Chapter 137 – The Little Boy in Distress
It was a little boy who laid on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. He looked only five or six years old. His cheeks were red, his facial expression looked painful and his whole body convulsed pitifully while his mouth foamed.
Is this epilepsy?
Thoroughly startled by the sight that greeted her, Ye Zhen quickly knelt beside him and lifted his head, leaning it to the side. Through this manner, she let him spit the foams from his mouth. Afterwards, she pulled a silver handkerchief and she shoved it into his mouth gently, untied his collar for him to breathe with ease.
What should I do? Ye Zhen was a little anxious. Her medicals skills was still lacking!
Now, she would have to rely on her sister’s memory—her sister who had not really treated anyone before!
“Third miss, what should I do?” Dai Mei, who was then kneeling beside her, whispered.
Hearing the unmistakable murmurs around her, Ye Zhen looked up from the little boy and gazed at the people who continually gathered around them. Some pointed at her and seemed to have recognized her. It was then that she realized that her face was not hidden by her curtain hat!
But there was no time to worry about this, she thought. Training her attention to the child soley, she found that the boy had gradually calmed down.
“First, let us help him to the carriage, maybe his family will come soon.” She instructed.
Someone nearby said, “That child seems to be Mister Qi’s grandson.”
The words were loud enough for her to hear but Ye Zhen ignored what the man had said as she had grown worried of the child who was currently burning with fever. She remembered what she had seen in Empress Qi Yanling’s medical books. His fever could have caused the epilepsy. If he won’t cool down in time, it might not be good for his brain.
“Is there any wine in the carriage?” Ye Zhen asked Dai Mei in an almost frantic voice.
Dai Mei nodded, “Yes!” The wine will help ward off the cold.
Ye Zhen asked Quan Fu to hold the child in his arms and they went back to the carriage. There, she took a wine previously warmed by the carriage’s burner.
Then, she rubbed the little boy’s neck and thigh with the liquor. These are things she read recently from the Empress Qi’s medical book. It seemed baffing though for even if she only read them once, she was able to recall the procedures quite perfectly.
From this, she found that after her rebirth, besides the gift of the miraculous liquid from her palm, she was also given a sharp mind which was of great help to her.
It was not until the temperature of the little boy lowered down that she asked Dai Mei to wrap him full again with his clothes.
Ye Zhen’s forehead was already dripping with sweat by the time she finished, and the voices around the carriage were still buzzing—people asking who she was, if she even was a doctor and if she would dare carry a stranger’s child to her carriage.
“Third miss, he is waking up!” Dai Mei saw the little boy’s eyelids moved and cried happily.
“Kindly pour me a glass of water.” Ye Zhen’s mouth turned up, clearly elated and relieved. “Then ask around about this child’s parents.”
Dai Mei handed the cup to Ye Zhen and got off the carriage with a triumphant smile. The child probably didn’t live too far away. He probably just ran out of his house to play.
Ye Zhen took a sip of the water and watched the little boy move uncomfortably a few times. He must still be hurting…
She took a deep breath and not long after, a drop of the miraculous liquid drip from her palm which she carefully mixed with her cup of water.
The little boy finally came to consciousness and Ye Zhen was quick to place the cup near his mouth, assisting his upper body to a sitting position. He was probably thirsty for as soon as the water slipped to his mouth, he gulped desperately, draining the contents
Only then did he opened his eyes.
“Finally awake?” Ye Zhen asked with a smile, “Do you want more?”
The little boy opened a pair of good-looking dark eyes, looked at Ye Zhen with some doubts, and gently nodded his head.
Ye Zhen poured him another glass of water. Again, he drank it all in one breath.
“What’s your name and where do you live?” Ye Zhen asked in a tiny voice, coaxing the child to speak to her comfortably.
The little boy just puckered his lips and looked unwilling to speak.
Ye Zhen felt strange, the boy won’t just speak!
Taking his silence as a sure sign of discomfort around strangers such as her, she smiled at him softly and said,“Don’t worry, I’ll have someone take you home.”
To her bewilderment, the little boy shook his head vigorously without saying a word, and his dark eyes began to shed tears. His tears poured but not a sound came from his lips, Ye Zhen was surprised. Is this little boy mute?
Amidst her musings, Dai Mei came back with news. “Third miss, we have found his family!”
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Ye Zhen lifted the curtain and saw that standing behind Dai Mei was a woman in her 50’s. She was dressed in simple and clean clothes. She looked like a commoner, but she bore a noble air.
If the person in front of her was of noble birth, she should have known her but Ye Zhen was clueless who she was. Presumably, she came from other places, or perhaps, she had been in the capital for long but rarely showed up at banquets held at the Ye mansion.
“Thank you for saving my grandson. Qi family will certainly remember this.” The woman looked at Ye Zhen and then to her grandson who was sitting inside the carriage, rubbing his puffed eyes.
Seeing him well, the former tension in her eyes eased down and she thanked Ye Zhen, sincerely grateful.
Qi? Ye Zhen’s heart skipped a beat but she managed to smile calmly. “It was nothing. I just helped him cool down. Madam should pay more attention next time.”
Qi Jin looked at Ye Zhen in amazement. “Does the miss know medicine?”
“Only a little.” Ye Zhen answered, in her mind, she had already guessed the identity of the person she was talking to—it seems that the other party was proficient in medicine!
In the capital, those who bore the surname Qi were most likely medicine practitioner. Although the Qi clan which rose to the ladder of nobility in the previous dynasty and lost their luster when the new dynasty came, their medical skills had always been the most exquisite.
Because of this, Ye Zhen was a little excited. After the change of dynasty, almost all the members of the Qi family disappeared from sight of the social circles of the capital. Not only that, Empress Qi Yanling’s emperor, Emperor Tai Zong had been searched for a long time but could not be found.
Nonetheless, the woman and the child are relatives of the woman she looked up to—the former Empress Qi Yanling!
Qi Jin gave Ye Zhen a grateful look and held out her hand towards the little boy inside. “Xi-er, come to grandma.”
The little boy put down his cup, climbed out of the carriage and tightly hugged Qi Jin’s neck.
“Today, because my grandson is still ill, I can’t thank you enough. I will personally find you another day to offer my tokens of gratitude for saving his life. ” Qi Jin was skilled in medicine so she naturally knew how dangerous her grandson’s disease was. If it weren’t for Ye Zhen, he must have been dead already.
Ye Zhen said with a smile, “It’s really nothing. Anyone who knows some medical skills will try to save him.”
Qi Jin glanced at the inscription inscribed on the carriage. She probably guessed the identity of the other party because her face slowly conformed into shock. “You are the third miss of the Lu family.”
“How did you guess?” Ye Zhen asked in surprise, but she didn’t say a word further than this.
Qi Jin smiled faintly, “The miss will know in two days.”
Third Miss Lu became famous in the Women’s College, thus it was impossible for Qi Jin who taught in the college to not hear of it! Since this Lu miss knows some medicine, who would she be rather than the famous Third Miss Lu?
Ye Zhen was utterly baffled, the woman spoke vaguely but when she wanted to clear her confusion, Qi Jin was already leaving with her grandson without even dropping her full name.
“Farewell, Third Miss Lu.”