Sent to the countryside, I turned the health center into a top-tier hospital.

Faced with Chen Ping's questioning, Xu Feng blushed, lowered his head, and after a long while said, "I didn't spend it all. I spent more than 20,000 yuan, and the rest was swindled away."

After saying that, Xu Feng quickly looked at Sun Xiaoyan: "Xiaoyan, we can earn money again. I will work hard from now on and I promise I won't let you suffer..."

Zhou Jie, who was usually so good-tempered, couldn't hold back any longer. Her voice was filled with barely suppressed anger: "When you were spending money on other women, why didn't you think about working hard in the future?"

"Now that you've been swindled out of all your money, you know to come back to Xiaoyan? What do you take her for? An ATM or a backup plan?"

Xu Feng was speechless after being confronted. The expression on his face changed from pleading to embarrassment, and then from embarrassment to panic as if he had been cornered.

He kept his head down, not daring to look at Sun Xiaoyan or Chen Ping, repeatedly saying "I really know I was wrong," over and over again, like a stuck cassette tape.

Chen Ping looked at him, his voice turning colder: "Xu Feng, I'm saying this one last time. If you dare to come to the health center and bother Sun Xiaoyan again, I won't waste my breath on you."

"I'll call the police immediately. You climbed over the wall, which is at least considered trespassing. I know the police station well; locking you up for a few days won't be difficult. If you cause trouble again, it won't be a matter of just a few words."

He paused for a moment, then waved his hand at Liu Mazi: "Throw him out."

Liu Mazi was waiting for these words. Without saying another word, he grabbed Xu Feng by the collar and dragged him toward the courtyard gate.

Xu Feng was dragged a couple of steps and tried to turn around and shout something, but Liu Mazi had already unbolted the door and kicked him out. The door slammed shut, the bolt was pushed back in, and the bolt was hung up again.

"Xiao Yan, please, please give me a chance..."

Xu Feng pleaded incessantly through the iron gate.

Sun Xiaoyan didn't even glance at her before turning and leaving.

"Get out of here! Do you want a beating?" Liu Mazi roared menacingly.

Looking at Liu Mazi's fierce appearance, Xu Feng finally turned and left helplessly.

The courtyard fell silent again.

The moonlight shone on the few holly bushes that had been trampled and bent by the flower bed. Liu Mazi clapped his hands, cursed, "What the hell?", and turned to go back to the guardhouse.

Zhou Jie accompanied Sun Xiaoyan back to her dormitory. Chen Ping and Cui Ying exchanged a glance, neither of them spoke, and they each went back to their own dormitories to sleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, when Chen Ping entered the consultation room, Wang Tao had already wiped the table clean.

The medical records were neatly arranged, and even the leaves of the potted green ivy on the windowsill had been wiped with a damp cloth, making them glossy and green.

Chen Ping glanced at him and smiled. Although his apprentice was sometimes a bit talkative, he was indeed efficient and observant.

The patients arrived one after another in the morning, just like usual.

After seeing two people with colds and coughs, and giving an old man with back pain a few acupuncture treatments, around ten o'clock, a couple came in through the corridor.

The man was in his fifties, wearing a faded dark blue work uniform, with gray hair and a tired look on his face from years of hard work.

He was clutching a thick brown paper bag in his hand, the edges of which were frayed.

The woman walked beside him, her steps very slow, each step feeling like she was walking on cotton, and she was extremely thin.

His cheekbones protruded, his eye sockets were sunken, his complexion was sallow with an unnatural grayish-white tinge, his lips were dry and chapped, and one hand was unconsciously pressing on his upper abdomen.

The man came in first, placed the brown paper bag on Chen Ping's desk, and said in a tired voice, "Dr. Chen, please take a look. My wife had stomach cancer surgery a little over a month ago, and most of her stomach was removed."

"After coming back, I haven't been able to eat anything. I feel bloated after just a couple of bites, and I keep getting acid reflux and heartburn, like there's a fire burning in my chest. I'm also getting thinner and thinner, and I don't even have the strength to walk..."

The woman sat in the chair, her breath clearly weak, her voice light and feeble: "Dr. Chen, although I used to be a picky eater, I could at least eat a bowl of rice."

"Now I can't even eat half a bowl of rice per meal. After eating, I feel bloated, my stomach churns, and my throat hurts. I've lost more than ten pounds in over a month..."

"Don't rush, let me take a look first!"

Chen Ping'an comforted the couple, then opened the brown paper bag and took out the medical records and examination reports one by one to look through them.

Surgical records, postoperative medical records, discharge summaries, and recent blood routine and biochemistry test reports filled a stack of papers, showing that he had been to the hospital quite often.

As he flipped through the pages, he asked, "How many follow-up appointments did you have after the surgery? What did the doctor say?"

The man beside him replied, "I had a follow-up examination two weeks after the surgery. The doctor said the surgery was very successful, the margins were negative, and there was no lymph node metastasis. He told me to go home, rest well, and have regular check-ups."

"But her condition is getting worse and worse. She can't eat anything and she's getting more and more listless every day. We went to the city hospital again, and the doctor said that this is how it is during the postoperative recovery period. He prescribed some stomach medicine and nutritional fluids, but they didn't have much effect."

Chen Ping put down the medical record and gestured for the woman to extend her hand and place it on the pulse pillow.

The woman's wrists were so thin that they were just skin covering bones; her skin was loose and yellowish, and her blood vessels were faintly visible under the skin.

Chen Ping placed three fingers on the pulse, closed his eyes, and began to take the pulse.

As soon as he touched the pulse, he could sense the illusory nature of it.

The pulses at the cun, guan, and chi positions on the right hand are all weak and feeble, especially the guan pulse, which is almost imperceptible when pressed, like a dried-up riverbed.

The pulse in the left hand is wiry, the pulse at the cun position is deep and thready, the tongue coating is thin, white and dry, the tongue body is pale red with a dark tinge, and there are slight teeth marks on the sides of the tongue.

He asked a few more questions: bowel movements, sleep quality, whether he usually experiences dry mouth or bitter taste, and his mood.

The woman answered each question: her stools were dry, she had light sleep and woke up easily at night, her mouth was dry but not bitter, her mood was stable, but she had no energy.

Chen Ping released his grip, put the pulse pillow away, pondered for a moment, and then picked up a pen to write on the prescription slip.

He wrote quickly, but every word was clear.

Codonopsis pilosula 15g, Atractylodes macrocephala 12g, Poria cocos 15g, Pinellia ternata 9g, Citrus reticulata 10g, Aucklandia lappa 6g, Amomum villosum 6g (added later), Dioscorea opposita 15g, Nelumbo nucifera 12g, stir-fried germinated barley 15g, stir-fried malt 15g, Glycyrrhiza uralensis 6g.

After writing it down, he reviewed it again, then put down his pen and handed the prescription to Wang Tao.

Wang Tao was standing to the side watching when Chen Ping handed him the prescription. He took the prescription and prepared to get the medicine.

"Wang Tao, take a look at this prescription. Is it suitable for your condition?"

Just as Wang Tao was about to leave, Chen Ping said calmly.