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

Chapter 22 Seeing a Woman's Illness
“Auntie, we’ve never farmed before. I do recognize the vegetables, but I never imagined that these seedlings, which are so small, would produce such big melons.”

Aunt Luo had no idea that while she was telling Chunnuan about melons and melon vines, Chunnuan was thinking about the effects, uses, contraindications, and ways to eat these melons.

For example, when she talks about winter melon, the warmth of spring immediately brings to mind its cooling and thirst-quenching properties, as well as its diuretic effects; bitter melon, on the other hand, clears heat, relieves summer heat, nourishes blood and qi, tonifies the kidneys and spleen, and benefits the liver and eyes...

Her mind is completely on a different wavelength from Aunt Luo's.

Fortunately, she realized that what she said was just meant to make people laugh.

"That's right. Let me tell you, don't underestimate these few melon vines. If you manage to plant them well and take good care of them, you'll have more vegetables than you can eat."

"Okay, thank you, Aunt Luo."

This neighbor is so warm and welcoming; she melted my heart with her kindness.

When spring arrives, I plan to plant it for Chun Ning.

As a result, Aunt Luo followed.

“Oh, I remember now, your family has never farmed before. These melon vines are quite tender and can easily break. Come, come, let me teach you how to plant them.”

“Make the planting holes for melon seedlings bigger. After the seedlings are planted, you need to fertilize them. Also, Chun Ning, clear the weeds from the field ridge and pile them on the open ground. After they are dried, burn them and compost them into fertilizer ash. Put a handful of melon seedlings on the ash, and the melons will grow very well.”

"When planting these rice seedlings, be careful not to damage them. Just pick up some soil and weigh down the roots."

"The planting holes for the melon vines should be dug a little further away, because the vines will grow very lush and won't be able to spread out properly."

"These melon vines are planted along the edge of the field. When the vines grow taller, we'll need to build trellises for them."

"The planting holes for eggplants and chili peppers need to be closer together than those for melons. Yes, yes, just make the holes this far apart."

Rather than saying Aunt Luo was teaching them how to plant, it would be more accurate to say she was helping them plant.

After all the melon vines were planted, Aunt Luo patted her back.

"Oh dear, this back pain is a result of not taking proper care of myself during my postpartum period after giving birth to Luo Laoyao. It's caused by a chronic condition. Even a little bit of work makes my back feel like it's about to break."

"Then you should rest." Chunnuan felt a little guilty.

"Aunt Luo, how exactly does your back hurt?" Since the other person had helped her, Chunnuan felt she should return the favor in some way.

"I just can't bend over. Even a little bending over makes my back ache. In winter, I have to wear really thick clothes, otherwise the cold wind is biting and it aches," Aunt Luo sighed. "Being a woman is so hard. Once you get postpartum illness, you never have a good life..."

"Oh dear, look at me, why am I talking so much with a young girl like you?"

Aunt Luo suddenly realized that Chunnuan was still an unmarried girl, and that she shouldn't tell Chunnuan about her own problems, such as cold hands and feet, urinary incontinence when she sneezed or coughed, and the constant smell of urine on her body.

Besides, she's not the only one with these problems; when the women in the village quietly inquired, they all reported having these symptoms.

Actually, Aunt Luo was wondering: Did any of the beautiful ladies in the Xiao family have this symptom?

After all, they've had quite a few children; I heard they each had four. Women who have given birth probably all have this problem.

"Aunt Luo, it's nothing. It's good for me to listen and learn more."

Chunnuan smiled, her face flushed.

She wasn't really curious; she just wanted to help this kind-hearted neighbor. "Yes, it's good to listen," Aunt Luo quickly said. "Chunnuan, let me tell you, when you get married and have children, make sure you don't overwork yourself. Rest well. Don't be like us, holding and washing babies, and washing diapers—it's the dead of winter! Even healthy people can't handle that, let alone a postpartum woman. We didn't observe proper precautions; it's a terrible thing..."

Aunt Luo started her rambling, and Chunnuan caught the key point.

"Are you saying that you urinate when you laugh, cough, or sneeze..." When she said the last two words, Chun Nuan subconsciously lowered her voice, after all, there were two little boys, Chun Ning and Chun An, not far away.

"That's right." Aunt Luo sighed. "To be honest, although I'm not a particularly fussy person, I still keep myself clean and change my clothes frequently. But I don't know what happened. It's only been a few years since I gave birth to Luo Laoyao, and I've become like this. I'm so sloppy that I'm starting to dislike myself."

"Aunt Luo, please don't be disgusted. It's not that you're slovenly; you're just sick."

What?
Aunt Luo was terrified.

"I can eat, sleep, run, and jump, so how did I get sick? Don't scare me."

"Aunt Luo, let me take your pulse."

"what?"

Aunt Luo stared blankly as Chunnuan placed her hand on her wrist.

"Spring warmth, are you really a doctor? Can you cure my kind of illness?"

Aunt Luo didn't believe it. You have to see a doctor to see a doctor, and besides, she had never seen a female doctor in her nearly forty years of life.

“I learned a little from my grandfather, but not much, and I just happen to know about your situation.”

Yes, the main focus of spring warmth is on women's diseases.

When her grandfather learned that she liked reading medical books and had the potential to study medicine, he specially instructed her to focus on women's diseases. To this end, her grandfather even borrowed some ancient books from the royal library for her to read.

In this era, many women fell ill, but only the powerful and wealthy could afford to see a doctor. Delivery was primarily the responsibility of midwives, but midwives could only handle natural births; if a woman experienced a difficult delivery, nine times out of ten, both mother and child would die.

My grandfather was skilled at stopping bleeding, but in wealthy families in the capital, there were still women who died from postpartum hemorrhage because their husbands' families would rather the women die than call a male doctor into the house to save their lives!

If this is the case for women in wealthy families, then it goes without saying that for daughters-in-law in ordinary families, childbirth is truly a gamble where they either live to see the world or die.

Her grandfather was heartbroken and urged her to learn more skills, so that one day she could use them to save someone's life.

Therefore, Chunnuan's specialty is treating women's diseases.

"Then I..." Aunt Luo was a little dumbfounded when she heard Chun Nuan say that it was a skill taught to her by her grandfather. She thought Chun Nuan was talking nonsense before, but now seeing her taking the pulse with such seriousness and saying that she knew about this situation, then she must really be sick: "Is my illness still curable?"

She doesn't want to die!

Her son is not yet married, and her daughter is not yet married; the children without a mother are truly pitiful.

"Auntie, don't worry, I'll prescribe some medicine for you. Take it first, and we'll see how it goes after a while and then change the medicine. You'll get better after taking five doses at most."

"real or fake?"

Aunt Luo seemed a little incredulous.

Can this girl from the Xiao family really treat illnesses?
Should I buy this medicine and take it?

Hey everyone, if you're passing by, please add this to your favorites! My story is currently in a contest, thank you for your support!


(End of this chapter)