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In the Wu region, folk custom holds that if a postpartum woman suffers from retained lochia (blood stasis after childbirth), taking only Bitter Grass (Kucao) is considered a miraculous remedy. Little do they know that Zhu Danxi forbade the use of White Peony Root (Baishao) because its sour and cold nature might damage Shengqi (vital energy/physiological function). How much more so for Kucao, which is extremely cold? Those who believe in and take it will inevitably develop abdominal diseases later in life, or suffer from leukorrhea, metrorrhagia (uterine bleeding), or persistent spotting, remaining unhealed for years. This destroys Yuanqi (original qi), yet they fail to realize the harm left for posterity. Postpartum women are deficient in both Qi and Blood; they greatly benefit from warm and hot tonics. How can one lightly employ cold and cooling herbs to severely damage their generating Qi? The *Classic of Internal Medicine* states: "Do not destroy the source of transformation; do not violate the seasons. You must nourish and harmonize, waiting for recovery." This is what is meant. I have examined various Materia Medica and formula books, but none record this usage. I do not know where this error originated in the Wu region, nor how it became entrenched and uncorrectable. Families with newborns must understand this principle.

Polygoni Multiflori Radix (Heshouwu) was originally called Jiaoteng (Interlacing Vine) and named after He Shouwu, who took it. He Shouwu was a native of Nanhe County, Shunzhou. His ancestor was Nengsi, whose original name was Tian'er. Born castrated and frail, at age fifty-eight he had no wife or children. One day, while drunk and sleeping in the wild, he saw two vines growing separately in a field, their stems intertwining, separating, and re-intertwining three or four times. Tian'er found this strange, dug up the roots, and asked villagers, but no one could identify them. He dried and powdered the roots, taking them with wine. After seven days, his sexual desire returned; after one hundred days, his old ailments were cured. Ten years later, he fathered several sons. He subsequently changed his name to Nengsi. He also gave it to his son Ting, who lived to be 160 years old. Shouwu himself lived to 130 years old. In the seventh year of the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Monk Wenxiang met an old man in Maoshan who recounted this story. Li Ao therefore wrote about it in *Fanglu*, recorded in *Guanquan Zuican Lu*.

Yang Tianhui's *Record on Aconite* states there are seven types of Aconite products, all sharing the same origin but differing in form. The seed that transforms becomes Wutou (Aconitum carmichaelii radix preparata); attached to Wutou and growing on the side is Fuzi (Aconiti Lateralis Radix Preparata); attaching to the sides and occasionally appearing is Gezhi; attaching and growing long is Tianxiong; attaching and becoming large is Tianjia; attaching and growing upward is Cezi; and attaching and growing scatteredly is Loulan. Their meridians are connected like offspring attached to a mother. Because Fuzi is precious, it alone is exclusively called Fuzi. The ideal shape of Fuzi is squatting and upright with few nodes; those with many nodes and mouse-bump-like protrusions are secondary. Loulan and Cezi are discarded by gardeners. It is also said that Wutou is harvested in spring and Fuzi in winter; this statement is largely erroneous. It is further said that those with eight angles are superior; if they have many angles, they become Cezi. Is this not also erroneous? (From Zhao Yu Shi's *Bin Tui Lu*)