Chapter 48 Chapter 48 Diagnosis
There was a small, narrow room in Zhe Rou's courtyard, which was usually used to store some sundries and herbs. Xie Yunzhou was not as spoiled as the ordinary noblemen, so he simply tidied up and stayed there temporarily.
Zhe Rou actually didn't want to have too much contact with Xie Yunzhou. He and Lu Chen had a very deep connection, and he was of that status.
But after all, we live under the same roof, and after a long time, it is inevitable that we feel some inexplicable strangeness.
Xie Yunzhou was a lively and cheerful person. All day long she would hear him either teasing cats and dogs in the yard or teaching him some boxing skills. Although there was only one more person, her life seemed to become lively and vivid all of a sudden. She couldn't even pretend that this person was not in her life.
Perhaps it was because Lu Chen was between them, although neither of them said or did anything inappropriate, they just felt vaguely uncomfortable, in an indescribable subtle way.
If one must find a benefit, there is one. Ever since Xie Yunzhou settled here, he had taken on all the rough work, such as chopping wood and fetching water. This had made things much easier for her and Shuiqing. In fact, with the colder weather, she could now use warm water every morning for washing, no longer having to suffer from the chill of cold water.
The frost on the eaves was getting heavier, and red persimmons were hanging on the branches. The north wind blew through the courtyard wall, shaking it and making a rustling sound.
The first day of October is the Cold Clothes Festival. According to custom, women and children must wear dogwood dew bags to ward off evil spirits.
Zhe Rou had prepared it in advance. She got one for Shui Qing early in the morning and also got one for Xiao Li. The small and exquisite purse was strung with a red string and worn around the furry and chubby neck, which was very adorable.
Xie Yunzhou leaned against the eaves with his arms folded, looking at it with a sour look on his face. "Jiu Niang, why are there even dogs?"
Hearing the tentative tone in his voice, Zhe Rou lowered her eyelashes slightly, gently scratched Xiao Li's ears, and smiled faintly: "Of course, our Xiao Li is still a child."
The dog seemed to be very satisfied with what he heard. He rubbed his head against her and hummed softly twice.
Zhe Rou curled up the corners of her lips unconsciously.
Shui Qing happily put on her purse, went back to the house and brought out a small basket. "My dear, here are all the paper clothes I made these days. Do you think you need anything else?"
Zhe Rou took it, and the basket was filled with winter clothes, shoes and boots made of yellow paper, as well as various paper money and gold ingots. She was far away in a foreign land, with no graves to worship at, so she could only go to the riverside intersection, where there were many cars and horses, to burn these offerings for her deceased relatives.
Shuiqing had made it with great care, and it was very delicate. Zhe Rou flipped through two of them, then looked up and smiled at her, "Thank you for your help. I have some in my room, too. Take them and put them together. We can take them to the intersection to burn in the evening."
"Madam, why are you being so polite to me?" Shui Qing grinned, turned around and went back to the house to bring out the paper clothes that Zherou had made. She also brought over a bigger bamboo basket and helped Zherou put the two baskets of things for the ancestral sacrifices together.
Xie Yunzhou also lifted his robe and squatted down. Just as he was about to lend a hand to help, he suddenly saw a rattle made of colorful paper among the stacks of paper clothes and paper money. It was out of place with the plain clothes, shoes and boots, and was obviously a child's toy.
Xie Yunzhou's gaze froze for a moment, his Adam's apple rolling. After a while, he turned to Zhe Rou with a stiff neck, "Jiu Niang, this is..."
Zhe Rou lowered her eyes and continued to fold the bamboo basket without making a sound, except for a slight tremor of her fingertips.
Although it was just a vague guess, after seeing her reaction, Xie Yunzhou had nothing to understand.
Back in Taozhou, Lu Chen, worried about his uncertain future, had been using contraceptive pills, even giving up alcohol for fear of affecting their effectiveness. Back then, he had no other thoughts about Zhe Rou, and upon hearing about this little incident between them, he had even teased Lu Chen about it, mocking his henpecked and virtuous nature.
This child must have died in Beijing.
That's why she left Beijing alone and in a hurry as if she was escaping for her life.
How badly was she bullied?
A fire suddenly burst out in my heart, and indescribable bitterness mixed with anger exploded in my chest.
Xie Yunzhou suddenly lost control and grabbed Zhe Rou's slender wrist, his Adam's apple rolling violently, "What happened...was it an accident, or did he hurt you?"
The heat instantly penetrated through the clothes and imprinted on the slightly cool skin.
Zhe Rou pursed her lips, pulled her wrist out from under his palm, and whispered, "What has passed is not important."
Xie Yunzhou froze for a moment. After a while, he spoke in a stammered voice, "You suddenly left Beijing in June. Have you recovered? Are there any remaining symptoms?"
...Does it still hurt?
Zhe Rou lowered her head, picked up the wave drum, and carefully put it into the bamboo basket. "Ming Qi, this has nothing to do with you."
After a long time, Xie Yunzhou smiled.
The moment he saw her bury the small drum in the pile of yellow paper, he felt as if something was pressing heavily on his heart.
Although they were already very familiar with each other, it was as if an invisible wall had suddenly been erected, isolating him completely.
The two of them stopped talking, the yard became quiet, and the little fox huddled under the stone steps, revealing only a pair of round eyes.
The atmosphere was becoming somewhat heavy when a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded at the courtyard gate. Zhe Rou looked up and saw Wu Jia Qilang running in anxiously, breathing heavily and calling out in a loud voice.
"Jiu Niang! Shui Qing! Jiu Niang!"
Seeing that something was wrong, Zhe Rou felt nervous and stood up and took a few steps forward. "What's wrong? What happened?"
When Wu Jia Qilang saw Zhe Rou, he felt as if he had found his savior. He grabbed her sleeve and said anxiously, "Please help me, Jiu Niang! I don't know what's wrong with Quan'er. He has had abdominal pain and vomiting since midnight last night. When I woke up this morning, he looked like he was going to be in a bad condition. My brother has invited a traveling doctor [1], but I don't trust him very much. Please come with me to see him, Jiu Niang!"
Quan Ge'er will be two years old this year. Mrs. Wu and her husband didn't have this child until they were middle-aged, and they have always treasured him like the apple of their eye.
Zhe Rou quickly responded, and said in a gentle voice, "Don't worry, I'll go with you."
Without caring about anything else, she turned back to the house to get the medicine box and silver needles, and quickly followed Qilang out the door.
Seeing the two people hurriedly leaving, Xie Yunzhou squinted his eyes for a long time, told Shui Qing to guard the door, and followed them.
Zhe Rou hurried to the Wu family, and before she even entered the door, she heard the sound of a child crying, which was extremely distressing.
When they entered the main room, Madam Wu was standing by the couch, her eyes red as she held her breath as the traveling doctor took Quan'er's pulse.
After checking both hands for pulses, the doctor twirled his beard, then turned around and took out a few small medicine packets from his medicine box and handed them over. "Your son's abdominal pain is probably caused by overeating raw and cold food, which has caused coldness in his stomach. I don't think it's serious. Just give him two doses of Warming Spleen Soup."
Madam Wu quickly agreed, thanked him repeatedly, and turned around to urge the maid to boil the medicine quickly.
Looking at Quan Ge'er's appearance, Zhe Rou felt something was wrong in her heart, so she stepped forward and called out to the lady, "Can you let me see Quan Ge'er?"
Aunt Wu turned around in confusion, and when she saw that it was Zhe Rou, she knew that she also knew something about pharmacology, so she nodded and moved aside.
Seeing that someone seemed to be trying to steal his business, Lang was very unhappy and said in a rather unfriendly tone: "Who are you? Don't come here to cause trouble."
Zhe Rou ignored him, walked forward and picked up Quan Ge'er, walked to a brightly lit place, pinched his index finger, and pushed it repeatedly along the lines between his fingers. Seeing that the lines were dark blue and penetrated the vital point, it was clearly not a simple abdominal pain caused by cold stagnation, but a sign of intestinal abscess. If warm medicine was used, it would be like adding fuel to the fire.
Zhe Rou carefully placed Quan'er back on the couch and frowned as she said to Madam Wu, "Quan'er has an intestinal abscess. You absolutely cannot use warming medicines. You need to take a rhubarb and peony bark formula to relieve the heat."
The doctor's eyes widened immediately. "Nonsense! What intestinal abscess? This is clearly a cold syndrome. Purge heat is absolutely not allowed!"
Mrs. Wu was stunned for a moment. She looked at Zhe Rou and then at the traveling doctor. She was really at a loss and felt anxious and torn.
Qilang spoke at the right time: "Sister-in-law, the medicine made by Jiuniang sells very well in Pingjiang Prefecture. I trust Jiuniang."
The doctor sneered at this and said disdainfully, "What's so difficult about making two sets of medicine according to the prescription? How many patients can a woman in the backyard see? If she acts recklessly and delays someone's life, who will be held responsible?"
Saving the child was the most important thing at the moment, so Zhe Rou didn't elaborate much and just whispered to Madam Wu, "Please wait a moment, Madam. We'll know what Quan'er's symptoms are with a test needle."
As she spoke, she turned around, took out a three-edged silver needle, and inserted the needles into Quan Ge'er's Zusanli and Ashi acupoints.
As soon as the two needles were inserted, slightly thick purple-black blood beads suddenly gushed out. In just half a cup of tea, the blood beads were drained out, Quan Ge'er's crying gradually subsided, and his originally tense and curled up little body also stretched out a little.
Seeing this, Madam Wu burst into tears of joy, chanting a string of gods and bodhisattvas. She hurriedly urged people to boil the medicine according to Zhe Rou's instructions, and then held Zhe Rou's hand, thanking her repeatedly.
The doctor was left out in the cold. Seeing that his business was about to disappear, he couldn't help but look a little embarrassed. He said angrily, "It's just a blind sparrow hitting the chaff. A woman also wants to learn to practice medicine from a man and show her face in public. I'm afraid she doesn't know how to be content. I don't think she can be a good doctor."
After all, he was in a foreign land, so it was not good to cause trouble and attract attention. Zhe Rou frowned slightly, intending to endure it, not wanting to engage in unnecessary verbal disputes with him.
The doctor snorted, flicked his long sleeves, picked up his medicine box and was about to go out, but he didn't expect that Xie Yunzhou, who was waiting under the eaves, grabbed his wrist and forced him to stagger back into the house.
Xie Yunzhou narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Apologize."
The doctor struggled twice but couldn't break free. Instead, he stiffened his neck and shouted angrily, "Who are you? Why are you meddling in other people's business? Let me go!"
Xie Yunzhou suddenly exerted force on his hands, and the doctor was caught off guard and screamed in pain.
"I asked you to apologize, didn't you hear me?"
The strength in his hands increased a little.
But after just a few breaths, the doctor's forehead was already covered in sweat from the pain. Although he felt extremely humiliated, he could not bear the pain. He could only bow to Zhe Rou with trembling hands and said reluctantly, "Forgive... forgive me for my nonsense just now and for offending my lady... Although my lady is young, she has some skills."
Zhe Rou pursed her lips and accepted his gift.
Xie Yunzhou then pushed the man away and sneered, "Of course not like you. Although you are quite old, you are really useless."
The doctor didn't dare to say anything again. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and fled out of the Wu family's gate.
The room became quiet.
Zhe Rou looked up at Xie Yunzhou, feeling confused and not knowing what to say for a moment.
Xie Yunzhou, however, pulled up his lips into a smile, then turned around and walked out of the house very tactfully.
It was not until she went to the intersection in the evening to burn winter clothes as a sacrifice that Zhe Rou calmed down and thanked him.
"Thank you for what happened to the Wu family earlier."
She smiled at Xie Yunzhou, lowered her head and added a stack of paper money to the fire. "It's just a few harsh words, it's okay."
Xie Yunzhou was silent for a moment, then whispered, "But I feel like something's wrong."
Zhe Rou was slightly stunned. At this moment, a cold wind blew from somewhere, blowing across the fire, and the flames shot up. Before Zhe Rou could react, Xie Yunzhou had already grasped her hand and led her back, "Be careful, it's hot."
His palms were thin and broad, and his long fingers folded together to completely cover her entire hand.
A warm, slightly rough palm suddenly touched her skin, and Zhe Rou's heart tightened suddenly. Almost instinctively, she struggled, trying to pull her hand back.
But he couldn't twitch.
Zhe Rou was startled and looked up at Xie Yunzhou unexpectedly, only to meet a pair of dark, bright, handsome eyes.
Xie Yunzhou looked at her stubbornly, his two sword-like eyebrows slightly twisted, and said in a hoarse voice: "Jiu Niang, I don't want others to bully you anymore."
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