My Lady Always Lacks Ambition

Qin Liuxi nonchalantly approached Ping’an’s two children, who regularly soaked in medicine baths and were abundantly fed by their wet nurse, with someone to look after them carefully. Now, they were both as plump and healthy as full-term babies, rosy-cheeked and chubby, extremely robust and adorable.
The most transparent thing was the child’s eyes, pure and innocent. When those dark eyes stared at you, it melted your heart.
Therefore, Qin Liuxi, seeing their chubby faces, couldn’t help but stretch out her ’devil’s claws’, grabbing one child with each hand, and gave their cheeks a pinch.
Soft and spongy, she pinched again.
Nanny Zhou looked at this small gesture: "..."
Yet, she dared not say anything. The children’s robust health was all thanks to this young mistress, the Miracle Doctor, and it was her orders that ensured a steady supply of bath medicines, enriching her diet as well, making feeding the children quite surplus.
Most importantly, rather than pouting or crying, the children giggled and laughed, kicked around, and reached out their hands, asking to be held by Qin Liuxi.
They felt a natural closeness and fondness for Qin Liuxi.
After teasing the two little ones, Qin Liuxi formally checked their pulses and then undid their clothes, stretching their limbs and touching their muscles. She even examined the children’s privates, which left Nanny Zhou utterly dumbfounded.
Though they were cousins, the children were just under three months old, yet she showed no embarrassment.
But Mrs. Gu smiled continuously watching Qin Liuxi’s actions, seeing them as the four essential diagnostic observations of a doctor: inspection, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation.
Indeed, Qin Liuxi then asked Nanny Zhou how the little ones were eating and sleeping.
Nanny Zhou stammered her response.
As Qin Liuxi was doing up the children’s clothes, she said to Mrs. Gu: "They are growing well. Continue with the medicine baths to strengthen their muscles and bones, don’t worry about using up the herbs. They were prematurely born and are inherently deficient, without this, they would be weak and sickly, which isn’t good."
Mrs. Gu, nodding with a smile, said: "I’m just worried about the financial burden on the family."
"The family is planning to start a new business, and the Old Lady has some money from her young aunt, so we can afford these herbs," Qin Liuxi pinched a child’s face and said: "They were born premature, inherently deficit. If we skimp on this step, they’d grow up weak and frail, which would be worse."
Hearing this, Mrs. Gu clenched, "I understand, now I also make embroideries, whatever silver we can get."
Qin Liuxi smiled and said nothing, only looked at Nanny Zhou, "Give me your hand, I’ll check your pulse."
"Ah? Me too?" Nanny Zhou was a bit confused.
Qin Liuxi explained: "The little brothers are nursing from you, if your health isn’t right, it will pass to them through your milk."
Nanny Zhou hastily extended her hand.
Qin Liuxi touched her fingers to the wrist, "You have a bit of excessive heart-fire, bitter taste in the mouth, dryness, and difficulty sleeping at night?"
Nanny Zhou sheepishly smiled, "Recently, since the start of winter, I’ve had pig’s feet soup for almost every meal, which is a bit greasy, more meat and less vegetables, my bowel movements have not been smooth and haven’t felt very well."
As the children’s wet nurse, to ensure ample milk supply, she had a nutrient-rich diet but it was heavy, leading to greasy food causing constipation and inevitable irritation.
"Fish soup can also stimulate milk production, so there’s no need to eat pig’s feet every meal. A balanced diet of meat and vegetables will be better," Qin Liuxi said. "I’ll write a prescription for you; two doses should suffice. Additionally, I’ll prepare a meal plan for Third Aunt to hand to Aunt Li, who will arrange to cook separately for the wet nurse."
Mrs. Gu asked, "Will it be too much trouble?"
"One meat dish, one vegetable dish, and one soup is enough; with three meals a day without repeats, it won’t be too greasy."
Nanny Zhou, hearing this, clicked her tongue in admiration. She felt like she had fallen into a nest of blessings being a wet nurse.
Soon, Qin Liuxi wrote a prescription, then checked Mrs. Gu’s Peace Pulse, adjusted the balancing prescription she had been taking before, spoke a few words, and then left.
Holding several prescriptions, Mrs. Gu sighed heavily. The debt of gratitude her family owed to Qin Liuxi seemed to be growing ever larger.
Qin Liuxi walked out of Mrs. Gu’s courtyard, squatted down, and smoothed out the clothes Qin Mingbao had worn when she came out, saying, "You are young, and it’s fine to like embroidery, but you should also learn other things. Your mother can read, so I will have Qi Huang bring some books, copybooks, and ink for you to study as well."
Qin Mingbao was momentarily stunned and said, "Big Sister, before grandfather was dismissed, things at home were still fine, and hiring a tutor to teach us was no problem. Now that times are tough, can I still learn these things?"
Qin Liuxi answered, "Why can’t you? As long as you have the desire to learn, you can learn anything. You don’t have to learn poetry or the zither, but recognizing characters and accounting are essential. You also need to learn painting if you want to excel at embroidery. I’ll ask Qi Huang to find some fine embroidery pieces for you to study."
Qin Mingbao suddenly threw herself into her arms, hugging her and rubbing her neck, her voice heavy with emotion, "Thank you, Big Sister. I thought you didn’t like Bao’er anymore since you got a new apprentice."
Taken aback for a moment, Qin Liuxi smiled, touched her small tuft of hair, and said, "Child, why such thoughts? She is her, you are you. Both of you are at the age to learn skills. I’ll see who learns better."
"Mm. I definitely won’t let you down."
"Good, then I’ll look forward to it!" Qin Liuxi smiled, looking at her chubby little face, but then sighed, thinking of her father, "Go inside."
Qin Mingbao waved goodbye to her.
Qin Liuxi then turned towards Old Mrs. Qin’s courtyard, hearing Old Mrs. Qin coughing from a distance.
Ju’er spotted her, reported inside first, then lifted the curtain.
As Qin Liuxi entered, she performed a greeting and said, "I heard Old Lady coughing from outside. Let me take your Peace Pulse."
Old Mrs. Qin saw her and had a complex expression but did not refuse the gesture of ’filial piety’ and extended her hand.
While taking her pulse, Qin Liuxi observed her face and had a realization. When she first arrived, she knew Old Lady must have been distressed about her children, but seeing Mrs. Gu’s couple palace and Old Lady’s children palace both dark and gloomy, she understood.
It must be that Qin Family’s Third is in trouble.
Quickly retracting her hand, Qin Liuxi said, "Overwhelmed by worries, emotions unsmooth, pondering harming the spleen, both heart and spleen are deficient. Have you not been sleeping well?"
Old Mrs. Qin furrowed her brow and covered her heart, saying, "With age, it’s harder to sleep at night."
In fact, she had been restless these past few days, making it difficult to sleep at night.
Qin Liuxi did not expose her, saying, "You know you’re getting on in years. Always being so distressed, how can your body be well-nourished? If you want to see Old Master come back safely, you must not indulge in wild thoughts. Otherwise, no amount of medicine will help. My words may be unpleasant, but they are sincere. Whether you take them to heart is up to you."
Old Mrs. Qin choked up. Was this coming for a Peace Pulse or to aggravate her?