If it had been before, Su Rong would have hated when the entire family made a ruckus that would give her a headache. After all, most of the time, they gathered together to scold her. But now, she was almost killed by Nangong Yu and she nearly never saw them again. Now that she was back, listening to them chatter on didn’t bother her. In fact, she found it quite adorable.
The head of the family, upon seeing Su Rong’s cheerful disposition, suspected that she must be out of her mind. She recalled the third daughter saying that Su Rong’s injury must not have been light. So, she immediately ordered a servant, "Go, quickly bring a doctor."
Someone affirmed and went instantly.
Su Rong didn’t stop them. After the doctor examined her pulse, it would put them at ease.
"Did you really get injured? Where did you get hurt? Is it severe?" she asked. "If so, why did you ride a horse back?"
All present fell silent at these words and looked at Su Rong.
Su Rong finally was able to answer, "Yes, I was injured, but I’m almost healed now, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to ride a horse. Have I lost some weight? Probably due to the hustle and bustle of the journey. Mother, please ask the cook to prepare some nourishing dishes for me and I’ll recover in a few days."
"Where was the injury?" the head of the family was unable to tell just by her appearance and was desperate to rip her clothes open for a look.
Su Rong answered, "I was slashed on the back."
The head of the family inhaled sharply, "Who did it? Did you kill the bastard?"
"Yes, he was killed. Zhou Gu avenged me," said Su Rong.
Upon hearing this, the head of the family reached out to touch her back.
Su Rong stopped her, "Ouch, mother, I feel itchy whenever you touch me."
Seeing that Su Rong didn’t want her to touch it and move lithely to avoid it, she might indeed not be in a bad condition. It somewhat put her at ease, "Is that why you only sent one letter home after getting injured?"
"Mmm, there was a period when lifting even my arm was strenuous, I couldn’t write letters." Su Rong dared not say that she forgot. After all, when she was injured, she wasn’t completely incapacitated. Zhou Gu had helped her write a letter once.
The head of the family forgave her after hearing this, "Are you tired? Go rest on the kang first. After the doctor comes and examines you, you can sleep."
"I’m not tired." Su Rong truly didn’t feel very tired. Although she traveled during the day, she had a stay at the inn every night and never deprived herself of a good rest.
Seeing that Su Rong looked somewhat weary, which she couldn’t hide completely, but if she insisted not being tired, the head of the family didn’t pressure her. Instead, she asked Su Rong about what happened after she left the capital.
All the ladies were curious, waiting for her to tell the tale.
Su Rong hated telling stories the most. "Let Fen Ling tell it. I’m thirsty, he’s not."
Fen Ling hadn’t come to this inner room yet. He was sitting in the main room drinking tea. He almost spit out a mouthful of tea upon hearing this, thinking that his sister really knew how to take advantage of him.
"Oh my, where is Fen Ling?" Only then did it dawn upon the head of the family that she had been too engrossed in her daughter, forgetting about Fen Ling.
"Aunt, I’m here." Fen Ling put down his tea and entered the room, one by one greeting everyone. He skillfully addressed some as aunt and some as sisters.
"Good boy, come here and have a cup of tea. We are not in a hurry. You can tell us slowly. You can also tell us tomorrow if you are tired." The head of the family believed that what mattered was that Su Rong had come back safe and sound, everything else was secondary.
Fen Ling obediently sat down next to the head of the family, accepted the tea she passed to him, and replied with a smile, "I’ve already had a cup of tea in the main room. I’m not very thirsty now, and I’m not tired either. I’ll tell you now."
With the teacup in his hand, he told everyone about what happened after he and Su Rong left the capital, skipping no detail.
Fen Ling was a great storyteller. The way he told their tale made it sound precisely like a riveting narrative. The most thrilling parts were about Zhou Gu winning the allegiance of the eighteen tribes, Su Rong using a cunning trap, and how the two of them, without soldiers or generals, held Nanping City. He also skillfully highlighted the crucial roles of Ning Ze, Jiang Zhu, Zhang Mao, Zhang Yun, as well as the brothers from Jiang Zhu’s eighteen tribes and some generals under Zhang Yun, Imperial Concubine Pin, Doctor Zhang, and others who threw in their lot with Su Rong.
Su Rong had the biggest gains from this trip. She increased her manpower, and all of them were talented and capable individuals. With their addition, she had begun to establish her small imperial court in Nanchu.
After the story was over, the doctor came with his medicine box.
The head of the family promptly told the doctor to take Su Rong’s pulse. Su Rong extended her hand cooperatively. The doctor, who was a resident doctor at the capital’s pharmacy, carefully took her pulse and said to the head of the family, "Seven Miss seems to have sustained a severe injury about a month ago. She has lost too much blood then and hasn’t healed completely. Her constitution is quite debilitated. As you are still young, you should take it very seriously. I recommend starting a regimen of medicinal meals from today onwards. You should be all right after a month or so."
The head of the family asked in surprise, "Is it that serious?"
The doctor nodded and shook his head, "It is not too serious. Seven Miss has obviously used good medicine after getting severely injured. She had also consistently consumed medicinal soup for some time. But it was not enough, and it did not effect a complete recovery. It mostly treated the symptoms, but not the root cause, and the disease is not entirely cured. So, good care is still necessary, otherwise, at such a young age, if this injury becomes chronic, it will be problematic."
The head of the family slapped Su Rong and scolded, "You know better about medicine, why didn’t you take it seriously?"
Su Rong defended, "I was always on the go, had to sleep outdoors most of the time, so I didn’t have time and convenience."
She didn’t really think it was a big deal since she herself was a skilled doctor and knew her body well. But she wasn’t exactly lying either. They were always travelling, where would they find time to brew medicinal soup? In the cold weather, they mostly bought dry rations and were too tired after riding the whole day to do anything else but sleep after finding a place to stay. Brewing and drinking medicine was too much of a hassle under such circumstances.
"Luckily, we called for a doctor, otherwise, you’ll indeed be fooled by yourself. No consideration for your health at all!" Angrily glaring at Su Rong, she turned to the doctor and with a pleasant tone said, "Doctor, thank you for your trouble. Please write a prescription, and also give me a prescription for a medicinal meal. I’ll make sure someone supervises her daily to ensure she takes her medicine."
The doctor chuckled, "Since I’ve heard that Seven Miss excels in medical knowledge, this prescription..."
The head of the family interrupted him, "You write it—she is unreliable."
The doctor nodded, "All right then, I’m playing the lute to a cow in front of Seven Miss."
He went outside the room where stationery was laid out for him, and the doctor jotted down a prescription for Su Rong.
Since Su Rong had saved Zhou Gu by providing the Imperial Medical Bureau with the fever-reduction prescription, her medical skills had become quite famous in the capital. All the good doctors in the capital pharmacies who couldn’t break Zhou Gu’s fever were in awe when she provided a prescription that saved Zhou Gu’s life. She was highly respected by the Imperial Medical Bureau and all the pharmacies in the city.
When the doctor arrived today, he was confused at first. But after arriving and seeing Su Rong surrounded by her family, he understood that they worried about Su Rong deceiving herself about her health.
The head of the house of the Su family was well-reputed for keeping her family harmonious and well-managed. Today, seeing the love between mother and daughter and the pleasant atmosphere among the sisters, he realized the rumors were true.
The doctor quickly prepared a prescription, along with two medicinal meal prescriptions, collected his silver, and left the Xie Residence cheerfully.
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