[Today’s Intel: Sunliu Villa. Sun Dahai enjoys collecting wild medicinal herbs. This autumn, he dug up some top-grade Banxia on a dry riverbed... His wife, Zou Mei, suffers from a parasitic infestation...]

Li Xu opened XX Maps and carefully looked up the location of "Sunliu Villa."

It was located in the Southern Suburbs of the City of Feng City. The map showed a lush, green area with a winding river, far from the pollution of the industrial district.

’The intel is correct,’ he thought. ’An environment like this could indeed produce top-grade Banxia.’

The quality of medicinal herbs is inextricably linked to their growing environment. A natural setting, far from pollution, is a fundamental condition for high-quality herbs.

He told Song Sisi, "I’m heading out for a bit."

He hailed a taxi and went straight to Sunliu Villa.

Along the way, the view outside his window gradually shifted from city skyscrapers to rural scenery.

The air grew fresher, carrying the scent of earth.

About an hour later, the taxi pulled into a quiet village.

In an open area at the village entrance, a few elderly men were basking in the sun.

Li Xu paid the fare, got out, and walked over to one of the old men. "Hello, sir," he asked politely. "I was wondering if you could tell me if someone named Sun Dahai lives in this village?"

The old man enthusiastically pointed into the village. "Sun Dahai? Oh, his house is right over there, under that big locust tree. Easy to find. Are you a relative of his?"

"No, I came because I’ve heard of his reputation. I was told he’s quite knowledgeable about medicinal herbs."

Li Xu explained with a smile.

Following the direction the old man had pointed, Li Xu quickly found Sun Dahai’s home.

It was a house of blue bricks and tiles, with a courtyard full of various flowers and plants, giving it a very elegant feel.

Li Xu knocked on the door. Soon, a lean, middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties came out.

"Hello, are you Sun Dahai?" Li Xu asked politely.

"I am. And you are?"

Sun Dahai asked, sizing up Li Xu with a puzzled look.

"My name is Li Xu. I’m a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. I heard that Brother Sun is quite knowledgeable about medicinal herbs, so I came especially to pay you a visit."

Li Xu explained his purpose with a smile. "I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion, Brother Sun." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

When Sun Dahai heard he was here for herbs, a smile immediately spread across his face. "Well, well, a rare guest! Please, come in, come in."

He warmly welcomed Li Xu into the house.

The house was simply furnished, but the windows were bright, the surfaces were clean, and everything was neat and tidy.

Sun Dahai invited Li Xu to sit by the tea table in the main room, then called out loudly, "Honey, we have a guest! Hurry and pour some tea."

A moment later, a woman in her forties emerged from an inner room.

She was on the thinner side with a somewhat sallow complexion. Faint pigmentation was visible beneath her eyes, and there were a few inconspicuous spots at the corners of her eyes and on her forehead.

Though they weren’t obvious, they still made Li Xu’s heart skip a beat.

’This looks very similar to the "parasite spots" described in the intel.’

Zou Mei was wearing an ordinary down jacket.

While it wasn’t vibrant, it was very clean.

She brought over the teapot and poured Li Xu a cup of hot tea.

"Thank you, ma’am."

As Li Xu took the tea, his gaze swept over Zou Mei’s face, and his doubts grew.

Parasite spots were relatively common in the past when sanitation was poor, or among young children.

But in modern society, adults in particular generally have good hygiene habits, so it was rare to see such obvious symptoms of a parasitic infestation.

Moreover, Zou Mei’s clothes looked very neat, which seemed to contradict common knowledge about the condition.

Li Xu observed Zou Mei discreetly.

She would occasionally frown unconsciously, as if enduring some kind of discomfort.

"Ma’am, you don’t look too well. Are you feeling unwell?"

Li Xu asked after some consideration.

Upon hearing this, Sun Dahai’s face filled with astonishment. He turned to look at his wife, then back at Li Xu, and said in surprise, "Wow, Brother Li, you’re amazing! My wife has indeed been complaining about feeling unwell lately, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong. You saw it just by looking at her. That’s a real skill you have."

Zou Mei also looked at Li Xu with some surprise. She nodded, her expression tinged with helplessness. "Yes, I’ve just been feeling drained lately."

"How are your periods?"

"They’re irregular."

"Ma’am, if you’ll forgive my bluntness, this is more than just irregular periods." Li Xu’s tone became more serious. "Looking at your complexion, it’s possible you also have a ’parasitic infestation,’ or what Western medicine calls intestinal parasites."

Hearing "intestinal parasites," Zou Mei subconsciously denied it. "Parasites? That’s impossible, isn’t it? I’m very careful about hygiene. I wash everything I eat thoroughly. How could I have something like that?"

She could admit to her irregular periods, but she found the words "intestinal parasites" hard to accept.

Li Xu understood her reaction.

After all, in modern society, such a condition sounded somewhat "disgraceful."

"Ma’am, I have no reason to deceive you."

Li Xu explained, "A parasitic infestation isn’t caused solely by poor hygiene. Sometimes dietary habits, one’s constitution, and other factors can also lead to it. If you don’t believe me, you can go to a hospital for a stool sample test. They can verify my diagnosis by observing the parasite eggs under a microscope."

He paused, then added, "Although I didn’t come here specifically to treat an illness, now that I’ve seen it, I can’t just ignore it. If you’d like, I can prescribe a few courses of medicine to help you regulate your body."

Hearing this, Sun Dahai quickly tried to persuade her. "Honey, Brother Li could tell you were unwell after just a glance. He’s clearly skilled. Let him take a look."

Zou Mei hesitated for a moment before finally agreeing. "Alright... I’ll be troubling you then, doctor."

To confirm the diagnosis more accurately, a further examination was needed.

"Ma’am, please stick out your tongue so I can have a look,"

Li Xu instructed.

Zou Mei did as he asked and stuck out her tongue.

Li Xu observed it closely: the tongue coating was thin and white, the tongue itself was pale with teeth marks on the edges. This indicated a weak spleen and stomach, as well as insufficient qi and blood.

Next, Li Xu had Zou Mei rest her wrist on the Pulse Pillow.

Her pulse was deep, fine, and weak, especially the chi pulse, which was even weaker.

This further confirmed his judgment of qi and blood deficiency and a weak spleen and stomach.

Combining his observations of her facial complexion, tongue, and pulse, Li Xu added to his diagnosis, "Ma’am, besides all this, I see that your mood isn’t usually very good either. Do you often feel down and find it hard to be happy?"

Zou Mei was astonished to hear this.

"You... How did you know?"

The words tumbled out of her mouth. "I have been feeling really gloomy lately, with no interest in anything, and my spirits have been low..."

The last shred of doubt in her heart vanished completely, and she was now utterly convinced of Li Xu’s medical skills.

He could even see the emotional problems she kept hidden in her heart. This was something no ordinary doctor could do.

Li Xu explained the root of her condition: "Ma’am, your situation is a case of ’a deficient spleen and disharmonious stomach, where the source of transformation and generation is disrupted, both Ying-Qi and Wei-Qi are deficient, the Chong and Ren meridians are imbalanced, and there is a risk of parasitic infestation.’"

Zou Mei was completely bewildered. Although Sun Dahai knew a little about Chinese medicine, he could only grasp the general idea.

"Brother Li, could you explain that again in terms we can understand?"

Sun Dahai asked, a bit embarrassed.