Chapter 405: Chapter 405: A Three-Pronged Approach

During the examination, Li Xu inadvertently glanced at the patient’s right wrist.

At the edge of her hospital gown’s cuff, he was startled to see a distinct scar.

Although it had healed, such an obvious mark told him everything he needed to know.

’It’s almost certainly from slitting her wrist.’

Li Xu rolled up the patient’s sleeve, intending to get a better look at the scar, but he found something else.

On the inside of the patient’s left arm, a tattoo was faintly visible.

He rolled the sleeve up further.

There, starkly visible, was a line of text: ’I am Lin Han’s dog.’

Li Xu frowned and quickly lowered the sleeve.

Lin Xiaoyu’s position allowed her to see the tattoo as well. She quietly moved closer and whispered, "Doctor Li, my colleague cracked Wang Qianqian’s phone. They found a large number of chat logs inside. ’Lin Han’ is the patient’s boyfriend. He’s been mentally controlling Wang Qianqian for a long time—what we often call PUA. The chat logs show that Lin Han didn’t just verbally abuse and mentally torture her; he even encouraged her to commit suicide multiple times. In fact, Wang Qianqian had attempted suicide by slitting her wrist once before. Fortunately, she was discovered in time, and tragedy was averted."

After listening to Lin Xiaoyu’s account, Li Xu sighed and advised, "Editor Lin, I know this story has a lot of news value, but please be extremely careful in your reporting. Protect the patient’s privacy and avoid causing any secondary harm."

Lin Xiaoyu nodded, showing she understood.

However, now wasn’t the time to dwell on the patient’s backstory. The most important thing was to save her.

As long as the medicine was properly formulated, there was still hope.

Li Xu considered various treatment plans: clearing heat and detoxifying, opening the orifices and reviving the spirit, cooling the blood and dispersing stasis...

Suddenly, a critical question occurred to him.

"Director Han, can the patient still take medicine orally?"

Director Han shook his head and said helplessly, "Doctor Li, the patient’s swallowing reflex is gone. We tried giving her water, but she can’t swallow at all. The liquid would go straight into her trachea and cause asphyxiation."

’This is bad,’ Li Xu thought.

The loss of her swallowing reflex meant that the traditional route of administering oral decoctions was completely blocked.

Unwilling to give up, he asked, "What about a feeding tube?"

Director Han gave a wry smile. "We tried that too, but the patient’s larynx is severely swollen and she’s having spasms. Forcing it in would likely damage her airway and worsen her condition, so we couldn’t succeed."

Li Xu’s brows knitted together tightly.

She couldn’t take medicine orally, and a feeding tube couldn’t be inserted. This undoubtedly cut off the primary method of internal treatment in Chinese medicine.

Although Chinese medicine had a variety of treatment methods, oral decoctions were unquestionably the most central and effective.

Now that this method was useless, how could he possibly treat her?

As for acupuncture...

In the early stages, for patients with mild to moderate carbon monoxide poisoning, acupuncture to open the orifices and revive the spirit might have some effect.

But the patient was now in the late, severe stage. Her brain function was severely damaged, her pupils were unequal in size, and her pupillary light reflex was gone. The effects of acupuncture would likely be negligible.

The atmosphere in the conference room became exceptionally grim.

All eyes were on Li Xu, everyone hoping he could provide a solution.

Only Xue Shuheng chose this inopportune moment to mock him. "Doctor Li, the reason we haven’t used any Chinese medicine methods is precisely because the patient can’t swallow. Decoctions are useless. Otherwise, why would we have gone to the trouble of calling you in? You must have a way, right?"

Of course, Li Xu had no way.

At least, not at the moment.

But he still had his system’s intelligence as a safety net.

Li Xu checked the time. It was already 8:00 PM.

There were still four hours until his system’s intelligence refreshed.

Based on past experience, tomorrow’s intelligence refresh was sure to provide a treatment plan.

Li Xu calmed himself and looked at the crowd. "Director Han, esteemed experts. The patient’s situation is highly unusual. I need some time to think about a treatment plan. During this time, please do your best to maintain her vital signs and prevent her condition from worsening. I will definitely figure something out."

"Alright."

Director Han agreed.

But in truth, he held out no hope.

The patient’s condition was too dangerous. With Chinese medicine’s most important tool—decoctions—unusable, how could she be saved?

He thought Li Xu was just saying that to save face.

The others thought so too.

Xue Shuheng opened his mouth, wanting to continue his mockery, but having learned his lesson from last time, he forced himself to stop.

’No need to rush.’

’In her current state, the patient definitely won’t make it through the night.’

’We’ll see tomorrow.’

「...」

Li Xu didn’t stay idle. He followed Lin Guorui to the internal medicine department.

There were some books in the internal medicine consultation room.

Li Xu found a few and began to flip through them.

If he was lucky, he might find a suitable treatment method in the books and wouldn’t have to wait for the intelligence to refresh.

In the dead of night, back in the emergency department’s conference room, Li Xu rapidly flipped through medical texts.

Lin Guorui and Hu Qiming should have gone home to rest, but given the special circumstances, they chose to stay.

They watched as time ticked by, second by second.

Li Xu had already consulted numerous ancient Chinese medical texts, but he still couldn’t find a treatment plan that perfectly matched Wang Qianqian’s condition.

"Doctor Li, maybe... we should just let it go."

Lin Guorui advised, "A case like this... it’s just too difficult. We’ve already done our best."

Hu Qiming chimed in, "That’s right, Li Xu. You’ve done everything you can. If there’s really no other way, no one will blame you."

Li Xu shook his head. "No, it’s not time to give up yet. I should be able to think of something. You two go get some rest. I’ll call you when I have an idea."

"Alright."

Lin Guorui and Hu Qiming nodded.

They couldn’t be of much help here anyway, and waiting around was pointless.

They went to the break room next door to sleep.

Li Xu continued to search through the books.

Time ticked by.

As soon as midnight struck, the intelligence refreshed. Li Xu hurriedly checked it.

[Today’s Intelligence: Patient Wang Qianqian. Phlegm-toxin is clouding the heart-mind and obstructing the clear orifices. This is a critical sign of rampant toxin and grave illness. Urgent need to clear heat, detoxify, expectorate phlegm, and open the orifices. The applicable formula is one An Gong Bezoar Pill, dissolved in 10ml of clear water, then continuously applied to the surface of the tongue with a cotton swab...

Simultaneously, use raw Da Huang, *Beng Da Wan*, *Su Ye*... to prepare a decoction for an enema.

Then, use the twirling-reducing method of acupuncture on the Drainage Ditch point. The Drainage Ditch point is located on the Du meridian, where the Hand and Foot Yangming and the Du meridians meet. It has the effect of opening the orifices, clearing heat, reviving the brain, and calming the spirit...]

After reading the intelligence, the gloom in Li Xu’s heart was swept away.

’So that’s how it’s done!’

Applying the medicine to the tongue, the enema, and the acupuncture—this three-pronged approach was simply brilliant.

Especially the An Gong Bezoar Pill, the "Divine Medicine" of Chinese emergency medicine. Its efficacy in clearing heat, detoxifying, opening the orifices, and reviving the spirit was extraordinary.

More importantly, a few months ago, he had personally made several high-quality An Gong Bezoar Pills using precious medicinal ingredients like pure, wild-harvested Bezoar and Rhino Horn. Their potency was exceptional.

Li Xu let out a long breath of relief. The patient could be saved.

He went to the break room next door and woke the drowsy Lin Guorui and Hu Qiming.

"Director Lin, Qiming, I have a solution," Li Xu said happily.