The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 207

At Changzhou Baicaotang, patients came to see doctors with their heads and faces covered and their bodies wrapped up tightly, as if they had contracted some kind of infectious disease.

"Excuse me, is this Baicaotang?"

"Exactly."

Are the characters on the plaque not big enough or not dark enough? They can't see them.

"We have heard that your family's third young mistress is well-versed in pharmacology, and we would like to invite her to examine us."

"I'm sorry, the Third Young Mistress never goes to the doctor."

Someone specifically requested that Xiao Chunnuan, the third young mistress of the Zhao family, be treated.

Dr. Chen was somewhat displeased; the Third Young Mistress was not a doctor.

Is there any ailment he can't cure?

“My fourth aunt did not breastfeed after giving birth to the young master, and that area became infected with pus. We can only ask your third young mistress to take a look.”

The old nanny beside him whispered to Doctor Chen.

Dr. Chen... well, this is indeed not an illness that this old geezer can treat.

"My third young mistress has never practiced medicine."

However, Dr. Chen still knew his limits. Who would dare to ask the master or young mistress to do chores?

Don't be fooled by the Third Young Master's usual carefree attitude; he won't be so cheerful if the Third Young Master's wife gets tired.

When he gets angry, he becomes ruthless and doesn't care about anyone, even his closest relatives. Dr. Chen said he couldn't afford to mess with him.

"My master Qu and the third young master have some acquaintance. This is a letter from my master to the third young master. I hope the doctor can pass it on. Thank you very much."

As she spoke, the old woman slipped a purse into Doctor Chen's hand.

"This……"

"Thank you for your hard work, doctor. I'm so grateful for your help..."

Should I hold it or not?

Yes, take it. Anyway, I haven't seen her, she's not my patient, so it's no big deal that I didn't take any money from her. This is just a tip for delivering the letter.

"Then you'll have to wait a bit. The specifics depend on whether the Third Young Mistress is home."

In fact, it depends on whether the third young master is willing to let the third young mistress make house calls.

It should be noted that the Third Young Mistress holds a very high position in the Zhao family, and the Third Young Master had long ago said that she should not be burdened.

The wife wanted to hand over the management of the household affairs to the third young mistress, but the third young master refused.

They said this matter should be left to the eldest sister-in-law, since we are the youngest and shouldn't get involved in household management.

In fact, she just didn't want the third young mistress to suffer.

Zhao Minghua is watching Chunnuan Pharmaceutical. Hmm, watching his wife make pharmaceuticals is a kind of fun now.

Whose wife do you think has his baby?

She knows everything and is knowledgeable about everything, and she looks really beautiful when she's engrossed in making medicine!
"Master..."

Qingsheng called out softly from the doorway, then waved.

That clueless kid.

Zhao Minghua had no choice but to leave.

"what's up?"

"Dr. Chen sent someone with a letter, it seems to be from Master Qu, please take a look..."

He presented the letter with both hands to celebrate his birthday.

When Zhao Minghua opened the package, well, Master Qu's fourth concubine had finally given birth to a precious son for him.

After his wife and three concubines bore him nine daughters, he finally had a son. In his excitement, he arranged for three wet nurses. His fourth concubine's own milk became blocked and festering. Not wanting other men to see her, she could only ask the third young mistress of the Zhao family for help in diagnosis and treatment, and gave her a consultation fee of one hundred taels of silver.

"This Master Qu really knows that only money can move me." Zhao Minghua chuckled. "Alright, let her wait. The Third Young Mistress won't have time to see the doctor for another half an hour."

"Yes, Master."

"Oh, right, tell her to wait in the lounge. Don't let her get cold. She's Mr. Qu's precious daughter. Serve her the best tea and pastries."

"Yes."

He hurriedly made arrangements for the birthday celebration.

Chunnuan saw Zhao Minghua and his servant whispering to each other at the door, and gently put down her work to ask what was going on.
"Are you done?"

"I've almost finished today's work. There's a medicinal ingredient that needs to be fermented before it can be used tomorrow. I guess I'm done with the work."

"Then I'll have to trouble Nuannuan a bit."

When she heard that a woman who had just given birth wanted her to see a doctor, Chunnuan left without saying a word.

"The world is vast, but the patient is the most important," Chunnuan said. "Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. If you have a patient, you should have said so earlier."

Zhao Minghua... I was just worried you'd get tired.

When spring warmed up at Baicaotang, Master Qu's most favored concubine was eating pastries, enjoying them very much, and even asked where she bought them.

"This was made by our family's cook, and the recipe was provided by our third young mistress."

Fusheng quickly said, "If you like it, Auntie, you can often go to the women's teahouse in the county town. They have a lot of pastry samples there, and you will definitely like them."

"Okay, I'll go after I finish my postpartum confinement. Your young mistress is really amazing."

She can bake pastries and treat patients; she's a model woman!

We're both women, but she's a young mistress while I'm just a concubine!

When she saw her coming in, the concubine felt even more heartbroken: Everyone says that when choosing a wife, one should choose virtue, and when choosing a concubine, one should choose beauty. But this third young mistress was more beautiful than herself. Her face, her waist, her temperament... It's true that comparing people is infuriating, and comparing goods is worthless!
"Third Young Mistress Zhao?"

"Master Qu's concubine, Li Xiaolan, asked in a low voice?"

"Indeed, Zhao Minghua's wife, Xiao Chunnuan."

Ah, Chunnuan still prefers her own name.

Well, once a woman gets married, she takes her husband's surname and becomes someone else's wife and mother, but she can no longer be herself.

Xiao Chunnuan has always been just Xiao Chunnuan and never follows the crowd.

In the capital, all the young women in their boudoirs learned music, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, and cooking. In particular, some families would go out of their way to spread their daughters' talents, all for the sake of a good reputation, hoping that their beauty and talent would lead to a good marriage.

However, Xiao Chunnuan was different. She only went to the pharmacy, focusing on making pills and learning medicine. She rarely attended banquets unless absolutely necessary.

Therefore, many people know Miss Xiao, but don't know what Miss Xiao Er looks like.

Xiao Chunnuan prefers to be herself, and Zhao Minghua knows this very well, so he hasn't restricted her since the engagement.

For Xiao Chunnuan, all rules are just symbols.

When introducing herself to others, she can be described as Zhao Minghua's wife, but she still refers to herself by her maiden name.

"I heard from the master that your grandfather was a royal physician."

"Exactly."

There's nothing to hide. No matter how the Emperor judges my grandfather, in Chunnuan's heart, my grandfather is still that remarkable grandfather.

He was just unlucky and got caught up in that case through a scheme, which led to his current predicament. It was the emperor's blindness, not his grandfather's fault.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, young mistress, to examine me."

"What's wrong with you?"

Chunnuan asked her to sit down: "Let me take your pulse first."

"that is……"

Chunnuan glanced at the people inside the room.

"You may all leave now."

"Yes."

Chunnuan's maidservant withdrew, but Li's nanny and maidservant remained standing beside her.

"If you don't mind, I'll begin the consultation."

"You may all leave," Madam Li said, dismissing everyone.

After all, she knew very well that a skilled doctor was extremely capable, able to diagnose the illness simply by feeling the pulse.

Some things are embarrassing to say.

After the servants left, Li quickly told Xiao Chunnuan.

"Well, after I gave birth to my son, I didn't breastfeed, and my breasts got bigger and bigger, becoming hard lumps. Then it started to hurt, and the pain became unbearable..."

"Take off your clothes and let me see."

"Huh?" Li Xiaolan was a little dumbfounded. See... will this work?

“I am a doctor. Doctors only see patients, not men and women. Besides, I am also a woman.”

"This... I'm still quite embarrassed."

Li blushed and said, "I feel like something's a little strange."

"If you're sick, you should see a doctor. If it weren't for me, you should have seen other male doctors."

“That’s definitely not allowed, Master won’t allow it.” Madam Li quickly said, “If I let other men see me, Master won’t want me anymore.”

Chunnuan cursed him as an idiot in her heart.

Of course, the person being cursed was that Master Qu.

"How could a woman let a man see these things? She definitely shouldn't see them..."

"I'm talking about a doctor, not a male outsider." Chunnuan was also speechless. That's how the world is. It's not kind to women at all. Even if you die, you can't lose face: "Isn't life more important than face? You can only have everything if you have life."

"If you treat me like this, the master will only kill me."

So all that talk about pampering is nonsense. In a man's eyes, you are just his personal possession, and your life is far less important than his pride.

If another man even glances at you, you're committing a heinous crime.

"Thanks to you, I was able to come for a consultation."

When Li finished speaking, tears streamed down her face, and she knelt down directly in front of Xiao Chunnuan.

“I was in so much pain that I didn’t dare to scream or say anything. Later, I heard from the nanny that there was a young mistress at Baicaotang who could cure illnesses. I knelt down and begged the master. Only for the sake of the young master did the master agree to write a letter to the third young master Zhao so that I could see the young mistress. Please help me save my life.”

"Get up, get up, it's not worth it."

This person was about the same age as me, and kneeling down to beg me was really shortening my lifespan: "Don't worry, I will treat your illness. It's not a terminal illness. As long as you take your medicine properly, you will get better soon."

"Really? Can it be cured?"

"Of course."

When Chunnuan saw it, her chest really felt as hard as two stones. Touching it made her scream in pain, and sweat poured down her forehead.

"It is essential for new mothers to have their milk flowing smoothly; otherwise, it can lead to breast abscesses."

It's not a serious illness, just excessive internal heat and toxins, with some pus formation.

"I'll prescribe two doses of medicine for you, one to take orally and one to apply topically." Chunnuan thought for a moment: "You're not breastfeeding your child yourself?"

"No, the master felt sorry for the young master and was afraid he would go hungry, so he hired three wet nurses."

Spring is here... This is the young master born into a wealthy family. Back when Xiao Muyang was born, his sister-in-law didn't have enough milk, and his family didn't have the money to hire a wet nurse, so he was starving and had to be fed rice gruel for two days.

Fortunately, Mrs. Zhao, who is now his mother-in-law, hired Ms. Wu to be his wet nurse, so Mu Yang was not left to go hungry.

Master Qu truly felt sorry for his only son.

"With the young master being favored, your status as his birth mother will also rise accordingly. Good days are ahead, so you must take good care of yourself. You will enjoy endless blessings in the future."

How difficult it is for women to be women!

Xiao Chunnuan never looked down on her just because she was a concubine.

If there were truly other options, who would want to become a concubine?
Those who become concubines are invariably those who have been abandoned by their families.

"Thank you, young mistress, but I am still just a concubine."

Li was filled with mixed feelings: "It was only because this belly was willing to give birth to the master's only son that the young master was taken away by the madam from the moment he was born. The young master would call her mother, while the maids and concubines would always only be concubines."

Xiao Chunnuan couldn't help with this.

It was normal for wealthy families to have three wives and four concubines.

Being allowed to live, and not abandoning the mother to save the child, is already a great kindness.

"Actually, I could have avoided this disease, it was..."

Forget it, it's best not to let this young mistress know about the sordid affairs in the backyard.

"I only heard from the nanny that it should be sucked out after I got this disease."

So, all the maids around her were the mistress's people?

Xiao Chunnuan felt it was quite pathetic.

This is the fate of being someone's concubine!
That Mrs. Qu probably really did intend to remove the mother and keep the child, but the process of removing the mother wasn't that ruthless.

Make yourself sick, and then die.

That's true. If she did it herself, and the young master finds out when he grows up that it's a blood feud against his mother, it will definitely cause problems.

So you choose this way, letting things take their course, and if you get sick and die, it's none of anyone else's business.

She was completely open and honest in front of the young master.

"What's past is past. Just be more careful next time you give birth."

What could Xiao Chunnuan say?

There's plenty of privacy in the inner courtyard of the mansion, and she won't interfere.

"Let me prescribe your medicine first."

Honeysuckle, purple-backed safflower, trichosanthes root, angelica, tetrapanax papyriferus, etc., Chunnuan wrote down the prescription while explaining.

"Decoct these herbs in water, one dose per day, divided into two servings," Chunnuan said. "This medicine clears heat, detoxifies, invigorates blood, and reduces swelling."

"In addition, I will prescribe another dose of topical medicine."

Spring warmth wrote about torreya nuts, rice vinegar, and chives.

"This is rather complicated. Why don't you have someone serving you come and listen to me explain?"

"Granny Hu, come in here for a moment."

"Yes." Granny Hu entered from outside the door: "Please give your instructions, Madam."

Chunnuan thought, "This person who looks honest might be Mrs. Qu's informant. Maybe I should give this medicine to her?"
Spring warmth looked towards the Li family.

"Granny Hu, the doctor has a medicine here for me to use externally. It's a bit complicated. Could you help me remember it?"

"Yes, Auntie." The old woman Hu said to Chunnuan, "Doctor, please speak."

"First, crush the torreya kernels, grind them into a fine powder, and mix them with rice vinegar to form a thin paste."

"Pound leek leaves into a paste, mix them with a thin paste, apply the mixture to the affected area, wrap it with gauze to secure it, and change it once a day."

"Did you remember it?"

"Old slave, I took note of it."

Granny Hu was quite respectful.

"In addition, since the aunt is not breastfeeding the young master, I will prescribe a lactation suppressant. After you finish these medicines, you can boil them and take them."

"Thank you, doctor. Thank you, doctor."

Mrs. Li was very excited; this female doctor was truly wonderful.

Not only can it cure her illness, but it can also prevent her from experiencing any aftereffects.

Yes, she won't breastfeed the young master, and the madam won't even let her see him now. If she doesn't stop breastfeeding, there will be more problems later.

The lady should have known about these things long ago, but she just wouldn't treat herself.

Therefore, you can know a person's face but not their heart. The wives who seem to treat these concubines very well on the surface may be harboring ulterior motives.

Li learned from her mistakes; she only realized the other party was a human or a devil after experiencing it firsthand.