"Dr. Lu, do you always charge like this?" Wei Jun asked.
"Yes, why?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Then how do you make a living? The nine yuan fifty you charge for dicine doesn’t even cover the shipping cost, does it?" Wei Jun said.
Lu Jiu laughed, "That’s just the cost of a single prescription. If I prescribed a week’s worth like they do in hospitals, you would have to spend sixty-six yuan fifty, which isn’t exactly cheap."
Really?
That’s pretty expensive, Wei Jun thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Beep!
After successfully scanning the code and paying the dical fees, Wei Jun left the clinic with his wife.
After leaving the clinic, he couldn’t help but complain to his wife that Dr. Lu was too honest; even if the dical fees were doubled, he would still find it reasonable, anything under a hundred is really unbelievable.
If traditional Chinese dicine were this cheap, who would want to practice it? What doesn’t cost money these days?
Forget cars and houses, just living in the city ans money is flying out of your pocket as soon as you open your eyes.
Traditional Chinese dicine is just a job, why limit yourself so much?
In an economic society, charging a bit more for Chinese dicine really wouldn’t hurt.
In the clinic, Lu Jiu recalled the slightly pitying look in Wei Jun’s eyes and couldn’t help but shake his head.
These days he frequently sees this kind of look. Every ti he ntioned the dical fees, patients would be surprised, as if it was completely unreasonable for him to charge so little.
Lu Jiu appreciated that his patients didn’t instinctively assu that traditional Chinese dicine should be cheap, but his prices weren’t so low that they would leave him starving.
Currently, with fewer patients, Lu Jiu doesn’t earn much, but once his reputation grows and more patients co, the consultation fees alone will be enough to keep him busy. The cost of herbs isn’t a big deal.
So, not only won’t he starve, but he’ll also make a small profit. Of course, dreaming of unimaginable wealth through traditional Chinese dicine isn’t Lu Jiu’s goal.
Besides, is the downfall of traditional Chinese dicine really because it doesn’t make money?
Or, if studying traditional Chinese dicine could make one rich, would the original intention behind learning it truly be for the patients’ benefit?
A century ago, the challenges faced by traditional Chinese dicine were more than just financial. How did it manage to survive under imnse pressure?
Effectiveness!
Without effectiveness and rely serving as a placebo, traditional Chinese dicine would have long since been buried in the sands of history, leaving no opportunity for Lu Jiu to run his clinic today.
Yes, having money can certainly improve the life of a practitioner of Chinese dicine. Even in today’s hospitals, consultation fees for renowned practitioners of Chinese dicine range from a few hundred to over a thousand yuan, and those practitioners often earn more than many Western doctors.
Lu Jiu has never seen any issue with this; if soone possesses the capability, receiving compensation for their ti and effort is only right.
However, while seeking profits is human nature, so should selflessness be.
It’s not fair to say that if most doctors follow the market, the few who don’t are abnormal; that’s a bit too harsh, isn’t it?
Lu Jiu wants to be among those few. He doesn’t want to be swept away by the market economy, forced to choose between financial gain and virtue. Moreover, if all practitioners of Chinese dicine compromise for the sake of money, then the day of the field’s renaissance would also mark its complete downfall.
Because at that point, traditional Chinese dicine could beco just another dical knife hanging over the heads of the people.
This might be Lu Jiu’s imagination running wild. Even if he charged a bit more, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but having studied history, he knows that any powerful organization or individual starts crumbling from within. If his initial pricing isn’t patient-centered, then one day, due to various cost considerations, he’ll feel justified in increasing his fees.
The man once said to stay strong, one must continuously self-reform!
dical fees are Lu Jiu’s ans of survival and also serve as a self-imposed alarm!
If most practitioners today are the pioneers chasing the tis, then Lu Jiu is the stubbornly old-fashioned one going against the tide.
Lu Jiu doesn’t know how many companions share his path, and it doesn’t matter.
From the mont he decided to return ho and take over this rundown clinic, he was prepared for anything.
He didn’t want to spend his life serving bureaucrats in a grandiose hospital; he wanted to return to the people and be a humble village practitioner of Chinese dicine.
Or perhaps the term "barefoot doctor" would be more fitting.
"Excuse , is this Dr. Lu’s clinic?"
Just after grooming Xiao Tu, a woman appeared at the door. She didn’t walk in, only stood at the door clutching her stomach, her face pale, leaning against the doorfra, seemingly unable to put weight on one foot.
"Yes, can I help you?" Lu Jiu asked.
Du Ran weakly said, "I, I have a stomachache..."
A stomachache?
Is it a gastrointestinal issue, or a nstrual problem?
Lu Jiu hurriedly moved forward, assisting the woman inside and carefully seating her on a stool.
After sitting, Du Ran bent over, her right hand clutching her stomach, her left arm resting on the table, and her head laying limply on it, as if she were on the verge of collapse.
"Let ... forget it, let check your pulse first," Lu Jiu said, seeing Du Ran’s painful expression and guessing she wasn’t in the mood to talk, he gently took her wrist to perform a pulse diagnosis.
He had seen many patients with stomachaches lately, and she was likely referred by soone familiar.
As his fingertips made contact with Du Ran’s skin, Lu Jiu’s mind was filled with various voices.
"Fei Jin, not better yet?" Spleen Earth asked.
"No way, this external evil is too hard to get rid of, it’s like it’s attached to the large intestine, hurry up and expel it, Liver Wood," Fei Jin urged.
"Working on it, stop rushing, this thing is hard to deal with, it’s too destructive, you rush , you do it!" Liver Wood replied.
"How did the external evil suddenly invade and go straight to the large intestine, could it have co from Spleen Earth’s side?" Hydronephrosis asked.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible, I didn’t feel a thing!" Spleen Earth responded.
"Fei Jin should know, right?" Hydronephrosis asked.
"It ca from the outside." Fei Jin replied.
"...that was pretty much useless information," Hydronephrosis said.
External evil, in the large intestine, stomachache...
Not an issue of Spleen and Stomach, nor a nstrual problem, the woman was clutching her lower right abdon, her foot seed curled, could it be...
Lu Jiu imdiately released her wrist, crouched, and pressed lightly on a point about an inch below her Zusanli.
"Ah!!!!"
Du Ran, who had been resting her head silently on the table, cried out in pain when Lu Jiu pressed the spot.
"What... are you doing?" Du Ran asked angrily, gritting her teeth as she glared at Lu Jiu.
Lu Jiu didn’t speak, he quickly took a Finest Needle from the drawer, rolled up Du Ran’s pant leg, and swiftly inserted the needle an inch below Zusanli, at an acupuncture point known as the Lanwei Point.
"You really are bold, coming here with acute appendicitis. What if the intestine ruptured and led to peritonitis?"
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