Chapter 48 A single needle can make someone a god, a single word can bring them down to earth!
The color drained from the fortune teller's face inch by inch.
Every word Su Wanqing uttered was like a poisonous insect lurking in a dark corner, precisely biting into his unspoken ailment.
That was the result of countless nights of indulgence, a body covered in filth, the rot and filth hidden beneath his respectable long robe.
How could an outsider, such a young girl, possibly know?
She only glanced at him a few times!
"You...how could you..." His throat was dry, and the voice he managed to squeeze out was distorted and filled with a fear that he himself was unaware of.
"Observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation are the foundation of medicine." Su Wanqing's voice was completely calm. "Your illness originates in the kidneys and manifests in the liver. Internal liver wind causes dizziness and blurred vision. Kidney deficiency fails to nourish heart fire, causing palpitations and tinnitus. Am I wrong?"
Each sentence is like a heavy hammer blow.
Every word shattered his last shred of hope.
Cold sweat trickled down Zhang Banxian's forehead, soaking his temples. He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound, like a fish thrown ashore.
Song Jianfeng lost all face. The "living god" he had hired at great expense had been exposed in the blink of an eye!
"You're talking nonsense!" he roared, but anyone could hear the weakness beneath his fierce tone. "Who knows if you've already investigated Master Zhang beforehand and are just spreading rumors here!"
He turned to Old Master Yan, making a last-ditch effort: "Grandpa Yan, don't be fooled by her! She's just a con artist!"
These words caused the guests, who had already developed a sense of awe towards Su Wanqing, to begin to have doubts again.
After all, diagnosing illnesses by looking at them is far too mysterious.
Yan Shaocheng's face flushed with anger. Just as he was about to step forward, Su Wanqing gently pressed down on his wrist.
She slowly got up.
That cold gaze passed over the furious Song Jianfeng and finally landed on the sweating Zhang Banxian.
"Since Mr. Song doesn't believe it, Senior Zhang is not convinced."
"Then let's test it on the spot, shall we?"
Su Wanqing's voice was soft, yet it carried an absolute confidence that was enough to suppress all the discussions in the room.
"How do you test it?" Song Jianfeng sneered. He didn't believe this wild girl could really cause trouble.
Su Wanqing ignored him and turned her gaze to the corner of the guest seating area.
There sat an old general, upright and vigorous, but his right arm was trembling slightly at an extremely unnatural frequency.
General Chen.
He was once a fierce general under Lu Zhenguo, but he injured his brachial plexus nerve on the battlefield, leaving him with this uncontrollably trembling right hand.
From then on, even the hero couldn't hold chopsticks properly.
Despite consulting numerous renowned doctors, none could offer a solution.
This is a well-known regret among the older generation in Beijing.
"Grandpa Chen," Su Wanqing bowed slightly to the old general, "I, Su Wanqing, would like to humbly request to try acupuncture on you."
His words fell into a deathly silence.
Even the expert group from the General Hospital of the Military Region had given up on this intractable disease, yet she, a young woman in her early twenties, dared to make such a boast in public?
General Chen was also stunned.
Looking into Su Wanqing's clear and determined eyes, a sliver of absurd hope actually arose in his heart, which had been barren for many years.
Anyway, could things get any worse than they are now?
"Alright!" he shouted in a deep voice, suddenly stood up, and strode to the center of the hall. "Girl, I'm entrusting this crippled hand of mine to you! If you heal it, I, Chen, will owe you my life! If you can't heal it, don't blame me!"
"Thank you for your trust, Grandpa Chen."
Su Wanqing turned to Yan Shaocheng and said, "Young Master Yan, may I borrow your silver needles?"
"Quick! Go to my study and get that set of gold needles!" Old Master Yan was even more excited than his grandson, his voice booming.
Soon, a set of gold needles, presented in a sandalwood box, was brought to the table.
Su Wanqing opened the box, but did not take out the needle.
She asked General Chen to sit down, then stood behind him and extended two slender, white fingers to gently press and explore the area around his nape and shoulder blades.
Her movements were extremely light and slow.
The entire hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; everyone instinctively held their breath.
The fortune teller stared intently at Su Wanqing's technique, trying to discern some clues, but the finger movements seemed completely haphazard and did not belong to any school he knew.
"You're just making things complicated." He gritted his teeth and whispered to Song Jianfeng.
As soon as she finished speaking, Su Wanqing stopped what she was doing.
She picked up the thinnest and shortest gold needle from the needle box.
"Grandpa Chen, it will feel a little sore and swollen, please bear with it for a moment."
The sound faded, and the wrist moved.
The slender gold needle, without any fancy movements, precisely and steadily pierced an acupoint on the back of General Chen's neck.
It's so steady, it doesn't look like a human hand.
Even more strangely, after the gold needles were inserted into the body, they began to hum and vibrate at a regular frequency that was visible to the naked eye.
It was as if the needle had come to life under her fingers.
"This is..." At the TCM table, a senior expert stood up abruptly, a terrifying glint flashing in his cloudy old eyes, his voice trembling, "Using Qi to control the needle... drawing in the pure Qi of heaven to cleanse the turbidity of the meridians... this is a technique that is only recorded in one or two sentences in ancient books... the 'Penetrating Coolness' acupuncture method!"
As he cried out in astonishment, a miracle occurred.
General Chen's right hand, which had been trembling for over a decade, was shaking violently and relentlessly...
The range is narrowing.
From frenzied dancing to slight trembling.
Then...
It came to an abrupt end.
Absolute stillness.
General Chen raised his right hand in disbelief. His hand remained firmly in mid-air, motionless.
"It's...it's not shaking anymore?" He touched his steady right hand with his trembling left hand, his face filled with almost suffocating joy. "My hand...it really isn't shaking anymore!"
He tried, slowly clenching his fist.
Open.
That hand, which couldn't even hold a teacup steadily, was now as obedient as his most loyal soldier, precisely executing every command given by his brain.
"It moved! It can really move!"
The old general could no longer hold back. This iron-willed man, who had never shed a tear even in the midst of gunfire, was now overcome with emotion, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Amazing... Absolutely amazing!"
"Just one injection! Just one injection! This has been a chronic condition for over a decade!"
"This isn't medicine! This is magic!"
After a brief moment of deathly silence, the entire banquet hall erupted in chaos.
Amazement, cheers, and applause merged into a deafening roar.
All guests, regardless of their status, stood up.
The way they looked at Su Wanqing had completely transformed from scrutiny and curiosity into awe and fervor.
If the story of saving the soldiers from the General Hospital was just a distant legend before...
So today, at this moment, they are witnessing the birth of a miracle!
"Dr. Su!"
It is unknown who shouted the first word with all their might.
Immediately afterwards, the words "Dr. Su" rose and fell, forming a torrent that resounded throughout the entire Yan family mansion.
Grandpa Yan was so excited that his face was flushed. He stepped forward and tightly grasped Su Wanqing's hand: "Good girl! You have given us old folks a wonderful surprise!"
General Chen gave Su Wanqing a solemn and standard military salute: "Dr. Su, I am deeply grateful! From now on, if there is any need for your service, I, Chen, will go through fire and water for you!"
The instigators, Song Jianfeng and Zhang Banxian, had long since lost all color in their faces, which were as white as paper.
Looking at the golden needle still buzzing behind General Chen's neck, Zhang Banxian's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.
He knew that he had kicked a rock solid today.
Song Jianfeng tried to escape, but found his legs as heavy as lead, unable to move an inch.
He could feel that the gazes coming from all directions were no longer mocking, but cold as sharp blades.
He's finished.
From tonight onwards, Song Jianfeng will be the biggest laughing stock in the entire upper-class circle of Beijing.
Su Wanqing pulled out the golden needle, her face remaining calm, as if she had merely brushed away a speck of dust from her sleeve.
“Grandpa Chen, your illness is deeply rooted. Today's treatment is only a temporary measure to clear your meridians. To cure it completely, you will need further conditioning.” She handed over a prescription that had already been written.
General Chen was overjoyed.
Just as the banquet atmosphere reached its peak, and Su Wanqing was being revered like a deity by everyone—
An accident occurred.
The banquet hall door was slammed open with a tremendous force.
A young guard in military uniform rushed in, looking flustered, with cold rain dripping from the brim of his hat.
Ignoring the clamor and astonishment of the room, he charged straight towards the end of the banquet, to a general with a gold star on his shoulder.
The guard brought his lips close to the general's ear and whispered a few words in a voice that was extremely suppressed and on the verge of collapse.
The general's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
"Clang!"
The wine glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the polished floor.
The ear-piercing cracking sound, like a sharp knife, instantly severed all the noise.
The entire hall fell silent once again.
All eyes were focused on the general whose face was ashen.
He seemed oblivious to the stares he was receiving; his pupils were unfocused, and he uttered a few words in a voice only he could hear.
"southwest……"
"A sharp sword..."
"...That's all."
Those few fragmented, almost silent words, however, were like thunderclaps piercing through Su Wanqing's heart, exploding loudly in her ears.
The warmth that arose from the reverence of the masses just a moment ago was instantly swallowed up by the endless abyss of ice.
The Sharp Sword Squad.
That's all.
Su Wanqing felt dizzy, as if all the blood in her body had been drained in an instant, and her hands and feet were as cold as a dead person.
She instinctively gripped the edge of the table beside her tightly, using all her strength to keep herself from falling.
impossible……
Absolutely impossible...
The warning charm she kept close to her chest did not generate heat, nor was it hot in the slightest!
He's still alive!
He must still be alive!
The general clearly realized his lapse in composure. He raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the entire room before finally settling precisely on Su Wanqing.
That look in his eyes was incredibly complex.
There was no regret, no sympathy.
It was a profound sorrow, a judgment of the cruelest fate for someone who had just created a miracle.
Just a glance.
Su Wanqing understood everything.
The news is true.
Lu Zhanting and his group are really in trouble.
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