Chapter 42: The Imperial Physician

  "My young master, you can't mess with this." Li Qiu's wife hurried forward to intercept him, "......this is for your mother's illness, it's precious, don't treat it as a toy."

  Deer velvet is not something you can buy with just money.

  "...to cure his mother's illness?" Jian Wen and Jian Wu looked up at Zhen Shi Niang, they didn't believe Li Qi's wife's words.

  This is obviously an animal horn, how can it be medicine?

  "This is called Lu Rong." Zhen Shi Niang took the Lu Rong from Jian Wu's hand and explained in a warm tone, "It's the tender horn of a male deer..." She held out the Lu Rong for Jian Wen and Jian Wu to see, "Look, it hasn't grown into hard bone like cow horns yet, and it still has soft fur on top, that's why it's called Lu Rong. It can nourish blood and energy... Your Uncle Li brought it back from hunting in the mountains..."

  "Is this really medicine?" Jianwen's eyes widened. "...Mother will recover from her illness if she eats this?"

  I didn't want to deceive the child, but thinking that since I fell asleep for two days last time, Jian Wu's thoughts have been very heavy, Zhen Shiniang nodded vaguely.

  "Then I'll go up the mountain tomorrow and hit a deer for Mother?" Jian Wu said seriously.

  "...how can that be?" Li Qizhen's wife was startled, "You're not even as tall as the table, how can you go hunting, won't you get knocked out three feet away by a deer?" She also scared him saying, "There are tigers on the mountain, they specifically eat children."

  Zhen Shining furrowed her brow.

  “……I have a slingshot, one hundred shots, one hundred hits, specializing in shooting tiger eyes!” Jian Wu's face turned somewhat pale, but his mouth didn't show weakness. "I'll get Zhang Da Bo to take me!" he boasted. "Zhang Da Bo isn't afraid of tigers, he even shot a musk deer before, and musk deer meat is delicious!" He turned back to ask Zhen Shi Niang, "Mother, can I go hunting for deer with Zhang Da Bo?"

  "Alright......" Zhen Shi Niang smiled and gently stroked his hair, "But you have to wait until you can draw the bow in Zhang Da Bo's house."

  Zhang Da Bo is actually Zhang Zhi from next door, whose family has an heirloom bow that weighs over 50 kilograms and requires at least 200-300 kilograms of arm strength to draw fully. Zhen Shi Niang had never heard of anyone in this town who could draw that bow.

  Jian Wu spat out his tongue, "...... Yesterday, Zhang Da Bo was at home wiping the bow, and my brother and I couldn't lift it together!"

  "Then hurry up and grow up." Zhen Shining smiled and pulled him out the door with Li Qizhi's wife.

  The next morning, Zhen Shi Niang took Qiujie to work in the front yard.

  The northern traditional pickled mustard greens, all need to first scald the repaired whole white cabbage with boiling water, neatly stacked in a jar, layer by layer, sprinkled with coarse salt, then pressed tightly with stones, sealed, and can be eaten in two or three months.

  Because boiling water requires a large pot, and fearing the kang would be too hot for people to sleep on, Zhen Shi Niang set up a temporary stove in the front yard. Just as it was finished, Li Qi's wife hurried over.

  Zhen Shi Niang smiled and straightened up, "......You're quite enthusiastic. I've just set up the stove, and the pot hasn't been washed yet." She instructed Qiu Ju, "After washing the pot, add water and start a fire." She invited Li Qi's wife into the house, "The dishes are all ready, just waiting for the water to boil. Li Sao, please come in and have a drink of water and sit for a while..."

  Li Qizhen's wife blushed bright red, smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm going to lose my voice today, wait for a day, tomorrow I'll definitely come help you pickle." She called out to Qiujie, "You don't need to set up the stove either, wait until tomorrow."

  Qiu Ju looked at Zhen Shi Niang.

  Zhen Shi Nang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Don't be polite with me, if you have something to do, just go ahead and take care of it. With Autumn Jade's help, I can pickle these vegetables in no time."

  "Not being polite to you, but you're also busy today."

  "What's wrong?" Seeing her unnatural smile, Zhen Shiniang's heart skipped a beat.

  She glanced around, and Li Qizhen's wife pulled Zhen Shiniang into the house, "Let's go inside to talk." Turning her head, she said to Qiujie who was standing there in a daze, "Just listen to me, don't rush today, go rest instead."

  "Li Shuo said, don't make a fire, clean up the yard, feed the chickens and go to rest in the house." Zhen Shi Niang ordered Qiu Ju.

  Qiu Ju nodded and bent down to pick up.

  "What's going on?" Li Qizhen's wife sat down, and Zhen Shiniang turned around to pour her water.

  "......The hospital has come!" Li Qi's wife looked serious.

  Is the hospital crowded?

  Zhen Shiniang's hand trembled slightly as she poured water.

  There is no department in charge of medical and health care among the six departments, and most of the functions related to medical and health care are exercised by the Imperial Hospital. In this sense, the Imperial Hospital is equivalent to the modern Ministry of Health, representing the government, and the imperial physicians inside are also official physicians. Generally, ordinary people cannot afford it even if they have money, but now the Rui Xiang Pharmacy has come out of nowhere, why?

  Has the plague spread to the imperial court?

  He shook his head in confusion again, although it was close to the capital and would arrive quickly with a fast horse, but there was no movement at all in the government office of the town. Wasn't this ancient imperial decree transmitted level by level? How could it be out of order?

  Her heart was churning, but Zhen Shi Niang's expression didn't change. She turned around and handed the water to Li Qi's wife, asking casually, "Who all came? What did they say?"

  "The leader is the deputy head of Tai Hospital, surnamed Wen, who arrived last night and went directly to Liu Mazi's house...". Li Qiu's wife put down the water on one side, "This morning, he was taken to my place by the county government, saying that Liu Ergui indeed had a plague, but it has already healed. They studied your prescription for half a day, and in the end, they didn't say much, just asked me to invite you over...". Looking at Zhen Shiniang, "They spoke very politely, I think this is not a big deal, except for this prescription... They are official doctors, we are just a small pharmacy, can't compete with them."

  Once this prescription is made public by Taiyi Hospital, she will no longer be able to make a profit from it. Therefore, Li Qizhen's wife was anxious and worried early in the morning.

  Zhen Shining didn't think of these things, the imperial physician first went to see Liu Ergui, explaining that they were specifically here for this matter. Although she was confident that a large-scale plague would not break out, it's always good to have someone from the Imperial Hospital keeping an eye on things.

  However, if this alarms the authorities, then such behavior is considered withholding information from the authorities.

  Fellow travelers are sworn enemies.

  Is Taai Hospital going to make things difficult for her and throw her into a big prison?

  The thought flashed, Zhen Shiniang had the heart to refuse bluntly, but the words reached her lips and were swallowed back. She was just a small folk doctor, how could she dare not go when the Deputy Minister of Health invited her?

  In an instant, Zhen Shiniang was mentally torn for several rounds.

  "Ah, Yu, hurry up and come with me...". Seeing Zhen Shiniang hesitating, Li Qizhi's wife urged, "After all, he is a high-ranking official, not someone we can afford to offend. Don't let him wait anxiously."

  Zhen Shining suddenly had an idea, “...Wait a moment, Li Shuo.”

  Mrs. Li is right, she has no choice, although going may not come back, but this is also an opportunity, as long as she responds properly, maybe even take the opportunity to make friends with a few imperial physicians.

  If Rui Xiang could sell the unsold pills to Tai Hospital, perhaps she would be able to open her own pharmacy.

  It's not like there's anything good to pick up, Zhen Shiniang quickly changed into a light green plaid linen jacket without patches, re-combed her hair, simply coiled it into a bun, secured it with a wooden pin, put on a black gauze hat, and only then called out to Li Qizhen's wife who was sitting there in a daze drinking water, "Let's go."

  As she stood up, Li Qi's wife looked at the straw hat on her head and reminded her, "......When you see Dr. Wen later, Jian Niang must remember to take off the straw hat."

  Zhen Shiniang's body suddenly stiffened.

  It's all right to wear a veil when visiting patients, but it's somewhat disrespectful to see the Deputy Minister of Health. However, looking at her low profile, these imperial physicians often frequent the mansions of various high-ranking officials in the capital, will they recognize her?