Live Broadcast: My Blunt TCM Practice and My Patients Are Dying Online - Chapter 17

“Doctor, are you okay?”

Seeing Qin Jiang’s unpleasant expression, Old Zhou asked out of concern.

Qin Jiang quickly took two steps back, pinched his nose, and said to Old Zhou, “Just close your mouth for now, don’t speak!”

Old Zhou was well aware of the state of his mouth and hurriedly put his mask and other protective gear back on.

Qin Jiang ran into the inner room, grabbed a bottle of air freshener, and sprayed it liberally around Old Zhou’s vicinity.

Old Zhou didn’t seem embarrassed at all, as if he was long accustomed to such reactions.

After Qin Jiang sat back down, Old Zhou finally asked, “So, Doctor, what exactly is wrong with me?”

The question stumped Qin Jiang. He had nearly been overwhelmed by the smell earlier and honestly hadn’t gotten a good look at the specific condition inside Old Zhou’s mouth.

“First, put your hand here on the rest. Let me check your pulse.”

Old Zhou immediately complied.

While taking the pulse, Qin Jiang asked, “What’s going on with your mouth? When did it start getting like this?”

Old Zhou spoke somewhat awkwardly, “It was about last month. One day while brushing my teeth, I noticed my mouth was extremely foul-smelling, and I couldn’t get it clean no matter how much I brushed.”

“After that, blisters started forming in my mouth. They wouldn’t heal properly, just kept coming back again and again.”

“The pus from these blisters seeps into the gaps between my teeth, and that makes my breath even worse.”

Old Zhou described it in detail, and Qin Jiang mentally searched for similar cases. He came up empty.

Qin Jiang began to feel a bit panicked. Was he facing a condition he couldn’t solve? This couldn’t happen! If he couldn’t cure Old Zhou, wouldn’t that ruin his reputation? But the pulse reading wasn’t yielding any new clues either. Kidney deficiency, general weakness, lack of vitality—these were common issues for middle-aged men. They certainly couldn’t be the cause of such severe halitosis.

“Have you been to other hospitals?” Qin Jiang asked.

Old Zhou nodded. “I’ve been to pretty much every hospital in the city. The doctors couldn’t figure out what’s wrong either; they just said there’s inflammation in my mouth.”

Qin Jiang rolled his eyes internally. Whenever there’s a health problem, the body shows inflammation. So, saying “there’s inflammation” was practically useless.

“Doctor, what exactly is my illness?” Seeing that Qin Jiang had asked so many questions without reaching any conclusion, Old Zhou grew anxious. This doctor really was too young. He probably couldn’t identify the problem.

“Take off your face shield and mask. I need to look at your facial features.”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Old Zhou hesitated. “Do you really need to see my face?”

Qin Jiang nodded seriously. “The facial features correspond to the internal organs. I need to observe your complexion to help diagnose your condition.”

Old Zhou glanced towards the camera, hesitated for a long moment, then finally made up his mind and removed his face shield!

“Zhou… Zhou Bo?!” Upon clearly seeing Old Zhou’s face, Liu Yan was utterly surprised.

Zhou Bo was a well-known stand-up comedian in the country. At the peak of his popularity, tickets for one of his shows could even sell for three thousand yuan! Liu Yan never imagined that Zhou Bo, who made his living with his mouth, would end up with his mouth in such a state! No wonder he was bundled up so tightly—he was afraid of being recognized. He was indeed a local celebrity in Jincheng.

Seeing Liu Yan’s reaction, Zhou Bo grew even more uneasy. “You’re sure you’ve pixelated my face, right?”

Liu Yan nodded repeatedly. “Mr. Zhou, don’t worry, we are professionals!”

As soon as Liu Yan said this, the fans in the live stream chat erupted in laughter.

“I’m dying of laughter! That’s Zhou Bo sitting there, isn’t it? That hairstyle of his is a dead giveaway!”
“Light pixelation is worse than none. Zhou Bo’s reputation is probably ruined this time.”
“No wonder he hasn’t had any special stand-up shows recently. So his mouth is rotting.”
“Serves him right. He’s always sarcastically mocking this person and passive-aggressively criticizing that one on stage. A rotten mouth is just karma.”

Seeing that the fans had already identified Zhou Bo, Liu Yan immediately grew tense. The fans recognized him by his hairstyle; that wasn’t really their fault, was it? After all, they genuinely had pixelated his face this time.

Qin Jiang himself didn’t recognize Zhou Bo. His former self had been a bookworm, constantly buried in research about traditional Chinese medicine at this clinic, so he had little knowledge of internet celebrities or stars.

Using his divine-level observation skill, Qin Jiang noticed that Zhou Bo’s liver function was impaired; the state of his liver was not good. Combined with the earlier pulse reading, Qin Jiang began to form a hypothesis.

Qin Jiang pulled open a drawer, took out three masks, and put them on, one after the other. Then he put on two pairs of disposable gloves.

Once fully prepared, he took a deep breath and said, “Mr. Zhou, please open your mouth again, and whatever you do, don’t speak.”

Zhou Bo nodded cooperatively and opened his mouth.

The foul odor emanated from his mouth once more, but this time Qin Jiang was prepared. He avoided taking a direct whiff and instead used the wafting technique taught in chemistry classes, activating his divine-level olfactory diagnosis skill.

He then took out his phone and snapped several clear, close-up photos of Zhou Bo’s mouth.

“Alright, you can close your mouth now.”

Zhou Bo closed his mouth. Seeing Qin Jiang bury his head in the medical record, writing furiously, he felt puzzled. “Dr. Qin, what exactly is my illness?”

Qin Jiang looked at Zhou Bo with a strange expression. “What are your usual hobbies?”

Zhou Bo was taken aback. Why was the doctor suddenly asking about hobbies? Was this guy even competent?

Although irritated, Zhou Bo suppressed his displeasure and said, “I like playing soccer. I’m part of a team; I play striker. I also like running. I go for a morning jog every day; I’ve kept it up for years. You’d think with my physical fitness, my immunity would be pretty high. How could I get sick like this?”

Zhou Bo looked confused, but Qin Jiang was starting to piece things together.

Qin Jiang continued his questioning, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Zhou Bo immediately straightened up and said seriously, “How could I have a girlfriend? I’m single.”

Yeah, right, he thought. He was somewhat famous, after all. Famous people have fans, especially female fans. Their spending power was significant. If word got out that he had a girlfriend or was married, he’d lose a huge portion of his female fanbase instantly.

The pen in Qin Jiang’s hand paused. He looked Zhou Bo squarely in the eye and said with utmost seriousness, “You’d better tell me the truth.”

Zhou Bo’s tone was firm. “I am telling the truth.”

Fine, fine. Playing tough, are we? Then don’t blame me for being blunt.

Qin Jiang stated directly, “If you don’t have a girlfriend, then who were you with the night before last, and what were you doing? And yesterday around one in the afternoon, what were you doing then? And this morning…”

Before Qin Jiang could finish, Zhou Bo’s expression changed dramatically, and he panicked.

“Dr. Qin! Miracle doctor! Bro! Please, I’m begging you, stop! This is a live stream! Save me some face!”