Preparing his things, Shi Mu stepped out the door and immediately ran into Song Nianshan, who was also heading out to work.
Shi Mu broke into a smile and greeted him warmly, “Brother Song.”
“Shi, Master Shi Mu.”
“Just call me Shi Mu. Let me check your leg for you.” As he spoke, he bent down right in front of Song Nianshan and reached out to lift up the other man’s trouser leg.
Song Nianshan was caught off guard and instinctively shrank back in discomfort. Shi Mu’s hand missed its mark, hovering in the air as he looked up to ask, “How is the wound? Is it infected?”
“Infected?”
Shi Mu explained, “It means pus formation.”
Song Nianshan hurriedly shook his head, “No, Shi Mu, your medicine is truly amazing. I get injured all the time, but none of my past injuries have ever healed this fast. The wound isn’t red or swollen at all anymore.”
Shi Mu nodded, “That’s good.”
Traditional Chinese medicine naturally possesses its own unique system, but compared to modern medicine constructed upon natural sciences like human anatomy, physiology, and microbiology, the clarity of therapeutic effects and onset time still appeared slightly vague.
After parting ways with Song Nianshan, Shi Mu walked out of the courtyard and onto the main street.
Yidu boasted a highly developed handicrafts sector and a thriving commercial trade. The streets were open, night markets bustling, and merchant quarters crowded.
The government housing bureau where Shi Mu lived was located in Liuli Alley, belonging to the East Market.
Yidu was divided into the East and West Markets. The West Market housed the imperial city, meaning it was where high-ranking officials and nobles resided. For instance, the original Shi family lived in a small corner of the West Market.
After all, though Shi Xian was only a fifth-rank official, he was still an official.
The East Market, on the other hand, was inhabited by ordinary commoners.
However, because the East Market had a dense resident population, tea houses and wine taverns lined the streets, making it exceptionally bustling and lively.
Shi Mu strolled around and chose a stall-setting spot right opposite the luxury restaurant, Chunshi Tower.
Chunshi Tower’s newly released Songfeng Yin tea had been drawing an endless stream of guests daily, to the extent that noble lords from the West Market, where high-end restaurants were ubiquitous, would also travel over to taste it.
The location was defined by a single core feature: a ceaseless flow of human traffic.
Hanging the written cloth banner on a tree, Shi Mu sat cross-legged under the tree’s shade. He had originally thought that with the backing of modern medical science, making money would be as easy as turning over his palm.
He never expected that after guarding the spot for half a day, not a single patient came by, while he received baskets full of pointing and whispering instead.
Passing commoners couldn’t help discussing amongst themselves:
“Is that a Geer?”
“Looks like one, for sure.”
“What is he even doing here?”
“Treating headaches, fevers, and daily common ailments, specializing particularly in women’s irregular menses, lower abdominal fullness and pain, infertility, difficult labor, and miscarriages?” A passerby who finished reading the cloth banner clicked their tongue repeatedly. “A Geer offering medical treatments to people?”
“For a Geer to not stay properly at home serving her husband and looking after parents-in-law, and instead come out to expose herself in public? What an outrage!”
“Must be unable to get married, which is why he’s come out to make money this way. Pitiful and lamentable.”
Shi Mu:
Whoever wants to marry can marry.
“What decent family would let a Geer come out and make a spectacle of themselves?”
“Seems like he’s the second young master of the official Shi from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.”
“Ah, I know. Word is he was driven out of his home.”
As the crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger, the Geer remained completely composed, sitting steadfastly in the tree’s shade. He even borrowed a copy of Ziping Zhenquan from the fortune-telling stall next door, lowering his head to read through it.
The scene was serene and leisurely.
Only when the circle of onlookers expanded further did he leisurely put down the book and lift his gaze.
Everyone only then realized that this young Geer possessed astonishingly handsome features. His complexion was like snow, his lips ruby red, and his bright eyes shone with a spirited glow like the stars.
After sweeping a slow gaze across the surrounding crowd, he suddenly cried out loudly in a peddling tone, “Treating headaches, fevers, and daily common ailments, specializing particularly in women’s irregular menses, lower abdominal fullness and pain, infertility, difficult labor, and miscarriages! No charge if it fails to cure!”
One second the onlookers were thinking, What a handsome young master, and the next second, Let’s scatter, let’s run.
Shi Mu watched with his own eyes as a single shout of his scared all the onlookers away.
Shi Mu:
Miserable. Right now, he felt thoroughly miserable.
Suffering a complete defeat on his first day.
After finishing the white porridge, to conserve his physical energy, Shi Mu hastily huddled back into the pile of hay, curling himself up under his old robe. Just as he was drifting off to sleep, heavy pounding suddenly sounded from outside the door.
Jiang Xiaolan had already gone out, so Shi Mu climbed up to open it.
Daylight had already broken outside. Standing at the doorway were Song Nianshan and a plump-figured woman in her thirties.
Shi Mu recognized her, she was Song Nianshan’s elder sister, Song Nianru, and she lived with her husband in the room at the easternmost end of the courtyard.
Song Nianshan pulled anxiously on Song Nianru’s sleeve with a distressed expression, while Song Nianru wore a look of utter fury.
Although Shi Mu didn’t know what had happened, standard courtesy meant greeting them first: “Hello, Sister Song!”
Song Nianru hadn’t expected him to be so polite, and she froze for a moment before gathering her anger once more, raising her voice to scold loudly, “Good day to you, young master of the Shi family! I respected you as a scion of a noble family, but you turn out to be a rat who swindles and deceives people!”
Shi Mu’s smile froze halfway: “What?”
Song Nianshan’s face flushed red with embarrassment as he tried to explain, “Sister, it’s not like that! Master Shi didn’t deceive me. Look at my wound, it has never healed this fast before!”
Song Nianru had only heard this morning that her younger brother had been injured yesterday and had spent twenty copper cash to let the Geer in the same courtyard help apply medicine and bandage it.
How could a Geer possibly know how to treat and bandage wounds?
Her brother must have trusted someone too easily and gotten scammed.
Consequently, Song Nianru had marched right over with her brother to demand her money back.
“You’re a Geer, how would you know how to treat and bandage injuries for people? Everyone knows you were driven out by your family, yet you come out to swindle my brother’s hard-earned money, your heart is blacker than a crow’s!”
Suffering such a massive loss of face right in front of Shi Mu, Song Nianshan wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Yet Song Nianshan hadn’t anticipated that no matter how his sister scolded, the young master before him didn’t talk back a single time. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, his gaze landing on Song Nianru’s face with a hint of appraisal.
After an unknown length of time, just as Song Nianru grew hoarse from scolding and ran out of things to say, Shi Mu finally spoke up abruptly, fixing his gaze on Song Nianru as he asked, “Sister Song, have your monthly periods always been irregular all these years?”
Song Nianru and Song Nianshan froze simultaneously.
Why on earth would he suddenly ask about such private women’s matters out of nowhere?
Song Nianru was instantly struck by a wave of shame and anger, her voice trembling slightly, “You! Good for you, you surnamed Shi, how dare you insult me like this…”
A continuous stream of scolding, poured out like beans from a bamboo tube, was about to escape her lips when Shi Mu interrupted her in time: “Sister Song, not only are your menstrual dates irregular and the flow scanty, but you also frequently develop acne on your face, suffer from hair loss and shedding, yet body hair elsewhere grows increasingly dense. Most importantly, Sister, you’ve been married for many years, but you’ve likely never been pregnant, right?”
The moment he rattled off that string of symptoms, Song Nianru’s expression completely changed.
This young master of the Shi family had only moved in last month and had never even spoken to her. Aside from the fact that she hadn’t borne children, how could he possibly know about all these other symptoms?
Song Nianru and her husband, Zhang Qiang, had been married for seven years. Initially, their relationship was quite good, but they had never been blessed with children.
Moreover, she had discovered that her menstrual flow was growing scarcer, her timing frequently disordered, and she shed hair terribly, yet the body hair on her limbs grew increasingly dense, even spreading down to her thighs.
Those things could at least be hidden from others, but for a woman in her twenties to wear a face full of pustules made it practically impossible to step outside.
She had gone to a medical clinic to buy decoctions to boil and drink, but every time it was cured, the symptoms reappeared after a short while. It drove her absolutely crazy with frustration.
Shocked and angry, she demanded, “How do you know?”
A smile blossomed in Shi Mu’s eyes as he replied, “Because I am a doctor.”
A doctor?
Shi Mu continued, “Actually, these medical conditions of yours are closely connected to why you’ve never been able to conceive.”
Menstrual disorders, hair loss, acne, oily skin, hirsutism, and infertility were symptoms of an endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
This medical condition caused women of reproductive age to experience anovulation or rare ovulation, leading to infertility.
If allowed to progress further, it could trigger diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions.
Song Nianru sized up the slender-figured young master before her, saying, “I don’t believe it! As if losing hair has anything to do with getting pregnant!”
“Of course it does.” His eyes were extremely bright, sparkling like stars. “Furthermore, I can cure you and allow you to conceive a child.”
His words struck precisely at what Song Nianru desired most in her heart.
Seven years had passed, and she was fast approaching thirty. Although her husband was considerate and had never once brought up the topic of divorcing or separating from her, Song Nianru dreamed nightly of having a child.
In the past few years, in order to conceive, she had run through large and small, famous and obscure medical clinics all across the capital, spending countless amounts of silver, yet not a single one had produced any results.
After facing disappointment and despair time and time again, she had even entertained the thought of separating from Zhang Qiang, though she couldn’t quite bear to part with him.
At this moment, Shi Mu’s words ignited a small flame of hope within her.
Yet she quickly recovered her rationality. Could a little Geer who had been driven out of his family cure illnesses? And speak of it so casually? Where did that leave all the medical clinics across Yidu?
Although Song Nianshan didn’t know the detailed specifics of his sister’s condition, his sister’s current reaction proved that Shi Mu was speaking the truth.
Over the past few years, not to mention Song Nianru’s own anxiety, even Song Nianshan felt deeply distressed for his sister. He urged hastily, “Shi Mu, do, do you really know how to treat this?”
The young master replied with absolute confidence, “As long as Sister Song trusts me, I guarantee she’ll be able to conceive a child very soon.”
Shi Mu was far too familiar with the diagnosis and treatment protocols for polycystic ovary syndrome.
The reason for infertility in polycystic ovary syndrome was that the patient’s ovaries failed to ovulate or ovulated rarely; modern medicine directly utilized ovulation-inducing hormones.
As long as the male partner was normal and the female partner’s other indicators showed no issues, conception could occur within a single menstrual cycle, an outcome difficult for ancient medicine to achieve.
Having said his piece, Shi Mu picked up the cloth banner by the door and went out to set up his stall.
Equipped with his portable medical space, he had originally intended to make a grand display of his skills, but instead, coming out early and returning late after setting up his stall for three days straight, his throat was hoarse from shouting, yet not a single patient had shown up.
“Treating headaches, fevers, and daily common ailments, specializing particularly in women’s irregular menses, lower abdominal fullness and pain, infertility, difficult labor, and miscarriages.” He had shouted until he had no strength left.
Drinking white porridge for three straight days, he was certain his complexion must be paler than the porridge itself.
This Geer wants to eat meat!
Only now did he deeply understand what was meant by the saying: A single penny can defeat a hero.
Just as he was squatting in place and sighing deeply, the sound of horse hooves approaching from the end of the long street suddenly rang out.
Commoners halted their steps one after another.
Three fine horses trotted leisurely forward, carrying three men dressed in opulent attire.
The man in the very front wore a black brocade robe rolled with silver threads, his ink-dark hair bound high with a white jade crown.
Above a nose bridge shaped like a knife ridge, a pair of phoenix eyes matched well with prominent brow bones.
The fading, intense glow of sunset spilled across those sharp brows and eyes, making his entire person seem wreathed in mist.
Why was it Xie Yi?
As a dignified imperial relative and aristocrat, what on earth was he doing running over to the West Market?
Upon seeing the spot where the three horses came to a halt, Shi Mu finally realized that the noble scion had come to Chunshi Tower to taste Songfeng Yin.
These three fine steeds possessed robust physiques, clearly belonging to precious breeds, especially the one ridden by Xie Yi, which was pure white without a single stray hair.
It prompted a little girl nearby to clap and cheer, “Mommy! A horse! A big horse!”
Only to have her mouth covered up immediately.
Passersby nearby discussed in hushed tones:
“It’s Prince Ling, Prince Jing, and young Marquis Huo.”
“Those three actually ran over to Chunshi Tower to eat?”
“Across all of Yidu, who doesn’t know that His Highness Prince Ling is infatuated with wine and obsessed with music, indulging in pleasure and chasing after merriment? Wherever there is fine wine, beautiful companions, and wonderful music, there is the shadow of our lord. No doubt he heard Songfeng Yin came out and came over to sample it.”
“Indeed, places like Qingyin Pavilion and Jinzhaozui are all frequent haunts of His Highness Prince Ling.”
“Prince Ling is romantic and dashing, yet in his twenties he still hasn’t been betrothed by the emperor. I’m afraid it’s precisely because he’s far too unrestrained and dissolute…”
A third person made a “shh” sound to warn the speaker: “Prince Ling holds noble status; do not make reckless comments.”
Clearly remembering nothing of the past, Xie Yi passed by when, for reasons unknown, he suddenly swept his gaze across the area, locking eyes with Shi Mu.
Those deep, pitch-black eyes resembled an unmelting ball of ink, instantly making Shi Mu recall that night.
Originally, candles had not been lit from start to finish, but at one point, he had carried him over to the window.
Reflected in the moonlight, Shi Mu had seen these very eyes clearly.
Yet why was he looking at him?
Could he still retain some lingering memories?
Just as he felt a momentary spike of worry, Xie Yi nonchalantly averted his gaze and dismounted to enter the restaurant.
Shi Mu let out a breath of relief.