The pulse is floating and slow, with a hot and red face and trembling. In six or seven days, sweating should occur and the condition should resolve. If there is instead fever, recovery will be delayed. Slowness indicates a lack of yang, making it impossible to produce sweat, and the body will inevitably itch.

bubble_chart Note

• This follows the previous passage, explaining the meaning of a red face and body itching.
• The exterior yang qi is deficient, hence the floating and slow pulse. The pathogenic qi is stagnant, hence the hot and red face. The struggle between the deficient type of pathogen and the healthy qi causes trembling.
• By the sixth or seventh day, the pathogen should weaken, and sweating should occur to resolve the condition. If there is instead fever, it indicates that the pathogen has not weakened, hence the delayed recovery. Slowness indicates that the healthy qi cannot overcome the pathogen. With yang deficiency and stagnation, the body will inevitably itch, as the lack of yang qi prevents the proper dispersion and production of sweat.

bubble_chart Collected Annotations

• Cheng Zhi said: "This passage discusses the pulse of yang deficiency preventing the production of sweat. A floating pulse indicates that the pathogen is in the exterior muscles, while a slow pulse indicates yang deficiency. The qi is stagnant and cannot escape, leading to a hot and red face. The struggle between the healthy qi and the pathogen prevents it from being expelled, causing body trembling. By the sixth or seventh day, when the meridian transmission ends and sweating should occur to resolve the condition, if there is no sweating and instead fever, recovery will be delayed. This is because yang deficiency cannot lead the sweat outward, and the pathogenic heat floating in the skin will inevitably cause body itching."