18 Guogong Mansion
◎If Madam can find him, the young master may still have hope.◎
In Yunxi Hall, everyone moved Chu Junze, who was clutching his leg and crying out in pain, to the couch. Wu caressed her son's face, which had turned pale from the pain, tears streaming down her face, "Son, just bear with it. Mother has already sent for a doctor! Your father is so cruel. How could he bear it!"
Chu Jinhe curled her lips and said coldly, "...Mother, if I were to say that my brother didn't feel wronged for the beating he received, he should have grown his brain. Looking at his current state, let alone rising to prominence and supporting me in the future, it would be a blessing if he didn't cause trouble for you and father to worry about."
The second girl's incident was such a big deal that it was hard for her not to know about it. When she rushed to the door of Yunxi Hall, she just heard her brother's "nonsense". Seeing that the hall was in chaos, she did not join in the fun. She hid in the side room and did not come out until everyone had dispersed.
Mrs. Wu knew her daughter was right. She had disciplined her son often, but he just didn't learn his lesson. It was better for him to be disciplined at home now than to cause trouble outside. She wiped her eyes and couldn't help but pat her son lightly: "It hurts, so he'll definitely improve!"
Then she started to worry again: "The Li family has really gone too far this time. Your father and your grandmother are determined to break off the engagement for the second girl..."
Chu Jinhe didn't respond immediately. She sat down at the table thoughtfully, supporting her chin with one hand. After a moment, she said, "Mother, I don't think it's a bad thing for the second girl to break off the engagement."
Wu was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Chu Jinhe's eyes were burning. "Dad, didn't you want to marry into the Pei family? Now that Li Min is gone, there's still Pei Yue. Since I don't want to marry, then let the second girl marry."
After being reminded by her daughter, Mrs. Wu came to her senses. The master was worried that Doctor Wang would report him for finding a way for his son. But if the Pei and Chu families got married, Doctor Wang would have to consider Minister Pei no matter what he wanted to do, right?
She smiled at her daughter, exhaled a breath, and said with a relaxed brow, "He'er still has the idea!"
"But we have to wait a little longer. I'll bring it up again when your father calms down a bit."
Half a minute later, the servant called Doctor Zhang over.
After the examination, Doctor Zhang concluded that Chu Junze's swollen calf was probably fractured. Although it would hurt for a while, it was not serious and he just needed to rest.
Mrs. Wu scolded her son verbally, but she was still heartbroken. He had never had a scratch on his skin since he was a child, but today his bones were broken by his husband himself. Thinking about it, her eyes turned red again and she lay on the bed and cried.
After making sure that the third brother was fine, Mother Meng sent the doctor out of the house.
After leaving the Chu Mansion, Doctor Zhang boarded a carriage and set off for home. Before he had gone far, he was stopped by someone. He leaned over and saw that the person who stopped the carriage was his young apprentice from the pharmacy.
"Master, something happened at Duke Xin's Mansion. I want you to go and take a look!"
Doctor Zhang frowned, "Is it Master Yan?"
"Yes!" replied the young apprentice.
Doctor Zhang retreated into the carriage and ordered it to drive to the Duke of Xin's mansion.
When he arrived at Duke Xin's residence, three doctors were already treating Young Master Yan. Doctor Zhang bowed to the Duke's wife, who was guarding the bed, then went to the bedside and looked at the boy lying on his back.
The boy was sleeping soundly in the brocade quilt. He was breathing weakly and his body was as thin and frail as a young willow in early spring. His face was pale and bloodless, his lips were dry, and there was a purple spot under his eyelids. He looked like he was seriously ill.
The maidservant beside him whispered to Doctor Zhang, "My brother hasn't been sleeping well lately. He had a cough when he woke up this morning, and he started having diarrhea after dinner. His stool was like mud."
Doctor Zhang nodded and raised his hand to feel the pulse of Young Master Yan. During this time, the other three doctors stood by and watched his movements. When he withdrew his hand, the leading doctor winked at him. The four of them walked around the white jade screen and stood in a circle around the table with sad faces. They looked at each other and sighed at the same time.
The eldest son of the Yan family is named Yan Yuchen. He is the only biological son of the Duke's wife. He is twelve years old this year, but because of congenital deficiencies and weak fetus, he looks only eight or nine years old. He has been sickly since birth and has taken more medicine than food.
Medical classics say that "tonics are like delicious food, and the spleen and stomach are like the stove." This child was born more than two months prematurely, and his spleen yang is congenitally insufficient. His body is like a broken stove, and no matter how precious the medicinal materials are, they are difficult to digest in him. In this case, coughing is a small matter, and the problem lies in loose stools. When taking his pulse just now, several people noticed that the young master's body was on the verge of breakdown and was too weak to be nourished.
The four people standing here today were all renowned doctors in the capital, having been co-examining Master Yan for many years. Although they had anticipated this day, they still felt quite heavy-hearted. The youngest, Doctor Wang, was silent for a moment before speaking first: "In my opinion, we should stop using Rehmannia glutinosa."
Rehmannia root nourishes kidney yin, nourishes blood and replenishes deficiency. But now it seems that it cannot replenish the deficiency and will bring burden to Master Yan.
Doctor Liu, who had a goatee, nodded and after a moment's hesitation, he continued, "Stop using the aconite as well."
"Stop using the aconite?" Doctor Zhang frowned. "It's not advisable to stop it completely. Without the aconite's ability to warm the spleen and kidneys, it might cause swelling in the limbs and worsen the cough and asthma. It's better to reduce the dosage."
"I just felt Mr. Yan's pulse, and it was like tangled silk threads. It's obvious that his liver is damaged. I'm afraid he won't be able to handle it if he doesn't stop taking the medicine." Doctor Liu also had his own considerations.
No one could sustain long-term medication, let alone a child like Young Master Yan. But the problem was, stopping the medication was even more impossible. His body was like paper, leaking everywhere. The doctors tried their best to patch it up, but a paper figure soaked in medicine for so long would eventually rot. Now he was at the end of his strength, and there was nothing they could do but drag it out.
"Let's stop the medication for now." Doctor Xu, who had been silent from beginning to end, finally spoke in a deep voice.
Everyone looked at him.
Doctor Xu, whose courtesy name is Renfu, is seventy-two years old this year. He comes from a family of medical practitioners and once served as the director of the Imperial Medical Bureau. The doctors present all implicitly regard him as their leader. He glanced in the direction of Young Master Yan across the screen and said.
"Young Master Yan's pulse is shaky, indicating damage to all five internal organs. Giving him medicine at this time would be like adding fuel to a dying lamp. Not only would it be useless, it might even accelerate the dissipation of his vital energy. It would be better to try moxibustion on the Guanyuan Qi Sea, combined with acupuncture techniques for replenishing and draining. He should recuperate for a few days to see the results before making a final decision."
After hearing this, the doctors pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement.
Doctor Liu took the initiative to say, "New mugwort is dry in nature. I have some aged Dragon Boat Festival mugwort that's over three years old. I'll send it over later..."
Young Master Yan was afraid of the cold. There were two charcoal basins placed at the head and foot of the bed. The charcoal fire was burning, but Shen Lanzheng, who was sitting beside the bed, felt her hands and feet were cold. Her eyes were dead, and she was holding her son's hand in a daze.
The doctors' whispers came through the screen, but she couldn't hear clearly. She could only hear some words - "can't bear it" and "the light is going out". In fact, as a mother, she knew her son's physical condition best. She knew that the moment she had worried about for many years was really coming.
For twelve years, more than four thousand three hundred days and nights, she tried her best, spent countless herbs and efforts to keep the child, but it was probably impossible to keep him.
Her dull eyes rolled around, her gaze falling from her son's pale cheek to the light green quilt with tortoise shell patterns on his body. The overlapping tortoise shell patterns on the quilt made her dizzy. "Turtle and crane prolong life, turtle and crane prolong life!" If she could trade her life for her son's, she would have no complaints!
The doctors discussed for half a cup of tea, then returned to the bedside and bowed to her. After Xu Renfu informed her of their conclusion, Shen Lanzheng simply nodded, raised her hand to smooth down her son's slightly disheveled hair, and said softly, "It's better not to take the medicine. After all the suffering over the years, it's time to stop."
The room was silent, no one spoke.
Chen Lanzheng raised her head, forced herself to cheer up, nodded slightly to everyone, and asked the maid to give the doctors a reward and send them out of the house.
After the sound of the crowd's footsteps faded away, she sat there for a long time before getting up. After walking around the screen, she found that Xu Renfu had not left. She asked, "Doctor Xu, do you have anything else to say?"
"Yes," Xu Renfu bowed slightly, "I just suddenly thought of someone. If Madam can find him, there might still be hope for the young master."
The red candle on the table suddenly made a popping sound, and Shen Lanzheng's eyebrows jumped: "Doctor Xu, please speak." The four doctors she invited were already the best in the capital, and the doctors in the capital were the best in the entire Yan State. Could there be anyone more powerful than them?
"That man's name is Wan Jilin, a native of Tuzhou, and he is particularly good at acupuncture. To be honest with Madam Shen, I had anticipated the young master's condition today and have done a lot of research. At present, it is appropriate to use acupuncture and moxibustion for treatment. And this Doctor Wan, the people of Tuzhou call him Wan Miaoshou, is extremely skilled in acupuncture and moxibustion, his level is far above mine." Xu Renfu said.
"Oh?" Chen Lanzheng's eyes suddenly lit up. "If this Wan Miaoshou is so powerful, why isn't he serving in the imperial palace? Or even in the capital?"
Xu Renfu shook his head. "Wan Miaoshou has a free-spirited personality and doesn't want to be confined to one place. It was just a coincidence that I met him."
"Back then, when he was less than forty, he proposed the concept of 'attacking and replenishing at the same time.' He believed that 'single-type replenishing and draining techniques' could only regulate in one direction, either draining or replenishing, and were too rigid. He devoted himself to researching 'complex replenishing and draining techniques' that could treat both the symptoms and the root cause. Now, twenty years have passed since our conversation. Given his talent and wisdom, he may have a clue. This kind of acupuncture method, which can dispel evil and strengthen the body, is exactly what the young master needs."
"Then why didn't Doctor Xu tell me earlier so I could make plans earlier!" Shen Lanzheng's face was a little gloomy.
Xu Renfu smiled bitterly. "I don't know him very well, and I don't know if he's truly accomplished anything. I'm also worried that you might be disappointed. At this point, there's really no better way..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Master Yan on the other side of the screen suddenly woke up and called out weakly, "Mom."
Chen Lanzheng took a deep breath, straightened her back, and the gilded phoenix hairpin in her temples trembled slightly, revealing a bit of the majesty of a Duke's wife: "Looking for it, I will send people to Tuzhou tonight. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, I will never give up!"
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