Chapter 24: Not difficult to cure Due to the ethical concept of not touching between men and women, women...
"What is this...?" Madam Jiang was a little shocked.
Chu Yufu's fingertips kept moving, and her tone was as clear as the early spring breeze. "If I'm not mistaken, the old lady suffered a waist injury in her early years, and she is used to sitting sideways, which has caused blood stasis in her waist. The acupoints I'm pressing now can relax the muscles and activate the blood circulation. If the blood circulation is activated, the pain will be relieved, right?"
Mother Hong's brows twitched.
One summer, the old lady went out for a trip with several other ladies. When they passed by Jin'an Street, they happened to see people from two shops fighting in the street. The horses pulling the carriage startled the old lady, causing her to sprain her waist. Since then, the old lady's health has been poor. How could this Miss Chu know this just by touching her bones?
After several rounds of massage, Madam Jiang relaxed her brows in satisfaction and couldn't help but compare it with Doctor Yuan's massage: "This massage is more effective than Doctor Yuan's."
Some of the doctors who had treated her before had been able to provide instant pain relief like this, but they had always used herbal remedies, and the pain relief became less effective as time went on. This little-known Miss Chu, on the other hand, used acupressure to relieve pain. The method was different, and the pain relief was even more effective...
"Thank you for your kind words, old lady." Chu Yufu withdrew her hand and stood up.
When Madam Jiang looked up at her again, there was a hint of respect between her brows: "I didn't know before that there were daughters of officials studying medicine in our capital..."
"Yu Fu's grandfather is a good doctor, and my aunt knows a little bit too, just by learning from him." Chu Yu Fu smiled.
No wonder, it turned out to be a family tradition. A glimmer of understanding flashed in the old lady's eyes, and then she listened to Chu Yufu continue: "In fact, the old lady's illness is not a difficult and complicated disease, and it is not difficult to treat."
Madam Jiang was stunned for a moment, then repeated vaguely, "It's not difficult to cure?"
"Yes, in fact, the most effective way to treat arthritis is not massage, hot compress, or decoctions or pills. Acupuncture and moxibustion to dredge the meridians are the correct way. Just now, I only pressed and rubbed the acupoints and it worked. Acupuncture will be even more effective." Chu Yufu said softly.
"Acupuncture? Why didn't the doctors mention it before?" Mother Hong, who was waiting beside her, looked suspicious. She didn't doubt that the girl in front of her was talking nonsense, but she didn't believe that there was no doctor in the whole capital who knew acupuncture.
Chu Yufu's eyes fell on Madam Jiang's hips and legs. "The old lady is injured in the waist, and the pain extends to her hips and legs. Acupuncture requires her to take off her clothes before inserting the needles. Even if the doctors have the ability to restore youth, it is not appropriate to undress a woman. If it is an impractical method, why bother to mention it? Even I have overstepped my bounds today."
When she was in school, she had heard two ancient cases from her teacher.
One story is about the wife of a wealthy businessman in the Qing Dynasty who suffered from mastitis. She was too embarrassed to talk about it. She only sought medical treatment when the pain in her breasts ulcerated and she fainted. However, it was too late by then and she eventually died of the disease.
The second story is about a lady in the Qing Dynasty who suffered from postpartum hemorrhage. Due to strict rules for sex, she was not allowed to receive medical treatment and had to wrap her abdomen with a cloth strip. As a result, she died of hemorrhage. Her family called her "death with integrity" and awarded her a plaque in praise by the government.
Here, due to the ethical concept of keeping men and women away from each other, it is extremely difficult for women to seek medical treatment. Old Madam Jiang's injury was in a private part, so it was even more impossible for the doctor to remove her clothes for treatment. This concept is deeply rooted in people's minds, and doctors themselves will subconsciously make distinctions when treating patients. Doctor Yuan, a famous surgeon in Beijing, only dared to prescribe some hot compresses and conservative treatment. If the old lady was a man, perhaps the disease would not have become more and more serious.
Mother Hong and Mrs. Jiang also thought of this. For a moment, they felt mixed emotions and couldn't tell whether they were happy or sad.
The good news was that, according to Miss Chu Er, this agonizing back ailment was curable. The bad news was that if she hadn't been a woman, the disease wouldn't have dragged on for so long, and she wouldn't have suffered for so many years in vain. But there was nothing that could be done about it; after all, the famous doctors in the capital were men.
"Buddha bless...some can be cured, some can be cured." Mother Hong covered her chest, her eyes shining, "Miss, if you come to treat our old lady's illness, how long will it take to cure it?"
Although Mrs. Jiang didn't say anything, her eyes were fixed on Chu Yufu, with a hint of expectation in them.
"Let's try it once and see how effective it is. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be cured in about three months." Chu Yufu thought about it and said.
According to what she had just investigated, if the acupuncture was continued, two months would actually be enough, but she couldn't be too sure, so she added another month.
The master and servant were very happy to hear her reply. This was much better than they had expected. After discussing it for a while, they decided to give the first injection today. Chu Yufu walked to the door and called Lan Zhu over, and took the needle bag from her.
Although the old lady sent them out to enjoy the snow, the Zhao siblings and Lu Jiaan did not go far. The maid set up a charcoal stove under the corridor next to the warm room. The three of them were sitting under the corridor chatting. When they saw Chu Yufu coming out to get the needle, they surrounded her.
"Miss Chu, how is my grandmother?" Zhao Hanyun's eyes still tinged with red, and her voice was muffled. Standing beside her, Prince Zhao patted her on the back, silently comforting her.
Chu Yufu blinked and deliberately kept the secret, saying, "Old Madam's illness is easy to treat, but it's also not easy to treat."
Zhao Hanyun clutched the handkerchief tightly. Prince Zhao frowned slightly, "...but what kind of hard-to-find medicinal herbs do you need?"
She shook her head and said, "The key is that it's hard to find someone who can treat illnesses. The old lady's illness is just a common arthritis. With the right treatment, it will heal in less than three or two months. However, the injuries are in her waist and legs, and the doctors we hired are reluctant to treat her because of the gender difference. That's why the treatment has been delayed. But since I'm a woman like the old lady, without this obstacle, wouldn't it be easier?"
"Don't worry. I'll give the old lady an injection today, and she will feel much better." After saying that, she smiled and shook the needle bag in her hand.
Prince Zhao was silent for a while after hearing this, then nodded slightly and said thank you: "Thank you very much."
Chu Yufu smiled slightly, turned around and walked into the warm room, but found that cousin Lu had also followed her in. She followed behind, closed the door, and pulled Chu Yufu's sleeve with an anxious look on her face.
"Second sister... didn't we agree that we would just take a look? What if, I mean what if, something happens to Madam Jiang after you treat her? Didn't grandma and uncle tell you this..." She deliberately lowered her voice as she spoke and glanced in the direction behind the screen in the warm room.
Chu Yufu grabbed her hand and squeezed it: "Don't worry, cousin. If I wasn't sure, why would I say this? I promise that even if I can't cure it, it won't get worse."
Lu Jiaan wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Hong's mother's voice from behind the screen: "Is Miss Chu back?"
Chu Yufu raised her voice slightly and replied, "Mom, wait a minute, I'll be right there after I wash my hands." As she spoke, she opened the door, pushed Lu Jiaan out, walked to the basin of water prepared by the maid, rolled up her sleeves, and began to wash her hands.
She washed her hands and walked around the screen. She saw everything was ready here, a charcoal stove lit beside the bed. The old lady's top was pulled up to her waist, and her bottoms were completely naked. Chu Yufu took out the silver needles, sterilized them with fire, and began inserting the needles from the kidney and large intestine acupoints on her waist, all the way down to her calf.
Half an incense stick later, acupuncture points were all inserted. She lowered the curtains to cover the bed tightly and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
This treatment was of great significance to her. Although she appeared calm, she was actually nervous. Her hands were not steady enough in this state, and the Huantiao acupoint on her buttocks is a key point for the liver and gallbladder. Deep needling directly reaches the sciatic nerve. A good needle can relieve numbness and pain from the buttocks to the lower limbs, but a poor needle can worsen the pain. She dared not relax even a little.
After filling the clepsydra with water, she sat quietly at the table, waiting for a quarter of an hour to go and twist the needle.
-
Outside the warm room, under the corridor.
Zhao Hanyun watched Lu Jiaan follow him into the warm room and turned to look at his brother. "Second brother, I was so confused. Could it be that you really invited these sisters here just to treat Grandma?"
Zhao Chunheng turned and walked towards the charcoal stove, lifted his cloak and sat down, glancing at his sister: "Can't I have both?"
It is true that he has a crush on the girl from the Lu family, but it is also true that he knows that the second girl Chu is good at medicine and wants to ask her to treat him.
His grandmother had been ill for many years, and he had invited many famous doctors from Beijing and abroad. Since this summer, he had changed his mind and was thinking of inviting some well-traveled and knowledgeable doctors who were not well-known but capable to treat his grandmother.
He had heard that the Chu family's servants suffered very few casualties in this epidemic, and he had sent people to inquire about it before the cold-eliminating party. He was hoping that since she was a girl, she might be able to show her to his grandmother. When Miss Lu mentioned it at the banquet, he agreed to it. However, he did not expect that the second Miss Chu was much more capable than he imagined.
As they were talking, the door to the warm room opened again, and Lu Jiaan walked out. Zhao Hanyun extended her hand to greet her, "Come over here quickly, Nuannuan. Did Miss Chu say how long she'd be staying in there? If it's short, why don't we wait until she comes out and then go to the backyard together?"
Zhao Chunheng's handsome face was filled with a smile. "There are a few wintersweet trees in the backyard that you like. They are in full bloom."
Lu Jiaan's face flushed slightly, his eyelashes trembled, and he walked to the stove with his head lowered, saying, "Sister didn't say how long it would take."
Zhao Hanyun looked at her, then at his second brother, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips. When he was about to say something, he suddenly heard a shout from the corner behind him.
"My lord! My lord—please run slower!"
The three people in the corridor turned around at the same time, and saw a slightly plump young man in yellow clothes running towards them, followed by two maids holding cloaks and hand warmers. When they saw them, the man slammed on the brakes, stopped beside them with a heavy breath, and smiled foolishly.
"Second brother, fifth sister! Why are you here?!"
Zhao Hanyun reached out and patted his back, asking him to breathe slowly. He then took the cloak from the maid and draped it over him. "Brother, walk slowly. Don't run. The road is covered in frost. What if you slip and fall?"
Zhao Chunheng also asked, "Why is Big Brother here?"
The man in yellow blinked and whispered, "I, let me take a look." The maid behind him said, "My lord, the eldest son heard that the old lady was not feeling well, so he wanted to come and see her."
Zhao Chunheng pulled him to sit down and said, "The doctor is treating grandma in the room. Let's go in later."
The man thought about it and grinned at him: "Okay!"
Zhao Hanyun gave Lu Jiaan an apologetic smile and whispered, "This is my eldest brother, Zhao Tingqi. He fell ill when he was six years old, and his mind has been a little confused ever since."
Lu Jiaan was startled and looked up at the eldest brother of the Lu family carefully.
Zhao Tingqi has a round face and fair skin, and his eyebrows and eyes are exactly the same as Lu Chunheng's, but there is a sense of innocence in his eyes. At first glance, there is no difference, but when he speaks, it is obvious that he is a little different from others.
Zhao Tingqi was a person who couldn't sit still. He had just agreed to sit outside for a while before going in to see his grandmother, but he changed his mind after just two sentences. He felt that sitting outside was boring and insisted on going into the warm room.
So Lu Jiaan walked out of the corridor, squatted down, picked up a pile of snow, and deftly squeezed it into a snow pear, placing it in front of him. "How about we play with snowballs? I can not only squeeze pears, but also peaches and snowmen."
Zhao Tingqi only noticed her at this moment. Regardless of whether he knew her or not, he immediately jumped up and ran towards her with a smile, saying, "Okay!"
Not far away, outside Lin Tao Courtyard, the wife of the Marquis of Mingxuan Mansion heard that her mother-in-law was ill and was walking towards them. As she walked, she listened to the report from the maid beside her. When she heard that Chu Yufu and Lu Jiaan were currently in the warm room, she couldn't help but frowned: "Miss Lu, is she the one Yun'er mentioned a few days ago?"
"Yes, that's her. She's the niece of Chu Changru, the doctor of the Ministry of Works. My second brother asked Miss Chu to come and see the old lady, so Miss Lu came along as well."
The Marquis's wife stopped talking, crossed the threshold, and walked toward the warm room. When she reached the room, she suddenly saw two people standing in the snow on the porch. One was her eldest son, and the other was a woman she had never seen before. The woman picked up a ball of snow, rolled it into a ball, and then picked up a dry branch from the ground, inserted it into the ball, and smiled as she handed it to her silly son.
"Brother, look, does this look like an apple?" The silly son took the snowball and trotted a few steps towards the corridor.
"Resemble." The second son laughed.
"Jia'an, are your hands cold? Come and warm yourself by the fire." said the fifth daughter.
Then she saw the woman took another snowball and made it into a square shape, then handed it to her eldest son with a smile. The eldest son took the snowball and laughed, then held it in his hand and carefully placed it far away from the charcoal stove.
Su Zhi, the maidservant beside the Marquis' wife, first exclaimed, "Why is my brother playing in the snow in such a cold weather?" Then she added hesitantly, "I haven't seen my brother having so much fun in a long time."
The Marquis' wife stared at her eldest son's smiling face for a long time, then tilted her head and whispered, "Is that the girl from the Lu family?"
Su Zhi took a closer look and said, "Yes, ma'am."
The Marquis's wife paused for a long moment, but ultimately didn't move forward. Listening to the laughter in the corridor, she relaxed her frown and quietly left Lin Tao Courtyard, instructing, "Tell the servants to treat the two young ladies well. Send some hot tea to the corridor to keep them warm. Don't let them get cold. When the eldest brother is happy, he doesn't know the temperature. Be especially careful with his shoes and socks. Change them immediately if they get wet."
"By the way, have someone keep an eye on my mother-in-law. If anything goes wrong, report to me immediately."
Su Zhi replied, "Yes."
-
In the warm room, after a quarter of an hour, Chu Yufu stepped forward to twist the needles, and asked as she did so: "Old Madam, how do you feel when I twist the needles?"
Madam Jiang replied, "I feel a bit of numbness running through my legs."
"If you were to rate pain on a scale of 10, with untreated pain being 10 and no pain at all being 0, how much pain do you feel now?"
The old lady pondered for a moment: "Five or six points?"
This was not much different from Chu Yufu's own estimate. She nodded to indicate that she understood, and then instructed: "It is possible to control the pain of this back disease, but it is impossible to move the crooked bones back. Even if it is healed this time, the old lady must be extra careful in the future. Don't catch a cold or get hurt. Protect your waist."
Mother Hong took note of all these things. A quarter of an hour later, Chu Yufu stepped forward to remove the needle and put it back into the needle bag. Mother Hong then asked, "Miss, can we still use the medicine bag that Doctor Yuan prescribed?"
Whether it's external application or internal medication, the treatment for Bi syndrome is all aimed at promoting the flow of Qi and blood circulation. She thought for a moment and said, "Let's use them together. It won't be a problem."
The acupuncture treatment took less than half an hour from start to finish. After making an appointment for the next acupuncture treatment, she got up and left. As soon as she walked out the door, she was greeted by Zhao Hanyun. They walked to the backyard together, and Zhao Hanyun asked about the treatment of Chu Yufu's grandmother's injury.
Inside the room, Madam Hong tucked the corner of the quilt around Madam Jiang and whispered, "Madam, does Miss Chu need to prepare a red envelope this time?"
There is a saying that goes 'One is an official, two is a clerk, three is a monk, four is a Taoist, five is a doctor, six is a craftsman, eight is a prostitute, and nine is a scholar'. The status of a doctor is not high, only higher than that of a craftsman. It stands to reason that people who come to see a doctor should be paid a consultation fee, but the second Miss Chu is not a doctor, but the daughter of an official.
Madam Jiang closed her eyes slightly and said, "There's no need for the red envelope... Go to the storehouse and get a bracelet. Just give it to Miss Chu before you leave."
As the numbness and pain in her waist and legs eased, a feeling of tiredness came over her. After Mother Hong closed the curtains, she fell asleep almost instantly.
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