"Hydronephrosis, can you send some water over?"
"I can't give you any more. There's hardly enough, and he keeps pouring it out every day. If this continues, there will be a severe drain on resources."
"A drain is a drain. If my fire can't be put out, we're all doomed. Hurry up."
"Sigh, please don't scare me, alright, alright, here you go."
"Why is there so little? This isn't nearly enough."
"You'd rather hold back the fire and not send it down, now you're constantly asking me for water, and then blame me for giving too little. Is that my problem? It's clearly Liver Wood who isn't sending it up."
"You think I don't want to deal with this annoying fire? It's Fei Jin who can't handle it."
"Hey, don't drag me into your quarrels. Why can't I come down? Heart Fire, you tell me. Can I simply cool down the fire that's randomly started by your unnecessary sparks?"
"Those are evil thoughts internally produced by him, what's it got to do with me?"
"That's your issue, not mine, don't blame me."
"Who said I was blaming you? Is venting not allowed?"
"Everyone, stop arguing, we're all brothers, we can't fight amongst ourselves, let's be peaceful."
"I haven't even mentioned Spleen Earth yet. The dampness is already stuck inside. Lately, Qi and blood circulation has slowed down, almost getting blocked. Luckily it was brief. Had it gotten worse, I'd have been in unbearable pain. But what do you do? You keep generating damp evil daily. Why? Planning a rebellion?"
"It's really not my fault. He's preoccupied with those thoughts about male and female interactions, so my function can't run smoothly, and hence the damp evil couldn't be stopped."
"That would be Liver Wood. What's with you? I told you to remind him to watch less. Did you do it?"
"There's nothing I can do. Despite making his eyes dry and even painful, he doesn't care and insists on watching every midnight. I'm powerless!"
"..."
Are the Five Viscera discussing... internal conflict?
Lu Jiu frowned, eyes slightly raised, and his gaze was fixed on Gong Huo.
Gong Huo noticed Lu Jiu's stare, his eyes quickly dodged as panic surged within.
What does that look mean?
Did he figure it out?
Impossible...
Isn't this the sort of thing only old doctors can tell just by checking your pulse, as if they have surveillance installed in your house?
He's so young, he shouldn't be able to tell, right?
This is so annoying. Didn't I say I wouldn't come, didn't I?
Seeing Gong Huo's guilty expression and combining it with the pulse signs and the conversation among the Five Viscera, Lu Jiu had already pretty much guessed it, even without looking at the tongue coating or conducting an inquiry.
But it's necessary to go through the formalities.
"What's your name?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Gong Huo," Gong Huo replied.
"How old are you this year?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Fifteen," Gong Huo replied.
A middle school student, huh? The studies must not be easy.
"What hobbies do you usually have?" Lu Jiu asked.
"No, not really any hobbies." Gong Huo wondered to himself, what does this question have to do with my problem?
"What time did you go to bed last night?" Lu Jiu asked.
"Around eleven," Gong Huo answered, clearly with some guilty conscience.
"Really?" Lu Jiu asked, a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, as he already knew Gong Huo was lying.
"I can assure you, every night before eleven, I turn off his lights to let him rest early." Gong Ming couldn't help but comment, "Nowadays, students are indeed more stressed than during our time. Completing homework before eleven is quite good, and they have to get up at six in the morning. But that's just how it is. If one doesn't get into high school now, they have to attend vocational school, who's not under pressure."
Lu Jiu nodded, saying nothing, just kept looking at Gong Huo, but his mind was conversing with his Five Viscera.
"Liver Wood, what time did he sleep last night?"
"Who are you? How can you talk to me?" Liver Wood asked in surprise.
"I'm a doctor, here to help you. Just answer my questions," Lu Jiu replied.
"Heart Fire, he..." Liver Wood wasn't quite sure.
"How are you going to help us?" Heart Fire questioned.
"The fundamental reason your functions are out of balance is because he did some things that led to kidney yin deficiency and spleen and stomach weakness, which caused phlegm to block the heart meridian and stagnated the qi and blood. I can help you return to normal." Lu Jiu said.
Once Lu Jiu mentioned the cause, Heart Fire immediately changed his attitude, "Then, hurry and ask, we'll definitely tell you whatever needs to be told."
Lu Jiu responded, "Let's go back to the earlier question, what time did he sleep last night?"
Heart Fire urged, "Liver Wood, he's asking you, hurry up."
Liver Wood quickly answered, "He put down his phone at exactly twelve-thirty."
Heh, seems the Five Viscera are more honest than the person himself.
"When did he start looking at those things?" Lu Jiu asked.
The liver governs the eyes; it should be able to see what Gong Huo has seen.
"It was last year, I guess. During the mid-term exams, he didn't do well, and his parents were quite anxious. They tried to pull some strings to enroll him in additional classes. They even said that with his grades, he wouldn't get into Jianghan High School, and if he ended up in vocational school, his life would be ruined. The pressure was immense on him. Then, once while playing on his phone, he accidentally clicked something and a webpage popped up, and after that, he became like this," Liver Wood said.
No wonder.
Students already bear a lot of pressure, and besides studying, they don't know much else. Parents, too, are at a loss, so even those casual remarks meant to be caring unintentionally add more pressure to the kids.
When the dual pressures of academics and family come crashing down, and he doesn't know how to release them, suddenly a whole new world opens up to him. How could he not become engrossed and unable to extricate himself?
Gong Huo began to feel uneasy all over. He sensed that Lu Jiu's gaze seemed to see right through him. "Doc-Doctor, I'm not sick, right?"
Gong Huo's forced calm made Lu Jiu realize that this was a child with a strong sense of pride, who didn't want his secrets to be known, especially by those closest to him.
Lu Jiu then released the arm that was always thinking of escaping, smiling, "Yes, you're not sick."
Gong Huo was momentarily taken aback, then immediately beamed with a smile.
False alarm, indeed, he didn't see through it.
But just as he was about to triumphantly tell his father that he wasn't sick, Lu Jiu's voice reached his ear once more.
"But you shouldn't be getting involved in early romances at such a young age."
Early romance?
Gong Ming looked at Lu Jiu in confusion, completely unaware that Gong Huo, seated in front of Lu Jiu, was having a frozen expression, as if plunged into an ice cellar, looking at Lu Jiu with terror.
As an avid fan of romantic action films, Gong Huo was no stranger to sex, and therefore, upon seeing Lu Jiu's meaningful smile, and that sentence about not being involved in early romances, Gong Huo immediately realized.
He knows!
He knows everything!
But why did he have to say it this way?
"Early romance? What's that supposed to mean?" Gong Ming, not understanding the connection between his son's unexplained heartache and early romance, asked.
Besides, as a father, he didn't even know about his son's early romance, yet a doctor who's never met his son before spoke out about it—it was a bit hard for him to keep up with the conversation shift.
"Has he, in the past six months, seemed absent-minded, unusually unfocused, sometimes inexplicably irritable, with deteriorating memory, appearing listless all day, with much less appetite, and spending more time in the bathroom than before?" Lu Jiu asked.
This...
Gong Ming and his son were momentarily stupefied upon hearing this.
This wasn't just asking questions; it was practically a rundown of Gong Huo's situation.
Especially the inexplicable irritability — Gong Huo used to have a rather slow temperament and rarely got angry. However, after entering ninth grade, when something went wrong, he liked to frown and was extremely impatient when talking to them, sometimes even yelling at his mother.
Previously, Gong Ming just assumed it was normal adolescent mood swings.
Now, after hearing Lu Jiu's description, he immediately realized something was wrong.
But could a romance really lead to this?
"It's just a relationship, how could it lead to such a condition?" Gong Ming looked at Lu Jiu in confusion.
He wasn't someone rigidly traditional either; he had also had an early romance in his youth.
So, regarding his son having a romance in middle school, Gong Ming wasn't particularly concerned.
Adolescents having a crush on one or two girls is normal, but if it affects his health and academic performance, that's a different matter.
"It varies from person to person. The key lies in whether the emotions and thoughts are proper. Some people, when in a relationship, constantly think about their partner or some things that bring them joy. If too obsessed, they appear absent-minded, and over time, the balance of the Five Viscera might be disrupted by the excessive consumption of emotions, leading to various symptoms."
"In simpler terms, it's like getting randomly scolded on your way to work. Lacking the experience to retort, you dwell on it at home, thinking about how you could have responded better, and end up staying awake late into the night. The next morning, you inevitably feel less energetic. This is an example of how excessive emotional expenditure can affect health."
"Gong Huo already has academic pressure. You as parents, albeit unintentionally, also add to that pressure. Even if the intention isn't bad, the child struggles to bear it, and when he has no outlet for that pressure, stumbling upon something or someone he likes that makes him happy, he will naturally choose to escape academic pressure by immersing himself entirely."
"But escape is only temporary; the pressure persists. Thus, after experiencing joy, it's often accompanied by endless guilt and self-reproach. If, at this point, his grades still drop, he might fear your questioning and self-impose more pressure. At that point, the pressure he faces would be even greater than before. Do you understand what I mean?"
Lu Jiu spoke very tactfully to spare Gong Huo's pride.
If his parents knew about this, Gong Huo would surely not be able to face them.
He's already dealing with double pressure, and if Lu Jiu were to shatter his pride now, who knows what he might do after an emotional breakdown.
"Oh, he just has a crush on a girl, why not tell me?" Gong Ming, seeing Gong Huo not denying it, knew Lu Jiu was telling the truth. He patted his son's head, realizing that he had focused only on his studies over the past year, neglecting his emotions, and thus always chalked up any odd behaviors to adolescence, assuming they'd pass with time.
Hearing Gong Ming's words, Gong Huo looked down without speaking. It's not that he didn't want to, he just didn't know how.
While Gong Ming understood Lu Jiu's words in one way, to him, it had a completely different meaning.
What Lu Jiu said not only explained the reason behind his heartache but also the reason why he did that kind of thing in the first place.
Frankly, Gong Huo now feared making eye contact with Lu Jiu's eyes.
He felt as if this young traditional Chinese medicine doctor could see right into his mind.
This seems even more exaggerated than some online comments about traditional Chinese medicine he had seen!
If it weren't his first time seeing a Chinese medicine practitioner, he would never believe mere pulse-taking could reveal what he did at home; it was terrifying!
"Everyone has their privacy. I'm not much older than him, so communication might be a bit easier. Could you give us some space to talk privately?" Lu Jiu asked with a smile.
Gong Ming nodded, "Sure, I'll listen to the doctor."
With that, Gong Ming walked out of the clinic, lighting a cigarette on the way.
Lu Jiu then guided Gong Huo to the window sill, pouring a glass of water at the water dispenser.