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Medical texts state that pain in the epigastrium (Zhongwan area) belongs to the Taiyin meridian, pain around the umbilicus and abdomen belongs to the Shaoyin meridian, and pain in the lower abdomen belongs to the Jueyin meridian. This refers to the domains of each meridian; however, one cannot rigidly adhere to this classification. In cases of food stagnation with dry feces in the abdomen, there is often severe pain around the umbilicus that cannot be pressed, or the patient desires to rub and move the area, which may slightly relieve the pain. (To verify food stagnation, the tongue coating and root color are yellow and turbid.) Zhang Zhongjing stated in *Shanghan Lun* (Treatise on Cold Damage): "When a patient has not had a bowel movement for five or six days, experiences periumbilical pain, irritability, and periodic attacks," which serves as evidence.

What people today call heart pain, stomach pain, and hypochondriac pain are none other than disorders caused by Liver Qi. These can be divided into deficiency and excess patterns, with excess accounting for two-tenths and deficiency for eight-tenths. My cousin, Zhou Shixi, developed Liver disease-induced stomach pain at age twenty. Physicians used Liver-soothing medicines which stopped the pain initially. Later, the pain recurred frequently; although taking these medicines provided temporary relief, the condition worsened upon recurrence. Several months after marriage, the pain flared up severely again. The physician still used herbs such as Cyperi Rhizoma (Xiangfu), Amomi Fructus (Dudou), and Aurantii Fructus Pericarpium (Zhiqiao), leading to exacerbation and death. Generally, for this condition from its onset, formulas like Gao Gufeng's Zishui Qinggan Yin (Nourishing Water to Clear Liver Fire Decoction) or Wei Yuhuang's Yiguan Jian (One Glance Decoction) should be used, slightly augmented with Liver-soothing agents such as Bupleuri Radix (Chaihu) stir-fried with turtle blood, or processed Cyperi Rhizoma (Xiangfu). This allows Kidney water to nourish Liver wood, enabling Liver Qi to relax, Liver fire to subside, and pain to cease. If only draining methods are used, Liver Yin will be further depleted, and how can the disease recover? I once treated the wife of Fu Li, a scholar from Niu Village, for Liver pain. Her pulse was deficient, and pain eased slightly after eating. I prescribed Glehniae Radix (Beishashen), Dendrobii Caulis (Shihu), Paeoniae Radix Rubra (Guixu), Paeoniae Radix Alba (Baishao), Chaenomelis Fructus (Mugua), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Gancao), Poria (Yunling), Bupleuri Radix (Chaihu) stir-fried with turtle blood, and Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (Juhong). After two doses, the pain ceased. Subsequently, she recovered after regulation with Xiaoyao San (Free and Easy Wanderer Powder) added with Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma (Renshen), Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui), Dendrobii Caulis (Shihu), and Chaenomelis Fructus (Mugua).

Zhao Yangkui's *Yi Guan* (Medical Canon) was correctly criticized by Xu Lingtai. However, observing his method for treating Wood Stagnation (Liver Qi Stagnation), he first used Xiaoyao San, followed by Liuwei Dihuang Wan (Six-Ingredient Pill with Rehmannia) added with Chaihu and Baishao to nourish Kidney water, allowing water to generate wood. This essentially opened the methodology for Gao Gufeng's Zishui Qinggan Yin. (Liuwei Dihuang Wan added with Dangguishen, Baishao, Chaihu, Gardeniae Fructus (Shanzhi), and Jujubae Fructus (Dazao) treats Liver-Stomach syndromes; for blood deficiency, Jiawei Xiaoyao San added with Shengdi is used.) This evolved into Wei Yuhuang's use of Yiguan Jian for hypochondriac pain (Glehniae Radix, Ophiopogonis Tuber (Maidong), Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (Shengdi), Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Guishen), Lycii Fructus (Gouqi), Toosendan Fructus (Chuanlianzi); add Huanglian prepared with wine if bitter taste and dryness exist), and Ye Tianshi's treatment of epigastric pain using Concha Heterodonis (Shijueming), Ecorum Gelatinum (Ejiao), Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (Shengdi), Lycii Fructus (Gouqi), Poria (Fuling), Dendrobii Caulis (Shihu), and Oryza Sativa (Bajingmi) to nourish stomach fluids. The methods became increasingly detailed and complete; students must not forget their origins.

Wei Yuhuang said: Diseases involving turbid leukorrhea are mostly due to blazing Liver Fire steaming upward to affect the Stomach and invading the Lung. The Lung governs Qi; when Qi is weak, it cannot disperse to form body fluids. Instead, driven by the rapid nature of Fire, it flows downward to the Bladder (Zhou Du). Originally governed by Qi transformation, it is also influenced by the Liver's command of dispersion and excretion, resulting in continuous dripping. If it were merely Damp-Heat in the Stomach without Liver Fire, it would manifest as phlegm above and diarrhea below. Ye Tianshi said: The Liver governs dispersion and excretion and overacts on what it cannot overcome (Spleen/Earth), thus causing diarrhea. I have treated diarrhea successfully by simply calming the Liver. (I once followed this method to treat patients with chronic Liver pain accompanied by diarrhea and a wiry pulse, achieving effective results.) Thus, the diseases originating from the Liver are numerous; practitioners must carefully examine them.

He Xichi said: All diseases arise from stagnation; all diseases belong to Fire; and Wind is the chief of all diseases. These three statements share the same principle. Stagnation inevitably transforms into Fire, and Fire invariably arises from stagnation. When stagnation fails to diffuse, it becomes a disorder of Liver Wood. This serves as another proof that Liver diseases are common.