The Sinful Woman's Golden Branch: The Jade-Faced Yama is Actually Me (18)...

Ye Xiqing's brilliant analogy left Wang Lijun speechless, and she could only look at her daughter with resentment.

However, before long, he actually started to look forward to "taking office as county magistrate," after all, who wouldn't look forward to such a thing?

Everyone wants a better life, and Wang Lijun was no exception. Even though she verbally declined, she was already planning what to do on her first day in office.

However, there wasn't much of a plan. On my first day in office, my main task was, of course, to organize the registration of households and the measurement of fields.

In the previous three counties, Ye Xiqing's land distribution team was already very familiar with this work, so Ye Xiqing completely let go and handed it over to his mother.

Wang Lijun looked at her in horror: "Aren't you even looking at me...?"

Ye Xiqing smiled and said, "Mother, I really want to see you, but I think I'm going to get sick again."

Wang Lijun: Huh?

Ye Xiqing wasn't lying. She woke up in the morning with a sore throat and felt like she was about to catch a cold. Guess what? She really did catch a cold the next day.

Wang Lijun was extremely worried and wanted to stay and take care of her, but Ye Xiqing resolutely refused.

One reason was that the important matter was paramount, and the other was that she might infect Guan Xianzhi's mother, whose health wasn't actually that good.

Everyone else was driven away, leaving only the young physician Ding who was to treat her. Ye Xiqing didn't forget to tell her to cover her mouth and nose, and to stay away from the fire, and to spray some of the alcohol she had brought with her for disinfection.

As someone who has owned a winery, it's impossible that I wouldn't know how to produce pure spirits.

But even though she had sold alcohol before, she felt that only a fool would buy it, and only an idiot would drink it.

Since the ancients didn't drink strong liquor, why bother developing a drinking culture for them? For now, let's treat strong liquor as a medical product, not a beverage.

The young physician, whose full name was Ding Ruhui, was very fortunate. In an era when medical skills were passed down only to men, she happened to be born to a female emperor who took in many female officials. So her grandfather sighed and taught her medicine as well.

She was originally with the princess, but these days she has been with Ye Xiqing, who not only takes care of her body personally, but also has witnessed a completely unfamiliar medical system.

Seeing Ye Xiqing's new measures, she became even more curious: "Why is it wine instead of vinegar? Vinegar is used to ward off evil spirits and prevent epidemics, so it spreads more widely than wine, doesn't it?"

Ye Xiqing lay on the bed, somewhat listless, but still patiently explained.

"From a sensory perspective, burning vinegar immediately fills the entire house with its aroma, and its 'exorcising' effect should be better than rubbing with alcohol. However, everything depends on concentration. The concentration of acetic acid that evaporates into the air is unlikely to have a disinfecting effect, and it is not as effective as high-purity liquor in directly disinfecting."

"Oh, so the purer the wine, the better?"

"No, 70% to 75% is optimal; going beyond that will actually reduce its effectiveness."

"Why?"

"The Doctrine of the Mean emphasizes that excess is as bad as deficiency. Everything must be kept within a certain range to be effective; exceeding or falling below is not good."

Ding Ruhui couldn't help but chuckle: "Do those evil poisons also adhere to the doctrine of the mean?"

"Yes, those evil poisons are actually alive, just tiny."

Ding Ruhui: ...

These days, Ye Xiqing has been telling her about the "bacteria" and "viruses" that permeate the air, which are even smaller than mustard seeds, and she finds it very interesting.

But the fact that they're all alive gives me the creeps...

Getting rid of that creepy feeling, Ding Ruhui went to examine Ye Xiqing.

These days, not only is Ye Xiqing teaching her the "Way of Witch Doctor," but she is also teaching Ye Xiqing the "Way of Herbal Medicine." When they see this case, the two of them explain it very carefully.

"Your pulse right now is a typical floating and rapid pulse."

"Place your hand on the pulse. If you can feel the pulse throbbing with a light touch, but it becomes weaker with a heavy touch, like wood floating on water, this is called a floating pulse. If the pulse beats faster than usual, this is called a rapid pulse."

"Observing your symptoms, including fever, sore throat, nasal congestion, yellow nasal discharge, red tongue with yellow coating, it is determined that this is due to wind-heat invading the lungs. Herbs that clear heat and detoxify should be selected for treatment, such as honeysuckle and forsythia."

Following her instructions, Ye Xiqing pressed her own pulse to experience the wisdom of the ancients.

It's quite astonishing that, despite having a very poor understanding of the microscopic world, they developed a complete medical system through meticulous observation of the body, accumulation of experience, and the use of pulse patterns and symptoms that are interconnected like the tides.

There wasn't much for her to learn in ancient times, except for traditional Chinese medicine, which was somewhat interesting.

Ye Xiqing experienced what the floating pulse was, and in return, she began to explain her "Witch Doctor's Way".

“In your medical system, this is called ‘wind-heat invading the lungs,’ but in witch medicine, it’s called inflammation.”

Ding Ruhui tilted his head: "Inflammation? Seems to be related to heat?"

Ye Xiqing paused for a moment.

At first, she only regarded "inflammation" as a proper noun and did not investigate its origin. After hearing Dr. Ding's speech, she suddenly realized the connection between them and couldn't help but smile.

“That’s right. The Goddess of Wushan also belongs to the lineage of Shennong. Her witch medicine is also connected with your herbal medicine. In witch medicine, this ‘inflammation’ is also related to ‘invasion’.”

"The kind of bacteria and viruses that I mentioned before, which are as small as a mustard seed, can invade the human body through breathing and eating. Some can cause wind-heat, and more serious ones can lead to plague."

"You probably already know this, but what I'm about to say is something very illogical."

“When pathogenic toxins enter the body and cause illness, the body will produce uncomfortable symptoms. These symptoms are usually regarded as caused by pathogenic toxins, but in fact, the opposite is true. They are caused by the body’s ‘hundred spirits’ expelling toxins.”

"To use a real-world analogy, the body is a complete country, with a brain as the commander-in-chief, a heart that continuously produces energy, blood vessels that connect to the organs, blood that flows tirelessly to transport supplies, organs that each perform their own functions, and soldiers that defend against enemy invasion."

“Once the evil poison invades the body, soldiers will go out to fight it. But the battle against the evil poison is always accompanied by casualties. The bodies of soldiers who die in battle are expelled through runny noses. There are too many bodies, which leads to nasal congestion.”

"Because they are powerless and need the help of the heavens, the evil poisons fear high heat, so they pray to the heavens to send down an extreme heat to help them fight. This manifests on the body as high fever."

Ding Ruhui: ...

"So, the most deadly symptoms of wind-heat are actually caused by the body actively inviting the pathogenic toxins in its resistance?"

"That's right. In real-world combat, extreme measures such as flooding seven armies or burning down a series of camps are often used."

"But the biggest cause of death and injury from rotavirus is high fever..."

"That's even more true. Water and fire are merciless, so it's perfectly normal for them to burn you."

Ding Ruhui: ...

"Then there's no medicine for minor remedies...?"

"Yes, but this world is divided into two realms: Yin and Yang. Herbs, plants, and medicines, as you mentioned, belong to the Yang realm, while bacteria and viruses belong to the Yin realm."

"The Yin and Yang realms do not interfere with each other. If medicine from the Yang realm is used, it can only be used as a 'prayer' to awaken the Yin spirit sleeping in the body. Once the Yin spirit is summoned, it will clear away the invading evil spirits."

"But the Yin spirit is a righteous spirit. To exorcise a ghost, you must go through a process, and your body will inevitably experience those symptoms. If you want to avoid this stage, you can only use ghost medicine."

Ding Ruhui: "Ghost medicine?"

“That’s right. Although the Rong and Hu tribes often invade our territory, we can also recruit Hu generals to fight them with Hu, and use ghosts to fight ghosts.”

"The one who understands ghosts best is the ghost itself, so there are also ghost medicines that use ghosts as ingredients to directly kill evil poisons, which is the quickest and most effective method."

"But since it is a ghost medicine, it must have its strange aspects. Ghosts are things that devour people. If you are not careful, you will be devoured and die, or get other ghost diseases."

"Even worse, it can kill the Yin spirit, causing the Yin spirit to no longer protect the body, and evil poisons can enter and exit without hindrance."

"Therefore, in witch doctors, if the spirit is effective, they will not use ghost medicine."

"Moreover, as I told you, evil poisons are alive. They won't be killed by a single ghost medicine forever. When they learn how to deal with ghost medicines, they will generate even more powerful evil poisons. Don't dabble in this field until you have complete control over ghost medicines."

Ding Ruhui nodded immediately; it sounded terrifying!

The physician, Xiao Ding, was quite frightened. He fed Ye Xiqing Yinqiao Powder to relieve her fever and poison, while also using physical methods to lower her temperature to prevent the "divine general" in her body from overusing his troops and causing the country to perish.

Even though Ye Xiqing was delirious with fever, she still spoke with remarkable clarity and logical thinking when discussing professional knowledge.

"The Goddess of Wushan is a goddess of nature who guides believers to understand their own bodies."

"The gods are not in the heavens, but in the human body. One should eat and drink well, go to bed early and get up late, exercise diligently, strengthen one's body, and worship the gods of the five internal organs in order to be protected from all evils."

"Women are born with a complete body, capable of connecting yin and yang, making them the perfect sacred body for practicing witchcraft and medicine. Men, on the other hand, are often disabled and prone to offending spirits and deities, so they should not be allowed to practice witchcraft and medicine. This path is passed down to women, not men. Do you understand?"

Before Ding Ruhui could even voice his opinion, the system jumped up and down: "Passing it down to sons but not daughters is wrong, and passing it down to daughters but not sons is also wrong! Aren't you going from one extreme to the other?!"

Ye Xiqing yawned, finally feeling a bit sleepy.

Sleeping when you're tired is the best way to nourish your body. Ye Xiqing was about to go to sleep, but the system was still acting as an alarm clock in her ear, so she was too lazy to pay attention to it.

"Who says I can't be an extreme person? I am an extreme person, so why can't I do extreme things?"

"And could you please turn on a do-not-disturb mode for me before bed?"

system:……

Unlike the system, which thought Ye Xiqing was extreme, Ding Ruhui thought it was quite normal.

After all, she was an ancient native and could not have suddenly developed an egalitarian ideology that transcended her time. In her mind, passing the knowledge down to sons rather than daughters, or vice versa, was perfectly normal. She didn't care; she just wanted the knowledge to be passed down to her.

Taking up my pen to record this magical way of witch medicine is truly both strange and fascinating.

However, the consequences of the ghost drug going out of control as described by Ye Xiqing are too terrible. For the safety of the disabled men, it is better not to pass it on to them. Let the woman who can communicate with ghosts and gods take on this dangerous responsibility!

...

Upon returning home, Feng Yuzhu immediately tearfully recounted the outcome of the meeting to her parents-in-law. She sadly declared that she had no intention of seizing the Liu family's wealth and would take her daughter to live independently, vowing never to do anything to betray the Liu family!

The parents-in-law were anxious. The Liu family was in decline, with distant relatives eyeing them and the princess exerting pressure from the outside. They needed a capable person to take charge, and Feng Yuzhu, who had become the salt commissioner, was naturally the best choice.

But why register her as a household member? Is it appropriate to register a daughter-in-law from another family as a household member? Wouldn't that mean the Liu family would directly become her Feng family?

They were reluctant to give up Feng Yuzhu's current power, nor could they give up the Liu family's legacy. So Feng Yuzhu simply took her daughter and went out with drums and gongs.

She used to value the Liu family highly because she had nothing else besides the Liu family.

If she could now establish her own household, or even become an official, why would she still cling to the Liu family?

What Ye Xiqing meant to her was that she should take over the Liu family.

But Feng Yuzhu had eaten too much undercooked rice, and when she finally had the power to make her own decisions, all she could think of was eating a clean, easy-to-eat meal!

This is also a common thought among women: they are told by their parents, "We raised you, but you can't repay us in any way. So before we sell you to your husband's family, we'll earn one last sum of money to repay your parents."

At her in-laws' house, they say, "You were bought by our family, you eat our food, so it's only right that we treat you this way."

Women raised in such an environment find it difficult to naturally develop the same "Mine! Mine! All mine!" mentality as men who are surrounded by admirers when they gain power.

Compared to men's preference for "eating the last grain of rice," they prefer to vomit up all the half-eaten rice they've ever eaten, letting all the accumulated filth that has been stuck in their stomachs and crawling in their hearts be emptied out in one go, so that they owe no one anything anymore!

Ye Xiqing didn't care what Feng Yuzhu would do. After all, there was no such thing as one being more important than the other when it came to mental or physical torment, and there was no standard answer as to which should be treated first.

Feng Yuzhu felt that she should first heal her spirit and vent the evil in her heart. So she should heal her spirit. Ye Xiqing would only kill those who deserved to be killed.

The process remains the same: conviction, execution.

Having successfully fought the demonic disease within his body, Ye Xiqing began his killing spree.

She never kills innocent people, but what can I do? You don't seem to be innocent.

I thought that Feng Yuzhu's agreement to this matter meant she had escaped a calamity, but I never expected that she would still be killed!

The Liu family, terrified by the killings, finally couldn't take it anymore and went out to kneel and beg Feng Yuzhu to take them back.

But Feng Yuzhu was no longer the same person she used to be, and she flatly refused.

The remaining members of the Liu family could only be invited again and again. Feng Yuzhu tried to refuse in every way, but she couldn't, so she had no choice but to compromise.

The villagers can attest that it wasn't Feng Yuzhu's wish; it was the Liu family who came to her request!

All she wanted at first was a clean meal, so why did all those foreign things have to be stuffed into her arms?

Ye Xiqing smiled and said, "Of course, it's because I'll cover for your evil deeds."

I will take responsibility for all the evil; you just need to be a good person.