Chapter 57: Knowing When to Stop

“Thank you! You are truly kind, Physician Zuo,” Master Jia said. “I’ve had two rooms beside ours prepared. Will those do?”

The young master was only three or four and slept with his parents. Lodging both physicians in the same courtyard was plainly another precaution for his sake.

Zuo Gui clasped his hands. “We are your guests. Whatever you arrange will suit us.”

To put him at ease, Master Jia sent the steward to tell Auntie Li’s family where the physicians were staying. If her condition changed, they could come straight to the Jia house. He then led father and son to the rear courtyard, instructed the maids to attend them well and withdrew.

It was fully dark. The village had neither watchman nor curfew, so Shaoyang did not know whether the first watch had begun. His father’s habit was to sleep at dark and rise at dawn; he washed and prepared for bed. Shaoyang was unaccustomed to sleeping so early. He decided to walk and think further about the two difficult cases.

A maid showed him out through the rear gate. He said he wanted some air and needed no one to accompany him, then wandered alone through the village.

Country people worked with the sunrise and rested at sunset. Having stayed up through New Year’s Eve, many were particularly tired and had gone to bed early. The village was quiet, apart from an occasional dog barking. No one disturbed his solitary walk.

After a few aimless circuits, he decided to sit beneath the old scholar tree at the entrance.

It stood on a rise a little way outside the village. A hazy moon and the reflection from the snow gave enough light to see the path. Snow creaked under his feet as he approached with his hands tucked in his sleeves. Beneath the tree, moonlight gave way to a broad pool of shadow.

He swept the snow from a long wooden bench and sat looking at the distant mountains, their silhouettes dim and silver-grey. Auntie Li and the Jia boy occupied his thoughts. Quiet though it was, he could find no answer.

Then came a creaking sound along the path.

He started. A wolf? A leopard?

He stood and backed away, ready to run towards the village. Just then, a voice called from the direction of the sound.

“Who’s there? Under the tree?”

A woman’s voice, clear and rounded. Delight replaced his fear.

“Miss Peilan? It’s me—Zuo Zhong, courtesy name Shaoyang!”

“The young physician from Guizhi Hall?”

The voice drew closer. Soon Peilan appeared under the tree, carrying a load of firewood.

“Yes! Why are you only coming back now? It’s dark. Put it down and rest.”

After a brief hesitation, she lowered her load beneath the tree.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” she asked softly. “You frightened me. I thought…”

“You’d seen a ghost?”

He chuckled. She smiled too and took a towel from the wood to wipe her sweat.

“Out so late?” he teased. “Were you playing in the mountains?”

She smiled without answering.

Moonlight scattered through the branches over her slender figure, giving the scene the effect of a film’s special lighting. He could not help staring.

Sensing his gaze, she turned a little aside, shyly. Embarrassed himself, he laughed to cover it.

“When we came to treat your mother, I saw a great pile of firewood behind the house. Did you cut all of it? What do you need so much for?”

“I cut more while the fields are quiet. Then I needn’t go up the mountain during the busy season.”

“How many loads can you cut in a day?”

“Four or five.”

“So many? That must be hard work.”

“Didn’t you go back to town? I thought you’d left.”

“No. Auntie Li hasn’t improved, and Master Jia’s son hasn’t fully recovered either. He asked Father to treat him, so we’re staying at his house.”

“I see. It’s late. Let’s go back.”

She bent, lifted the pole and headed into the village. Shaoyang followed. The path was wide enough for them to walk side by side. Seeing that slight body beneath such a heavy load moved him.

“You mustn’t overwork. You’re the only one who can support your family. If you fall ill, what will they do?”

“It’s all right. I’m strong.”

“Even strong people need to take care of themselves. You can’t keep drawing on your strength without limit. The harder the work, the more important it is not to exhaust yourself. Otherwise you do still greater damage.

“It’s like treating illness with medicine: ‘With a greatly toxic drug, remove six parts in ten; with an ordinarily toxic drug, seven; with a mildly toxic drug, eight; with a non-toxic drug, nine. Complete the restoration with grains, meat, fruit and vegetables. Do not exceed the measure and injure healthy qi.’”

Peilan laughed at the long string of words.

“What does all that mean?”

“When using a very potent, toxic medicine, stop once the illness is six-tenths better, then restore the body through diet. If you keep giving it until everything is cured, you’re using a drastic drug long after it’s needed. The excess toxicity harms the body…”

He stopped dead.

“With a greatly toxic drug… six parts in ten. Six parts…”

Suddenly he understood.

Auntie Li had long suffered from spleen deficiency and accumulated phlegm-dampness. Phlegm-fire had clouded the heart and spread through the channels, causing wind stroke. He had given Antelope Horn and Uncaria Decoction with Purple Snow, both cooling formulas to descend, extinguish wind and dispel phlegm. Purple Snow in particular was one of the Three Cooling Treasures, powerful in cooling the liver and extinguishing wind.

After one dose, the phlegm-fire and upward surge of wind-yang had markedly improved. Six or seven parts of the illness were gone. He should have stopped and changed to gentler treatment.

Instead, intent on stamping out every last trace, he had pursued the retreating enemy and given two more doses of drastic cold medicine. Excessive cooling had checked her functions; her loose stool was clear evidence. Phlegm-dampness in the spleen system had increased, and turbid pathogenic influences had obscured the clear orifices. That was why she had become unconscious again.

Now he must switch to an acrid, warming, aromatically transforming prescription to turn the situation round.

Peilan stopped too and looked back.

“What is it?”

“I know!” he cried in delight. “I know how to treat Auntie Li!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I’ll fetch the medicine chest and go straight there.”

Then he remembered: if he openly changed the prescription, the Li family would not trust a young physician’s judgement. They might refuse to give her the medicine, and he would have difficulty explaining it to his father as well.

“We’ll keep using my father’s prescription,” he added. “It should be all right.”

“Will it?”

Peilan could not understand why continuing the same medicine meant he had suddenly discovered a way to treat her. She had thought he had found something better. Still, he looked so confident and happy that she believed he had a way. That was enough.

“I’ll put the wood down at home and come!”

They parted inside the village. Shaoyang hurried to the Jia house. His father was already asleep, so he did not wake him. Taking the medicine chest, he left by the rear gate and went straight to Auntie Li’s.

Peilan was there before him. She had said nothing about their conversation under the tree, so the family did not know he had thought of a treatment. Assuming the old physician had sent him to check on her, they anxiously welcomed him in.

Auntie Li remained unconscious. Shaoyang steadied himself and showed no particular excitement.

“Has she taken the medicine?”

“Once at noon when you gave it, and once again this afternoon. Not the evening portion yet.”

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