Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

"My Lady, I've noticed that you look better these days."

Hongxiu combed the hair in her hand with an ivory comb and looked into the bronze mirror and said.

"Look at this skin, so white, smooth and radiant, so moist and hydrated. The Emperor will surely like it. When you are in a good mood, good things will naturally follow."

The Concubine Chen sat in front of the dressing table, looking left and right in the bronze mirror, feeling very satisfied.

"The Imperial Hospital has done their best this time. Has the medicine been delivered? Don't delay me from listening to music with Concubine Ling."

Hongxiu glanced at the clepsydra and said, "In another quarter it will be four o'clock in the afternoon. It should be coming soon. I will go and take a look."

Before he even left the inner hall, he saw Lin Yi, his face covered in sweat, arriving with a medicine box in his hand.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Hongxiu bowed slightly, "The time is just right, come in."

"Your humble servant pays respects to Her Majesty the Consort Chen."

The Concubine Chen sat on the soft couch and said, "Doctor Lin, please don't be polite. I have been using your prescriptions recently and the results are indeed very good. I will reward you."

Hongxiu grabbed a handful of golden melon seeds from the brocade box on the wooden shelf and handed them to Lin Yi. He took the golden melon seeds with shining eyes and immediately knelt down and kowtowed to express his gratitude.

"Thank you for your gift, Your Majesty. It is my humble honor to serve you like a dog and a horse."

The Concubine Chen said: "As long as you take good care of your health for me, I will not treat you unfairly in the future."

Lin Yi was secretly delighted. He didn't expect that the itinerant doctor's prescription would actually work.

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. The results of this humble prescription have been seen in such a short time, which shows that Your Majesty's health is not seriously affected. I will prepare some medicinal food for conditioning. Within two months, Your Majesty's appearance will be even better than before."

The corners of the Concubine Chen's mouth curled up as she said, "You are the only one in the Imperial Hospital who is good at talking."

Lu Ziqing rested for about ten days and gradually recovered. He returned to the courtyard and followed Xu Shizhang to Shoukang Palace.

This was the second time he participated in a joint hospital consultation after the Crown Prince.

The Shoukang Palace is filled with a faint scent of sandalwood, and the walls are hung with calligraphy and paintings by famous artists.

The Queen Mother lay on the couch, her brows furrowed, her fingertips clenched on the bed sheets, and she groaned in pain.

Several imperial physicians had taken her pulse and were discussing the matter. For a long while they either shook their heads or frowned, unable to make a decision.

Lu Ziqing observed the patient for a while and pondered inwardly. According to the examinations of several imperial physicians, the empress dowager had a fever, pain in her hands, and deformities in her joints, which was obviously caused by arthritis.

However, several imperial doctors were hesitant to draw a conclusion. He glanced at them, then looked sideways at Chi Musheng and asked in a low voice.

"The Queen Mother's pain is caused by arthritis. Why did you gentlemen take so long to discuss this?"

Chi Musheng whispered back, "It's because the Queen Mother has paralysis that they dare not draw any conclusions."

"What do you mean?" Lu Ziqing asked him, "Wouldn't it be enough to just prescribe a dialectical prescription?"

"No." Chi Musheng quickly glanced at the empress dowager and the imperial doctors.

"It's reasonable to prescribe a prescription based on the symptoms, but the Empress Dowager's arthritis has been a long-standing problem. It's been unresolved, and I've lost my patience. In the past, the onset of the disease was seasonal, worse in winter and less severe in summer. But now, it's also occurring in the summer."

"The Empress Dowager is also a human being. She has suffered from illness for years and months. No one can bear it. Last year, before you came, the Emperor was worried that our Imperial Hospital was not treating the patients well. Several old doctors were dragged outside the Meridian Gate and each received ten strokes of the cane. One doctor was so frightened that he almost died from a sudden heart attack."

"Right now, the Empress Dowager's illness has relapsed. What do you think we dare to say? We can only prescribe a treatment for arthritis, but the Emperor and the Empress Dowager will not accept this."

Lu Ziqing also knew that although arthritis could not be completely cured, it could still be controlled with symptomatic treatment, reducing the number of attacks or the intensity of pain.

Why is it that the Empress Dowager has been using medication for many years, but the effect is not obvious?

"How did the two judges discuss this?"

It was the old maid serving beside the empress dowager, staring at her anxiously.

"What is the Queen Mother's illness? Please prescribe a prescription quickly."

Gou Dongxi heard this and hurriedly said, "Aunt Qiuxi, please forgive me. After our unanimous discussion, the Queen Mother is still suffering from paralysis."

Qiu Xi's expression was even uglier than before, and she seemed a little embarrassed. She said, "Is it still arthritis? Can the two judges take a closer look?"

Xu Shizhang sighed softly and said, "The Empress Dowager's arthritis is an old problem that often breaks out. There is no cure for this disease, so..."

Qiu Xi also had a worried look on her face and said, "Court Judge Xu also knows how worried the Emperor is about the Empress Dowager's illness. Now it's arthritis. I'm afraid..."

"The Emperor has arrived!"

As he was speaking, the emperor's arrival suddenly sounded outside the hall. The hall suddenly fell silent and everyone stepped back and stood still.

Several eunuchs stood outside the hall. Emperor Shengzhi hurried into the hall, walked to the couch and grabbed the empress dowager's hands.

"Mother, how are you?"

The Queen Mother looked listless and sighed softly.

"My back hurts so much that I can't stand up straight, and my hands are swollen and painful. It's been like this for years. If this continues, I'm afraid my life won't be able to withstand it."

Emperor Shengzhi said: "The Queen Mother is blessed with great fortune. She will naturally live a peaceful and healthy life and live a long and happy life."

"Your Majesty, there is no need to comfort me," said the Queen Mother.

Emperor Shengzhi frowned and turned to look at the imperial doctors behind him.

"Two judges, what is the ailment of the Queen Mother? You must give me a proper answer today."

Gou Dongxi wiped the sweat from his chin and replied cautiously, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother is still, is..."

"Asshole," Emperor Shengzhi shouted angrily. "How exactly does the Imperial Hospital work? Why hasn't the Empress Dowager's illness improved?"

His voice became more stern: "If anything happens to the Empress Dowager, no one in your Imperial Hospital will be able to escape responsibility."

The emperor was furious and laid down millions of corpses.

The imperial doctors were so frightened that they knelt on their knees and apologized one after another.

Gou Dongxi said, "Your Majesty, there is no cure for the Empress Dowager's arthritis. We can only treat it according to the symptoms."

"Your Majesty." Xu Shizhang continued.

"Unlike common typhoid fever, arthritis is not something that can be cured after a while with the right medicine. This disease cannot be cured. It is summer now with lots of rain and the weather fluctuates between hot and cold. The Queen Mother is weak and prone to illness."

"I don't want to hear these explanations." Emperor Shengzhi looked at the top of their heads.

"I don't care what method you use, you must find a way to cure the Empress Dowager. I give you one last day, tomorrow. If the Empress Dowager is still in pain, everyone in the Imperial Hospital will be demoted one level and have their salaries fined for six months."

This decree made everyone in the Imperial Medical Bureau panic and uneasy.

Working in the Imperial Medical Service is riskier than working in other departments. One has to serve the emperor at all times, and the slightest mistake could lead to the risk of being beheaded. It is truly like living with a tiger to serve the emperor.

They worked day and night in constant fear, and their salary was the lowest, even less than that of a eunuch.

Furthermore, promotions are more difficult than in other departments. Minor exams every year and major exams every three years, plus psychological pressure, make everyone extremely nervous.

Although it won’t be fatal at the moment, salary deduction and demotion are equivalent to taking their lives.

The imperial doctors were discussing in the corridor and inside the house.

"Oh, what should I do? My whole family depends on this little money to survive. If I can't cure the Empress Dowager... I... Sigh!"

"Doctor Zhang, you're better than me. Even if you're demoted, you can still be a clerk. I'm miserable. I'm already over 40 years old and was only promoted to clerk two years ago. Now with this, I've been demoted back to a medical assistant."

"You two should stop crying. I was directly demoted to a doctor." A younger medical officer had a worried look on his face.

"I spent no less than ten years trying to get into the Imperial Hospital. Now I'm back to where I was before. How am I supposed to live? I'm unmarried and I have an old mother to support. Sigh."

The imperial doctors felt more and more aggrieved the more they spoke, and some even spoke nonsense.

"The Empress Dowager's illness is incurable. Why doesn't the Emperor believe it? He puts pressure on us without knowing the truth. Does killing us all mean the Empress Dowager's illness can be cured... Ugh!"

Before he could finish his words, his colleague next to him covered his mouth and scolded him in a low voice.

"If you want to die, don't drag us into it. The most important thing right now is to find a way to cure the Queen Mother, not to complain here."