Chapter 20 Good Medicine
Second Brother.
Lu Heng lowered his head and fixed his eyes on Wang Yanqing from this position. Her skin was both fine and pure like china, even this close, he could not see any flaws. There was a row of teeth marks on her lower lip, there was a place where the skin had broke, and blood was seeping thinly.
Her lips were pale, and the drop of blood was like red plums on the snow, full of temptation. Lu Heng stared at the drop of blood for a while, then slowly straightened up.
In her sleep, she called for Second Brother, but Lu Heng didn’t think the person she was constantly thinking about was himself. He stood by the couch, not knowing who he was talking to, and said slowly: “You remember him in your dreams, but it’s a pity that he is going to marry another beautiful woman.”
Lu Heng wanted to turn around and leave and let the real Second Brother, who she was thinking of, take care of her. However, looking at her snow-white complexion and weak breath, he couldn’t bear it. Maybe he was judging by his own standards, but he still felt that the normal body cycle would not hurt like this, there may be a chance that she was really poisoned.
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A doctor with his eyes covered by a cloth was dragged by the arm. In the cold wind, he was hit with left and right turns. He didn’t know where he was, but he felt dizzy after turning several corners. Before he fainted completely, he finally stepped into a threshold and heard someone on one side of him say: “You can be untied.”
The doctor heaved a sigh of relief and quickly untied the cloth. He squinted and waited for a while, finally adjusting to the light.
What appeared before his eyes was a room. The furnishings were fine and neat, but it showed no personality. There was a man sitting on the couch in the second room, dressed in dark cyan, wearing black leather boots. His feet were placed on a pedestal and his legs looked particularly long. The doctor only just glanced at him and quickly lowered his head, knowing that this was the master who invited him over today.
He was originally an ordinary doctor, but today a tall man dressed in plain clothes suddenly came and said that his master had invited him to see a patient. The doctor had seen many people over the years practicing medicine, and he recognized at a glance that this man had skill in his body. He was not a member of a profession, but specifically for protecting a courtyard.
The doctor originally thought it was a nobleman that wanted to see a doctor, but he didn’t expect that he would be sent to a carriage as soon as he walked out, then blindfolded. He didn’t know how long it took, but after he was finally set back on the ground in a daze, he walked a long way before finally meeting the master. Looking at the battle just now, this was definitely not an ordinary wealthy household. He lowered his eyes, refused to take a second look, stared at the floor tiles, and asked: “Official, what kind of sickness would you like me to see?”
Lu Heng had already carried Wang Yanqing back to the bed. He pointed inward and said: “It’s not for me, it’s for her.”
The doctor mustered up his courage and glanced in. He saw that the screen was pulled closed and four bed nets were drawn, he could not see the figure behind clearly. The doctor knew that this was most likely a female family member. He gave Lu Heng his greetings and walked behind the screen in small, quick steps.
Lu Heng also followed him to the front of the bed. He took Wang Yanqing’s hand from behind the bed tent, and opened a silk handkerchief to cushion it, signaling for the doctor to check her pulse. When the doctor stepped forward, he stole a glance unintentionally and only saw a slender hand hanging on the edge of the bed, white and delicate, like a beautiful jade. The doctor didn’t dare to look again, his eyes dropped, and he checked the other’s pulse through the silk handkerchief.
When he checked her pulse, the man beside him stared silently, looking uncomfortable. Sweat was starting to prickle the doctor’s back. He took a deep breath and focused on listening to the pulse, gradually ignoring the existence of Lu Heng.
The doctor was an expert in women’s and children’s illnesses. No matter how noble or lowly they were in the city, married women who fell sick would always come to him for medicine. The doctor felt her pulse for a while and his face became heavier and heavier. He lowered the hand and asked gravely: “Can I see the other hand?”
Lu Heng looked at him solemnly. Without making a sound, he sat down on the edge of the bed and picked up Wang Yanqing’s other hand and gently put it outside the bed tent. The doctor pressed for a while. Lu Heng stared at the doctor’s expression carefully, and asked: “How is she?”
The doctor retracted his hand, tugged at his beard, and said solemnly: “It’s too late to treat the Madam’s illness.”
Lu Heng put Wang Yanqing’s two hands back on the quilt, closed the bed tent, and said: “If you have something to say, come out and say it.”
The doctor followed Lu Heng outside. Regardless of who Lu Heng was, he had to listen to him obediently for this illness. The doctor quickly forgot his fear of Lu Heng, and criticized: “Since you know of her Gong Han, how could you give her sleeping medicine?”
|| Gonghan (宫寒) is an illness that affects women. It directly translates from Chinese as “Womb Cold”. Generally, in Chinese health, warmth signifies health, and cold signifies absence/poor health. Symptoms of this are menstrual abnormalities and further being infertility.
Lu Heng raised his eyebrows slightly. She took medicine? He remembered Wang Yanqing’s abnormal deep sleep. She bit her lip unconsciously in pain, but still stayed firmly asleep, and she didn’t wake up even when he hugged her and moved her to another place. It wasn’t that she slept like the dead, but that she had taken medicine.
This was obviously not ordered by Lu Heng. It was likely Wang Yanqing who couldn’t stand the pain, so she asked the cook to fry the concoction. After a bowl of it was put into her stomach, she fell asleep directly to save herself from pain. She couldn’t even remember anyone, but she knew what medicine to take. It could be seen that doing this kind of thing had become an instinct. Lu Heng did not refute and asked: “Does this medicine hurt the body?”
When the herbalist heard this, he was almost mad: “You are her husband. You don’t even know if this medicine will hurt the body, but you dare to let her take it for so many years?” Gong Han should be carefully nursed back to health, relying on the wolf and tiger medicine can only cure the symptoms but not the root cause. If the first time the pain is unbearable, and medicine is used to carry it over. The second time it will be more painful, and only more medicine can only be used. If it drags down month by month, the Gong Han will only become more and more serious.”
Lu Heng had not been outnumbered for many years. But now he received a head-on scolding for something he did not do, and it was not easy to refute. He could only endure it silently and ask: “Why does she suffer from Gong Han?”
As the doctor heard more, he became more and more angry: “You don’t know anything, how can you be a husband? I checked her pulse and she likely was born with a cold physique, but many women are cold. It will be good to pay more attention to her diet and keep her warm. The severity of her Gong Han has nothing to do with her physique, but the root cause of her illness. It was likely because of she was soaked in cold water during a previous menstrual period, and the unhealthy influences that cause diseases invaded the body, leaving her with a problem of menstrual cramps since then. It’s better in the summer, but it’s a little cold in winter, and the menstrual pain is more severe.”
Lu Heng recalled Wang Yanqing’s information, soaking in water during her menstrual period… He remembered that when Wang Yanqing was fourteen years old, Fu Tingzhou was seventeen, he was thrown into military camp by Old Marquis Fu for training. They were not allowed to bring any servants. The military camp was stationed in the deep mountains, and the environment was quite harsh. Wang Yanqing kept it from Old Marquis Fu and followed secretly. One month later, Fu Tingzhou passed the test and was finally picked up by Old Marquis Fu. As for Wang Yanqing, she most likely soaked in water at that time, leaving the root of the disease.
She was fourteen years old at that time, and when the girl first got her period… Lu Heng couldn’t bear to think about it anymore, and asked: “When she was fourteen years old, she went to the mountains to practice martial arts and soaked in a lake that was not very clean. Does that have an impact?”
When the herbalist heard Lu Heng’s words, his eyes became more and more condemnatory: “Of course, it has an impact. I felt that this was an old problem, but I didn’t expect it to remain from the age of fourteen. She was stimulated by cold water, which left her with abdominal pain. In the following years, you did not take good care of it and instead kept dragging it on. The pain was so unbearable, that she must take medicine to fall asleep. The Gong Han became more and more serious every year. If this continues, it will be easy to delay having children, and it is likely that she will never be able to conceive a child again. Even if she is pregnant, she will easily miscarry.”
The more Lu Heng listened, the darker his face became. If Fu Tingzhou was in front of him now, Lu Heng would have swung his fist long ago. After so long, did Fu Tingzhou not realize that she was in severe pain when she got her period? Even if he had called for a doctor once, it would not be like this.
Lu Heng endured his anger and asked: “How should I care for her?”
While writing the prescription, the doctor scolded Lu Heng loudly: “When a woman marries you, she entrusts her life to you. What in the world are you doing as a husband? If she is in a coma with pain, you don’t care, but you will be concerned when the children are mentioned. Are you worthy of her parents’ entrustment to you?”
Lu Heng was having a near heart attack, and still, Fu Tingzhou’s deeds had to be obtained by him. Lu Heng finally understood what it was like when he framed those people. Obviously, it was not something he did, but the black mark was still burdened him.
Lu Heng endured and endured, and he finally gritted these words out of his teeth: “I was negligent before. She is still young, and her body is the most important. As long as she can take good care of her body, regardless of the expensive medicinal materials and complicated procedures, the best ones will be used.”
The herbalist saw that this “incompetent” husband was quite generous in money, and his anger was somewhat relieved. This person didn’t seem to be short of money and coupled with Lu Heng’s words, the herbalist no longer cared about the cost. Everything was arranged for the best effect of the medicine. He quickly deleted what he had and changed it, and wrote out a stack of prescriptions.
The herbalist blew on the paper and handed it to Lu Heng: “This medicine is to be taken twice a day when she menstruates. There are also two prescriptions, one for oral administration and one for external application, which is usually used for recuperation. I have already written down the recipe of the concoction for you on the back, and then you can follow my recipe. In addition to drinking medicine, you should also pay attention to her diet during normal times. She should not eat cold foods such as fish and crabs. Keep her warm when it’s cold. Drink plenty of hot soup and hot water. Even if it’s hot, don’t be greedy for cold food and ice… If you care for her well, it can return to normal in one or two years.”
Lu Heng had a good memory and he remembered everything without using a pen. He paid a generous reward to the doctor. When he sent the doctor out, he suddenly thought of something and asked: “Someone said before that she would get better after getting married. Is there such a thing?”
Lu Heng thought of what the cook said. He didn’t know if the cook was fooling him, so he took it out to test the doctor. After he finished speaking, the doctor turned his head and looked at him with a very indescribable look.
Lu Heng’s eyebrows moved, and he asked quietly: “Is that right?”
“It’s not wrong.” This sentence really stopped the doctor, he was stuck for a while, not knowing what to say, “Women are timid, but if someone unblocks them, the yang energy in the body will be abundant, and the menstrual pain will heal by itself. But this is not necessarily the case. Husbands and wives’ bodies, whether they have children or not, and their dietary environment are too different.”
What the doctor said was very vague, but Lu Heng understood it all at once. He never imagined that “no pain after marriage” turned out to be such a painless method. He lowered his head and cleared his throat, feeling a rare embarrassment.
As soon as the doctor came in, he mistook him for Wang Yanqing’s husband. Lu Heng did not explain and let the doctor misunderstand him. This kind of thing was not easy to ask in the name of an elder brother, a husband was the most reasonable. Anyway, this doctor was in Baoding, and he didn’t know who he was. Lu Heng hid his identity again, so he didn’t have to worry about the doctor leaking any information. Therefore, Lu Heng did not bother to explain his relationship with Wang Yanqing.
There was nothing to explain, he really wasn’t her brother at all. He suspected that people had created their assumptions, and subconsciously verified it through the cook. But he didn’t expect to actually hear this kind of thing from the doctor’s mouth.
The doctor looked at Lu Heng, his eyes full of understanding. This man was tall and his needs in respect of his build was not small. The doctor felt that he completely understood what Lu Heng was thinking. The doctor coughed and said in a low voice: “There has always been this sort of popular recipe among the people, but Madam’s Gong Han is serious. Only relying on this recipe can cure the symptoms but not the root cause, moderation should be the top priority. In the next two years, it is best not to have children.”
What else could Lu Heng say, he could only nod his head: “I understand.”
Lu Heng sent the doctor out of the room. His subordinates waiting outside blindfolded the doctor and sent him out the same way. Lu Heng went to arrange the concoction in the kitchen, and by the time he finished it all, a long time had passed. After Lu Heng returned behind the screen, he opened the bed tent with two fingers and quietly looked at the person in the tent.
She was trapped in the quilt, still asleep. But she didn’t feel well in her sleep, her brows frowned, and her body was curled up.
Lu Heng sighed, sat down by the bed, and stretched out his hand to touch her brow.
She almost suffered a lifelong illness for Fu Tingzhou, but Fu Tingzhou didn’t even know that she had abdominal pain. Maybe he knew, but Fu Tingzhou didn’t care.
Lu Heng asked in his heart, was it worth it?
|| Author’s Note:
Lu Heng: I bear the anger of the substitute, and I even bear the scolding from the master.
|| Translators Note: I received many laughs from translating this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it too! See you on Saturday!