"Many people fear acupuncture because they are afraid of its pain. Since it's meant to treat pain, adding to it would be unbearable for the patient. Therefore, it requires the practitioner to have a certain amount of finger strength when inserting the needles, so that the patient feels nothing when the needles penetrate the skin, thus achieving the desired therapeutic effect. This is only one aspect; the second, and most important, is the ability to apply the needles with sufficient finger strength, allowing for free and flexible manipulation to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. Starting today, you can practice your finger strength, and then I will teach you the Nine Needles for Rejuvenating Yang and other acupuncture techniques," Song Zihe said earnestly, patting Song Hao on the shoulder.
Song Zihe then made two small pillow-like needle pads for Song Hao, wrapped in soft paper, for use in acupuncture practice to increase finger strength. This method is commonly used by acupuncturists at the time.
After Song Hao had used up dozens of needles and worn out the two needle pads, his finger strength had increased somewhat, but not to the extent he had anticipated. Therefore, he began to consider other methods to practice his finger strength.
One day, while reviewing his lessons, Song Hao accidentally pierced a page in his textbook with a needle. Suddenly, he had an epiphany: he could still easily pierce five or six more pages. When he increased the number to a dozen or so pages, he encountered some resistance. He practiced this method, finding that the needle pierced cleanly, or broke if it didn't penetrate. He thought, "If I keep adding thicker pages, maybe I can pierce a whole book with one needle in the end! Wouldn't that develop my finger strength?" Excited by this thought, Song Hao began practicing piercing paper. His finger strength improved rapidly; after piercing all the textbooks, he could now pierce dozens of pages with a single needle. He then sought out other useless books to practice on.
The classmates were puzzled to see that Song Hao's textbooks were covered with dense needle marks, assuming it was the result of the skipped-grade student's playful antics, and considered it a remarkable sight. Song Hao had worn out all the books he had, and since his medical books at home were unusable for needle pricks, he chuckled and said to the older students in his class, "Do you have any useless books? I'll buy them!"
As a result, his classmates gave him a huge pile of old books, without charging him a single penny. Song Hao then proceeded to pierce these books one by one, greatly increasing his finger strength. Over the years, he didn't know his exact level, but he could now pierce through a hundredbook from cover to back cover with a single needle, leaving the needle completely unharmed. There's a saying: "Read ten thousand books, and your writing will flow like a god's." Now, Song Hao had pierced through ten thousand books, his needlework imbued with divine power!
Song Hao completed five years of primary school in less than three years and smoothly entered junior high school. A child in his early teens entering junior high school was a rare occurrence in Baihe Town. Song Zihe was especially pleased, hoping that Song Hao would eventually be admitted to a prestigious medical school to pursue advanced medical studies.
The addition of geography, history, and botany to junior high school courses greatly piqued Song Hao's interest, and he devoured the subjects. After finishing the textbooks, he sought out related supplementary books, realizing how much he didn't yet know! However, Song Hao encountered a problem: the new subject of English. For some reason, despite his best efforts, he couldn't learn it well. He excelled in all other subjects, but English was his only obstacle. In his first midterm exam, he scored a mere 59.5 points, 0.5 points short of passing. The teacher grading the papers was incompetent; a simple rounding might have been a good encouragement, potentially improving the student's future grades. But the teacher was strict and refused to let him pass. And so, Song Hao's English score never surpassed his previous best.
"Grandpa! I can't get used to this bird language!" Song Hao said, sounding annoyed.
"Learn as much as you can, and work harder. We're not going to rely on this to make a living in the future!" Song Zihe said with a smile.
He was already quite satisfied with Song Hao's current performance, so he didn't force Song Hao to learn things he wasn't interested in.
Foreign languages have truly been a hindrance to our lives, yet they're all the rage these days. There's nothing wrong with learning a language, but looking at the current state of affairs across the country over the past few decades, how many people can actually use what they've learned? A huge amount of time and money is wasted, only to find it useless, even reduced to a "white elephant"—too useless to continue learning, yet too precious to abandon. Hoping for a nationwide foreign language education to align with international standards is wishful thinking. It's one thing if it's applied to related industries, and it's admirable if individuals with dreams of going abroad or seeking a job in a foreign company work hard to learn. Those with ambition can learn, but forcing oneself to learn for promotion is unnecessary. It's better to spend that time studying one's profession and improving skills than wasting time on this. Especially in the traditional Chinese medicine industry, it's truly ridiculous for someone of advanced age to be studying useless English for the sake of promotion. But reality is such that, for the sake of that diploma, you have no choice but to grit your teeth and study relentlessly; it's truly an unavoidable situation. This argument may be somewhat short-sighted, merely one person's opinion, so I'll stop here.
Song Zihe had already tested Song Hao's finger strength; he could pierce dozens of sheets of paper with a single needle without bending it. Overjoyed, Song Zihe began to teach him acupuncture techniques. The first technique he taught was the Song family's ancestral secret art—the Nine Needles for Rejuvenating Yang. This Nine Needles for Rejuvenating Yang technique differed from the commonly known version, which generally referred to nine acupoints: Yamen, Laogong, Sanyinjiao, Yongquan, Taixi, Zhongwan, Huantiao, Zusanli, and Hegu. The Song family's version omitted Zhongwan and Huantiao, adding Renzhong and Baihui. The order and number of acupoints used, combined with unique needling techniques, were used to rescue various life-threatening conditions, often with remarkable effects.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and Song Hao went from junior high school to high school. Although his English was not good, he excelled in other subjects and successfully entered high school.
On this day, Song Zihe was going to test Song Hao's finger strength again. Song Hao pointed to a thick modern edition of "Huangdi Neijing Suwen Translation and Explanation" on the table and said, "Grandpa! Let's use this book to test it. A few needle pricks won't damage it."
Knowing that Song Hao used books to practice acupuncture, Song Zihe laughed and said, "The books you've pierced over the years must have filled a cart by now. What a unique acupuncture training method you created! Can you even pierce such a thick book as the *Suwen*?"
This book, "Suwen," has over 800 pages and more than 400 sheets of paper, nearly an inch thick.
Song Hao said, "I was able to pierce through this thick book with a single needle six months ago!"
"Really!?" Song Zihe exclaimed in surprise. He thought it was possible for Song Hao to pierce through more than a hundred sheets of paper with one needle, but to pierce through more than four hundred sheets of one-inch-thick cardboard with one needle was a bit of an exaggeration.
"Why don't you give it a try?" Song Zihe said, puzzled.
Song Hao took a three-inch-long acupuncture needle, held the "Suwen" in his left hand, rested the other end on the edge of the table, held the handle in his right hand, concentrated his mind, and whispered "Break!" His hand moved like lightning, and the needle was fixed on the cover of the book. Before it even reached the handle, the sharpness of the needle was already showing from the back. The slender acupuncture needle actually pierced through more than four hundred sheets of one-inch-thick cardboard.
"Impressive!" Song Zihe exclaimed in surprise.
Song Hao's needlework was truly unexpected for Song Zihe.
Song Hao smiled and casually pulled out the needle. The needle was tightly bound by over four hundred sheets of paper; even using pliers to forcefully pull it out might break it. Song Hao, however, pulled it out effortlessly. Inserting and removing a needle from such thick paper required an extremely fast, explosive force; only instantaneous application of power could achieve the desired effect.
"Grandpa!" Song Hao laughed when he saw Song Zihe's surprised look. "This is nothing. I can even use a needle to prick the page you specify."
"Is this even possible?!" Song Zihe asked in surprise.
"Yes! I've been practicing this skill for a year and a half!"
"Then try stabbing it to page 280!" Song Zihe said with some doubt.
"No problem!" As he spoke, Song Hao inserted another needle.
Song Zihe excitedly opened the *Suwen*, eager to see if this miracle would occur. At the same time, a small portion of the page, fixed in place by the needle, was lifted, revealing page number 280 on the last page turned. The needle's tip was faintly visible, leaving only a faint, unpierced mark on page 281.
"Child!" The scene before him shocked Song Zihe greatly. He had never imagined that Song Hao's needlework had reached such a subtle and precise level.
"Even if your great-grandfather were alive, he wouldn't be able to match your acupuncture technique!" Song Zihe exclaimed in amazement.
Song Hao had already heard about Song Jingchun's deeds, and he was very happy to see his grandfather praising him like this.
By this time, Song Hao had not only pierced through countless books and developed miraculous finger strength, but he had also thoroughly studied classic medical texts. Starting with the *Neijing* (Inner Canon of Medicine), he had read through most of the medical books in the Song family collection, including *Bencao* (Materia Medica), *Shanghan Lun* (Treatise on Cold Damage), *Maijing* (Pulse Classic), *Jinkui Yaolue* (Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber), and *Zhenjiu Dacheng* (Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion), among others, but only studied the most important ones in depth. By the age of fifteen, Song Hao could independently treat patients, with an efficacy rate of seven or eight out of ten. He earned the nickname "Little Divine Doctor" from his young age. Some patients, finding Song Hao absent from Ping'an Hall, would sit and wait for him to return from school to treat them. Even Song Zihe himself didn't believe it, which made Song Zihe smile wryly, though secretly delighted.
Whenever there was a typical special case, Song Zihe would have Song Hao examine it first, and then point out any omissions. Song Hao's medical skills gradually matured, and another famous doctor emerged in Baihe Town, a young famous doctor who was still in school.
Chapter 5 Thunderbolt Needle Technique (1)
It was a Sunday, and the weather was hot and humid. In the afternoon, when he had nothing to do, Song Hao took a bath in the Baishui River, and then hid in a pine forest on the bank to cool off, read, and review his lessons.
Tired from reading, Song Hao got up and stretched. The forest was cool, and a breeze occasionally blew, causing a few pine needles to fall from the trees. Song Hao caught one, and when he held it up to his eyes, the emerald green needle was sharp and pointed, just like the metal acupuncture needles he often used. On a whim, he casually tried to pierce the "Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion" in his hand.
"flutter!"
With a soft sound, the delicate pine needles pierced through the book.
"Huh! This works too!" Song Hao was astonished as he looked at the pine needles embedded in the pages of the book. He hadn't expected that these thin, soft, and easily broken pine needles would have the same effect as metal needles.
"Great finger strength!" a loud voice rang out from the side.
Song Hao was startled by the sound, not expecting anyone to be in the woods. Turning around, he saw an elderly man with white hair and a youthful face standing beside him. The man carried a bundle on his back, wore tight-fitting cloth shoes, and an old-fashioned gray Zhongshan suit. His travel-worn appearance suggested he was a long-distance traveler.
"Young man, to pierce such a thick book with pine needles is a feat rarely seen throughout history! It's enough to astound even the gods and ghosts!" The old man's sharp eyes showed astonishment.
"What! You're a medical student?" The old man glanced at the book "The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion" in Song Hao's hand and asked in surprise.
“Yes, sir!” Song Hao nodded in response.
"Hmm! With such finger strength, your acupuncture skills are more than half complete. Can you tell me how you mastered this unique skill?" the old man asked, bewildered.
“They pierced the book, making the pages thicker page by page. After seven or eight years, it's reached this state,” Song Hao answered honestly.
"I admire you! It is perseverance and determination that have brought you to this level. You can turn anything into a needle!" The old man exclaimed in amazement, then seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "With such power in your needles, it would be a real pity if I didn't give you some pointers so that you could develop a unique skill! It's fate that we met today. How about I teach you a Thunder Needle Technique?"
"Thunderbolt Needle Technique!?" Song Hao was taken aback. He sensed that this old man was no ordinary person; he must be a rare genius. He immediately bowed deeply and said with delight, "Thank you, sir!"