Chapter 28 (Combined Chapter 28)
In the golden autumn of September, it is the Double Ninth Festival again. Before we knew it, a year had passed since we came to the Cheng family.
Since Yu Zhoujin left, although there's one more place to see the old lady, things haven't been too busy. Sister Ji Zhen is an extremely fair person; although she specializes in minor pulse diagnosis, she can also help with other specialties. She and Miao Zhen share patients equally and take turns on night shifts, making things much easier.
Xiao Tao carried a melon-segment-shaped box, while Xiao Xi carried a bolt of silver-red plain silk, a bolt of blue thread silk, and a bolt of solid white gauze.
The box contained several kinds of Double Ninth Festival cakes. Miaozhen let them share them and put the ruler in the wardrobe. Now the box she brought was no longer big enough, and she was thinking of asking Gu Mama to help her find an old box so she could put it in later.
"Miss, I just heard that Third Grandmother asked you to go out and treat patients? Is that true?" Xiao Xi asked.
Miaozhen nodded: "It's true. This family helps manage the Cheng family's shops and land. I heard from Third Grandmother that they give the family two thousand taels of silver every year and also provide them with a large mansion to live in. They can be considered quite important."
Xiao Tao smiled and said, "That's really quite respectable."
"This is the dignity that people earn through their own efforts. Although some people can live comfortably by relying on their ancestors' legacy, the blessings of a virtuous person will only last for five generations. In the end, it is the capable who will prevail." After Miaozhen transmigrated, she saw people like her uncle who started with a high level of success but ended up like that, as well as families like hers that went from being poor to being moderately wealthy.
In short, we still have to rely on ourselves.
After speaking, Miaozhen began to cut some white cloth from the flat loom to make the waistband. This white cloth cost four mace and eight fen of silver per bolt and was brought from Suzhou.
Miaozhen wore simple outer clothes, but she changed her inner garments, such as waistcoats and underpants, frequently, as these could not be bought outside. Most of the time, her two maids helped her, and she would also make some herself in her spare time.
Xiao Tao went straight outside to rest, while Xiao Xi ate some snacks and helped tidy up some odds and ends.
Unexpectedly, Madam Gu brought this old woman with her. The old woman was a chamber pot cleaner, around sixty years old, and she was suffering from postpartum hemorrhage. Madam Gu even said to Miaozhen, "She's already stopped menstruating, but somehow she's started menstruating again?"
Miaozhen asked her to sit down, but instead of making a conclusion, she asked the old woman, "When did you stop menstruating?"
The old woman said, "I went through menopause at forty-nine and haven't had my period since. I don't know why, but this time I had blood clots and I feel very dizzy and have tinnitus. Doctor Xu, everyone says you have excellent medical skills, you must save me."
"Don't worry, just tell me about your symptoms slowly."
Miaozhen asked and answered questions. Hearing that her knees were sore and weak, and that she was irritable and easily angered, she looked at her tongue. Her tongue was red with little coating. Then she said, "Let me take your pulse."
While taking her pulse, the old woman said that she had tried incense ash and talisman water but it had no effect, as if she wanted to tell Miaozhen all of this.
Miaozhen thought that even in modern times, many women, let alone in ancient times, dared not have gynecological examinations, so she could understand it very well. After taking her pulse, she said, "Your pulse is thin and rapid, indicating excessive heart fire, which is a symptom of kidney yin deficiency. Nowadays, pharmacies should sell prepared prescriptions. You should go and buy Gujing Pills and Erzhi Pills and take them together. That will be the fastest way."
The old woman said, "Medicine is free in the manor..."
"It was my fault. I'll write you a prescription." Miaozhen said, then wrote down the prescription and gave it to her.
Sometimes she would make such common-sense mistakes. She thought that ready-made medicine could be taken quickly, while brewing medicine would take longer, since there were many people in the household.
However, many people are concerned about whether the consultation and medication fees can be waived.
Because her illness was more serious, Miaozhen asked Xiaoxi to go down and tell her that the medicine needed to be decocted first.
The next day, Third Madam arranged a carriage, and Miaozhen went there with her medicine box. The house was a deep mansion with five rooms, which was like a small Cheng Mansion. She was greeted by a very respectable housekeeper, who introduced her to Miaozhen: "Our Madam is a well-known person who is good at both domestic and foreign affairs. Most of our master's business is managed by our Madam."
"Wow, that's amazing!" Miaozhen exclaimed sincerely.
Even the third mistress of the Cheng family was in charge of internal affairs and couldn't manage things at the front.
Hearing her say that, the manager praised her even more enthusiastically: "That's right, all these shops in the north and south provinces depend on her."
She had expected to meet a shrewd and worldly woman, but instead, Madam Qin was a cold beauty who seemed detached from worldly affairs. She lay quietly on the chaise longue with her eyes slightly closed, only occasionally coughing.
"Madam, Physician Xu has been summoned." The stewardess finished speaking and stood with her hands at her sides.
As soon as Mrs. Qin opened her eyes, she hurriedly tried to get up and bow, but Miaozhen said, "Why don't you just lie there? I wonder what your symptoms are? Could you tell me?"
Mrs. Qin was not a person who liked socializing, but she often had to do so because of her business dealings. She thought she would have to exchange pleasantries, but the other party got straight to the point, and she breathed a sigh of relief: "I am three or four months pregnant. For some reason, I always have a dry mouth and a sore throat. That's fine, I can just drink more water. But, when I feel uncomfortable like this, I bleed, just like when I have my period."
"Okay, I understand. Have you seen a doctor before?" Miaozhen asked.
Mrs. Qin nodded: "I saw a doctor who said I had too much internal heat, and another doctor said I had a cold, but I didn't get better after taking several doses of medicine."
After taking her pulse, Miaozhen looked at her and said, "The lungs and kidneys are like mother and child. If the kidney water is insufficient, the kidney fire will easily become unruly, and the heat will harm the child in your womb. As the saying goes, the lungs are the mother of the kidneys. The lungs belong to metal, and the kidneys belong to water. Metal can generate water. As long as you nourish the lungs, the lung water will be sufficient to nourish the kidney water. In this way, your illness will be cured."
With just a few words, Miaozhen prescribed four doses of a nourishing and calming decoction for pregnancy.
The servants of the Qin family hurriedly went to the pharmacy to get the medicine, and Miaozhen also took her leave immediately, saying that she would come back for a follow-up visit in two days.
Mrs. Qin hadn't expected that her dry mouth and throat symptoms would disappear after taking two doses. When Miaozhen came over, she was writing something at her desk. She quickly stood up and said, "Doctor Xu, thank you so much."
"What's the big deal? It's just my job." For some reason, I was very enthusiastic when I first started in this line of work, but now all I want to do is get things done and go home to lie down.
Therefore, after taking her pulse, Miaozhen told her to continue taking eight doses until the symptoms of fetal restlessness disappeared, at which point she would no longer need to take them.
Mrs. Qin looked at Miaozhen and thought that Miss Xu probably had no idea how grateful she was. Her illness, which had troubled and bothered her for so long, had actually been cured by Miaozhen. It was truly remarkable.
However, she was never very good with words, so she had someone prepare sixteen taels of silver, two bolts of brocade, two pairs of woolen socks, two catties of silk thread, ten handkerchiefs, and ten gold-embroidered handkerchiefs.
She then hosted a banquet at her home and specially invited her to dinner. Upon learning that Miaozhen was from Suzhou Prefecture but had been invited by the Cheng family to serve as a retainer, she couldn't help but say, "If Miss Xu returns in the future, her medical skills cannot be left unused. If she could open a clinic, that would truly benefit people."
"I would like to, but as you know, it's not convenient for a young lady to go out. I can certainly hold clinics and make house calls, but I generally can't go out to purchase and select medicines, so I just let it go." To be honest, she wasn't comfortable leaving everything to her servants, but she also couldn't easily go out herself.
Especially after encountering the scheme orchestrated by the Third Master and his wife, if I were even slightly careless, my reputation would be completely ruined. If even a well-mannered and respectable family like this has such sordid affairs, what about those petty scoundrels outside?
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Qin realized she had spoken out of turn: "What you said is indeed true. It is my husband who is the one who entertains guests at home."
After saying that, she chuckled and said, "Even when we women form a shrine or go out to offer incense, some people still say it's not right."
Miaozhen laughed and said, "That's right. I want to meet one of my closest friends, but I can't even do that now."
The two got along better and better as they talked, and Miaozhen learned that Mrs. Qin's surname was Wei, her given name was Wan, she had a photographic memory from a young age, was proficient in divination, and managed her business very well.
"Most of the wealthy families in Zhejiang started out by selling salt, while those in the Wu region made their fortunes through loom making. In the Northwest, they made their wealth from wool, brown cloth, and furs, and those in Sichuan and Guangdong mostly sold medicinal herbs, gold, and jade. The most profitable trade is tea and salt, but not everyone can get it."
Miaozhen listened to these business stories with great interest. She wondered why the Cheng family was so wealthy; they probably also had a tea and salt business, since several of them were officials, something ordinary families couldn't afford.
This meal was very beneficial, not only in terms of material gains, but also in terms of psychological impact.
Back in the room, Miaozhen gave Xiaoxi and Xiaotao each a handkerchief and a gold-embroidered handkerchief. Just after they finished distributing them, Sister Jizhen came upstairs to invite Miaozhen to her birthday banquet, and Miaozhen accepted.
After she left, Miaozhen was reading books about difficult childbirth. It wasn't that she was cursing her grandmother to have a difficult childbirth, but she still needed to take precautions in advance and dared not be negligent. In fact, learning medicine is a never-ending process.
In the afternoon, Third Grandmother invited her over. There were various lists laid out there, all for the Second Daughter's dowry. She couldn't sort it out and didn't want her family to help, otherwise people would look down on her and say she couldn't manage it well. So she asked Miaozhen, an outsider, to help with the accounts.
Naturally, the Third Grandmother usually gave Miaozhen the extra work to earn money, which was equivalent to their tacit understanding.
The dowry list was so detailed it was in a small booklet. Miaozhen exclaimed in astonishment, "Does the dowry have to be this much? Wardrobes and beds are one thing, but there's even a coffin and a chamber pot."
Grandma San just laughed: "You child are so ignorant. Isn't this the standard dowry? My family is the same way. There's always more, never less."
"How much did this cost?" Miaozhen asked, noticing that there were several official leather trunks made of various materials, including sandalwood and rosewood.
Third Grandma held up one finger: "Ten thousand taels."
Miaozhen was astonished; this was truly an astronomical figure for her. While helping her copy the accounts, a maid came in and said that the Third Master was being scolded by the Second Master, and the Third Madam's face immediately darkened.
In fact, after living in the Cheng family for a year, Miaozhen also knew that the Third Master was the eldest son of the second wife, but he was a thorn in the side of the Second Master and the Second Madam. Even though the couple had worked very hard, the Second Master still couldn't stand him.
The relationships within a large family are truly complex!
After leaving Third Grandmother's place, Miaozhen, having sat for too long, decided to walk back through the woods behind the artificial hill to cover more distance. However, as soon as she entered, she saw Miss Qin Biao hurriedly emerging from the woods.
"Doctor Xu, is that you?" Qin Zhilan greeted her hurriedly.
Seeing her like this, Miaozhen wondered if there was something shady going on. So, she waved her handkerchief and said, "Yes, my handkerchief fell here and I came here to pick it up. Miss Qin, what are you doing here?"
Seeing her bewildered expression, Qin Zhilan just gave a dry laugh: "It's nothing, I just got tired from walking all this way and wanted to take a short rest. By the way, someone just delivered some Suzhou Songluo tea to my place, why don't you come over and have some?"
"No, no, I have to go back and write my medical records. I'll take my leave now." Miaozhen turned back. It wasn't good to walk outside, so she had to pace herself for several thousand steps in her room.
Cheng Yuan knew all this. Her cousin Qin was young, but she was very good at planning for herself. Only her mother didn't know. She even wanted to marry her cousin Qin to her fourth brother. It seemed that she would be happy if her fourth brother married a cousin who had no support and displeased Aunt Zhu.
But the problem wasn't with Aunt Zhu; her father wouldn't have let his fourth brother marry a woman without any support, since his fourth brother was also going to pursue a career in government.
People are just that realistic. Cousin Qin saw through all this early on and took the initiative.
After the Double Ninth Festival, Miaozhen was invited by Sister Ji Zhen to her home. Her family rented a house behind a wealthy household. Old Man Ji no longer planned to be a doctor and had opened a small shop selling scraps of silk and other miscellaneous goods with his son.
At least with their daughter serving as an offering in the Cheng family, no one dared to cause trouble for them.
Miaozhen prepared a small amount of fruit-filled pastries, two handkerchiefs, and two kinds of needles and thread as a congratulatory gift to pay her respects to Madam Ji and Ji Zhen's birth mother before entering the inner room to talk.
Outside, they heard that Grandma Dong from next door had arrived. Sister Jizhen whispered in Miaozhen's ear, "This is the mistress of that Hui merchant I told you about."
"Here you go again, say less." Miaozhen was afraid that this cleft-lipped girl would get beaten up in the future.
Grandma Dong was short and stocky, with an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and cherry lips. She looked to be about thirty or forty years old. Standing beside her was a young girl wearing a pink shirt and a skirt with gold thread, who was very graceful and delicate. Behind her was another girl. Miao Zhen glanced at her and realized that it was Miao Yun.
Miaoyun never expected to run into Miaozhen in this place. She had an urge to run away. She was impersonating Qiu Niangzi's disciple and working as a female teacher in the Dong family.
But in order to teach this good-for-nothing rich girl well, she practically taught her all the lessons herself.
There was really no other way. Because her father had been beaten, her family took a fishing boat to Nanjing overnight. People say that Wu Zixu's hair turned white overnight, and her father's hair also turned much whiter overnight. Her mother complained, saying that she had been deceived by her father and that she had no choice but to follow her husband wherever he went.
In fact, Miaoyun knew that it was the Huang family that wouldn't let her and her mother go back, and they felt ashamed. Her mother had nowhere else to turn, so she came with her father. In Nanjing, it didn't matter if she had no connections. Her father couldn't even get a job as a hanger-on, and her mother couldn't find a family to help with embroidery. So she had to muster up her courage and bribe a few nuns and Taoist priestesses. Knowing that they had extensive connections, she asked them to introduce her to be a female tutor.
Unexpectedly, a nouveau riche family like the Dong family actually approached her. It was said that this Miss Dong was about to marry into an official family because of her wealth and beauty, but she was illiterate and could only ask her to help her learn a little.
With the money the Dong family earned, her mother bought a waist loom, and her father became the shopkeeper, specializing in selling fine cloth from Wuzhong. Life had just gotten better, and she didn't want her cousin to expose her, so she just stood there, not knowing what to do with her hands and feet.
Miaozhen had no idea that Miaoyun was impersonating someone, but seeing Miaoyun's face practically disappearing into the ground, she pretended not to know her. As the saying goes, leave a way out for others so you can meet again in the future; don't pry into everything, and don't deliberately expose other people's wounds.
Madam Ji was introducing: "This is Miss Xu, who sits and worships with our sister Zhen at the Cheng family."
The Dong family, with its vast wealth, had no desire to associate with a family like the Ji family. However, the Ji family had connections with the Cheng family and maintained good relations with the wealthy families mentioned earlier, so they began to make contact.
Grandma Dong was quite pleased to see that Sister Ji Zhen was lively and Sister Miao Zhen was serene. She didn't stay long; after delivering her birthday gift, she left with her entourage, and Miao Yun breathed a sigh of relief.
Once outside, she saw Miss Dong staring at her: "Why do you seem so guilty?"
"It's not that I'm guilty, it's just that I was pricked by a doctor when I was a child, and I'm terrified of seeing doctors," Miaoyun lied.
These words made Miss Dong smile. She was always witty and clever, and said, "Look at those two young girls, they're not afraid of drugging or pricking people, but you're afraid of them."
Miaoyun could only force a smile.
Grandma Dong brought a crystal goose from Deyilou Restaurant. On the table were ten dishes of five dry and five wet dishes prepared by the Ji family. When more relatives from the Ji family came over, Miaozhen buried her head in her food and ate. She was thinking about what would happen if Third Grandma gave birth backwards or sideways. When she looked up, she saw that Sister Ji Zhen's face was flushed.
"What's wrong with you?" Miaozhen was still confused.
The Ji family relatives were all laughing. Xiao Xi whispered in her ear, "Girl, the Ji family is arranging a marriage for the eldest daughter of the Ji family."
So that's what it was about. Miaozhen teased Jizhen about it. On the way back, Xiaoxi asked, "Was the person we met today that Miss Yun?"
“It should be her. She looks quite well-dressed now, so she's probably working as a female tutor again. Let's just pretend we don't know her. Don't even mention the eldest sister of the Ji family. Let them live their lives peacefully in Nanjing,” Miaozhen said.
Xiao Xi retorted, "If her father hadn't lied, you wouldn't have left your hometown."
“That’s true, but it’s not all bad that we’re in the Cheng family. I’ve saved up so many silks, satins and jewelry, and I’d have to spend money to buy them myself. Besides, we’ve broadened our horizons, which is something we can’t do at home. Although Madam Qiu taught us how to manage the household, I only learned how to actually manage it after I came to the Cheng family and saw how Third Madam managed it.” Miaozhen didn’t think it was all a bad thing.
Xiao Xi couldn't help but say, "You always think the best of things, so is this matter just going to be left like this?"
Miaozhen nodded: "Let it go, what else can we do? If we force them into a corner, will they go back to their families? Besides, I heard from Sister Jizhen that Miss Dong is getting married next year, so you won't be able to stay in their family for much longer."
Sometimes Miaozhen can understand how others feel when they have nowhere to turn. Why bother? Giving others a way out is also giving yourself a way out.
Xiao Xi knew her young lady's methods; she was definitely not the kind of person who would let others bully her. Otherwise, she would have schemed against almost all the people like Yu Zhoujin and the Third Madam. However, she was also a magnanimous person who would forgive others when she could.
After returning, Miaozhen brought food for Xiaotao. While Xiaotao was eating, she mentioned that the eldest girl's mother had come by.
"Is it to take me to see a doctor?" Miaozhen asked.
Xiao Tao shook her head: "I asked, and that mother said no, she just happened to be passing by and came in to take a look."
Miao Zhen thought to herself that these kinds of people coming to her door were probably not good things. She decided to ignore them for now, knowing that if they wanted to find her, they would definitely come back again.
"You eat first, I'll rest for a while too. My back is sore from the carriage ride to the Ji family's house today." With that, he took off his coat and lay down on the bed.
Then, the eldest daughter, Cheng Jing, seeing her mother return empty-handed, said, "What are we going to do? If this child is born, the Cheng family and the Xia family will be finished."
A widowed girl at home, yet she's pregnant—what will people say about her?
At first, she genuinely wanted to remain a widow. After all, marriages were all the same anyway; husbands would still have multiple wives and concubines, she would spend her days serving her mother-in-law, and her sisters-in-law would be constantly scheming against each other. Besides, remaining a widow would earn her a good reputation, and the Xia family and her own family even had a tacit agreement that they would help her father and brother's future careers.
No matter how capable you are in officialdom, you can't get ahead without connections. But if you have connections, even a scholar can become an official.
But gradually, she began to waver. She couldn't wear bright clothes, couldn't go to festive occasions, and could only stay in a corner. She couldn't laugh too much when she saw someone happy, and when she was sad, people said she was a jinx to her husband.
But it was too late for her to waver. She happened to meet that kind of person, and the two had a sexual relationship. That person tried his best to persuade her to remarry, but she dared not.
Having left the Cheng family and eloped with someone else, where the betrothed is to be a wife and the elopement to be a concubine, what way is there for her to live? How will her parents and relatives face her?
Therefore, the most urgent task is to prevent this child from existing.
"Call Physician Xu over again tomorrow. She's tight-lipped and her medical skills are superb. We can't treat her unfairly. Find out two hundred taels of silver; we need to be sincere," the young lady immediately added.
The mother nodded and went to invite Miaozhen again the next day.
Miaozhen asked on the way, "How is the eldest daughter? Has her illness from last year relapsed?"
The mother who came was tight-lipped, only saying things that were not relevant to the conversation. Soon, Miaozhen arrived at the building where the eldest aunt was. After entering, she noticed that this young lady was a little different from usual. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was different, but she was just a little different. So she said, "Then let's take her pulse first."
"Let's go upstairs and have her pulse checked," the young woman said, fearing that Miao Zhen might be unaware of the implications.
Miaozhen was completely bewildered, but she still agreed. But things went wrong as soon as she took the pulse; a widowed woman was found to be pregnant.
She's had a run of bad luck these past few months. First, she was inexplicably targeted and resented by the Third Madam, then she ran into Miaoyun, and now she's encountered this kind of thing.
Heavens, what should she do?
Miaozhen felt like she was about to transform into a roaring emperor...
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