Drug Trial
The faint morning light gently seeps into the room through the carved wooden window, casting a hazy glow beside the bed.
Tiaotiao woke up, turned sideways, and looked at Su Baiwei beside him. She was still sleeping soundly, breathing evenly, and her long eyelashes cast a shadow under her eyes.
He looked at it quietly for a moment, and suddenly a naughty idea came to his mind. The corners of his lips rose silently, revealing a sly smile.
He tiptoed off the couch, treading barefoot across the cool floorboards as he approached his desk. On it lay a curled piece of rice paper, the ink still wet in the inkstone. He picked up a thin wolf-hair brush and dipped the tip of the brush into the ink, his movements gentle and slow. If it weren't for the flickering light in his eyes, one might have thought he was about to write a poem or paint a picture.
Returning to the bedside, he held his breath and leaned closer. The tip of the pen paused above her cheek, as if considering where to start, and then with a slight movement of his wrist, he drew the first mark of ink.
Su Baiwei seemed to be aware of something in her dream, frowning and raising her hand to brush it against her face. Tiao Tiao was quick to grab her wrist and tuck it back into the quilt. She mumbled something soft and mellow, then turned her head to the side and fell asleep again.
Tiaotiao almost burst out laughing and quickly covered her mouth with her free hand, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably. Seeing her so defenseless, he became even more playful and took the opportunity to quickly touch her other cheek.
After completing this "masterpiece," he quickly placed his pen back on the desk and, like lightning, retreated to lie down beside her. He closed his eyes tightly, tried to slow his breathing, and pretended he had never woken up. But his slightly trembling eyelashes and the corners of his mouth, which he tried hard to straighten but still couldn't help but rise, quietly betrayed his smile.
After about an incense stick of time, Su Baiwei slowly woke up. She sat up with sleepy eyes, stretched her body lazily, and got out of bed as usual and walked towards the dressing table.
The bronze mirror clearly reflected her face and the two crooked black whiskers on her face.
Su Baiwei was startled, her sleepiness instantly gone. Unbelievably, she leaned closer to the mirror, her fingertips lightly touching the still-clear ink marks to confirm it wasn't an illusion.
“Jump—jump—!”
A cry of shock and anger instantly tore through the tranquility of the early morning, making the window frames seem to buzz.
Tiaotiao couldn't hold it in any longer and immediately jumped up from the bed. Seeing Su Baiwei's shocked and angry look, at a loss as to what to do in front of the mirror, he burst into laughter, rolled over on the bed, holding his stomach, and almost tears came out of the corners of his eyes.
As he smiled, he quietly gathered strength in his palm, preparing to block the silver needle she was about to shoot.
Unexpectedly, Su Baiwei simply turned around and glared at him fiercely. Her eyes were filled with shame, anger, and a hint of helplessness. Then, without a word, she stamped her foot and walked out of the room, leaving him stunned.
Tiaotiao's smile was still frozen at the corner of her mouth, but the strength in her hands suddenly disappeared. He watched her disappearing back, and his laughter stopped abruptly. After a while, he touched his chin, his curiosity aroused even more: "Huh? Is this the end?"
Unable to suppress the itch deep within him, he followed her out silently. As he emerged, he saw Su Baiwei sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, her back to him, a book in hand, a few fresh fruits on a plate before her. She casually picked up a plum, put it in her mouth, and slowly turned a page, as if nothing had happened.
"You have delicious food, but you forgot your husband?" Tiao Tiao's voice was filled with laughter as she appeared from the doorway. With a flick of her green robe, she was already floating in front of her.
Su Baiwei didn't look up at the sound, but rather slowly put the remaining half of the fruit into her mouth and reached for another. But before her fingertips could secure a firm grip, Tiao Tiao flicked the air, and a burst of energy suddenly struck her wrist. She let out a low cry, and the fruit flew into the air.
His figure was like flowing wind and snow, his clothes fluttering gracefully. He took the fruit in his hands neatly and gracefully, and did not forget to raise his eyebrows and smile at her. With a crisp "crack", he took a big bite.
"you……"
"What do you mean?" Tiaotiao retorted, his tone tinged with pride. He sat down on the stone table, one long leg propped up on the ground, leaned over to her, and devoured the fruit in just a few bites. At the end, he deliberately licked the corner of his lip, looking provocative and saying, "What can you do to me?"
Su Baiwei was not annoyed. Her eyes moved, the corners of her lips raised slightly, and she counted down slowly: "Three, two..."
The smile on Tiao Tiao's face suddenly froze, and a bad premonition flashed through his heart.
"one."
As soon as the last note fell, Tiao Tiao felt a sudden itch all over his body, as if thousands of tiny insects and ants were simultaneously burrowing into his bone marrow and gnawing from deep within his blood vessels. He scratched left and right, but it was useless. The more he scratched, the more itchy it became. He felt so uneasy that he almost fell off the stone table.
Su Baiwei finally chuckled softly, her voice soft, "Do you feel this itch piercing your bones?" She leaned forward slightly, a sly glint in her eyes, "You dare to snatch this fruit soaked in 'Spring Breeze Smile'?"
Tiao Tiao twisted her body in a panic, begging for mercy: "Doctor Su, Medical Immortal Su... Good Wei'er, I know I was wrong, please give me the antidote quickly."
Su Baiwei spread her hands, her eyebrows curved, and her face looked innocent: "No."
Tiao Tiao was so itchy that her voice changed, almost sounding like tears: "Stop it... If you don't give me the antidote, your husband will really become the first hero in history to die from itching..."
She was not in a hurry. She picked up the book again and said calmly without looking up, "Husband? When did I get married?" Suddenly she glanced at him with clear eyes, "Do you really want the antidote?"
Tiao Tiao nodded repeatedly, looking extremely aggrieved: "I want to!"
"Then solve it yourself."
"What?"
"You've been studying medical books these days, but haven't you only scratched the surface? Besides, you've been following me around for so long, so you should have learned some of the true techniques, right?" Her voice was gentle, her eyes bright. "And now, a ready-made medical case has come to you. If you don't seize this opportunity to put it into practice, when will you?"
Tiaotiao wanted to struggle: "But I..."
"At most," she said softly, having already turned a page of the book with her eyes downcast, "write the prescription for me to review first. I'll go and boil the medicine once I'm satisfied."
Tiao Tiao could no longer speak. She could only twist and turn to fight the strange itch all over her body, while staggering out of the yard, running towards the carriage, and frantically rummaging through the box of ancient medical books that she had brought with her.
Su Baiwei was still reading leisurely, but from time to time she would glance at the figure who was flipping through the book in a clumsy manner, with the corners of her lips curled up.
Tiao Tiao finally pieced together a prescription and hurriedly handed it to Su Baiwei, waiting for her approval with expectant eyes.
Su Baiwei only glanced at it lightly, then nodded lightly: "You can drink it."
Tiaotiao was as if granted amnesty, and ran to light a fire and boil the medicine. Su Baiwei looked at his hurried back, and finally couldn't help but cover her face with the book and chuckled softly.
He hurriedly gulped down the medicine, and the strange itching on his body gradually subsided. Tiao Tiao breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, patted his chest with a sense of pride, and said to himself, "It seems that this medical skill is not difficult to learn."
He was about to turn back when his body suddenly froze, his left leg feeling like it was cast in stone, unable to move at all. He lost his balance and fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Su Baiwei was still sitting there reading, as if she hadn't heard anything. Tiaotiao could only use one leg to jump back to the yard, feeling both angry and amused:
"Su-Bai-Wei-!"
She calmly turned a page of the book without looking up, and simply replied, "What's the matter?"
He finally jumped in front of her on one leg, pointed at his motionless left leg, and said angrily, his voice rising three degrees: "Didn't you say 'I can drink'? Why can't I move my left leg?"
Su Baiwei then slowly put down the book, her face calm, "Yes, you can drink it. This recipe is mild and won't kill you."
"You..." Tiao Tiao was speechless for a moment, realizing that her "drinkable" only meant "drinking without risking your life." He almost laughed out loud, then snarled, "Hmph! Su Baiwei, just wait! When I heal this leg, I'll make sure you pay!"
"Oh?" She stood up leisurely and walked slowly around him. Suddenly, she reached out and gave him a gentle push on the shoulder. Tiao Tiao's left leg gave way, and he collapsed to the ground.
She calmly looked down at him as he struggled to get up, a slight curve at the corner of her lips. "Aren't you going to show me a lesson? Then I'll naturally show you a lesson first." She smiled and moved closer. Just as he was about to get up, her fingertips gracefully touched his knee. His legs softened, and he sat back down.
"Why don't we just stop treating it?" She said cheerfully, her eyes twinkling. "Your jumping posture really suits your name."
"You..." Tiao Tiao was so angry, but seeing her smiling face like a flower, he couldn't get angry at all. He had to accept his fate, stood up again, jumped out of the courtyard, and returned to the vast sea of books on the carriage.
For three days, the clatter of pages turning in the carriage barely ceased. Su Baiwei also sat by his side on the stone bench in the courtyard for three days.
Tiaotiao half-leaned on the cushions, his stiff left leg unable to move. His brows furrowed, his hands already piled high with medical books. He first eagerly flipped through the "Compendium of Materia Medica," his fingertips quickly skimming over entries on relieving numbness and promoting blood circulation. Then he pulled out the "Golden Chamber" and, using the windowlight, perused the "Blood Stagnation and Deficiency" chapter, concentrating on the formula for the Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction.
Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, and he remembered that Su Baiwei had mentioned to him before that the strange poison "Spring Breeze Smile" would only make people itch deep into their bones but would not cause any actual harm. She also said at the time that the solution to this poison should be to clear it and not to suppress it by force.
"No wonder... I used medication to suppress it earlier. While the itching stopped, the evil spirits still entered, leading to this problem in my left leg," Tiao Tiao muttered, a glint of enlightenment flashing in his eyes. He was naturally gifted, and now it all clicked. Clues flashed like lightning, and he murmured, "Numbness in my left leg is a sign of qi stagnation and blood stasis..."
As his thoughts raced, scenes of Su Baiwei treating patients in the past surfaced before him. As she applied acupuncture and medicine, she recounted to him, "To cure an illness, one must seek the root cause. Qi and blood are interdependent, and the meridians are connected..."
Sometimes he slammed his hands on the table, as if realizing something; other times, he shook his head repeatedly, dismissing his own ideas. The scrap of paper on his desk was already stained with ink, with dozens of herbal combinations written and crossed out. Only when he felt he had it all worked out did he tuck his newly drafted prescription under his arm, hop up and down with his left leg straight, and set out once again to "seek advice" from Su Baiwei.
And every time, she remained calm and composed, a single glance before passing judgment. Once again, she glanced at the prescription, her lips curled slightly, "This recipe might be worth a try." However, after he drank it, not only did his leg not feel any better, but his right arm became numb and weak, barely able to hold a scroll.
Once again, she pondered for a moment, then nodded. "The idea is sound. Go ahead." After taking the medicine, his hands and feet did recover, but he felt a familiar dull sensation in his chest where the old injury had occurred. It wasn't noticeable normally, but it would flare up when he overexerted himself. He felt a stir in his heart, a vague realization.
Although each treatment presented a new "inconvenience," he clearly felt his understanding of medicinal properties, the coordination of monarch, minister, assistant, and adjuvant ingredients, and the flow of pulses, qi, and blood, rapidly improving. Within three days, he had already mastered the medical principles Su Baiwei had taught him, integrating them into his own practice and applying them with increasing ease.
Finally, he drank the last bowl of medicine. Then, he concentrated and held his breath, waiting for the changes in his body, feeling a little uneasy.
He tentatively raised his left hand, which moved effortlessly. He then raised his right hand, which moved without issue. Then, he carefully moved his legs, each one moving smoothly. Delighted, he flipped backwards, performing a light somersault and landing safely, still unharmed.
Not only did the strange symptoms disappear, but even the tightness from his old chest injury had quietly vanished. He felt a lightness throughout his body, as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and an indescribable sense of comfort washed over him. He let out a long, drawn-out sigh, a warmth coursing through his chest. A sense of accomplishment washed over him, and a smile crept up his lips.
Suddenly, his mind raced, a sudden realization dawned on him: This wasn't a prank; it was clearly a carefully orchestrated "remediation scheme" by Su Baiwei. She knew he was uninhibited, unconcerned with his pre-existing injuries. Clearly, she'd used this as a pretext, using the excuse of punishment to coax him into willingly delving into medical principles, gradually unraveling her "problem." Her ambiguous words, "You can drink it," "You might as well give it a try," were actually step-by-step guidance, forcing him to deeply consider the medicinal properties and adjust his prescriptions. Unknowingly, he was finally resolving those long-standing ailments one by one.
He was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and laughed. There was a hint of helplessness in that smile, as if he had been "tricked", but more of it was endless tenderness and pampering, and a warmth surged from the bottom of his heart.
He leaped to the stone table, his eyes gleaming brightly as he laughed out loud, "Wei'er, I did it!" Before he'd finished speaking, he leaned over, reached out, and gently lifted Su Baiwei from the stone bench, spinning her around several times. His blue shirt fluttered in the wind, and a clear laugh echoed from his face, his whole body filled with unconcealable joy and pride.
Before Su Baiwei could even put down the Shennong Herbal Classic, she suddenly fell into his arms. She was startled for a moment, then the corners of her lips curled up, letting him spin her around. Her eyes, as always, clear and gentle, held a touch of approval and satisfaction as they fell on his beaming face.
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