Yun Qiao Niang kept the mugwort leaves just in case someone might need them someday. Just as Zhu Cuilan came to her to ask for them, she took two handfuls without saying a word.
Knowing that she wanted to give Yang Donghu moxibustion to relieve his cold body, and fearing that Yun Qiao might not be able to explain clearly, she gave him some special instructions.
"Okay, I understand. I'll go back first."
Zhu Cuilan brought back some mugwort. The aged mugwort would break into pieces if rubbed. She rubbed it in the palm of her hand for a while, and when the mugwort leaves became tangled when pulled, it became mugwort wool.
Mugwort can also be used to smoke out mosquitoes in the house. Just put it in a basin and burn it. However, if you want to use moxibustion, you have to wrap the moxa in paper.
Zhu Cuilan found an old almanac, tore off a few pages and rolled them into moxa sticks. Following Yun Qiaoniang's instructions, she used scissors to poke a few small holes in the ginger slices and placed them below her navel. The small holes were to allow the backflow of moxa smoke to fumigate the acupuncture points.
"Lift up your clothes and lie down on the bed. Yun Qiaoniang said that fumigation for fifteen minutes will be enough." Zhu Cuilan first closed the doors and windows tightly to ensure that no wind could enter the room. Then she rubbed her hands together to warm them up, and gently rubbed Yang Donghu's lower abdomen for a while before lighting the moxa stick and placing it on the ginger slices, close to his belly button.
The place where the mugwort smoke was smoked soon became warm. Yang Donghu felt a warm current slowly spreading from his lower abdomen to his whole body. The refreshment all over his body made him unable to help but close his eyes. His head sank and he fell asleep.
Fortunately, he was a very good sleeper and didn't like to turn over, otherwise Zhu Cuilan would have to wake him up.
Two quarters of an hour passed quickly. Zhu Cuilan took down the ginger slices and moxa sticks. She sweated a lot on the places where she was fumigated with moxa smoke. Yun Qiaoniang said that this was to remove the cold and dampness.
The area that had just been moxibustioned should not be exposed to the wind. Zhu Cuilan put his clothes back in place and then gently woke Yang Donghu up: "Donghu, wake up, how do you feel?"
Yang Donghu slowly woke up and realized that the moxa sticks on his body had been taken off. However, this was his first time to have moxibustion. Apart from some warmth in his lower abdomen, he didn't feel anything special. But he didn't know if it was a psychological effect, but he really felt a lot more tired.
"It's quite comfortable, and I don't feel that tired anymore."
Zhu Cuilan put away her things and smiled when she heard this: "This is only the first time. You will feel more and more comfortable after a few days of moxibustion. If you don't feel any discomfort after two moxibustions, we can add two more at the Zusanli point on your legs."
"Okay." Yang Donghu touched his lower abdomen and nodded.
He had just finished moxibustion and didn't want to go out in the wind. He said drinking rice soup could nourish his body. Zhu Cuilan asked him to wait in the room for a while while she went out to boil some rice soup and brought it in.
After two moxibustion sessions, Yang Donghu felt that he was indeed feeling better, and Zhu Cuilan planned to add two more moxibustion sticks next time.
There has been nothing major happening in the village recently. The only thing is that Yang Donghu is getting married. People come and go in the Zhao family courtyard every day, either chatting with Zhu Cui's family or wanting to know whether the banquet is ready.
Yang Donghu always liked to be teased by the aunts at home. The vicious words they said made people's ears red. He couldn't stay there, so he ran to Zhang Lanzhen's house to hide. Although he would still be teased by her, it was always better to deal with one aunt than a group of aunts.
Half of the year has passed, and Yang Anjin has become less and less willing to go out. He has finished making his own clothes, but Zhao Fangyu's are still largely unfinished.
Yang Donghu came for several days in a row. He was afraid that just talking would delay Yang Anjin's embroidery work, so he brought shoe patterns and scraps of cloth to make soles. If there was anything wrong with them, Yang Anjin could help him fix them.
Zhao Fangchu came with him for a day. Zhang Lanzhen couldn't persuade Yang Anchen, so after she half agreed, her attitude towards Zhao Fangchu became different. There was an indescribable enthusiasm in her. Zhao Fangchu felt a little uncomfortable and stopped coming with him.
Also, as soon as he arrived, the two men caught him and started talking nonsense. He couldn't win over them with his mouth, so he turned around and looked for Chen Ran.
Yang Donghu told Yang Anjin about the moxibustion. The two boys took advantage of the fact that no one was around in the room and chatted in a low voice about some gossip that only girls could talk about.
"Can you really have a child by doing moxa?" Before Yang Anjin's wedding day, there were many things that Zhang Lanzhen had not taught him. For example, Yang Anjin actually had no idea what to do in the bridal chamber after the wedding ceremony.
In the past, a woman came to talk to Zhang Lanzhen and said that her husband had slept with someone else and had a child, and was caught red-handed and was making a big fuss.
All Yang Anjin knew about sleeping was that the two of them covered themselves with a quilt while lying on the bed. He was curious about why lying down could lead to the birth of a child. Now it seems that it was moxibustion while lying on the bed?
He asked Zhang Lanzhen at that time, but Zhang Lanzhen didn't tell him and told him not to ask around, so until now he still thought that entering the bridal chamber meant sleeping.
Yang Donghu nodded and said, "I have a cold body. They say moxibustion can dispel the cold. I really hope it's true. Maybe one day I'll have a baby."
Yang Anjin didn't know what he was thinking about, and felt a little embarrassed. He didn't speak for a long time. Yang Donghu thought he was shy because of some childishness, and was about to change the subject when he saw Yang Anjin speaking with a bitter face.
"Is there any other way? The smell of mugwort is terrible. It makes me want to vomit. Is moxibustion necessary for conceiving a baby? Can't I burn something else?"
Yang Donghu was a little confused and asked, "What method? I don't know. I just heard Yunqiao say this. Aren't you in good health? You don't need moxibustion, right? If you don't like the smell, just forget it."
"How can that be? My mother said that boys and girls should all have children. I will definitely be like you in the future." Yang Anjin frowned: "It's just mugwort, I can just bear it."
"No, wait a minute, what do you mean by the same as me?" Yang Donghu was completely confused by what he said. He touched Yang Anjin's hand and said, "Yours is not cold either."
"Didn't you say that moxibustion can help you have a baby?"
Yang Donghu was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing when he realized what was happening: "No, I mean I have a cold body, so it's not easy to have a baby after getting married. Moxibustion will make it easier to have a baby if my body is not cold, but it doesn't mean I will have a baby just by moxibustion."
He laughed as he spoke, and then simply fell on the bed and couldn't get up. Yang Anjin looked at him and laughed, scratching his head in confusion: "Why is it so troublesome? What else do you need to do to have a baby besides moxibustion?"
How could Yang Donghu bring himself to speak about such a thing? He wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and waved his hands: "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. You will know it yourself when we get married."
The two brothers, one clear and the other confused, couldn't agree on what they were talking about. Yang Anjin also knew that he had probably misunderstood, and punched his leg in embarrassment: "If you don't want to say it, then don't say it. Stop laughing, you're laughing too loudly."
Zhang Lanzhen is not here today. She said she went to the town to see Yang Anchen for something. There are only two brothers in the family, so they talked about having children without restraint. Yang Donghu smiled and thought of Zhao Luochuan for some reason, and suddenly a feeling of longing came to his heart.
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