Professor Shi also noticed the old laborer's reaction and was momentarily stunned because this reaction was not unfamiliar to him.

When the Hegu acupoint is needled or pressed, it produces a sensation of soreness, numbness, and swelling, and it has analgesic properties.

Besides teaching, the vocational school also had its own hospital where Professor Shi would see patients. When he needled the Hegu acupoint for some patients, they would experience the same sensations as the old laborer, with their pain alleviated and feeling naturally relieved under the numbness and swelling.

But Professor Shi was a national authority on acupuncture, having practiced for forty years. His needling technique was almost perfect. However, Shen Xingkong's classmates were mostly unmotivated; even those who studied seriously had just begun to dabble in acupuncture. For them to accurately locate the acupoint and avoid causing pain was commendable enough. How could they produce the correct or even superior acupuncture sensation so quickly like Professor Shi?

"Ah..." The old laborer's screams gradually subsided, and then he let out a long breath, "This feels great!"

"How do you feel?" Professor Shi hurriedly asked the old laborer.

"Good, really good. Sore and numb." The old laborer nodded repeatedly like a pecking chicken, looking at Shen Xingkong with admiration. "This young student did a great job. I feel very comfortable!"

"This..." Professor Shi was perplexed. The old laborer was indeed experiencing the correct acupuncture sensation.

He looked at Shen Xingkong again, who hadn't withdrawn the needle yet, his eyes flickering with unknown thoughts.

At that moment, Shen Xingkong had a new sensation. He suddenly received some information in his brain, indescribable in words, merely a feeling. This feeling seemed to be brought by the sudden surge of heat within his body.

Shen Xingkong sensed a disorder in the old laborer's Hegu acupoint. He didn't know the exact nature of the disorder, only that it was being alleviated as the heat flowed from his body into the old laborer's Hegu acupoint.

"Shen Xingkong... what are you doing?" Professor Shi asked tentatively.

"I'm not doing anything, just practicing... Professor, please give me a little more time..." Shen Xingkong didn't know how to explain.

"It's alright, take your time." Professor Shi reassured Shen Xingkong, realizing that he had discovered a normally inconspicuous but very promising student.

The scorching heat continued to flow from Shen Xingkong's spine through his arm and into the filiform needle, creating a channel exclusively for the heat, which thoroughly dispelled the disorder in the old laborer's Hegu acupoint.

Shen Xingkong couldn't keep this up indefinitely. He finally withdrew the needle, standing up with a strange look on his face, unable to understand what had just happened. Shen Xingkong had never practiced qigong, nor did he possess any of the internal energy mythologized in martial arts novels. So where did this heat come from?

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"Shen Xingkong, you did very well." Professor Shi publicly praised Shen Xingkong in front of the entire class. "But don't be complacent. Keep working hard, and you'll achieve great things in the future."

"Oh, I understand. Thank you, Professor Shi." Shen Xingkong forced a smile, put away his needle pack, and returned to his seat with his head down.

He didn't notice that the entire class was staring at him in amazement, not because he had performed well in acupuncture practice, but because Professor Shi's praise was as rare as Tibetan wild asses. As a poor student and an underachiever, Shen Xingkong had unexpectedly turned the tide and received Professor Shi's praise.

"Hey, you did pretty well. Were you pretending to be mediocre all this time?" Chang Le teased, patting Shen Xingkong on the shoulder.

"Do you want to try? I can needle you too," Shen Xingkong retorted, rolling his eyes.

"Hehe, maybe next time," Chang Le, the old fox, didn't want to be a guinea pig. For all he knew, Shen Xingkong's success was a fluke.

The practice class continued, with half the students still waiting for their turn. Professor Shi picked up the roster again but then remembered that the old laborer had been on the podium for quite a while and deserved a break. He always felt guilty for putting the old laborer through this ordeal.

"Do you need a break?" Professor Shi asked kindly.

"No, no, I'm fine. That young student's needling was so good that I don't feel any pain now," the old laborer shook his head, indicating he could continue.

"Alright, then the next student... Hmm?" Professor Shi was about to call the next name when he realized something strange.

The old laborer was hard of hearing, and one had to shout to communicate with him. But just now, Professor Shi hadn't raised his voice much, yet the old laborer heard him clearly.

"You heard me?" Professor Shi deliberately spoke even softer.

"Yes, I heard you! I'm hard of hearing, not deaf," the old laborer replied, not realizing that his hearing problem had been completely cured.

Professor Shi widened his eyes in shock, almost dropping his glasses. Among the sixty to seventy people in the classroom, only Professor Shi understood what had happened.

The Hegu acupoint, which Shen Xingkong had needled, is clinically used to treat dental pain, mouth ulcers, febrile diseases, and facial spasms or dysarthria caused by stroke.

In reality, because the Hegu acupoint is located on the Large Intestine Meridian of Hand-Yangming, which starts at the index finger, runs through the shoulder blade to the face, it theoretically has therapeutic effects on all facial disorders.

The old laborer's hearing loss was caused by nerve damage from a work accident. Such nerve damage remains a significant challenge in Western medicine, as chemical drugs and internal surgery can't cure it. The only hope lies in traditional Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture.

If Professor Shi were to treat the old laborer's hearing loss with acupuncture, he would need repeated treatments over a long period to achieve minimal results.

Although Professor Shi had other effective treatments, Shen Xingkong had miraculously cured the old laborer's hearing loss with a single needling of the Hegu acupoint. Professor Shi was astonished and could only consider it a miracle.

The practice class continued, and the old laborer's agonized cries resumed as other students' clumsy needling left his hands covered in bleeding points. A student was assigned to swab his bleeding wounds with alcohol, easing his suffering a bit.

Wang Lei, the most notorious student, wasn't practicing; he was torturing the old laborer. He deliberately inserted needles deeply and randomly, nearly causing the old laborer to faint. Wang Lei, however, laughed maniacally, resembling a sadistic maniac.

Professor Shi seemed to be guiding the practice on the podium, but his gaze frequently drifted towards Shen Xingkong.

Shen Xingkong didn't notice. He had turned halfway around in his seat, listening to Chang Le recount his romantic escapades from the previous night. While Shen Xingkong appeared uninterested, he was secretly envious. At twenty, who wouldn't want to meet a beautiful girl in a seedy bar and have a wild night?

Leaving aside the wild nights and beautiful girls, just visiting a seedy bar would cost a few hundred yuan. Chang Le could afford it; Shen Xingkong couldn't. That's the unfair reality of this world.