"Come on, that's enough. You can go back now. I'll be there soon." Li Se waved his hand, dismissing Ye Fang like a beggar. For Ye Fang to stoop to calling him 'Dad', and for her to be so respectful, was quite a rare occurrence.
"You better keep your word!" Ye Fang huffed and left immediately. She didn't want to linger here any longer; it was too embarrassing.
"Li Se, don't tell me you have some kind of fetish?" Huang Shanshan frowned.
"Why do you say that?" Li Se asked, puzzled.
Huang Shanshan pondered for a moment before saying, "Do you like married women, or ones who have already had children? You're so perverted!"
Li Se: "..."
Hearing Huang Shanshan's words, Li Se suddenly felt like he might be a bit perverted. He hadn't thought about it before. After all, he and Lin Wanqiu were about the same age. Now, having Lin Wanqiu's mother call him 'Dad' felt a bit strange. At that moment, another thought crossed his mind: what if Lin Wanqiu herself called him 'Dad'...?
It was half an hour later when Li Se arrived at the Lin family's residence. Upon seeing him, Ye Fang's gaze was murderous, as if she wanted to flay Li Se alive.
"It's you!" Wu Yang's face darkened upon seeing Li Se. "Who do you think you are, to be able to save Old Master Lin? It's ridiculous. Old Master Lin has heart failure. Especially at his age, he shouldn't be salvageable. You say you can save him? Who do you think you are? A deity?"
"Didn't I save Third Master? Your imperial physicians were all helpless. Now that you can't save Old Master Lin, I can. What's the problem?" Li Se said nonchalantly.
"That was just your luck. This time, it's confirmed as untreatable. If you can treat it, I'll retire from medicine forever!" Wu Yang said coldly. Heart failure, coupled with Old Master Lin's advanced age, was, based on his years of medical practice, absolutely untreatable.
Li Se chuckled, "Heh, I just reminded someone earlier not to speak too definitively. Imperial Physician Wu, are you planning to never practice medicine again?"
"Only if you have the ability!" Wu Yang said dismissively.
Seeing the tension between the two, Lin Wunan quickly interjected, "Young friend Li, this is our first meeting. Previously, in Qingyun City, my daughter was saved thanks to your treatment."
"It's my duty," Li Se replied with a nod, not saying much more. He didn't have a particularly good impression of the Lin family, except for Lin Junhao and Lin Wanqiu.
He then went to the bedside. Li Se's brow furrowed. Old Master Lin's condition was even more severe than he had imagined. He began to take the pulse. After several minutes, he finally spoke, "In Traditional Chinese Medicine, heart failure manifests as palpitations, heart distress, edema, and deficiency. The occurrence of heart failure is closely related to heart disease, and it can also be seen in systemic diseases. It involves discomfort in the heart area, mainly caused by the deficiency of Qi, Blood, Yin, and Yang, leading to blood stasis and fluid accumulation. This is a condition of root deficiency and manifestation excess. Treatment will be based on addressing the root deficiency and the manifestation excess!"
"What does that mean?" Lin Wanqiu asked, confused. She didn't quite understand the TCM terminology.
Li Se smiled and said, "Simply put, it's a condition where the heart's ability to fill and eject blood is impaired due to various structural or functional heart diseases, resulting in the heart's output being unable to meet the metabolic needs of the body's tissues."
Lin Wanqiu pondered this. In Western medical terms, she understood a little.
Wu Yang was somewhat surprised. This Li Se, who studied TCM, was also articulate in Western medical theory. However, he still said dismissively, "You're talking a lot of nonsense. Why don't you treat him then?"
"Li Se, can my grandfather still be treated?" Lin Wanqiu asked nervously.
This was also what everyone wanted to know. However, Wu Yang and the others remained contemptuous. Ye Fang had already decided that if Li Se couldn't treat him, she would make him pay a heavy price for that 'Dad' insult.
"The reason Western medicine can't treat it is because Old Master Lin is too old, and this type of heart failure is inherently difficult to treat. However, TCM can!" Li Se immediately provided the answer.
"Ridiculous. Can TCM be more powerful than Western medicine? If even our Western medicine can't treat this illness, how could TCM possibly cure it? Moreover, this condition is untreatable!" Wu Yang retorted.
"Youngsters these days will say anything to get ahead. Is he disregarding everything just to curry favor with the Lin family?"
"How could it be treatable? Even Imperial Physician Sun and Imperial Physician Li came, and they were both helpless!"
"Does he think his TCM skills are superior to Imperial Physician Li and Imperial Physician Sun?"
"..."
The several Western doctors accompanying Wu Yang were all filled with disdain. They didn't believe TCM could treat it, nor did they believe Li Se could. If TCM could cure it, it would have been cured long ago, why wait until now?
"Make them leave!" Li Se said impatiently upon hearing this.
"What do you mean?" Wu Yang asked, displeased. "I am an imperial physician, Old Master Lin's doctor. You want me to leave?"
"Or should I leave?" Li Se looked at him.
"Don't tell me you can't treat it at all?" Wu Yang sneered.
Li Se, too lazy to engage with Wu Yang, looked at Lin Wunan and said, "Mr. Lin, when I'm treating the patient, I don't want Western doctors present. These people are like flies. They can't treat it themselves, yet they deny others can. They're forever trapped in their own notions, unaware of how vast the world truly is."
The implication was that he considered Wu Yang and the others to be frogs at the bottom of a well.
"How dare you speak to me like that?" Wu Yang was enraged. He was an imperial physician!
"Presumptuous! This is Imperial Physician Wu, how dare you?!"
"You'd best apologize to Imperial Physician Wu, or you won't get anywhere in the capital!"
"You have quite the nerve, daring to speak to Imperial Physician Wu like that?"
"..."
The several doctors all reprimanded him coldly.
Lin Wunan was also experiencing a headache. Wu Yang was an imperial physician, after all, but he was at odds with Li Se. He had placed all his hopes on Li Se. After a moment of thought, he said, "Imperial Physician Wu, how about you let young friend Li take charge of the situation for now, and perhaps examine the patient again after the treatment is complete?"
Wu Yang's expression grew increasingly displeased, but since Lin Wunan had spoken, he had no choice but to agree. What else could he do? Even as an imperial physician, he couldn't afford to offend Lin Wunan. He snorted, "Mr. Lin, this is a case of desperation leading to any cure. If anything goes wrong, don't regret it!"
With that, he turned and walked out of the ward. However, just as he reached the doorway, he paused and scoffed, "TCM trying to treat this condition, what a pipe dream. I'll put it on record today: if you can cure it, I will never practice medicine again."
"If you can't cure it, then you will kneel and apologize to me later!"