Chapter 60: The Last Hope
Chapter 60
Originally, the woman was shedding silent tears, but when she heard this, she immediately lifted her head in surprise and said: “Little divine doctor, you know what this is?”
Seeing that everyone in the room was looking at her, even her master nodded at her.
She then said, "The cause of this disease is complex. Simply put, it is the result of clashes between twins.
When the lady first became pregnant, it should have been with twins. One strong fetus, in the process of development, in order to snatch nutrients from the mother's body, absorbed the other overly weak twin brother or sister, or enveloped it within itself.
It's like the infighting was too fierce between twins sharing the same room. Clearly, this is the situation with your child."
"Can it be cured?" This was what the couple was most concerned about.
Chen Yuanwai said, "My family has single descendant heritage for five generations. For me to reach my age and only have this one child, if, if..." His eyes also reddened.
He then said, “I won't be able to live if... "
Jiang Yuqing said, "I can't give you a definite answer right now on whether this can be treated or not.
If you are willing to wait here, after I and Master take him into the room to examine him with specialized tools, then we can give you a reply."
After seeking doctors for their child illness over years, they finally met a doctor who didn't treat their child as a monster. He also able tell out the cause of illness at a glance. Naturally, they were full of hope.
Jiang Yuqing exchanged a look with her master, personally led the child to follow Dr. Qiu to the rest room.
In order not to expose the spiritual state, as soon as they entered the room, Jiang Yuqing used spiritual energy to make the child fall asleep. Then she took him and Dr. Qiu into the spiritual state.
An X-ray scan showed that what was in the child's abdomen was indeed a parasitic fetus, just as Jiang Yuqing deduced.
As long as it was surgically removed, the child’s life could return to normal after that. Moreover, the surgery was not particularly difficult.
After communicating for a while and unifying their remarks, the master and disciple brought the sleeping child out of the spiritual state.
Chen Yuanwai had already waited outside for about half a quarter of an hour. Seeing Dr. Qiu coming out carrying the child, he was shocked and hurriedly asked, "Doctor, what happened to my child?"
Dr. Qiu said, "Nothing. He’s just asleep."
Chen Yuanwai took over the child, full of expectation, said: "Divine doctor, is it possible to cure my child illness?" This was the couple's last hope.
Dr. Qiu nodded and said, "It can be cured, it all depends on whether you dare to cure it or not."
Chen Yuanwai said, "Please tell me in detail."
Dr. Qiu then roughly drew the image he saw in the X-ray on paper and told the couple, "This is roughly the situation in your son's abdomen.
Look, this lump of flesh and blood is the parasitic fetus. It has no consciousness and very little bone growth.
As long as an incision is made on your son's abdomen to remove this anomalous fetus, he can live like a normal person afterwards."
When Chen Lady heard this, she cried out, "Divine doctor, can one still live after being cut open in the abdomen?" Qiu Divine Doctor glared at her and said, "Why can't one live?
Haven't you seen that the son of Grand Imperial Physician Yan, Yan Sacrificial Official of the National Academy, also had intestinal disease? This old doctor performed surgery on him and cured him well.
The operation was performed half a month ago, and he had already returned to the National Academy to work yesterday."
In fact, the couple had also heard about this. At that time, they only half believed it. Now, hearing Dr. Qiu admit it personally, the couple finally chose to believe it.
In just over half a quarter of an hour, he had clearly examined the lesions in the child's abdomen without hurting anyone the slightest bit. This kind of magical method made them unable to disbelief.
Since it was going to be surgery, all possible risks during the surgery and responsibilities the family members needed to bear must be fully informed.
As with the previous operation in the Yan Mansion, they made a detailed surgical consent form for Chen Yuanwai couple to press their handprints on. The surgery was scheduled for four days later.
Firstly, Jiang Yuqing was busy going to Princess Ronghua’s mansion tomorrow and didn’t have time. Secondly, the medical hall also needed sufficient time to prepare sterile operating rooms and coordinate relevant personnel.
After sending off the family of three,
Dr. Qiu told the shopkeeper of Huan'an Hall that in four days, he would perform abdominal surgery to remove a teratoma for a child. He asked him to prepare a room large and bright enough to be an operating room. He also wrote detailed requirements and precautions before leading his beloved little apprentice home happily.
After they left, a storm broke out in Huan’an Hall.
Dr. Qiu was going to perform surgery on a patient at Huan’an Hall again. The surgery object was a child with teratoma. The surgery time was in four days.
Once the news spread, it immediately attracted attention from the entire city. Many famous doctors from medical halls rushed to Huan’an Hall one after another...
Since she was going to Princess Ronghua’s mansion tomorrow, Er Yu and Nanny Yan were worried that she would suffer losses. So they took out background information on famous young ladies in the capital and briefed her.
Jiang Yuqing took a quick look and found that they were all unmarried young ladies, to be precise, young ladies who were not engaged yet.
She immediately felt something was wrong and asked Nanny Yan, "Is Princess Ronghua holding a matchmaking feast?"
She originally wanted to say “concubine selection feast”, but this word could not be used carelessly in this era.
Nanny Yan was stunned for a moment. After looking at the list again, she sighed, "The young miss is really amazing. You saw through with one glance.”
Nanny Yan handed her a bowl of hot cow's milk and laughed, "Princess Ronghua has two sons. Her eldest son is already married. Her youngest son is almost seventeen years old and it’s time for him to get married too."
Sure enough! Jiang Yuqing wondered: "She’s selecting a daughter-in-law, so why am I invited? I'm so young!"
Nanny Yan shook her head and said, "It's probably because the Princess is curious about you, young miss. After all, although the young miss is young, your reputation precedes you. It is understandable that Princess Ronghua wants to take this opportunity to meet you too. "
Jiang Yuqing nodded thoughtfully, this seemed to be the only explanation.
Nanny Yan focused on telling her about some of the most important young ladies.
Jiang Yuqing felt sleepy listening to just the beginning. But she didn’t bear to disappoint Nanny Yan’s good intentions, so she had to force herself to listen with yawns all the way.
The next day, April 18.
Jiang Yuqing slept till she naturally woke up.
After getting up, Er Yu helped her put on the light pink gauzy Bixia imperial court dress that Empress Qin had prepared for her.
The hairstyle was also changed from the usual two little tufts on ordinary days to two small floral buds. Decorated with a pair of palace flowers and a hair band of the same color as her skirt.
She wore an extremely rare pink pearl cloisonné necklace around her neck, with matching pink pearl earrings and bracelets on her ears and wrists.
She was young and beautiful and didn’t need much makeup to look very pretty.
After breakfast, seeing that it was about time, Jiang Yuqing took Er Yu and Nanny Yan and got on the carriage to Ronghua Princess Mansion.
Princess Ronghua Mansion was located on Ronghua Street in the northwest corner of the imperial palace, not far from Qing Prefecture Marquis Mansion. The carriage arrived a little over an hour.
When they arrived, both sides of the street were already crowded with carriages bearing various badges, which should be today's attendees.
Princess Ronghua and her husband Duke Yu Rang had two sons.
The eldest son was Duke Yuming. His wife was called Lady Liu. The second son was just seventeen years old, a handsome and elegant boy.
Not only Jiang Yuqing, but actually insightful people all knew that the flower association Princess Ronghua held today was unlikely without consideration for matching her youngest son.
The host welcoming guests at the door today was Lady Liu.
Lady Liu came from a prominent family. She was beautiful and graceful, excellent at socializing. Among the noble ladies in the capital, she was quite popular. In addition, she gave birth to two sons, so she was valued by her husband and mother-in-law Princess Ronghua.
At this time, Lady Liu bent down with both hands holding Jiang Yuqing's hands. She smiled and said, "I've heard that the young miss is adorable for a long time. But we haven’t had the fortune to meet till today. Seeing today, you really are as exquisite as a doll carved from jade."
Jiang Yuqing felt a little embarrassed being praised by her so much. She said, "Thank you! I think I'm pretty cute too. Because I was praised by cute people, so I became cute too!"
Lady Liu had been praised for her looks and elegance before, but it was the first time she had been called cute. She immediately bloomed into smiles like a lily.
She secretly thought, no wonder this young miss was doted on so much. With such a sweet little mouth, even she coveted her to death!
Lady Liu personally took the three to the waterside pavilion. She also urged the servants to take good care of them before hurriedly going ahead to greet other guests.
At this time, there were already quite a few young ladies sitting in the waterside pavilion. They were all dressed up beautifully, whispering to each other in twos and threes.
Originally, they didn't recognize her. But since she was personally brought by Lady Liu and addressed as young miss, she must be that young miss from Qing Prefecture Marquis Mansion given that she looked so young.
It was said that she was kept in the palace by the Empress for several days. The Crown Prince and His Majesty were also exceptionally fond of her.
For a time, the noble ladies looked at her appraisingly. There were envious, curious, disdainful, and even hateful gazes.
Jiang Yuqing nodded slightly to the crowd and gave a polite smile, before calmly raising her teacup for a drink.
Suddenly, she heard a somewhat grating laugh: "Pah! Just a small child learning to wear rouge and jewelry, isn't she afraid of being laughed at?" This words were extremely impolite!
Although the voice wasn't loud, the flower hall was very quiet at this time, so everyone heard this sentence very clearly. For a time, everyone revealed an expression of anticipation for the impending drama.
Jiang Yuqing's hand holding the teacup paused.
Yuzhu lowered her body and whispered in her ear, "This is the legitimate second daughter of the Vice Minister of Rites, Tong Xiuzhen. Her aunt is the former Madam Zhong who has already been exiled, while Old Lady Zhong is her aunt grandmother."
I see, so this was her relatives trying to get back at me.
Jiang Yuqing calmly put down her teacup, her bright eyes gleaming with traces of coldness.
Raising her hand to gently touch the lotus mark on her forehead, she looked in the direction the voice came from, her gaze like torches, and said coldly: "My parents gave this to me, no need to be jealous! You can't learn it even if you want to!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the noble ladies' eyes widened, full of excitement.
My, this young Linghui County Lady has quite the temper, huh?
And when they thought about how she had just confronted the Mu En Marquis Mansion recently, they were no longer surprised.
The girl who had been rendered speechless was just about to say something when she was fiercely silenced by another slightly older girl next to her.
That girl apologized awkwardly, "My cousin has caught a chill these past two days and hasn't fully recovered, so she's saying some nonsense. Please do not blame her, my lady. I apologize to the County Lady on her behalf."
Jiang Yuqing laughed lightly, "If she has caught a chill, she should be nursed back to health at home instead of coming out here to bite people!"
Did she think I was easy to bully just because I'm young? I'll show them the might of this County Lady today. Come bite me if you're not afraid of breaking your teeth!
"...The County Lady teaches correctly. I will surely restrain my cousin properly!"
After this incident, none of the noble ladies in the flower hall dared to provoke her again, but neither did anyone dare to speak to her.
Jiang Yuqing didn't mind, it was just right to have some peace and quiet.
After a while, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, and several more groups of people came in. Among them were the daughters of the Ministers of various departments, as well as young ladies from princely families, one of whom was also bestowed a county.
However, there wasn't a single princess.
When Jing Rushi heard from Mrs. Yu today that the Linghui County Lady had also arrived and was inside the flower hall, she wanted to take a look. She wanted to see what was so special about this Jiang Linghui who had stolen her limelight, captivating Her Majesty the Empress to the point where she kept her overnight in the Pepper Chamber Palace for several days. Even when she sent in her name plaque to seek an audience, she was denied.
Jing Rushi stood in front of Jiang Yuqing and looked down to size her up for quite a while. No matter how she looked, she was just a little girl. Other than being rather good-looking, there didn't seem to be anything particularly special.
She couldn't help wrinkling her nose, "You are Jiang Yuqing?"