Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 535: Chapter 535: Sanfu Plaster

In July, the incessant chirping of cicadas filled Feng City, heralding the sweltering summer heat.

The afternoon sun was vicious, softening the asphalt on the roads. A drowsy heatwave permeated the air.

However, the sweltering heat had one silver lining—fewer people were getting sick.

The clinic was uncharacteristically quiet, with only the occasional patient who had caught a cold from blasting their air conditioner to escape the heat.

Song Sisi had diligently cleaned the clinic inside and out, even polishing the glass door until it was spotless. With nothing left to do, she leaned over the counter, scrolling idly through her phone out of sheer boredom.

"Sisi, I need to make a trip to Qinling."

Li Xu set down his medical book and glanced at the calendar. "It’s about time to dig up the snow water I buried there last year."

"Huh? You’re going to Qinling again?"

Song Sisi’s eyes lit up. She was about to say, "Take me with you!" but then she saw the sun outside—hot enough to fry an egg—and recoiled. "You’re going into the mountains in this heat?"

"It’s cooler in the mountains. Besides, snow water is a substance of Ultimate Yin. After being buried in a place of extreme Yang and nurtured by the earth’s energy for half a year, this is the time when yin and yang are in harmony and its medicinal properties are at their most mellow."

Li Xu explained, "You shouldn’t come along. The mountain roads are rough, and you might get heatstroke in this weather. Just watch the clinic. I’ll be back before you know it."

Though a little disappointed, Song Sisi knew Li Xu was looking out for her, so she nodded obediently. "Alright, then. Be safe and come back soon."

Li Xu called Ding Kaifang and asked him to send over a Land Rover with good off-road capabilities.

Six hours later, the SUV had navigated the winding mountain roads and pulled to a stop at the entrance of Bailingyu Village, deep within the Qinling Mountains.

The Qinling Mountains in summer were a world away from their stark, grim appearance in winter.

Lush and verdant, ancient trees soared into the sky, their canopy blocking out the sun and sealing the sweltering heat of the outside world beyond the mountain pass.

A mountain stream gurgled, its waters crystal clear. Occasionally, a few squirrels could be seen leaping through the forest.

The distinct coolness and fragrance of the primeval forest were instantly invigorating.

Li Xu took a deep breath of the mountain air, feeling as if every impurity in his lungs was being washed away.

Entering Bailing Valley, the sight before him was deeply gratifying.

In front of the houses and behind them, blanketing the mountainsides, grew the foxtail grass he had planted in the spring.

The foxtail grass was thriving. Its leaves were thick, its seed heads plump. Swaying gently in the breeze, it resembled a green ocean. Each stalk radiated vigorous life; the environment here was clearly perfect for its growth.

"A fine harvest,"

Li Xu murmured to himself. "Looks like I won’t have to worry about ingredients for the Mao Duddu Eye Drops this year."

He walked over to the spot he had chosen last winter.

The spot was sheltered from the wind yet sunny, with loose soil—a treasured location for gathering energy.

He took up a military shovel and carefully began to dig away the top layer of soil.

Before long, several tightly sealed earthenware jars were exposed.

Despite being buried for half a year, the jars were still cool to the touch.

Li Xu opened one. An intensely crisp, cool air rushed out, and he could even see wisps of white vapor rising from the mouth of the jar.

This was the "Twelfth-Month Snow Water."

The ancients wrote: "Twelfth-Month Snow Water is sweet, cold, and non-toxic. It neutralizes all poisons and treats seasonal fevers and pestilence."

After being nourished by the earth’s energy for half a year, the water’s medicinal properties had become even more gentle and mellow. It was an excellent medium for treating ’heat diseases’ and even for concocting certain special elixirs.

Li Xu moved the earthenware jars out one by one, placing them carefully in the trunk of the SUV and wrapping them in shock-absorbent padding.

Just then, the roar of a motorcycle shattered the valley’s tranquility.

A weather-beaten man in his fifties with a dark complexion rode up on a battered Jialing motorcycle, covered in dust from his journey.

It was Wang Baimu, the chief of the nearby Shangwang Village.

Li Xu had called Wang Baimu on the way up. After all, it was only courteous to give a heads-up when entering someone else’s territory.

"Ah, Doctor Li! It really is you."

As soon as he got off his motorcycle, Wang Baimu gripped Li Xu’s hand tightly, saying with excitement, "When I got your call, I thought I’d misheard! What brings you all the way out here in this heat? If you needed anything, you could have just told me."

"I came to check on the medicinal herbs and dig something up while I was at it."

Li Xu smiled, gesturing toward the earthenware jars in his SUV.

"Doctor Li, you haven’t visited in half a year! Now that you’re here, you must come to my house for dinner. I already had my wife slaughter our old hen for the occasion," Wang Baimu invited warmly.

Li Xu politely declined. "There’s no need for dinner, I have to get back to the city. More importantly, how’s your leg? Is it still hurting?"

Last winter, Li Xu had spent a few days in Shangwang Village. He discovered that due to its location in a mountain pass, the area was heavy with cold and dampness, and many of the village elders suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and pain in their lower backs and legs.

At the time, he had used acupuncture and herbal remedies to treat them, with remarkable results.

Wang Baimu slapped his own thigh and grinned. "Doesn’t hurt a bit! Not at all! Doctor Li, you’re a Divine Physician! Just a few needles, and the chronic pain I’ve had in this leg for over a decade was gone. I even have the strength to go up the mountain and chop firewood now."

But then his expression turned worried, and he frowned. "But... Doctor Li, I’ll be honest. Even though the leg doesn’t hurt now, I’m still uneasy. You know how it is here—once winter hits, the wind is sharp as a knife. I’m afraid this old ailment will just come right back."

Hearing this, an idea sparked in Li Xu’s mind.

Indeed.

Many chronic conditions, especially "deficiency-cold" diseases like rheumatism and asthma, shared a common trait: they flared up in the winter and went dormant in the summer.

In the summer, when Yang Qi is abundant, the pores open and the pathogenic cold retreats deep into the body. The symptoms may seem to have subsided.

But if not eradicated during this window of opportunity, it will surge back with a vengeance—or even worse—as soon as the cold yin energy of winter sets in.

This is what’s meant by the old saying, "Curing a disease is like pulling out a silk thread."

Li Xu looked up at the blazing sun overhead.

It was mid-July, just a few days into the first of the three ’fu’ periods.

The so-called "Three Fu" are calculated according to the traditional calendar.

The first ’fu’ period begins on the third Geng Day following the summer solstice, the second on the fourth Geng Day, and the final ’fu’ begins on the first Geng Day after the start of autumn.

This is the time of year when temperatures are highest and Yang Qi is at its peak.

It’s also an extremely important therapeutic window in traditional Chinese medicine: the time for "treating winter diseases in the summer."

"Village Chief Wang, your concerns are valid," Li Xu said seriously. "A deep-rooted illness like rheumatism is difficult to cure completely with a single treatment. We have to take advantage of this time of year to add more fuel to the fire."

"Add fuel to the fire?" Wang Baimu asked, confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"It’s called ’sanfu’ plastering," Li Xu said.

"’Sanfu’ plastering?" Wang Baimu had heard the term before.

But he didn’t know much about it.

Li Xu explained patiently, "In Chinese medicine, winter is considered yin and summer is yang. Your chronic leg pain is a ’winter disease,’ caused by insufficient Yang Qi in your body, which allowed pathogenic cold and yin to invade. In the winter, yin energy is at its peak, and your body’s vital energy is weaker, which is why it flares up."

"And ’summer treatment’ means using the ’sanfu’ period—when the Yang Qi of the natural world is at its strongest—to apply warm, medicated plasters to specific acupoints. It’s like borrowing fire from the sun itself to warm and replenish your body’s Yang Qi, forcing out the cold that’s lodged deep in your bones."

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