Chapter 6: Forsythia

“What happened?” Jiang Baizhi asked without thinking, but before Lang Yiqiu could answer, she hurried through the door.

“Banxia started having stomach pain not long after dinner. She tried the Huoxiang Zhengqi oral liquid she brought, but it didn’t help.”

“All right.”

Lang Yiqiu knew Jiang Baizhi was a doctor, and the panic on her face eased a little. In one corner of the wooden bed, Qi Banxia pressed her right hand against her upper abdomen. Her lips were pale and tightly shut.

“Ban… Teacher Qi,” Lang Yiqiu began, then quickly corrected herself.

“Mm.” Qi Banxia gave a faint reply.

“Yiqiu, how did you cook the boletes and pine milkcaps tonight?”

“We sliced them and stir-fried them with peppers. Banxia did most of the cooking. It was delicious.” Qi Banxia had only added garlic, salt, and a few other seasonings, letting the wild mushrooms’ natural flavor speak for itself.

Jiang Baizhi frowned. “You didn’t boil them first?”

Lang Yiqiu shook her head.

The problem had to be in the preparation. Food poisoning…

Maybe Lang Yiqiu had a stronger constitution, or perhaps the symptoms hadn’t set in yet.

“Yiqiu, could you get a basin? And turn off the camera.”

Lang Yiqiu did as she was told. She dragged over a stool, climbed up to turn off the camera, and rushed out of the room.

Jiang Baizhi sat on the edge of the bed and leaned closer. “Do you know who I am?”

Qi Banxia tried to bear the pain long enough to squeeze out a few words. “Don’t worry. I haven’t started seeing things yet.”

“You’re not at the point of seeing things yet.” Jiang Baizhi placed one hand over Qi Banxia’s upper abdomen.

“What… what are you doing?”

“Does it hurt here?” Jiang Baizhi gently pressed just above her navel.

“It hurts…” Qi Banxia immediately understood what she was doing. Her voice had grown weaker.

“What about here?” Jiang Baizhi pressed lower down.

Qi Banxia nodded.

“You’re sweating a lot—cold sweat. For now, the symptoms look mild. Good thing it was a mushroom you eat often. If you’d picked something else, we could’ve filmed you seeing things tonight.”

Qi Banxia: “…” Her stomach hurt too much to speak. She let Jiang Baizhi find a cotton towel and help her sit up, placing it behind her back to absorb the sweat.

“Wait until you stop sweating before you wash with warm water. You’ll have to put up with it for now.”

Lang Yiqiu hurried in with a basin, accompanied by Wu Wei and a female director.

“How is she? Is it serious? Do we need to take her to the hospital?”

“She’s all right. Brother Wei, you need to step outside for now. Yiqiu can stay.”

“Okay. Let us know if there’s anything we can do.” The female director and Wu Wei were understandably anxious. An artist getting sick during filming was a major problem—enough to send shock waves through the entire company.

After they left the room, Jiang Baizhi looked up. “Yiqiu, I’ve got several boxes of medicine in my suitcase. Bring me two of them. The labels on the back say ‘purgative.'”

“Okay.” As soon as she answered, she was gone.

Qi Banxia, watching Jiang Baizhi set the basin in front of her, asked, “What are you going to do?”

“Your symptoms are mild. You haven’t felt nauseated or vomited, but the toxins are still in your system, and we can’t leave them there. So we need to induce vomiting.”

…

Qi Banxia knew how to induce vomiting and what it involved. She’d often done it when she drank too much and felt sick. Jiang Baizhi didn’t stop until Qi Banxia had thrown up everything in her stomach, including the water she’d drunk. Still clinging to Jiang Baizhi’s arm, she took a sip of warm water. The pain in her abdomen had eased, but her head was spinning and she was still sweating profusely.

“I feel awful.”

“Just hold on a little longer. It’ll be over soon.” Jiang Baizhi gently rubbed her back.

Lang Yiqiu brought the medicine boxes. Jiang Baizhi had prepared the medicine herself before leaving home. Its main ingredient was raw rhubarb, but raw rhubarb was cold in nature and could upset the stomach, so she’d added other herbs to balance it out.

The three of them struggled through the evening until ten. Some of the other women came by to check on them, and the doctor traveling with the crew stopped in to ask questions. As a precaution, Lang Yiqiu followed Jiang Baizhi’s instructions to induce vomiting and clear her bowels too. It was nearly eleven when both patients finally fell asleep. Only then did Jiang Baizhi use her phone as a flashlight to find her way back to her room.

A gentle breeze stirred Xiaoxigou Village awake the next morning. The concrete courtyard outside Jinshi Residence had been turned into a breakfast area. Two tables were covered with a lavish spread.

The women who had arrived first waited until everyone else was there. Then some picked up boiled corn, some took boiled sweet potatoes, and others started peeling eggs.

Wang Man asked with concern, “Little Xia, are you feeling any better today?”

“Much better. I have Doctor Jiang to thank for that.”

Wang Man said earnestly, “Xiao Jiang reacted quickly and took decisive action. These days, fewer and fewer people are willing to settle down and study traditional Chinese medicine. We should discard what’s outdated and keep what’s useful in our ancestors’ wisdom. There are still plenty of things that work.”

Shi Zhen suddenly asked, “Where’s Little Qiu?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I just took Sister Baizhi’s medicine, so I have to spend some time clearing out my bowels.”

“Xiao Jiang, I’ve had stomach problems for years. Could you take a look at me later? I heard too much Western medicine can damage your kidneys.” Wang Man had developed stomach trouble from eating irregularly while she was filming in her younger days. Now that she was older, she was slowly learning to take better care of herself.

“Of course, Sister Man. After breakfast,” Jiang Baizhi replied warmly. The morning was the best time to take a pulse.

Best Friend Battle had only begun filming a week after it was announced. This time, Haiyan TV had resisted the usual scripted routine, so the crew sometimes made up activities on the spot. The result felt much more real.

After a leisurely breakfast, the women gathered around a large square table. The crew had borrowed a pulse pillow, and Doctor Jiang began her consultation, giving her a real chance to stand out.

She placed three fingers on the radial artery at the cun, guan, and chi positions of Wang Man’s left wrist. After about a minute, Jiang Baizhi lowered her eyes and said, “Sister Man, give me your right hand.”

The others held their breath. Qi Banxia watched Jiang Baizhi’s delicate brows draw together in concentration. For a moment, she seemed to see her as she’d been years ago, “making” Qi Banxia take her medicine.

“Miss Qi, you can’t skip your medicine.”

“Then I’ll take one sip, and you can kiss me once.”

Her heart missed a beat despite herself.

“Your pulse is slippery,” Jiang Baizhi suddenly said, bringing Qi Banxia back to the moment.

Shen Yuyang laughed. “Doctor Jiang, you’re joking, right? Doesn’t a slippery pulse mean pregnancy? Are you and your husband planning another baby, Sister Man?”

“Get out of here, Yuyang. You always know how to make a joke.”

“Sister Man, let me look at your tongue.” Jiang Baizhi examined it carefully. The coating was thick and greasy. Then she asked, “You don’t have a burning sensation in your stomach, but you feel full and bloated even when you haven’t eaten much?”

“How did you know, Xiao Jiang? Sometimes it hurts and feels bloated. I only feel better after I throw up.”

“Your stomach qi is blocked. In simple terms, you have chronic gastritis. I don’t think you need medicine. Let’s try food therapy. Juice a white radish and add a little rock sugar. Drink half a cup like this three times a day. For breakfast, you can have porridge made with wheat malt and rice. Every now and then, you can chew on a couple of pieces of dried hawthorn, too.”

“Is it really that simple?”

“Yes. Try it for a while.” Jiang Baizhi took a couple of sips of the herbal tea that had been brewed for her.

Shi Zhen wanted to give the show a little more drama. She could have asked later in their room, but instead she held out her left hand and suddenly said, “A-Zhi, I’ve been getting headaches lately. I meant to ask you about it, but I’ve been so busy I never found the time. Then I forgot.”

Jiang Baizhi froze for a moment. When she realized what Shi Zhen was doing, she played along. “A-Zhen mentioned it half a month ago. I should have reminded you. I forgot.”

It’s all an act. They’re all acting. Qi Banxia gave an almost imperceptible eye roll, rubbed her nose, and turned away.

Headaches could have all kinds of causes, so they had to be considered carefully. Long-term headaches were rarely caused by external factors; they usually came from within. Shi Zhen’s pulse was taut and strong, and her tongue was red with a thin yellow coating. Jiang Baizhi had looked up Shi Zhen’s news stories before, and she’d occasionally made the trending lists for her bad temper.

The terminology of traditional Chinese medicine was too technical, so Jiang Baizhi summarized the diagnosis. “A-Zhen has a bit too much liver fire. She should try to get angry less often.”

Was that what best friends did—expose each other’s flaws? The women burst out laughing. Shi Zhen didn’t seem annoyed. She smiled and gave Jiang Baizhi a playful shove. “What should I eat, then? How do I treat it with food?”

“Chrysanthemum congee. Chrysanthemum tea isn’t enough anymore.”

Lang Yiqiu burst out laughing at that.