Chapter 218: Seeing a Doctor, Settling Accounts
It was early morning.
Jiang Mianmian woke up.
After washing up, she bounded into her sister’s room first thing in the morning.
Her brother-in-law had already gone for morning exercise.
He was strengthening his body with her brother and Father.
Ever since his sword was repeatedly knocked out of his hand by her brother, her brother-in-law had switched to practicing with a saber.
He practiced with the saber with great vigor.
Jiang Feng still preferred the sword; it was slender and subtle, and killed cleanly and efficiently. Unlike the saber, which hacked things into pieces, splattering flesh and blood everywhere—it wasn’t clean…
Jiang Mianmian strolled over early in the morning, carrying a book.
She saw that her sister had just gotten up to wash.
She held the book and read aloud, loudly, in her sister’s room.
She was determined that the baby in her sister’s belly would hear her. “My comfortable future depends on you all. Start learning from the womb, and you’ll surely be smarter later on.”
With such a mission, she read with even more enthusiasm.
Jiang Yu listened to the reading while washing up. Her belly felt quite good; she hadn’t been vomiting much lately, and her appetite was increasing.
Although she was blunt and outspoken, people who were blunt didn’t hide their words of affection either.
Every day, she spoke directly to Brother Meng: “Husband, you are so amazing. Husband, I like you so much. Husband, what you made is so delicious; I ate an extra bowl today. Husband, you are so good to me. Husband, you are truly knowledgeable. Husband, you are the best…”
Jiang Mianmian felt inferior in this regard.
Her sister was truly impressive.
Many people would say: “I speak bluntly, so please bear with me, don’t take offense.”
And then they would only say things that annoyed people.
But her sister was different. She spoke bluntly, cursing directly, but also expressing affection directly.
She left her brother-in-law dazed and happy; he had been at his Father-in-law’s house for three years without ever having a cross word, happy every single day.
Jiang Mianmian felt that her sister’s bluntness played a big part in that.
It was worth learning from.
Speaking bluntly could mean pointing out shortcomings directly, or saying “I love you” directly; one had to be more direct.
After Mianmian finished the prenatal education for her future niece or nephew, shaking her head as she recited, she went to have breakfast with her sister.
After finishing breakfast, Jiang Mianmian leisurely drank a cup of fermented black tea.
She strolled over to change into a neat outfit for going out.
Recently, she liked white robes, tied with a belt, with her long hair pulled into a ponytail; she looked very good.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Jiang Mianmian even felt the urge to have a daughter. Girls were just too pretty, beautiful from childhood all the way up.
They were pretty even at seven or eight years old, somewhere between being a child and growing up, with fuzzy hair.
Her skin was very fair. Part of it was because she paid attention to physical sun protection, but another part was likely due to the spiritual spring. And the main factor was genetics; Father was very fair, and even without sun protection, he remained fair, the kind that couldn’t get tanned.
Wearing little boots, she took Pang Ya and went out to serve medicinal porridge.
Leaving the mansion, the previously fallen roof tiles and collapsed beams outside had been repaired, and the raised stones on the roadside had been leveled out.
Normally, repair work like this was prioritized for the noble masters first.
As for the houses of the poor commoners, even if they completely collapsed, it could only be done slowly.
After all, one couldn’t let the masters see the misery before their eyes; it would make the work look inadequate.
Fortunately, it was summer; even without a house to live in, they wouldn’t freeze to death.
But it was also bad, being summer; if sick people and corpses gathered, it was easy for an epidemic to break out.
When Mianmian arrived with Pang Ya, she spotted Zhang Weibiao at a glance. His frame was exceptionally large; he was squatting in the corner like a tent.
Seeing them arrive, Zhang Weibiao stood up to help with the work without saying a word.
After finishing the work, he squatted back down to the side.
Once the medicinal porridge was cooked, the people in the square spontaneously lined up, and people from other places arrived as well.
It slowly got a bit hot, but fortunately, the queue wasn’t too crowded.
As long as no one cut in line, even if the queue was long, everyone was willing to wait, because it was fair, because hope was right in front of them—as long as they waited, it would be their turn.
But once someone cut in line, the people behind would easily lose their composure, because it was unfair.
With Zhang Weibiao squatting there, there were basically no people cutting in line.
He helped maintain order, so he didn’t need to queue repeatedly; he was given porridge as a working meal.
It was just a meal, but he was very honest and squatted here every day.
Jiang Mianmian went to ask him a question.
“Why were you released?”
“That group of people happened to be the same gang that went to the nearby villages to steal and kill a while ago. The official said I was eliminating harm for the people, so he let me go.”
“You can kill twenty-seven people in one night; you could make a living anywhere, why insist on squatting here?”
“I have never seen any noble family truly give rice, medicine, and enough food. If such a family were to be bullied by villains, this world would be finished. That is why I, Zhang Weibiao, must guard this place.”
He looked like the biggest villain on the scene, with a ferocious appearance.
He had killed people, his clothes were still stained with blood, and his face was full of murderous aura.
The people around him gave him a wide berth; anyone who wanted to stir up trouble became well-behaved.
After he finished speaking, he went back to squatting on the side of the line, staring at the crowd like a hellhound.
While watching the porridge distribution, Jiang Mianmian continued to display the “Treating Illness and Saving Lives” sign.
Perhaps it was because the Yamen Runner whose severed finger was treated last time was too scary; for so many days, no other patients had come.
Jiang Mianmian could only wait helplessly; she couldn’t ask Father to help every day for this kind of thing.
Fortunately, today the Yamen Runner Old Jiu was due for a dressing change.
As the first and only patient, Old Jiu didn’t need to queue or register when he came over; he sat directly in front of the Young Miss.
He extended his thickly wrapped finger.
He was actually very afraid, afraid to look and afraid to touch, but it didn’t hurt.
Jiang Mianmian gently unwrapped the outer linen cloth—linen fabric, raw hemp, breathable, much like gauze but slightly stiffer.
Old Jiu closed his eyes and turned his head behind his shoulder, not daring to look.
Actually, it didn’t hurt, but he was still nervous, his arm trembling.
Because it was just a dressing change, Mianmian didn’t take him into the small room; she did it outside.
Old Jiu thought that since it didn’t hurt that much, it probably hadn’t rotted. He hadn’t even had a fever when he went back, so it should be fine. A severed finger would be inconvenient later, but at least he had connections in the Yamen. He had already discussed with his wife that he could do something else in the future.
Jingzhou had been very prosperous these past few years; one could earn a living doing anything.
Doing it himself would certainly be more convenient than outsiders; at least he had connections in official circles, making things like permits easier.
Old Jiu mentally prepared himself, but when the cloth outside his finger was removed, he still didn’t dare to look.
However, he heard the people around him go, “Ah! ~~” one after another.
Frightened, his whole body trembled, and he couldn’t help but turn his head.
But he saw that his finger was intact, just a bit swollen and red, as if it had been pinched by a door, but it was completely attached to his hand.
The finger was actually bright red—the color of flesh, not black. It hadn’t rotted, nor was there any pus. If it weren’t for the thread ends on it, one couldn’t tell it had been severed at all.
The Yamen Runner Old Jiu was so shocked he buried his head to look; it was like looking at someone else’s hand, it was incredible.
He subconsciously wanted to move it, but was held back and couldn’t move.
“I’m changing your dressing and fixing it. If you want this finger to recover as it was before, it will take at least three months. It takes a hundred days for bones and tendons to heal. During this time, do some light work and don’t strain this hand. Come find me again in ten days.”
After the Yamen Runner Old Jiu had his dressing changed and his finger re-wrapped, he was still a bit dazed and in disbelief.
The finger was actually still there? And it wasn’t just for decoration; it could actually be used.
He had already cried three times at home with his wife, children, and parents.
He was worried that he would be a useless person in the future.
But, but, his finger was actually still there.
Old Jiu burst into loud sobs, knelt on the blue brick floor, and kowtowed three times heavily.
“Young Miss, your great kindness and virtue, I, Chen Ajiu, will never forget. If you have any errands, just give the order.”
Jiang Mianmian waved her hand and said, “Treating illness and saving lives requires payment. I didn’t charge you last time, but this time for the dressing change, I have to charge. Your surgery was a bit difficult, and it will cost quite a bit of money.”
The Yamen Runner Old Jiu said through tears and laughter, “It should be given, it should be given.”
Even if it meant exhausting his family’s wealth, it should be paid. His family had savings of over a hundred taels over the years. If it wasn’t enough, he would scrape together more; he would definitely pay enough. He thought that even a celestial being couldn’t have saved this finger, but he hadn’t expected the Young Miss to reattach it, and it even looked like it could be used.
Jiang Mianmian calculated her own consumption; actually, the biggest cost, the spiritual spring, was priceless.
But after gaining experience, it wouldn’t be like this. She still went by market rates—consultation fee, surgery fee, medication. She wrote down a long list, calculated it, and it came to a total of one tael and two mace of silver.
Jiang Mianmian handed the list to him.
The Yamen Runner Old Jiu had been prepared to exhaust his family’s wealth. The Young Miss had reattached his finger and even said it was very expensive—the Young Miss’s inn suite cost a thousand taels a night—but he hadn’t expected it to cost only one tael and two mace of silver.
Old Jiu laughed and cried at the same time.
Jiang Mianmian said, “Seeing as you are my first patient and were introduced by my Father, I’ll give you a discount. You can pay one tael of silver. I can’t go any cheaper; I’m really not making any money. Those instruments and materials are very expensive.”
Jiang Mianmian calculated the money very seriously.
Because medical treatment was life-saving money, it had to be calculated clearly.
Of course, she couldn’t not charge money. Without money, she couldn’t continue; she wouldn’t be able to keep doing it.
If one wanted to do something for the long term, there had to be at least a thin profit to maintain life; one had to be able to rely on this livelihood to keep doing it.
She calculated seriously, explaining item by item to the Yamen Runner Old Jiu.
The ugly, burly man Zhang Weibiao squatted to the side, listening and nodding. The young girl before his eyes suddenly seemed infinitely taller.
Even taller than the day she stood there distributing porridge.
Perhaps just a little lower than the Blue Sky Official.
Perhaps just as tall.
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