Just like Zhou Wannong, the "Nihility Master" Meng Baobao, mentioned by Yang Longjian, was also an associate chief physician in the emergency department of the Central Hospital. She was skilled in medicine and had noble medical ethics, but she was already in her early forties.
Catching the peak rush of noon appointments and coupled with a sudden construction site accident, the waiting area of the emergency hall had at least thirty patients queuing up.
The beautiful nurses at the triage desk were running back and forth, their legs almost worn out. The doctors on duty in the eight examination rooms were overwhelmed, and Meng Baobao was leading the charge, treating the wounds of more than a dozen wailing, blood-covered construction workers with the few junior practitioners she had.
At such a time, receiving a call from Zhou Wannong, Meng Baobao's attitude was naturally not good, even though Zhou Wannong was her most accomplished student:
"Speak quickly if you have something to say, fart quickly if you have something to release, I'm busy!"
Zhou Wannong on the phone had clearly grown accustomed to their way of interacting and was not angry at all:
"Dr. Meng, there's a Chen Xiao in the inpatient department who was just specially recruited as a clinical resident physician. I hope he can develop in the outpatient department. Could you please spare some time to speak with Director Gou?"
Although Chen Xiao had caused quite a stir in the past few days, the workload in the emergency hall was extremely heavy, and Meng Baobao was a workaholic who only focused on treating patients 365 days a year. Therefore, she hadn't even heard of Chen Xiao's name. She said without any politeness:
"The emergency hall doesn't keep idlers, nor can it afford to! If the person you're talking about is capable of working here, he doesn't need Gou Shunquan, that good-for-nothing, to nod. But if he's not, I'll personally kick him out!"
With that, Meng Baobao hung up the phone, put on her mask and gloves, and continued her work, forgetting about Chen Xiao in an instant.
At this moment, Chen Xiao, dressed in a white coat, arrived at the emergency hall.
Seeing the waiting area full of patients waiting for their numbers, and hearing their intermittent cries of pain, his steps quickened, thinking that the sooner he started working, the less pain the patients would endure.
But before he could rush to the triage desk to speak with the beautiful nurse on duty, a hunched old man suddenly blocked his way:
"Doctor, I have a sudden case of prostatitis, and I'm in so much pain. Please, help me see to it first."
The old man was around sixty years old, his face contorted in pain, tears streaming down his cheeks. He clutched his stomach with one hand and grabbed Chen Xiao's arm tightly with the other, refusing to let go.
Chen Xiao couldn't bear to refuse. After a moment's hesitation, he helped the old man to a bench in the waiting area, took his pulse to diagnose him, and took out the silver needles he carried with him:
"Elderly sir, please take off your upper garment. I'll insert a few needles, and it will immediately relieve your pain."
The old man was in too much pain and only wanted immediate relief. He didn't even consider whether acupuncture for pain relief was reliable. He nodded repeatedly and quickly complied.
Next, Chen Xiao began to insert silver needles into the old man's lower back, using the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Longevity Needles, which had miraculous effects such as promoting blood circulation, removing stasis, reducing inflammation, and relieving pain.
Those around watched and couldn't help but whisper:
"Is that young man in the white coat really a doctor at the Central Hospital? Where do you see a doctor giving acupuncture in the waiting area? Could he be a fraud?"
"Prostatitis should be treated with injections or IV drips for pain relief, right? Can traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture work? What if it doesn't cure the illness but worsens it?"
"Real traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture can certainly work, but that young man looks no more than twenty years old. He must be just an intern fresh out of university, how could he be proficient in authentic traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture? Look! Everyone, look! Which skilled acupuncturist would use over a dozen silver needles to form an eight trigrams pattern? What a show-off, what a disgrace!"
The beautiful nurse at the triage desk, who was dizzy from being so busy, realized when she looked up that the old man's back was densely covered with more than a dozen silver needles. Recognizing Chen Xiao at a glance, she was instantly terrified and rushed over to stop him:
"Xiao Chen, you... how can you perform acupuncture on a patient without the permission of the attending physician? This... this is a violation of regulations, quickly... quickly stop!"
Just then, Chen Xiao had finished inserting a complete set of Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Longevity Needles on the old man's back.
The old man, who had been crying out in pain just a moment before, suddenly felt a sense of relief in his aching waist and abdomen. He immediately felt refreshed:
"It... it doesn't hurt at all anymore?"