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Wei, male, 30 years old, first consultation on October 18, 1976. He reported experiencing paroxysmal colicky pain in the abdomen for several years. The episodes occurred every few days without a fixed pattern, and during the episodes, the colicky pain was unbearable, compelling him to bite on foreign objects to endure the pain. After the pain subsided, he returned to normal. Once, while in his bedroom, he had a sudden recurrence of his old illness and saw an ancient copper coin on a wooden cabinet. He quickly took it and bit into it, unexpectedly breaking the coin immediately, and the pain gradually eased. After the pain subsided, he tried to bite the coin again but was unable to break it, and both his body and mind were normal. Since then, he has been collecting copper coins everywhere, carrying several with him, and biting them whenever the illness strikes. He then took out a copper coin he had bitten and broken that morning from his pocket to show. During his illness, he sought medical help everywhere, but to no avail. The doctors he encountered before did not recognize his condition or syndrome, and could only refer to it as a "strange illness" or "strange syndrome."
Current symptoms include normal bowel movements, no abnormalities in tongue or pulse, and a robust physique. After pondering for a long time, Professor Chen proposed his own insight: The patient's abdominal pain occurs as if he were normal before and after the episodes, indicating that the abdominal pain is not due to external pathogens or organic damage; the ability to break a copper coin during the illness but not when healthy suggests that the masseter muscle is highly tense during the episodes, indicating that the abdominal pain is of a spasmodic nature; the relief of pain during the forceful biting of the copper coin is a sign that the spasm gradually eases as the energy is expended; spasms in the organs are caused by the constriction of the tendon membrane, which is governed by the liver, so although the location of the disease is in the stomach and intestines, the mechanism of the disease is actually related to the liver. Observing his crimson tongue with yellow coating and feeling the six pulse conditions as wiry and slippery, he diagnosed it as spasmodic abdominal pain. He differentiated it as a syndrome of sudden expansion of liver qi, with deficient dispersion and wood overacting on earth, and established a method to relieve urgency, resolve spasms, purge fire, and disperse stagnation to treat it. The prescription used Major Bupleurum Decoction plus Liquorice Root.

In the prescription, Peony Root, Liquorice Root, and Chinese Date soften the liver to relieve urgency and resolve spasms; Rhubarb Rhizome, Skullcap Root, Immature Orange Fruit, and Pinellia clear, purge, and descend to remove heat; Bupleurum and Fresh Ginger Rhizome disperse stagnant fire, collectively aiming to purge fire, disperse stagnation, and resolve spasms. After taking one dose of the above prescription, the syndrome did not recur for several years.