Chapter 2 The First Beautiful Female Patient

  Upon hearing the urgent voice in front, Wu Rui's eyes lit up and he thought to himself that business had come knocking on his door. He quickly looked up and saw two young women standing in front of him, both around twenty years old, wearing knee-length dresses that accentuated their slender figures in the dim light of night.

  That woman who was unwell, called Ruoxi, had a pointed chin, long eyelashes, an attractive small mouth, and a perfect figure, which made people feel a kind of feeling called "heart racing". And the woman supporting her was also not bad-looking, delicate and slender, with all the right curves in all the right places.

  However, at this time, Ruoxi's situation was not good. Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed, her eyes narrowed together, and her face was a bit pale. She held her abdomen with both hands, looking very painful. Now she was standing in front of Wu Rui's stall with the support of her companions, and her appearance was truly pitiful.

  Wu Rui, as a divine doctor of traditional Chinese medicine rather than an ordinary one, wouldn't be infatuated with the other's appearance. So, he looked at the other's complexion in the first moment. Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes "looking, smelling, asking and feeling", and Wu Rui inherited Shennong's medical skills, his understanding of "looking" is not just ordinary deepness. Thus, after only two glances, he had already diagnosed the other's condition and concluded that it was "extremely easy to treat".

  How can we get them to come and receive treatment? This is a problem. Looking at the two women's attire, as well as their intangible temperament, it's not hard to imagine that they are either wealthy or noble, and it's hard to say whether this Jianghu doctor is believable or not. However, thinking that this is his first business opportunity, Wu Rui took a deep breath, then resolutely walked towards them with an air of a heroic warrior going off to battle.

  "Hello, miss. May I take a look at your body?" Wu Rui took two steps forward and forced out a smile on his face, full of sincerity and kindness. Although Wu Rui had not been in the city for long, he also knew that modern times advocated for smiling service. For his first business deal, he decided to go all out and use his smile to win over a good start.

  "Scoundrel! Beast!" But before his words had even fallen, the woman supporting Ruò Xī suddenly burst into a torrent of abuse directed at him. Even Ruò Xī herself, who was being supported by the woman's hand, turned her head with difficulty and looked over, her eyes full of warning color.

  "Uh..." Wu Rui's gentle smile froze on his face, but he recalled that his words were indeed a bit awkward. What did he mean by "Can I take a look at your body?" Wu Rui was embarrassed for a moment, and his heart was also filled with shame, but fearing that the guests would be scared away, he quickly spoke up to explain: "You two misunderstood, my intention is, can I let me take a look at this young lady's condition."

  "Huh? ... Are you a doctor?" Xu Manli was taken aback, looked up and saw the sign "Miao Shou Ji Shi" in front of her, and finally knew the identity of the person in front of her, who turned out to be a quack doctor. But quack doctors are not reliable anyway, and this Wu Rui is too young, can he really cure diseases? Or is he just cheating people out of their money? These were her first thoughts.

  While her body was uncomfortable, Ruoxi looked at Wu Rui with a surprised expression, but there was no hope in her eyes, and she didn't even consider letting Wu Rui treat her. What an international joke, she's now having severe stomach pain, can this quack doctor cure her?

  Over the years, traditional Chinese medicine has faced several crises of being replaced by Western medicine, but thanks to the efforts of some pioneers in the field, it has managed to survive. However, despite this, traditional Chinese medicine has been declining due to the rapid progress and popularization of Western medicine. Furthermore, the increasing scarcity of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, as well as the unethical practices of some merchants and doctors, have led to a decline in people's trust in traditional Chinese medicine. As a result, many people have gradually forgotten about this traditional art, and at least have a mindset of distrust towards it.

  "Not bad, I'm a disciple of the Shennong medical school, and now that I've made some progress in my studies, I've come out to practice medicine and carry on the traditional Chinese medical heritage of 'hanging a pot to save the world'! Seeing their skepticism, Wu Rui was somewhat displeased, but considering it was his first business, he still loudly declared his identity."

  "Hehe, hehe, promote and revive national skills? We express our support and encouragement." Xu Manli smiled insincerely at Wu Rui, but just as she was about to make Wu Rui feel a bit proud of himself, her tone suddenly changed: "However, my friend is having stomach pain right now, so you'd better let him be!"

  "Uh..." Wu Rui's expression first froze, then turned red, and continued to get redder, finally becoming a bit black, it was unclear whether it was due to shame or anger. However, in his heart, he was wondering: Can't traditional Chinese medicine cure stomach pain? Can traditional Chinese medicine only cure acne?

  "Manli, don't say anything else, hurry up and call a taxi to take me to the hospital!" Yu Xi felt the pain inside her body intensifying, so she hastily spoke out to her sister who was supporting her. As for Wu Rui in front of her, he directly ignored her.

  "Alright, alright, just bear with me for a moment, I'll hail a taxi." Xu Manli hastily responded, knowing that now was not the time to despise the young man in front of her, and quickly turned her head towards the direction of the road.

  However, this is the central street of the central market. Although there are taxis, the number is small, and due to the extremely dense pedestrian traffic, the speed of the cars is very slow. There isn't a single empty taxi passing by around her now, making her turn around anxiously.

  Although Wu Rui was quite angry, she didn't hold it against the two women. After all, this concept had been deeply ingrained in modern society for a long time, and they couldn't be blamed for having such thoughts. Moreover, she attached great importance to this business, so when she saw an opportunity, she quickly spoke up: "This is the central market, even if there are taxis, you'll have to wait for a while. If you don't mind, can I take a look first? I won't say anything else, but just about Miss's illness, without injections or medication, I guarantee that it will be cured quickly."

  "Really?" Yu Xue asked, not waiting for Xu Manli to speak. She was actually being tormented quite a bit, and seeing Wu Rui's confident appearance, she suddenly also had the idea of giving it a try. However, when she asked the question, her expression still wasn't very trusting.

  Seeing the potential, Wu Rui's face was filled with smiles again, and he immediately patted his chest to guarantee: "Miss, please rest assured, even if I can't cure you, it won't cause any harm to your body. Moreover, I believe in the principle of not charging if I can't cure, and I am not a swindler who deceives people for money."

  While talking, Wu Rui also moved a chair from Old Man Chen's stall and politely asked her to sit down and try it out. Old Man Chen looked at this side in surprise, and when he found that two young and beautiful girls were being deceived, he secretly gave Wu Rui a thumbs up, expressing his admiration and inability to catch up.

  "This..." Seeing Wu Rui's 'enthusiasm', Ruo Xi was a bit embarrassed to refuse, but still didn't quite believe it, so she hesitated and didn't sit down, just painfully struggling with her facial expression.

  "That... Ru Xi, I've already called the bodyguards to come over, but it might take some time. Why don't we just let him take a look first? After all, he did say that he wouldn't need to give injections or medicine, and even if he can't cure it, it won't get worse." At this point, Xu Manli also spoke up with a suggestion, but then threatened: "If he dares to cheat us out of our money, I'll have someone smash his stall and throw him into the mountains to feed the wolves. We absolutely cannot let this quack doctor continue to harm people."

  Xu Manli said this loudly, seemingly intentionally saying it for Wu Rui to hear, with a very clear warning tone. Upon hearing this, Old Chen, who had been paying attention to the situation on the side, also secretly wiped away sweat, and at the same time began to silently mourn for Wu Rui. Who did you think you could fool? You actually fooled someone in power, now let's see how you get out of this mess.

  As for Wu Rui's medical skills, Old Man Chen didn't have much confidence in him and wouldn't believe his claims of being a divine doctor. What kind of divine doctor could someone in their twenties be? At Wu Rui's age, it was already impressive that he knew all the properties and names of Chinese medicine, let alone treat others' illnesses.

  As for other people's suspicion and distrust, Wu Rui didn't care at all. He was a real divine doctor, so why would he worry about his medical skills? As for Xu Manli's threat, he paid even less attention to it. Let alone whether he could cure Ye Ruoxi's illness or not, just talking about strength, he wasn't afraid of several bodyguards either.

  "This...alright! I'll give it a try." And Yu Xi, who was already slightly moved, thought her companion's suggestion made sense, so with support, she slowly walked towards Wu Rui's stall, preparing to receive his treatment.

  Deng Ruoxi sat on the chair, Wu Rui finally showed a smile and thought to himself that this deal was definitely going through. Of course, he still didn't dare to relax, and quickly composed his expression, saying: "Stretch out your hand and let me take your pulse."

  "Uh..." Ruoxi hesitated for a moment, seemingly unaccustomed to letting a strange man touch her hand.

  "Hey, young master, you're not trying to take advantage of us, are you? Didn't you just say this illness could be treated? Why are you taking his pulse again now? Are you trying to deceive us?" Seeing this, Xu Manli, who had been waiting on the side, couldn't help but speak up and hastily warned Wu Rui with a series of questions.

  "Hmm..." Wu Rui, who had been acting a bit strangely, finally realized what Xu Manli was getting at and felt a surge of anger. As a doctor, he would never have such absurd thoughts...

  However, thinking that this was his first business, Wu Rui finally endured it and forced out a smile: "Miss, I have diagnosed your illness, but I still need to carefully examine your body to prevent other diseases from being present. In that case, I can use the red thread to take your pulse."

  If Xi had noticed Wu Rui's expression, she thought for a moment and felt that she was being too much, so she didn't wait for Wu Rui to get the red thread and hurriedly said: "No need, just use your hand!"

  "Huh?" Wu Rui was taken aback, but also stopped in his tracks. As it happens, with his current medical skills, he could diagnose the other person's physical condition just by looking at them, but after all, this is a bustling city, and there would be many factors that would affect the diagnosis results. For example, sounds, breezes, etc., so to speak, in the end, it's still more accurate and faster to take their pulse with his hand. Now that the other person has given permission, Wu Rui naturally wouldn't make things difficult for himself.

  "Hmph! You're lucky, young master. If I recall correctly, your hand hasn't been touched by that man yet!" Xu Manli whispered quietly, unable to speak out loud to stop him.

  Upon hearing this, the woman who was called Ruo Xi's pale face slightly flushed, but she didn't say anything. She only stretched out a jade-like hand towards Wu Rui.

  Wu Rui ignored her words and saw that the other party had stretched out their hand, so he also stretched out his hand to shake hers. Soft, tender, and smooth, as soon as he made contact with the other person's jade-like hands, a burst of excitement instantly transmitted into Wu Rui's heart, which finally made him understand the words of the woman beside him, that she had indeed taken advantage of herself.

  But Wu Rui quickly suppressed these thoughts and began to observe the patient's pulse with a focused mind. In just half a minute, Wu Rui withdrew his hand and said in an extremely confident tone: "I can cure this disease."

  "Huh?" Xu Manli, who was still waiting to see the joke, was taken aback by his words and couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "You only took her pulse for less than a minute, can you really determine Yuexi's illness? Are you just bragging? Then tell me why Yuexi suddenly got stomach pain. If you don't give me a reasonable explanation... Hmph!"

  Xu Manli clenched her small fist in warning!

  Although Wu Rui's series of performances had made Liu Ruoxue believe in him a bit, now that she heard this, her face showed some doubt. After all, he was the legendary Chinese medicine master, and even taking his pulse would take several minutes, could Wu Rui really do it? She couldn't help but be suspicious.

  At this time, Old Man Chen happened to have no business and didn't know when he had surrounded them. Hearing Wu Rui's words, he also burst out laughing. If it wasn't for worrying about affecting Wu Rui, he would have laughed so hard that his stomach hurt. Not to mention the length of time, Wu Rui didn't even use a table or medical pillow, and his pulse-taking posture looked unprofessional at first glance. Old Man Chen muttered to himself: Even if you're scamming people for money, can't you be a bit more professional?

  Wu Rui, however, did not heed their doubts and, after a moment's hesitation, said: "This young lady suffers from 'entering month pain' due to lack of exercise and an unbalanced diet. This is actually a very common minor ailment, but if left unchecked, it can easily mutate and affect other parts of the internal organs, resulting in severe pain."

  "Period pain? What's that illness?" Wu Rui didn't seem to be joking, so Xu Manli curiously asked out her doubts. Upon hearing her question, Ye Xi and Old Man Chen also looked at Wu Rui, apparently they didn't quite understand what 'period pain' meant either.

  "Hmm..." Wu Rui dryly smiled and seemed to be at a loss for words, but finally slowly opened his mouth to answer: "This menstrual pain, the current medical term is called 'dysmenorrhea'!"

  "Pffft!" Old Man Chen spat it out directly.

  "What rice?" Xu Manli also had a head full of black lines.

  "Ah!" The person in question, Yu Xi, let out a sudden cry, her face turning bright red in an instant. She was so embarrassed that she buried her head into her chest, only revealing the tips of her bright red ears. At this moment, she had completely forgotten about the discomfort on her body and just wanted to find an anthill to crawl into.

  Seeing his own patient in a difficult situation, Wu Rui also became anxious. If he scared him away, what would happen? So he hastily said to Old Man Chen beside him: "Old Man Chen, someone is looking for you!"

  "Huh?" Old Man Chen reflexively looked at his own stall, where there were no customers. However, he also understood Wu Rui's intention and knew that if he stayed here, the beautiful girl would feel even more embarrassed, so he cooperated by pretending to be stupid and walked away. But judging from his constantly trembling shoulders, it wasn't hard to imagine that this old man was suppressing a laugh.

  "Damn, dysmenorrhea... can the pain be that severe?" Xu Manli saw her sister's embarrassment and suddenly remembered that this wasn't a laughing matter. She immediately widened her eyes and questioned Wu Rui, as another woman, how could she not understand the suffering of menstrual cramps?

  Although she was skeptical, her face was strange because she had already believed a little in her heart. After all, Wu Rui's lack of exercise and unbalanced diet were impossible for the other party to know in advance, and her own sister's exercise and diet were indeed not up to standard... But then, wouldn't that mean that Yu Xi really got dysmenorrhea? Xu Manli's face became even stranger.

  "Hmm, it's just a common condition for women." Wu Rui didn't answer her directly, fearing that Yu Xi would be even more embarrassed. Instead, he continued: "There are two treatment plans now. One is massage therapy... but this will involve some skin contact; the other is acupuncture, but don't worry, you won't feel any pain."

  After a pause, Wu Rui added: "At the same time, the therapeutic effects of these two schemes are the same, and the girl can choose as she wishes."

  "Massage is definitely not possible, otherwise Yu Xi's cheap ones would have been taken by you. But this needle therapy... will it be very painful? Which part of the body does the needle go to? Do I need to take off my clothes?" Seeing Yu Xi still too embarrassed to speak, Xu Manli took the initiative to ask Wu Rui her questions.

  Although Wu Rui thought to himself that this woman was really troublesome, considering the duck's beak couldn't fly away, he still patiently replied: "I've already said it before, acupuncture won't have too much pain sensation because this is just a minor illness, so as long as we stimulate the acupoints on your arm, there's no need to undress."

  "Oh..." Xu Manli nodded seemingly understanding, but actually not quite sure. In her heart, she already had 70-80% faith in Wu Rui's medical skills. However, the final decision on this treatment plan still depended on Ruoxi herself. So she leaned over to Ruoxi's ear and asked: "Ruoxi, which treatment plan do you want to choose? Or should we wait a bit longer before going to the hospital? Anyway, the bodyguard will arrive soon, so it won't make much difference either way."

  When Wu Rui heard this, he was furious in his heart! If the woman chose to go to the hospital, wouldn't all his efforts to accompany her and make small talk be in vain? However, he couldn't force her to get treated now, could he? Not to mention that it would be illegal, Wu Rui also couldn't bear the shame. So he could only watch silently without saying a word.

  "I... I'll choose to have acupuncture here!"

  Upon hearing this, Wu Rui hastily pulled out a needle pouch from his medical bag, as if afraid the other party would change their mind. He quickly pulled out several sterilized silver needles and inserted the first one into the beauty's palm acupuncture point before she was even aware of it.

  Then, Wu Rui inserted five more needles into different acupoints on her arm, and only then did she put away the needle pouch, apparently having reached the required number.

  "You... you..." Seeing the six extremely long silver needles on her sister's hand, Xu Manli's eyes widened in shock, clearly frightened by this scene.

  Even Liu Ruoxi, the person involved, seemed to be scared silly at this time, and didn't dare to move a single muscle. In fact, she was worried that if she moved, Wu Rui would insert the needle in the wrong position. She had seen traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture before, but had she ever seen anyone administer needles like this? Liu Ruoxi was already regretting it in her heart...

  But what can be done about it now?

  Wu Rui, however, did not notice their expressions and continued to rotate or move the five silver needles with his hands. In an instant, a formless energy was emitted from his hands, passing through the silver needles into Ruoxi's arm holes, stimulating and even repairing her body's meridian condition.

  After cycling for a few weeks, in just one minute, Wu Rui quickly pulled out the five silver needles and carefully put them back into the needle pouch.