The days when I was an obstetrician and gynecologist in Chang'an

Chapter 999 Time is ultimately merciless.

As the willow catkins began to flutter in the air in Chang'an, Li San Niang and her companions had already prepared their belongings for their return journey to Chang'an.

They have been in the South for five years.

The climate here is hot and humid. Women in the south often suffer from leukorrhea (gynecological diseases) because they work in the hot and humid environment all year round. Postpartum infections are also much more frequent than in the north.

In addition, infantile malnutrition (damage to the spleen and stomach, abnormal diet) and summer dampness syndrome are also common.

(Summer-dampness syndrome, a syndrome name in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It refers to a syndrome caused by the internal obstruction of summer-dampness pathogens, with common symptoms such as thirst, fatigue, heaviness in the limbs, joint pain, irritability, dull complexion, incomplete sweating, red tongue with yellow and greasy coating, and slippery and rapid pulse.)
Li San Niang, along with the female doctors from the maternity ward, would see patients during the day and discuss cases with them at night. They would combine the medical skills brought from the maternity ward in Chang'an with the actual conditions in the south, adjust prescriptions, and formulate more suitable treatment guidelines and hygiene regulations for the local area.

She emphasized clean water sources and boiling food, promoted the use of mugwort fumigation to repel mosquitoes and prevent diseases, and compiled these prevention concepts into easy-to-understand rhymes for female doctors to teach to local women.

Lu Zhu'er, who came to the South with Li San Niang, made full use of her strengths and managed the accounts and medicines in the maternity ward in an orderly manner.

She also assisted Tang Dalang, who followed her, in establishing a supply line of medicinal herbs in Guangzhou Prefecture with local medicine merchants and even further south.

Tang Dalang also learned from the locals how to identify medicinal herbs unique to the south, enriching his knowledge of medicine.

Over the past five years, Dewdrop and Tang Dalang have supported each other in a foreign land, and their feelings for each other have grown stronger.

In the second year after they arrived in Guangzhou, on a spring day when the kapok flowers were in full bloom, Dewdrop gave birth to a baby girl.

Li San Niang delivered the baby herself.

Inside the delivery room, Dewdrop showed extraordinary resilience. She remembered Li San Niang's daily teachings, adjusted her breathing, and coordinated her efforts.

Holding Lu Zhu'er's hand, Li San Niang calmly issued instructions, her eyes showing both a mother's tenderness and a doctor's focus.

When the baby's loud cries pierced the humid air of the south, everyone inside and outside the courtyard breathed a sigh of relief.

“She’s a pretty young lady,” Li San Niang said, holding the cleaned baby to Lu Zhu’er. Her voice was tinged with a barely perceptible sob. “Look, she looks just like you when you were little.”

The dewdrop smiled wearily but happily as she gently touched the baby girl's rosy cheeks.

Because he was born in the south and it happened to be the night of the crescent moon, the child was nicknamed "Crescent Moon".

As for the child's formal name, it was Li San Niang who was invited by Lu Zhu'er and Tang Da Lang to give it to her. Li San Niang thought about it for several days and finally named Xiao Yueya Tang Wenjun.

Grandma wishes you to be virtuous and talented, and to be a person of strong character and integrity!

Days pass by like flowing water.

After Li San Niang arrived, she joined forces with Zhong Li Wen Lian, who had been in the area for many years, and together with the local government, they not only renovated the maternity ward but also opened a branch of the "Ping An Women's Medical College".

The southern region was ultimately too far from Chang'an. Although the female medical school in Chang'an could train more than a hundred female doctors every year, it was still a drop in the ocean for the vast Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Li San Niang felt that local problems should be resolved locally.

The female doctors who followed Li San Niang to the south had to work harder, taking on multiple roles.

They not only had to work in the maternity ward, but also had to teach at the women's medical college, and that wasn't all;

Li San Niang also arranged for free medical consultations to be conducted in rural areas every quarter, similar to the practice of the Imperial Medical Academy in Chang'an.

Over the past five years, Li San Niang led the female doctors from the Maternity Clinic to go to the mountains and countryside. Their footprints covered all the prefectures and cities in Lingnan. The network of branches of the Maternity Clinic they established became more and more solid, and the local female doctors they trained began to show their talents.

In addition, Li Sanniang's "Handbook for Dealing with Common Diseases of Women and Children in Southern China" was also printed and distributed, benefiting more medical professionals in the area.

Thus, even after five years, only the basic framework of the local obstetrics and gynecology medical system in the South had been established.

However, Li Sanniang felt that the obstetrics and gynecology medical system in the south was on the right track and could operate well on its own.
Her longing for Chang'an, and especially her concern for her aging parents, grew stronger every day.

So she decided to return to Chang'an.

Later, after everything was arranged, Li San Niang and the others, along with Xiao Yueya, who was already toddling and babbling, embarked on their journey back to Chang'an.

***
When I returned to Chang'an, which I had left long ago, it was already late summer.

The city walls of Chang'an remain the same; only the people have changed.

What makes Li San Niang most gratified is that although her parents have white hair, they are still in good spirits.

Mr. and Mrs. Li had been eagerly awaiting the return of Li San Niang and her family.

Especially Li's father, who is over seventy years old, with white hair and beard, is still quite energetic, but his steps are already unsteady.

Li's mother had aged considerably, but her eyes remained clear, still revealing her concern for Li San Niang and Lu Zhu'er.

When they saw Luzhu'er and her beautifully sculpted great-granddaughter, Little Crescent Moon, Mr. and Mrs. Li were overjoyed and didn't know what to do.

With his hands, covered in age spots and once used to take pulses and prescribe medicine, Li's father carefully held Xiaoyueya, his cloudy eyes glistening with tears.

Mother Li held Dewdrop's hand, stroking it gently, and repeatedly asked about the local climate and food of the south, afraid that her Dewdrop might suffer any injustice.

Li San Niang submitted a memorial to the Imperial Medical Bureau, relinquishing some of her official duties so she could spend more time with her parents. Aside from regular visits to the maternity ward and the "Peaceful Women's Medical College," she spent most of her time with them.

She personally prepared meals for the elderly couple, talked with them, basked in the sun in the yard, listened to Mr. Li reminisce about the interesting things that happened when he was a doctor in his youth, and listened to Mrs. Li ramble on about the embarrassing things that happened when the children of the Li family were disobedient as children.

Dewdrop and Tang Dalang, along with Little Crescent Moon, brought endless vitality and laughter to the gradually quieting old house.

Looking at her parents' joyful smiles as they played with Little Crescent Moon, Li San Niang felt a deep sense of peace.

However, time is ultimately merciless.

Two years after Li San Niang returned to Chang'an, on an autumn day, Li's father passed away peacefully during an afternoon nap, without illness or pain, at the age of seventy-three, which was considered a happy death in that era.

What is heartbreaking is that Li's mother, who had been with Li's father all her life, perhaps could not bear this sudden separation, or perhaps it was fate. That evening, she held Li San Niang's hand, murmured "San Niang," and then followed Li's father in death.

Both parents died in a single day.

A profound grief enveloped the Li family.

Even though Li Sanniang, as a doctor, was used to seeing life and death, she was still heartbroken at this moment.

Although both of Li's parents passed away peacefully at an advanced age, they were still her parents after all!
It was her parents who always supported her, loved her, and cared for her!

Despite her grief, Li San Niang, together with her brother Li and the others who rushed back, arranged a solemn and dignified funeral.

The passing of my parents seemed to have taken away all the joy and excitement.

The Li family mansion suddenly became much quieter.

After the mourning period ended, this once bustling family finally went their separate ways.

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