A life of two souls traveling through time

"Ding-ling, ding-ling-ling..."

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be autumn rain and cold weather. The empty mountains and dense forests are filled with white fog, and the sound of crisp bells breaks the tranquility of the mountains.

Si Yao and Xiao Lu both wore straw raincoats and bamboo hats, and walked carefully on the muddy and wet mountain path. Si Yao carried a medicine box on her shoulder, while Xiao Lu led the way with a bamboo basket filled with herbs on his back. There was also a silver bell hanging next to the bamboo basket, which tinkled from time to time.

"Sister Si Yao, be careful of the moss on the roadside." Every time there was a puddle or slippery place on the path, he would remind Si Yao behind him.

"Yeah." Although Si Yao didn't talk much, she responded to Xiaolu's reminders.

The two of them left Sanxiu Pharmacy a month ago and headed eastward to the border of Jingsong Kingdom. Compared with the disasters in the central and northern parts of Jingsong Kingdom, the south is indeed relatively stable.

Because of the ringing of the bell, most people knew that they were itinerant doctors who cured illnesses and saved lives, so they naturally respected them. Occasionally, one or two ruffians coveted Si Yao's beauty and came to provoke her, but they suffered a lot because of the silver needles in Si Yao's hand, and the bravery of the people who sought medical treatment made them flee in panic.

Xiaolu watched Si Yao, who was well versed in acupuncture points on the human body, stabbing these ruffians and making them scream in pain, and felt that his skills were useless. But then he changed his mind and was thankful for Sister Si Yao's strength, otherwise he would have to rack his brains to find excuses to conceal his identity after his skills were exposed.

"Here comes the bell doctor! Here comes the bell doctor!"

As soon as the two walked out of the mountain path, they saw an old farm woman running towards them following the sound of a bell. The old woman was wearing a linen short coat covered with mud and holding a sickle in her rough hands. It seemed that she had just been working in the fields and hurried over when she heard the bell.

"Please, doctor, save my poor daughter-in-law!" When the old woman ran up to her, she suddenly knelt down facing the man who was carrying a bamboo basket on his back, and cried with tears in her eyes.

"Auntie, please get up quickly. The doctor is this Miss Yao, and I'm just a medicine boy." Xiaolu hurriedly helped the old woman who was kneeling in front of him up and said with a helpless smile.

Si Yao, who caught up later, was used to seeing Xiaolu being mistaken for a doctor. After all, it happened more than once or twice. Perhaps it was because there were fewer female doctors since ancient times, let alone female doctors who were traveling doctors. So when they saw the two of them, they naturally mistook Xiaolu for a doctor.

"Female doctor? Oh, that's even better. My daughter-in-law got a disease after giving birth. Now she can't even get out of bed. Please, doctor, save my daughter-in-law." Xiaolu's explanation naturally made the old woman slightly stunned, but she was immediately overjoyed to see Si Yao. She didn't need to be shy about having a female doctor to see her daughter-in-law's illness.

"Auntie, why don't you go and see your daughter-in-law first?" Si Yao didn't say a word of courtesy, but spoke directly to the old woman with concern.

"Okay, okay, girl...Doctor, follow me." After the old woman reacted, she turned around and led Si Yao and Xiaolu towards the village ahead.

It was almost dusk and most of the villagers had gone home. When they heard the bell, they ran out to watch. They were surprised to see Si Yao and Xiao Lu following the old woman into a farmyard. They also planned to follow in to watch the fun, but were quickly stopped outside by Xiao Lu.

"Young man, that girl is actually a doctor?" The villagers were stopped outside the farmyard, so they had to gather around the path and ask curiously.

"Yes, our Miss Yao is a doctor with excellent medical skills." Xiaolu smiled proudly at the person who asked the question.

"Oh my, this is incredible. This girl is not only pretty, but she is also a great doctor."

As soon as Xiaolu finished speaking, everyone in front of him started talking at once:

"Her aunt, don't rush to praise her. We don't know if she can cure this big cow's wife's illness."

"That's right. It's not the first time that Daniu's wife has seen a doctor. It doesn't mean this girl can be cured."

"Hey, Daniu's wife's illness is strange. How could she have a stroke when she didn't go out during the confinement period?"

"That is to say, I don't know if that girl can cure her."

Listening to the discussion in front of him, Xiaolu ignored it. Sister Si Yao's medical skills certainly did not need him to waste his breath to promote them.

Si Yao had taken off her straw raincoat and bamboo hat, revealing a plain dress. She followed the old woman Niu to the patient's room. The moment the door opened, a foul smell hit her nose. A shy farmer suddenly walked out of the room. He was surprised to see Si Yao, but quickly lowered his head and called out to the old woman, "Mom."

"This is a passing bell doctor. I asked him to check on your wife." After Aunt Niu finished speaking to her son, she turned to Si Yao and continued, "This is my son Daniu. He got married when he was nearly 30 years old. I didn't expect..."

"Mom, please let the doctor go in and check on Ximei. She has severe back pain now, and I just massaged her for a long time." Seeing that his mother was about to cry in front of the doctor again, Daniu interrupted her with a bitter face.

"Okay, okay, go to your aunt's house first and bring the child back." After being reminded by her son, Aunt Niu didn't say much. After giving the instructions, she led Si Yao into the room.

"Auntie, please open the window." The room was dimly lit and smelled bad. Si Yao frowned and said to Auntie Niu.

"Doctor, my daughter-in-law is afraid of cold and wind, so the window cannot be opened." Aunt Niu looked at her daughter-in-law who was lying on the bed groaning in pain with embarrassment, and lit the oil lamp on the table as she spoke.

After hearing this, Si Yao said nothing more. He took a ball of moxa from the medicine box and gave it to Aunt Niu, asking her to light it. He then went to the bedside to treat the patient.

After the moxa was burned, a mellow aroma of moxa drifted with the smoke, instantly warming the heart and spleen, covering up the unpleasant odor in the room, and the woman on the bed gradually calmed down.

The patient's obvious symptoms are a stiff back that is unable to bend or twist, unbearable pain in the cervical vertebrae, coldness below the navel, fear of cold and wind, and a strong odor in the lower body.

"This is probably due to the deficiency of Yin essence, which has led to emptiness of tendons and bones. The wind evil took advantage of the opportunity to invade, thus causing this Ruofeng." After a thorough examination, Si Yao spoke to Aunt Niu beside him.

"Deficiency of Yin essence..." Aunt Niu was confused by Si Yao's words, and then she asked in confusion: "My daughter-in-law got sick just over a hundred days after giving birth, but she never left the room or opened the window during the confinement period. How could she still be weak after a hundred days of recuperation?"

"Have you and your husband had sex within a hundred days after giving birth?" Si Yao did not immediately answer Aunt Niu's question, but turned to ask the weak patient on the bed.

"Almost... almost a hundred days... there was..." The patient on the bed was also a young bride. When she heard Si Yao asking so directly about the matters between husband and wife, she immediately lowered her eyes shyly. Her pale face and ears couldn't help but get hot. It was only under Aunt Niu's anxious urging that she stammered and replied.

“Oh, you really didn’t listen to the old people and now you are suffering. Your mother told you again and again not to do that during the 100-day confinement period, but you…you really are…” Aunt Niu suddenly realized what her daughter-in-law said. She was so angry that she couldn’t help but slap her thigh and scold her daughter-in-law.

After all, Aunt Niu is an experienced person. When she was young and pregnant, she encountered a kind doctor who reminded her not to have sexual intercourse during the postpartum recuperation period, otherwise women would be prone to various diseases. She kept this in mind and passed it on to her daughter-in-law, but she didn't expect that her daughter-in-law didn't take it seriously.

The last time the doctor came to treat her, he just said it was postpartum wind, and didn't say anything more. He hurriedly prescribed a few medicines and left. Aunt Niu naturally didn't think about this. She took a few doses of medicine according to the prescription, but there was no improvement. Fortunately, she met a good doctor today. Aunt Niu didn't know how many times she was grateful to God in her heart.

Seeing her daughter-in-law crying in shame under her scolding, Aunt Niu couldn't bear it. What's the point of blaming her now? The most urgent thing is to cure the disease.

"Doctor, can my daughter-in-law's illness be cured?" Aunt Niu sat down beside the crying bride, hugged her in her arms and comforted her for a few words, then asked Xiang Siyao with a sob.

"The wind evil has entered the body and the Yang Qi has been blocked. I will give you acupuncture first and then treat you with medicine." Si Yao did not give Aunt Niu a clear answer. He just said it lightly and took out the needle bag from the medicine box.

The Governor Vessel is the sea of ​​all Yang, commanding all Yang meridians in the human body. This patient's Yang Qi is blocked, so Si Yao must first use acupuncture to open up the Governor Vessel. Near the Spiritual Platform, the Governor Vessel Yu is connected to the Pillar of Heaven, the Bone will meet at Dazhui, the Marrow will meet at Juegu, and the Governor Vessel has Houxi.

After the acupuncture, Si Yao wrote down a prescription and asked the patient's husband Daniu to get the medicine. She then called Xiaolu back to ask him to take out half a root of Pueraria lobata from the bamboo basket and boil it with one dou and five liters of water and five liters of wine.

After an incense stick of time, Si Yao withdrew the needles. The pain in the bride's cervical vertebrae was relieved a lot, and her back was not as hard as before. A few needles had such an effect, and Aunt Niu and her daughter-in-law seemed to see hope. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law hugged their heads and cried with joy, thanking Si Yao profusely.

After Si Yao calmed the two of them down, she hurried back to the courtyard and saw that Xiaolu had already boiled the kudzu root juice. At this time, Da Niu, who had gone to the town to get medicine, also came back with a few prescriptions. Si Yao chopped the medicine he got, took eight liters of kudzu root juice, and boiled it in a pot until three liters were left.

After taking the medicine, Daniu's wife was able to fall asleep peacefully, and the mother and son of the Niu family finally felt relieved.

It was already dark and the villagers who were watching from the outside had all gone home. Aunt Niu warmly invited Si Yao and Xiao Lu to stay with her, and when she asked her son to slaughter the only laying hen in the family, Si Yao and Xiao Lu hurried to stop her.