Chapter 15: Grandfather Her grandfather was really just a small place...
Both the old and young masters in Cishou Hall fell ill, so Chu Yufu stayed and took care of them personally.
Cousin Lu had a severe itchy rash on her body and couldn't sleep well. While the maids were out getting medicine, she asked Lanzhu to get some mugwort, sophora flavescens and sanguisorba officinalis from Zhuyuyuan, mixed them together and boiled them in water, and then rubbed it on her cousin's body to relieve the itching.
Just after finishing taking care of Cousin Lu, the maid came to report that she had gone to several places but couldn't buy the wild ginseng needed for the old lady's prescription. Chu Yufu said she had it and sent someone to go back with Lanzhu to get it.
After the maid left, she sat down beside the couch, took her grandmother's hand, and frowned as she said, "Grandmother, what I prepared isn't really good ginseng. It's just some cheap ginseng roots. They can be used temporarily, but their effect in replenishing Qi is far inferior to that of good ginseng. I'll have to ask the servants to keep looking for more."
Mrs. Wei held her hand back, her eyes soft and loving: "Good child."
Mother Yang placed the food on the redwood table nearby and said with a smile, "Old Madam, Second Miss, please come and have some food. It's already 12 o'clock!"
Old Madam Wei shook her head: "I can't eat. Let's talk about it later. Fu'er has been busy for a long time and must be hungry. Go and eat."
There were five dishes and one soup on the table: fish with basil, stewed lamb feet, duck skewers with lotus leaves, mixed cucumbers, stir-fried vegetables, and golden tripe soup. They were either very time-consuming to cook or the rare "hole goods" in winter - out-of-season vegetables grown in greenhouses.
Chu Yufu was not polite either. She nodded and sat down at the table and started eating. "I didn't feel it at first, but I felt extremely hungry when I smelled the delicious food!" She smiled sweetly, revealing the dimple on her right cheek. She looked soft and lovable.
After the meal, the maids also boiled the medicine. After the two of them took the medicine, Chu Yufu took Lanzhu and prepared to go back. Before leaving, the old lady said that the night wind was too cold, and asked Mother Yang to get a snow rabbit wool cloak for her, and told her to wrap herself up tightly before going out.
There was a pile of snow-white rabbit fur around her neck, making her already small face look even more delicate, cute and pretty.
A figure like a snowball left the room. Old Mrs. Wei closed her eyes and rested for a moment. With the support of Mother Yang, she walked to the bedside, lifted the lake blue bed curtain, wrung out a cold towel with her own hands, and bent down to apply it on Lu Jiaan's red and swollen eyelids.
Mother Yang stayed by her side. After the handkerchief had warmed up, she wrung out a new one and handed it to her, saying with a low laugh, "I never thought the usually quiet Second Miss would have such a talent. I'm glad she's here today."
The old lady didn't respond. She sighed and said, "Tomorrow, ask someone to check on the third son of the Li family."
The topic changed so quickly that Mother Yang was stunned for a moment before she realized what she was talking about. Her face darkened and she said, "You think..."
The old lady took Mother Yang's hand and stood up tremblingly. She snorted with a sullen face, "Do you really think Mrs. Wu is kind-hearted?"
Later, the old lady returned to her main room. The maids served her dinner. Mother Yang took the time to go to the side room and found Danxiang boiling water. She smiled and gave her a piece of silver the size of the tip of her little finger, saying, "You are quite clever. Go serve the old lady in her room tomorrow."
Danxiang was surprised and delighted as she held the silver in her hands. She went into the old lady's room to serve her? Did this mean she was promoted to a second-class maid? She smiled excitedly, revealing her eight small white teeth: "Thank you, old lady! Thank you, mother! Thank you, thank you, second young lady!"
"Puchi." Mother Yang was so nervous after the whole day that she started laughing.
Miss Chu Er and her servant walked through the wind and snow back to Zhuyuyuan. Yinsuo and Yunsui were already waiting there. One brought warm water to wash hands, and the other helped Chu Yufu take off her cloak.
Only then did Lan Zhu notice the food box in her hand and exclaimed, "Oh, girl, I brought back the yam cake again!"
Chu Yufu washed her hands, raised her hand and rubbed her forehead, then smiled helplessly, "In this chaotic situation, who would remember to send snacks? I would have forgotten even if you hadn't mentioned it! Heat it up on the stove, and you three can eat it."
"Yes!" Lan Zhu smiled and handed the food box to Yin Suo, asking her to heat it up.
Chu Yufu sat down at the table, took a sip of Yunsui's freshly poured hot tea, and breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her whole body relax. The matter she had been brooding on for over a month was finally settled today, though the process was not quite what she had expected. The book had described her cousin's mild illness and her grandmother's serious condition, but now it had become her cousin's serious condition. After the rescue of her cousin, the donation of medicine seemed insignificant.
But if the result is good, then so be it.
Under the light, the rabbit fur cloak draped over the screen was pure white as snow, shining glisteningly. Chu Yufu stood up and touched the satin-like fur, then walked to the desk, sat down, and started flipping through the book.
Lan Zhu, who was squatting by the fire, saw this and asked curiously, "Miss, you still want to read today?" It would have been fine if she studied in her spare time in the past, but today, the girl was busy from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and still had to read. Aren't you tired?
Chu Yufu didn't look up, holding the book and moving closer to the candlestick: "Just read for a while."
A while ago, she found a manuscript of her grandfather's titled "Four Principles Sutra" from Aunt Wan's belongings. Unlike the previous books with humorous and interesting writing styles, her grandfather seemed very serious when writing this manuscript. He carefully considered every word and sentence, and was extremely cautious in his dialectics. It recorded a large number of difficult and complicated cases that he cured with acupuncture.
According to the treatment principle of "draining when full and replenishing when deficient" in the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, acupuncture has established two types of acupuncture techniques, one is "draining" and the other is "replenishing", with a total of seven single-type draining and replenishing techniques. However, her grandfather actually mentioned several compound techniques in the book, namely "burning mountain fire", "cooling through the sky", "yin born from yang", and "yang born from yin".
If an uninformed person got hold of this manuscript, they would think that my grandfather was talking nonsense. However, one of Chu Yufu's teachers was a master in the field of acupuncture. He had mentioned the compound tonification and drainage technique, demonstrated the 'Cooling Through the Sky' technique himself, and lamented that it was a pity that the 'Burning Mountain Fire' technique had not been passed down!
She didn't know whether her grandfather learned it from someone else or created it himself, but in any case, she was sure that what was recorded in the book was not nonsense. A few days ago, she tried it on herself with a few acupuncture needles and the effect was really good. So she thought of trying it on her cousin tomorrow, and reading the book to review the techniques today.
Half a minute later, she closed the book and her eyes, silently reciting and practicing in her mind. When she opened her eyes, she couldn't help but wonder again, was her grandfather really just a small local doctor? With just this skill of acupuncture, there was no way he could be unknown!
Chu Yufu slept very soundly that night. When she woke up, she looked very healthy and her lips, even without any makeup, were rosy. After breakfast, she took the needle bag to Cishoutang. Lu Jiaan had been waiting for her for a long time. She was only wearing a plain white shirt in the warm room. When she saw her second sister, she turned over and sat up, took her hand, pouted her lips and was about to cry again.
She had cried enough yesterday; her eyelids were slightly swollen and her voice was hoarse. Chu Yufu hurriedly sat on the edge of the bed and teased her, "Sister, you're usually the strongest, but why are you so weak now? Look at you, you've cried like a cat."
Lu Jiaan still remembered what happened yesterday. After she fell asleep, Doctor Zhang told her what she had said, and Sang Lu also told her everything. But she still couldn't let it go. She wanted to hear the answer from her second sister in person. She said eagerly, "The red spots on my body..."
"It will be healed within half a month. I guarantee that there won't be any marks left. Don't worry." Chu Yufu said with a smile.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that. Even though she was strong, she couldn't help but panic when she encountered something that could cause disfigurement.
Chu Yufu comforted her while taking out the needle bag. Lu Jiaan flinched at the sight of the shining silver needles, but when she heard that it could help her heal faster, she gritted her teeth and let her second sister do the injection.
More and more people in the Ministry of Works have fallen ill in the past half month. Chu's father was busy with official duties, and when he heard that his mother and niece were sick, he only had time to take a look at them. Two days later, the eldest daughter Chu also caught a cold. Wu didn't want to go to Cishoutang in the first place, so she used the excuse of taking care of her daughter and stopped going to take care of her.
In the lotus courtyard.
Chu Jinhe's illness was not serious and she had recovered a lot today. She was leaning on the low couch bored and fiddling with the plum branches.
The maid Qingxian was by her side, telling her interesting stories from the past two days to entertain her. As she was talking, she mentioned the Second Miss Chu. She laughed and said, "In my opinion, it would be better for you to invite the Second Miss Chu instead of that outside doctor. I heard that the rash on your cousin's body has disappeared a lot. He can even cure a serious illness like your cousin's. I'm sure your little cold will be cured with this medicine!"
Miss Chu, who had been replying incoherently before, remained silent this time. Her expression remained calm, but she suddenly exerted force with her fingers, breaking the flower branch in her hand into two pieces, her eyes cold.
Seeing this, Qingxian lowered his head and tactfully changed the subject.
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