Married to a Villainous Minister - Chapter 10

At that moment, Madam Zhou’s mind was unusually clear. It was the middle of the night, getting to town and finding a doctor would take time, and her husband might not survive the wait. Even if they did find someone, there was no guarantee the doctor could help.

Clutching Yu Jiao’s sleeve tightly, Madam Zhou wept and pleaded, “Miss Meng, please give it a try. Even if you can’t save him, I won’t blame you.”

Yu Jiao turned to Old Master Yu and asked, “Do you have silver needles? I need to borrow them.”

Without waiting for his reply, she looked at Madam Zhou and said, “If you keep clinging to me like this, how am I supposed to treat your husband?”

Madam Zhou quickly let go.

Old Master Yu frowned as he watched Yu Jiao actually preparing to treat Zhou Huai. “Horseback Madness” was considered incurable. What could Meng Yujiao possibly know about medicine? If the man died in his house, people would surely say it was he, Yu Ruhai, who killed him. No one would ever come to him for treatment again.

That old woman had been right, Meng Yujiao was nothing but trouble.

Yu Ruhai’s beard trembled with suppressed rage. He had no intention of fetching the needles. But Madam Zhou dropped to her knees before him, tears streaming down her face. “Uncle Yu, please! Fetch the needles, my husband can’t afford to wait!”

Yu Ruhai shot Yu Jiao a glare, then stormed into the east room and returned with the needle pouch, tossing it at her.

Yu Jiao picked up the oil lamp from the table and walked to the unconscious Zhou Huai. She handed the lamp to Zhou’s eldest son, then pried open Zhou Huai’s eyelids to check his condition. His complexion was already a dark purple. 

Without wasting another moment, she opened the needle pouch, pulled out a thicker silver needle, sterilized it over the flame, and swiftly pricked each of his fingertips multiple times.

Old Master Yu watched, eyes narrowing. Yu Jiao’s actions looked precise and methodical. Could it be that she did know medicine?

Tiny droplets of blood oozed from Zhou Huai’s fingertips, slowly dripping to the floor.

Two young men from the Zhou family whispered among themselves, “Can she really treat people? Who draws blood like that? What if she ends up hurting Uncle Huai instead?”

Even Zhou’s eldest son was skeptical. He had never heard of a woman practicing medicine. His mother must have been scared out of her mind, letting this ghost bride treat his father, even saying she wouldn’t blame her if things went wrong. 

He tugged at Madam Zhou’s sleeve and muttered, “Mother, are you out of your mind? How could Meng Yujiao know how to treat anyone?”

Just then, members of the Yu family’s first and second branches rushed in. Unaware of what was happening, they were surprised to find Yu Jiao treating Zhou Huai instead of Old Master Yu.

Yu Jiao knew she couldn’t rely on anyone else in the room, so when she saw Yu Qizhe enter, she smiled up at him and said, “Wu-ge, do we have any scallion stalks? Could you heat some up and bring them here?”

Yu Qizhe had never stepped foot in the kitchen, but Madam Song, worried he’d make a mess of it, quickly spoke up. “We have some, I’ll do it.” And she hurried off to the kitchen.

Old Master Yu had never heard of scallions being used to treat illness. His face darkened even further. He thought Yu Jiao was just making things up and was about to scold her, when suddenly, Zhou Huai, who had been lying unconscious, let out a deep, raspy breath.

It was sharp and long, like someone with one foot in the grave had just taken a breath back from death. Moments later, Zhou Huai slowly opened his eyes. He had regained consciousness, though his limbs remained stiff and his mouth couldn’t form words, like someone recovering from a stroke.

The Zhou family was stunned and overjoyed, weeping and laughing all at once. None of them had expected him to wake up so quickly.

“You’re awake! Thank heavens, you scared me to death!” Madam Zhou sobbed, kneeling beside him, her tense nerves finally relaxing.

Off to the side, Old Master Yu and Old Madam Yu exchanged complex looks. Neither had expected Meng Yujiao to actually bring Zhou Huai back from the brink. Old Master Yu, especially, felt humiliated. He had just insisted that “Horseback Madness” couldn’t be cured and now, Yu Jiao had done it.

“The scallions are ready!” Madam Song returned, worried the man might not have made it after hearing all the crying.

Yu Jiao motioned to Madam Zhou. “Place the scallions two fingers below his navel.”

Madam Zhou quickly followed the instructions.

Yu Jiao then turned to Madam Song. “Do we have any Sanqi (Tienchi ginseng)?”

Madam Song nodded. “Yes, we do.”

“Take two scallion stalks and ten qian of Sanqi root. Boil them in wine,” Yu Jiao instructed.

Madam Song hurried to the west room to get the herbs and began brewing the remedy. Yu Jiao looked at Yu Qizhe again. “Wu-ge, do you have paper and a brush I can borrow?”

Yu Qizhe glanced at her with quiet curiosity, then fetched the supplies and laid them out on the table.

Yu Jiao sat down on a stool, dipped the brush in ink, and began writing. Old Master Yu leaned in to see, he only recognized the characters for Dan Pi.

“You’re writing a prescription?” he asked, Yu Jiao nodded. He stroked his beard, thinking quickly. “Your handwriting is hard to read. If someone outside misinterprets it and grabs the wrong herbs, it could be dangerous.”

Yu Jiao paused, a flicker of embarrassment on her face. She had grown up in a family of traditional Chinese medicine, and her grandfather had forced her to practice calligraphy from a young age. But her writing had always been messy, like crawling bugs. It had no form or grace. She had often relied on her senior brother to write prescriptions for her.

She looked up at Yu Qizhe with a sheepish smile. “Wu-ge…”

Before she could finish, Old Master Yu cut her off.

“I’ll write the prescription,” he said, taking the brush from her hand.

Yu Jiao let out a soft smile, having seen right through Old Master Yu’s intentions. She didn’t argue with him and instead said gently, “Uncaria, abalone shell, and gentian, seven qian each. Add moutan bark, acorus, bile arisaema, bamboo sap, and baical skullcap, five qian each. Boil over high heat into one bowl. Take it twice a day.”

Before she even finished speaking, Old Master Yu had already written it down. Earlier, he had thought Yu Jiao just got lucky but now, hearing her rattle off herbs and instructions like second nature, he realized he’d underestimated her. So the Meng family did know medicine, though he’d never heard of it before.

Blowing the ink dry, he smiled. “Not bad. Clearly, you’ve inherited my skills. This is a well-written prescription.”

With a single sentence, he took all the credit for Yu Jiao’s medical knowledge. Yu Jiao pressed her lips together in a faint smile. She had her own plans, no need to call him out now.

Yu Ruhai stood and handed the prescription to Madam Zhou. “I have most of the herbs here, b you’ll need to go to the town pharmacy for gentian and bile arisaema.”

“Uncle Yu, please help me prepare the rest,” Madam Zhou said eagerly.

“Come with me.” Yu Ruhai led her to the west room to gather the herbs.

Soon after, Madam Song returned with the finished decoction of scallion and Sanqi. Yu Jiao didn’t take it herself; instead, she motioned for Zhou’s eldest son to feed it to his father, who was still lying on the floor.