The apothecary had her own medicine storehouse; with a signature, one could take away common medicinal materials. Take the Inner Hall of Peace and Joy, for instance – it was actually meant as an act of imperial benevolence within the palace, and the emperor’s private treasury allocated funds for it. As for the amount, it was certainly insufficient.
Of course, whether the money actually arrived was unknown. Even if it reached the Bureau of Food, the share that fell to the Hall of Peace and Joy was not much.
The Medicine Manager in charge of the medicine storehouse said to her, “For ordinary medicinal materials, just take them. If they are precious, you must write a note and go to the Imperial Pharmacy to fetch them.” Then she whispered, “Every month you can take two taels of silver’s worth of medicinal materials from here.”
Cheng Danruo asked, “What for?”
“There is always wastage in medicinal materials.” The Medicine Manager smiled. “Those that have lost their medicinal efficacy – wouldn’t it be cheap to take them for practice?”
She suddenly understood, and asked again, “Does everyone have this?”
The Medicine Manager said, “This is the rule.”
Cheng Danruo understood. These two taels of silver’s worth of medicinal materials should count as extra income. Reported upward under the pretext of wastage, they could be used privately for anything; selling them to other palace maids would bring profit.
This is the rule – the Medicine Manager wanted her to feel at ease, and also wanted her to keep her mouth shut.
Should she accept it or not?
If she accepted, it would seem a bit like embezzlement. If she did not accept… that would be even worse. By saying this today, the apothecary was testing her. If she refused, she would certainly be excluded from the group and offend the people in the chain of interests.
In a modern workplace, offending someone is just offending someone, but in ancient times one still had to be cautious.
A tough person without backing would die.
She pondered that the Hall of Peace and Joy had nothing anyway, and if the medicinal materials came into her hands, they could instead subsidize patients without money, so she said, “Thank you.”
The Medicine Manager revealed a satisfied smile, readily brought the medicinal materials to her, and even said, “Everything is hard at the beginning. You understand medical principles and can read and write, so you are sure to have prospects.”
“I borrow your auspicious words.”
At this moment, Cheng Danruo intuitively grasped the essence of being an official in ancient times: if you want to get things done, you must follow the rules. If you do not follow the rules, you will not be able to accomplish anything.
After this, life began to settle into a fixed two-point routine.
Wake up, wash, go to the Hall of Peace and Joy to work. Make one round of consultations in the morning, record medical cases, go back at noon to eat, bring books in the afternoon, continue to return to the office, make another round of consultations in the afternoon, and observe the patients’ conditions.
At the same time, she made a duty roster for the people under her.
Each of the four palace maids was responsible for two patients, such as brewing medicine and emptying chamber pots, making it convenient for them to collect benefits. After all, patients had many matters, and if they did not give money, omissions were unavoidable.
The eunuchs were responsible for sweeping, cleaning, and running errands. If patients wanted them to help pass along messages or ask for some food, they would pay them tips separately. Cheng Danruo did not interfere.
Matron Le did not need to do any work at all; the hidden condition was that she was not allowed to make trouble.
Because Cheng Danruo was there all day and saw the patients twice a day, the palace maids and eunuchs did not dare be too lazy or slippery.
These days, rounding up, it was equivalent to owning a clinic. She had never been so comfortable!
Cheng Danruo was engrossed in this, reading medical books every day, observing cases, and when she had nothing to do, she even taught the palace maids to read.
Ji Qiu followed her precisely in order to learn cultural knowledge and make it easier to test out as a female xiucai. Every day she also followed by her side through wind and rain, and whenever she had time, she would ask questions.
Only then did Cheng Danruo discover that although Yan Hongzhi’s time teaching her the basics had been short, it had laid a solid foundation for her, and most questions could no longer stump her.
And when Ji Qiu saw that she was willing to teach knowledge and did not hide or withhold anything, she became even closer to her.
From her mouth, Cheng Danruo learned about the situation in the inner palace.
Empress Xie had passed away, and the emperor had not established a new empress. Only the noble consort managed the affairs of the Six Palaces. Below the imperial consort, there was only one consort, who had given birth to the second princess. Below her were three concubines – Consort Li, Consort Shun, and Consort Zhuang – and several beauties.
According to Ji Qiu, although the noble consort had long ceased to receive favor, she still had the emperor’s trust and respect. Consort Li was beautiful and received rather more favor, but Consort Shun and Consort Zhuang were gentle, kind, and good-natured, and the emperor often summoned them to serve him in bed.
The emperor’s current greatest goal: to have a son.
The two Dispensary Officers, one was skilled in women’s and children’s medicine and was popular with the empresses and consorts, and the other was skilled in massage, and the empress dowager liked to seek her out.
Cheng Danruo understood the words she left unsaid: these two superiors each had their own backing.
She absolutely must not steal their limelight.
“Of the thirteen branches of medical arts, women’s medicine, pediatrics, and massage – I did not study any of them well. If there is a chance, I would actually like to seek guidance from the two Dispensary Officers.” Cheng Danruo stated her position tactfully.
The so-called thirteen branches of medical arts were in fact the division of ancient medical fields: major pulse [adult internal medicine], minor pulse [children’s internal medicine], women’s medicine [gynecology], sores and ulcers [surface suppuration], acupuncture and moxibustion, eyes, mouth and teeth, bone-setting, cold damage, throat, metal arrow wounds [sword, spear, and arrow wounds], massage, and incantation therapy [psychological].
Ji Qiu asked in return, “What are you most skilled in? Major pulse?”
Cheng Danruo smiled. “Metal arrow wounds.”
Ji Qiu was stunned.
“I was born in Shanxi. The border had many wars, so I am good at treating sword, spear, and arrow wounds.” Cheng Danruo said slowly, “The others are all about the same – but there are few metal arrow wounds in the palace, right?”
Ji Qiu nodded. “The most common in the palace are women’s diseases, followed by cold damage and bone-setting.”
Gynecological diseases needed no elaboration. Cold damage was because when the weather was cold and the wind strong, low-ranking palace maids also had to work. If they encountered a manager who was harsh in cutting their supplies and they had no cotton clothes, there was a high probability they would fall ill.
After one bout of illness, those with poor resistance might be gone. Bone-setting occurred in all four seasons. In winter the roads were slippery and people fell; on ordinary days they climbed up and down to clean, and with the slightest carelessness, a mild case meant a sprain, while a severe case meant a fracture.
Cheng Danruo asked, “There are not many patients in the Hall of Peace and Joy. I suppose no one comes to see a doctor unless absolutely unavoidable, is that so?”
Ji Qiu quickly said, “That was in the past. Now that you have come, it will gradually get better.”
Cheng Danruo frowned slightly.
No patients meant no experience; no experience meant no leveling up.
Attracting patients was the key issue in the clinic’s development.
“What are the others skilled in?” she investigated.
Ji Qiu said, “Both palace apothecaries understand pharmacology. One is quite skilled in medicinal cuisine, and one can familiarize herself with prescriptions. The Medicine Manager can recognize more than a hundred kinds of medicinal materials. The three female scribes were all promoted from female xiucai and also read medical books on ordinary days.”
In the establishment of the Dispensary Office, there were currently vacancies. There was only one Medicine Manager. Before Cheng Danruo came, the other three female scribes were just learning to identify medicinal materials. However, pharmacology was not easy to learn, and so far no one had risen to the position.
Cheng Danruo thought to herself that this was a bit troublesome.
The vacant establishment was an opportunity, and it would also be the fuse for conflict.
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
Li Xiaoping, who had suffered from dyspnea, was discharged from the hospital. Before parting, she expressed immense gratitude. “Thanks to Auntie Cheng. A small token of my regard, please accept it.” As she spoke, she stuffed over a embroidered pouch, which seemed to contain a pair of earrings.
But Cheng Danruo pushed it back, saying, “I do not lack money; I lack patients.”
Li Xiaoping did not understand.
She smiled. “If any of your little sisters are ill, just come find me. The consultation fee will be given according to the difficulty of the illness, how about that?”
This was Li Xiaoping’s treasured possession. Since Cheng Danruo did not want it, she was also reluctant to put it away again. Hesitating, she said, “Your medical skill is so good. If there is anything, I would naturally be willing to come beg you, only I fear troubling you.”
Cheng Danruo said, “I charge money.”
Li Xiaoping instead felt reassured.
Two more days passed, and a new patient was sent in.
The one who came in the morning had diarrhea. The others feared it was dysentery and reported it early, and she was immediately sent away by Consort Li, who held the position of authority.
Cheng Danruo was also cautious. She gave her a separate room, put on a mask and homemade cloth gloves, and only then sat down to take her pulse. But after clearly asking about the stool condition, she found that there was no red and white pus or blood, only ordinary diarrhea.
But the patient said that she had been having chronic diarrhea without stopping, that her whole body felt nauseated and she was vomiting, that her heartbeat was especially fast, and that this afternoon her vision had gone black for a long time and she had completely lost consciousness.
Cheng Danruo frowned and carefully took her pulse. The pulse was thin and weak, and her tongue was pale with white coating – a typical case of spleen and stomach deficiency.
Diarrhea to the point of rapid heartbeat, and even brief fainting?
“Are you also suffering from stomach and abdominal distension and stuffiness, and feel like vomiting at the slightest smell of oil or fish?”
The patient nodded hurriedly.
“Then have you eaten anything these past few days?”
The patient shook her head and swore an oath. “I did not dare eat anything. I only drank a few sips of water. Auntie, am I going to die?”
“Do not think nonsense.” Cheng Danruo’s tone was gentle, but her manner was slightly cold. “Cui’er, bring a bowl of salt-sugar water for her to drink.”
She added, “Drinking hot water will make you feel better. I will prescribe Shenling Baizhu Powder for you, and we will see again in the evening.”
The patient was just about to agree when she suddenly clutched her stomach. “I-I want to go again.”
Cheng Danruo said helplessly, “Go ahead. Once you are done, I will give you two needles. You cannot keep having diarrhea.”
She was already suffering from electrolyte imbalance; if she lost more fluids, it would be troublesome.
“Thank you, Auntie.” The palace maid was overjoyed and hurried off to squat over the chamber pot.
Having eaten nothing, of course she could not pass anything. She soon came out and obediently received the needles.
Cheng Danruo took out fine needles and inserted them at Pishu, Tianshu, Zusanli, and Sanyinjiao, retaining the needles for thirty minutes.
The young palace maid sent over in the afternoon was rather troublesome.
Photophobia, mania, and hydrophobia.
The two old matrons who had escorted her over used all their strength to barely hold her down, and said with an apologetic smile, “This person is under your management now.”
Cheng Danruo closed her book and said, “Send her into a separate room.”
Strangely enough, although this young palace maid kept struggling even while bound with rope, as soon as she entered the room she immediately quieted down and hid in the bed curtain without making a sound.
Cheng Danruo asked the matrons, “Where is she from? When did she start acting like this?”
The matron said, “Her name is Liu’er. She sweeps the Imperial Garden. A few days ago she caught a cold. We kindly advised her to buy some medicine, but she ignored people and did not do her duties either. She stayed cooped up in her room all day. Today I really could not stand it anymore and dragged her out, but she hit and cursed people. Is this not insanity!”
The other matron said, “Exactly. She is so crazy and erratic, we cannot keep her. What if she offends the empress or His Majesty?”
The implication in their words was that they were absolutely determined not to take the person back.
Cheng Danruo would not let them take her away either. “Enough, leave her here. This is not easy to treat. You bring all her luggage over as well. Huifang, go with them.”
The two matrons were rather unwilling. Once a person entered the Hall of Peace and Joy, they were as good as waiting for death, and their belongings would naturally go to them.
But now, the extra income of Huifang and the others came from the patients’ private property, so they absolutely refused to yield. “Let us make this clear to you: our rooms here are already not enough to live in, and the bedding is already gone. If she does not have her own, it would be better to send it over in a few days.”
Who would be willing to live under the corridor with a madwoman?
The two matrons shut their mouths.
After sending them off, Cheng Danruo then walked alone into the sickroom.
The incubation period of rabies is about three months. Counting the time, her onset was four months from the Wang family accident. Could the two be connected?
While Cheng Danruo was taking the examination for female officials, Xie Xuanying was also preparing for the metropolitan examination.
According to custom in previous years, the first session of the spring examination was held on the ninth day of the second month, but this year the second month was bitterly cold. All the examination cells in the Imperial Examination Hall had frozen, and there was even light snow on the seventh day, with several rooms collapsing.
Minister Wang submitted a memorial requesting a postponement, and the emperor agreed.
However, a one-month delay was not necessarily good news for many poor scholars.
Every spring examination season, rents in the capital were always especially expensive. Still, as one of the most promising prospects in the whole country, there were plenty of people willing to offer convenience.
For example, the famous Huguang Guild Hall was funded and established by merchants from the Huguang region, providing free lodging for candidates from Huguang, with extremely strong regional ties.
If someone from one’s hometown served as an official in the capital, one could also lodge with them. Yan Hongzhi’s ancestral home was Haining, and all the provincial examination graduates from Haining stayed in his separate property. Second Master Yan often went over to converse with them and disclose the preferences and tendencies of this year’s chief examiners.
The metropolitan examination had two chief examiners and eighteen associate examiners.
Both chief examiners came from the Hanlin Academy. One had written Talks on Neo-Confucianism, and the other’s chief examiner who had selected him when he passed the metropolitan examination was Minister Wang.
As soon as the news came out, the candidates all breathed a sigh of relief.
At this time, the schools of psychology each had their own supporters. Generally speaking, the School of Principle occupied orthodoxy and had deep foundations, while the School of Mind was a rising force whose popularity kept climbing.
People of insight had long keenly realized that there could not be two suns in the sky. The contention of a hundred schools was temporary. If things continued this way, either the east wind would overpower the west wind, or the west wind would overpower the east wind, or else… both would suffer defeat.
But so what if they realized it?
Interests determine standpoint, and standpoint determines which side one takes.
Yan Hongzhi told Xie Xuanying, “While the fire has not yet fully blazed up, you must pass this year. No one knows what it will be like three years from now.”
Xie Xuanying agreed.
On the ninth of March, the first session of the examination began.
