Reborn a day later, I emptied my enemy's possessions beforehand.

The two quickly descended to the foot of the mountain. When they passed the clinic, Zhou Haibing went in first to get the first-aid kit.

The medicine cabinet in the clinic was still the same as before he left, with medicines neatly arranged in the drawers.

He picked up the brown medicine box, slung it over his shoulder, locked the door of the clinic, and then followed Chen Hongbo back into the village.

Chen Hongbo's house is located at the east end of the village. It consists of three mud-brick houses with thatched roofs and broken tiles. In some places, the mud plaster on the walls has peeled off, revealing the mud bricks mixed with straw.

The yard had no wall; it was just roughly bounded by a few wooden stakes.

There were some firewood and farm tools piled up in the yard, and two chickens were scrambling for food in the soil against the wall.

Zhou Haibing followed Chen Hongbo into the house.

The main room was dimly lit, with only a little light coming in through a small window.

A low table and several stools were placed against the wall, with half a bowl of leftover pickled vegetables on the table.

The door to the bedroom on the east side was half-open, from which came suppressed groans and the soft, comforting voice of an old woman.

Chen Hongbo pushed open the door, and Zhou Haibing went in.

The bedroom was small, with a wooden bed against the wall, covered with a straw mat and a thin quilt.

A girl was curled up on the inside of the bed, her hands pressed tightly against her lower abdomen, her legs curled up and then stretched out, rolling around in and out.

Her face was deathly pale, her forehead was covered in sweat, her hair was stuck to her cheeks and neck with sweat, her lips were bitten until they were white, and she occasionally squeezed out a groan from between her teeth.

An elderly woman with gray hair sat by the bed, wiping the woman's forehead with a damp towel, repeatedly saying, "It's alright, it's alright," but her own hands were trembling.

Chen Hongbo walked to the bedside and called out:

"Mother, Doctor Zhou is here."

The old woman looked up, saw Zhou Haibing, and quickly stood up to make way for him by the bed, saying repeatedly, "Dr. Zhou, please take a look at my daughter."

Zhou Haibing walked to the bedside, placed the medicine box on the small table by the bed, and bent down to look at the girl on the bed.

The girl looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. She was thin and pale, with no color in her face, and her lips were bitten raw.

She saw someone come in, barely opened her eyes to take a look, then closed them again in pain, curling herself into a ball.

Zhou Haibing sat down on the stool by the bed and gently pressed her wrist.

The girl's wrists were icy cold, her pulse thin and tight, beating fast and labored.

He then examined her complexion and tongue coating; the tongue coating was thin and white, and the tongue body was rather dark.

He loosened his grip on Chen Hongbo's wrist and asked, "What's your sister's name?"

"Chen Hongxia".

Zhou Haibing nodded, then asked the old woman a few more questions: "When did this pain start? Has she had this before?"

The old woman wiped away her tears and said:

"I've had pain before, it hurts every month during those days, but it's never hurt this badly before."

In the past, I could just endure it and it would pass; at most, I'd lie in bed for half a day.

The pain started around midnight last night and has lasted for over ten hours now, getting worse and worse. I can't eat anything, and I vomit even after drinking water.

Zhou Haibing then asked Chen Hongxia a few more questions—

When does your period start? How heavy is the flow? Is the color normal? When does the pain occur, is it a dragging pain in your lower abdomen or a cramping pain?

Chen Hongxia was in so much pain that she couldn't speak a complete sentence, and answered a few words in fits and starts.

Zhou Haibing listened and nodded, already having formed his own judgment.

He straightened up and said to Chen Hongbo and the old woman:

"It's dysmenorrhea, the cold-induced blood stasis type. She's been exposed to cold, and the cold is stagnating in her uterus, causing poor blood circulation, which leads to pain."

In addition, she was already physically weak and had insufficient qi and blood, so the pain was more severe than for most people.

Hearing this, Chen Hongbo, though not quite understanding what "cold stagnation and blood stasis" meant, felt a little more at ease seeing Zhou Haibing's confident tone, and quickly asked:

"Dr. Zhou, what should we do? Should we give him/her medicine?"

Zhou Haibing said:

"I'll give her a few acupuncture needles first to open up her blood and qi, and the pain will be relieved quickly."

Then I'll prescribe another medicine, and after taking it for a few days, the cold will be expelled, and the pain won't be so bad anymore.

As he spoke, Zhou Haibing placed the medicine box on the table. The medicine box was made of wood with iron plates covering the four corners. The paint had been worn white, and the clasp made a crisp "click" sound when it was opened and closed.

He untied the knot in the cloth bag, which lay open on the table. Inside was a row of slender silver needles, their bodies gleaming silver and shimmering coldly under the oil lamp. The handles were wrapped with fine copper wire, one coil overlapping another, tightly and evenly wound.

He took out a three-inch-long acupuncture needle and wiped it on an alcohol swab. The swab was in a glass bottle, the opening of which was plugged with a cork.

He uncorked the needle, took out a small piece of cotton, and wiped the needle twice from end to end.

Chen Hongxia lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), covered with a patched thin quilt. The quilt cover was made of coarse cloth with a blue background and white flowers, and the edges were already frayed from washing.

She was in so much pain that she was covered in sweat, her bangs were wet and stuck to her skin, her lips were bitten until they were white, and her hands were pressed tightly against her lower abdomen, her fingers gripping the corner of the blanket so tightly that her knuckles were blue.

The old woman sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), one hand on her daughter's shoulder, the other clutching a handkerchief, wiping her daughter's sweat incessantly, muttering "Bear with it, bear with it," her voice trembling, her eyes red-rimmed.

Chen Hongbo stood by the kang (a heated brick bed), rubbing his hands. He looked at his sister and then at Zhou Haibing, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something but then swallowed it back.

Zhou Haibing leaned down and said to Chen Hongxia:

"Don't be afraid, the injection will feel a little sore and swollen, but it won't hurt. Relax and don't tense up."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was steady, like a stone falling on water, creating ripples that made people feel at ease.

Chen Hongxia was in so much pain that she was covered in sweat. She bit her lip and nodded, but the nod was very small, as if she had no strength left.

Zhou Haibing told her to roll up her trouser legs above her knees, exposing her calves.

Chen Hongxia's legs were very thin, her skin was yellowish, and there were some mud spots on her ankles. She probably left in a hurry and didn't even have time to wash her feet.

She struggled to lift her hand and roll up her trouser leg, her fingers trembling, and she couldn't roll it up after two tries.

The old woman quickly reached out to help, neatly rolling up the trouser legs above the knees to expose a section of skin on the inside of the calves.

Zhou Haibing first pressed the Sanyinjiao acupoint on the inside of his calf.

His fingers were very dry, with a thin layer of calluses on his fingertips. When he pressed them against her skin, Chen Hongxia's legs twitched slightly.

He found the right spot, held the needle in his right hand, aimed the needle tip at the acupoint, and with a gentle flick of his wrist, the silver needle steadily pierced the skin.

The movement was incredibly fast, like an experienced tailor piercing a needle into fabric, perfectly precise, neither too deep nor too shallow.

Chen Hongxia's legs twitched slightly, and she hissed, but the slight soreness was nothing compared to the churning pain in her lower abdomen.