"No, my waist is fine." Du Heng looked through several X-rays and found no problems. "The previous doctor simply told you to go home?" "When I was first hospitalized, they said it might be sciatic nerve pain. After further examination, it turned out it wasn’t. Then they suspected it might be a problem from my previous back surgery. I had X-rays, but those also showed nothing wrong. I was in the hospital for a whole week, and they couldn’t find anything. Yesterday, they told me to go home and recuperate on my own." Du Heng stood up. "Can you straighten your leg now?" "I can straighten it, but I can’t fully touch the ground with my entire foot." "That’s fine. Just lightly touch the ground with your heel and straighten your leg." Du Heng squatted beside the patient and began to press the base of the patient’s thigh. "Tell me where it hurts." He pressed several acupoints—Huan Tiao, Feng Shi, Zhong Du, SP-06, and Fu Tu—one by one. The man didn’t cry out in pain once. Even when Du Heng pressed points on his foot, like Tai Xi and LV-03, it was the same; no pain. This was strange. The X-rays showed no issues, and pressing the acupoints caused no pain. Du Heng thought for a moment and said, "Stand up and try to put your leg down." With Gu Ping’s help, the man with the limp slowly stood up and tried to lower his leg as much as possible. However, he could ultimately only touch the ground lightly; if he tried to put his full weight on it, his entire leg would throb with unbearable pain. "Alright, just keep it like that." Du Heng looked at the man’s leg for a few seconds, then squatted again. He positioned his right hand, raised his thumb, and using his thumbnail, slid it upwards along the inside of the leg, starting from the hollow of the ankle joint. But just as his thumb passed the ankle joint, the man started to yelp. Du Heng continued until he reached the root of the thigh before stopping. It seemed the pain was excruciating. If Du Heng weren’t a doctor, the man probably would have smashed his crutch over Du Heng’s head. The man stared fixedly at Du Heng. "Did you figure it out?" His tone implied that if Du Heng dared to say no, the man might just kill him. The pain just now had been too intense. Du Heng returned to his seat and asked with a chuckle, "Before your leg started hurting, did you happen to miss a step or step into space?" The man paused for a moment, then recalled, "Yes, something like that did happen. I drive a vehicle in the factory, you see. That day, when I was getting out, I wasn’t paying attention, missed a step, and twisted my ankle." "And the leg pain started the next morning when you woke up?" "You’ve strained your meridians." "It’s not the same thing. Alright, go lie facedown on that examination bed over there." He turned to Gu Ping and said, "Gu Ping, help the patient pull down his pants to expose the entire leg." Then he looked at Xiao Sun. "Go next door, borrow a guasha board from Mr. Zhang, and bring back a bottle of essential oil." "Okay, I’ll go right away." They each got busy with their tasks. The man, however, looked at the examination bed before him, his expression clearly reluctant. "Doctor, do I have to lie facedown?" "Why not? I need to treat you." "This... this... wasn’t it the guy before me who just... farted all over it?" The man’s expression was quite awkward. Staring at the bed that had been relentlessly fart-bombed, he found the thought of lying on it repulsive. Du Heng chuckled. "You’re bothered by that? Those farts just dispersed into the air. Are you going to stop breathing too? Come on, don’t be so fussy. Hurry up and lie down." Saying this, Du Heng tore off a large wad from a roll of gauze and handed it to the man with the limp. Reluctantly, the man climbed onto the examination bed and lay facedown, positioning his face completely off the edge. He glanced quizzically at the gauze in his hand and asked Du Heng, "Doctor, what’s this for? Are you going to operate?" Get full chapters from 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝙣𝙚𝙩 Du Heng glanced at the exposed leg and smiled. "No surgery." "Then why did you give me the gauze?" "Mhm. When I perform the treatment, you’d better bite down on that gauze." Just as he finished speaking, Xiao Sun, who had gone for the guasha board, came back in. "Dr. Du, I have the items." "Good." Du Heng put on a pair of gloves. "Apply the essential oil all along this line, starting from the root of the thigh." The man with the limp felt the smooth, oily sensation on his thigh and asked Du Heng doubtfully again, "Doctor, I don’t need to bite the gauze for this, do I?" Du Heng smiled again, a hint of mischief in it. "No rush. Just wait a bit longer." Once Xiao Sun had finished applying all the essential oil, Du Heng instructed the others, "Hold him down for me. Don’t let him move." He then began to use the guasha board, scraping gently up and down, gradually increasing the pressure. "Doctor, your technique is really good! If you opened a physical therapy clinic, you’d definitely make a fortune. When that time comes, I... I... AHH~~~" The man’s agonizing scream instantly erupted, piercing through the consultation room, through the door and windows, and echoing down the hallway. But just as the scream reached its peak, it abruptly cut off and vanished. It was all very sudden—appearing suddenly and disappearing just as quickly. The man had already clamped the gauze he’d been holding firmly in his mouth and was now emitting a series of low groans through his nasal cavity. Du Heng paid him no mind, continuing at his own rhythm—stroke after stroke after stroke. "Hold him down properly! How am I supposed to perform the guasha if he keeps squirming around?" Hearing this, Gu Ping immediately threw himself across the small of the limping man’s back, while Xiao Sun and another assistant firmly held down the man’s legs. The people waiting outside, already intrigued by the previous patient who had been farting continuously, were all discussing the new doctor in this consultation room. Suddenly, a miserable, yet abruptly silenced, howl of pain made everyone turn their heads. Are they slaughtering a pig in there, or a person? Why would seeing a doctor result in such a horrific scream? Driven by curiosity, the people waiting outside got off the benches. They all rose and moved towards Du Heng’s consultation room, craning their necks to peek inside. What they saw was a ferocious, contorted face, teeth clamped hard on a wad of gauze, and four figures in white gowns holding him down firmly. A few young men exchanged glances, their eyes seeming to ask the patient, "Sir, if you’re being coerced, just blink." The man, his eyes bloodshot, glared intently at the peering faces. He blinked his reply: Get lost! Two minutes later, the man let out a long breath and relaxed his clenched jaw; the gauze dropped to the floor. He then lay limp on the examination bed, face down, his eyes vacant and his expression blank. Du Heng set down the guasha board. Looking at the back of the thigh, which was now showing faint traces of blood, he smiled with satisfaction. After washing his hands, he said, "Alright, you can get down now. That’s right, try walking a bit. See if it still hurts." The man with the limp slowly got up and tentatively placed his foot on the ground. One step, two steps... it was like magic... Du Heng sat down again and whispered a few words to Xiao Sun beside him before turning to the man with the limp. "Well? Your leg doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?" The man slowly walked over to Du Heng and sat down. "The inside doesn’t hurt, but the outside of this leg is killing me! Doctor, did you scrape me until I bled?" "Bled? Not quite. But it will turn purple and blue." The man gritted his teeth. "Doctor, why did you have to use so much force? I’ve had guasha before, and they never pressed that hard." Du Heng shook his head disdainfully. "They’re doing physical therapy; I’m treating an illness. How can they be the same?" Seeing the man was still somewhat disgruntled, Du Heng paid him no further mind and said directly, "Take your medical card to the cashier. The treatment fee is fifty, and the gauze is ten." The man reached back to touch his thigh, wincing in pain. Nevertheless, he reached out, took his medical card, offered an insincere "thank you," and walked out. He really hopped in and walked out. As Gu Ping called out, the next patient walked in, hesitating. It was an older woman, her steps full of uncertainty. Two of them, two in a row. Although the patients were cured, the process was somewhat difficult to accept. That first one, farting non-stop in public for two minutes... If that had been her, she would have absolutely died of shame right here in the office. The second one was even more terrifying—that half-finished, bloodcurdling scream made her liver tremble. What if this doctor decided to treat her the same way? Could she endure it? The older woman mulled it over for a long time. No matter how she thought about it, she felt she couldn’t possibly endure it. Yet, if she were to leave, she couldn’t deny she was drawn in by Du Heng’s skill. The two patients before her... she had been right there and heard everything clearly—what illnesses they had, how long they’d suffered. To see those two patients return to normal immediately after their treatment... it was impossible for her not to feel a surge of hope and eagerness.