The little boy, listening to Su Wen's words, blinked back tears as he began to recall the recent events.
"Mom has indeed been feeling a bit uncomfortable these days, complaining about back pain and soreness."
Back pain and soreness could mean many things and did not offer much diagnostic specificity. Su Wen couldn't lead the questions too much since the boy was too young; preemptive assumption might prompt the boy to simply follow her lead.
So, Su Wen could only ask, "Can you think of anything else that might have happened?"
The little boy tried hard to remember and then said, "Right, Mom has been spending a particularly long time in the toilet recently, and today before we left, I got impatient and even knocked on the bathroom door."
At this point, Su Min and her two young apprentices' eyes lit up. Constipation was a classic characteristic of chronic fever illnesses.
