"It's like this."
Seeing her senior sister become tongue-tied upon seeing Wan Yunting, Qi Miaomiao spoke for her, "My senior sister's aunt, for some unknown reason, has been unwell intermittently for over three months. That's why my senior sister asked you to come and take a look."
"Oh."
Wan Yunting nodded and said, "Stagnation of qi and blood isn't a serious illness, but if it doesn't get better after recurring, that is indeed a bit strange."
"Yes."
Qi Miaomiao nodded and smiled, "But it's fine now. With Dr. Wan here, I'm sure you'll be able to cure my senior sister's aunt's illness."
Wan Yunting waved his hand with a smile and glanced at Gu Luotang beside him. "You flatter me. Your senior sister is a well-known talent in our city's traditional Chinese medicine circles, and her medical skills are inherited from Principal Gu. It would be good enough if I just went over to offer some advice."
Gu Luotang smiled charmingly, "Dr. Wan is too humble."
While chatting in the car, less than twenty minutes later, Wan Yunting's car arrived at the entrance of the Tianhong Villa community. After greeting the gatekeeper, the car smoothly entered, and under Gu Luotang's guidance, it quickly stopped in front of a villa numbered 37.
Wan Yunting, Gu Luotang, and Qi Miaomiao alighted from the car. Then, the villa's main door opened, and a young girl in a white dress emerged. "Cousin, Sister Miaomiao, you're here."
"Mm."
Gu Luotang nodded and then pointed to Wan Yunting beside her, introducing him to her cousin Lei Yumeng, "This is Dr. Wan. I invited him to see your mother."
Lei Yumeng looked at Wan Yunting curiously. After all, she knew that her cousin Gu Luotang was a very capable traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, so why had she invited someone else?
"Yumeng, don't just stand there. Hurry and let us in," Qi Miaomiao said.
Since she was the one who invited Wan Yunting because of Lei Yumeng's mother's illness, her intention was actually to foster a good relationship between him and her senior sister Gu Luotang.
"Cousin, no need to change shoes. Please come in."
Lei Yumeng then led Gu Luotang, Wan Yunting, and Qi Miaomiao into the villa. They went directly to the second floor, but a photo on the wall at the top of the stairs made Wan Yunting pause. The middle-aged man in the photo was none other than Lei Jun!
"This is Yumeng's family photo," Gu Luotang said. Wan Yunting only then reacted and nodded, continuing to follow them upstairs.
Lei Yumeng led them into the master bedroom. It was a spacious bedroom, luxuriously decorated, especially the European-style bed and the walk-in closet, which reflected the owner's taste… how tacky.
"Uncle Min, my cousin and the others are here." Lei Yumeng walked over to a doctor in a white coat sitting by the bed.
"Good. Mrs. Wang's condition is stable and she is asleep now," the doctor said, standing up.
Gu Luotang nodded slightly and then walked to the bedside. She looked at her aunt, Wang Lixia, who was sleeping there. Then, she turned to Wan Yunting, who had followed her, and said, "Dr. Wan, please take a look at my aunt."
"Alright."
Wan Yunting nodded and sat on a chair by the bedside. He smiled at Qi Miaomiao, who was carrying a medicine box, and said, "Dr. Qi, could I trouble you to lend me a pulse pillow? I didn't bring my medicine box when I came earlier."
"Certainly."
As she spoke, Qi Miaomiao put down the medicine box, opened it, and took out a pulse pillow for him. Wan Yunting then placed it by the bedside, pulled out the patient's hand from under the covers, placed it on the pulse pillow, and rested three fingers on her pulse, beginning to diagnose her.
At the same time, Wan Yunting carefully observed the complexion of Gu Luotang's aunt. Her face, which had been pale earlier, was now pale with hints of dark purple, which was clearly a manifestation of qi and blood stagnation!
Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes observation, listening, inquiring, and pulse-taking. The first is observation.
The face is a mirror to the body's internal organs. One can determine the basic condition of the body from the complexion. This is called diagnostic observation.
When a person experiences certain emotions, their complexion will reflect it. For example, when we are shy, our faces turn red; when we are angry, our faces turn dark; when we are frightened, our faces turn pale. Eventually, as the emotion subsides, the complexion returns to normal.
However, if a person remains in the same emotional state for a long time, they will gradually fall ill, leading to various symptoms in the body. Like Wang Lixia now, her dark and purplish complexion, lingering on the surface of the skin without dissipating, suggests she has been in a state of repressed anger for a long time!
This puzzled Wan Yunting. After all, Wang Lixia, as a wealthy wife, should have a life free from worries. So why would she be repressing her anger?
"Dr. Wan, how is it?" Gu Luotang, standing by, asked softly.
Based on the pulse diagnosis alone, Wan Yunting had a basic grasp of the patient's condition. He placed Wang Lixia's wrist back under the covers, handed the pulse pillow back to Qi Miaomiao, and then stood up. He said to Gu Luotang, "Let's discuss it outside. We don't want to disturb the patient's rest."
"Alright."
They moved out of the room and into the reception hall on the second floor. Wan Yunting said, "As Dr. Gu mentioned earlier, the patient has a condition of stagnation of qi and blood. In Western medicine terms, it's menopause syndrome. For women of your aunt's age, having this symptom is normal."
"However, her long-term persistence of this symptom is quite abnormal. I believe Dr. Gu and you are aware of this!"
Gu Luotang nodded and said, " My aunt's illness is caused by long-term suppressed emotions. I have also advised her to maintain a happy mood and to take herbal decoctions for conditioning, and she should recover in a while."
"It's just that for some reason, due to her suppressed emotions, her mood has worsened, and the illness hasn't improved."
Wan Yunting glanced at Lei Yumeng and said, "This is something that should be discussed with the family, as it is the patient's emotional knot!"
Lei Yumeng was taken aback and looked at her cousin Gu Luotang and the others. "I only returned recently, but my mother doesn't seem to be abnormal."
"What about your father? For example, did they have any arguments that made your mother very angry?" Qi Miaomiao asked.
Lei Yumeng shook her head, "They haven't argued since I returned. My mother just looks unhappy all the time. When I ask her what's wrong, she refuses to say."
Wan Yunting nodded and said to Gu Luotang, "If that's the case, it will be troublesome. After all, if she continues like this, no matter what medicine we prescribe, her illness won't get better!"
"Yes."
Gu Luotang sighed and then questioned Lei Yumeng carefully. However, Lei Yumeng had been studying in the capital and had only returned home recently, so she was unaware of the specific reason that caused Wang Lixia to feel emotionally suppressed.
Wan Yunting got up and went into the room to observe again. Suddenly, he asked Lei Yumeng, "Are your parents sleeping in separate rooms?"
"Yes."
Lei Yumeng turned and nodded at him. "When I returned, they seemed to be sleeping in separate rooms. My father said it was better to sleep separately because my mother was ill."
Wan Yunting nodded. If that were the case, it was possible that Lei Jun and his wife had a disagreement or conflict over something, which led to them sleeping in separate rooms. The reason for not wanting to say might be that they didn't want their daughter Lei Yumeng to know!
"Yumeng, where is your father?" Gu Luotang asked.
"I called him earlier, and he said he was going on a business trip to Dongshi today and wouldn't be back until tonight!" Lei Yumeng replied.
These words startled Wan Yunting. He had just come from Jun Chi Group after seeing Lei Jun, but now his daughter was saying he was on a business trip to Dongshi!
"As expected."
Wan Yunting smiled inwardly, confirming his suspicion.