The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 1711 - 1686: Calming the Child

The lady of the heir looked at Ms.Doctor Liu, hesitating in her heart, no matter how good the apprentice was, could she be better than the master?

But without the Empress’s order, Zhou Man clearly wouldn’t leave the palace to diagnose.

While she hesitated, Manbao said softly, "Ms.Doctor Liu has presided at Jishi Hall for some time; she’s really good at acupuncture. I never lie."

The lady of the heir then smiled but didn’t agree.

Manbao was slightly disappointed, but did not force, instead she picked up the pen to write a prescription and then handed it to Ms.Doctor Liu, saying casually, "It’s a prescription for cooling blood and drying dampness, have a look."

Ms.Doctor Liu felt disappointed too, but she still bowed to accept the prescription and memorized it, later recording the case.

She completed memorizing the prescription and handed it to the nanny.

Manbao said, "After meals, apply the needle, let her get up to wash and eat first."

She said to Miss Zhao, "It’s not a serious illness, don’t worry about it too much. Otherwise, if your mood is bad, the swelling will become larger and more painful. You’re still young, so get up early daily and walk more after meals, eat more vegetables and less meat, avoid supplements lately, it’ll go away in about ten days."

The lady of the heir asked, "That long?"

"That’s considering applying a needle once every five days to make it quicker; otherwise, it would take about half a month for it to go away." Manbao comforted the mother and daughter, "It’s not an urgent condition, no need for strong medicine, let it disappear slowly, she’s young, balance is best."

The lady of the heir then looked down at the prescription in her hand and found only four herbs, one of which was licorice, clearly using very few medications.

The nanny didn’t call the maid outside, she served Miss Zhao to get up and have breakfast herself. Because Zhou Man said not to use supplements, the pigeon porridge that was kept warm in the kitchen couldn’t be eaten. The servants pondered for a while and finally brought up a bowl of white porridge and a small plate of green vegetables.

The lady of the heir saw it and her face turned pale, "This is too plain, isn’t it? Let them prepare some more dishes."

Manbao thought for a moment and then said, "Boil an egg; that should be adequate."

The lady of the heir opened her mouth but ended up closing it again.

After finishing breakfast, Manbao wasn’t in a hurry to apply the needle; she chatted with Miss Zhao while sitting on a chair, "Don’t you need to go to school now?"

Miss Zhao said, "I’m sick, my grandmother and mother got leave for me with my teacher."

Manbao then said, "This illness isn’t serious, get the acupuncture done and then go to school."

Miss Zhao:... She didn’t want to go.

But Manbao had anticipated this, saying, "If you’re not in a good mood, play more to divert attention. This isn’t a serious illness, but watch your diet."

Miss Zhao muttered, "Going to school would worsen my mood."

"Reading aloud will improve your mood."

Miss Zhao disagreed, the two stared at each other, Manbao felt she should be understanding, so she said, "Alright, then what do you want to do?"

"I want to play sandbags."

"Then play; you just can’t stay in bed all the time."

After two quarters of an hour passed in this manner, Manbao took out the needle bag, saying, "Come on, I’ll give you a set of needles for removing stasis and inflammation."

Miss Zhao entered the inner room, not feeling very shy anymore, and with the nanny’s help, took off her clothes.

While opening the needle bag, Manbao asked Ms.Doctor Liu, "If it were you, how would you apply the needle?"

Ms.Doctor Liu immediately perked up and answered.

Turning back after removing her outer clothes and left with inner garments, Miss Zhao caught sight of the needles Manbao pulled out, her eyes widened in shock and she was terrified unable to speak.

Manbao nodded approvingly at Ms.Doctor Liu and said, "Good, proceed with the needle like this."

She turned and met Miss Zhao’s eyes, and the latter cried out loud and hugged the nanny’s waist, sobbing, "I don’t want needles, I don’t want needles..."

The lady of the heir was startled by this crying and rushed forward, "What’s wrong, what’s wrong?"

"Mother, I don’t want needles, I don’t want needles, it hurts so much..."

Manbao was taken aback; she’s treated countless people, given needles to many, but it was the first time someone cried about the pain before the needle was even applied.

Manbao came to her senses, hurried to put the needles back into the bag, and went forward to comfort, "Don’t be afraid, needles don’t hurt."

Miss Zhao didn’t believe it, those needles looked so long, how could they not hurt?

Miss Zhao clutched the front of her clothes, not letting Zhou Man apply the needle.

Manbao: ...Who said she would apply it on the chest?

Manbao’s gaze inadvertently shifted to her calf; she’d start with the needle there...

But with such a strong reaction, Manbao obviously couldn’t force the needle in; aside from her emotional trigger that might break the needle, if it shifted, it wouldn’t be good.

The lady of the heir was also helpless, wanting Zhou Man to apply the needle so her daughter’s illness could quickly improve while feeling sorry for her daughter, reluctant to apply the needle.

Seeing Miss Zhao almost rolling on the bed, Manbao thought for a moment and said, "If you’re scared, I’ll first apply the needle to your tiger’s mouth, you can see if it’s painless, then give you a needle?"

Miss Zhao shook her head and hid her hand.

Ms.Doctor Liu couldn’t help but step forward saying, "Master, let me do it."

Manbao looked at her and stepped back to let her go ahead.

Ms.Doctor Liu sat by the bed, smiling at Miss Zhao, "Needles truly don’t hurt, see, this needle is so fine, applied to the acupuncture point, how could it hurt?"

Ms.Doctor Liu pulled out a needle, allowing Miss Zhao to look at it, then she stretched out her left hand, directly applying it to the Hegu point for her to see.

Such a long needle, inserted more than half way in, not just Miss Zhao, even the lady of the heir was shocked, mouth wide open, unable to help but take a step back, yet she saw Ms.Doctor Liu still smiling, pulling the needle out more than halfway, then inserting it again, laughing, "See, it doesn’t hurt, right?"

Miss Zhao swallowed hard.

Ms.Doctor Liu pulled out the needle from her Hegu point and placed it into the needle bag aside, and told Miss Zhao, "In our master’s words, applying the needle is like being lightly bitten by an ant, sometimes the ant bite hurts more than this."

She held Miss Zhao’s small hand, pressing her tiger’s mouth with a thumb saying, "This is the Hegu point, needling here can relieve internal heat, elevate clarity and lower turbidity, disperse wind and smooth out the exterior, with the effect of promoting qi and blood circulation. Do you want to try it?"

Miss Zhao wanted to say not to try it, but the lady of the heir immediately replied, "Try it, darling, you’re sick, you need to treat it, otherwise it’ll still hurt in the future."

Miss Zhao wanted to cry, tears welled up as she looked at her mother and tried to hide in the nanny’s embrace again.

The lady of the heir then hardened her stance, "Imperial Doctor Zhou, Ms.Doctor Liu, apply the needle."

Miss Zhao was about to cry.

Ms.Doctor Liu pulled out a needle and said to Miss Zhao, "Don’t worry, I’ll just test it with the needle. If it truly hurts, I won’t apply it."

Her comfort made Miss Zhao feel a bit better, Ms.Doctor Liu was also somewhat nervous, so she didn’t apply the needle directly as usual, instead pinching her tiger’s mouth to find the right location.