Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 42 Working Like a Slave (Please continue reading)

Zhang Xian placed the child on a straw bed that was about half a person's height and quickly undressed him.

When did the illness begin?

He was asking the burly man who had come carrying a child.

“A quarter of an hour ago, Mr. Zixu, my child has been weak since childhood. I beg you to save his life. If you can save his life, I, Huang, am willing to do anything for you.”

The burly man's face was full of anxiety and heartache.

Zhang Xian placed his hands on the child's body to check him over, and upon hearing the burly man's words, he didn't turn around but simply replied calmly.

"There's no need to work like a slave, your child's illness..."

"A deficiency from birth is difficult to cure later in life."

With his knowledge of Level 3 medical care and the aid of his diagnostic skills, he has already figured out the child's illness.

He has asthma and congenital damage to his lungs.

The burly man could not hide his disappointment.

He had heard similar words from doctors countless times, but this time they said it a little earlier.

Zhang Xian pressed several acupoints on the child's body with his fingers. Although the condition did not improve, it did relieve the child's flushed face a lot.

"What do you do at home?" Seeing the burly man's anxiety, Zhang Xian spoke up to distract him.

The burly man lowered his head and said, "We had some land rented out, but we sold most of it over the years to pay for Xu'er's medical treatment."

"Do you hold a public office? Or any other position?" he asked again.

The burly man shook his head: "No, I haven't been in the mood to do anything these past few years."

For a moment, Zhang Xian couldn't think of anything else to talk about.

"I understand your intention, sir. Please tell me frankly, how much longer can Xu'er live?" The burly man's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists, his voice trembling.

Zhang Xian shook his head and sighed: "Judging from the current situation, he has at most four or five years left to live. The damage to his lungs is quite serious."

Upon hearing this, the burly man sat down on the yellow earth in a daze, his eyes becoming somewhat unfocused and filled with grief.

"Sigh." Zhang Xian sighed again, and the thatched hut where he was treating patients was silent.

"Brother Xian, the medicine packet."

"Brother Xian, the boiling water is here!"

Zhao Yun and Xiahou Lan ran in from outside, one carrying Zhang Xian's backpack and the other holding a ceramic basin containing a covered ceramic steamer.

Both men's eyes lingered on the burly man sitting dejectedly on the ground, but they didn't look at him for long. They just rushed forward to help Brother Xian.

"Put it here, Brother Yun, go and call Doctor Lu and Doctor Tang over."

"it is good."

Zhao Yun, who had just put down the medicine packet, immediately ran out again.

Zhang Xian gave Xiahou Lan a look, signaled to the dejected man sitting on the ground, and then began to administer medicine to the child.

Xiahou Lan understood and stepped forward to help the burly man up.

"Don't let yourself be defeated, brother."

"My poor child... Waaah!" Men don't easily shed tears, unless they are truly heartbroken.

After years of seeking medical treatment, the answer he received remained unchanged, and even the strongest man, no matter how resilient, was now in tears.

Xiahou Lan helped him to sit down on the stool outside the thatched hut. Seeing his grief, she couldn't bring herself to say anything comforting and could only pat his back silently.

Two white-haired doctors, led by Zhao Yun, walked quickly into the thatched hut and saw Zhang Xian turning the child over and patting his back.

"Master Zhang." The two rather elderly physicians greeted him with the respect due to a teacher. Zhang Xian didn't have time to return the greeting and could only say directly, "Master Lu, please apply acupuncture to Feishu, Tanzhong, Tiantu, and Chize."

"Teacher Tang, please help me correct my mistakes."

"only."

The two doctors immediately came forward.

The doctor washed his hands, opened his needle bag, laid it out, took out a needle, and then sterilized it in boiling water.

"This is acupuncture for relieving lung heat and shortness of breath, Master Zhang, this child..."

"Congenital lung damage, accompanied by asthma, requires treatment with heat-clearing medicine to relieve asthma."

"I understand." Doctor Lu nodded, his withered old hand moving slightly, and in the next instant, two needles were inserted into the acupoints.

Zhang Xian, supporting the child with both hands, said to Doctor Tang, "Doctor Tang, if we use Scutellaria baicalensis, mulberry bark, and apricot kernel..."

"Do you think it's good to use this as medicine?"

The physician stroked his beard and pondered, "This prescription, when used in conjunction with other remedies, can indeed cure feverish asthma."

He stepped forward and placed his hand on the child's wrist. After a dozen or so breaths, he nodded: "Master Zhang's treatment was correct."

"Then I would like to trouble Master Tang to determine the dosage of the medicine based on the child's constitution."

"Furthermore, a prescription will be made using Astragalus membranaceus and Atractylodes macrocephala as guiding ingredients to form a powder or pill."

Doctor Tang nodded: "Saposhnikovia divaricata, which strengthens the exterior and replenishes qi, is acceptable. Master Zhang is truly talented." After saying this, he went to the pharmacy next to the thatched hut to get his medicine.

Today, Taoyuan's pharmacy has all kinds of processed herbs, some of which Zhang Xian grows himself, and some of which are purchased from the Zhen Ding Medical Hall.

As the moonlight gradually rose higher, the noises inside the thatched hut gradually ceased.

The child, with a peaceful expression, fell into a deep sleep. The two doctors, who were also elderly, stayed with Zhang Xian for a while before going to sleep as well.

Outside the thatched hut, the burly man sat on a stool, staring blankly at the bright moon. He heard a slight movement beside him as Zhang Xian plopped down next to him.

"You must have been traveling a lot these past few years," Zhang Xian asked softly, patting the dregs of medicine off his hands.

He could tell that the child would not have survived to this day without being carefully cared for.

"Yes..." The burly man sighed deeply, "In my younger years, I often acted as a chivalrous knight-errant, and I didn't marry until I was thirty. My second wife became pregnant and our enemies came to our door, which is why our son was born weak. This is all the sins my family has committed."

Zhuang Yu's voice was filled with sorrow. Zhang Xian patted his shoulder and comforted him, "Seeing your strong physique and broad hands, you must be skilled in martial arts. If you have nowhere else to go, stay in Taoyuan and be a guard. I can't guarantee anything else, but I can make sure you live to be able to get married and have children."

"Really?!" Upon hearing that his son would live to marry and have children, the burly man seemed to have received a shot of adrenaline and became completely energetic.

Zhang Xian smiled and nodded: "I do not like to speak recklessly."

"That's great, that's great, that's great!" The burly man was somewhat incoherent for a moment, but compared to before, he seemed to have returned from the dead. In the end, all he wanted was for his child to grow up smoothly.

Zhang Xian just happened to have such methods.

It is a fact that congenital diseases cannot be cured, and the damage to the lungs causes the child to often suffer from lung disease.

It's like a character in a game being afflicted with a negative status effect that causes continuous loss of health, except that this child's negative status effect lasts much longer than the negative status effects in a game.

Common medical treatments can alleviate the child's pain, but cannot cure the disease. However, Zhang Xian has a unique method that others do not have.

That is to directly restore vitality.

[Medicine Chef] skill.

The life points lost due to the continuous negative status are compensated by directly restoring vitality, and the pain caused by the negative status is alleviated by conventional means.

The gains and losses are not equal; even if they cannot be completely offset, it can still allow the child to live a little longer, although it cannot be compared to the lifespan of an ordinary person.

(End of this chapter)