Chapter 18
The weather turns cooler, and the rustling of branches and leaves brings news from afar.
The pharmacy opened for business the day before yesterday, but the people in the town would not seek medical treatment unless they had no other choice. In the past three days, there has been no customer in the shop.
After washing up in the morning, Shi Yanqing and Zhou Hanzhang went to the front hall to have breakfast.
Zhou Hangui woke up late today, a rare occasion, and had breakfast with them.
The three of them were eating rice noodles in their bowls at the table in the front hall, while Dan Ye, Liu Niang and others were eating in the side hall.
The rice noodles are made by Liu Niang herself, and they taste chewy and refreshing. The soup is a fried egg soup with a little bit of chili powder added to the beef sauce, which is rich in flavor and very delicious.
Shi Yanqing usually only needed one bowl of rice, but today he ate one and a half bowls before putting down his chopsticks.
As for the Zhou Hanzhang brothers, they had big appetites and only stopped after eating two full bowls.
"The rice noodles I ate today were delicious. They were not too spicy but very tempting." Zhou Hanzhang commented after he finished eating. He brought the tea to help digestion and took a sip.
Shi Yanqing didn't drink the tea. She just leaned back slightly in the chair, relaxed her body, and enjoyed the pleasure brought by the food. She looked at Zhou Hanzhang with a smile in her eyes, without saying a word.
"Sister-in-law, let Liu Niang make some rice noodles tomorrow morning. They're so delicious, I haven't had enough yet."
Zhou Hanzhang wore a green headband on his forehead today, which was embroidered with his favorite long sword and inlaid with small jewels, making him look noble and chivalrous.
Rice noodles are indeed delicious. Shi Yanqing almost always ate noodles in the morning when he was in Beijing, and rarely ate rice noodles. Now he feels a bit fond of it and thinks it is fresh.
She nodded: "Okay. I'll tell Liu Niang about this later."
The three of them talked for a while, and then Zhou Hanzhang got up and left first. He didn't have a day off today and had to go to the yamen to work.
In addition, he has been busy organizing people to measure the fields recently, so he is very busy and will not return home until almost midnight.
At that time, Shi Yanqing had already fallen asleep, and he would only see him when he woke up the next morning.
Today, Shi Yanqing did not go to the pharmacy, but took Dan Ye to Lu Mansion to visit Liu Anan.
Since curing Liu Anan that day, Shi Yanqing went to the pharmacy every morning and went to Xiaohe Village to learn medicine from Pang Guan in the afternoon.
He is so busy that he has no time to rest and is running around everywhere.
Pang Guan saw that she had lost weight after only a few days of study, so he decided to change the teaching location to the city.
Shi Yanqing was a little surprised at the time. He didn't expect that the teacher who lived in the village actually had a house in the county.
Later she found out that the apartment was given to her by someone else.
After entering the Lu Mansion, Tao Ye led the two to the main courtyard with an energetic and happy look on her face.
Liu Anan was still a little weak, and the temperature had dropped sharply in the past few days. Lu Tong didn't allow her to go out, so she had nothing else to do so she stayed in the room reading storybooks or embroidering.
After she woke up that day, she learned what had happened from Lu Tong. She was full of gratitude towards Shi Yanqing and even felt a little close to him.
At this time, she was half lying on the couch, covered with a blanket and embroidering. When she saw Shi Yanqing come in, she stopped embroidering, lifted the blanket and prepared to get up to greet her.
"Don't come down yet, keep covering it." Shi Yanqing observed her movements, predicted her behavior, and quickly spoke up to stop her.
"This," Liu Anan felt a little rude.
Shi Yanqing said firmly: "You are not fully recovered yet. What you need to do now is to have a good rest. Don't worry about anything else."
Shi Yanqing really didn't care about these etiquettes. Her tone was sincere and concerned, which made Liu Anan feel relieved and a shy smile appeared on her face.
"Yanqing, I was thinking of coming to your house with my husband to thank you after I recovered, but I didn't expect you to come and see me today. I'm so happy. Why don't you stay for lunch today? I'll ask the cook to make some of my specialties."
"There's no need to eat. Why don't we go out of town some other day? I heard there's a maple forest on the mountain behind Puxian Temple. The scenery is quite spectacular."
Shi Yanqing loves traveling. Since returning to Beijing, she rarely goes out to play, and she has no chance during the time she has been in Yunshui County.
It is just the right time to bring this up.
Liu Anan readily agreed: "Okay. Although the best time to visit the maple forest here is in December, it has a unique flavor to visit now."
"December? Will there still be maple leaves on the trees then?" Shi Yanqing was a little confused. Wouldn't all the maple leaves have fallen by then?
Liu Anan explained, "Yunshui County is located in the south, and the maple leaves here usually turn red in December, so naturally they fall later than in other places."
This was the first time Shi Yanqing had heard of this, and she became interested. "The leaves are falling so late, doesn't that mean the winter here is not that cold?"
"The winter here is really not that cold. You don't even need to buy thick cotton clothes. Just a little cotton can keep you warm and get through the winter."
Liu Anan knew that Shi Yanqing came from the capital, where the temperature in winter was not so high, so she explained it carefully.
Shi Yanqing accepted it well. After all, it was already early October, and she wouldn't feel cold even if she wore a summer jacket or skirt. This showed that the temperature here was higher than in the capital.
The two continued chatting for a while, sharing some usual gossip and interesting things.
"Yanqing, have you heard about the Lin family?"
Shi Yanqing was puzzled: "What's the matter?"
Liu Anan said, "Didn't Master Lin just hold his funeral? His youngest son became the head of the family, but the eldest son disagrees. He's been making a fuss about dividing the family these past few days."
Shi Yanqing shook his head: "I have been staying in the medicine shop all this time and have not paid attention to the Lin family's affairs. Besides, I have no dealings with the Lin family, so I pay even less attention to it."
Liu Anan was shy at first, but after getting to know people, she became very enthusiastic and especially enjoyed chatting and gossiping.
Seeing that Shi Yanqing didn't know the inside story, she quickly told him what she had found out.
"Did you know that Master Lin married a seventh concubine during his lifetime?"
Shi Yanqing nodded. She knew about this and heard it together with Zhou Hangui.
Liu Anan continued, "I heard that the concubine was a woman from the mountains. She was beautiful and charming. People in the Lin Mansion called her Madam Jade. Madam Jade was very favored by Master Lin during his lifetime, but there was no news of her after Master Lin's death."
"A few days ago, the eldest son of the Lin family suddenly made a fuss, saying he wanted to split the family. Outsiders simply thought he wanted to be the head of the family and refused to accept living on the money of his younger brother."
"But I didn't know that Master Lin secretly took Madam Yu into his backyard. I also learned from Madam Yu that Master Lin had originally wanted to make him the head of the family, but his younger brother had interrupted him."
Shi Yanqing felt like she was following a script, the contents were bloody and bizarre. She looked at Liu Anan curiously and asked, "Could these things be true?"
Liu Anan nodded immediately, her cheeks flushed with excitement. "These things are all true. Tao Ye is very familiar with the old woman who guards the backyard of the Lin family. She told her all this."
Then she told you, Shi Yanqing added in his heart.
"Then why is Young Master Lin making a fuss about dividing the family? He has taken in his father's concubine, so shouldn't he just stay put and not attract attention?"
"Tao Ye hasn't found out about this yet. I guess it might be related to Patriarch Lin. After all, Mr. Lin has many children, and his brothers are unruly."
"Mr. Lin might be the chicken that was killed to scare the monkeys." Liu Anan said finally, finalizing the ending tone.
Outsiders know very little about what happened.
Shi Yanqing just thought he had heard a new story and didn't plan to tell anyone else about it.
She stayed for another quarter of an hour, then said goodbye to Liu Anan and left the Lu Mansion.
In the afternoon, it started to drizzle outside.
Shi Yanqing estimated the time and took a carriage to Pang Guan's yard.
This place is close to the county academy. The alley is very quiet and has a strong scent of books.
Pang Guan brought Shi Yanqing to the side hall, where he had cleared out a desk used in class, with a wooden platform in front where he would give lectures.
When Shi Yanqing attended classes in Xiaohe Village before, she would just find a low stool to sit on. Today's formal scene made her dream back to her childhood school.
My heart tightened involuntarily, recalling the tone of the teacher who was disappointed in me.
Witch doctors have existed since ancient times. Thousands of years ago, they were responsible for communicating with gods and conveying the gods' will.
At that time, the status of witch doctors was very high, and they even had the power to dismiss the emperor, which made the emperor very wary of them.
Later, during the reign of a certain emperor, a witch doctor misrepresented the will of the gods, causing the death of tens of millions of people in a disaster. The emperor was furious and ordered the witch doctor to be executed, but was stopped by the empress dowager at the time.
And the queen mother was a witch doctor.
Although this was stopped by the Queen Mother, the common people no longer trusted witch doctors as much as before, and traditional Chinese medicine was able to develop.
As time passed, the emperor's power gradually increased, and the status of witch doctors became lower and lower, and they were even regarded as evil doctors or ghost doctors.
It’s just because their methods are difficult for ordinary people to accept and they feel disgusting and terrifying.
What Shi Yanqing is learning now is cesarean section, which is a treatment method used by witch doctors.
Pang Guan brought the prepared pork, picked up a knife and started teaching on the spot.
"Although pork and people are different, they both have meat after all. What you see and feel when you take action should be similar." Pang Guan had a mask on his face, revealing only his small, flat eyes. He was looking at Shi Yanqing while speaking.
Shi Yanqing can cook. Although his skills are average, he can still cook meat dishes.
This was the first time she had used pork outside the kitchen, and she was a little stunned for a moment.
"Listen carefully!" Pang Guan said.
Shi Yanqing quickly collected his thoughts and focused his attention on the movements in Pang Guan's hands, watching carefully.
"Remember, when you cut, don't think about cutting the flesh right away, but..."
Shi Yanqing gradually became absorbed in the novel and fascinating knowledge that was being presented to his ears, and he quickly absorbed and accepted the new medical knowledge.
Finally, she put on the mask and clean gloves, took the knife from Pang Guan's hand, and cut the pork according to the technique she had just learned.
Pang Guan, who was watching from the side, nodded secretly, feeling very satisfied.
He thought the girl would be nervous and scared, but he didn't expect her to accept it so quickly and act so decisively.
During teaching, there were only the two of them in the side hall, and Dan Ye was guarding outside. Otherwise, if she saw this scene, she would probably turn pale.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
