Spring and Autumn Annals style
"You!" Bai Shu's eyes lit up with admiration. "The Duke of Huai's Mansion, Senior Sister, that's the Duke of Huai's Mansion! The moment you mentioned it, those people immediately changed their tune."
Su You waved her hand, "Don't even mention it. My reputation is only good for fooling the people below. If my grandfather and the others find out that I'm using the name of the Su family of Huaiyin to show up in front of the Empress, they'll drag me back to the mansion and lock me up. No way!"
Bai Shu asked worriedly, "What should we do then?"
Su You sighed and said helplessly, "We can only wait and hope that she will wake up in a day or two."
Those who work the night shift will have their second night shift on the second day, followed by a day of rest. In other words, Bai Shu could rest for two days, but since she didn't have any duties to perform, it didn't matter whether she rested or not.
With Zheng Xiaoniangzi's matter weighing on his mind, Bai Shu felt bored staying at the Imperial Medical Bureau, so he went for a walk to the Bureau of Historical Records.
Bai Shu overheard the Grand Historian's superior cursing the Grand Historian as a "pig brain."
The female historian slammed down a stack of papers and said, "Write the facts! Do you understand what 'writing the facts' means? No exaggeration! No metaphors! Stop with your nonsensical rhetoric!"
Bai Shu felt that she had come at the wrong time and wanted to slip away quietly.
But then Taishi Yi pointed at her as if she had found a lifeline and said, "Master, please wait a moment before you scold me, someone is looking for me!"
The female historian pointed at the Grand Historian for a long time with a look of exasperation, and finally sighed before leaving, saying, "I'll come back to check on you tomorrow."
Bai Zhu leaned against the wall, held his breath, and made way for the lady of the house.
"What's wrong?" Bai Shu waited until the female historians had disappeared outside the door before daring to ask the Grand Historian, "Did you make a mistake again?"
Taishi Yi angrily slammed down his pen and said, "One minute they tell me to write down whatever I see or hear, the next they say I can't write this or I have to avoid mentioning the emperor's faults. Yesterday they scolded me for writing like a diary, and today they say I'm using metaphors indiscriminately. So how am I supposed to write?! I don't know, it's so annoying!"
Tai Shiyi crumpled up the draft and threw it away, then asked Bai Shu, "Come on, sister, tell me what bad luck you've encountered that will make me feel better?"
“I went to the inner court with my senior sister yesterday.” Bai Shu had already gotten used to the Taishi Yi’s room filled with books and made room for himself to sit on the floor. “Do you remember the young lady Zheng we met at Xuande Square that day, the Zheng family of tofu in the west of the city?”
Bai Shu told Tai Shiyi about the young lady from the Zheng family. Tai Shiyi seemed thoughtful and said, "Sister, if you want to know what happened in Consort Shu's palace, you don't need to go to the palace to ask."
"What's the meaning?"
Taishiyi pointed to her pile of manuscripts: "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities".
Bai Zhu: "Wonderful!"
Let's get right to it.
"You only realize how little you know when you need it." Taishi Yi and Bai Shu searched through the vast collection of books in the room, and Bai Shu said, "They shouldn't be here with you."
This is not a good solution.
“You go back first,” said the Grand Historian. “I’ll find out which lady was on duty in Consort Shu’s palace that day.”
Bai Zhu said, "I'm counting on you, sister."
That evening, Bai Shu, Su You, Chang Zhifang, and Xu Qingyan gathered together and talked about Zheng Xiaoniangzi's illness. Xu Qingyan said, "I gave her acupuncture. Although she stopped making a fuss, she just cried blankly and mumbled something, which I couldn't understand."
Chang Zhifang said, "It seems like they've lost their soul."
After discussing it for a while, the four of them all agreed that mental illness requires mental medicine.
“Go ask Senior Sister,” Su You decided, dragging Bai Shu to find Pan Cheng. “Senior Sister has served in the palace for ten years and is very knowledgeable. Let’s ask her.”
A group of four knocked on Pan Cheng's door.
Pan Cheng was aloof and reserved, usually keeping to herself and rarely smiling. She also came from a family of imperial physicians, and at the age of six, she became an apprentice of Master Wan, serving in the inner court. Despite her young age, her medical skills were superb, and many people held her in high esteem.
Su You recounted Zheng Xiaoniangzi's illness, and Pan Cheng, after listening, said, "I have not seen the patient, and you have made a hasty diagnosis based solely on your words. If the diagnosis is wrong, who will bear the responsibility?"
Pan Cheng's tone was stern, and the four people standing in a row dared not raise their heads. Xu Qingyan and Chang Zhifang glanced at Su You and Bai Shu with surprise—
It's one thing for Senior Sister Pan not to believe the diagnoses from her two fellow disciples, one using acupuncture and the other using incantation, but why won't she even listen to the opinions of her two fellow disciples?
Only Bai Shu and Su You knew what their senior sister suspected. Feeling guilty, they lowered their heads. Then they heard Pan Cheng say, "Tomorrow I will go with you to see this Miss Zheng. I need to see her with my own eyes before I can tell you."
Bai Shu jumped up happily to hug Pan Cheng, saying, "You're my own sister! Thank you so much for saving my life, Senior Sister!"
Pan Cheng was not used to others being so intimate with her, and said awkwardly, "I'm only taking care of you because of your father and brothers, don't try to cheat me."
Bai Shu is incredibly thick-skinned. Upon hearing that her senior sister had a close relationship with her father and brother, she clung even tighter to Pan Cheng. She immediately changed her address from "senior sister" to "sister" and rubbed against Pan Cheng, saying, "My dear sister, from now on I'll follow you. I'll do whatever you say without question!"
Pan Cheng stared wide-eyed. How could Bai Shu be even more shameless than Su You?
But she opened her eyes too early. Bai Shu secretly gave Su You a wink, and Su You immediately understood, grabbing Pan Cheng's other arm. Pan Cheng was being pestered by these two spoiled and unreasonable junior sisters, unable to pull her arms back or put them down, which made Xu Qingyan and Chang Zhifang laugh. Xu Qingyan said, "I'm not on duty tomorrow, so I'll go with Senior Sister Pan to broaden my horizons."
Chang Zhifang said, "I want to go too."
Pan Cheng: "..."
So the next day, Pan Cheng dragged four people along.
Zheng Xiaoniangzi was still in a daze, not saying a word, just huddled at the foot of the bed, avoiding anyone she saw.
After examining Zheng Xiaoniangzi carefully using the four diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine (observation, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation), Pan Cheng said to Bai Shu and the others, "We'll talk about it when we get back."
Back at the Imperial Physician's Residence, Pan Cheng sat down, took a sip of tea, and said, "You diagnosed her with excessive heart fire and disordered Qi that day, but you didn't see that her liver Qi had been stagnant for a long time. Stagnant Qi transformed into fire, and the heart was not nourished. This is a case of deficiency in the root and excess in the branch."
Pan Cheng showed the prescription to Bai Zhu and the other two, saying, "It all depends on her fate. If she can be raised well, that's good; if not, send her back home."
The senior sister's tone was as cold and aloof as ever. Bai Shu, Su You, and Xu Qingyan exchanged glances... Pan Cheng noticed this and said, "Bai Shu, stay. Su You and the others, go back."
The aloof and reserved senior sister exuded an imposing aura. Bai Shu shrank back and asked, "Why did you keep me here, senior sister?"
Pan Cheng said, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you what you want to do?"
Bai Shu looked bewildered. Pan Cheng said, "The most taboo thing in the palace is meddling in other people's business. The head of the kitchen is right. You are physicians, not judges. It is not your responsibility to try cases."
“But if a physician wants to treat a patient, he must get to the bottom of the matter,” Bai Shu said. “Since Senior Sister has also seen that Madam Zheng’s illness is due to emotional distress, how can we not seek the cause and just leave it to fate? Wouldn’t that be treating the symptoms but not the root cause?”
Pan Cheng sighed and said earnestly, "Xiao Shu, you are not Su You."
Bai Shu understood Pan Cheng's sigh.
What Senior Sister means is that Senior Sister Su is backed by the Su family of Huaiyin and the Duke of Huaiguo's mansion.
Behind her are the lives and fortunes of her parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews.
Bai Zhu said, "Thank you, Senior Sister. I understand. I know my limits."
Pan Cheng nodded, and Bai Shu took his leave.
Bai Shu, who "knew his place," came out and went straight to Su You's room, saying, "Come on, I'll take you to find someone."
Bai Zhu felt that she was very "sensible".
Bai Shu led Su You to the Tongshi Bureau, where three second-generation heirs—a doctor, a historian, and an official—who had managed to sneak into the palace, got together.
The Grand Historian mysteriously pulled out a wooden tablet and said, "I stole it. I have to return it after I've finished reading it."
Bai Shu and Su You leaned over to take a look, but found they couldn't understand it. Bai Shu tossed the wooden tablet back to Tai Shiyi: "Your heavenly book, translate it."
Taishi Yi felt that she had stolen the wooden tablet for nothing.
The Imperial Historian rolled his eyes and read aloud: "It says that when the palace maids were serving their meals, Consort Shu noticed that one of them looked worried and asked her what had happened. The maid said that her mother was seriously ill and on her deathbed. Consort Shu was moved by her filial piety and ordered her attendants to reward the maid generously and even allowed her to leave the palace to take care of her mother."
"What does this have to do with Lady Zheng?" Bai Shu didn't understand. "It seems that Consort Shu is a kind-hearted person. Even if the palace maid mentioned here is Lady Zheng, it's not a bad thing."
Taishi Yi shrugged, “I don’t understand either, but this is the only thing that matches the kitchen’s records, and the date matches as well.”
I was completely baffled again, with no clues whatsoever.
Taishi Yi and Bai Shu both sighed in the same way.
“No,” Su You suddenly said, “It only mentions rewards, but doesn’t record what the rewards were. That’s not right.”
Bai Shu and the other person looked at Su You.
Su You explained, “When my family receives rewards from the palace, everything is recorded by the Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of Personnel. The same principle applies in the palace. Once it’s recorded in the daily log, it’s not difficult to add a note about whether it’s a reward of gold or silver, but she didn’t record it. Besides, how can a palace servant serving in the inner court be allowed to leave the palace to visit relatives at the whim of a concubine? Even a palace servant who is favored by the Empress would find it difficult to ask for the favor of leaving Xuande Gate. This is not right either.”
Bai Shu asked, "Could it be that the lady historian missed something or made a mistake in her record?"
“That’s impossible!” Bai Shu questioned the professional ethics of the Taishiyi profession. The Taishiyi immediately objected, “We record things truthfully and accurately. This is just the first draft of the shorthand, and it must be the original words without any omissions or changes.”
Su You said: "The style of writing in the style of Spring and Autumn Annals."
Taishi Yi, not understanding, asked Su You earnestly: "What is the Spring and Autumn Annals style of writing?"
Su You's face immediately showed the same look of horror as Wan Gongfeng when he heard Bai Zhu say "Codonopsis is hot and salty". She pointed at Tai Shiyi and asked Bai Zhu, "Junior sister, are you really a member of the Tai Shi family?"
“Yes.” Bai Shu introduced, “Come, let me reintroduce myself. My sister, Tai Shiyi, is a ‘disgrace to our family’ just like me. If it weren’t for the forced marriage decree, she would never have inherited this deadly family tradition.”
Su You clasped his fists: "Disrespect, disrespect."
Both Bai Shu and Tai Shiyi pressed Su You, asking, "What is the Spring and Autumn Annals style of writing?"
“Well…” Su You didn’t know how to explain, so she said, “That lady-in-waiting did record the facts, and I suppose that’s what Consort Shu said. But many things can only be understood intuitively. ‘Reward’ could be gold and silver, or it could be a slap; ‘leaving the palace’ is even more complicated. If a palace servant is not released from the palace when they reach the appropriate age, they are either kicked out because they are sick or disabled, or they are beaten to death and carried out.”
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