"Help me hold her still. Don't let her thrash around," Zhao Yuan instructed.
"Alright." Boss Fang called over a few of his shop's assistants. It took all their effort to finally restrain Fang Ling, who was writhing on the floor.
Zhao Yuan knelt, first examining Fang Ling's eyes, then he began to take her pulse.
"Just for show! I don't believe for a second this kid can figure out what's wrong with Fang Ling. We couldn't do anything, so how could a boy who's barely old enough to shave be any better than us?" said one of the men who had previously tried and failed to diagnose her, a cold sneer on his face.
Several people nearby immediately nodded in agreement.
"Exactly! With the illness Miss Fang has, even if Hua Tuo and Bian Que themselves came back to life, they'd be helpless! For this kid to claim he can cure it... Hmph, he really doesn't know his own limits!"
"He's about to tuck his tail between his legs and admit he was wrong!"
The words had barely left their mouths when Zhao Yuan stood up. "Boss Fang," he said, "I've completed my diagnosis. Your daughter is suffering from Viper Gu Syndrome!"
"Viper Gu Syndrome?" Boss Fang was stunned. He'd seen his fair share of strange things, but he had never heard of such a disease.
The onlookers hadn't heard of it either.
"Viper Gu Syndrome? What kind of illness is that? Have you heard of it?"
"I've never heard of it. Elder Ma, you're the most experienced person here in the medicinal herb market. Have you ever heard of this... Viper Gu Syndrome?"
All at once, the crowd turned to look at a white-haired elder.
In response to the question, Elder Ma narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I've never heard of such a disease."
The crowd immediately erupted.
"If even Elder Ma hasn't heard of it, he must have just made up 'Viper Gu Syndrome,' right?"
"Definitely made it up!"
"Making up a disease when you can't diagnose the real one... That kid's actions are beneath contempt!"
"This isn't healing, it's just causing harm!"
Just as the crowd's indignation reached a fever pitch, a different voice cut through the noise. "Viper Gu Syndrome? Where is it?"
An elderly man, supported by two younger men, pushed his way through the crowd and into Zhencao Hall.
"Who's this guy? Don't tell me he's a plant for that kid," someone muttered with a skeptical frown.
He had barely gotten the words out when someone next to him clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Are you blind?! Open your eyes and see who that is! That's Wang Jiasen, the nationally renowned medical expert! With his status, why would he ever be a shill for anyone?!"
"What? Wang Jiasen?"
"What's he doing here?"
"He looks like he's heard of Viper Gu Syndrome... So maybe the disease isn't fake after all?"
The entire crowd was dumbfounded.
Boss Fang recognized Wang Jiasen as well and hurried forward to greet him. "Elder Wang, I can't believe you're here. I was actually planning to bring my daughter to see you, but I heard you were abroad for a medical conference..."
"Boss Fang." Wang Jiasen nodded, his expression grave. "Is your daughter the one suffering from Viper Gu Syndrome?"
"I don't know if my daughter really has Viper Gu Syndrome or not. But that's what this young man diagnosed." Boss Fang gestured first to his daughter, then to Zhao Yuan.
Wang Jiasen glanced at Zhao Yuan, quite surprised. "You know about Viper Gu Syndrome? That's impressive."
'In his mind, Zhao Yuan had to be either a disciple from a medical Noble Family or the student of a renowned master. An ordinary Healer would never know about a disease like Viper Gu Syndrome. Even he had only ever read about it in the ancient medical texts passed down through his family; he'd never encountered an actual case.'
After examining Fang Ling, Wang Jiasen said, "An abdomen swollen like a drum, excruciating and unbearable pain, blood spots in her eyes, an erratic pulse... these clinical signs are an exact match for the description of Viper Gu Syndrome in the texts!"
Boss Fang asked anxiously, "Elder Wang, is there any way to cure my daughter?"
Wang Jiasen sighed and shook his head. "Boss Fang, I'm sorry, but as far as I know, Viper Gu Syndrome is incurable!"
"Wh-what?" Boss Fang's body swayed. His vision swam with black spots, and he felt like he was about to faint.
Just then, Zhao Yuan spoke up. "Who says it's incurable? I can cure it!"
Boss Fang and Wang Jiasen both snapped their heads toward Zhao Yuan.
The onlookers' eyes went wide with shock. They instinctively wanted to voice their doubts, but then they remembered how thoroughly they'd already been proven wrong. They quickly swallowed their words, many of them turning red in the face and breaking into coughs from the effort.
'This kid is too strange. We'd better not jump to conclusions. Let's just wait and see if he can actually cure Fang Ling.' That thought surfaced in many of their minds. They were clearly spooked by being proven wrong so many times.
"Young man, can you really cure my daughter?" Boss Fang's entire body trembled with excitement. He was filled with hope, but at the same time, terrified of disappointment.
Wang Jiasen, however, was in utter disbelief. "You can cure Viper Gu Syndrome? That's impossible!"
In the medical texts passed down through the Wang Family for generations, on the very page describing Viper Gu Syndrome, more than one of his ancestors had written a note in the margin: "Indeed, there is no cure." This proved that the ancestors of the Wang Family had encountered Viper Gu Syndrome before, and though they had tried to treat it, they had all failed.
Besides, while examining Fang Ling, Wang Jiasen had been racking his brain for a possible treatment, but he couldn't come up with a single idea.
'This strange disease, which had left him helpless and which generations of his ancestors had deemed 'incurable,' was now claimed to be treatable by some young upstart... How could Wang Jiasen possibly believe him!'
Faced with their skepticism, Zhao Yuan didn't bother with explanations and let his actions speak for him. "Boss Fang, I need you to get some minced garlic and aged vinegar. The more, the better."
"Huh?" Boss Fang was taken aback.
'If Zhao Yuan had asked for medicinal herbs, he wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest. But minced garlic and vinegar... What was this? Was he planning to cook a meal?'
"Don't just stand there saying 'huh'," Zhao Yuan urged. "Hurry up and get those two things, so we can lessen your daughter's suffering."
'Hearing that, Boss Fang understood. So the garlic and vinegar were for the treatment? But could this bizarre Viper Gu Syndrome, which Wang Jiasen himself had called incurable, really be treated with just garlic and vinegar?'
Although he was skeptical, Boss Fang didn't waste any time. He immediately sent a shop assistant to buy the vinegar and minced garlic. He had no other options; his only hope was Zhao Yuan.
While they waited for the assistant to return with the vinegar and garlic, the onlookers began to murmur amongst themselves.
"What does this kid want vinegar and minced garlic for? He's not going to use these two things to treat Viper Gu Syndrome, is he?"
"Minced garlic does have some detoxifying and antiparasitic properties, but I'll never believe it can cure whatever strange disease Fang Ling has."
"That kid is really something else. I'm not going to make any more rash judgments. Let's just wait and see what happens!"
Twenty-some minutes later, the shop assistant returned with a large quantity of minced garlic and vinegar.
Boss Fang asked, "Young man, do you think this will be enough? If not, I'll send them out for more."
"It should be enough," Zhao Yuan said.
In truth, he wasn't entirely sure how much minced garlic and vinegar would be needed. In the medical records left by Wu Peng, the treatment for Viper Gu Syndrome was described in a single sentence: "Force-feed several liters of mixed garlic and vinegar, and the illness will resolve on its own."
Zhao Yuan had someone fetch a large bucket. He poured all the minced garlic and vinegar inside, mixed them together, and then said to Boss Fang, "Force-feed this to your daughter."
"Alright!" Boss Fang had his assistants help him pry open Fang Ling's clenched jaw. He scooped up a large ladleful of the garlic-vinegar mix and tried to pour it into her mouth. Fang Ling, repulsed by the taste, kept spitting it out, refusing to swallow a single drop. Left with no other choice, Boss Fang had to send someone to buy a stomach flushing kit to administer it by force.
One liter... two liters...
A large amount of the garlic and vinegar mixture was forced into Fang Ling. Her stomach, already swollen like a large jug, now looked as if it were about to burst.
Zhao Yuan kept his eyes fixed on Fang Ling.
Suddenly, he noticed a squirming movement around her neck and quickly shouted, "Stop! Don't give her any more!"
Boss Fang immediately stopped and watched Fang Ling nervously.
At that moment, the onlookers all held their breath.
RETCH!
Fang Ling bent over and vomited violently. The garlic and vinegar that had been forced into her stomach was all spewed out.
"Quick, look! I think she threw up something alive! It's still moving!"
"They look like bugs. I've never seen bugs like that before."
"Are they parasites?"
"Could those be the Viper Gu?"
Everyone could see clearly now. In the vomit were strange, inch-long worms. They were grayish-brown with mottled patterns and had triangular heads, resembling miniature vipers.
Fang Ling had thrown up more than a dozen Viper Gu. Most were already dead, but a few were still wriggling, trying to escape.
Their targets were the people standing near Fang Ling.
Seeing the Viper Gu crawling toward them, the crowd scrambled backward in terror. With Fang Ling's horrible condition as a clear warning, none of them wanted to be next!
Zhao Yuan snatched the ladle, scooped up more of the garlic and vinegar mixture, and flung it at the escaping Viper Gu.
A strange "SKREEE!" erupted from the Viper Gu. Their bodies twisted violently before they suddenly went still and rigid.
The garlic and vinegar mixture was incredibly lethal to these strange worms!
Once Fang Ling had finished vomiting, Zhao Yuan gave another order. "Keep going."
Now that he had seen the results, Boss Fang followed Zhao Yuan's instructions without question, immediately starting a second round of flushing. After several more rounds, all the Viper Gu inside Fang Ling's stomach had been expelled.
Once he confirmed there were no more Viper Gu in her vomit, Zhao Yuan let out a long sigh of relief. He turned to Boss Fang and said, "I'm happy to report that your daughter is cured."