Chapter 66: Dry Blood Exhaustion

  When Chen Jinn and Shen Changyu arrived at the Zhuangzi, it was already late in the afternoon.

  Missed dinner time.

  Chen Jiong was at an age where he was growing rapidly, and he was always hungry. From breakfast till now, not a drop of water had entered his mouth, and after all the horse carriage commotion, he was starving, his stomach growling loudly.

  Shen Changyu couldn't wait to let him go and ask for a diagnosis first. But his stomach was growling so clearly that Shen Changyu suddenly found himself feeling hungry too.

  "Let's have dinner first. There's nothing good upstairs, just the usual food, I'm afraid it will disappoint you." Shen Changyu said, leading Chen Xuan inside.

  This is a second courtyard, with a tall and majestic willow tree at the gate, its shadow swaying gently; the wall of the yard is not high, covered with vines, in June, the vines are lush green, swaying in the wind.

  Shen Changyu stepped across the threshold and led Chen Jing to the central hall of the outer courtyard.

  Two old servants came forward and called out "Fourth Master".

  Shen Changyu then addressed them as "Bo".

  "Don't worry about dinner first, go see a doctor," said Chen Jing. "After seeing the doctor, it's not late to have dinner."

  As soon as he finished speaking, his stomach growled again. Chen Jing covered her stomach and smiled, thinking that this stomach was really against me, making me lose face.

  Shen Changyu also smiled and said, "I'm starving too. Anyway, we can't go back today, and there's no rush to see the doctor for now." Then he ordered his servants to prepare food.

  The people upstairs didn't know Shen Changyu was coming and hadn't prepared his dinner, so they hastily lit the stove but it wasn't ready in time. They were also very hungry, so the servants had to bring some of their own food.

  The meal was simple, and Chen Jing buried his head and ate a bowl, finally feeling full in his stomach.

  Shen Changyu was more particular. This half-coarse and not fine rice, with unremoved grains of rice inside, scratched his throat when he swallowed it. He ate a few bites before putting down his chopsticks.

  Chen Jing turned back to see Chen Jing eating deliciously, Shen Changyu was a bit embarrassed, and picked up the bowl again, taking two more bites.

  Chen Jie finished eating quickly and said to Shen Changyu: "Let's go, go see your sister."

  Shen Changyu put down his chopsticks in a timely manner.

  The two of them entered through the hanging flower gate and arrived at the inner courtyard.

  Inside the house there were also several serving women, all in their 40s or 50s. They showed particular respect to Shen Changyu.

  Shen Changyu led Chen Jing into Shen Shisan Niang's bedroom.

  The bedroom was filled with the intense fragrance of lavender. Probably because Thirteen Niang couldn't sleep, she lit this incense to calm her mind and aid in sleep. The dark red curtains hung down, casting a dim light.

  The woman serving in the house was a round-faced woman of about forty years old.

  "The girl has fallen asleep..." The woman whispered to Shen Changyu.

  A soft, feminine voice came from within the curtains: "I'm not asleep. Is that Fourth Brother or Sixth Brother?" Since she fell ill, all the servants in her room had been replaced with trusted attendants of her fourth brother, to prevent any news from leaking out.

  The only two people who can enter this house without reporting are her two elder brothers, and even her father cannot.

  "Thirteen girl, I'm here." Shen Changyu replied softly.

  He gave Chen Jing a look, letting Chen Jing wait for a moment, and he himself lifted the curtain and entered the inner chamber.

  After a moment, low voices came from inside.

  "I've invited a divine doctor." Shen Changyu said to Thirteen Niang.

  "Here comes another nonsense. " Thirteen Niang's voice was full of sarcasm, also very weak, "Why did you come so late today, it's almost dark. Is it not almost dark?"

  "Yes." Shen Changyu replied.

  The sound of two people talking gradually became smaller and more muffled.

  After a moment, Shen Changyu came out and instructed the woman to go in and help Thirteen Niang change her clothes.

  In an instant, the woman came out and hung up the canopy with golden hooks.

  The lamp in the room is on.

  The lamp is lit and the whole room is as bright as daytime.

  The woman came out from the inner room and supported the Thirteen Girl.

  Shen Thirteen Niang wore a pink jacket, thin to the point where her cheeks were sunken in, with a pair of large and empty eyes that seemed lifeless; at first glance, she was quite frightening. Her jacket was very loose and should have been what she wore before she got sick, but now it didn't fit her emaciated frame. Underneath the loose jacket, her slightly bulging belly was also noticeable.

  Her face is as pale as paper and would scatter with a mere gust of wind.

  When she saw Chen Jing, she was slightly surprised and turned her head to look at Shen Changyu, asking: "Who is this?"

  "This is Master Chen, he's the divine doctor I was telling you about." Shen Changyu explained, personally coming over to support his sister as she sat down in a chair.

  The thirteen-year-old girl was shocked.

  In her eyes, there was nothing but distrust.

  She sat down and looked at Chen Jing with an unusually vigilant expression.

  Chen Jing smiled and sat down in the chair beside her, calling out "Thirteen Young Lady" with a gentle tone.

  "Trouble you to lend a hand, I want to cut the pulse." Chen Jing said with a smile.

  The thirteen-year-old girl frowned and turned her face to look at Shen Changyu.

  Shen Changyu stood behind her, gently patted her shoulder and softly said: "Thirteen Niang, Chen Gongzi's medical skills I have seen with my own eyes, his medical skills are superb. Don't you believe in Fourth Brother?"

  Since she fell ill, she has suffered a double blow to her body and soul. The whole family does not believe in her. If it weren't for her fourth brother, I'm afraid she would have been drowned in the pig cage by Shen's family by now. She only has her fourth brother to rely on.

  She nodded slightly after hearing Si Ge's words and said, "I believe you."

  Then obediently put his hand on the tea table and wait for Chen Jing to take his pulse.

  Her arms were already skin and bones, with green veins standing out one by one, her muscles showing a dark grey color, even somewhat ferocious.

  Chen Jie's fingers rested on her wrist. After finishing with one hand, Chen Jie asked her to switch hands. She cooperated readily, switching arms and letting Chen Jie take her pulse again.

  Her pulse is wiry and slippery and rapid.

  Chen Jiong finished feeling the pulse and said to Shen Changyu and Shen Thirteen Girl: "It's not pregnancy."

  A simple sentence, four words, spoken in a flat tone, yet it exploded like thunder in Shen Thirteen Niang and Shen Changyu's ears, leaving them both stunned.

  Overjoyed and speechless, unable to express myself.

  "Really... really?" Shen Changyu came back to his senses first, asking urgently, afraid that he had misheard.

  "It's true. Miss Shen is not pregnant, I can assure you." Chen Jing said. This time, his tone was emphatic, leaving no room for doubt.

  Shen Changyu let out a long sigh.

  He knew that his thirteen daughters would never betray his trust. Knowing this, all his past persistence had meaning, Shen Changyu's heart was stirred.

  A faint sobbing sound came from beside her ear.

  The thirteen-year-old girl burst into tears.

  "Don't cry." Chen Jia comforted her, "Although the illness is a bit serious, it can still be cured, don't be afraid."

  "Thirteen girl, don't cry, don't cry. Master Chen said it's nothing, did you hear?" Shen Changyu also comforted her.

  Shen Changyu and Chen Jing both knew that when Thirteen Niang cried, it was absolutely not out of fear.

  She is venting her grievances.

  Ever since she fell ill, the doctors all said that she was pregnant. Apart from her lower abdomen bulging and her menstruation stopping, she had no other symptoms of pregnancy. In her heart, she knew clearly that she wasn't pregnant.

  She has always been clean and self-disciplined, never having any ambiguous relationships with men, let alone doing anything sordid.

  She is the eldest daughter of a widow, and even if her father and brother have a good future, her marriage prospects are not optimistic. Families with equal social status are not very willing to marry the daughter of a widow; marrying into a family with lower social status would be beneath her.

  So in all these years she has been striving to outdo her sisters from the same clan.

  But never thought, finally encountered such a thing.

  She refused to give up. Because her brother did not allow her to give up, and she herself was unwilling. She persisted until today, with no one knowing how bitter she felt inside.

  Now, a sentence "not pregnant", with an extremely affirmative tone, directly pierced the deepest part of Shisan Niang's heart, and her emotions could not be suppressed.

  At first she was sobbing quietly, but as Chen Jing and Shen Changyu comforted her, she felt more and more tears that she couldn't control, and burst into loud crying.

  Chen Jiong and Shen Changyu no longer tried to comfort her, nor did the serving maids dare to persuade her, so they let Thirteen Niang have a good cry.

  She cried for half a day before she slowly stopped.

  She cried until she felt dizzy.

  When she stopped crying, the servant woman supported her into the house and helped her wash her face again.

  Chen Jiong then spoke with Shen Changyu about the 13th daughter's illness: "Your younger sister's lower abdomen is bulging, that's caused by bloating, not pregnancy..."

  This, Shen Changyu knew something about it.

  After a long illness, Shen Changyu had seen many doctors and after half a year, she herself read medical books and understood quite a bit of knowledge.

  "It's not bloating, is it? I heard the doctors say that bloating is a sign of yang deficiency and yin accumulation, which is a virtual syndrome. But 13th Lady is a real syndrome, and she has amenorrhea, bloating won't cause amenorrhea." Shen Changyu said.

  Bloating is due to weakness of the spleen and stomach, leading to abdominal distension. Abdominal distension is a virtual syndrome caused by external deficiency of yang qi and internal accumulation of yin qi.

  But Shi San Niang was a real-life figure.

  So this point is very head-scratching and also the easiest to misread.

  "Her lower abdomen is bulging, indeed it's due to bloating, but her condition isn't ordinary bloating. It's Qi deficiency and blood stasis in the uterus, which is causing dryness and labor." Chen Jing explained, "Ordinary bloating is caused by weakness of the spleen and stomach; whereas your sister's bloating is caused by uterine dryness and blood stasis."

  Uterus, just in the womb.

  The uterus has thin blood and Qi, leading to internal cold stagnation, resulting in poor circulation of Qi and blood, cessation of menstruation, and abdominal distension resembling pregnancy.

  "Is it a lack of blood in the uterus?" Shen Changyu was half-aware and half-oblivious to Chen Jing's words. The uterus lacks blood, so yin energy invades, obstructing the flow of qi, thus triggering this disease?

  "It's not a lack of blood, but rather a deficiency in Qi." Chen Jiong explained, "You asked your younger sister, didn't she start having abdominal pain like being strangled since her first menstruation last year? This is due to coldness in the uterus. Coldness causes Qi to congeal and stagnate, making it easy for blockages to form. When Qi doesn't flow, blood doesn't circulate, which leads to this illness."

  When they were talking, Thirteen Niang had already washed her face and changed her clothes, and came out again.

  Chen Jing repeated what she had just said to Shen Changyu to her again.

  Shen Shi San Niang nodded repeatedly: "Indeed. I suffer from pain for several days every month and have also asked doctors to take medicine, but the effect is negligible."

  Her words confirmed that Chen Xuan's diagnosis was correct.

  Shen Changyu was overjoyed and said: "Central plus, how to use medicine, will be entirely dependent on you!"

  "Shen's daughter has been ill for too long, her body is weak, and the medicine I need to use is risky. I need to supervise it personally, otherwise, it's easy to make mistakes. I estimate that I'll have to stay here for three or four days. Brother Changyu, please send a servant to our house to let my sister-in-law know, so she won't worry." Chen Jing said.

  "Alright, I'll send someone over first thing tomorrow morning," said Shen Changyu.

  A weight was lifted off their minds, and both siblings' eyebrows carried a hint of joy.

  The gloom has been swept away.

  They let out a sigh of relief, and Chen Jing did too.