Cheng Ji was anxious to save the patient, and despite his age, he ran very quickly, managing to reach the city gate in one breath. When he arrived at the gate, he saw that it was tightly closed, and only then did he remember that the gate had already been shut and would not be opened until the next morning.

  Cheng was drenched in sweat, and just as he reached the city gate, he found a rock to sit on and catch his breath. The guards at the gate recognized him and hurried over to greet him, asking "Master Cheng, what's wrong? Why are you running to the gate in the middle of the night?"

  Cheng Jisheng did not hide anything and told the whole story. From this point, one can see a person's character. If it were someone else, they wouldn't even think of rushing out of the city in the middle of the night, let alone mention the mistake with the medicine. But Cheng Jisheng told everything clearly and even asked the guards to help him out, could they open the city gate a little bit and secretly let him out.

  The guards didn't dare to let him out, but they were moved by the matter of his ailing mother. One guard came forward and said: "Divine Doctor Cheng, actually there's another person outside the city gate who is also drenched in sweat and can't get in. We thought he was your servant or something, we didn't think much of it until you arrived. Now that little fellow is still squatting at the city gate!"

  Cheng Ji Sheng listened to him and suddenly stood up, his head spinning, thinking: "It's bad, it seems that the young master of the Wang family has encountered a problem!" He stomped his feet repeatedly and said: "I'm sure he came looking for me, wanting me to go out of the city to treat the young master of the Wang family. That young master... Alas!"

  "This can't be blamed on you, it's them who took the wrong medicine!" The guard said: "We don't dare open the city gate, but letting you go up to the city wall to say a few words is still possible. Otherwise, ask your fellow servant, what happened to that young master?"

  Cheng Jisheng hastily said, "Thank you, brother!" and followed the guards up onto the city wall. The guards shouted down at the top of their lungs, calling out to the little rascals crouching at the foot of the wall, who then spoke with Cheng Jisheng.

  The young man at the bottom of the city was the one who came out of Wang Ping'an's house. He rushed to the city gate, but it was closed, so he had to wait outside and planned to hurry back to the pharmacy as soon as the gate opened in the morning. At this time, he saw his master coming personally, and he quickly jumped up and told him about what happened in a loud voice.

  Cheng Ji Sheng held the pulse of the city wall, and after listening to it, he was greatly surprised. He thought to himself: "Impossible! How can my prescription not work? That's a Cheng prescription, passed down from generation to generation since the Han Dynasty, and it's absolutely effective in treating hot dysentery. In all these years, I haven't cured at least 80 or 90 people, and I've never had a single failure. Why wouldn't it work this time?" He was filled with doubts, and for a moment, he didn't speak.

  However, he didn't speak, others did. The gatekeeper guards were listening on the side, among them one guard shouted: "I'm saying that guy, look at that young master with the surname Wang who can get out of bed, but isn't he panting heavily and speaking hastily?"

  The little fellow below recalled, panting heavily was there, but speaking hastily and quickly wasn't. He said: "It seems like panting heavily..."

  The guard above didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and shouted: "This is it, this is called 'returning light', when my grandfather passed away, there was such a thing, this is the testament! The young master with the surname Wang must be the same!"

  His voice was incredibly loud, and the guards at the city gate, who were on duty in shifts of two, had not noticed anything unusual before. But when they heard his loud cry, they all came over and asked what had happened. The guard loved to exaggerate and added a lot of his own imagination to the story. After he finished speaking, the guards comforted Cheng Jishi in unison, saying that it was not his fault.

  Cheng Ji Sheng was extremely confident in his prescription, thinking that it might just be a case of "returning the light to its original path". As soon as he thought of this, he became even more anxious and insisted on leaving the city immediately. It was a matter of life and death, and if he arrived in time, he might still be able to save him!

  The guards couldn't overpower him, so they had to find a big basket and use ropes to lower him down. The young man was caught by someone outside, and the two of them set off in the dead of night towards Wulicun village. By the time they arrived at Wulicun village, it was already midnight, the second half of the night.

  Arriving at the gate of Wang's residence, Cheng Jisheng let out a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, we arrived quickly and in time." He didn't hear any crying sounds coming from inside the house, so he assumed that Wang Ping'an was fine. Otherwise, as the only son of the Wang family, if he had died, the Wang family would have been wailing loudly, it couldn't be this quiet.

  The young servant went forward and knocked on the door ring, the big gate creaked open, a head poked out from inside, it was the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper saw Cheng Jishi arrive, took a fright, hastily invited him in, and himself rushed to the back house to report.

  Before long, Wang Youcai came out. He had been resting early and his son's condition was much better. His mood was also very good. He slept exceptionally sweetly that night, but was suddenly awakened by a servant who said Cheng Jisheng had arrived. He went out to take a look. As soon as he came out, he saw Cheng Jisheng sitting in the gatehouse, his clothes soaked through and his originally handsome beard disheveled.

  Wang Youcai was old and worldly, so he couldn't help but understand why Cheng Jisheng had come so late. He felt a pang of emotion in his heart. Originally, he had a very bad impression of Cheng Jisheng, hating him for giving his son the wrong medicine, but now that Cheng Jisheng had come to see him in the middle of the night, he couldn't bring himself to scold him!

  Cheng Jisheng saw him come out and hastily said, "Master Wang, I was afraid that your young master would get into trouble, so I rushed here overnight. He was lowered down from the city gate in a large basket by the guards, and I arrived in a hurry, please don't be offended!"

  Wang Youcai sighed and said: "Become a god... Mr. Cheng's good intentions, how can I see it as strange!" He originally wanted to call him the divine doctor, but changed his mouth at the last minute and called him Mr. instead.

  Cheng Jisheng said: "I want to see the young master, is it convenient now?"

  Wang Youcai thought for a moment, nodded and said: "You come with me!" If it were Yang who came out to see the guests, he would definitely say no way, it's so late, don't disturb my son. But he was quite talkative, so he took Cheng Jisheng to the study room.

  Wang Ping'an had long gone to sleep, and Ding Dan was sleeping in the outer room. Hearing that his master had arrived, he hastily opened the door and let Wang Youcai and Cheng Jisheng into the study together. The lights were lit inside the house, and Wang Ping'an woke up too.

  Cheng Jisheng didn't stand on ceremony, quickly walking to the bedside and sitting down. He gently pulled out one of Wang Ping'an's hands from under the covers and began to take his pulse. Wang Ping'an thought to himself: "So this is the famous doctor Cheng? This man isn't bad, he's worried that something might happen to me and has rushed over in the middle of the night." He suddenly felt a sense of gratitude towards Cheng Jisheng.

  Cheng Ji furrowed his brow, pinched one hand and then the other, and didn't let go for a long time before suddenly letting out a loud sneeze. He wiped the corner of his mouth and stroked his beard, saying: "Strange!"

  Wang Youcai hastily asked: "What's wrong? Has there been another change in his condition?"

  Cheng Ji nodded and said with a puzzled expression: "It's changed, it's gotten better! What's going on here?"

  Wang Youcai finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself: "You're talking so loudly, you scared me half to death." He said with satisfaction: "Mr. Cheng doesn't know, my son has been ill for a long time and has become a doctor himself. He found a prescription in a book, prepared the medicine according to it, and after taking one dose, he was cured... almost completely!"

  Cheng Ji Sheng hummed and said: "Wang Gongzi, you really took the medicine on that prescription, so you got better? I've seen that prescription, it's a solidifying formula, which is very unfavorable for your condition! What book are you reading, can I borrow it to take a look?"

  Wang Ping sat up, thinking to himself: "Where can I find that book for you? You want me to look at it, but I don't have the book to show you!" He said: "The other day when I was flipping through books randomly, I remembered a recipe, but now I've forgotten which book it was in."

  Cheng Jisheng looked at the tens of thousands of books in the study, furrowed his brow and said: "Any prescription must have instructions on how to use it, I suppose the young master has seen it. But this prescription is completely different from the one I wrote, with entirely different effects. Are you willing to discuss and verify it with me?"

  Wang Ping's heart was filled with joy, for in modern times he had few opportunities to engage in dialectics with others, yet dialectics were an extremely important part of traditional Chinese medicine, allowing one to analyze symptoms, clarify diagnoses, and greatly improve a doctor's skills. In modern times, such opportunities to engage in face-to-face discussions were rare, so he couldn't believe that in the Tang Dynasty, there was actually a divine physician willing to engage in dialectics with him - it was an opportunity he had been seeking!

  He nodded immediately and said, "Well, let's ask Dr. Cheng to diagnose first!"

  Cheng Ji shook his head and said, "I didn't cure your illness, the title of divine doctor is not worthy. The last few times I came to see you, I saw that your pulse was rapid and frequent, your tongue coating was thick and greasy, your forehead was hot to the touch, and your high fever wouldn't subside. Therefore, I concluded that this was a case of latent heat and dampness blocking the intestines and stomach, recently triggered by external cold and internal food stagnation, with a severe onset of latent evil. Should we be cautious of syncope and changes in the condition?"

  Wang Youcai listened to the side and got a headache, didn't quite understand, and asked: "Mr. Cheng, are you saying that Ping'an got this disease because he didn't digest his food after eating?"

  Cheng Ji furrowed his brow, wanting to shake his head and nod at the same time, feeling that it was like playing a lute to an ox. He looked at Wang Ping'an with his eyes, thinking: "This kid has probably only flipped through medical books casually, can he understand what I'm saying?"

  But Wang Ping'an smiled and nodded, saying: "Not bad, Mr. Cheng is right."

  Cheng Ji's spirit was shaken, and he stretched out four fingers, saying: "I use the Four-Character Therapy Method, internal heat external reach, can it be?"

  Wang Ping'an nodded again: "Not bad, Mr. Cheng's method is extremely good!"

  Wang Youcai clapped his hands and said loudly beside him: "Since they are all good, why can't the illness be cured?"

  Cheng Ji looked into Wang Ping'an's eyes and asked, "Can you dispel my doubts?"

  Appendix: Cordyceps and Whole Duck (Medicated Diet for Tracheitis)

  Ingredients: Cordyceps sinensis 9-15g, old drake 1, wine, ginger, scallion white, pepper powder, salt in moderation.

  Method: Blanch the cleaned duck in boiling water, stuff the duck's belly with Cordyceps sinensis, ginger, scallions and other ingredients, add wine and pepper powder, steam until cooked, eat the meat and drink the soup.

  Cordyceps has the effects of tonifying kidney and yang, nourishing lung and relieving asthma, stopping bleeding and resolving phlegm. Paired with drake, it is more delicious.