"What's this?" Li Chu asked, taking the paper from his daughter.
"Could you please answer my question about Chinese medicinal herbs?" Wen Hui said before running into the house.
"Sit down, Xiao Yi. This girl is still as crazy as ever."
"Dad, Huihui and I went home today. My grandpa asked me to tell you that if you don't have anything to do in the next couple of days, please come over."
“Okay, I thought he was still at the nursing home, but when I got there I found out he had gone back.”
As he spoke, Li Chu opened the paper that Wen Hui had just handed him. It contained only one question: the different effects of different parts of the root of a herb on the human body.
"Huh? This isn't Huihui's handwriting?"
"Oh, Dad, I know a little about it. This wasn't Huihui asking; she was asking for a colleague."
"I knew it. If her handwriting is this weak and limp, I should have made her practice calligraphy again." Li Chu said as he casually placed the paper on the table and took a sip of water from his teacup.
Shen Yi smiled slightly after hearing his father-in-law's words.
He had heard his wife talk about the hardships she endured as a child, saying that she, Wenxuan, and Yueyue were often punished for writing too carelessly.
Who hasn't had that experience when they were a kid, wanting nothing more than to go out and play, so they just sloppily finished their homework? If no one saw it, it didn't matter, but if they did, they were doomed.
Li Chu's punishment for them wasn't beatings, but rather he'd throw a book at them and make them copy it until he was satisfied.
As a result, all three of them have very beautiful handwriting. Now, at home, Shen Yi rarely lets his wife see what he writes, for fear that she will laugh at his ugly handwriting.
As for showing it to his father-in-law, he dared not do it at all. If someone his age were to be criticized, he would lose all face.
The father-in-law and son-in-law chatted in the courtyard for a while before Wenhui came out of the house.
"Dad, our little one can say 'Grandpa' and 'Grandma' now?"
"Yes, it can make a sound once or twice now and then."
"Sigh, I don't know when I'll be able to call her aunt."
"Let's wait and see."
"Dad, have you seen this? Tell me about it, and I'll pass it on to my colleagues."
"Who is this? Why are they studying this?"
"Xiaojing, someone from our research institute seems to be talking about some kind of pictographic thinking interpretation."
"I remember there was an explanation about the use of herbal roots in the Suwen."
"Dad, please don't mention it. It's all in classical Chinese. You have to learn how to punctuate it to understand it. It's so troublesome."
When you have some free time, could you please translate all those rubbings of ancient books in the library into modern Chinese? Otherwise, when I occasionally want to look up some information, all that content gives me a headache.
Several books offer explanations, but the interpretations differ even within the same book, leaving us unsure of which is correct.
"Is that so?" Li Chu raised an eyebrow and looked at Wen Hui.
"Yes, you don't go to the library much these days. There are a few ancient books there that I don't know who interpreted. One of them has two versions, and they even have two different interpretations. They're not rigorous at all. I don't understand how they were published. Didn't anyone proofread them?"
"Okay, I got it. I'll go check it out later."
Li Chu didn't ask any further questions; he'd find out for himself when he went to see for himself.
He picked up the paper on the table, glanced at it again, and said, "The use of medicinal roots is quite complicated. For example, angelica, you know this herb, right?"
Seeing his daughter nod, he continued, "The head of Angelica sinensis goes upward and invigorates blood, the body of Angelica sinensis nourishes blood and protects the center, and the tail of Angelica sinensis goes downward and breaks up blood stasis. Nowadays, many TCM doctors don't clearly distinguish between the root and the rhizome when prescribing medicine, but there are still many rules to follow when using the rhizome and the rootlets."
For example, ginseng has a rhizome because its roots need to transport nutrients upwards through the rhizome. Huihui, I didn't bring anything, can you imagine that?
"Dad, is the ginseng root you're talking about the part at the top of the entire ginseng root?"
"Yes, that's the place. It's called ginseng root because the root has to transport nutrients upwards. Therefore, the root has a strong upward effect. Eating the root can even cause vomiting. When we use root medicines in traditional Chinese medicine, we usually remove the root."
However, ginseng is a relatively precious medicinal material, so the ginseng root is not simply thrown away. Instead, it is kept. If you encounter a person with a weak constitution who has evil in the upper body and you want him to vomit, but you dare not use those strong emetics, you will use the ginseng root.
And you are like a tendril, located at the very bottom of the root. When you are underground, you strive to go down and burrow into the soil, so tendrils also have a penetrating function.
Seeing that his daughter was listening attentively, Li Chu picked up the jar, took a sip of water, and continued without stopping: "Take licorice for example. If you use it to harmonize the various medicines, but don't want it to be too confined to the middle burner, you can use the tip of the licorice root. It will then move downwards faster."
For example, if there is blood in the urine or painful urination, licorice root tips are often used, as they can clear the urethra.
That's the magic of traditional Chinese medicine. Growing on the same rootstock, in different locations, it can have different effects on life. And if you try to analyze and measure this using scientific components, you simply can't, because its components are all the same.
"That's right," Wen Hui nodded. "Just like the licorice I mentioned earlier, the licorice tip and the whole licorice root are made of the same ingredients. But if you use the whole licorice root as medicine for something like painful urination, it won't cure the ailment at all."
This can happen with any herb, which leads many to say it's unscientific.
"Sigh," Li Chu sighed, reaching out to stroke the Great Sage lying beside his legs.
"The debate between traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine has lasted for nearly a century. Especially as Western medicine has become more advanced, traditional Chinese medicine has been ridiculed more and more, and at certain times it almost disappeared. However, traditional Chinese medicine has been passed down through thousands of years of repeated practice and verification, and that is its role."
"Dad, I believe that with your efforts, traditional Chinese medicine will definitely be revived." Li Wenhui said, waving her little fist.
"Me? Haha, I hope so!"
That's what he said, but Li Chu knew that completing this task would be no easier than climbing to the sky, especially in ten or twenty years when those pharmaceutical companies discovered that traditional Chinese medicine had even begun to shake the foundation of their chemically synthesized drugs, they would stop at nothing to smear traditional Chinese medicine.
They are desperately supporting agents in China to attack traditional Chinese medicine.
At that time, traditional Chinese medicine will also face great difficulties.
This may also be due to the assistance of many traditional Chinese medicine doctors who dare to practice medicine without having learned anything, leading many uninformed patients and their families to believe that traditional Chinese medicine is a scam.
Alas, the task ahead is arduous and the road is long!
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