26 Different
◎Are you sure the person who treated Madam Jiang was Miss Chu Er?◎
After two nights of sleepless nights, Chu Yufu sat in the carriage on the way to the Marquis of Mingxuan's mansion the next day. She looked a little tired, but her spirits were very good, even a little excited.
Because she figured it out!
She couldn't sleep at night and went over her plan carefully.
She had devoted so much time to treating patients and compiling medical books. What was her purpose? Wasn't it simply to build a reputation, to gain a foothold under the General Zhenbei, to escape the man-eating mansion, to control her own future, to live a life of her own? She had no desire for some grand career or to become some peerless female healer.
Originally, she was worried about how to contact the Pei family and have contact with General Pei. Now, her elder sister was blind to the talent and let the future general fall into her hands.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, General Pei is indeed a very good marriage candidate.
She vaguely remembered that the other party's parents died early and he was living with his uncle. In other words, he had a car and a house but both his parents were dead. He was a real bachelor.
If she could truly be with him, and if he truly was willing to open a girls' school, a rare enlightened man of his time, then she would be willing to do everything in her power to change his untimely death and save his life. If he wasn't such a good man, she would only have to endure for a few years. When he died on the battlefield, she would be a happy widow with a vast fortune and no in-laws to worry about!
Thinking about it this way, it is a good way out!
The carriage clattered on the stone slabs. Chu Yufu drew aside the curtains, rested her chin on the window frame, and exhaled. It was so hard. Life was so hard, and being a woman was even harder...
As the carriage turned into the alley, she collected her thoughts, flexed her fingers, and prepared to give Madam Jiang acupuncture for the second time.
The effect of acupuncture combined with hot compress with herbal bags was particularly good. The pain was reduced by 40% on the first day of acupuncture. The hot compress and acupuncture complemented each other for two consecutive days, and the pain was reduced by another point. Old Madam Jiang felt relaxed, and had hope in her heart. She was in particularly good spirits and in a particularly good mood. She gave money to the servants for two consecutive days, and the whole Lin Tao Courtyard was full of joy.
The maid who was sent from Lin Tao Courtyard to pick up Chu Yufu at the door had an extremely attentive and sincere smile on her face. She just hoped that the girls from the Chu family would come more often and that the old lady would get better and better.
As soon as she entered the warm room, a maid served her tea. Chu Yufu took a sip and placed it on the table. She asked with a smile, "How have you been feeling these past two days, Madam?"
"It's gotten much better. Before, it would take me half a decade of severe pain to get better. This time, I felt half better the next day after the acupuncture." Mrs. Jiang replied with a smile.
Chu Yufu pulled out a needle bag from her sleeve and said, "That's good. The first acupuncture session always has the best effect, and subsequent sessions will be less effective. For the first seven sessions, I'll come every other day. If nothing unexpected happens, starting from the eighth session, I'll do it every five days."
"Listen to Miss Chu." said Mrs. Jiang.
After a few pleasantries, the maids moved the screen, added charcoal to the stove, took off clothes, and began the second treatment, just like the first time.
-
The end of the year is approaching, and the capital city in December is extremely bustling. Zhuque Street is full of vendors selling portraits of door gods, Zhong Kui, peach charms, and New Year pictures. Red lanterns are hung in front of restaurants and shops. The white snow and red paper complement each other, and the New Year atmosphere is immediately in the air. Every household is busy preparing for the upcoming New Year.
The Pei and Zhao families are old friends. Mrs. Huang, the wife of Minister Pei, and Mrs. Wang, the wife of Marquis Mingxuan, are cousins. They have close contacts on a daily basis. Whenever Mrs. Huang encounters a difficult decision, she always seeks advice from her cousin.
On the day after Laba Festival, Huang sent someone to deliver a visiting card to the residence of Marquis Mingxuan early in the morning in order to discuss with Wang about presenting gifts for the Empress Dowager's birthday half a month later.
This year, Dayan was hit by disasters everywhere, and the Queen Mother did not want to hold a grand celebration. Naturally, the birthday gifts presented by the officials should not be too extravagant. It would be best if they were small gadgets that were both novel and thoughtful. The two of them pondered for a long time before they finalized their decision.
In Luoying Tower, the charcoal fire was burning brightly, making people feel a little stuffy. Huang reached out and pushed open half of the carved window. A cold wind blew in her face. She sighed in comfort and turned to complain to her cousin.
"Last month, I collected several fine snow fox pelts from the Turks in Lingzhou. I originally wanted to give them as birthday gifts, but yesterday I heard from the master that the Turks had also recently suffered a snowstorm, and as the year draws to a close, they've been harassing our people along the border. When the news reached the capital, His Majesty was furious, so I didn't want to offer him fox pelts again and risk bad luck."
Wang picked up a bright yellow orange, peeled it, and handed it to her, saying with a smile, "The Empress Dowager will celebrate her birthday more than once. If you don't give it to her this year, you can save it for next year. Or you can use it to make a dress for yourself, which would also be nice."
Huang lowered her eyes and picked at the white threads on the orange petals, sighing softly, "As for me, it's not just the skin that bothers me. I hate those evil Turks even more..."
Hearing her mention the Turks, Wang sighed inwardly and changed the subject, telling her that Doctor Chu's second daughter actually had excellent medical skills and was now asking her to treat her mother-in-law.
The two of them didn't talk for long when they suddenly heard voices coming from outside the window. Huang looked out and saw a group of people coming out of Lintao Courtyard opposite Luoying Tower. Leading the group was a young girl in a smoky pink jacket and skirt.
The little girl has slender shoulders and a slim waist, her complexion is as white as the fresh snow on the eaves, her big eyes are watery and bright, her smile is charming, and her whole body looks like it was fired in the Quanzhou official kiln, with a gentle and translucent sweet white glaze.
Wang nodded lightly: "Yes, that's the Second Miss Chu I was talking about."
Huang leaned close to the window frame, staring for a long time, until Miss Chu and her group walked away. Then she turned around and shook her head, "What do you think the Li family is thinking?"
The incident of the broken engagement between the Chu and Li families had not passed for long when the news that the third son of the Li family had an affair with a Taoist nun and even caused a death after getting engaged became a hot topic. An imperial censor even reported the Li family for their poor parenting skills.
After everyone condemned Li Sanlang for his absurdity, they did not let go of Miss Chu Er, and speculated that she was probably not liked because she looked ugly and had a bad temper.
And just now, Huang had heard from her cousin that the second Miss Chu had a gentle personality, was polite to others, and had good medical skills. She subconsciously thought that if she didn't have a bad personality, then she probably just looked a little bad.
What a coincidence, just as this thought flashed through her mind, she saw the true face of Miss Chu Er. Besides being surprised, she found the discussions outside ridiculous.
The Li family must have been blinded by greed. They didn't want to marry such a beautiful girl, but wanted to get involved with a divorced nun from the Taoist temple.
Wang sipped her tea and raised her eyebrows slightly: "Perhaps it means that a wife is not as good as a concubine, and a concubine is not as good as a secret lover."
Huang laughed when she heard this, sat back in her chair and said jokingly: "If your Marquis heard this, he would be so angry that he would die!" Everyone knows that Marquis Zhao loves his cousin so much that after twenty years of marriage, he doesn't have a concubine, let alone a maid!
Wang's ears turned slightly red. She looked up at her, stuffed an orange slice into her mouth, and continued chatting about family matters.
The two chatted until it was getting dark, and agreed to set up a lantern tent side by side on Zhuque Street during the Lantern Festival. Huang finally got up and left with a feeling of being unsatisfied.
After leaving Luoying Tower, Lian Ye, the head maidservant beside her, could not help but urge her, "Madam, please hurry up! It's almost past 3 p.m. Have you forgotten that today is Yue'er and Ming'er's day off?"
The Pei family is small, but everyone is busy.
Needless to say, Minister Pei's desk was piled with memorials every day. His eldest son Pei Li was an editor in the Hanlin Academy, his second son Pei Ming was studying in the Imperial College, and his nephew Pei Yue was the captain of the Guoyi Army in the Zhechou Mansion. It was rare for the family to get together, so Minister Pei made a rule to get together for dinner every month on his day off.
Huang slapped her forehead suddenly. "Oh, how could I forget about this!" She quickened her pace and muttered softly, "Why didn't you remind me earlier?"
Lian Ye was speechless and couldn't help but say, "I just winked at you so hard that my eyelids almost cramped, but you only had eyes for Madam Wang!"
The two of them hurried but were still a little late. Everyone else in the main room had arrived and was waiting for her. After she sat at the table, the group started to eat.
The table was full of family members, and regardless of the usual silences during meals and sleep, Huang recounted her experiences at the Marquisate today like a story: "Everyone thought Madam Jiang's illness was incurable, but it turned out to be just common arthritis. It couldn't be cured because the male doctor wasn't comfortable giving acupuncture! Thank goodness, she met Miss Chu."
"And the broken engagement? It was clearly Li Sanlang's fault, and as a result, the girl became the target of public gossip. Li Sanlang also lost his child, so he settled the nun there. After a year or two, people would just laugh at her and she'd be fine. But the girl's reputation has been tarnished, and it won't be so easy to discuss marriage next time."
Finally, Huang couldn't help but slam the table and concluded, "In this world, women always have it harder!"
Minister Pei, who had been eating quietly, put down his chopsticks and looked thoughtful: "So, according to you, Miss Chu is actually quite good?"
Pei Ming, the second son of the Pei family, scratched his face and said, "Mother, are you sure it was Miss Chu who treated Old Madam Jiang?"
Huang said, "How could it be false? Your cousin said it herself, and I, your mother, saw it with my own eyes."
Second Young Master Pei hissed, "That's strange! The Second Miss Chu you're talking about is completely different from the Second Miss Chu I met at the Li family's chrysanthemum viewing banquet a while ago!"
【Author’s words】
I deleted and rewrote the first half of this chapter three times, and it finally came together smoothly.
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