Shu Fen walked for a long time, following closely that black-clothed
maid who never stopped glancing behind, checking that she was truthfully
coming. They ended up in a desolate area. The garden in front of it was
flourishing but the moment one walked past the garden and entered the walls of
that yard, it became another sight entirely. It wasn't about the size for the
place was actually quite grand, however, such a thing which should have been a
luxurious place seemed quite desert. Shu Fen couldn't see any other maid at
all, as if, the one in front of her was the only one assigned to this place.
The inner garden was a contrast to the one outside. It was a mass of untreated
vegetation. There were weeds growing everywhere, and the flowers were growing
with no set patterns and with irregular sizes. As they kept on walking and
closing in on the house, it appeared that the further they walked and the more
tended the flowers became. Only that it was really a small portion.
The house itself too could have used some reparations. There were dangling windows, the woods that the house was made of had changed color and when the maid pushed the door, it made a creaking noise while grinding on the floor making Shu Fen's hair stand on the base of her skull.
Had it been tended to, this place could have been
breathtakingly beautiful but instead, the inner garden was too much for just
one person to attend to and though it was a vast courtyard, it wasn't all that
much furnished. The same could be considered for the inside as well. There was
barely any tapestry or types of furniture to sit on.
The maid led Shu Fen inside the living room, letting
her sit on the sole tapestry here, a faded green thing that had lost its
original color due to time and rewashing. If observed closely, the patterns on the
tapestry could be seen as trying to hide the holes there. Seeing that the
apprentice didn't complain, the maid sighed from relief in her mind and went to
one of the inner rooms, certainly to talk about it with her masters. Not long
after, a woman came out, she was helped to walk by the maid. That woman had
beautiful clothes they seemed to have had their colors washed away by the
number of cleaning.
Between coughing and deep breathing, she presented
herself as concubine Han. At first, Shu Fen had wanted to have little words and
even share a prescription for her fits of coughing but the woman just smiled
and said that she was alright, inviting her inside to see the real ailed
person. Thus, the little girl could only shut her mouth and followed behind
them.
In the eyes of both women, she was, of course, unqualified but the fact that her father was the head of an imperial physician was enough. So long as she pitied the twelfth prince, certainly, she would let her father do something. Even if he didn't come here himself and just sent some medicinal herbs through his child it was alright. They were willing to accept anything.
Shu Fen entered a dimly lit room that was tightly shut. Faints coughs and struggling breathing could be heard coming from under the piles of clothes on the bed. In that small room, the smoke of incense was thick and it was hot as if one was on fire. She, though a perfectly healthy person, was already feeling uncomfortable. How unbearable must it be for him?
The mother went to the child and uncovered his face.
He was deeply flushed and coughed more than his mother did.
The boy was around her age and she didn't have to touch him to know he was running a fever. A soaked cloth was on his forehead while tears were sliding down his closed eyelashes.
As his mother urged, the boy slowly opened his eyes to meet hers. There were traces of dried tears on his cheek while the fresh ones were running down the side of his face due to his sleeping position.
“Don’t lose your way and immediately ask around if you
can't recognize your surroundings. Don't follow people I didn't personally send
to you and don't do anything I wouldn't approve of!”
Those words she understood. Her father had
repeated this sentence enough for her to recite it mentally. Actually, he had
said far more. But at this time, looking at this pained child, she really
couldn’t leave him alone, could she? Would her father be terribly angry with
her?”
Be kind. Always. Another voice entered her mind. Those were the words of an elderly
person in her head that she couldn’t ignore.
"Opened the windows and let some air in. The bedding is thoroughly soaked with sweat changes them and changes his clothes too. Snuffle out those incense..."
As she kept on talking and they did nothing, she turned to the concubine. What was she waiting for?
Concubine Han was hesitant. After all, those incenses were her last medicinal possession, however, for the sake of having this child talk to her father, she still, with tight firsts nodded in direction of her last maid who executed her orders.
As the windows were being opened and the incense snuffled out, Shu Fen came closer and opened the patient's upper clothes to check. Though she still couldn't read pulses, she could still try coming up with various diagnoses and eliminate them one by one by a thorough check.
Concubine Han, in order to let that child think she believed in her, anxiously asked,
"Is it poison?"
Shu Fen parted the boy's eyes to check, then his mouth,
"...It doesn't seem like it... Does it hurt when I press here?" she asked the child as she added pressure on his chest.
Slowly, the boy shook his head while coughing.
"Do you have headaches?... Does your head hurt?"
He nodded slowly.
She helped him turned on his stomach and, in order to relieve his headache and neck tightness, she located the gallbladder meridian acupuncture at the base of his skull, in the depression between his spine and lateral neck muscles. She gently massaged the point with her finger and could see his frowns ease a bit.
Still hearing him coughing, she took hold of his hand and located the lung meridian acupuncture. It was on the edge of the palm, midway between the base of the thumb and wrist. She gently massaged them for a time and could hear his coughing ease a bit.
"Do you feel better?" she asked gently and though biting his lips, he nodded slowly.
Concubine Han had a complicated look on her face as she gazed at that girl.
Shu Fen retreated and followed the concubine back into
the living room to let the child change clothes.
"I'm not sure what he has but for his fever and coughing," hearing the concubine cough, she continued, "and yours too, I recommend to use in your food some perilla leaf or ephedra. If you don't have that then fresh ginger or peppermint could also do." Seeing the frown on the woman's face, she added, "even chrysanthemum and mulberry leaf can work just fine." Thinking more carefully, maybe it was difficult for them to order the food they wished, so she changed to beverages, "You can drink peppermint tea and eat cooling fruits like citrus... Either way, avoid sugar, sweets, and fried foods for the time being."
The concubine smiled wryly,
"That would be difficult. Can't an honorable apprentice recommend something else? Can't there be an herb honorable apprentice is willing to part with?"
Seeing as the child seemed to know what she was talking about, the concubine was willing to trust in the herb she said, only, with her shabby environment now, where would she be able to buy all these?
Though flattered to be called 'honorable' after having for days been insulted as useless whose opinion didn't matter, Shu Fen still remembered that the herbs in her pockets were the property of the medicine hall and she would be in trouble -and her father too- if she used it without approval.
As she was politely refusing, a servant entered the premises of the courtyard. He was clothed in green, the color of those serving in the medicine hall. It seemed her father was searching for her. Shu Fen could only be mentally prepared to be scolded.
***
Indeed, after being thoroughly scolded in front of
everyone, she was made to kneel in the chief's private room for the rest of the
day. Since she was out of the sight of the others and far away from their vocal
abuse, the little girl was actually more at ease. Thus, from her corner, she
stretched her little hand, took hold of one of her father's books,s and for once,
read in silence.
Back at home, to appease her father's still lingering
ire, she did all she could, serving him his food by herself, serving his tea,
she wouldn't let any servant approach their dining table. Each time their gaze
met, she would have a docile expression on, seemingly shouting 'forgive me'. With
a sigh, the old imperial physician relented,
"Do you know how scared I was to return and
hear that no one knew of your whereabouts? The palace isn't a place you can
walk freely everywhere!"
"This daughter heard. The next time, I will
definitely let someone know where I am going."
Looking a the prideful expression of hers as she came
to such a conclusion the father roared again,
"You! You understood nothing!: I said to go
nowhere without my approval!"
"But then, I wouldn't be going anywhere...?"
The little girl successfully earned herself another
punishment that night, forced to copy pages through the night.
***
Two punishments for one misdeed, Shu Fen thought the
matter finished here. Neither she nor her father could predict that came the morning, the girl would once more be summoned by the emperor.
She was called after the morning court, in the
emperor's left hall. It wasn't as grand as the court's hall but it was still
impressive. The eunuch who led her there let her know that the empress and the
crown prince had arrived before her it was to no surprise then that she entered
to see three people seating on the elevated chairs. The emperor sat on the
biggest one, his new golden robes had, like the previous ones, a long dragon
sewn on it. The empress, sitting on his left wore vibrant red clothes with a
phoenix hair ornament. Though she wasn't as young as concubine Han, she wasn't
as old as the emperor either and the smile on her face was welcoming. On the
left side of the Empress, sat the crown prince, in magnificent clothes that let
people know of his status. And though he was the one closest to her in terms of
age he was also the only one who wasn't smiling. Both of his parents abhorred
easy smiles on their faces.
Though stumbling a bit on her etiquettes concerning
the curtsying and bowing, Shu Fen still correctly salute every royalty member,
sending thanks in her heart towards the eunuch who let her know how to address
the crown prince, this one, neither her father nor her teacher had told her
about it after all.
It was the emperor who talked first after her reverences,
"Bring a chair," he instructed and as she
sat while thanking him, he said,
"We heard that you helped our son the twelfth
prince. Aren't you quite really talented?"
The little girl didn't know how to respond. She had
been told by her father the night before that imperial physicians couldn't go
around providing their services to just anyone. They had to have either the
emperor's approval or that of the empress. So, those words just now, were his
majesty saying that she thought herself too talented and dared defy him, or was
he, like his smile, suggested, sincerely praising her. Not knowing if she should
receive those words and thank him or if she should kneel down and apologize,
Shu Fen chose to stay silent and seated. If you don't know what to do, then
don't do anything like to say her father. Though it was concerning the medicinal
field, it could also be applied in this case, could it not?
"Without your timely intervention, we would never
know of our dear consort's troubles."
At those words, the empress's fists tightened, though
her smile never wavered,
"Yes, who knew that the servants were such a bully?
Little physician, you are really a luck-bringer."
The empress's voice was soft and pleasing to the ears
but still, Shu Fen kept her silence,
"How many patients have you already
treated?"
"None your majesty... I didn't treat the prince
either, simply gave some instructions."
"What are your conclusions regarding his illness
then?"
"...It is curable. In father's hands, he would be
back to his health most certainly."
"And in yours?" asked the empress
"That... it may take more time."
"Aren't you quite an honest child?"
When she heard that the Emperor had permitted a girl to
be accepted to follow the imperial physician's courses, the Empress had been
quite surprised and thought it to be a joke. Who knew that the child actually
knew what she was doing and talking about. The girl seemed quite valiant too.
She was talking to the Emperor and Empress yet she didn't stutter. She would
have certainly liked this child better if only she didn't go there.
"Then from now on, why not let her be the twelfth
prince's assigned physician? What do you say, your majesty?"
The Emperor passed his hands through his beard,
"This apprentice thanks her majesty's generosity
but this apprentice has yet to have any practical lesson and is thus unable
to."
"Oh, you don't follow your father to his
rounds?"
"One year has still to pass."
"But aren't you the one who scored first in the
last examination even surpassing those higher?"
"Is it? Really worthy of being the imperial
physician's daughter." boisterously laughed his majesty. "We approve, let us see
how talented you are!"
It was with those words that she was dismissed.
Though she didn't understand, once her father heard
what happened, he had a strange expression on. No matter how proud he was of his
daughter, it didn't change the fact that she was still quite young. Too
young. The emperor actually gave his own son to be overseen by this
newcomer. No matter how much praise he accompanied it with, for others the
meaning was clear: the emperor could care less about the life or death of that
child and be ready to treat him as a guinea pig. The empress, the one who suggested
the idea was quite cruel, wasn’t she?
***
Even until they came back home, the imperial physician
Shun's face didn't clear itself from its frowns. Not that it alarmed his
daughter that much; after all, she was used to seeing him like this. Every time
he was deep in thought, he would always furrow his brows and sport a grave
expression. As she sat there, gnawing on her food, she was absentmindedly
thinking about her tools and experiments, far from understanding the delicate
position she was in. Apparently, the emperor had said she couldn't ask her
father about the prince and was to treat him by herself.
As they finished eating and revised a bit until she
was said to go to sleep, her father still had that grave expression on. That
was when she started to worry.
“Was it bad?” she finally asked her father in a small voice. Should she
have never helped, even a bit?
The father looked at his daughter who had a wronged
expression on her face and he sighed,
“No, you did well.” He finally said, touching her
head.
Shu Fen then smiled radiantly, quite satisfied with
herself and he could only sigh in his heart, wondering still, how to manage
with this small but too intelligent person for her age.
"The Empress put me in charge, wasn’t it because
she trusted me?"
She saw her father’s grim expression return instead
of the smile she was convinced he would have. And then, it dawned on her that he
wasn't happy about this, which meant it simply wasn't a good thing. The little girl stood there, thinking about her father's mood since hearing the news,
“Oh!” she slowly exclaimed then, her own smile dying
and her father saw that she really did understand.
The empress was hoping for her to fail.
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