"Blogger, Dr. Lu has seen my mom."
"How is it?"
"Don't know yet, today he only did acupuncture and then prescribed three types of dicine for my mother."
"Then just do as Dr. Lu said. Let share sothing with you: there was an aunt with terminal lung cancer, who the hospital couldn't treat, also saw Dr. Lu. Her family privately ssaged saying every day she is recovering and her condition is much better than when she was undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the hospital."
"Really? Dr. Lu can even treat soone with terminal lung cancer?"
"He's in Jianghan now. Do you think I would lie to you? Recently, many people from other places ca to see Dr. Lu after watching my videos. You must have noticed them at the dical center too, right?"
"Yes, I've seen a lot of people. The local people also speak very highly of Dr. Lu. I just didn't expect he could even treat terminal cancer. If he's so skilled, why hasn't he gone to a big hospital?"
"Do you think big hospitals need soone who can cure cancer? If there were more doctors like him, who would buy dical equipnt? Who would buy radiotherapy and chemotherapy drugs? I've interviewed many folk healers, and many can treat all kinds of complex diseases. For example, there's Dr. Xue, who specializes in treating diabetes. He used to work in a hospital but was forcibly dismissed because he prescribed too few dications, and the hospital wasn't profitable."
"... That's really disgusting."
"Exactly. It's not easy for these folk healers, and so have been treating patients for decades without charging a cent. But among all the doctors I've interviewed, those who can treat cancer are very rare. Dr. Lu is among the youngest and the most skilled I've encountered, which is why I recomnded you co here."
"Thank you so much, blogger. When my mom gets better, can I treat you to a al?"
"No need. I didn't do anything, and I didn't cure the illness. There's no need to treat . I just hope that after your mom gets better, you can help spread the word about Chinese dicine in your area. As a part of our cultural heritage, Chinese dicine shouldn't decline with our generation. If it has efficacy, it should receive its deserved social recognition rather than be doubted by countless people."
"Yes, I'll definitely do that!"
...
A hotel in Jianghan.
Zhang Zhengli is replying to several private ssages from netizens.
"Honey, another one of our videos got banned."
"What's the reason?"
"Exaggerated promotion."
"Hehe, it's okay, let it be banned."
"Aren't you angry?"
"What use is being angry? I'd rather help a few more patients with that ti. Anyway, we have lots of videos, let them ban it."
After helping two netizens co here to Jianghan for treatnt, and with favorable outcos, Zhang Zhengli is in high spirits.
They are not new to the experience of video bans.
At first, he was very frustrated and even argued with custor service over it.
But whatever the case, once a video is banned, it's banned, with no room for negotiation.
After nurous occurrences, Zhang Zhengli beca indifferent.
However, he did not lose heart, and instead beca more determined.
Even if it didn't bring money, he resolutely chose to promote folk healing.
Of course, this continual perseverance also exhausted Zhang Zhengli, so he wanted to leverage Lu Jiu's popularity to boost his account's visibility.
Though this decision might not seem ethically sound, it surprisingly yielded great results.
After all, saving two families through this ans was an enormous encouragent to Zhang Zhengli, who persisted in promoting Chinese dicine.
It solidified his confidence to continue on this path.
"How many more days will we stay here?" Ke Ying asked.
"Three days. We'll see if the mother of this netizen can recover from her stroke through Dr. Lu's treatnt. Also, let's apologize to Dr. Lu then because we promoted him without permission, even though it didn't cause much impact, it's still sowhat inappropriate. After that, we'll head to the next place to find folk healers," said Zhang Zhengli.
"Okay," said Ke Ying.
...
Sunshine Alley.
Beneath the night sky, Lu Jiu was studying The Book of Changes with the old man.
By now, Lu Jiu learned over thirty hexagrams, but he had already forgotten most of the initial ones.
However, that didn't matter. The old man often told him, learning isn't about rembering but knowing how to interpret the symbols.
"Old man, you always tell to interpret the symbols, is it to suggest that I shouldn't be constrained by the text but should understand the imagery behind the words?" Lu Jiu asked.
The old man smiled, "Exactly, text actually interferes with the dissemination of knowledge. In ancient tis, our ancestors used imagery to convey thoughts, for example, the Classic of Mountains and Seas initially was just a Mountain and Sea Map. The logic is simple: now, if you hold a Classic of Mountains and Seas and a Mountain and Sea Map, which one is clearer and faster to comprehend?"
"Similarly, The Book of Changes, although the head of all classics, has sothing above it that you must understand."
Lu Jiu asked, "What is it?"
The old man smiled, "The Tai Chi Diagram."
"The Book of Changes has Tai Chi, which generates dual principles, dual principles generate four manifestations, and four manifestations generate eight trigrams."
"Do you know the true aning of this sentence?"
Lu Jiu shook his head.
The old man continued, "The Book of Changes actually refers to natural laws. Natural laws birthed Tai Chi. What is Tai Chi? Our Huaxia is an agrarian civilization. What is most valued by such a civilization? Tiliness! Only by mastering tiliness can one know how to cultivate. So how do we observe tiliness? Naturally, we observe the sun, hence we have the solar coronæ."
"The ancient ancestors, day after day, year after year, observed the sun using the solar coronæ, finally acquiring a map of the natural order of heaven and earth, later called the Tai Chi Diagram. With Tai Chi, there ca yin and yang, these are the dual principles. Yin and yang then generated the tal, wood, water, and fire manifestations, known as the four elents, which divided with heaven and earth to produce the eight natural changes: heaven, earth, water, fire, wind, thunder, mountain, and lake, representing the eight trigrams of Qián, Kūn, Kǎn, Lí, Xùn, Zhèn, Gèn, and Duì respectively."
"Thus, The Book of Changes actually evolved from the Tai Chi Diagram, and Tai Chi embodies the essential laws of the universe. So studying, observing, and interpreting trigrams are all about observing the symbols of the universe. Those who understand only the text, without grasping the imagery, will never truly learn The Book of Changes."
So that's how it is.
Lu Jiu realized that the more he studied, the more he found the wisdom of the ancestors to be quite pragmatic.
Many seemingly mystical things, when aligned with the civilization of that ti, were almost entirely evolved for survival.
This reminded Lu Jiu of a myth.
Nuwa nds the Heavens.
According to Tang's Queries, in ancient tis, the heavens collapsed, the earth cracked, and the world went through a massive calamity. Nuwa, unwilling to see creatures suffer, slted five-colored stones to nd the sky, broke off the legs of a godly tortoise to support the four corners of the earth, quelled floods, vanquished fierce beasts, harmonized the yin and yang, and dispelled evil forces, allowing all beings to live in peace.
At first glance, it certainly seems like a myth, but when combined with agrarian civilization and modern archaeological facts, these stories actually have traces to follow.
Lu Jiu once heard a notable figure say that in fact, Nuwa is an important representative during the mid-ancient three sovereigns era, living around 4000 to 3600 BC, during the Yangshao culture period.
Before her, the Fuxi Clan created the calendar, guiding sowing, thereby inaugurating agriculture. Fuxi's calendar used a compass, with the center as the 'dipper' of the North Star, the periter as the 'handle.' The 'handle' rotates around the 'dipper' once a year, totaling 360 days. Dividing a cycle into four parts yields the four manifestations, and each part is subdivided into seven parts, totaling twenty-eight which correspond to twenty-eight mountain sites on the land, called the twenty-eight lodges; dividing the cycle into eight parts yields the eight trigrams, representing eight different directions.
The Fuxi Clan's calendar accounted for 360 days per year, with a discrepancy of 5 days compared to reality, which added up over ti, resulting in seasonal shifts and directional confusion.
Nuwa discovered that after the 360-day run, the 'handle' still had five days before returning to the starting point, so she embedded five colored stones in the northwest direction of the compass and used the tortoise leg bones to redefine the four manifestations on the compass. She decreed that after the 'handle' completed a 360-degree turn, it must pass the five days marked by the colored stones to complete a year. These additional five stones were called 'Buzhou,' and the mountain in the 'Buzhou' direction was nad 'Buzhou Mountain.'
Nuwa revising the calendar and improving the compass stabilized farming practices across the land, which is the mythical origin of Nuwa nding the heavens, filled with a very pragmatic flair.
It's entirely different from Western myths, which are often stories of chaotic royal family history.
When Lu Jiu first saw this explanation, he couldn't help but find it very sensible. According to the style of Huaxia history books, so-called myth stories are unlikely to be entirely fabricated, much like Zhuangzi's Carefree Wanderings.
Romance is an infinite fantasy based on reality.
And besides, if myth stories are indeed all fabricated, then why would the compass, solar coronæ, and such things genuinely exist?
Perhaps during the ancient tis, our ancestors had already comprehended the natural symbols, which is why there is a calendar system that guides farming even today.
However, as ti went on, it seems like we descendants beca more confined to what's visible regarding our understanding of the world and the universe, drifting increasingly away from the symbols.
...
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