Records of the Imperial Medical Bureau
The two young women bowed to Bai Zhu to say goodbye, and Bai Zhu smiled gently and kindly, saying, "Go ahead."
A whole day passed, and as the sun set in the west, Bai Zhu still hadn't managed to recruit a female physician.
The people from the weaving workshop left, the people from the examination workshop left, and the people from the kitchen packed up to return to the palace. When Madam Zheng saw that Bai Shu was still sitting in his seat at the Imperial Medical Bureau, she went over and asked, "It's getting dark, why aren't you leaving yet?"
“Oh,” Bai Shu said, “I think we should wait a little longer.”
“They’re gone, there’s no one left.” Madam Zheng helped Bai Shu pack up her writing materials and said, “It’s already dark, no one will come. You’ve had a long day, come on, let’s go back to the palace. I’ll cook you a couple of good dishes.”
Yes... Madam Zheng is right, it's true, there's no one left.
Bai Shu looked towards the direction where the sun was setting. To the west, the distant mountains were verdant, and there stood the Empress Dowager's Ganquan Palace.
...
In the winter of 715, Bai Zhu had been working at the Imperial Medical Academy for sixteen years.
Bai Zhu was already a highly respected and renowned physician in the Imperial Medical Bureau. Some people said that perhaps this young "Little Bai Zhu" would be the next Chief Physician.
An imperial edict was issued—
It is said that Bai Zhu, a physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau, entered the Ganquan Palace to serve.
Ganquan Palace is located in Shanglin Garden, on Qiluan Mountain. It is named Ganquan Palace because of its hot spring, which has a constant temperature all year round. It was the royal hot spring, and the empress dowagers of the Dayong Dynasty often stayed in Ganquan Palace to recuperate in their later years.
In the dead of winter, the mountain roads were icy and slippery, making it difficult for the horse-drawn carriage to travel. It was nightfall when Bai Zhu finally arrived at this ancient hot spring.
The natural hot spring gushes forth, and the steaming vapors rise and fall, making the Ganquan Palace in Shanglin Garden seem like a fairyland.
The eunuchs here came to greet Bai Shu, carrying a whisk and bowing, saying, "Lord Bai, you've come at the right time. This way, please."
Bai Shu first went to the side hall to tidy her appearance, and then the receiving eunuch replaced her with a female official who served the Empress Dowager, and they arrived in front of the Empress Dowager.
The female official Bai Shu recognized her as Ruan Yeting.
Empress Dowager Yun Qi, a woman of the Yun clan who ruled as regent for forty years and single-handedly created a prosperous era, is now ninety years old.
Inside the hall, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only a few insect chirps outside the window.
Ruan Yeting parted the bright yellow bed curtains and helped the Empress Dowager sit up, putting on her robe. Bai Shu stepped forward, bowed to the Empress Dowager, and said, "Your Majesty, I have come to take your pulse."
The Empress Dowager, who had ruled as regent for forty years, spoke slowly and with great authority.
"It's just old age, all old people have these problems, why make such a fuss?"
Ruan Yeting said kindly from the side, "It's all due to the Emperor and Empress's filial piety."
Bai Zhu stepped forward to take the Empress Dowager's pulse. The Empress Dowager described her ailment: "I am always tired during the day, but I can't sleep well at night. Lately, I often dream of old friends and things from the past."
Ninety years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the people and events of the past have all faded away.
The room was so quiet, it felt like someone was choking him, and Bai Zhu's forehead broke out in a fine sweat.
"Your Majesty!" Bai Shu suddenly knelt down and said, "I have something to report to the Empress Dowager."
The Empress Dowager said, "Speak."
Bai Shu paused, then continued, "Your Majesty's illness," she paused again, looked up, and said, "Your Majesty, I observe that Your Majesty's body appears outwardly radiant, but inwardly weak and feeble, showing signs of chronic phlegm entering the meridians. Your Majesty is of advanced age, but your vital energy has been depleted, and now your essence and blood are deficient. Your liver cannot store blood, and your qi and blood cannot nourish your face; your uterus is congested, the Ren and Chong meridians are imbalanced, and your uterus is cold. The meridians are blocked, preventing the lower body's vital energy from rising. Clear qi cannot ascend, and turbid yin cannot descend, thus resulting in a condition of excessive heat in the upper burner and cold stagnation in the lower burner. Phlegm and blood stasis obstruct each other, and the orifices are blocked, causing..." There is no medicine to cure it. The spleen and stomach are weak, unable to properly transform and transport nutrients; the essence of food and water cannot be absorbed, instead generating dampness and turbidity, which floats in the middle burner. The three burners are bloated, dampness accumulates into phlegm, qi stagnates and phlegm congeals, only depleting true qi; the pathogenic factors obstruct the flow, and the deficient yang escapes outwards. The fire of the sovereign and ministerial organs rises to the top; strong and dry medicines are incompatible with the deficiency and cold of the lower burner, instead exacerbating the deficient fire. Internal fire toxins accumulate, internal fires fight each other, obscuring the root of true yin deficiency. The spirit is unsettled, the five viscera are out of balance, the righteous qi cannot circulate, the mind is confused, the sovereign fire is unclear, and yin and yang are separated. I beseech the Empress Dowager—to see the truth!
Silence, a deathly silence.
Ruan Yeting was stunned by Bai Shu's words and loudly rebuked her, "How dare you! The Empress Dowager is in good health, you..."
"Ah Ruan," the Empress Dowager stopped Ruan Yeting's reprimand and said, "You go out. I want to say a few words to this young lady."
"Your Majesty..."
"go out."
Ruan Yeting glanced at Bai Shu a few times, not daring to disobey the Empress Dowager's order, and quietly withdrew, closing the door behind her.
The Empress Dowager's authoritative voice rang out—
"Little girl, what's your name?"
Bai Shu bowed his head and replied, "Your subject is Bai Shu."
"Surname Bai." The Empress Dowager pondered for a moment. "To worship a child of the Bai family? I remember your great-grandfather, his medical skills were superb, and his courage... was even more superb. Little girl, you are very much like your great-grandfather."
Bai Shu replied, "My medical skills are shallow, and I dare not compare myself with my ancestors."
The Empress Dowager remained noncommittal, and asked Bai Shu, "Since you know my illness, do you know how to treat it?"
Bai Zhu lowered his head, trembling, and said, "Your subject does not know."
The Empress Dowager pondered for a moment and said, "Without rules, nothing can be accomplished."
“Yes,” Bai Shu said. “But I know that ‘human nature is inherently good.’ My master taught me that one whose virtue is not close to that of a Buddha and whose talent is not close to that of an immortal should not be a doctor. Matters involving entrusting life and death and linking lives should be pure. But now, the world is in turmoil, all for profit! The Imperial Medical Academy is bound by profit. The ruler does not trust doctors, the people do not trust doctors, and doctors do not trust doctors! Their hearts are not open, and when they are not open, they feel pain everywhere! Your Majesty, the way of medicine should not be bound by reputation, fame, or profit. I want to restore the purity of the way of medicine.”
The Empress Dowager said, "But you should know that there is no purity in this world. I can issue an edict, but my decree cannot give you purity."
Bai Shu kowtowed deeply: "Your subject has overstepped his bounds, and deserves death."
The Empress Dowager did not take offense, and told her to get up, saying slowly, "What you call purity is the Great Harmony, it is communism."
Bai Shu knew "Datong" meant "respecting the elderly as one would one's own parents, and caring for the young as one would one's own children." She hadn't heard of communism and asked, "Communism?"
“I don’t know either,” Yun Qi said. “Empress Jingyu should have seen him.”
Bai Shu didn't understand, but it didn't need her to. The Empress Dowager told her, "A thousand years later."
A thousand years later, Yun Qi will not see it, nor will Bai Shu's generation.
The future Princess Shengwensu, Xue Lu, will not see it, nor will Empress Yuanwu, Lin Yan.
But since Yun Bingyue, they have believed that the tradition will continue from generation to generation, and there will always be a generation that will allow this civilization to see that day.
"Go to Songyuan," the Empress Dowager said to Bai Shu. "Renxin Pavilion is being rebuilt, and everything needs to be renovated. Songyuan will be a place where you can put your talents to good use."
...
It was late at night when Bai Shu came out of Ganquan Palace.
As Bai Zhu descended the steps, the north wind, carrying snowflakes, stung her face like a knife.
The night in the mountains was even darker and quieter. In the snow and ice, someone was holding an oil-paper umbrella and waiting for her under the eaves.
It is the Imperial Historian.
"How are you?" Tai Shiyi quickly stepped forward, held an umbrella over Bai Shu, and asked, "Are you alright?"
Bai Shu said it was nothing, and asked Tai Shiyi, "How did you end up here?"
"The Court of Imperial Sacrifices is to compile the Annals of the Empress Dowager," said the Grand Historian. "I have been ordered to record the daily life of the Empress Dowager and to verify past events."
"Oh," Bai Shu said. "Just now, the Empress Dowager said that she wanted me to go to Songyuan to rebuild Renxin Pavilion."
"You're going to Songyuan?" Taishi Yi asked in surprise. "Songyuan is closed off from the outside world. Once you enter Songyuan, you'll never be able to come out again."
Bai Shu said, "The Empress Dowager spoke to me about it."
Tai Shiyi knew that Bai Shu had made a decision.
“Alright, with friends on the road ahead, I won’t utter any heartbreaking words,” said Taishi Yi. “I have something to give you; come with me.”
"What is that?"
"Chronicles of the Palace"
Tai Shiyi did not forget his promise to Bai Zhu.
Many years ago, Taishi Yi wanted to write about Lady Zheng and Bai Shu. He wanted to write about herself and the countless ordinary people who are not recorded in historical records.
Over the years, Tai Shiyi used her eyes and her pen, along with Bai Shu's eyes and Bai Shu's heart, to write about Yang Huaishu, Qiu Chuxin, Fang Lingshan, Pan Cheng, Su You, Lang Dianxian, Xu Qingyan, Jin Xiaofu, Lin Shaoyin, Chang Zhifang, as well as Lady Liu, Lady Cao, and the laundry maid from the Jiaofangsi, and Wan Gongfeng, Shen Gongfeng, Yang Gongfeng, and Yiqiancao.
“Xiao Shu,” said Tai Shiyi, “you said that the title ‘Palace Chronicles’ is too short-sighted, let’s choose another title.”
The winds of life may blow and clouds may disperse, time may pass swiftly, and people may experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, separation and reunion. But words will preserve memories and spirit forever.
“Let’s call it…” Bai Shu said, “The Records of the Imperial Medical Bureau.”
It began in the Imperial Medical Academy and ended in the Imperial Medical Academy;
They gathered at the Imperial Medical Bureau, and dispersed from there.
Taishi Yi handed this book, "Records of the Imperial Medical Bureau," to Bai Shu. This single book contained the story of an era, the four corners of the palace, and countless insignificant and ordinary people.
Full of absurd words, a handful of bitter tears.
Everyone says the author is obsessed, but who can understand the true meaning behind it?
Bai Shu said to Tai Shiyi, "Thank you."
"What kind of relationship do we have? Why are you being so polite with me?" Tai Shiyi smiled through her tears, gave Bai Shu a final hug, and said, "Sister, have a safe journey and take care."
As the snow fell deeper and faster, the vast green mountains were covered in snow, and the sky and the ground merged into one color, a dark and white expanse.
The ground was covered in white snow, with no trace of dust or smoke, and everything was spotless.
In the spring of 716, Ning Xi, a court physician specializing in atractylodes, resigned from his post.
In the warm spring of March, the carriage stopped outside Xuande Gate. Bai Shu's eldest brother, second brother, fourth brother, and nephew Bai Zhou helped her load her boxes of books onto the carriage.
"Little sister, how come you have so many books?" Bai Shu's second brother turned his shoulders wearily, clicked his tongue in amazement, and then called to the two boys who were asking Bai Shu all sorts of questions, "Hey, you clueless brats, come and give your father a hand."
There were naturally many books. The female physicians of the Imperial Medical Bureau had all left their life's work to Bai Zhu, who compiled the medical classics. Even Xiao Fu Shaoyin, who moved to Yuanzhou, still sends the latest notes to Bai Zhu. Bai Zhu couldn't bear to throw away a single page, and over the years, his collection grew larger and larger.
Bai Zhu's mother's temples were already gray. She hadn't seen Bai Zhu so closely for ten years. Holding Bai Zhu's hand, she kept saying, "It's good that you've left the palace, it's good that you've left the palace. You've changed so much, I almost didn't recognize you." She also kept saying that she would fry pork cracklings for Bai Zhu when she got back, and added, "Little Er and Little Wu have gone to pick elm seeds, we'll stir-fry chicken eggs for lunch."
The little baby who used to cry because of Bai Shu's "dialectical genius" nonsense has grown into a young man. After helping his father and several younger brothers move Bai Shu's book boxes, Bai Zhou came over and said, "Grandma, Aunt, the cart is loaded, let's go."
Bai Zhou is a promising child. He entered Qing Shi Academy a few years ago, passed the provincial examination last year, and will participate in the spring imperial examination in two months.
Bai Zhou is the first child in ten generations of the Bai family to pass the imperial examination and enter officialdom.
The carriages and horses drove out of Xuande Gate, past the statues of the Two Moons and Four Saints, through Xuande Street, and into the bustling city, finally returning to the smoke of daily life.
Sixteen years in the palace, sixteen years in a dream.
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