Chapter 27 - 27: Recovery_l
“Be careful, ” Dani helplessly supported her younger cousin, trying to prevent her from tipping over the porridge pot.
After ladling the porridge, Yingbao asked Sister Dani to fetch a bowl cover for the pot.
Without suspicion, Dani quickly ran to the cupboard to fetch a bowl.
Yingbao took this opportunity to pour half a bowl of Wudingzhi into the pot, mixing it with the bamboo spoon.
“Yingbao, you better come down quickly, don’t fall.”
Dani was somewhat scared of her little cousin. She quickly ran back, immediately covered the pot with the bowl, picked up the pot by the ropes attached to its ears, and asked, “I’m going to Second Uncle’s house, do you want to come with me?”
“Yes!” Yingbao nodded. She wanted to see with her own eyes Second Uncle finish the porridge.
And so, Dani held her younger cousin’s hand in one hand, and the pot of porridge in the other and they went to Second Uncle’s house.
“Second Uncle, wake up and have some porridge,” Yingbao called out to him when she saw her uncle sleeping with his eyes closed.
Jiang Erlang, who had just taken his medicine not long ago, didn’t feel like eating and shook his head, “Second Uncle is not hungry, doesn’t want to eat for now.”
Seeing him refuse, Yingbao hurriedly urged, “Second Uncle, you’ll get better faster if you eat the porridge. Sister Dani worked so hard to make it. If you don’t eat it, Sister Dani will be sad.”
Dani: … unfairly blamed.
Only now did Jiang Erlang notice his two young nieces standing in front of the kang (a traditional Chinese heated bed), he gave a small smile and nodded “Alright, Dani, serve me half a bowl.”
So, Jiang Erlang reluctantly ate half a bowl of porridge, then lay down to sleep again.
Seeing her mission accomplished, Yingbao put her worries aside and took Youyou out for a jog.
Another day, Yingbao woke up early and prepared a double-yolk egg in a bowl, stirred in some Wudingzhi paste and pond water, steamed it in a pot, and then gave it to Second Uncle to eat.
Every day after that, she would deliver a bowl of steamed eggs.
Several days flew by.
Jiang Erlang’s health was gradually improving, he was already able to get off the kang and move around, but his wife from the Leng Family had still not returned.
Jiang Sanlang saw that the medicine he had caught last time was almost used up, so he decided to ask the doctor to come over and check on his second brother again for another prescription before the New Year.
After feeling Jiang Erlang’s pulse, the white-haired Doctor Li was somewhat in disbelief.
He asked Jiang Erlang to stretch out his other hand and rechecked his pulse.
Huh? Could he have misdiagnosed last time, and this patient was not suffering from a lung disease?
You should know that lung disease is a chronic disease, and to this day, no one has been able to completely cure it. To stay alive, one needs to slowly adjust using rare medicinal ingredients such as ginseng and donkey-hide glue, to prolong life.
But today, looking at Jiang Erlang’s pulse condition, which was calm and steady, neither too big nor too small, although a bit weak on the surface, it was indeed a sign of early recovery from a major illness.
That is to say, Jiang Erlang’s illness was completely cured.
Doctor Li was puzzled, he checked Jiang Erlang’s tongue coating again, pulled down his eyelid, and took a stethoscope to listen to Jiang Erlang’s chest and back, and asked a few more questions.
Jiang Erlang answered them all, saying that he felt a little weak and had no other discomforts. He was not coughing or panting now, his appetite was very good, and he could eat two large bowls of porridge in a meal.
Doctor Li looked at him with a frown, confirming that the patient in front of him had fully recovered.
How could this be possible?
Even the Imperial Medical Bureau in the Capital City couldn’t find a cure for lung disease. How could one recover after only taking a prescription or two?
Doctor Li was temporarily unable to find a solution, so he picked up the prescription he had written and looked at it repeatedly.
Yes, it was indeed a prescription for treating lung disease, and a very common one at that.
Because the Jiang family had limited silver coins, the ginseng slices and donkey-hide glue they used were the cheapest and the quantities were very small.
“Sanlang, do you still have the medicine you caught last time?” Doctor Li was determined to find the cause, after all, he would dream of a method that could make a patient with lung disease completely recover.
“I still have one packet left,” Jiang Sanlang brought out the last packet of medicine without understanding why.
Doctor Li opened it and carefully identified the medicinal materials in the packet.
Yes, it was exactly the same as the one prescribed in the prescription, without any difference.
Could the patient have taken other alternative herbal remedies?
Doctor Li stroked his beard, continuing to inquire, “Can you tell me, what meals and supplements has Erlang been consuming recently?”
He was certain that Jiang Erlang must have used some remarkably effective herbal ingredients.
Last time he examined him, Erlang was panting heavily, suffering from fever and profuse sweating, his body emaciated and weak, his pulse slow and sinking, showing signs of stupor and coughing blood. His lungs had rales, and he was still suffering from a high fever. He was clearly in the terminal stages of his illness and wouldn’t have survived for long.
But hardly a few days later, Erlang was bouncing around energetically – how astonishing was that?
Moreover, it had been diagnosed several years ago that Jiang Erlang had a lung disease, which took half a year of medication to slightly improve.
But now, even that old remnant of the disease seemed to have disappeared. His voice was clear, his lungs were healthy — he couldn’t have been any better.
Jiang Sanlang scratched the back of his head, saying, “He didn’t eat any supplements, just the usual meals we make at home. Mornings and evenings, he had rice porridge with steamed eggs for breakfast and lunch, he ate some chicken meat, fish, and greens.”
Steaming his own double-yolked eggs was a family matter which Sanlang didn’t want to mention.
Doctor Li nodded, “I see.”
Then, lowering his head, he rummaged through his medicine chest for a pen, ink, and paper. He then began to write a prescription.
“Your elder brother is much better, but he is still a little weak. I am going to prescribe another course aimed at nourishing the lungs. After he finishes it, he should be fine.’
Doctor Li knew he wouldn’t be able to extract much information and thus, no longer dwelled on it. He kept a mental note of the previous prescription, deciding to try it on other patients with lung disease in the future.
Jiang Sanlang felt relieved knowing his second brother was doing well. He bowed to Doctor Li, “Thank you, Doctor Li, for your efforts.”
Doctor Li waved his hand, gave the prescription to Jiang San, took his consultation fee, packed up his medicine chest, and got up.
Jiang Sanlang sent Doctor Li back to his pharmacy, got the medicine, and then cheerfully bought some New Year goods to take home.
Just as he crossed Shigong Bridge, he heard some tumult in the village, not knowing what had happened.
As soon as he entered the village, he saw a large crowd gathered in front of his eldest brother’s house. A woman in her fifties was sitting in the middle of the crowd, slapping her thigh and weeping loudly.
“Ah! You wretched Jiang Liu, you deceived my maiden daughter with your sickly son, initially singing so many praises. I didn’t expect you to harbor such malicious intent, aiming to harm my maiden daughter…
Heavens! You are such a deceitful woman, isn’t it enough your son is sick and frail, you even deceived my family… I will sue you for marriage fraud…”
The old woman was beating her legs and pounding the ground while crying aloud. A young woman stood beside her pretending to comfort her. Behind the woman stood a man in his twenties, scanning the surroundings with an unwelcoming face.
This… was unexpectedly his second sister-in-law, Leng, her mother Old Lady Cao, and her younger brother and sister-in-law.
Hearing the old woman repeatedly mentioning the sickly child, Sanlang couldn’t help but frown, plunging into the crowd.
“What happened?” he asked his eldest brother standing by the door.
Eldest Brother Jiang was angry, “Second sister-in-law’s mother came to make trouble at our house, forcing Erlang to divorce her daughter. She even accused us of concealing Erlang’s illness and demanded a compensation of thirty taels of silver from us.
“Thirty taels?” Her family is really that bold.
Jiang Sanlang asked, “What does second brother have to say?”
Eldest Brother Jiang sighed, “Erlang was so angry, he fainted. He’s lying in our parents’ room.”upd?t? ?t ?ew?o?el . ?rg
“I’ll go check on him.” Jiang Sanlang stepped into the courtyard.
At this time, Jiang Erlang was lying down on his parents’ bed with closed eyes, his face as pale as paper; he looked like he had fainted from anger.
Jiang Liu hugging him, incessantly crying while comforting him, “Erlang, don’t be angry; your illness is cured. Today, Doctor Li said that after a few days of nourishment, you will be as fit as a fiddle. Oh oh oh, my dear child, don’t scare your mother… ‘
Seeing Erlang in this condition because of Old Lady Cao, Jiang Sanlang clenched his fist and immediately turned to leave the room.
Ah, he really wanted to beat someone up.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that the old woman was his brother’s mother-in-law, he would have loved to kick her out of the village.
But, he couldn’t act impulsively.
She was his brother’s mother-in-law, and this was his own family matter. He shouldn’t act heedlessly and harm Erlang’s marriage..