My Lady Always Lacks Ambition

Qin Liuxi had just taken the pulse of a child, who was all skin and bones but had a distended abdomen, when she turned to the woman who had brought him in for a diagnosis. Furrowing her eyebrows, she asked, “Have you been consuming Guanyin Soil?”
Hearing this, the crowd gasped in shock. Were there still refugees in the capital eating Guanyin Soil?
There had been no major natural disasters in recent years. No matter how tough and hard life had been, people hadn’t reached the point of eating Guanyin Soil, had they? How could this mother and son have consumed Guanyin Soil?
The woman bowed her head and replied in a stammer, “We were forced to do it.”
Seeing her full of sorrow, with a sallow complexion and thin figure, her life force waning, and wearing tattered, ill-fitting clothes, Qin Liuxi said, “It has been a while since you consumed it. Just taking medicine won’t suffice; you’ll need to combine it with acupuncture and herbal potions, which will cost silver.”
Upon hearing this, the woman hugged her child tighter and pressed her lips together before saying, “Thank you, doctor, but we will forgo treatment.”
If they had the silver to pay for treatment, they wouldn’t have waited until now.
Observing her intention to leave, Qin Liuxi said, “If you want to be treated, wait here for a bit. Someone will help you.”
The woman was taken aback.
Qin Liuxi then attended to two other refugees until a young man with a handsome but pale face and a thin build sat down. She then said, “Doesn’t it make you feel ashamed to be competing with refugees over who gets treatment first?”
Lu Xun: “…”
He wasn’t initially embarrassed, but now, feeling accused, his face flushed red.
He lowered his head to glance at his somewhat worn clothes, then glanced sideways at his own servant, blaming the latter for the situation.
The servant gave an awkward smile, saying, “Master, your majestic behavior and presence cannot be hidden even in old clothes.”
Lu Xun looked up to see Qin Liuxi smiling at him with a hint of amusement. He cleared his throat and said, “I also tried to apply for medical help, but didn’t receive any response. When I accidentally learned that you were providing charity treatment, I came here…”
Qin Liuxi pointed to the woman who had consumed Guanyin Soil and said to Lu Xun, “If you cover their medical fees, I will treat you.”
Lu Xun was surprised but looked towards the woman and her child, who was sallow and skinny with only an enlarged abdomen. He nodded, “I can do that.”
To their surprise, the woman and child knelt down and kowtowed several times towards the two of them.
“Wait here first,” Qin Liuxi reassured the woman.
The woman, choking back tears, nodded and moved aside, clutching her child, her eyes fixed on the scene before her.
Qin Liuxi then asked Lu Xun to extend his hand. She took his pulse on both hands and noticed a pale spot on his face. “How did the previous doctor diagnose your condition?”
Lu Xun replied, “I was suffering from abdominal pain and chills, with poor gastrointestinal health. Some said it was a deficiency of the spleen and stomach, while others mentioned an epidemic. It improved over winter, but now as the days grow warmer, the abdominal pain is becoming more frequent and agitating, and I have no idea what the illness might be.”
Qin Liuxi stood up, asked him to open his mouth, observed pinpoint clear granules inside his lips, and then had him stand to press on his abdomen, saying, “Your pulse indicates an imbalance of hot and cold in your stomach and weakness in the vital energy of your chest organs. The diagnosis that you have a deficiency of the spleen and stomach is partly correct. However, what’s causing your discomfort isn’t that.”
“What could it be?”
“Poison,” said Qin Liuxi, quickly clarifying upon seeing Lu Xun’s changed complexion, “To be precise, it’s Insect Poison, that is, the venom from a poisonous insect. Could it be that before the first onset of the illness, you went to humid and hot places like those in the Southern Border or Xiangnan which are prone to insect-borne diseases?”
“Our young master has spent the past year in Shengjing and hasn’t gone to those places,” the servant replied.
Qin Liuxi continued, “Encounter with water contaminated by poisonous insect venom or accidental intake could cause ascariasis.”
She then took some vermillion and a talisman pen and drew out a Spirit Talisman on a medicine charm for expelling worms, saying, “Don’t worry too much; it’s just the common roundworm. The insects are lethargic in the cold of winter, making you feel more comfortable. But as the weather warms, the vital energy in your chest is weak, and likewise, there is an imbalance of hot and cold in your stomach, causing disharmony in the functions of the five organs. The restlessness of the roundworm due to this causes it to move up and down, leading to your illness.”
Lu Xun felt goosebumps all over.
The servant rubbed his hands together and asked, “Are you saying that there’s a worm in my young master’s abdomen?”
“Yes,” Qin Liuxi affirmed. “Roundworms are good at squirming and burrowing, they dread the cold and favor warmth, are lured by sweetness, and halt at acidity. Now that the weather is hot, it’s normal for them to wriggle actively.”
Lu Xun’s complexion turned even paler; he didn’t want to hear anymore. He felt like cutting open his belly to extract the worm.
Qin Liuxi handed him the drawn talisman and prescribed the Four Gentlemen Soup, saying, “Drink this medicine charm dissolved in the Four Gentlemen Soup and when you visit the latrine to relieve yourself, it’ll be better.”
Lu Xun’s fingers trembled at the thought, his body shuddering.
“That’s all for today. You can follow me to Changsheng Hall,” Qin Liuxi said to the mother and son who had consumed Guanyin Soil.
Just as she stood up, someone came over with a domineering posture, ordering the refugees around, then with a haughty expression said, “You’re the Daoist doctor from Jiuxuan, correct? My Family Head invites you to treat an illness. Come with us, please.”