Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Demand

Translator: 549690339

Seeing Mrs. Wen saying this, Zhuang Qingsui took it that she was feeling much better, and broke out into a grin: “Alright, I understand.”

“You should also stop busying about, and go take a short rest. I am awake now and quite restored. I can do whatever I want. If you stay by my side, it will give the impression that I’m so old and feeble that I can’t move.”

Seeing Zhuang Qingsui hesitating, Mrs. Wen’s face fell abruptly, shooting her a glance and suggesting, “Even if you don’t rest, you might as well pay a visit to the tofu shop and see if there is anything you can help with.”

The dawn was breaking, and this was when Bai San and Dong Dazhu came to transport tofu. It was the busiest time, and Zhuang Qingning was sleeping soundly due to exhaustion, and didn’t have the energy to oversee such things. Hence, she had to go over and see if there was anything she could lend a hand with.

Zhuang Qingsui pondered, wavering in her decision, but still looked at Mrs. Wen with worry: “I’ll go to the tofu shop first. If you need anything, Aunt Wen, just call out for us.”

“Off you go,” Mrs. Wen said impatiently. “You are so young but already such a nag, I really don’t know who you take after…”

Seeing Mrs. Wen’s expression turn sour, Zhuang Qingsui didn’t want to stay in the house any longer. She headed to the tofu shop.

After Zhuang Qingsui had left the house, Mrs. Wen leaned back slightly and half laid herself on the bed.

Thinking about the things she just said to Zhuang Qingsui, she couldn’t help but give a bitter smile.

Her temper, which usually tends to be problematic, surprisingly had its merits this time.

Letting Zhuang Qingsui check on the tofu shop and help Zhuang Qingning finish some work could grant Zhuang Qingning some much-needed rest.

That being said, there’s something interesting about this girl. Beneath the dominant and harsh exterior, she can be surprisingly gentle towards those she cares for. The ability to fluidly switch between these two faces was a talent.

This only made her, as the older woman, seem all the more stupid and incapable.

Mrs. Wen thought about what Zhuang Qingning said yesterday, blinking involuntarily.

Zhuang Qingsui was outside organizing the distribution of tofu.

The daily routine of delivering tofu had already become a fixed process. Everyone had their own responsibilities. It’s just that, people were accustomed to having Zhuang Qingning around. Without her, there was this feeling that something was missing, like a body without a backbone. It felt somewhat empty.

Fortunately, Zhuang Qingsui was there. She conducted everything just as Zhuang Qingning usually did. Playing at being a responsible adult made things a bit merry and less uncomfortable.

The tofu, dried tofu, and tofu sheets were all distributed appropriately. Dong Dazhu and Bai San took away their loads of tofu in succession. Zhuang Mingliang led people to clean up the tofu pot, resting for a while and arranging people to prepare the tofu for the afternoon.

Seeing everything in order, Zhuang Qingsui heaved a long sigh of relief.

Noticing Zhuang Qingning was still asleep, Zhuang Qingsui went to ask Mrs. Wen if she wanted to eat some tofu pudding that had been kept warm on the stove.

Mrs. Wen didn’t have much of an appetite at the moment, but worried that not eating during an illness would further weaken her body. If she didn’t get better, she could be burdening Zhuang Qingning to take care of her. Thus, she forced herself to sit up and ate half a bowl of tofu pudding.

Just as she put down her bowl, Zhuang Yonghe arrived, bringing with him a doctor surnamed Shi.

At the same time, Zhuang Qingning had just woken up. Seeing Doctor Shi, she quickly asked him to examine Mrs. Wen.

Doctor Shi took Mrs. Wen’s pulse, asked about her meals in the past two days, and the incident she encountered yesterday. Finally, he stroked his several days stubble, saying, “There doesn’t seem to be any serious issues at hand. The high fever was simply caused by anxiety and has fortunately broken after she sweated last night. There wasn’t any damage done. It’s only necessary to prescribe some calming herbal medicine and it will be fine after taking it for a few days.”

“For the time being, you should eat light food and rest well. Don’t get too agitated about things. If you maintain this for a while, you will be cured.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Zhuang Qingning replied. “Would you please write down the prescription, and we will get the medicine accordingly.”

“Alright,” Doctor Shi nodded, took out paper and pen from his box, wrote down the prescription and handed it to Zhuang Qingning. “Follow this dosage, take it three times a day, cook the medicine until it’s very condensed, and consume half an hour after meals.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Zhuang Qingning received the prescription, and reached for the purse at her waist: “Doctor, your consultation fee    ”

“Don’t worry about it,” Doctor Shi waved his hand.

Zhuang Qingning was surprised.

In this era, medical education was a very challenging and expensive pursuit.

Identifying and learning about herbs, learning to read and write, all required some amount of expenditure. Even getting an apprenticeship involved numerous selections. Even if you managed to become an apprentice to a doctor, it would take at least seven to eight years, if not more than a decade, to start practicing medicine. During the apprenticeship, there was not only no salary, but also substantial annual gifts had to be paid to the master.

Zhuang Qingning’s childhood friend, Zhuang Wencheng, had similarly exhausted much time and money to study medicine, primarily seeking a stable livelihood in the future and the opportunity to earn some silver coins.

Becoming a doctor was indeed difficult, and the doctor’s consultation fee was therefore usually quite high. But this doctor was not charging any fee…

Could it be that he was a philanthropist who loved to help others and only sought to save patients and do good deeds?

“Miss, don’t misunderstand. I am not the sort of person that merely seeks to do good deeds. It just so happens that I’m not charging a consultation fee for you this time.” Doctor Shi said while stroking his beard, “I would like to ask the Miss something. The medicine that was used to reduce the fever last night, arc you willing to share it with me?”

Had Xiaowu’s fever-reducing medicine been found out?

As a medical practitioner, he must have figured out that high fever could only be reduced with medication, hence the inquiry.

Zhuang Qingning blinked: “Doctor Shi, I apologize but I cannot comply with your request.”

“I understand that this prescription must be very valuable. A one-time consultation fee won’t be enough to cover it. If the Miss agrees, you can just set a price and I will pay it accordingly,” said Doctor Shi.

“Doctor Shi, it’s not about the money…” Zhuang Qingning replied rather helplessly: “But the fact is that I simply do not have the prescription at hand, so there’s no way to share it with you.”

“In the patient’s pulse, it’s evident that she had taken fever reducing drugs, and I would guess that the prescription is fairly good. If there is no prescription, then where did the Miss get the medication?” Even Doctor Shi’s curiosity was piqued.

“Doctor Shi, with no intention to deceive you, the medicine was left behind by my parents. They only left a bit of medicinal powder, and they said it needs to be mixed with water and taken when one has a high fever. There was not much left originally and I used up all of it when Aunt Wen had a fever.”

For things that suddenly appeared mysteriously, which Zhuang Qingning could not explain, she could only attribute them to relics. Since she had fooled Zhuang Qingsui in this way previously, she did it again smoothly with a straight face..