Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 569: Chapter 569: By the Book

"L-Lung cancer?"

When Keke heard the doctor’s diagnosis, the world started to spin. Her legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.

She was only in her twenties.

She didn’t smoke or drink. The worst she did was stay up late...

How could she get a disease like this?

Keke was in a daze as she left the hospital.

The bustling city traffic faded to black and white before her eyes.

She felt like her world was crashing down.

Back home, she sat stunned on the sofa for what felt like an eternity, tears streaming down her face.

It wasn’t until that evening that she regained some of her composure.

She picked up her phone and recorded a video.

In the video, she wore no makeup. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her voice was hoarse.

"I have some bad news for everyone... I went to the hospital for a check-up today, and it’s confirmed. I have early-stage lung cancer."

"First, I want to thank the netizen named ’Li’s Traditional Chinese Medicine.’ If it weren’t for your warning, I might have foolishly thought I was just tired and missed the best window for treatment. Thank you, truly. You saved my life."

"And to my fans who have been with me all this time, thank you. Because I need to undergo treatment, I might be updating less, or even taking a break from the internet for a while..."

The video went viral the moment it was posted.

Her fans were shocked, heartbroken, and rushed to comfort her.

"Oh my god, it was really confirmed?"

"Waaaah... Keke, you have to be strong! We’ll wait for you to come back."

But even more people flooded the replies to Li Xu’s original comment, frantically liking and responding.

"A Divine Physician! How could he tell just from that?"

"I was wrong. I shouldn’t have flamed you. I’m sorry, Doctor Li."

"Is this the legendary ’cloud diagnosis’? So freaking cool."

"That’s not a doctor, that’s a living Bodhisattva!"

"Holy shit, I just realized! He’s the Divine Physician who developed hit products like the True Martial Pill, Dragon Bone Powder, and Aloe Vera Frost! He’s also the one who saved Ji Youyou’s life! He’s incredible."

"@Keke, don’t lose hope! Go find Doctor Li! Maybe he has a way to treat your illness."

...

Li Xu scrolled through his phone, seeing Keke’s new video and the flood of thank-yous and likes in the comments.

He didn’t reply or try to ride the wave of popularity. He just quietly closed the page.

Cancer. The word itself was heavy.

Whether it was Western medicine with its targeted drugs and chemotherapy, or traditional Chinese medicine’s focus on strengthening the body’s foundation and fighting tumors, no one could beat their chest and guarantee a one-hundred-percent cure.

All a doctor could do was stand on the cliff’s edge between life and death, pull the patient back as hard as they could, extend their life, and improve their quality of life.

As for the rest, it was thirty percent human effort and seventy percent the will of heaven.

A day passed in the blink of an eye.

The next morning, the first thing Li Xu did upon opening his eyes was to check the system interface.

[Today’s Intelligence: ...]

He quickly scanned it, a little disappointed.

It was just an ordinary piece of intelligence—a pathological analysis of some patient. There were no clues about the "wild man" expert he had been so eagerly awaiting.

’Looks like the time isn’t right yet.’

Li Xu sighed but didn’t give up completely.

Based on past experience, since the system had mentioned the expert in a previous intelligence report,

it definitely wasn’t for nothing.

He was sure to run into him eventually.

After washing up, Song Sisi came in carrying breakfast.

"Eat up while it’s hot. Freshly made savory meat buns and millet congee."

Li Xu had just taken a bite of a bun when his phone rang.

It was a number from the provincial capital.

Li Xu chuckled. He didn’t even have to guess who it was.

Sure enough, when he answered, Professor Zhang Yarong’s voice came through the line.

"Dr. Li, this is Zhang Yarong. I happen to be coming to Feng City today for some business, so I thought I’d... swing by your place to pick up some medicine."

’He finally caved.’

Normally, if it was just to buy medicine, he could have just sent an assistant or a student to pick it up.

But Zhang Yarong was clearly a suspicious man. He was afraid the Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance Li Xu gave him wouldn’t be the top-grade piece from the photo, or that it might be fake. He had to come inspect it himself.

An hour later, a car pulled up in front of the clinic.

Zhang Yarong walked in. Though he tried his best to hide it, his displeasure was written all over his face.

"Dr. Li, where is it?"

He got straight to the point the moment he entered. Not only did he skip the pleasantries, he added with a hint of passive aggression, "Let me be blunt. Just because I’m here to buy medicine doesn’t mean I’ll definitely join your Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory. The company in the provincial capital gave me an extremely generous offer. I’m still considering it."

This was a classic manipulation tactic: "I need something from you, but I still have to maintain my superior posture."

Li Xu scoffed inwardly.

’Even if you wanted to come, we might not necessarily want you.’

He didn’t waste words either. He took the prepared rosewood box from the counter and opened the lid.

A subtle fragrance instantly filled the air.

Zhang Yarong’s eyes lit up. He immediately put on his glasses, took out a pocket magnifying glass, and leaned in for a closer look.

"Mm... a fine texture, a jade-like greyish-white color, a hard consistency... This is indeed a top-grade specimen."

After inspecting the goods, Zhang Yarong’s expression finally softened a bit. He asked, "I need a rather large amount. Although Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance is usually an adjuvant herb, in this prescription, it’s the sovereign herb, so the dosage is higher. He needs 15g per dose, taken daily during his first month of chemotherapy. So, I need 450g in total."

grams?

That’s almost a pound.

’This old man sure has a big appetite,’ Li Xu thought. ’Looks like he’s willing to go all out to save his brother-in-law.’

Li Xu nodded, took out a digital scale to weigh it, and then said calmly, "At 20,000 yuan per gram, the total comes to 9,000,000 yuan."

"What?"

Zhang Yarong’s head snapped up, his voice cracking. "Twenty thousand a gram? Why don’t you just rob me?"

As an expert in Chinese medicinal herbs and a member of the Materia Medica committee, he knew the market prices for all sorts of herbs like the back of his hand.

"The market price for Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance is only a few hundred yuan per gram for ordinary quality, and between one thousand to five thousand for better quality. Even for a top-grade piece like this, the absolute most it would go for is ten thousand a gram! And you’re asking for twenty thousand?"

He pointed at Li Xu and accused, "Dr. Li, we’re both in the same business. This is blatant price gouging!"

Li Xu maintained his smile, completely unfazed.

"Professor Zhang, you’re the expert. You should know better than I do. While Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance has a price, a top-grade, greyish-white piece like this that has been floating in the sea for over a century is priceless."

"The ones on the market that go for a few thousand are mostly brown or black ’raw fragrance,’ and many are even synthetic fakes. That kind of stuff won’t save a life—you’d be lucky if it didn’t poison you."

"This piece I have is the best of the best, a once-in-a-lifetime find. Twenty thousand a gram is a friendship price, offered out of professional courtesy. If you think it’s too expensive, you don’t have to buy it. I won’t force you."

His words were delivered without a trace of servility or arrogance, yet each one struck a fatal blow.

He understood people like Zhang Yarong all too well.

They loved money; they were greedy.

But precisely because of that, after so many years in his position, he had surely lined his pockets quite handsomely.

Nine million yuan would certainly sting, but he could definitely afford it.

More importantly, this was life-saving medicine.

Where else could he possibly find Dragon’s Saliva Fragrance of this quality?

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