Chapter 54

What kind of flaw is that?  

Although it sounds a bit off for a grown man to be afraid of his wife, the old village chief didn’t think it was a real flaw. After all, even he…  

Ahem, ahem…  

He wasn’t afraid of his wife, he just worried that if his old wife cried, it would look bad in front of the children and grandchildren.  

At home, the most important thing is harmony. Imagine how unpleasant it would be to live in a house full of arguments, right?  

The old village chief silently defended himself in his heart and started to form a basic impression of Uncle Zhou.  

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with teaching the children, it doesn’t matter if he’s afraid of his wife. Since you two are not at odds, I’ll go talk to Uncle Zhou about being the second teacher. Huaishan, take good care of your injury and think about how to arrange the school. Let me know when you’ve decided.”  

“Okay.”  

Yin Huaishan stood up to see the old village chief off.  

At this time, the aunt and niece, who had been fetching water, returned from the riverbank.  

Both of them had wet hair near their temples, clearly having washed their faces while getting the water.  

However, they had carried two buckets of water each, and by the time they sat down, they were sweating from the heat. Just as they were about to catch their breath, someone came to the house.  

It was Xiao Man’s mother, but she didn’t seem to be alone; only she came in.  

“Dr. Yin, could you come out for a moment?”  

Yin Huaixi immediately stood up and followed Xiao Man’s mother out of the house.  

As soon as they stepped out the door, she saw a woman leaning against the doorframe. The woman’s face was pale, her eyes glazed over, and it was clear she was seriously ill.  

“Dr. Yin, my sister-in-law’s condition is not something that should be discussed in front of men. Could we go to your little stone house for a check-up?”  

“Of course, you go ahead, I’ll just let my family know.”  

“Okay, okay, okay!”  

Xiao Man’s mother quickly helped her sister-in-law walk away.  

Yin Huaixi greeted her family and followed them.  

Once they entered the stone house, the air felt much cooler. After giving them a bench to sit on, she started to ask about the illness.  

Li Xiu, the woman, took the initiative to speak up, describing her condition in great detail.  

Her discomfort had started after a miscarriage.  

“Li sister-in-law, please open your mouth so I can take a look.”  

Li Xiu nervously opened her mouth, afraid she might have bad breath.  

Yin Huaixi didn’t think much of it, having seen all kinds of patients. She’d even had people who had diarrhea in her clinic.  

“Have you had relations with your husband in the past two years?”  

Li Xiu’s pale face flushed with red upon hearing this. How could Dr. Yin ask such a private question? She was so embarrassed!  

“Just tell me honestly. I’m a woman too, and there’s no one else here. If you tell the truth, I’ll be better prepared to understand the problem.”  

Li Xiu felt a bit embarrassed, but she knew what mattered most was getting better, so she decided to answer.  

“Yes… yes, we have…”  

Li Xiu’s voice was so soft it was barely audible, and after hearing this, Yin Huaixi’s face darkened.  

Her body was already so weak, and yet she had still been so reckless… no wonder her illness was so serious.  

But she didn’t want to say too much.  

Even in modern times, many people still didn’t understand basic hygiene, let alone those from the ancient times.  

Yin Huaixi carefully examined Li Xiu and had a rough idea of the diagnosis. Then she began to take her pulse.  

The more she examined, the more serious her expression became.  

The pulse was weak and faint, almost undetectable. It was a severe case of both qi and blood deficiency, and it had been dragged on for two years!  

If Li Xiu hadn’t died already, it was probably just luck.  

“This is a very serious illness.”  

“The miscarriage wasn’t fully expelled, and it has been draining your qi and blood ever since. On top of that, you’ve been working while sick, which has only made things worse. If you continue like this, you’ll be dead within six months.”  

Yin Huaixi spoke directly, and Xiao Man’s mother froze, while Li Xiu’s lips trembled in fear.  

“D-Doctor, can I still be treated?!”  

“You can be treated, but it depends on whether you want to be treated.”  

Both women were stunned by this. What did she mean?  

“Of course I want to be treated!”  

Yin Huaixi nodded, stood up, and took out some paper, a brush, and ink. She started writing a prescription while giving instructions.  

“If you want treatment, don’t do any work when you get home. Stay in bed. Don’t even touch cold water, and don’t drink it either. You can sleep in the same bed as your husband, but don’t have relations.”  

“Eat well, and if you can, eat better. You should buy some pig liver to cook porridge, and also red dates and longan. If you can, get some of those…”  

She spoke for a while, then suddenly paused. She had instinctively written a prescription for Bazhen Soup, but it contained ginseng, which common people couldn’t afford.  

She switched to a new sheet of paper and wrote a more affordable prescription.  

Sigh, for people with qi and blood deficiency, ginseng really helps speed up recovery, but it’s just too expensive.  

After writing the prescription, Yin Huaixi handed it to Li Xiu.  

“Here are two prescriptions. The one with more words is for medicine pills. You need to buy the herbs and bring them to me to make the pills for you.”  

“The shorter one is for decoction. You should cook the herbs into three bowls of water and reduce it to one. Drink it in the morning and evening. You need to take the decoction for at least half a month, and the pills should be taken for about seven days. After that, I’ll check on you again.”  

Li Xiu nervously wiped the sweat from her palms on her clothes before carefully taking the prescription.  

“Thank you, Dr. Yin!”  

Her tears almost overflowed, and she felt an overwhelming sense of relief.  

“Dr. Yin, here is fifty wen for the consultation fee.”  

Yin Huaixi nodded and accepted it before standing up to leave with the two women.

She escorted them out of the small stone house.  

Sigh…  

Once she gains a bit of fame, she’ll make sure to educate the women here about basic hygiene knowledge.  

———  

“Thank you, Third Sister-in-law…”  

Li Xiu’s voice choked with emotion.  

She was stunned when she suddenly learned that she had only half a year to live. Who wouldn’t be afraid of death? She was terrified too.  

If it hadn’t been for her Third Sister-in-law urging her to visit Dr. Yin, she might have already been buried in the ground in six months.  

“We’re family, no need for thanks. But you really need to listen to Dr. Yin, big sister. Don’t worry about the housework for now; talk it over with your mother-in-law.”  

Li Xiu didn’t respond.  

She didn’t know what to say.  

The Third Sister-in-law’s family had separated, but her own family was still living together with the second son’s family, and most of the money they earned went into her mother-in-law’s hands.  

The fifty wen for today’s consultation came from her savings, and she wasn’t sure if it would be enough to cover the cost of the medicine from the prescriptions. She certainly couldn’t expect any money from her mother-in-law.  

Her son hadn’t married yet, and her daughter hadn’t been married off either—there were many things that required money. If she stopped working, the second son’s family would be the first to protest.  

But she also knew she had to listen to the doctor’s advice, which left her in a difficult position. She needed to go back and discuss it with her husband to figure out what to do.  

In the evening, the family’s boat returned, and they ate dinner in silence.  

After returning to the house, Li Xiu told her husband about the diagnosis.  

When her husband heard that she only had six months left to live, his first reaction was disbelief.  

“Xiu Niang, how about I go with you to the city tomorrow and see another doctor? You can’t trust just one doctor; what if she made a mistake in her diagnosis?”  

“No, don’t waste any more money. I can feel my body. When I was cooking today, I couldn’t even lift a full ladle of water. I couldn’t even squat down and get back up without help. What Dr. Yin said is probably true.”  

As she spoke, Li Xiu’s eyes reddened with grievance. She felt so miserable, yet no one in her family could help her.  

Dahai, too, felt his head buzzing. When he realized what was happening, tears fell from his eyes faster than from his wife’s.