Chapter 434 Concept

This trip up the mountain yielded an unexpected gain: all the medicinal herbs that her father, Xiao Chenggui, could use were sorted out by Doctor Yan. This way, on the way to the capital, they would only need to stop in slightly larger cities to resupply.

"We originally had enough medicinal herbs with us for the trip, but in Yingcheng, the Li family sent soldiers to search everywhere and ransacked the carriages. Several kinds of medicinal herbs were soaked in rain and became unusable, so we have to buy them again."

After leaving He Niangzi's medicine storehouse, Lin Yuesha had Bai Cha and Long Jing count the medicinal herbs she had found, instructing them to store them properly this time.

Medicinal herbs are nothing other than those that need to be properly stored.

When the notorious thief was mentioned, Bai Cha looked away uncomfortably. Everything that happened that night was a secret between her and her mistress, and she had never told anyone about it.

She always thought she was dreaming, but seeing the three thousand taels of silver notes in her purse reminded her that everything was real.

After leaving Yingcheng, she tossed and turned for several nights, constantly fearing that the man would come looking for her and kill her to silence her. However, all was well and her fears did not come true.

"Sister Yan, have you encountered some difficulties?"

Lin Yuesha was given a room by Jia San. Seeing Yan Yan looking worried, she hurriedly asked what was wrong. She thought her father had fallen ill again after all the trouble he had gone through, and she was worried.

"No, Uncle Xiao is fine. He fell asleep after taking his medicine."

Yan Yan poured herself a cup of tea, thinking about Lady He.

Lin Yuesha blinked. These days, women have to wear a chastity arch. A woman like He Niangzi, who has been married three times and has several lovers, doesn't even know who the father of her children is. Such a woman would be drowned in gossip and pelted with rotten eggs and vegetable leaves on the street.

Women are the ones who most enjoy making things difficult for them. It is women who put shackles on themselves, bind themselves, and thus accept the arrangements of fate.

Lin Yuesha had no opinion about He Niangzi; that was someone else's privacy, and it was really not appropriate for her, as an outsider, to judge.

When poor, one should cultivate one's own virtue; when rich, one should have many wives and concubines, regardless of gender.

"Sister Yan, do you regret giving Madam He the treatment?"

Lin Yuesha pondered for a moment and asked. No wonder Jia San said it was difficult to find a doctor. Some doctors had the air of scholars, were pedantic, and resolutely refused to treat bandits, even hanging one of them for it.

"no."

Doctor Yan hadn't even considered that possibility. But after Lin Yuesha's hint, she pursed her lips and smiled lightly, "Do you think I should look down on Madam He?"

"No, this has nothing to do with us."

Lin Yuesha stated frankly that she could understand if Yan Yan had any opinions.

That's not what I was thinking.

Yan Yan put down her teacup and began to talk about her worries.

Lady He is not young. Yan Yan took her pulse and found that Lady He's body was weakened by drinking the contraceptive soup. The contraceptive soup is an extremely cold substance, and it had been acting on her for more than ten years. Even if she were pregnant, it would still not be very stable.

"Madam He said that if she had a difficult childbirth, she begged me to protect her child, even if it meant having a cesarean section."

Because of this sentence, Dr. Yan remembered an old story.

"The Yan family has been practicing medicine for generations. My father was the most talented among his generation, even surpassing my uncle."

Yan Yan rarely mentioned her father, simply because he had become a disgrace to the family. He no longer practiced medicine but instead bought a piece of land in the suburbs of Beijing and settled down to farm, becoming a farmer.

Why did Uncle Yan stop practicing medicine?

The doctor who switched from medicine to farming must have encountered some serious trouble during that time.

"It was probably when I was twelve or thirteen years old that the wife of one of my father's uncles, who was on good terms with him, became pregnant,"

That uncle was a minor official in the capital, a bit older than Yan Yan's father, and had been childless for over a decade. Every year, his wife, Madam Wu, would go to a temple in the capital to donate incense money and kneel to pray to the Goddess of Fertility.

“When Wu was young, she was tormented by her wicked mother-in-law and had to kneel in the rain for three days. After that, her period became irregular.”

After Yan Yan finished speaking, she sighed deeply, "The medicine that Madam Wu drank was all prepared by my father himself. She drank it for many years, and it finally worked."

Before this, Ms. Wu had spent a lot of money to find a renowned gynecologist, only to be told to give up hope and that she would never be able to conceive.

After becoming pregnant, Ms. Wu felt much more relaxed, and this continued until the day she gave birth.

“My father and uncle are on good terms. They hired a midwife and invited my father to go, just in case something unexpected happened.”

However, what you fear most is what happens; the unexpected still occurred.

Ms. Wu's baby was breech. The midwife massaged her for two hours, but instead of correcting the baby's position, it caused Ms. Wu to have a massive hemorrhage and fall into a coma. She was kept alive by the old ginseng.

If this continues, the inevitable outcome will be the death of both mother and child.

"The midwife and my father were equally helpless. Seeing that Wu was about to die, she left a will and told everyone about her miserable state before she died, saying that she didn't want anyone to see it, and kicked everyone out of the delivery room. Not long after, my father heard a faint cry, the cry of a baby. He told the midwife to go into the delivery room immediately."

Inside the room, blood was everywhere, and Wu was already dead. Before she breathed her last, she used her last strength to find a knife, cut open her abdomen, and forcefully took out the child.

"Cesarean section to remove the child?"

Lin Yuesha's heart skipped a beat as she listened to Yan Yan's voice, and she asked in surprise.

"Yes, cesarean section to remove the fetus."

Ms. Wu sacrificed her own life to save her child's, a bloody and resolute act that shocked everyone present.

Yan Yan was filled with mixed emotions. She had never understood why her father would choose to farm, even when the clansmen were so angry that they wanted to kick the family out of the clan.

“My father told me that although he was a doctor, he was also a man, and it was not convenient for him to treat women. Many women were reluctant to seek medical treatment because of their illnesses. My identity, however, provided such convenience.”

Childbirth is a life-threatening ordeal for women, and countless women die every year due to complications during childbirth. But is it possible to prevent women from carrying on the family line? It's impossible.

He hoped that I could have my own opinions on this matter, and even have ways to help women reduce the risks during childbirth.

Motherly love is great, but we cannot morally blackmail mothers just because it is great, arguing that we should prioritize the infant over the mother, which defeats the purpose of continuing the bloodline.

Women are the foundation, and children come second.

Lin Yuesha remained silent. In Daqi, women were more like birthing machines, mere tools. To continue the family line, they would be criticized if they couldn't produce a son. Uncle Yan's understanding was far ahead of its time.

"I was thinking, what can I do as a woman?"

Yan Yan couldn't possibly go to Doctor Liao to discuss the topic of childbirth, so she confided her worries to Lin Yuesha, not seeking understanding.

"If the woman doesn't die after a cesarean section, wouldn't that save both the mother and the child?"

Lin Yuesha absolutely agreed, but she herself was not a doctor and could only spread the concept of modern cesarean section. However, there were too many obstacles to overcome.