One day, Li Shizhen hid a knife in a chair, covered it with flour, and told the concubine: "Lift your skirt and sit hard!" Sure enough, as soon as the concubine sat down, she jumped up with an "ah", and the knife cut through her skin.
One day in the thirty-fifth year of Jiajing of Ming Shizong, in the bedroom of the Ming Dynasty Palace, Zhang Guifei was sitting on the Cuifeng bed, looking anxious. She had just taken a bottle of medicine called "Shenghuan Shui", which was said to have the effect of making it easier for women to get pregnant.
Zhang Guifei wanted to give birth to a dragon seed for the emperor, and then gain the emperor's favor and honor, so she bought this medicine to take it. However, the effect after taking the medicine was not satisfactory, but Zhang Guifei's buttocks were swollen, and the pain was unbearable.
Zhang Guifei knew that if the emperor and Liu Jin knew about this illness, she would definitely be robbed of love and fall out of favor with the emperor. When she was in a hurry, she suddenly remembered that not long ago, a doctor named Li Shizhen had just entered the palace, and it was said that her medical skills were superb, so she immediately ordered her to enter the palace for medical treatment.
After Li Shizhen arrived, he checked the symptoms and judged that Zhang Guifei was caused by taking counterfeit and shoddy medicines. This sores must be punctured and drained to be cured, but the court etiquette is strict, and Li Shizhen can't do it himself.
Li Shizhen had an idea, so he asked the craftsman to make a special chair, put a sharp blade on the place where Zhang Guifei often sits, and sprinkled dry flour to cover it up.
The next day, Li Shizhen moved this chair into Zhang Guifei's dormitory and instructed Zhang Guifei to take off her coat and sit on this chair with all her heart. After Zhang Guifei did so, she only heard a scream, the abscess had been pierced by a sharp blade, and a large amount of pus flowed out.
Li Shizhen instructed the palace maid to quickly give medicine to Zhang Guifei, and after a few days of conditioning, Zhang Guifei's condition gradually improved, and the abscess began to close, and finally healed.
Zhang Guifei was grateful to Li Shizhen for his superb medical skills, rewarded him with tens of thousands of taels of platinum, and instructed him to keep it a secret. Li Shizhen also understands that the consequences of leaking this matter are serious, and it must be kept strictly secret.
Through this treatment, Li Shizhen guessed that the plot behind the matter was probably a conspiracy designed by the imperial doctor in the palace. Seeing that Li Shizhen was favored and his status was damaged, the imperial doctor was jealous, intending to put Li Shizhen to death. Fortunately, Li Shizhen was clever enough to save his life.
Li Shizhen began to grow tired of the brutal struggles in the court, and he did not want to get involved in power struggles anymore, but only wanted to concentrate on medicine and learning. Finally, Li Shizhen retired to the countryside a few years later and began to accept apprentices to impart medical knowledge.
In his later years, Li Shizhen lived an idyllic life, he devoted himself to medical books, and began to write his life's medical experience. After a long and arduous period of hard work, Li Shizhen finally completed the medical masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica", which developed Chinese materia medica to a new stage.
The Compendium of Materia Medica summarizes the knowledge of pharmacology in China in the past dynasties, records more than 1,800 kinds of drugs, and more than 11,000 maps, and is known as the encyclopedia of pharmacy. Li Shizhen left outstanding contributions through this work, making his reputation spread at home and abroad.
Although Li Shizhen did not see the brainchild published in his lifetime, his medical achievements and spirit will go back a long way. At the last moment of his life, Li Shizhen was sure that he had found the meaning and value of life, and even if he did not have gold and silver treasures, he had reaped endless happiness and satisfaction.
