Da Ming: Father, step aside, I'll be the prime minister!

Chapter 63 What Kind of Healer Are You? (Please Read On!)
Yang Family Medical Clinic.

"Father, the child has already been given medicine, and we've carried the child's mother into the courtyard. There are people to take care of her, so you can rest assured."

A thin-faced young man entered the study and looked at his elderly father, who was reading classics at the desk.

Given the urgency of the situation and seeing the child's desperate pleas, Yang Jishi ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it and allowed his eldest son, Yang Tiancheng, who was in charge of the clinic, to treat the mother and child first.

"As it should be."

Yang Jishi was a little tired and looked up from his book, but when he looked closely at his eldest son, he was immediately startled.

He thought he was already in a sorry state in the garlic workshop, but he didn't expect his eldest son to be even worse off.

Under the candlelight in the study, Yang Tiancheng looked haggard, with heavy dark circles under his eyes, his clothes were filthy, and his hair was disheveled.

"Tiancheng, how did you become like this?"

Yang Jishi's heart clenched immediately, his hands trembled slightly, and he got up and walked closer to his eldest son, carefully examining his haggard face.

This is Yang Jishi's son, who has been exceptionally talented since childhood and is Yang Jishi's handpicked successor in medical skills.

The eldest son is usually a handsome young man, but today he looks exactly like a refugee fleeing a disaster.

"Father~"

Yang Tiancheng had been enduring it, but his father's question caused all the pressure and hardship he had accumulated over the past few days to erupt at once.

"The people of the capital are about to collapse, and so is our Yang Family Medical Clinic. The number of patients in the city is increasing, and every clinic is being overwhelmed. The streets and alleys are full of sick people. We don't have enough medicine either, and several doctors have said they can't bear the burden and want to resign from their clinics."

As he recounted his recent situation, tears welled up in Yang Tiancheng's eyes.

"It's that serious?"

He had some understanding of the situation in the city, but he didn't expect it to be so serious.

The most crucial point is that Yang Jishi had only been gone for a few days, and the clinic had become like this, he said with a frown.

"Did I leave behind a few hundred taels of silver?"

Yang Tiancheng sighed: "My father is kind and instructed us to treat all the poor and sick patients who cannot afford medical treatment with the same medicine. It's fine under normal circumstances, but with this plague, the price of medicines has gone up. How can a few hundred taels be enough?"

"This..." Yang Jishi looked troubled, but after thinking for a moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "There is a hidden compartment under my bed where there is a thousand taels of silver that His Majesty once bestowed upon me. Let's use it to tide us over for now."

Yang Tiancheng hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Jishi asked again, "Are the Baihu Decoction and Ma Xing Gan Shi Decoction in the Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases useful?"

"The results were minimal."

"What about the Rhinoceros Horn and Rehmannia Decoction in the 'Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces'? Rhinoceros horn is salty and cold, and it is good at clearing heat and toxins from the blood. It is the chief ingredient. Rehmannia root is sweet, bitter, and cold in nature. It is the assistant ingredient."

Yang Tiancheng sighed again.

"The rhinoceros horn and rehmannia decoction may have some effect, but rhinoceros horn is expensive, and ordinary people cannot afford it."
All the rhinoceros horns on the market have been bought up by royalty and nobility; even if we had the money, we couldn't buy any.

"And that too?"

Yang Jishi wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by his eldest son, Yang Tiancheng.

"Father, there's no need to mention it again. This 'big head plague' comes on fiercely. The patient's body is invaded by heat evil, and the qi and blood stagnate in the head and face. It is an acute illness."

However, in the past, medicines were meant to be used for long-term conditioning. With so many patients and different degrees of illness, the effects of medicines were slow to take effect. How could we afford that?

Countless patients have died or been injured in the past few days. We…

Yang Tiancheng stamped his foot, finally made up his mind to say these words, and cupped his hands to advise his father.

"Father, if this continues, even our Yang Family Clinic will be in trouble. Perhaps we should stop seeing patients altogether."

"No!"

Yang Jishi seemed to have been provoked and said angrily.

"How have I always taught you? A doctor should have a benevolent heart and care for all people. As a royal physician, I should set an example for medical clinics in the capital. How can you give up because of this?"

Yang Tiancheng sighed repeatedly, but dared not refute. He looked at his father, whose eyes were a little red and swollen, and said.

"Father, have you been researching medicine these past few days? Is it to treat this plague?"

"I"

This question stumped Yang Jishi, who had been kidnapped by Zhang Yunxiu and taken to the garlic workshop a few days earlier.

The young man had already sent word that Yang Jishi had received the emperor's decree to develop a new medicine, and that his family should not worry. Thinking of this, Yang Jishi felt a pang of frustration. The city was ravaged by plague, and he couldn't treat the people at the clinic, nor could he stand guard for the emperor in the palace. Instead, he was in some shady workshop researching garlic sauce?

Can garlic sauce cure diseases?

But his eldest son was already overworked, and Yang Jishi didn't want to bring up these things again to bother him.

He sighed and said, "A prescription isn't so easy to make. You should go and rest. Your father is here. I'll go and look through some ancient books; perhaps I can find a solution!"

A hint of disappointment flashed in Yang Tiancheng's eyes as he said, "The creation of prescriptions has never been an easy task since ancient times."

Then, his eyes hardened again.

"Father, don't worry. I'm young and strong. The patients in the clinic are in critical condition. There's no reason for me to rest. Saving lives is the most important thing."

Yang Jishi looked up at his eldest son, whose face was thin, and felt a sense of relief.

This is truly my prodigy, far superior to Zhang Yunxiu!
He nodded and said, "You are also a doctor, so you should take care of your own health. Go and get me some ancient medical books from the Han Dynasty from the storeroom. I will study them carefully. The most important one is the Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases by Zhang Zhongjing, the Sage of Medicine. Let's see if there are any missing chapters that can cure this plague."

Yang Tiancheng nodded obediently and cupped his hands in greeting.

"I will go now."

Yang Jishi waved his hand and then turned his gaze back to the ancient book in his hand, hoping to find a solution within it.

"Cough cough cough~"

After taking a few steps, Yang Tiancheng coughed.

"You should also be careful not to catch the plague. You should brew yourself some medicine," Yang Jishi reminded him without looking up.

But there was no response to this.

Yang Jishi looked up in surprise and saw his eldest son standing in front of the threshold, his body trembling, unable to step over the threshold, and his body swaying more and more.

"Tiancheng, are you alright?" Yang Jishi asked, frowning.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he heard a "thump" and his eldest son, who had just claimed to be strong and healthy, suddenly fainted in front of him.

"Perfect!"

Yang Jishi was shocked and rushed forward.

In the back room of Yang Family Medical Clinic.

Looking at her son lying on the sickbed, barely alive, Wang, the mother, was frantic. She kept wiping him with a cloth, but Yang Tiancheng's face was pale and his lips were bluish, showing no signs of waking up.

"What can we do?"

Wang was extremely anxious. She turned her head and saw Yang Jishi still flipping through medical books. She said angrily.

"How can you, as a father, take care of your child? Tiancheng is so sick, and you're still flipping through those medical books! You're a royal physician, and you can't even save ordinary people from the plague. Are you helpless when your own son gets sick?"

"A woman's view! A woman's view!" Yang Jishi was also anxious, pacing around the room, fidgeting with medical books and ancient texts.

"Qi is the commander of blood, and blood is the mother of qi. They depend on each other. When qi is deficient, blood circulation is slow, and the brain marrow is not nourished, which leads to dizziness and fainting. Tiancheng is not suffering from a minor headache, but rather from a deficiency of qi and blood. Go and brew a bowl of Eight Treasures Soup for Tiancheng to drink. With proper care, he will surely be cured!"

Upon hearing this, Madam Wang became even angrier, and with red eyes, she angrily rebuked Yang Ji.

"Ancient books, ancient books, you will read those ancient books. If ancient books were truly useful, would so many people still be dying in this world?"

She then pointed to Yang Tiancheng's bluish lips and said.

"You've been practicing medicine for many years, and I can see the symptoms right now. Can't you see them? These days, all the patients in my clinic who have contracted 'big head plague' have the same symptoms! Yet you're still clinging to this medical book and deceiving yourself!"

"I...I..." Yang Jishi burst into tears, looking as if he had aged more than ten years. Even when he was being punished by the emperor, he had never been so flustered.

But he still didn't give up, and picked up another medical book.

"Even the common plague has a cure. The Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases must have some surviving chapters. It is the 'ancestor of medical books,' so how could it not have a cure for the common plague? There is also the Huainanzi, a famous pre-Qin text."

"You're still stubbornly clinging to your delusions!"

His wife slapped the book out of Yang Jishi's hand and then slapped him across the face with a loud crack.

“I am just a woman, I don’t care about the lives of the people, I only care about whether my poor child can live. If it weren’t for you, how could my child have become like this?”

Yang Jizhou! If Tiancheng dies, you, his father, will be the culprit!

A doctor is supposed to have a benevolent heart, but you can't even cure your own son, what kind of doctor are you! What kind of benevolence do you have to talk about!

(End of this chapter)