A divine healer, a general, a young marquis! Who can rival them!

Winter has arrived, and it's freezing cold.

On this day, two porters pulled a person in, who was limping.

The man pulling the cart was a porter named Wang Er. He was a porter in the city, usually carrying heavy loads and unloading carts, full of strength. But now, one of his trouser legs was rolled up, and his left calf was swollen and shiny, a large, red patch, as red as a layer of crimson, hot and burning.

He was delirious with fever, and his upper and lower jaws were trembling.

"Dr. Yang!" one of them cried, "Save Wang Er!"

A few days ago, Wang Er's leg was chafed by a thick hemp rope while he was carrying heavy loads and unloading trucks, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Who knew that in the past two days, the area around the chafed leg suddenly became red and swollen, getting bigger and hotter, and he also developed a high fever and was having shivering fits.

The city doctor shook his head: "This is a case of 'flowing fire'! It's called 'encountering the fire god,' with the fire energy emanating from the calves. We need to invite a shaman to come and send it away."

Some doctors said, "Just prick it open, and everything will be fine once the stuff inside is out!"

Wang Er was known for his honesty in the porter business. He usually carried bags and unloaded trucks. His family of six or seven depended on his leg. If his leg rotted away, how could the family survive?

He dared not choose his companion, fearing he might pick the wrong one. Hearing that Doctor Yang from the east of the city could snatch people from the jaws of death, he immediately brought her over.

"Young man," muttered an older porter, "you can't mess with this 'liuhuo' (a type of internal heat). Last year, there was a guy in the west of the city who got 'liuhuo' and didn't get better; his legs rotted away."

Yang Hu ignored him, squatted down, and took a closer look at his leg.

The redness and swelling had a clear border; pressing it left a white mark that was hot to the touch, and the small abrasion was in the middle of the redness and swelling.

I have a plan in mind.

This isn't some kind of fire god; it's that little cut. The rough hemp rope chafed the skin, and some dirty stuff crawled in through the small cut, causing redness, swelling, and fever. This illness comes on suddenly and the fever is high, but as long as the fever subsides and the swelling goes down, it can get better. But if you poke and poke around randomly and disperse those things, then one of your legs will rot away.

He asked Wang Er some more questions, such as when it started to turn red, whether the area around the small cut was the first to turn red, and when the burning started.

Wang Er replied absentmindedly, "I can accept each and every one of them."

Yang Hu had a better understanding of the situation. Where he used to live, this would have been just a small cut, easily treated and healed in a few days. But here in this cold, desolate border region, where medical care was scarce, a simple gash could fester and cost a person their leg and even their life.

"This isn't a fire spurt," he said. "It's just that there's something dirty in the cut on your leg, and it's swollen and red."

"Then...then should we pry open the wound to let the fire poison escape?" his companion asked.

"You mustn't open it!" he said. "If you open it, the fire poison there will seep out with your skin and flesh. It was originally one place, but if you open it, half of your leg will rot. Even the doctors in the city want to open it. Thank you for not letting him!"

The porters nearby were all sweating bullets for Wang Er: a swollen leg, perfectly healthy, even city doctors would have to open it up, and you, a young doctor, have the nerve to say you don't need to open it up! Just apply medicine and lie down! Is that enough?

Ignoring the suspicious looks from others, Yang Hu prescribed medicine to clear heat and detoxify, as well as medicine to reduce swelling, which was applied to the red and swollen areas. Wang Er lay still, raising his legs.

"Your legs are so swollen, why aren't you lifting them?"

"Lifting your legs helps the heat drain out faster!" Yang Hu said. "If you stand up again, the blood will flow downwards, and the swelling will get worse."

Wang Er did as instructed, taking the medicine, applying the dressing, and lying there.

On the first night, he was so feverish that he was unconscious. His companions stayed by his side, thinking he was going to die several times. Yang Hu reassured them that the heat toxicity was at its worst in the first two days, and he would get better after that. He checked on him every hour or so to change his dressing and take his fever.

By the third day, the fever had indeed subsided. His companion also regained consciousness and drank half a bowl of thin porridge.

Two more days passed, and the redness and swelling faded one circle at a time. The burning hot leg gradually returned to its normal color and was no longer very hot to the touch.

Yang Hu would come every few days to change the dressing, telling him not to rush to get out of bed even after the fever subsided, as the heat in his legs hadn't cleared up yet and he needed to rest for a few more days.

In less than ten days, Wang Er was able to get out of bed with the help of a cane.

The day Wang Er was able to work again, he specially took two pieces of cured meat, limped over to Yang's shop, and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

"Dr. Yang, thank you so much! Without you, my leg would have rotted away like that man in the west of the city, and my wife and children would have had nothing to eat."

Wang Er's family was extremely grateful. His wife, carrying their two children, ran to the clinic entrance to kowtow and express her gratitude, but Yang Hu stopped her. Before leaving, he insisted on leaving them two pieces of cured meat, saying that he had smoked them himself and they weren't worth much, but it was a token of his appreciation.

The city doctor who had been convicted of offending the Fire God by catching fire raging in the wind dared not come out for a long time. People in the city used to say they wanted to expose the doctor who was spreading fire poison, and when they mentioned Yang's doctor in the east of the city, everyone gave him a thumbs up.

The news spread to the city's porters within a few days.

"The doctor in the city said that Wang Er's leg needed to be punctured to release the fire poison, but Doctor Yang said not to, and that it would disappear after taking a dose of medicine."

"The most amazing thing is that he could tell at a glance that it wasn't a blemish, but something dirty had gotten in through the wound. Amazing, right? The same red and swollen leg, and he could tell it was a bruise and an illness."

Wang Er's money was for food while he was working. His family was poor and he had elderly parents and young children to support. Yang Hu felt sorry for him and only took a few copper coins for the medicine. He didn't want a penny for the consultation fee and also gave him some medicine to treat his leg.

While cleaning the medicine grinder, Aji couldn't help but ask, "Master, how do you tell the difference between two legs that are red and swollen? Is it from a bump or a fall, or is it from this agonizing heat rash?"

"Does it burn?" Yang Hu asked. "Does it swell?"

"Other bumps and bruises leave only bruises and welts, without a fever. This is when something dirty gets inside the skin; it's bright red, swells up rapidly, and causes a high fever—it's very aggressive. If you're not careful, or if you delay, it can actually cause a leg to rot away. It looks similar, but it's completely different!"

Aji kept those words firmly in his heart.

Then he asked, "Why did you put it on top of something?"

"Pour the fire poison downwards!" Yang Hu said. "If your legs are hoisted up, or you're standing, the blood and fluid will flow downwards, preventing the poison from dissipating. So, you have to raise your legs so the fire poison rises, making things much easier! Just like water, wherever it's low, give it a downward slope!"

Aji seemed to understand, but he remembered it well.

In the evening, in the backyard.

Lu Yan helped Yang Hu wash his clothes and changed him into a clean set. When he mentioned Wang Er's leg, she chuckled twice.

"Young master, you've managed to get that rotten leg back." She smiled.

"Find the root cause of the illness right there!" Yang Hu said. "If others think they can't cure it, you can't really say you can't either. It's not that they can't cure it, but the doctors in the city can't even tell the difference between a bruise and an illness. They scare you, who are easy to treat, into thinking you're incurable, and you end up wasting your life."

Lu Rou was keeping accounts on the side, meticulously recording the money for the free medical treatment and the cost of medicine spent that day.

Liu Ye brought in hot water from the kitchen.

Qin Ying sat by the window, holding a worn-out knife in her hand, wiping it again and again by the light of the oil lamp.

Yang Hu's reputation spread far and wide.

Having been in the city for less than half a year, whether from inside or outside the city, whenever someone says they have a serious illness, their first instinct is to go to Yang's shop in the east of the city.

The number of people coming to see the doctor, from ordinary porters to wealthy merchants and gentry, increased day by day.

They never imagined that the young doctor in this small clinic, who could slowly take a person's pulse and effortlessly cure one difficult illness after another, possessed not only his physical skills but also other abilities and cunning.