Chapter 61: The Difficulty of Seeking Medical Care
Emerging from the Zhang Estate, Lin Sanniang made her way straight to Lin Daniang’s house.
Convoy Guard Mu was scheduled to return today, so they should finally be able to call a doctor for Lin Daniang.
Clutching the heavy weight of the one thousand copper coins, Lin Sanniang thought to herself that even if her brother-in-law’s escort mission hadn’t gone smoothly, she could present this money to hire the doctor for her sister.
When she arrived at Lin Daniang’s home, the doctor was surprisingly already there.
Lin Sanniang breathed a sigh of relief, waiting quietly for the diagnosis.
The doctor took Lin Daniang’s pulse, then had the medical matron—who accompanied him from the clinic specifically to convey information regarding female patients—examine Lin Daniang’s postpartum condition. A diagnosis was quickly reached.
“Madame Lin gave birth more than two months ago but still suffers from bleeding. However, the volume is not vast, and she exhibits no signs of delirium or chest constriction. This is due to postpartum blood stasis stagnating within the abdomen, preventing new blood from returning to the meridians. It is a common postpartum affliction among women.”
The doctor continued, “As the saying goes, if old stasis is not removed, new blood cannot be generated. This is why the bleeding has been continuous, accompanied by constant blood clots. We must employ herbs that invigorate the blood, dispel stasis, regulate the blood, and guide it back to the meridians.”
Lin Sanniang and Convoy Guard Mu both let out a massive sigh of relief. Hearing this, Lin Daniang also felt the heavy stone weighing on her chest finally roll away.
Convoy Guard Mu hurriedly requested the doctor to write down the prescription so he could fetch the medicine.
As the doctor drew up the prescription, the medical matron who had tagged along said to Convoy Guard Mu, “The consultation fee is three hundred copper coins. However, if you purchase the medicine directly from our clinic, the consultation fee will be waived.”
Mu quickly asked, “How much does the medicine cost?”
The doctor replied, “We have a prepared medicine called Motherwort Paste. It costs one tael of silver per mace. The medicinal effect is highly potent; if taken continuously for ten days, the affliction will surely be cured.”
“If funds are lacking, you may purchase the raw herbs to boil and brew yourself. We shall use angelica, Szechuan lovage, peach kernel, prepared ginger, honey-fried licorice, motherwort… each in these specific quantities. It costs seven hundred copper coins per dose. Fetch three doses to begin with. If the blood stasis is not fully cleared, fetch another three doses.”
The matron added, “Purchasing one mace of the prepared Motherwort Paste, or fetching three doses of raw herbs yourself, will waive the consultation fee.”
The doctor finished writing the prescription. “Which option do you prefer?”
Convoy Guard Mu and Lin Daniang both looked utterly crushed. “Th-this expensive…”
They knew the clinic would be pricey, but they hadn’t expected it to be this exorbitant.
Mu calculated frantically in his mind. For this entire escort mission, he had only brought home a total of one tael and two mace of silver, along with a few miscellaneous goods.
If they used the high-quality Motherwort Paste as the doctor suggested, they could only afford a single mace!
To take it continuously for ten days… even if he split himself into two halves, he wouldn’t be able to scrape together enough money.
Even if they skipped the prepared Motherwort Paste and bought the raw herbs to brew themselves, three doses would still cost two taels and one mace of silver. Judging by the doctor’s tone, it seemed she would have to take at least six doses to see improvement—and that would only halt the stasis, not count as a full recovery.
Lin Sanniang was also startled by the price.
It made her think of her own situation; if Taoya hadn’t stumbled upon that miraculous opportunity and received the lifesaving aid from the young mistress, she too would likely have been crushed to death by the cost of medicine.
Convoy Guard Mu tried to negotiate with the matron. “We shall take the Motherwort Paste. However, I can only give you two taels of silver today. As for the remainder, once I barter away the goods in my possession, I will settle the account immediately. It will absolutely not exceed three months. Would that be acceptable?”
Mu promised repeatedly, “I brought some goods back, it is just that I have not had the time to turn them into cash yet. Once they are sold, we will definitely pay it back.”
But the matron refused flatly, “We do not accept store credit.”
The clinic was a place that witnessed hardships daily. If they allowed credit once, there would be no end to it.
Seeing that they weren’t going to fetch the medicine, the doctor stood up to leave. “Then please settle the consultation fee first.”
Convoy Guard Mu felt a profound grief strike his heart—he had finally managed to land an urgent mission, yet the money earned was only enough for a dose or two of medicine, which would ultimately be useless for Lin Daniang.
Left with no choice, he could only produce the goods he had brought back through immense hardships, asking the matron to appraise them for cash.
Working as a laborer in the clinic, the matron frequently saw such things and immediately began her calculations. However, when she calculated, she applied a forty-percent discount to the market value.
“After all, we are not a pawnshop. Frequently taking in goods brings no benefit to the clinic. We will have to pawn or barter them away ourselves later.”
It was time-consuming and exhausting. Passing through an extra set of hands meant knocking off another layer of value. Furthermore, they could occasionally misjudge an item, so an emergency pawn could only command sixty percent of the value.
Mu felt utterly helpless. But since Lin Daniang’s health was the priority, he could only allow the matron to devalue his goods.
The matron finished her calculations. “These goods can be counted as one tael and two mace.”
Mu argued, “No matter how you calculate these goods, they are worth at least three taels of silver! Even at a forty-percent discount, it should come to one tael and six mace!”
But the matron refused to listen. “Then you may go out and pawn them yourself. Settle the consultation fee today first.”
Mu grew frantic, feeling both furious and conflicted. He didn’t notice Lin Sanniang slipping quietly into the inner room to whisper a few words to Lin Daniang.
Lin Daniang looked thoroughly shocked, but with the doctor and matron on the verge of leaving, she didn’t have time to pry. She hurriedly called Convoy Guard Mu inside.
After a brief moment, Mu emerged in a rush. “We shall take one mace of Motherwort Paste first. But may we keep the prescription?”
The doctor agreed.
Purchasing one mace of Motherwort Paste waived the consultation fee, and since the prescription was tailored specifically to the individual, it was useless to anyone other than Lin Daniang anyway.
Mu handed over one tael of silver and followed the matron to the clinic to fetch the Motherwort Paste.
Meanwhile, Lin Sanniang left behind the one thousand copper coins. “If I do not arrive by sunset tomorrow, use this to fetch another mace of Motherwort Paste.”
Only now did Lin Daniang find the opportunity to ask Lin Sanniang, “Where did you get this much money?”
Naturally unwilling to make Lin Daniang worry, Lin Sanniang invented a cover story. “You saw the cotton cloth I brought over a few days ago, right? I have taken up a job tailoring clothes for noble lords. This money is the advance they gave me to purchase fabric.”
Lin Daniang pondered it; purchasing fabric for a full outfit of cotton clothes indeed cost around seven or eight hundred copper coins, so the story checked out. Except—
“You used the money meant for purchasing fabric, what will you do about the clothes?”
Lin Sanniang whispered to Lin Daniang, “When I tailored clothes in the past, I saved many leftover scraps. The clothing required this time belongs to a small frame; if I patch them together, it will be enough.”
Lin Daniang knew that to feed her children, Lin Sanniang took on any hired labor available, and mending clothes for others was a frequent occurrence. For those who tailored clothes, the leftover cutoffs were always kept by the seamstress themselves. If one’s skill was excellent and they took on many jobs, they could shift things around; saving an inch from one garment meant saving a foot from ten garments.
Lin Daniang gripped Lin Sanniang’s hand. “Dear sister, thank you so much.”
Lin Sanniang wasn’t thinking about that right now; she only hoped Lin Daniang would recover after taking the Motherwort Paste. But if she didn’t recover… now that she held the prescription, she could perhaps go to the young mistress’s estate and exchange her wages for some medicine.
It was just that the young mistress hadn’t summoned her to “work” these past few days, leaving Lin Sanniang feeling rather anxious.
After returning home that day, she worked double-time to rush out the outfit requested by Manager Fang.
She racked her brains, making the sleeves narrow to utilize two separate pieces of fabric, and dividing the front lapel into two halves so each used a different cutoff; this way, it wouldn’t be obvious that the garment was sewn from scraps.
Only the back panel greatly exceeded the dimensions of the fabric pieces, making it impossible to hide the patchwork seam no matter what she did.
A patchwork seam was a minor issue. But if Manager Fang felt it was cobbled together from scraps, deemed it unpresentable, and refused to accept it, that would be a catastrophic disaster.
