Chapter Thirty-three: The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars

Li Xiaohu was taken aback and looked at Lu Feng with a hesitant expression as if he wanted to say something but held back.

Lu Feng had been paying close attention to Li Xiaohu's expression. At this moment, how could he not understand his thoughts? Without explanation, after the boss handed over the buns and porridge, Lu Feng directly took out his wallet, paid the money, and then handed the food to Li Xiaohu with a smile, saying, "Take it! Eat some while it's hot to fill your stomach."

Li Xiaohu hesitated for a moment, then looked at Lu Feng with eyes full of gratitude. After saying "Thank you," he took the buns.

Lu Feng showed a trace of surprise and asked in confusion, "Why don't you eat? Hurry up and eat! You need to be full to have strength."

Li Xiaohu looked at the buns in his hand, raised his head, shook his head at Lu Feng, and said softly, "I'll eat after my mother finishes. I'm not hungry yet."

It was an ordinary sentence, but in Lu Feng's heart, it carried a different meaning.

Who says the heart of an inch-long grass can requite the radiance of full spring.

Li Xiaohu's love for his mother would naturally and deeply show itself even inadvertently.

In ancient China, there were the widely circulated allusions of "The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars": 1: Filial Piety Moves Heaven; 2: Playing in Color to Delight Parents; 3: Offering Deer Milk to Parents; 4: Carrying Rice over a Hundred Li; 5: Biting One's Finger and Feeling the Pain (to Sense the Mother's Distress); 6: Using Reed Catkins in Clothes to Obey the Mother; 7: Tasting the Medicine First for the Parent; 8: Picking Mulberries and Separating Them with Different Containers; 9: Burying the Son to Bury the Mother (a controversial story); 10: Selling Oneself to Bury the Father; 11: Carving Wood to Serve the Parents; 12: Spring Water Gushing and Carp Leaping; 13: Concealing Oranges to Present to the Parent; 14: Fanning the Pillow and Warming the Quilt; 15: Working as a Servant to Support the Mother; 16: Weeping at the Tomb upon Hearing Thunder; 17: Crying Beside the Bamboo and Bamboo Shoots Growing; 18: Lying on the Ice to Catch Carp; 19: Seizing the Tiger to Save the Father; 20: Letting Mosquitoes Suck Blood to Fill Their Stomachs; 21: Tasting the Feces and Worrying about the Illness; 22: Nursing the Grandmother without Slackening; 23: Washing the Urinal for the Parent; 24: Quitting Office to Search for the Mother.

These twenty-four allusions, without exception, demonstrate the way of showing filial piety, and all of them are deeply moving and can bring tears to people's eyes.

As the saying goes, among all virtues, filial piety comes first. Filial piety is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. Similarly, it is also the bottom line to judge whether a person is well-educated and trustworthy.

With some moisture in his eyes, Lu Feng quickly controlled his emotions. In public, he didn't want others to see him looking sad and crying.

"Master, we've bought the things. Let's go!"

Shang Wende nodded silently. He was also very satisfied with his apprentice's performance. He knew that Lu Feng was also a filial child. When Wang Yiyuan bid farewell to his wife and children, Lu Feng silently leaned against the inner side of the distant door. The sad expression on his face was exactly the manifestation of his longing for his parents!

Moreover, since he had accepted Lu Feng as his apprentice, he could clearly feel Lu Feng's respect, or even filial piety, towards him. How could he not notice it?

Looking at his apprentice's expression now, Shang Wende sighed slightly in his heart. This apprentice has a kind heart!

The bridge cave where Li Xiaohu's mother was located was some distance away from here. Shang Wende didn't waste time and directly hailed a taxi by the roadside. Twenty minutes later, the taxi arrived at the destination.

It took twenty minutes by taxi. One could imagine how arduous it must have been for Li Xiaohu to drag his body and walk step by step here.

This was a dilapidated bridge, and its location was somewhat remote. It seemed that very few cars passed by the bridge.

However, under the bridge, there was a river emitting a faint stench. Both sides of the river were covered with weeds and waste. Judging from the broken branches and fallen leaves floating on the river surface, it was obvious that the river didn't flow much.

Seeing the such harsh environment here, Shang Wende felt a surge of in his heart. But thinking of Li Xiaohu and his mother's difficult situation, he let out a deep sigh and smiled bitterly, saying, "My child, lead the way. Where is your mother? Let's take her to my medical clinic."

Li Xiaohu nodded heavily. He also didn't want his mother to stay in such a harsh environment. But he didn't have any money. He wouldn't feel at ease leaving his mother in other places. So he had chosen this place with few people as their living place. At least, it could provide shelter from the wind and rain, and there were no other beggars bullying them.

Under Li Xiaohu's guidance, the three of them walked through the thickets of weeds and came to the bottom of the bridge. Along the riverbank, there were six or seven bridge holes supported by cement piers, which were pitch-black and had no light at all. And about two or three meters inside one of the bridge holes, a emaciated middle-aged woman was frowning and sleeping soundly. It seemed that even in her dreams, she was suffering from the torment of pain.

Shang Wende quickly walked into the bridge hole. With the help of Lu Feng and Li Xiaohu, he helped the middle-aged woman up and made her sit against the cement wall. Then he reached out and grasped the wrist of the unconscious middle-aged woman to feel her pulse and check her condition.

Looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse are the methods of traditional Chinese medicine for examining a patient's condition.

After feeling the pulse for about half a minute, Shang Wende, through the methods of looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse, observed the patient's complexion and expression, listened to the patient's coughing and wheezing, and smelled the patient's bad breath, body odor, and other smells. Then, after asking Li Xiaohu about the symptoms his mother usually showed, he slowly let out a sigh of relief.

Li Xiaohu's expression changed. Seeing that Shang Wende had finished the examination, he asked anxiously, "Dr. Shang, how is my mother? Can her illness be cured?"

Shang Wende's expression was somewhat solemn, but he still nodded and said, "Your mother has rheumatic heart disease. Due to the long delay, it's a bit troublesome to treat now. After all, her condition is already in the advanced stage."

Rheumatic heart disease refers to the heart disease left over from rheumatic myocarditis, mainly characterized by lesions of the heart valves.

During the acute attack stage and chronic active stage of rheumatism, the clinical symptoms are mainly myocarditis and arthritis. After the acute stage, the inflammation of the heart valves often leaves pathological scars, causing different degrees of cardiac dysfunction.

In the early stage of this disease, there may be no discomfort or only mild symptoms. If it further develops, symptoms such as palpitations, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, cyanosis, coughing, hemoptysis, and shortness of breath with movement may be seen. In the late stage, severe heart failure occurs.

Shang Wende waved his hand, not giving Li Xiaohu a chance to ask further. With a sigh in his heart, this unfortunate woman had indeed endured the torment of a painful fate. She had really been through a lot.

"Let's go. You two, Lu Feng, help support her and take her outside. We're going back to the medical clinic."

Shang Wende said in a deep voice. This was not a suitable environment for treatment. The medical clinic would be better.

Looking at Li Xiaohu's thin and small figure, Lu Feng shook his head with a bitter smile, bent down, and with Li Xiaohu's help, directly carried the middle-aged woman on his back and strode out behind Shang Wende.

The middle-aged woman was very light. Lu Feng silently felt her weight. She probably weighed no more than sixty or seventy jin at most.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, they finally hailed a taxi. After returning to the medical clinic, Shang Wende helped place the middle-aged woman on the hospital bed and then said to Lu Feng, "I can treat her illness, but if I do the treatment, the effect will not be as good as when you use acupuncture in combination with your inner qi. However, one thing is that when using the needles, you must be accurate. Otherwise, it is very likely to aggravate the patient's condition. And I don't know how much inner qi you have. You must control the amount according to the patient's condition. The patient is very weak now and can't withstand too strong a stimulation."

Lu Feng nodded silently. During this period, while practicing the bone-setting technique, he also didn't neglect his study of acupuncture. As for controlling the amount of inner qi, he had already done it when treating the son of that wealthy man last time. He had experience and was confident that he could control it well.

Shang Wende personally prepared the treatment tools such as alcohol, silver needles, and cotton wool, and then earnestly instructed Lu Feng, "Lu Feng, when treating the patient, you must abide by the treatment principle: calming the heart and relieving palpitations, widening the chest and dredging the collaterals. I have recorded the whole process of the acupuncture treatment in detail on this piece of paper. There is the whole process of the acupuncture treatment on it. Read it carefully and make sure to memorize it all by heart. The matters needing attention are also clearly recorded on it. Her condition is serious. After you perform the acupuncture, I will personally prepare the medicine and decoct it for her, and at the same time, adopt comprehensive treatment, so as to achieve a good effect."

Lu Feng took the piece of paper that was almost filled with writing. After reading it carefully several times, he memorized all the contents by heart. Then, after silently recalling it twice in his mind, he turned around and said to Shang Wende, "Master, I've remembered it all. Shall we start now?"

Shang Wende looked deeply at Lu Feng and nodded heavily, "Be extremely careful and cautious. Don't be distracted during the treatment. I will observe the whole process of your treatment by your side."

A strong sense of confidence appeared in Lu Feng's eyes. With a trace of a smile, he said, "Master, don't worry!"

Shang Wende chuckled. He was really satisfied with Lu Feng's confidence! He knew that his apprentice was very measured in doing things and was also meticulous when treating patients. Just like the last time he treated the son of that wealthy and plump old man, he hadn't expected that the result of Lu Feng's treatment would be so successful.

With everything properly prepared, Lu Feng's mental focus was highly concentrated, and the inner qi in the meridians of his body began to slowly circulate and flow towards his right arm.

Shang Wende attached great importance to this treatment. When he saw Lu Feng holding the silver needle and piercing it into the patient's Neiguan point like a flash of lightning, his heart tightened. He solemnly reminded, "Pay attention to the stability of your wrist and the depth of the silver needle insertion. The patient's body is very weak now and can't withstand too strong a stimulation. Slowly input the inner qi, bit by bit. Don't be in a hurry."

Lu Feng didn't answer. His gaze was as sharp as a torch, and his mind was completely calm. From the time he started learning acupuncture until now, although his acupuncture skills couldn't be said to be outstanding in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, compared with ordinary acupuncture doctors, he was not inferior. Moreover, with the combination of his inner qi, he was probably comparable to some acupuncture masters.

Under his highly concentrated mental focus, the depth of the silver needle insertion and the stability of his wrist were exceptionally well-performed.

The of "The Secret of Taiyi Needles" could stimulate multiple acupoints with one needle at the same time and achieve a better effect. At this moment, Lu Feng brought it into full play.

After the inner qi was injected into the Neiguan point, it only stayed briefly and then slowly flowed along a relatively wide meridian towards the position of the Ximen point. When it passed through the part of the meridian blocked by the gray substance, the strands of inner qi gradually cleared the gray substance bit by bit and then flowed precisely into the Ximen point under his accurate control.