Chapter 51: Leucorrhea Prescription and Berberine Wash

Hearing the old lady’s words, Tang Xiaorou smiled. “Of course.”

Seeing that the old lady was seeking her help instead of Old Yu, she must have something she couldn’t easily say.  Tang Xiaorou took her to an examination room in the back. “Auntie, let me take your pulse first.”

“Okay.”

The old lady quickly extended her wrist. While Tang Xiaorou was taking her pulse, she hesitantly explained her problem. “I’m so old, I’m embarrassed to go to the hospital. But I came to buy hawthorn today, and I found this female doctor at Xinglin Pharmacy.  And I feel even worse today, so I thought I’d ask you to take a look.  Is… is my condition serious?”

“Don’t worry, Auntie. Your condition isn’t serious.”

Through the old lady’s pulse and her description, Tang Xiaorou knew she had damp-heat vaginal discharge with itching. “Auntie, I’ll write two prescriptions for you. One is for oral administration, twice a day, morning and evening. The other is for washing.”

As she spoke, Tang Xiaorou had already written the oral prescription: Plantago Seed, Alisma Orientale, Poria… After writing it, she specifically noted “oral administration”. Then she wrote another prescription for washing: Phellodendron Chinense, Stemona Sessilifolia, Cnidium Monnieri…  She also noted “washing” on it.

“Auntie, I’ll get the medicine for you.”

Seeing Tang Xiaorou’s thoughtfulness, the old lady nodded repeatedly. “Okay, tell me about it after you get the medicine, otherwise I’m afraid I won’t remember.”

“Okay.”

Tang Xiaorou nodded with a smile and began to get the medicine. Finally, she put a small note in each type of medicine to help the old lady distinguish them. “Okay, the consultation and medicine cost three yuan in total.” She had asked Old Yu about the price of the medicine, and she only charged fifty cents for the consultation fee.

After the old lady paid, she left with her medicine.

Old Yu smiled at Tang Xiaorou. “Look, on your first day of work, someone came to see you. I have to quickly get your certificate processed.”  Old Yu asked Xiaodou to continue familiarizing Tang Xiaorou with the pharmacy while he went out.

Xiaodou knew Old Yu valued Tang Xiaorou, so she introduced everything diligently.  However, until noon, no one else came to get medicine. Qin Xueqiong and Yao Bingcheng arrived instead.

“Xiaodou, I have something to do, I’ll be back in the afternoon.”

“Okay.”

Xiaodou responded and then tidied up, preparing to go home.

“Mom, Bingcheng, let’s go to the bookstore first, then to the department store to buy a sewing machine after we buy the books.”

“Okay, let’s buy books first.” Qin Xueqiong also thought reading was good, so the three of them quickly went to the bookstore.  However, after looking around, Tang Xiaorou found that the bookstore didn’t have a complete selection of books and only found two exercise books.

“Xiaorou, are we only buying these two? Should we buy some others?”

Tang Xiaorou whispered to her mother, “Mom, no need. The others aren’t very useful.”

Seeing her daughter say this, Qin Xueqiong didn’t say anything more.  However, after leaving the bookstore, she realized that the two books were exactly the same.

Tang Xiaorou smiled and handed one to Yao Bingcheng. “One for you, one for me. We both need to study hard.”

Yao Bingcheng was surprised. “Sister, are you going to study with me?”

“Yes, reading more books will definitely be beneficial. I didn’t get to finish high school. Now that I have the time, I also want to study more. If I have the chance in the future, I want to continue my education.”

Qin Xueqiong looked at her daughter with some self-blame. “Xiaorou, it’s all my fault.” Her daughter had always been a good student, but Grandma Tang thought that girls didn’t need to study, no matter how well they did, they would eventually get married.

So, when her daughter was in the second year of junior high school, she dropped out to earn work points and do housework at home.

Thinking of this, Qin Xueqiong felt she had regretted too late.

Tang Xiaorou took her mother’s arm. “Mom, it’s not too late to study now.  Live and learn, so it’s never too late.”

Seeing that her daughter not only didn’t blame her but also had a smiling face, Qin Xueqiong secretly vowed to never be weak again.

“Yes, I think I should also learn a skill.”

Tang Xiaorou said with a smile, “Mom, you make clothes so well. Why don’t you learn tailoring? Maybe you can even make money from this skill in the future.”

Qin Xueqiong was indeed interested, but she didn’t know where to learn.  Old tailors usually wouldn’t teach their skills to others, and at her age, no one would likely take her on as an apprentice. “Although I can make clothes, they’re only comfortable and easy to wear, not beautiful. Others wouldn’t like them. Only you don’t mind my clothes.”

“Mom, the ones you made this time were very pretty. The little embroidery on Xiaoliang and Xiaoyan’s clothes is also beautiful.”

Speaking of this, Qin Xueqiong said, “That was the pattern Grandma drew for me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to embroider them.”

“Mom, next time I’ll design two outfits, and you can see if you can make them.”

“Okay.”

Seeing her mother’s bright eyes, Tang Xiaorou smiled and suggested going to a scrap yard. “Let’s go see if there are any usable old books there. It would be great if we could find some.”

Qin Xueqiong and Yao Bingcheng naturally had no objections. After arriving at the scrap yard, they went straight to the old books and waste paper section. “Mom, Bingcheng, see if you can find ‘Algebra’ and ‘Self-Study Series of Mathematics and Physics’. I heard these two are particularly good.”

“Okay, let’s look together.”

However, after searching for half an hour, they couldn’t find these two books.  Finally, Yao Bingcheng’s eyes lit up. “Sister, look at this. I think it is.”

It was a book with a damaged cover. Only the character ‘sū’ (number) and the bottom half of a damaged first character were visible.  It looked like the bottom half of the character ‘dai’ (algebra).

Tang Xiaorou took it and looked through a few pages, then nodded. “It’s this one.”

“Great.”

With this, the three of them were energized again, and they actually found another book.  Qin Xueqiong even found a fashion magazine. “The clothes in this magazine are so stylish.” But after looking through it, she quickly put it down.  It’s better not to take this kind of book; it might cause trouble.

Tang Xiaorou didn’t persuade her. It was a foreign magazine, so it was better to be cautious. However, she noticed that her mother had looked at a vanity case in the used furniture section for a while, so she didn’t hesitate to take it as well.

“Xiaorou, we don’t need this. Don’t waste money.”

Although things were cheap at the scrap yard, they still cost money.

“Mom, let’s go. We’re going to be late.”

Two books and a vanity case only cost two yuan in total. The two books were practically free.

When they arrived at the department store, Tang Xiaorou quickly bought a sewing machine. “Comrade, can this sewing machine be delivered?”