12 Red rash
◎Please hire a doctor for Yunsui. She's dying!◎
After Yunsui left, Madam Meng raised her hand to refill Wu's cup with tea and advised, "Madam, please don't be angry. I think the second young lady is a bit foolish, but she is still respectful to you. She doesn't seem like someone who would complain. Besides, she is not very close to the old lady, so how can she ask the old lady to come?"
"So it's just a coincidence, you say?" Mrs. Wu frowned.
"Yes, and anything else would be fine, but the ground is frozen and the weather is cold, and the charcoal fire has been reduced by half. The second girl was sick not long ago, and I guess she hasn't recovered yet. We are reluctant to burn charcoal, so how can she bear it?" said Mother Meng.
Wu was a little displeased, and raised her eyebrows slightly: "Then it's still my fault?"
Madam Meng had served Wu for twenty years and knew her temperament best. She said pointedly, "Madam, you work hard managing the household, how could you possibly be wrong? You were right to ask Zhuyuyuan to be frugal. The fault lies with Mrs. Liao in the storeroom, who didn't know how to be modest. She could have just given her ordinary items like candles and lamp oil, but how could she arbitrarily reduce the charcoal fire by half? That's what caused so much trouble."
Mrs. Wu's face darkened. "What a tactless thing! She's also an elder in the mansion. Give her twenty slaps this afternoon as a punishment and transfer her to the kitchen to give the old lady an explanation."
"Yes." Mother Meng nodded. "Then what will Madam do with Zhuyuyuan?"
Mrs. Wu was furious: "The old lady has already said so. What else can we do? Just add what we need, and take out a piece of plain brocade from my storehouse and send it over together." The little girl was small in age, but she had a lot of troubles to deal with. In the final analysis, these troubles were caused by the second girl. She really lost both the wife and the army.
Madam Meng saw Wu's expression and knew she was blaming the Second Young Lady. She bowed and advised, "Madam, don't be angry. The Second Young Lady will be married in half a year at most. I can't burden you any further. Besides, it's not the Second Young Lady's fault. She's an honest and obedient person. It's all that old bitch Liao's fault."
Wu said nothing, curling her lips in agreement with Mother Meng's words. The second girl had indeed done nothing out of line in the past year, and she was even trying to curry favor. Furthermore, the foolishness she had done at the Li family's chrysanthemum viewing banquet didn't seem like someone who was deliberately pretending. Her words just now were merely a momentary outburst of anger.
Yunsui covered her face and cried all the way out of Yunxi Hall. The cold wind made her swollen face even more painful. She wanted to go back to the maid's room, but she didn't want to be seen in this embarrassing state. She walked back to Zhuyuyuan unknowingly.
Lanzhu couldn't control her strength when she kowtowed in the morning, and her forehead turned red. She was applying medicine in the ear room when she heard the door open. She turned around and saw Yunsui with a disheveled face and tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong with you? Who bullied you?" She didn't dare to speak loudly for fear of waking up the girl who was sleeping next door.
Yunsui said nothing, glanced at her, and threw herself over to the table, weeping profusely. But even as she cried, she knew her master next door was resting, so she bit her lips until they turned white to stifle the sound. Lanzhu was stunned, blinking until her sobs subsided, then she placed the ointment on the table and pushed it towards her.
"This is a blood-dissolving ointment. Use some. It will stop hurting."
Yunsui looked up, sobbing as she looked at her. She reached out and held the porcelain bottle, and whispered with tears in her eyes, "Thank you."
Lan Zhu sat across the table, frowned, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"Yes, yes, madam. She said that I didn't report to Yunxi Hall about my cousin coming to see the second lady, so, so... " Yunsui felt sad and couldn't hold back her words. Tears started to fall as she spoke.
Didn’t you report the second young lady’s matter to Yunxi Hall?
Lan Zhu's eyes softened as she looked at her bruised and swollen face. She sighed softly, "Hey, let me apply the medicine on you. Don't cry."
-
Chu Yufu slept until the afternoon, only to be awakened by hunger. The room was dimly lit, the charcoal fire burning brightly, and it was as warm as spring. Outside, she could faintly hear voices and the sound of moving things. Listening carefully, it seemed that the storehouse had delivered charcoal.
She couldn't help but chuckle twice, and rolled over on the bed wrapped in the quilt. After enduring for so many days, she finally got a chance!
When it was quiet outside, she gently called Lanzhu into the house, sat up and asked, "Is it someone from the warehouse?"
"Yes." Lanzhu nodded happily.
Chu Yufu also laughed, reached out to touch her red forehead, and whispered angrily: "Don't be so honest next time..."
Lan Zhu didn't care at all and said happily, "I'm just too nervous. Besides, it won't look real if I don't use more force!"
At dinner time, the dishes on the table were noticeably better than those of the previous few days. Chu Yufu picked up a piece of steamed fish and put it into her mouth. As she ate, she listened to the news that Lan Zhu had gathered outside that afternoon: "I heard that the old lady was very angry. When she left Cishou Hall, her face was extremely bad. She went back and punished Mrs. Liao. She also replenished our things. Although she didn't come to see the young lady in person, she sent someone to send a piece of plain brocade."
"Also..." Lan Zhu poured out a bowl of meatball soup and placed it next to her, saying, "Yun Sui was scolded and beaten by Madam."
Chu Yufu paused her chopsticks, remained silent for a moment, and sighed softly: "Let her rest more in the next few days."
On the morning of the second day, cousin Lu and Mother Yang came to see her, and she thanked them profusely. In the afternoon, the fourth girl, Chu Linglan, heard that her second sister was ill, and also came to visit with a box of snacks. No one from her eldest sister and third brother came from beginning to end, and they didn't even bother to show up.
Chu Yufu didn't care at all. She took advantage of the time of "recuperation" to stay in the house all day long, eating, sleeping and reading. Three days later, she asked Lan Zhu to go to the pharmacy again under the pretext of going out to get medicine.
This time, Lan Zhu brought back two pieces of news. First, the uncle at the drink stall had found out that Mr. Li San went to the Taoist temple on the first and fifteenth day of every month without fail. Second, many people in the capital were sick, and the pharmacies were crowded with people seeking treatment.
A few days ago, Chu Yufu mixed mugwort, atractylodes, and calamus together and lit them, fumigating the courtyard inside and out with the smoke. She told the little girls in the courtyard to wear cotton masks when going in and out, and to drink the anti-epidemic medicine soup in advance.
In the middle of October, one morning, the sky was gray and snow was falling. Chu Yufu was snuggling in bed and taking a nap when she was suddenly awakened by a series of hurried knocks on the door. She suddenly learned that Yunsui was dying!
The one who came to deliver the message was Yun Xing, Yun Sui's roommate. Her face was covered with snot and tears. When she saw Chu Yufu, she fell to her knees and cried, "Second Miss, please be kind and advance some of your monthly allowance to hire a doctor for Yun Sui. She's almost dying!"
Lan Zhu was shocked and couldn't help but cry out: "How could this happen? Did you go to find Mother Gu?"
Yun Xing said, "I've already looked for it, but Mother Gu said she can't cure it!"
If a maidservant fell ill, she would first go to the mansion to find a mother surnamed Gu. She had some medical knowledge and was best at treating colds and toothaches. If Mother Gu could not cure her, she would then go to find a bell doctor who roamed the streets. The bell doctor was also known as a traveling doctor. He often carried a medicine box and shook a tiger bell. He would go to treat anyone in need and charge a lower fee.
It was snowing like this, and the epidemic was serious, so the little maid naturally couldn't find a doctor. She could only go to the pharmacy to ask for an expensive doctor, and then she came to Zhuyuyuan. But Chu Yufu knew that under the current circumstances, even if she went to the pharmacy, it would be difficult to say for sure.
So after listening to it, she didn't rush to talk about the money. She just nodded slightly to show that she understood. Then she asked Yun Xing to get up and take her to see Yun Sui. As they walked, she asked her, "Tell me what's going on first?"
Yun Xing said, "Yun Sui said she had a sore throat and felt cold yesterday, but she developed a fever that night. I gave her some hot water and covered her tightly to make her sweat, but this morning her condition is even worse. She has a dense red rash on her face and body!"
Rash? Chu Yufu frowned.
According to her judgment, what has been raging in Shangjing City recently is influenza, which is called wind plague in traditional Chinese medicine. If it develops seriously, it may cause pneumonia, heart failure and the like, but rash is not one of them.
When she reached the maid's room, she put on a mask and covered her mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief before pushing the door open and going in.
This is a rectangular room. Opposite the window is a long brick kang with bedding spread on it. It can accommodate four people.
Yunsui was curled up in the far right corner, slumped over, her cheeks flushed, her exposed face, neck, and hands covered in red spots. A mother in her forties or fifties stood beside her, her face solemn. Yun Xing hurried forward and asked, "Mother Gu! How's Yunsui?"
Mother Gu turned around and first saw Chu Yufu in a light blue satin jacket. She quickly bowed before replying, "I can't cure Yunsui's illness. She has a sore throat, fever, and aversion to wind. It's definitely a cold, but my pulse doesn't suggest it!"
Her medical skills were only superficial, and at most she could treat minor illnesses and pains. She had never seen Yunsui in such a condition before. Seeing that the Second Young Lady was willing to come and see the girl in person, she boldly begged, "Young Lady, please go and get a doctor!"
Yun Xing burst into tears, wiped her tears, turned around and begged Chu Yufu again: "Please, please, second lady, save Yun Sui!"
She is the same age as Yunsui, and was sold to the mansion by the same human trafficker on the same day. They are as close as sisters on weekdays. Seeing that her good friend who was joking with her yesterday has fallen ill with a strange disease today, she is terrified and anxious!
Chu Yufu walked forward and carefully examined the rash on Yunsui's body. She then pressed her handkerchief against her wrist and felt her pulse. A light press made it very clear, but a harder press made it less intense. After a few breaths, she breathed a sigh of relief and said gently, "Don't be afraid. Yunsui's illness only looks serious. It won't kill her."
"Really?" Yun Xing looked up at her. Mother Gu beside her was secretly surprised. The second girl also knows medicine?
"She didn't have the plague, but rubella, a wind-heat attack from outside, with a raging heat. Right now, the entire capital is filled with patients. Even the pharmacies are packed, and even with money, it's hard to see a doctor. Luckily, I have some herbs in my room. I'll prepare them and have Lanzhu bring them over. I'll boil them for her to drink. Two doses will cure her."
"Thank you, Second Miss!" Yun Xing was overjoyed, her fingertips trembling wildly. She felt the Second Miss standing in front of her, backlit, glowing silver from hair to skirt, like a fairy. No wonder Yun Sui always raved about how wonderful Second Miss was! It was precisely for this reason that she had rushed to Zhuyu Courtyard to beg, rather than to Madam Meng at Yunxi Hall!
Mother Gu was not as simple-minded as Yun Xing. She gathered her sleeves and said nothing.
She was an old lady in charge of the garden flowers and trees in the mansion, and she knew the second young lady a little. This master was not very smart in the past. Apart from his pretty face, he had no special qualities. Now he suddenly said that he could cure diseases, especially such difficult and complicated diseases. She was a little skeptical, but the master was the master after all. Since the master had spoken, she had no reason to speak again.
Chu Yufu took in Gu Mama's expression but pretended not to notice. She glanced at Yunsui, then turned and left, returning to Zhuyuyuan to grab a dose of Xiaofengsan. She didn't have all the ingredients, missing one: cicada molt, which is supposed to dispel wind and relieve itching. It wasn't a big deal; she was lucky to have the rest.
When Lanzhu went to deliver the medicine, she gave him another detailed instruction: "Rubella can be transmitted from person to person. Report this to the housekeeper and have Yunsui move to a separate place to recuperate. Also, I don't have much medicine on hand, so I can only make this one dose. Add more water when boiling it, and drink it in three doses."
Lanzhu nodded in agreement like a chick pecking at rice, handed the medicine over, watched Yunxing boil it, and fed it to Yunsui before returning. After returning, she scrambled to Chu Yufu like a little bird, and hurriedly asked the question she had been holding back for two hours: "Miss! When will you be able to treat people? Is Yunsui really okay?!"
Chu Yufu extended her index finger and poked her forehead with a smile: "Do you think you read my books for nothing?"
"That's right." Lan Zhu covered her forehead with her hand.
Recently, the girl has been reading medical books every day, sometimes not resting until midnight, writing and taking notes very seriously. Besides, her maternal grandfather and mother are both doctors, so the girl must have some medical talent in her blood. Thinking about it this way, it is not surprising that the girl knows medical skills!
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