Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 879 A Unique Southern Physique, Matilda Has Arrived! (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)
Hearing that Fang Yan was willing to receive treatment, Ma Youxin breathed a sigh of relief.

I have indeed been rejected many times before.

It's all because they know that even if she's cured, Ma Wenying will be dragged back for a marriage alliance, and then nine times out of ten her old illness will relapse.

What he just said was a last resort. If Ma Wenying is left untreated, the consequences could worsen.

Ultimately, family ties prevailed over self-interest, which is why they decided to have Ma Wenying receive treatment in Beijing for six months to a year, just to buy time.

At this moment, Fang Yan came to the bedside and began to observe Ma Wenying, who was lying motionless on the bed.

Her face had a bluish-white undertone, and the area between her eyebrows, where the bluish-red hue intertwined, was a symptom of liver stagnation transforming into fire. There was a distinct horizontal line on the bridge of her nose, indicating a disharmony between the heart and kidneys. In addition, there were bloodshot eyes and dry, flaky skin around her lips.

Fang Yan waved his hand in front of her eyes, but there was no reaction.

Then Fang Yan covered her eyes with her hand.

There was still no response from the other party.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Fang Yan asked Ma Youxin, who was standing next to him.

“Yes!” Ma Youxin nodded and pointed to the cabinet in the room to his assistant.

Soon a toolbox was opened, and a flashlight was taken out of it.

Fang Yan took the flashlight and shone it into Ma Wenying's eyes, carefully observing the changes in her pupils. Unlike Situ Chi's reaction before, Ma Wenying's pupils reacted very quickly.

This indicates that his condition is actually better than Situ Chi's.

After all, she had only been sick for three months.

Then Fang Yan tried to pry open Ma Wenying's mouth, and this time he found that it was the same as Situ Chi's.

"Miss Ma, can you open your mouth?" Fang asked knowingly.

Ma Wenying remained completely still.

He put down the flashlight and took out a silver needle from his hand.

Using the same acupoints as before—Jia Che, Dicang, and Xia Guan—I inserted three needles directly.

Then, with a gentle pry, Ma Wenying's mouth opened immediately.

Fang Yan was prepared, but seeing that the expressions of the people around him remained unchanged, he tried to breathe and found that this time there was no foul smell like Situ Chi's.

It actually smelled like red wine, which surprised even Fang Yan.

"You gave her alcohol?"

Fang Yan asked Ma Youxin.

Ma Youxin was also dumbfounded and looked at his assistant in the room.

The assistant looked completely innocent.
"She hasn't been drinking alcohol. Miss Wenying hasn't eaten anything for several days and has been kept alive by IV fluids."

Ma Youxin asked:
"Where did this smell of alcohol come from? Did she get up and drink some alcohol herself just now?"

The assistant said:

"Sir, as you know, there is someone watching over us around the clock, and there is no red wine in the room."

Fang Yan then said:
"Yes, it must be because I didn't drink any alcohol; the taste is still different from red wine."

"And the condition of her mouth doesn't look like she's drunk anything."

When the flashlight shone on Ma Wenying's mouth, it was found that her tongue was red with a black, dry coating and prickles, indicating that her Yangming meridian was dry and her Yin fluids were depleted. At the same time, rattling sounds of phlegm could be heard in her throat with each breath.

At this moment, Xiao Chengzhi spoke up:

“I’ve heard of a condition where damp heat causes phlegm, and this kind of smell will appear in a person’s mouth.”

"However, it is rarely seen in the north; it is only found in clinical practice in the south."

"The Danxi Heart Method states that if one's breath smells of alcohol, it indicates dampness and heat causing decay and turbidity to rise upwards. My master also said that people in the South love to eat fresh river fish and long-simmered soups, which helps generate dampness and heat. As a result, more than 60% of the population in the South have a constitution of qi deficiency and dampness, which makes it easy for dampness, heat, and phlegm to form."

"People from the north are more likely to have a constitution of yang deficiency and cold stagnation, and this type of syndrome is rare."

Fang Yan nodded after hearing this:

"That makes sense. It should be due to damp heat rising upwards, causing phlegm and foul odors to rise to the mouth, creating a smell similar to fermented red wine."

Hearing Fang Yan's affirmation, Xiao Chengzhi finally regained some of his former self's former glory, which had been overshadowed by Fang Yan and Li Zhengji in class recently.

This time, they've finally made an appearance.

"Can you take off the restraints now? I need to take your pulse," Fang Yan asked Ma Youxin.

Ma Youxin nodded:

"No problem, she was perfectly normal during the day."

"Come and unlock it," Ma Youxin said to his assistant. The assistant came over and unlocked the shackles on the restraint suit.

The hands that were wrapped around his chest were finally freed.

Then the assistant tried to roll up the long sleeves of the straitjacket, and Fang Yan said upon seeing this:

“Take off all the restraints. If you tie them up like this, it will affect blood circulation and make it difficult to make accurate judgments.”

"Oh, okay." The assistant nodded.

Then they began to remove Ma Wenying's restraints.

The others felt a little awkward, and Old Ren reminded them in dialect:

"How about we wait until they've undressed and put their clothes back on before we come in?"

Fang Yan suddenly realized:
"Oh yes."

Ma Youxin said to his assistant:

"Then let's go out and wait for a while. We'll come back in once you've finished getting ready."

"Yes, sir." The assistant nodded hurriedly in agreement.

Then everyone went outside.

Once outside, Ma Youxin asked Fang Yan about the situation of his companions.

"This is Professor Ren Yingqiu. Like Mr. Ma, he is a member of the CPPCC, and also serves as a member of the Medical Discipline Evaluation Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, a member of the Medical Group of the State Science and Technology Commission, the vice president of the All-China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the president of the Ancient Medical Texts Research Association, and a standing committee member of the Medical History Society of the Chinese Medical Association..." Fang Yan introduced him to Ma Youxin.

Ma Youxin quickly shook hands with Ren Yingqiu.

Next was Meng Jimin, a top disciple of Zhu Liangchun, the "Five Poisons Doctor".

Xiao Chengzhi was a disciple of Deng Tietao, the leader of the Lingnan School of Medicine, and the eldest grandson of Xiao Longyou, one of the four most famous doctors in Beijing during the Republic of China.

Cheng Baogui is a grand-disciple of Zhang Xichun, a famous doctor in Tianjin.

Wang Zhijun, a descendant of the young master of the capital.

Ma Youxin initially thought they were just followers, but he soon discovered that they were all heavyweight figures in traditional Chinese medicine.

They all greeted them.

After the introduction was completed, the assistant inside had also helped Ma Wenying change her clothes.

The group then entered the room.

At this moment, Ma Wenying was wearing a simple, loose silk nightgown and was lying blankly on the bed. Everyone could see that the muscles in her hands and feet were tense.

This is catatonia.

Fang Yan went to the window and continued to take Ma Wenying's pulse.

As soon as he lifted her sleeve, Fang Yan saw a row of discolored scars on it, which were in French script.

Fang Yan frowned, rolled up his sleeves as high as he could, and finally saw the words clearly:
"La liberté, c'est le souffle de l'me."

“These were all carved by her own self-harm,” Ma Youxin said.

The onlookers were shocked. Meng Jimin said:
"Didn't they say it was engraved with 'freedom'? Why is it so long?"

He said in dialect:

"This is a line from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, which translates to: 'Freedom is the breath of the soul.'"

It's not surprising that Ma Wenying, who received a Europeanized education, knows these things.

Everyone only realized what Fang Yan meant after hearing his words.

Ma Youxin looked at Fang Yan with some admiration.

Then everyone heard the dialect analysis:

"Her self-harm, as a means of emotional regulation, and the choice of this French vocabulary also reflects the Europeanized cognitive pattern of the second personality, Matilda."

Just as Fang Yan finished speaking and was about to take Fang Yan's pulse, Ma Wenying on the bed suddenly turned her head to look at Fang Yan.

Everyone was stunned by this scene.

Ma Wenying seemed to emerge from a state of stupor; her eyes regained their sparkle, a kind of morbid excitement. Then, in a hoarse voice, she asked the person in the dialect in French:
"Do you know this line from Les Misérables?"

PS: After finishing this chapter, I still owe everyone 38000 words.

There will be more this afternoon.

(End of this chapter)