The Secret of the Serpent Staff

Old Li had graduated from medical school five years ago. He always fiddled with his small school emblem – a snake coiled around a staff, cold and smooth. Other classmates treated it as a decoration, but Old Li felt that it hid some secrets.

The emblem's design was almost the same as all medical schools. Old Li once asked his teacher what the serpent staff represented. The teacher would always smile and say it was “a symbol of medicine,” “healing the sick and saving the dying.” But Old Li always felt something was wrong. Why was a symbol of healing so cold and devoid of warmth?

In a small clinic, Old Li repeated the routine of registration, prescribing medicine, and giving injections every day. He felt like a cog in a machine, repeating the same things day after day, without passion. He began to pay attention to social news and found that all sorts of bizarre things were happening, just like the serpent staff, seemingly sacred but actually cold. He realized that the education he had received did not seem to teach him how to face this absurd world.

One day, a patient stormed into the clinic angrily. The patient held a lab report and pointed at the numbers, yelling, “Are you doctors blind? This is clearly a misdiagnosis!”

Old Li quickly checked the lab report, and the numbers were indeed wrong. He felt a chill down his spine. He knew the clinic’s equipment all too well, and it was impossible for such a large discrepancy to occur. Old Li calmed the patient down, returned to his office, and picked up the emblem again, staring at the snake, lost in thought. He suddenly realized that the snake on the staff might not only represent medicine but something else – a rule, a kind of invisible oppression.

He began to research a lot about snakes and found that in ancient Egypt and Greece, snakes symbolized mystery, wisdom, and even evil. He flipped through many medical history books and found that the origin of the serpent staff was controversial, and no explanation was completely convincing.

Old Li felt his worldview was collapsing. He felt as if he was in a huge maze, and the knowledge he had learned was just decorative paintings on the maze walls. He began to ask patients more detailed questions, trying to find their real needs. He no longer mechanically prescribed medicine but carefully studied each lab report and every symptom. He began to talk to patients, learning about their families and their difficulties.

The clinic's business began to decline. Other doctors were busy making money, but Old Li was "wasting time" with patients. Some people laughed at him, saying he was pedantic and not suitable to be a doctor. Old Li just smiled and continued doing what he thought was right.

One night, Old Li was on duty at the clinic. An old woman rushed in anxiously. Her grandson had a sudden high fever, and she didn’t know what to do. Old Li immediately checked the child and found it was a common cold. He prescribed medicine for the child and patiently explained the medication method to the old woman. The old woman left, thanking him profusely.

Old Li sat alone in the clinic, looking at the dark night sky outside the window. He felt an unprecedented calm. He finally understood that the secret of this emblem was not in the snake itself, but in how we understood it. The snake could represent healing, or it could represent cold rules. And what it represents is not determined by the pattern itself, but by ourselves.

He gently stroked the emblem and suddenly noticed that the snake on the staff, had somehow become two, tightly intertwined, forming a new pattern, like an infinite loop symbol.

The next day, the clinic staff found that Old Li had resigned, leaving a letter on the table with only one line: The truth of the snake is choice. They also found that Old Li’s emblem was left on the table. The snake staff on the emblem had somehow turned into two interlocked circles, much like the infinity symbol.