should be used to regulate the condition,” Lin Fengyi said.
"So it turns out there was a problem with my meridians. Amazing! I've been investigating for so long without finding a conclusion," He Chengzhong said gratefully.
"May I ask Mr. He, before this illness occurred, did you suffer from any other diseases?" Lin Fengyi asked.
He Chengzhong replied, "That was about two months ago. I had a cold and headache, and a friend recommended Mingcheng Acupuncture Hospital. I had acupuncture once, and I got better. However, about two weeks ago, around noon, I would inexplicably feel weak all over and couldn't do anything. It would gradually subside after a few hours."
Upon hearing this, Song Hao's heart stirred, realizing something. He turned to look at Luo Feiying beside him and saw that her expression was somewhat strange. When she saw Song Hao looking at her, she quickly lowered her head to avoid his gaze.
"Yingying, you shall administer the acupuncture." Song Hao said, looking at Luo Feiying.
"Oh!" Luo Feiying was taken aback upon hearing this, a complex look flashing in her eyes, but she still responded.
Song Hao said, "It's almost noon, Mr. He. Let's use acupuncture to regulate your meridians and see if we can stop the symptoms of weakness all over your body."
"Please, it's best to stop it from happening. Otherwise, it feels like I'm completely exhausted, and it's very uncomfortable," He Chengzhong pleaded.
"We will do our best," Song Hao said, waving his hand at Luo Feiying to indicate that she could begin.
Tang Yu, seeing that Song Hao did not personally administer acupuncture to treat this strange illness but instead asked Luo Feiying to do so, suddenly remembered something and seemed to understand something, showing a look of surprise.
Luo Feiying took six three-inch-long acupuncture needles from the needle box, hesitated for a moment, lowered her head and dared not look at Song Hao, and told He Chengzhong to sit up straight. She then inserted all six needles into his head, repeating the technique after each needle. Then she stopped and said, "Let's continue the acupuncture after noon. Let's leave it for a few hours for now."
After saying that, Luo Feiying turned and walked outside. Song Hao followed her.
Luo Feiying walked to a deserted balcony. Standing there, gazing into the distance, she seemed lost in thought.
Song Hao walked to Luo Feiying's side and asked softly, "Yingying, are you alright?"
"I'm fine!" Luo Feiying said, trying to hide her panic.
"It's almost noon. Can you guarantee that Mr. He won't have a seizure?" Song Hao asked.
"There shouldn't be any problem," Luo Feiying replied.
"That's for the best!" Song Hao nodded.
"Song Hao!"
"What?"
"You... what do you know?" Luo Feiying hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't help asking.
"This proves that Mr. He was indeed subjected to the reverse needling technique of the Luo family's magic needles at your Mingcheng Acupuncture Hospital," Song Hao said solemnly.
“That’s right. How did you come to your suspicion? The Luo Clan’s Magic Needle leaves no trace; no one could detect it,” Luo Feiying said blankly.