Zhou Lijun said, "He’s really sincere, and I think he’s quite good—whether it’s his character, appearance, or talent. Little Aunt, he said our family should share so of the business with Brother Sanzi, and by distributing the shares in this way, we won’t be classified as rchants."
Manbao nodded, "Yes, I was just about to discuss this with you. Once you head out to the grasslands again, you can start. What’s the matter?"
"I think he’s very knowledgeable," Zhou Lijun said earnestly. "He’s so clever and capable. Upon reflection, marrying into his family seems like I’d be marrying up."
Manbao laughed, "No way, there’s only him in his family. We have a lot of people in ours."
Manbao thought of a critical question, "Does that an he’ll have to call Little Aunt too?"
Zhou Lijun blushed for once, "Little Aunt, it’s not even close to happening yet."
Manbao waved her hand and said, "He’s interested, and you’re willing—what’s there to stop it?"
Both families have no issue with the match, and since Xiang Ming’s current business largely overlaps with the Zhou family’s, as long as the two of them are willing, the Zhou family won’t oppose it.
And the Xiang family doesn’t have other elders; Xiang Ming can decide for himself.
Sure enough, in the afternoon, Ms. Feng found an opportunity to ask Manbao about Xiang Ming’s health, "I heard that he was once captured by the Prince of Yizhou and suffered severe injuries."
Manbao smiled, "He did retain so hidden injuries, and it becos uncomfortable when it’s windy, rainy, or damp. But as long as he’s mindful and takes care, it shouldn’t affect his lifespan."
She continued, "However, his foot injury ans he shouldn’t engage in strenuous activities like long rides, running, or walking."
Ms. Feng felt relieved, "I see he travels by carriage now, and their family doesn’t seem short on money, so it’s nothing to worry about."
Ms. Feng couldn’t resist asking, "Little Aunt, what do you think of this marriage?"
Manbao thought for a mont and said, "As long as Lijun likes him, it’s quite a good match. Apart from not being able to serve in an official position and having no elders or brothers at ho, Brother Xiang doesn’t have any other flaws."
The Zhou family has a harmonious atmosphere, and with Ms. Qian and Old Zhou at the helm, the benefit of having many brothers is evident. Manbao naturally thinks having many siblings is advantageous.
But Ms. Feng is aware that for a daughter-in-law entering a new family, many siblings can an more trouble.
Even in the Zhou family, the sister-in-laws sotis have their disagreents.
The one whose turn it is to wash dishes has more to wash, and even when cooking, there are little mutterings about who used more or less oil.
Therefore, she feels it’s quite nice that Xiang Ming doesn’t have siblings, aning she’d only need to maintain a good relationship with Xiang Ming after getting married.
The lack of elders is a downside, though. In case the couple fights, there might be no one around to diate. And they’re both still young, needing elders to guide them in many matters.
Without elders, life might lack so finesse.
But in the future, it’ll just an that she and her child’s father will have to worry a bit more.
Despite these considerations, when Xiang Ming formally sent a matchmaker to sound out intentions, Zhou ErLang didn’t imdiately agree, but he did relax his stance.
Thus, Xiang Ming decided to send another matchmaker in a couple of days.
However, Zhou SiLang didn’t have the energy to concern himself with this matter, as he had fallen seriously ill.
After taking dicine for a day, not only did his condition not improve the next day, but it actually worsened. Manbao felt his pulse and said, "You’ve been overworked this past year, and recently you’ve been quite agitated. This illness is just erupting all at once now, so you’ll have to recuperate slowly."
Manbao gave him acupuncture and prescribed a new set of dicines, furrowing her brows, "I have to enter the palace early tomorrow morning. These are three days’ worth of dicines. After three days, go to Jishi Hall and have Doctor Ding prescribe you new dicines. If you don’t feel better in the next two days, go see a doctor at Jishi Hall promptly; don’t delay."
By evening, Zhou SiLang’s fever had subsided, and the dryness and itchiness in his throat weren’t as unbearable.
Seeing this, Manbao breathed a sigh of relief, removed the dicinal paste from his neck, cleaned him up, and said, "After supper, I’ll apply a new dicinal paste for you."
Touching his neck, Zhou SiLang said, "I feel like the paste works faster than taking dicine. Why don’t I just use the paste?"
Manbao replied, "It’s not the sa. The paste is to remove the lesions in your throat to prevent fever recurrence. The dicine you take isn’t just for treating your cold; it also regulates your body. This past year, you’ve been traveling around, eating irregularly, and your skin has beco unbalanced, severely depleting your health."
"If you want to prevent small illnesses from turning into major problems, take your dicine properly."
Standing nearby, Ms. Fang cut in before Zhou SiLang could speak, saying, "Don’t worry, Little Aunt, I’ll make sure he takes his dicine. He wouldn’t dare not take it."
Zhou SiLang closed his mouth silently, looking utterly devoid of hope, "Couldn’t you prescribe less bitter dicine? Did you add a lot of Coptis in it or sothing?"
"Nonsense, for a cold, why would I prescribe Coptis?" Manbao chided righteously, "Among the three prescriptions, this is already the least bitter one."
"You haven’t tasted it, how do you know?"
"I can tell by slling it; the more bitter the dicine, the stronger its aroma," Manbao explained. "You haven’t done anything to offend recently, so why would I purposely give you bitter dicine?"
Zhou SiLang thought about it and felt a little better.
With the paste applied, Zhou SiLang didn’t have another fever that night, though his nose was still uncomfortable, and his head slightly woozy. He thought he’d feel better in a couple of days. Little did he know, while the Zhou family and the Xiang family were working out the initial arrangents, he hadn’t fully recovered yet.
He could only go to Jishi Hall to see Doctor Ding, bringing along Manbao’s prescription and so docunt she called a pulse record.
Doctor Ding reviewed the pulse record and prescription, listened to his pulse once more, carefully asked about his illness’s details over the period, and after so thought, slightly modified the formula Zhou Man had provided.
He handed the prescription to Zhou SiLang and said, "The lesions in your throat are about to be fully removed, but your body is unwell, making future relapses easy. So it’d be best to take this opportunity to use dicine to completely eliminate any lesions. I’ll have soone prepare a dicinal patch for you shortly."
Zhou SiLang touched his throat, which no longer felt dry or uncomfortable.
Though he knew better, he couldn’t resist asking, "Do I need both dication and patches?"
He added, "I’ve been on dication for five days and using the patches for three days already."
Doctor Ding glanced up at him, if it were any other patient, he’d gently reassure them, suggesting a few more days of dicine would suffice, as it’s important to have the patient’s trust.
But this was Zhou Man’s brother, so Doctor Ding went into more detail, holding up the record Zhou SiLang brought, "The common cold is one of the most difficult ordinary ailnts to treat in the world. Many will suffer from it repeatedly throughout their lives; it seems trivial, yet so colds can be fatal."
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