Li Chu's notes have attracted the interest of the traditional Chinese medicine community, since many doctors make a living by relying on a few unique prescriptions.

Many older generation traditional Chinese medicine doctors are reluctant to pass on their secret recipes to others, so the emergence of such a freak has surprised everyone.

Many people wanted to visit Li Chu, but they were all turned away by the medical school. The medical school leadership didn't want anyone to bother him right now.

Li Chu was happy to have some free time, and he had no interest in dealing with those conservative people.

I had just sat down in my consultation room when two people came in, a man and a woman, who looked to be in their thirties.

"Doctor, could you please examine my wife?" the man said as soon as he entered the room.

After asking them to sit down, Li Chu took the registration ticket and medical record from the man's hand.

Li Chu didn't look at the medical record, but instead asked the woman, "What's wrong? Where do you feel unwell?"

"Doctor, my wife saw a doctor at your hospital before. The doctor said she has some kind of stomach cancer and needs surgery. What exactly is this disease? They need to cut open her abdomen and remove something from inside. If they remove that stuff, will she still be able to live?"

Before Li Chu could say anything, the man continued with a bitter face, "My family really can't afford this money, and the medicine they prescribed is having no effect at all. That's why we thought of coming to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor."

The woman sat there silently, her face filled with sorrow; it was her husband who spoke for her.

This was the first cancer patient Li Chu had encountered in such a long time.

After hearing his words, Li Chu did not dwell on whether a person could survive after having their stomach cut open.

If surgery is required, this is the kind of knowledge that Western medicine practitioners need to educate them about; otherwise, he won't interfere.

Nowadays, most people are unfamiliar with Western medicine treatments. They just think that since it came from abroad, it should be more advanced than traditional Chinese medicine, so they all rush to see Western doctors. However, they don't understand many of the terms used in Western medicine.

In addition, most people nowadays have low levels of education and little culture. It's good enough if they can read. If you try to explain the treatment methods of Western medicine to them, you won't be able to do anything else today.

He immediately opened the medical record, which clearly stated that it was gastric cardia cancer. The surgeon had even performed a gastroscopy on the female patient, so it seemed to be a certainty. Moreover, this had happened two months ago.

The cover said the woman's name was Liu Huiying, and she was only thirty-two years old. How could she get cancer at such a young age?

Closing the medical record, Li Chu looked up and asked, "What symptoms do you usually have?"

This time, the man didn't speak, but looked at his wife, Liu Huiying, before she slowly spoke.

"Doctor, I just can't eat anything right now. I vomit as soon as I eat even a little bit. Sometimes what I vomit is just sour water."

How long have these symptoms lasted?

"It will take about six months," Liu Huiying said after thinking for a moment.

“I see from your medical records that you only came to see me two months ago. Why didn’t you come when you first started vomiting?”

"It wasn't serious at first. I just felt like I couldn't swallow when I ate. It would feel stuck in my chest. Sometimes I would feel like vomiting after swallowing. I thought it was just an upset stomach and didn't pay attention to it. But it happened frequently, so I..." Liu Huiying seemed a little embarrassed.

Hearing her words, Li Chu shook his head inwardly. So many illnesses are caused by neglect, with minor ailments turning into major ones.

He continued, "The doctor prescribed you some medicine when you came last time, right?"

"Yes, but the medicine doesn't seem to be working."

After thinking for a moment, Li Chu asked again, "Have you vomited blood or had any other symptoms in the past two months?"

Before Liu Huiying could say anything, her man interjected, "She vomited blood once, along with the food she ate. As for other symptoms, we haven't seen her react any other way. Is that Huiying?"

After listening to her husband's words, Liu Huiying nodded: "There's nothing else, it's just that I can't swallow food, and when I do, I feel like vomiting."

Li Chu asked her to put her hand on the table and began to carefully take her pulse.

After taking her pulse, he said to Liu Huiying, "I also suggest that you go to the surgery department and have the surgery that the doctor mentioned. After all, you are still so young."

"Doctor, we really can't afford the fees that the doctor mentioned last time!" Liu Huiying said with a mournful face.

Li Chu glanced at the man's clothes, then at Liu Huiying's. The couple didn't seem to be farmers, so he said, "You both look like you have jobs. Your companies should reimburse you!"

The man sighed and said, "Doctor, my wife and I are both temporary workers, and our employer doesn't cover these kinds of expenses."

Siluke

Li Chu nodded knowingly; there was nothing he could do about it.

He picked up a pen and wrote down a prescription on a piece of paper. After carefully examining it, he changed two of the ingredients and then handed it to Liu Huiying.

"Take this prescription to the Chinese medicine pharmacy to get the medicine. Drink it for five days, once a day. Come back after five days and let me take another look."

Liu Huiying's husband leaned over to look at the prescription, then asked, "Doctor, will this medicine be effective?"

"Did the doctor explain your wife's illness to you last time?"

The couple exchanged a glance, and the man swallowed hard and said with difficulty, "The doctor last time said this disease is very serious, and it might..." His eyes were still a little red after he finished speaking.

Li Chu nodded: "It's not just serious, it's also very difficult to treat, and I'm not confident in my ability to cure it. So please think carefully about whether you want to take this prescription."

The man took the prescription from Liu Huiying's hand and said, "Of course you should take it. We will treat you as long as there is even the slightest hope."

Li Chu originally wanted to give some reminders about eating, but then he thought that it was good enough to be able to eat his fill, so he didn't say anything more.

After they left, Nurse Wang, who had been watching them closely, asked, "Dr. Li, is cancer really that difficult to treat?"

“It’s quite difficult to treat. Neither traditional Chinese medicine nor Western medicine can cure this disease completely. At most, they can only prolong the patient’s survival time,” Li Chu said.

At the same time, he was also thinking that it was not only incurable now, but also decades later.

Nurse Wang used to work in the obstetrics and gynecology department. She had only heard of this disease but had never seen it in person, which is why she asked the question.

Li Chu sat in his chair, deep in thought. He thought of the book of Hua Tuo's medical experience that he had put away. Could the great Hua Tuo have a way to cure cancer?

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms doesn't say that Hua Tuo wanted to crack open Cao Cao's head to remove the tumor inside, which led to Cao Cao suspecting him, imprisoning him, and torturing him to death.

On second thought, it's still surgery, and the patient is currently only undergoing surgery because they don't have the money.

Li Chu shook his head, lay down on the table, and began to continue organizing his third notebook.

Dean Chen from the medical school comes to visit every day or two. The other day, he brought two bottles of malted milk powder, saying that he should supplement his nutrition.

Li Chu felt that Dean Chen's visit was probably mostly for supervision, as he was worried that Li Chu would slack off and not write properly.

However, it did become increasingly difficult to write later on; he would have to think for a long time before he could write even a little bit.

I had lunch with my wife in the cafeteria, and afterwards I let her sleep on the bed in the clinic for a while before going to work.

There are many dual-income families in the hospital, so no one is envious of them.

The next few days were peaceful. Li Chu was on duty at the health care team's office, and he spent the whole day writing things.

Having been in the health care team for so long, he hadn't even met one of the higher-ups. The full-time doctors, on the other hand, were frequently being called away.

It has been exactly six days since Liu Huiying last came. The couple rushed over early this morning.

Her complexion was noticeably better than last time, and the couple didn't look as worried as before.

"How are things? Do you feel any different after taking the medicine?" Li Chu asked after the two of them sat down.

"Doctor, I feel much better than last time. I can't swallow food like before, and I vomit less often." Liu Huiying looked very excited.