Wen Hui almost thought she was hallucinating.

Standing at the door, Gao-Yuan said, "The rain is heavy. Don't go out."

"Huh?" Wen Hui was dumbfounded, her mind completely frozen.

"Who is it?" The Wen family looked over curiously.

Wen's older brother came to check and froze as soon as he saw who it was.

Gao-Yuan stepped inside, removing his rain hat and bamboo hat.

The entire room fell into a heavy silence.

"You… are you Cao Cao?" Tan Yun stared at Gao-Yuan in disbelief.

Wen's sister-in-law, holding the child, wiped her tears repeatedly, crying out, "Even if Cao Cao comes, it’s no use. What we need now is Dr. Gao-Yuan."

She had never seen Gao-Yuan before, so she didn’t recognize him.

"Dr. Gao… Gao… Gao-Yuan," Wen’s brother stammered, his tongue tied.

Wen’s sister-in-law turned to him in surprise.

Gao-Yuan calmly placed his rain hat aside.

But Wen Hui noticed the mud covering the left side of his body.

"Did he fall?" she thought, staring blankly at him. Considering the treacherous mountain paths between Zhang Village and Zi Township, especially in this storm, how could he not have fallen?

Gao-Yuan turned to Tan Yun. "Do you have a towel? I need to dry off."

Tan Yun, momentarily stunned, took two seconds to respond. "Oh, yes. I'll get one."

He hurried off.

Meanwhile, Wen Hui cautiously asked, "Are you here to buy wine in Zi Township again?"

Gao-Yuan avoided her gaze, instead picking up the suction device in his hand. "I came to deliver this to Dr. Tan. With so many children falling ill, he should find it useful."

Tan Yun returned with the towel, overhearing this and freezing mid-step. He thought, Since when did Gao-Yuan and I become so close that he'd rush through a storm to deliver something like this at night?

The Wen family glanced at the two of them, puzzled.

Gao-Yuan took the towel and began drying himself off. Twisting slightly to ease the pain from his fall, he asked, "Why are you all at the clinic so late? Is someone sick?"

This snapped Wen’s brother back to reality. "Oh, yes, my child is sick! We were just discussing taking him to you for help!"

"Really?" Gao-Yuan raised his eyebrows. "Is it serious? Let me take a look."

The Wen family immediately stepped aside.

As Gao-Yuan set the towel down, Wen Hui extended her hand.

He glanced at her but quickly averted his eyes.

Without a word, Wen Hui took the dirty towel from him.

Gao-Yuan said nothing either, hurrying forward to examine the sick child.

Tan Yun explained, "The child is a year and a half old and has had a high fever with laboured breathing for five days. Lung percussion reveals dullness, and auscultation shows crackles. It’s likely extensive lung consolidation. I tried using cold, heat-clearing remedies, but they’ve been ineffective."

"Tonight, the family brought her in as an emergency. The child is deeply comatose, breathing heavily, coughing weakly, and her body temperature is dropping. I suspect she’s reached critical condition, so I was considering taking her to your clinic or the county hospital."

Gao-Yuan shook his head. "Not in this rain. You can’t take the child that far."

Tan Yun grew anxious. "What should we do then? She needs oxygen support and suction equipment urgently."

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"Our Western medical facilities are already full. Even if you send her over, they probably won’t be able to accommodate her," Gao-Yuan said bluntly.

Hearing this, the Wen family’s faces turned pale.

Tan Yun was stunned. "Are resources that strained now?" he asked. "What do we do?"

Gao-Yuan examined the child further. "We’ll treat her with traditional Chinese medicine."

Tan Yun frowned. "But you’re the one who advocates combining Chinese and Western medicine for critical cases. You’ve said before that only combined treatments maximize the chances of survival."

The Wen family immediately looked to Gao-Yuan, desperate for hope.

Gao-Yuan nodded. "That’s correct in most cases. But there are exceptions."

"What exceptions?" Tan Yun pressed.

Gao-Yuan turned to him. "I’m the exception."

Tan Yun was momentarily speechless.

Gao-Yuan continued his examination, recalling that Wen’s older brother had once lost a daughter to adenovirus pneumonia. However, he didn’t know the exact timing of the illness. Wen Hui had briefly mentioned it to him before, saying it was on a stormy night like this when they had rushed to Tan Yun for help, but the child hadn’t made it.

With the distance between villages and the severity of the epidemic, Gao-Yuan couldn’t have known in advance. Seeing the storm tonight had triggered his memory, so he rushed to the clinic. And now, here they were.

Thankfully, he had made it in time during this critical moment!

The little girl’s full name was Wen Xinye, given by her well-educated aunt, Wen Hui. However, her current condition was grim—her face sallow, her throat clogged with phlegm, and her breathing labored. Her lower jaw trembled, and her shoulders rose and fell with each breath. Her limbs were cold to the touch.

"What’s her temperature?" Gao-Yuan asked.

"37.8 degrees," Tan Yun replied.

Gao-Yuan nodded slightly and checked her pulse. The child’s heart rate was racing at 220 beats per minute. Her lips were dry, her tongue parched, her teeth chapped, and her tongue coating was thick, yellow, and devoid of moisture. Her pulse was thin, rapid, and weak.

"This deep coma is due to heat collapse. The pathogen has entered the pericardium and caused obstruction, indicating the collapse of lung transformation," Gao-Yuan concluded. "Heat has trapped the pericardium, and the coma and phlegm blockage signify excessive pathogens. The thin, rapid, and weak pulse, combined with the dropping temperature, shows the body’s defences are exhausted. It’s a mix of excess and deficiency."

Tan Yun, always self-aware of his limitations, accepted Gao-Yuan’s judgement without question. "What should we do? Should we attack the pathogen or support the body’s defences, like with that other child at the county hospital?"

"This situation is different. If we don’t eliminate the pathogen, it will grow stronger and the body weaker. If we don’t support the body, it won’t have the strength to fight. The best approach now is to combine both—support and eliminate."

Tan Yun nodded quickly. "Alright. What’s the plan?"

"Following Wu Jutong’s principles: when the pathogen sinks and the pulse is weak, use Ren Shen Tang alongside An Gong Niu Huang Wan. Brew 2 qian of American ginseng as a decoction and use it to administer 1 qian of An Gong Niu Huang San. Hurry," Gao-Yuan instructed.

"Got it." Tan Yun rushed off.

Gao-Yuan crouched beside the child, using the suction device he had brought to clear her airway.

The situation was dire. The thick phlegm he extracted resembled clumps of rotten flesh. Once the airway was cleared, the child’s breathing improved significantly.

The Wen family, standing nearby, clutched their chests anxiously.

If only there was oxygen support—it would help even more.

Before long, Tan Yun returned with the decoction and powdered medicine.

As the child was deeply comatose and had lost her swallowing reflex, Gao-Yuan inserted a feeding tube to administer the medicine nasally.

Halfway through the treatment, the child’s condition began to improve. She started coughing more easily, her skin turned rosy, and sweat appeared on her palms.

"Is Xinye heating up again?" Wen Hui knelt to touch the child.

Wen’s sister-in-law also felt her forehead. "Why is she so hot now?"

Everyone turned to Gao-Yuan.

Tan Yun, too, looked to him for an explanation.

"Take her temperature," Gao-Yuan instructed.

Tan Yun measured it quickly. "Oh no, it’s 41 degrees!"

The Wen family panicked. Wen’s sister-in-law exclaimed, "Her temperature was going down earlier! What if this high fever damages her brain?"

"Quick, get a cold towel for her forehead!" Wen’s father suggested.

"Got it," Wen’s brother said, rushing out.

"Stop!" Gao-Yuan interrupted. "That will only suppress the pathogen. Her fever won’t subside that way."

"But she’s burning up!" Wen’s sister-in-law said anxiously.

Even Tan Yun showed concern. If he were alone, he might have used a cooling remedy by now. He wanted to voice his thoughts but decided to hold back, fearing it might backfire.

Gao-Yuan shook his head and explained in simpler terms, "The earlier drop in temperature wasn’t recovery but a sign of the body’s weakness—too weak to even mount a fever. This resurgence of fever shows that the body’s defences are fighting back. The higher the fever, the closer we are to a critical turning point. At this stage, forcibly reducing the fever will weaken the body’s resistance and allow the pathogen to dominate, which will make things much worse."

Everyone froze, absorbing his words.

Tan Yun silently breathed a sigh of relief, grateful he hadn’t impulsively suggested his own remedies earlier.

Wen’s father voiced his concern anxiously, "But won’t such a high fever damage the child’s brain?"

Gao-Yuan replied firmly, "No, it won’t. What we need to do now is support the body’s vital energy to continue fighting. Boil some hot water and use it to wipe the child’s body!"

The group was stunned into silence.

Tan Yun stared at Gao-Yuan in disbelief. What a bold approach! A fever this intense, and yet he’s suggesting hot water? Truly, only someone with unparalleled expertise and confidence could dare such a thing.

The Wen family hesitated, unsure of this unconventional advice.

Breaking the tension, Wen Hui stepped forward and declared with determination, "I’ll boil the water. I trust him!"