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When Zeng Zesheng served as the Deputy Director of the Shanghai Security Office, he suffered from stomach disease. He had no taste for food, experienced pain in the Zhongwan (CV12) region, and became increasingly emaciated. He lay in bed for several months, with almost no hope of survival. Mr. Xie Zhengao, who had a teacher-student relationship with Zeng Zesheng, went to visit him. Zeng shed tears, believing his chance of recovery was hopeless. Mr. Xie mentioned that his nephew, Brother Meisheng, had previously been cured of a chronic illness by me, and thus requested that I treat Zeng. Upon inquiring about the course of the illness, I learned that he had undergone mixed Chinese and Western treatments, employing both tonification and purgation methods, yet without improvement. I merely needled points such as Zhongwan (CV12) and Guanyuan (CV4), and his illness was well cured. It seems that Mr. Zeng’s condition was merely insufficient Stomach Yang (Stomach Yang deficiency) and indigestion, leading to malnutrition. Although there were many treatment methods employed, none hit the target; excessive attack on healthy Qi (Zhufa wuguo) how could there be any hope of life? I merely adjusted the mechanism to allow the Stomach Yang to flow freely and smoothly. What other cleverness could there be!

The Gu syndrome (Gu disorder) is not common in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. While accompanying my father in his official posts in Sichuan, Yunnan, and traveling through Liangguang, I had heard reports of people using Gu to harm others. It was said that five poisons combined into one, and toxins could be transmitted in places where one eats, drinks, lives, sits, or lies. This is considered absurd talk (Qidong yeyu), not found in canonical texts. However, some cases arise from inhaling mountain miasma (Shanlan zhangqi), causing the Gu to form in the abdomen, or due to incompatibility with local water and soil. When first arriving in distant lands with different climates, if one’s constitution does not match the environment, this disease can easily occur. In the Gengwu year, after an Austrian named Chen was cured of limb pain, an elderly woman surnamed Ou in his household claimed to have a stomach ailment. I assumed it was a common stomach disease and advised her to come to my residence for acupuncture. The next day, she came seeking treatment, stating she had been ill for seven years. Her Zhongwan (CV12) region was protruding, and she experienced pain when hungry, which was relieved by eating large amounts of hard-to-digest food. Over the seven years, her condition worsened daily, and she became extremely thin. Her pulse varied in size and changed rapidly; her tongue was covered with red and white spots interspersed with small dots, and appeared coated with a thin grayish-white moss. I diagnosed it undoubtedly as Gu syndrome (Gu disorder) and attempted needle insertion at several points. She returned the next day, reporting that without needling she was fine, but after needling, despite eating more, the pain persisted. I then re-needled Zhongwan (CV12). Within ten minutes, she screamed in severe pain and tried to pull out the needles herself. When restrained, she said she needed to vomit, and immediately sprayed foul-smelling fluid from her mouth, followed by the expulsion of an object resembling a snake, over one chi long, wriggling. All other patients in the clinic fled with their needles, causing chaos, while the elderly woman Ou fainted. She revived shortly after. After this single needle session, the root of her seven-year chronic illness was completely removed, bringing great relief. Pitying her poverty, I provided herbal medicine to assist her regulation, and she soon recovered to normal.