After the Marquis of Jingbei's heir woke up, Chen Zhaoci finally felt relieved.

This was her first patient since she arrived here. After examining Shen Bo, Chen Zhaoci gave him some dietary advice, which Shen Bo carefully noted down.

The heir of the Marquis of Jingbei was on a secret mission to return to the capital. He encountered several assassination attempts along the way, and was injured when he arrived in the capital.

The heir of the Marquis of Jingbei hid in this manor and secretly sent someone to the capital to report the news. After explaining some things, he settled down in the manor to recuperate from his injuries.

Xu Rao is quite anxious now. He had a dream in which he dreamt of the original owner's experiences over the past twenty years. He was finally able to return to the Marquis's mansion with his head held high. However, the Marquis of Jingbei's heir still needs Chen Zhaoci's care. So Xu Di simply discussed with Xu Rao that they should not go back for the time being, but stay here for a while. This way, the people who were supposed to come out of the Marquis's mansion would all come out.

The three members of the Xu family had been in a difficult situation. The heir of the Marquis of Jingbei, Ting Shenbo, had mentioned it. He naturally knew of Xu Rao. There were only a few dukes and marquises in the capital, and there were very few like Xu Rao who had passed the imperial examinations all the way through.

After the Marquis of Jingbei was able to sit up, he chatted with Xu Rao and learned that Xu Rao was about to be selected as an official. Xu Rao's words implied that he wanted to go to another place. The Marquis of Jingbei thought of Xu San's excellent medical skills and began to think about it.

The three of them slept in one room that night. Chen Zhaoci said, "When are we going back? I really want to see our little girl. Oh my, I'm so lucky to have such a lovely daughter. God has really been kind to me."

Xu Rao said, "I also want to go back as soon as possible. There are still many things to deal with. This happened right after the Qionglin Banquet ended. I'm afraid that if I go back too late, people will think I'm dead and they'll cancel my Jinshi title and make me take the exam again. I can't pass the exam."

Xu Di said, "Tomorrow you can talk to the heir of the Marquis of Jingbei and ask him to arrange for someone to send us home."

Xu Rao sighed and said, "I don't know what kind of people I'll have to face when I go back. Just thinking about it makes me quite scared."

Xu Di said, "Dad, you're a professor, and I've never seen you afraid of anything. This is nothing."

Chen Zhaoci said, "You guys are fine, but I'm the one who's most afraid. The Hou family is so big and powerful, and they haven't divided the family property. Tell me, how am I, someone with no cunning, supposed to deal with all the infighting and backstabbing in the inner quarters?"

Xu Di said, "Mom, you were never the same as that family, have you forgotten?"

Chen Zhaoci listened and realized it was true.

Chen Zhaoci's family were imperial physicians in the previous dynasty, but later they fell into poverty and opened a clinic in the capital.

Of all the siblings, Chen Zhaoci had the best talent for medicine. His grandfather was a highly skilled doctor, and it was thanks to him that the Chen family's medical clinic flourished. Unfortunately, there was no successor. None of Chen Zhaoci's father's generation could inherit his grandfather's medical skills. In Chen Zhaoci's generation, his brothers were only mediocre in medicine, but they had a great talent for business. Gradually, the Chen family's medical clinic turned into a pharmacy.

Chen Zhaoci was a girl. No matter how tolerant the dynasty was towards women, it would not allow a girl to show her face in public and practice medicine.

The pharmacy lacked a skilled doctor, and Chen Zhaoci's elder brother had offended a powerful figure, forcing him to leave the capital and travel to another place.

Fortunately, a few years earlier, the old master of the Chen family had saved the life of the Marquis of Yongning. The Marquis of Yongning then arranged a marriage between the young Xu Rao and Chen Zhaoci. Before leaving the Chen family, the Marquis of Yongning completed the marriage between Xu Rao and Chen Zhaoci.

Chen Zhaoci learned medicine from his grandfather from a young age, went to the mountains with his older brothers to collect herbs, and even went to the medicinal herb market on the border of Northwest China to buy herbs. He also went to Jiangnan a few times. It can be said that Chen Zhaoci was a person who had traveled all over the country.

After Chen Zhaoci got married, because she married a son of a concubine from a noble family, she didn't have to learn how to manage a household. Her mother-in-law didn't care much about her husband, and her husband's mother didn't care about him either. The young couple just closed the door and lived their own lives, which was quite harmonious.

At first, the people in the Marquis's mansion thought that this Third Madam was a person with no temper. Coming from a humble family, she had to be cautious and careful after marrying into such a large Marquis's mansion. The servants in the mansion were always climbing the social ladder and stepping on the lowly. Apart from the small kitchen in the old lady's courtyard, the food in the large Marquis's mansion was obtained from the main kitchen.

Each courtyard had a set menu for every meal. At first, the food in Xu Rao and Chen Zhaoci's courtyard was of decent quality. Although the food would get cold after being brought from the main kitchen, it could still be reheated using the small red clay stove in the courtyard. However, the quality of the food deteriorated significantly later on, and they ate worse than even the most favored maids in the mansion.

When Xu Di was a little over two years old, he had an egg custard in his daily meals. This was a dish that every young master in the mansion had. However, the ingredients for the steamed egg custard varied. Some were simply steamed eggs, while others had vegetables, shrimp, sea cucumber, or other ingredients added to the custard. It all depended on how the child's parents rewarded the cooks in the main kitchen.

When Zhang Zhaoci got married, her family gave her a dowry of many precious medicinal herbs and silver notes. Although the Chen family was no longer famous, they were the largest medicinal herb merchants in the Liang Dynasty because they had been dealing in medicinal herbs for many years. Otherwise, they would not have attracted the envy of others, who would have tried to suppress the Chen family and force them to leave the capital.

To ensure her children grew up healthy, Chen Zhaoci often cooked various kinds of soups for them. Coincidentally, her brother-in-law brought back a package of dried sea cucumbers for her. After soaking them, Chen Zhaoci used them for Xu Rao, who was preparing for his exams, and also for Xu Di to make steamed egg custard.

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