Manbao couldn’t bother with the hustle and bustle outside, and imdiately took the book to read by the lamp. Doctor Xiao and Doctor Liu, taking advantage of their high status and closeness to her, squeezed in too.
The three of them carefully turned two pages, barely recognizing the text above, "It seems to be real, this recipe..."
Doctor Xiao couldn’t help but move closer. After internally analyzing it, he said, "Let’s not talk about the recipe, but just the fact that it uses stone acupressure before the dication is a bit better than using dicine first. Let’s see the rest."
The "Qing Nang Jing" recorded by Hua Tuo contains dical experiences, not only prescriptions but also various other treatnt thods, from severe illnesses like wind-cold and headaches to rare symptoms like an insect crawling into the ear, and even minor illnesses like a person sneezing two or three tis are recorded.
The treatnt thods are both complex and simple. So directly use heated pebbles wrapped in cloth to cure acupuncture points; others require abdominal surgery, involving cutting and stitching.
The three stood together under the lamp for more than an hour. Until their necks couldn’t bear the strain, and when they moved, they only felt a dense numbness surging from the soles of their feet, leaving them montarily unable to move.
Manbao gently moved her feet; being young, she was the first to recover.
She looked at the two, carefully closed the dical text, blinked her sore eyes, and asked, "Do you need help?"
Doctor Liu and Doctor Xiao reached out together.
Manbao carefully placed the book on a nearby shelf, helped them to the table to sit, and imdiately ran back to get her dical book.
The three of them sat at the table. Doctor Xiao poured himself a cup of tea and drank it in one gulp, feeling a chill run through him.
He glanced at the bitter tea in the cup, not minding that it was cold, and said to Zhou Man, "It should be genuine. Even if it’s not, it’s still a real dical book written under the guise of Hua Tuo’s na, quite useful."
Manbao and Doctor Liu thought the sa.
Manbao sighed, "It’s a pity the Empress gave it too late. If it had been given earlier, we might have been able to trace the second volu."
Indeed, they had just flipped through the last few pages; this handwritten copy is only the first volu and is far from complete.
Doctor Xiao, deep in thought, said, "The Empress Dowager cos from a distinguished background. Not to ntion the decades of war and chaos before, many isolated copies of texts have been lost. Finding the origin of such a dical classic mixed among other books is not easy."
It’s not just not easy; it’s nearly impossible.
In the eyes of these aristocratic noble families, dical classics are far from being as valuable as a good calligraphy manual.
Even the usually good-tempered Doctor Liu couldn’t help but sigh, "A pearl cast before swine."
However, Manbao cheerfully held the book and said, "Now it’s cast into light."
Doctor Xiao and Doctor Liu:... Suddenly feeling a bit jealous, what to do?
While they were talking, a dical assistant ca in to report, "Doctor Liu, several Princes in the front area are feeling unwell."
Doctor Liu is now just acting head of the hospital, so everyone is still accustod to calling him Doctor Liu, but he is indeed in charge of the Imperial Hospital now.
He got up and said, "Let’s go, go to the front to have a look. We should also get busy."
After the mourning hall was set up, the imperial relatives in the palace began to mourn, including the Empress Dowager’s own children, grandchildren, sons-in-law and grandsons-in-law, great-grandchildren, and also not-so-close sons and grandsons, as well as various royal clans.
There were quite a few of them, both old and young. This one fainted for a while, and that one felt uncomfortable for a while, keeping the imperial physicians busy.
Manbao was about to put the book back in the box to join them when she rembered sothing. She imdiately put the box in first, and then carefully placed the six dical books on top, hugging them as she walked toward the screen.
Inside, there was a small bed for people to rest.
Director Xiao glanced at it, frowned, and said, "It’s not safe to keep these things here with so many people around. Why not have soone send them back to the Imperial Hospital or Chongwen Pavilion for you?"
"The palace servants are all too busy to even touch the ground, and moving them around is more inconvenient. It’s better to leave them inside."
Manbao moved them inside, then squatted down to open the box again. After looking around, she asked Keke, "Can they see it?"
Keke said, "They’ve already left; no one is in the room now."
Manbao imdiately hid all six dical books in the space, but the two boxes were too big to put away, so she covered the box and pushed it under the bed.
No one would dare steal such conspicuous items as portraits of Laozi and Buddhist statues.
Manbao ran to catch up with Doctor Liu and the others.
The mourning hall had already been set up. The Emperor and Empress, with the princes, princesses, and concubines, knelt in the front, and others knelt according to their relation in the back.
Because the Imperial Family is productive, they were all kneeling in a row, extending into the outer courtyard. The night dew was heavy, and after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather had already cooled. The young and strong were okay, but outside there were several elderly Princes and younger royal relatives kneeling.
It was the older Princes who were uncomfortable.
They were genuinely uncomfortable, having lived in luxury for many years. So were indulged in alcohol and lust, and being old, felt unwell after kneeling for a while.
They had already been kneeling for half an hour.
Confirming that the people were really unwell, dicine was prescribed where needed, and acupuncture where required. Not only them but the dical assistants were also busy.
By the middle of the night, the Emperor finally allowed everyone to go rest, as there would be mourning again the next morning.
He glanced at the children kneeling in the hall and said to the Crown Princess, "Take Yingnu back. The child is young; don’t let him be frightened."
He also allowed the Princess Consort Gong to take her son back.
Then the Emperor, looking at Prince Gong’s legs, couldn’t bear to let him stay kneeling, so he let him, along with Mingda and Changyu, return, leaving only the Crown Prince with him.
Mingda didn’t want to leave, so the Emperor patted her head and said, "Good child, your grandmother knows your affection, but you’re frail, and falling ill from kneeling would only sadden your grandmother."
Thus, he let Changyu take her away.
Once they left, the Emperor then allowed commandery Princess Yunfeng to leave as well, leaving only the Emperor, Empress, and Crown Prince in the vast hall.
The Emperor couldn’t bear to leave the Empress to keep vigil throughout. He kept persuading her to go rest, but the Empress had always been virtuous, refusing to leave while kneeling for her mother-in-law.
The Emperor, frowning after thinking it over, didn’t dare forcefully remove her. He knew that forcibly taking her away might make her feel worse, becoming anxious, and possibly worsening her health.
Since the Empress stayed here, Zhou Man couldn’t go rest. The Emperor instructed her to stay in the hall, so she would be close if the Empress felt unwell.
Zhou Man accepted the order, staying in the hall to keep vigil with the family of three.
Doctor Liu and Doctor Xiao finished their tasks and, assigning an assistant to her, returned to the side hall to rest. They have a lot to be busy with in the day too.
The following morning, the officials would enter the palace to mourn, and who knows which official would require an imperial physician?
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