FH Chapter 44:
疑难杂症
[Difficulties and complicated illnesses]
After a meal, the two became even closer, Li Haitang completely treating Chun Niang as one of her own, pondering on how to offer to go and take a look at her husband’s illness.
After so many years of taking medication without a cure, the pharmacy might have a problem, and they couldn’t keep procrastinating.
After washing, the two sisters had a long heart-to-heart talk. Chun Niang also came from the most bitter days, before she got married, her parents did not have a son, but had several sisters.
The native place had a locust plague, no harvest, grass roots and bark were dug up, master and grandmother do not care about the lives of these girls, there are brokers (foreigners) with a bag of rice and noodles that can be exchanged with them.
“There was a locust plague, my younger sister was young and starved to death, and I still have two biological sisters.”
Chun Niang remembered the past, sighed repeatedly, her eldest sister was eighteen that year, the fixed marriage was settled, she was sold to the flower house, unbearable humiliation, and cut her own neck that night.
The middleman just bought away the people, something happened, so he turned to the family to settle the score, her tyranny mother sold her second sister. Her second sister’s character is fiery, at night while it is dark, packs a few sets of clothes to escape the village.
“Soon after, the family did not have even a grain of rice, the whole village was digging Guanyin soil (white clay or kaolinite, especially when eaten in instances of geophagy during famine, etc.)…”
The past is unbearable to recall, her parents died because ate too much Guanyin soil, she was almost sold by her mother to a brothel house. Finally, they were saved by her husband, and the two of them passed over thousands of miles and came to the border city to make a living.
“Haitang, don’t be a soft ear, we women, that life is the same as the duckweed, to know whether others are cold or hot (idiom) / to be very considerate is not easy.”
Chun Niang remembered the busybody woman’s sarcasm, sighed, Xiao Lingchuan’s appearance, indeed not worthy of Haitang, however, the onlooker is clear, she as an outsider, she can see a few points, this man is a reliable person, not a little bit of crooked thinking.
These days, whoever has a little spare money in their hands, who doesn’t have some fancy ideas (cunning ideas)? The rich ones have three wives and four concubines, and the poor ones think about going to the flower houses to have fun. Those who can’t afford to go to the streets of ill repute; red-light district or they could go to private inn. Those financially worse off, could ponder about widow and living a loose and free spirit life.
Li Haitang agrees, she does not think Xiao Lingchuan ugly, in her eyes, she really has not seen anyone’s body better than him, more manly, the two of them being together, she has always thought that she was the one who took advantage.
It was already late, Chun Niang blew the light, and Li Haitang was lying on the bed chatting, the two people thinking concepts are a little similar, talking to the excitement, no one wanted to sleep.
“(Cough cough cough)…”
The night was already deep, a sharp cough broke the tranquility. Chun Niang heard the figure and immediately lit the oil lamp, put on her clothes in three twos and stumbled straight to the main room.
“Husband, are you okay?!”
Chun Niang entered the door and smelled the smell of blood. She lit the oil lamp on the table and saw a string of plum blossom-like blood on the quilt surface.
“I’m fine (I’m alright).”
On the bed, lay a bony and thin man with a sallow complexion, he touched the handkerchief and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, “Chun Niang, the doctor said that this disease is contagious, so hurry and get out.”
“I’m not afraid!”
Chun Niang cried out instantly, “If you have three or two shortcomings, how can I live my life?!”
At the doorway, Li Haitang sighed, not sure if she wanted to go in, coughing up blood, contagious, hopefully it wasn’t the kind of disease she was thinking of.
If not wrong, it should be pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), which the ancients called consumption or tuberculosis. Treatment, Chinese and Western medicine have different concepts, traditional chinese medicine science is concerned about clearing heat (relieve internal heat) and detoxification, clearing the lungs and dispersing knots, stopping coughs and resolving phlegm, however, this era, consumption belongs to the difficult and miscellaneous diseases, the patient is just to endure up for the rest of their life.
