"That's right!" The guard who had been there earlier agreed wholeheartedly. He came forward and untied Song Hao, saying, "Kid, we've brought you some good food and drink. Enjoy it while you can. We don't even know if there will be another meal!"
Song Hao was also hungry and too lazy to respond to the guards, so he took the food and ate it haphazardly. After finishing, he wiped his mouth and sat there chuckling inexplicably.
The two guards were taken aback when they saw this. They then stepped forward to tie Song Hao up.
Having seized this opportunity, Song Hao would not allow anyone to tie him up again. He had already drawn a needle from his sleeve and secretly held it in his hand. As soon as the two guards approached, he suddenly stood up and, with lightning speed, stabbed the two men in the Daheng acupoint on their sides, unleashing his Thunderbolt Needle Technique in one swift motion. The two guards were caught off guard, and upon seeing Song Hao's figure move before them, they were stunned and froze in place.
"Sorry! I have to go now!" Song Hao, having succeeded in his attack, rushed out the door.
Just as he stepped out the door, he suddenly heard a faint, mocking voice say, "Heh! With such ruthless methods, why bother getting captured? I had to make a fuss up front, causing chaos among the Ghost Doctor's Sect members. Alright! Just follow the east wall, turn left to the back door, it's open for you!"
Song Hao was startled by the sound, realizing that someone had used a feint to rescue him. He looked around but couldn't find anyone, wondering where the voice had come from.
"What are you standing there for! Go now!" the voice rang out again, tinged with a hint of sternness.
"Thank you!" Song Hao cupped his hands in thanks, then turned and ran off, regardless of who the other person was.
As Song Hao walked, no one stopped him; it was clear that the Ghost Doctor's Sect members had all been drawn to the front. He saw an open gate in the courtyard wall, presumably the back gate of the house. Overjoyed, Song Hao darted out.
Suddenly realizing he had reached the edge of a village, Song Hao found himself outside. Ahead lay a grove of trees on one side and vegetable fields on the other, with a small path leading into the distance. Looking back at the village, he saw mostly high walls and large courtyards, clearly indicating a prosperous place. Startled, Song Hao turned and ran.
After running for more than ten miles, Song Hao was panting heavily. Looking back and seeing no movement behind him, he knew that the Ghost Doctor Sect had not pursued him, so he took refuge in a grove of trees to rest.
"Who saved me just now?" Song Hao was puzzled, then suddenly remembered the mysterious person from the Gate of Life and Death. But was it him who saved him? Why did he keep coming to his aid? And why did he follow him like a shadow? He must have something on his mind. Back then, it was for that Song Tiansheng acupuncture bronze figure.
Thinking of this, Song Hao felt a chill in his heart, realizing that the situation was serious. His whereabouts could never escape the control of this mysterious person from the Gate of Life and Death. This person was the most powerful, and nothing could escape his eyes. Even if he went to the ends of the earth, he would appear at any time like a ghost.
However, upon closer reflection, this person did not seem to have any malicious intent; otherwise, with his skills, he would have captured me long ago. Although it was our first meeting, I managed to subdue him by surprise with my Thunder Needle Technique.
"Who cares! They're probably all bad people!" Song Hao shook his head and sighed.
It was completely dark by then. Song Hao groped his way forward for a while longer and saw a few lights ahead, indicating that he had reached a place with people. As he got closer, he discovered that it was a village.
Song Hao walked to the door of a house with the lights on and knocked a few times.
"Who is it?" a man answered from inside the house.
Song Hao said, "Excuse me, could you please stay the night if you are passing by?"
The man said, "Someone at home is sick, so it's not convenient. Please go to another village. Everyone here is sick and can't take you in."
Upon hearing this, Song Hao exclaimed in surprise, "How come every household in this village has a sick person? That's very strange!" Being a doctor himself, he wanted to find out. So he said, "Brother, I am a doctor. May I examine the sick person in your household?"
There was a moment of silence in the room, then the door opened, and a man in his forties came out. He looked Song Hao up and down in the light of the room, and said hesitantly, "Young man, it's not that I don't want you to stay, but the patient in this room is very ill, and ordinary doctors can't cure him." He seemed to distrust Song Hao because of his youth.
Song Hao smiled and said, "Brother, if there is any inconvenience at your home, I will leave on my own. However, I am indeed a doctor, and a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. Why don't you let me take a look at the patient? If I can cure him, I will. If I can't, I will leave immediately and won't cause you any trouble."
The man sighed and said, "Alright, come in and take a look. If you don't mind, you can spend the night in the storeroom. It's still a few hours' walk before we reach the village." With that, he ushered Song Hao into the house.
This family was poor; the house was sparsely furnished, with only two simple pieces of furniture. A middle-aged woman lay on a wooden bed; in the dim light, her pale face was visible. Hearing that a stranger had arrived, the woman opened her eyes, glanced at Song Hao, and then fell back asleep.
Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes observation, listening, questioning, and palpation. When Song Hao saw that the woman looked dazed, weak, and lying on the bed like a living dead person, he was shocked and quickly stepped forward to check her pulse.
"My family is poor and there's no place to sit. Young man, please make do with this so my wife can have a look at me," the man said apologetically.
Song Hao paid no attention to the man. Upon carefully examining the woman's pulse, he was truly astonished. Her pulse was rapid and irregular, its flow uneven. Her symptoms were weak, yet her pulse was strong. It would have been one thing if the pulse didn't correspond to her symptoms, but rather, it exhibited several pulse characteristics—slippery, pulsating, and surging—intermingling, resembling the rare "ghostly pulse." When physicians examine similar pulses, if they identify one type, their fingertips will naturally follow their interpretation; hence the saying, "Three famous doctors, three different pulses." But this woman's pulse characteristics clearly overlapped, one appearing followed by another. Even a novice pulse diagnosis practitioner could sense the complex interplay in her fingertips—truly baffling.
"Brother, how did your sister-in-law contract such a strange illness?" Song Hao asked in astonishment.
"Sigh! Don't even mention it. Every woman over twenty in this village has this disease. Nobody knows how they got it. Half a year ago, they all suddenly fell ill at the same time. The big hospitals couldn't find a cure, so they had no choice but to go home and wait to die," the man sighed.
"What! All the women over twenty in the village have contracted this strange disease? This disease shouldn't be contagious!" Song Hao was shocked again.
"Could it be that he accidentally ate some food or water that caused this disease?" Song Hao asked hurriedly.
"None of those!" the man shook his head and said, "Generations have lived here without incident, so how could only these women fall ill? Of the hundred or so households in the village, are only our twenty-one households the only ones who have fallen ill?"
"What? Only these twenty-one households in your village have patients like this? Didn't you say that every family has a patient?" Song Hao asked in surprise.
"I'm talking about the old village now. Our group of twenty-one households moved back from the new village. Originally, the old village site was abandoned, but we spent all our money on medical treatment and had nowhere to live, so we had to move back to the old village. We were all living very well, with grand houses and high walls, but we were afflicted with this deadly, money-draining disease! If we had another 100,000 or 200,000 yuan, the people of Yuehe Village could have cured us," the man sighed.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Strange Illness
Song Hao only half understood what he was saying, so he said, "Brother, could you explain it more clearly?"
The man said impatiently, "What's the use of explaining? Do you think you can't cure it?"
Song Hao nodded and said, "I can't guarantee that it will be cured, but it can temporarily alleviate the symptoms. I will try to treat your sister-in-law with acupuncture. If we can restore the disordered meridians, there will be hope for recovery."
The man was taken aback, then exclaimed with delight, "Young man, if you can cure my wife's illness, the other patients in the village will also be cured. We will definitely set up a longevity tablet for you, and your descendants will never forget you."
Song Hao said, "Let's give it a try. Although this disease is strange, it only disrupts the meridians and has not yet damaged the internal organs. Although I do not know the cause, I can treat it according to the symptoms and perhaps it can be regulated."
After speaking, Song Hao selected sixteen acupoints on the woman's body, including Shenmen, Taiyuan, Quchi, Taichong, and Baihui, but only used one needle at a time. He inserted the needle into each acupoint, applied a slight manipulation, and did not leave the needle in place. In a short while, all sixteen acupoints were needled, and upon checking her pulse, it was found to be normal. He was overjoyed and said, "It really worked! My sister-in-law's illness was caused by taking the wrong medicine, which disrupted the flow of Qi in her meridians. It seems very serious, but once the clouds part and the sun shines through, it's actually quite simple to treat. She will recover in half a month."
At this moment, the woman on the bed said gratefully, "Young brother, you are indeed a divine doctor. After you inserted these needles, the bitterness in my chest and the dizziness in my head have all disappeared in a short time."
The man beside him exclaimed in delight, "I never knew you were such a skilled doctor!"
Song Hao smiled upon hearing this. The man then pulled Song Hao into another room, sat him on a dilapidated cabinet, poured him a bowl of hot water, added some sugar, and served it to Song Hao.
At this moment, Song Hao said, "Brother, your sister-in-law's illness is quite strange. Could you tell me the whole story?"
The man sat down and sighed, "It's a long story. Our village is called Yuehe Village, with about a hundred households. Seven miles to the east is an old copper mine, also known as the Yuehe Copper Mine. The elders say it was mined during the Ming Dynasty, but it was abandoned for some reason. Ten years ago, a geological expert from the province accidentally went into the old mine and discovered a new vein, or rather, the old mine had not been fully exploited. So the villagers of Yuehe Village pooled their money and took over the old mine to continue mining."
The man then said excitedly, "The Yuehe Copper Mine has brought tremendous changes to the village. In just three years, a new Yuehe Village was built ten miles away, and all the families in the village moved there at once."
"Until one day, a group of people from out of town came, and everything changed." The man lowered his head as he said this.