The City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was the largest of its kind in the city, so of course its pharmacy stocked Dragon Bone.
However, the quality was only average.
Moreover, their supply of Five-Floral Dragon Bone had recently been cut off.
So naturally, they wanted to acquire some.
Li Xu politely declined.
He ran his own clinic and also needed Five-Floral Dragon Bone.
Hu Qiming didn't mind. He called and asked, "Are you done with work?"
"I just saw a patient out."
"Then hurry over. We're at the Home Hotel, just waiting for you."
"You guys go ahead and eat. I'll be right there."
They had agreed yesterday to get together after the lecture today.
Li Xu tidied up a bit and went to the Home Hotel.
"You're late, so you have to drink a glass as a penalty."
A classmate jeered good-naturedly.
Li Xu smiled and drank a glass.
Afterward, everyone chatted and drank.
They reminisced about the good old days in school.
Then they vented about the difficulties of work.
Some said their coworkers were hard to get along with.
Some said their bosses deliberately made things difficult for them.
Some said their patients were hard to handle...
Everyone had their own troubles.
'If I hadn't awakened the Daily Intelligence System, I'd probably be the one complaining about how hard business is today,' Li Xu reflected.
The meal lasted until after 9 p.m.
Everyone parted ways, drunk.
Li Xu had also drunk quite a bit. When he got back to his place, he brewed himself a cup of Chrysanthemum tea.
Besides reducing internal heat and improving vision, Chrysanthemum is also great for sobering up. It's particularly effective at treating related symptoms of drunkenness, like vomiting and chest fullness.
After finishing his tea, Li Xu felt drowsy.
However, thanks to his habit of waking up early every day, he woke up on time at 6 a.m. the next morning.
Because of the Chrysanthemum tea from the night before, he didn't have a hangover headache.
He washed his face.
And checked today's intelligence.
[Today's Intelligence: At 10:12 a.m. today, the Dayang Bridge Waste Collection Station will acquire a batch of books. Among them is a fragmented, handwritten copy of the *Commentary on the Art and Literature Record*, which documents some lost massage techniques that have beneficial therapeutic effects for women.]
"Massage?"
Li Xu's eyes lit up.
There are many treatment methods in traditional Chinese medicine, the most fundamental being medicinal treatment.
Besides that, acupuncture and massage are also important methods.
However, both acupuncture and massage are profound and complex fields.
Without a dedicated master to guide you, it's difficult to learn their essence.
The human body is actually very fragile.
If a massage is performed improperly, not only will it fail to relieve pain, but it could also cause soft tissue damage.
Li Xu had learned some simple massage techniques in school.
But they were all run-of-the-mill.
The *Commentary on the Art and Literature Record* from the intelligence report, however, sounded anything but simple.
He took out his phone to look it up.
The *Commentary on the Art and Literature Record* was an ancient book from the Han Dynasty. It contained knowledge on health preservation, like the *Rongcheng Hidden Path* and *Wuchengzi's Hidden Dao*, but the original texts had all been lost.
Although the intelligence report said it was a handwritten copy, and a fragmented one at that, it was still undoubtedly very precious.
"Dayang Bridge Waste Recycling Station..."
There was a bridge not far from here, with a waste recycling station right at its entrance.
"10:12..."
Li Xu decided to make a trip over.
...
The clinic opened in the morning.
Song Sisi came to work.
This wave of the flu was about to pass.
The number of patients had clearly decreased.
It was soon 9:40.
Li Xu instructed Song Sisi, "I'm stepping out for a bit. Keep an eye on things here. If any patients come, have them wait a little while."
"How long?"
"An hour at most."
"Where are you going?"
"To take care of something."
Li Xu turned and walked toward the backyard.
Song Sisi muttered, "So secretive. I wonder what he's up to."
She found that Li Xu was a bit distracted when it came to running the clinic.
A few days ago, he went out and brought back a few large stones. Yesterday, he went to a lecture and closed the clinic for the day.
And today he was going out again.
'Is this any way to run a clinic?'
...
Li Xu went into the yard, where some cardboard boxes were piled in a corner.
He gathered a small stack of them.
He placed them on the footboard of his electric scooter and rode to the waste recycling station at the head of Dayang Bridge.
Li Xu glanced at his watch—10:09 a.m. 'Just about time.'
He parked his scooter and walked in, carrying the cardboard boxes.
"Boss, I'm here to sell some waste paper," Li Xu called out.
A middle-aged man in faded blue work clothes walked over and glanced at the boxes in his hands. "Thirty cents a jin."
"So cheap? It was forty cents last month," Li Xu said, deliberately haggling to kill time.
At the same time, his eyes scanned the mountain-like piles of scrap.
In a corner, several bundles of old books were casually stacked, but they all looked like recent publications.
"The market's not good right now..." Just as the owner was about to explain, the sound of a tricycle braking screeched from the entrance.
A woman in her fifties struggled to unload a large bundle of old books tied with hemp rope.
Li Xu's heart skipped a beat—he had a gut feeling. 'The target has appeared!'
"How much... can I get for these?" the woman asked, wiping away her sweat.
"These are in pretty bad shape..."
The owner flipped through them casually.
Most of the books weren't well-preserved. Some had been gnawed by rats, others were water-damaged.
The woman's voice was hoarse. "My father passed away. I found these while cleaning out his house. Just give me whatever you think is fair."
"I'll give you the waste paper price. Let's say forty cents a jin."
Li Xu feigned curiosity and moved closer. "Ma'am, what kind of books are these?"
"Sigh, my dad used to love collecting these," the woman said as she untied the rope, revealing yellowed pages. "All sorts of stuff about fortune-telling and face reading, and some old medical books... Nobody wants this stuff anymore."
Li Xu's heart pounded. He immediately spotted the thread-bound, blue-covered booklet—the faded title, *Commentary on the Art and Literature Record*, was faintly discernible. The spine was cracked, revealing signs of insect damage inside.
"Boss, can I pick out a few of these old books?" Li Xu asked nonchalantly. "I like reading these old things."
The owner waved his hand. "Pick whatever you want. I'll weigh what's left after you're done."
Li Xu crouched down. He first picked up a few folk books like the *Maiyi Face Reading Method* and the *Jade Box Record* as a cover, before finally pulling out the dilapidated blue booklet as if by chance.
Flipping to an inner page, among the dense, small script written with a calligraphy brush, he clearly saw phrases like "massage and guidance" and "various ailments in women."
"I'll just take these. How much?"
The owner glanced over and pointed at the woman. "Talk to her."
The woman thought for a moment. "Just give me five yuan."
It was basically the price of waste paper.
"Deal."
Li Xu gave the woman five yuan.
He sold his cardboard boxes for twelve yuan.
After putting the books in his scooter's basket, he rode back slowly.
"Any patients?" Li Xu asked when he returned to the clinic.
Song Sisi looked up from her phone. "A couple came by, but they left when they saw you weren't here."
"Oh."
Li Xu wasn't bothered.
He took out the fragmented copy of the *Commentary on the Art and Literature Record* he had just bought. A musty, ancient smell hit him.
The pages were incomplete, and some of the writing was even blurred.
Fortunately, it was still mostly legible.
"...If a woman's Clove is obstructed, one should use three fingers to knead, with a method of three parts light and seven parts heavy. The three light parts are... The finger technique should be like twisting silk, neither rushed nor slow..."
"Apply Cangzi Oil... rub and press back and forth until the orchid chest is unobstructed..."
After reading for a while,
Li Xu understood: it was a complete set of lactation-inducing massage techniques.