Two Letters

Letter One: To the esteemed Master Xu: In your letter, you describe that after each "taking of medicine," your vital energy surges violently, and your flesh swells and warps beneath the skin—a most ominous sign of stagnant, turbid blood accumulated to its extreme. Yet as you conceal your illness and shun proper treatment, refusing to name plainly what manner of potent, perilous tonic you have consumed, I have no means of prescribing a true remedy. For now, I have added to the original formula a measure of "blister beetle"—a creature fierce in nature and highly toxic, yet possessed of tremendous power to break stagnant blood and dispel congestion. Should even this fierce medicine fail to suppress the affliction, then I fear there is nothing more I can do. Unsent Letter Two: The blister beetle you recommended, Master, has indeed shown some effect, but in the end it treats the symptom, not the root. However, I have since found another path—the Su family of Jiangnan possesses a wondrous remedy said to calm all kinds of vital energies and dissolve all kinds of poisons. I intend to call upon them in person to seek it out; you need trouble yourself no further on my account.