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

The news of the interception of military supplies in the north circulated in the city for several days.

But no matter how much the rumors spread, Yang Hu remained a resident physician. Who the strategist was was none of his business; the clinic's doors still had to open early in the morning.

It was just past Chen Shi (7-9 AM) that day.

There was an uproar outside the clinic.

Two shop assistants from the silk shop, one on the left and one on the right, escorted their boss into the shop. The boss was a tall, thin man around forty years old, dressed in a worn blue cloth long gown. He covered his right eye with one hand and walked unsteadily.

"Dr. Yang, please take a look at my shopkeeper, he..."

Yang Hu put down the pulse pillow in his hand and went to meet him.

The man was helped onto a small stool in the clinic and immediately started vomiting. He vomited water, which was so sour that his throat hurt.

"What happened to him?" The foreman's hands trembled with anxiety. "My manager, Manager Feng, is the accountant at the South City Silk Shop. He was fine yesterday evening, but suddenly he complained of pain in his right eye, sweating profusely from the pain, and then he vomited. We had Dr. Lang from the East City Hospital examine him, and he said it was due to stomach upset. He gave him some digestive medicine, but after drinking it all night, he still wasn't fully recovered. This morning, his right eye... his right eye... he can't see!"

Manager Feng covered his eyes, his voice trembling. "I can't see... I can't see in this eye... How am I supposed to live if I, the accountant, go blind...?"

Yang Hu wasn't in a hurry.

He pried open Manager Feng's hand, which was covering his face.

The right eyeball was covered with red blood vessels, the eyeball was bulging, and the pupil was dilated, showing a faint bluish-green color, as if covered by a layer of mist.

Yang Hu extended two fingers and gently pressed them against his eyeballs.

It's rock hard.

It was as hard as if there was a stone inside.

Yang Hu has a plan.

It's not the stomach.

My eyes bulged out, swelling up to their maximum size, with my pupils dilating and turning greenish. I was in pain and vomiting... The blood and qi in my eyes were blocked, causing them to swell up bigger and harder. As they swelled, the vitality in my eyes disappeared.

If this were where he came from, it would be a life-threatening emergency, unstoppable, and he would go blind in a few days.

The doctor in the east of the city treated it as a stomach ailment, which was the wrong approach.

"His illness isn't in his stomach," Yang Hu straightened up, "it's in his eyes; the blood and qi in his eyes are blocked."

"It's blocked?" The waiter was stunned.

"His eyeballs bulged up really high, like inflated balloons. The more they swelled, the harder they became, and they damaged his eyeballs," Yang Hu said. "He vomited because of the bloating, not because he had an upset stomach. You gave him digestive medicine, but it wasn't the right medicine, and you wasted a whole night."

An elderly customer nearby was getting his medicine, shaking his head. "His eyes are bulging out, and his pupils have turned green... I've only seen this twice in my life, and both of them went blind. I'm afraid it's karma, and they can't be cured."

Upon hearing the word "retribution," Manager Feng immediately burst into tears.

"It's not retribution, it's an illness." Yang Hu's voice wasn't loud, but each word struck the ground: "Let the air out of your eyes, and you can save your eyes."

Upon hearing this, Manager Feng grabbed his arm and twisted it hard.

"Can it really be saved?"

"The sooner you die, the better." Yang Hu had already turned to Aji and said, "Aji, get my fine needle, and heat it up. Draw all the curtains; the darker the room, the better."

Aji agreed and quickly went to do his work.

The shop assistant asked, puzzled, "Dr. Yang, why did you close the curtains during the day?"

"His eyes can't see light, and they swell up even more when they see light." Yang Hu washed his hands and began to insert fine needles into his temples and the tips of his ears: "Don't bend your head down and strain, the more you strain, the more the gas will swell up."

The room went dark.

Yang Hu took out a thin needle that had been burned by fire and then stuck it into his temples and the tips of his ears.

A few drops of blood, as red as ink, flowed out.

"You...you bled him out of his head?" The old customer shuddered. "Why treat an eye disease by stabbing its temple instead of the eye itself?"

Yang Hu ignored him.

After the blood was drained, they took out the medicine that Lu Yan had prepared earlier, which was used to soothe the liver, reduce internal heat, and remove the bloating. They put it all into the medicine pot and boiled it into a strong decoction.

"Drink it."

Manager Feng, his hands trembling, took the medicine with a mixture of belief and doubt.

What follows is the agonizing process.

Yang Hu made him lean back in the chair, close his eyes, and tilt his head slightly up, unable to move.

At first, he was in so much pain that he kept gasping for air, but after about half an hour, the cold air gradually became more even.

"It hurts...it hurts a little less now," he said. "I can tell!"

He stretched out his hand, showing three fingers, and waved them in front of his eyes:

"Fingers! Fingers! I see three fingers!"

The waiter suddenly knelt down.

"A miracle doctor! The doctors in the east of the city all said my eyes were going to go blind, but Doctor Yang cured them!"

Yang Hu helped him up, but did not take credit for it; instead, he wrote a prescription.

"Your eye has been saved, but this illness progresses too slowly and requires rest." He instructed, "These next few days, avoid bright light, don't bend over to lift heavy objects, and don't get angry. Continue taking this prescription. Also, a stone got stuck in your eyeball once, and you'll come back. If you do, it will be with eye pain and vomiting. Come immediately; don't mistake it for a gastrointestinal problem and delay. If you delay too long, your divine light will be extinguished, and even a god can't save you!"

Manager Feng was extremely grateful. He was an accountant and not very wealthy. Yang Hu had only charged him for the medicine at cost price and hadn't added too much to the consultation fee.

"You saved my eyes, you're the one who feeds my whole family," Manager Feng said, tears streaming down his face.

The news spread throughout the city in less than two days.

There are gossips in the teahouse. "Feng, the accountant in the south of the city, has eyes that bulge green; the traditional Chinese medicine doctor in the east of the city went blind, and they say it's retribution."

Once it reached Dr. Yang, a few needles were inserted, some blood was released, and it was visible to the naked eye!

"Yes, indeed." Another said. "Exactly! It's obvious to everyone, it's not a stomach ailment, it's just a blockage in the eye. That guy in the east of the city treated his eye problem as a stomach ailment all night!"

An old man next to him took a sip of tea. "This Dr. Yang from the east of the city is really capable. My neighbor's son got scalded all over with boiling oil a couple of days ago. Even Doctor Liu from the west of the city said he might not be able to save his arm, but after coming to him, it healed in just a few days."

Yang Hu didn't hear a word and continued to sit there seeing patients.

When we got home in the evening, the whole family gathered together for dinner.

Lu Yan helped him tidy up the medicinal herbs he had messed up during the day, smiling broadly. "Young master, today's consultation fee is almost entirely waived."

"The accountant has lost his sight, and now the family's running out of firewood and rice," Yang Hu said, sipping his tea. "It's better to keep them quiet and easy to watch than to take them in."

Lu Rou lay on the table, working on a series of abacus calculations, meticulously recording today's income and expenses, while muttering "free consultation fee." "Free consultation fee"—this girl keeps meticulous records, noting exactly what should be collected and what should be waived.

Liu Ye emerged from the medicinal herb garden on the outskirts of the city, placing several freshly picked herbs on the table. "These herbs for calming the liver are available in the garden; we won't need to buy them from the pharmacy anymore."

Qin Ying sat under the window, examining the blade of the short knife in her hand by the light.

When Yang Hu mentioned that he had saved his eyes by bleeding from his temples, she paused.

"How could a perfectly healthy person suddenly go blind!" She tilted her head. "You just happen to see it; his blindness was caused by a blockage. Once the blockage is removed, his sight will return!"

"The illness is in the eyes, but the root cause lies in the breath!" Yang Hu laughed. "Others might see it as retribution and accept their fate, but I see it as a blocked mouth. Once the mouth is opened, the person will come back."

Qin Ying stopped talking. She lowered her head and slowly relaxed the hand that was resting on her knee.

As Aji tidied up the medicine grinder, he finally couldn't suppress the question in his mind.

"Master, Manager Feng clearly has an eye ailment, so why did you prick his temple with a needle to draw blood?"

Yang Hu's hands never stopped moving. "There's a feeling of pressure in your eye, making your eyeball hard. Release it there, suppress the upward-moving heat, and the pressure in your eye will ease." He paused. "Remember, if your eyeball suddenly becomes painful and hard, your pupil dilates and turns green, and you also experience nausea, this is the cause. Early treatment can save your life; delaying it can lead to blindness. Don't mistake it for a stomach ailment or a stroke, or you'll make things worse."

Aji nodded and wrote everything down.

It was already late at night when Yang Hu recalled Manager Feng's last bow.

A man who had managed accounts his whole life almost went blind; a city doctor who made a fortune could not see the fear of the poor who had no means of livelihood.

He could see it; the team under that sign in the east of the city was getting bigger and bigger every day.