“The person you’re asking about is Doctor Xu. Doctor Xu is quite formidable. Though he hasn’t treated many patients, he cured them all.” The cart driver immediately became interested. He sat cross-legged and asked these villagers mysteriously, “Do you know Master Xing from West Street in the county seat?”
“Don’t know. Who is this Master Xing?”
The cart driver slapped his thigh and said with a “hey,” “This Master Xing is from a wealthy household in the county seat. He does silk trade, not someone we can compare with. But Old Master Xing got some illness and was bedridden for two years. And what happened? After meeting Doctor Xu, within two months he could walk again!”
Hearing this, the surrounding villagers were astounded. This person must be a living immortal! He could even cure paralyzed people!
“Is he really that amazing?”
“Our village had someone before who somehow couldn’t walk anymore, with a crooked nose and mouth. A doctor came to see him and said he couldn’t be cured.”
“That person didn’t live many more days before he died.”
The cart driver sighed. “That person’s luck was bad. Otherwise, if he’d met Doctor Xu, he definitely could have been saved.”
At this point, someone asked if there was more. They still wanted to keep listening.
Hey, the cart driver was just bored anyway. Hearing they loved listening made him even more enthusiastic, so he chatted with them about Official Zheng’s old mother’s leg abscess.
“This Official Zheng had unintentional fortune, his luck improved so much it couldn’t be stopped. Just by meeting Doctor Xu on the road, the abscess that had troubled his old mother for half a year was cured.”
“…You don’t know, Doctor Xu’s amazing not only because of his superb medical skills, he’s also incredibly brave, daring to go up the mountain alone and fight a wild boar one-on-one! You didn’t see that scene, the wild boar’s head was smashed by Doctor Xu’s fists until the bone was visible!”
As the cart driver said this, he recalled how delicious the wild boar’s head tasted when prepared, how carefree and pleasant it was as a drinking accompaniment.
“Hiss, “
This person could kill a wild boar with his bare hands?
Don’t believe it, don’t believe it. Their village’s Zhang Tiegou couldn’t even do that!
You should know Zhang Tiegou was over six feet tall. Their village had no one as tall and robust as him. Even he couldn’t kill a wild boar alone and needed to join forces with several other strong young men to kill that wild boar that had rushed into the village that year.
Among the villagers watching the excitement, someone shouted, “You’re just bluffing!”
Others heard this and thought, yes, such people they’d only seen in storybooks or heard about from storytellers.
“Old man, what you’re saying isn’t true. I saw that person is thin and doesn’t look like a martial artist.”
Hearing them talk about Xu Yi this way, the cart driver was displeased. “Why would I deceive you? Did I receive benefits from someone to come here and lie to you?”
“People can’t be judged by appearance! Don’t think just because Doctor Xu looks like a scholar that he doesn’t have such divine strength. You can believe it or not.”
With that, he irritably told these people to stop disturbing his rest.
He was displeased, but the Baili Village villagers were reluctant to leave.
If it was truly such a person, why would he come all the way from the county seat to the village to look for Zhang Tiegou?
“Old man, don’t be annoyed. Just tell us, why did Doctor Xu come to find Zhang Tiegou?”
The cart driver blew his beard and glared. “How would I know who Zhang Tiegou is!”
The villagers were speechless for a moment. “…”
After he’d said so much, it turned out he didn’t know the inside story.
But they’d misjudged the cart driver. When Zhang Tiegou was injured, Xu Yi and Zhang Tiegou had ridden in this very cart driver’s ox cart. He just found these people disagreeable and didn’t want to continue talking too much with them.
…
Inside the Zhang house, hearing the noisy sounds outside, Xu Yi pushed open the wooden window and looked out, seeing over a dozen villagers gathered not far from Zhang Tiegou’s house.
They had surrounded the cart driver who was resting there.
Xu Yi’s eyebrow twitched as he called out, “Zhang Tiegou, let’s go outside and look.”
“What’s wrong?” Zhang Tiegou was startled. Limping over to look, he saw familiar fellow villagers and said without thinking, “They’re here to find out what’s going on. It’s nothing serious.”
Xu Yi looked at him. “?”
Zhang Tiegou laughed and said, “The countryside doesn’t get many outsiders. Finally catching one, of course they come to see the excitement.”
Seeing Xu Yi was worried about the old man driving the cart outside, Zhang Tiegou said he’d go see what was going on.
Xu Yi said, “Let’s go together.”
He also wanted to see what excitement the villagers were watching.
On the other side, when Village Chief Zhang heard from the messenger that villagers were gathered outside Zhang Tiegou’s house, he was alarmed and asked, “Did Zhang Tiegou cause trouble?”
The messenger said, “It’s not Zhang Tiegou. There’s an outsider who came to find Zhang Tiegou, wearing fine clothes like the ward chief’s. Those who haven’t seen much of the world ran over to see more clearly.”
Village Chief Zhang’s mouth twitched slightly. How embarrassing these people were.
“It’s just one outsider. Is that worth this?” Village Chief Zhang said, slightly angry.
That person then said, “I heard he’s a doctor from the city. I saw his appearance from afar, very handsome.”
He also wanted to say that compared to Zhang Tiegou’s appearance, they were like heaven and earth, but thinking that the village chief and Zhang Tiegou were relatives, he swallowed those words back.
Village Chief Zhang was surprised. “A doctor?”
“That’s right. The old man driving the cart said so, said he’s a doctor from the city, very capable, and cured many difficult and complicated cases…” This person rambled on.
He didn’t notice Village Chief Zhang’s strange expression. He’d been worrying about this, and unexpectedly a doctor fell from the sky?
So Village Chief Zhang said no more nonsense. With a stern face maintaining his dignity, he said, “If that’s the case, I’ll go with you to Zhang Tiegou’s house.”
Then, remembering something, he asked, “You didn’t cause trouble at Zhang Tiegou’s house, did you?”
“No, no.”
“Best not.” Zhang Tiegou’s popularity in the village wasn’t very good. As his clan uncle, Village Chief Zhang’s relationship with him was also just average.
However, they still had a kinship connection. When the two met in daily life, they would still greet each other and exchange a few words. Speaking of which, Zhang Tiegou was a good child, but his fate was too harsh. After he was born, it wasn’t long before both his parents died. The villagers thought this child brought death to his parents and worried that associating with him would bring death to them too.
Over time, villagers rarely associated with Zhang Tiegou.
At most, when craving the game he hunted, they’d run over to buy meat from him and try to bargain down the price.
Sometimes Village Chief Zhang couldn’t bear to watch, but his reminders were useless, so he stopped reminding them.
The two hurriedly came to the outside of Zhang Tiegou’s house. Seeing villagers gathered together, Village Chief Zhang called out, “What are you all doing here!”
Hearing the village chief’s voice.
The villagers dispersed one after another. The older ones weren’t as afraid of the village chief, so they came forward to speak: “Village chief, Zhang Tiegou hasn’t come out for several days. Now a doctor has come to our village, so we’re, we’re just concerned about Zhang Tiegou.”
Village Chief Zhang sneered inwardly. Hadn’t seen them concerned for several days, but now that someone came to find him, they knew to be concerned.
“Is this true?” he asked the person beside him.
That person also nodded.
Village Chief Zhang was usually busy and didn’t know about Zhang Tiegou not leaving his house for several days. Hearing this was true, his heart thumped. He stepped forward a few paces, wanting to knock on the door.
He’d just raised his hand when the door in front of him creaked open from the inside. The tall and robust Zhang Tiegou appeared before his eyes.
Zhang Tiegou paused upon seeing him. “Third Uncle, why are you here?”
Village Chief Zhang withdrew his raised hand and coughed lightly twice, saying, “I heard someone say you hadn’t left your house for several days, so I came to check.”
Zhang Tiegou made an “oh” sound and said, “That’s true. A few days ago I went to the mountains and accidentally got injured. But it’s almost completely healed now.”
Village Chief Zhang laughed dryly twice. Wanting to ask if the young doctor was still there, he saw that beside the tall and robust Zhang Tiegou already stood a slender youth with sword-like brows and starry eyes.
The youth wore a sky-blue long robe and a square scarf cap. His height wasn’t much shorter than Zhang Tiegou’s, but his form was slender, and with half his figure obscured, Village Chief Zhang hadn’t noticed him at first.
After Village Chief Zhang saw him, surprise showed in his eyes as he asked softly, “Who is this gentleman?”
Xu Yi said, “My name is Xu Yi.”
“This Zhang is the village chief of Baili Village and also Zhang Tiegou’s clan uncle. I heard Tiegou’s injury was treated by you?” After Village Chief Zhang finished speaking, he asked the question in his heart.
“That is correct.” Xu Yi said, “I came today to see how Brother Zhang’s injury has recovered.”
After he finished speaking, commotion came from the villagers gathered behind to watch the excitement.
“You’re really a doctor?”
“I heard you can go up the mountain alone and kill a wild boar. Is that true?”
Xu Yi: “…”
His gaze gloomily glanced toward the cart driver nearby.
The cart driver puffed out his chest, his face seeming to say, “That’s right, I said it,” “Didn’t I make you look good again?”
Xu Yi helplessly pinched his brow and said, “It was just luck, not worth mentioning.”
The villagers were shocked. He really did kill a wild boar!
Among them, a small child heard this and ran in front of Zhang Tiegou, asking, “Zhang Tiegou, you look much more robust than him. How come you can’t kill a wild boar?”
Zhang Tiegou grinned and said, “I can’t kill wild boars, but I can kill small children with one punch.”
Hearing this, the child was so scared he burst into tears with a “wah.”
Seeing this, his parents hurried forward to pull their child away, afraid Zhang Tiegou would go crazy and really hurt their child.
Hearing the noisy commotion, Village Chief Zhang sighed. “Can’t you say one less sentence?”
“I spoke and he didn’t lose a piece of flesh. Why can’t I speak?” Zhang Tiegou pursed his lips, saying unconcernedly, “Besides, how can people be compared? I wouldn’t dare compare with Brother Xu.”
Village Chief Zhang knew he couldn’t argue with him, so he said nothing more and went to chase these villagers who were still gathered and wouldn’t leave back home.
“If you have this time to do some work, you wouldn’t have to cry poverty every day. An outsider comes and you surround them without leaving, what does it have to do with you?”
“Go, go, go. Children, go to the village chief’s house for a cup of sugar water. Don’t stare here anymore.”
Hearing Village Chief Zhang would give the children sugar water, the gathered people immediately ran off, hurrying home to report so their own children could also go get a cup.
After everyone else had left, Village Chief Zhang stepped before Xu Yi and bowed, saying, “Doctor Xu, please don’t take offense. There are few in the village who’ve read books. Seeing an outsider, they inevitably caused some offense.”
Xu Yi smiled faintly. “No harm done.”
Village Chief Zhang inquired again, “Doctor Xu examined Tiegou’s injury. Are there any problems?”
Seeing this person had some kinship with Zhang Tiegou, and seeing Zhang Tiegou said nothing, Xu Yi said, “It’s mostly healed. He still needs to apply ointment for two more days, then he can stop the medicine. However, injury to tendons and bones is inevitable. Brother Zhang should not go up the mountain these next few days.”
Zhang Tiegou said gloomily, “Won’t I be stifled to death then?”
Xu Yi looked at him with a smile and said lightly, “Then be stifled.”
Zhang Tiegou instantly deflated, his eyes darting left and right, just not looking at Xu Yi’s eyes.
Village Chief Zhang on the side watched with amazement. This Zhang Tiegou feared neither heaven nor earth, yet unexpectedly there was someone he feared.
Don’t think that because Village Chief Zhang lived in the countryside, he hadn’t read books. He’d studied for several years and knew many characters, he was a cultured person in the village. Otherwise, this village chief position wouldn’t have fallen to him.
He understood people much more clearly than the villagers. He knew this doctor named Xu Yi wasn’t an ordinary scoundrel who came to the village to cheat people, so he wanted to ask if he knew anything about gynecology.
…
Not long after, the three sat in Zhang Tiegou’s house.
Village Chief Zhang saw there was also a half-grown child in the house and asked who this child was.
Ah Xu bowed and said, “Good day, sir. I’m the young master’s servant.”
After hearing this, Village Chief Zhang smiled and said, “No need to call me sir. I can’t bear that honorific. My humble surname is Zhang. Just call me village chief.”
As he spoke, his eyes looked toward Xu Yi sitting opposite.
Xu Yi noticed his gaze and asked, “I wonder if Village Chief Zhang kept me here because he has something to say?”
Village Chief Zhang sighed. “I do have an unreasonable request for Doctor Xu, but…”
He paused, his eyes looking toward Zhang Tiegou on the side.
Xu Yi immediately understood. He smiled and said to Zhang Tiegou, “Brother Zhang, Ah Xu has finally come to Baili Village. Would you be willing to take him to play by the river?”
How could Zhang Tiegou not hear that there was something that couldn’t be said in front of him? Reluctantly, he stood up and left with Ah Xu.
Soon, only Xu Yi and Village Chief Zhang remained in the house.
Xu Yi said, “Village Chief Zhang, you may speak now.”
Village Chief Zhang deliberated before saying, “I wonder if Doctor Xu knows gynecology?”
Hearing “gynecology,” Xu Yi belatedly understood why Village Chief Zhang wanted to send Zhang Tiegou away.
Ancient people avoided discussing women’s illnesses, fearing listeners would misunderstand. Moreover, with the scarcity of female doctors, if women had any vaginal discharge symptoms, they could only keep it secret, causing their condition to worsen and become incurable.
But in fact, since ancient times, many medical texts had recorded various gynecological disease cases.
For instance, in the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic,” the first gynecological prescription in history was recorded: “Four Cuttlefish Bones and One Reed Pill,” which was used to treat amenorrhea due to blood depletion. Moreover, the “Inner Classic” also summarized that women followed a seven-year cycle, from “two times seven” to “seven times seven” years, detailing the physiological changes at each age stage.
Besides the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic,” Zhang Zhongjing’s “Essential Prescriptions from the Golden Cabinet” from the Eastern Han Dynasty was the earliest ancient Chinese medical text to include a dedicated gynecology section, pioneering the differentiation and treatment of gynecological diseases and external treatment methods.
There were many such ancient Chinese medical books on gynecological diseases. For instance, Jin Dynasty’s Wang Shuhe’s “Pulse Classic” first mentioned “menstruation.” Northern Qi’s Xu Zhicai’s “Monthly Fetal Nourishment Method” described pregnancy changes and fetal nourishment methods. Tang Dynasty’s Sun Simiao’s “Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold” categorized infertility into “complete non-pregnancy” and “intermittent” two major classifications…
By the Song Dynasty, research on gynecological diseases was already very mature.
But even so, common people at the bottom still avoided discussing gynecological diseases. Even if they were ill, they dared not invite doctors to their homes for treatment, there were only more, not fewer. They feared being called promiscuous, indiscreet, and other criticisms.
Because of these concerns, how many gynecological diseases were delayed?
Xu Yi said, “I know some.”
After hearing this, Village Chief Zhang hurriedly asked, “Could I trouble Doctor Xu to come to my home and examine my wife?”
Xu Yi didn’t decline.
He’d brought his medicine box when going out today and could leave with it on his back at any time.
The two walked out of Zhang Tiegou’s house one after another and saw Zhang Tiegou sitting on the ground by the nearby river, holding a stick in one hand and swatting the water surface. Meanwhile, Ah Xu was in the river with his pants and sleeves rolled up, bent over catching fish.
Suddenly, Zhang Tiegou turned his head to look over. Seeing Xu Yi and the village chief had come out, he climbed up from the ground.
“Ah Xu, come ashore.” He called to Ah Xu in the river.
Seeing this, Ah Xu climbed out of the river and ran cheerfully toward Xu Yi.
His clothes were somewhat wet, but his eyes were bright. He looked like he’d had a great time.
“Young master, young master.”
After running for a while, Ah Xu remembered there were outsiders present. He gradually slowed his pace, his face slightly flushed as he said softly, “Young master, Hunter Zhang took me to catch fish.”
Xu Yi asked with a smile, “Did you catch any?”
Ah Xu said somewhat reluctantly, “I caught one, but it was too small. Hunter Zhang told me to release it.”
Xu Yi said nothing and patted his head, telling him to take off his wet outer clothes so they wouldn’t cling to his body and make him catch cold.
Then he told Zhang Tiegou, who had walked over, that he was going to Village Chief Zhang’s house to examine a patient and would return later.
Zhang Tiegou wanted to follow, but Xu Yi didn’t let him, asking him to look after Ah Xu instead.
He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Ah Xu alone in an unfamiliar place.
It was now late afternoon. The people who’d been running around playing and watching excitement had returned home to make lunch and eat. Xu Yi and Village Chief Zhang walked side by side on the path through the fields. This was the lean season between harvests, the rice in the fields hadn’t ripened yet. Green and yellow, it rustled when the wind blew.
However, Yanting County had enjoyed favorable weather in recent years. During the lean season, the common people still had food to eat and didn’t have to go hungry.
Soon they arrived at the village chief’s house.
Compared to others in the village, the village chief’s house was more imposing, three connected rooms made of blue brick and tile. Outside was a courtyard with a small plot of land and a chicken coop. Several plump hens were clucking.
As they walked into the courtyard, a girl with small braids ran out. Seeing the village chief, she happily called, “Grandpa’s back!”
With her shout, five or six more children ran out, large and small, boys and girls.
After chirping “Grandpa” a few times, Village Chief Zhang looked at them with a smile and asked, “Where’s your grandmother?”
“Inside!”
“Alright, go play. Grandpa needs to find Grandma for something. You mustn’t come in, understand?” Village Chief Zhang instructed.
The children obediently nodded. Some ran to other rooms to play, others went outside.
Village Chief Zhang told Xu Yi he had three sons and one daughter. All three sons were married, and the daughter had also married out last year.
His household actually wasn’t wealthy. After earning some money to build the house back then, little was left. Later, when his sons started families and grandchildren popped out one after another, the population grew larger and expenses increased accordingly.
His family had fifteen mu of paddy fields and six mu of dry land. After paying grain tax and poll tax, what remained was only enough for the family’s annual rations, there was no surplus grain to sell.
The family had no other businesses. The eldest son worked as a long-term laborer for others. The second and youngest sons worked the fields. During the farming off-season, they could go to the county seat to do odd jobs and earn some copper coins to bring home.
Naturally, he couldn’t discuss these matters with outsiders.
But after becoming village chief, he had to set an example for the villagers. He couldn’t be as stingy as before. If the family bought honey sugar, they would share some with other children in the village.
Therefore, as village chief, he commanded some respect.
Inside the house.
Hearing her husband’s voice at home, Old Lady Zhang pushed open the door to look. Seeing a handsome young man following beside her husband, she was puzzled and didn’t dare come out.
“Why did you bring an outsider over?” she asked quietly.
Village Chief Zhang said, “This person is a doctor who previously treated Tiegou’s leg injury. He knows some women’s illnesses, so I wanted him to examine you too.”
Hearing this, Old Lady Zhang frowned and said in a low voice, “I won’t be examined. Send him back.”
“Old woman, what are you saying? I’ve already invited him to our home.” Village Chief Zhang knew what she was worried about, so he quietly explained several sentences to her.
…
Xu Yi stood straight outside the house, his eyes surveying the rural scenery. The afternoon sunlight wasn’t scorching. The children’s playing figures outside were stretched long, long shadows. They were bent over picking up something from the ground.
Looking closer, Xu Yi discovered they were picking foxtail grass.
Foxtail grass was a weed, but could also be used as medicinal herb to treat illness. It had heat-clearing and fire-reducing effects and was also effective for treating mouth ulcers and sore throats.
Seeing the children playing with foxtail grass, Xu Yi narrowed his eyes and asked if he could have this foxtail grass.
“I have sugar beans here. I can trade for the foxtail grass in your hands.” Xu Yi felt in his sleeve pocket and pulled out a small pouch containing sugar beans used to coax Ah Xu and Ah Jin.
When going out daily, he would carry some sugar beans on him. Sugar could be used for emergencies. When encountering hypoglycemia or exhaustion from overwork, eating a sugar bean could provide brief relief.
Hearing that the foxtail grass in their hands could be traded for sugar beans, the children didn’t hesitate at all and gave all the foxtail grass to Xu Yi.
Xu Yi opened the pouch and distributed sugar beans to them.
Having received sugar beans, these children happily ran off.
On the other side, after much persuasion, Village Chief Zhang finally convinced Old Lady Zhang to let Xu Yi examine her.
He immediately came out to find Xu Yi. Seeing Xu Yi return holding a pile of foxtail grass, he was somewhat puzzled.
Xu Yi asked him, “Village Chief Zhang, do you have hemp rope here?”
Village Chief Zhang was confused. “Yes, yes, yes. I just don’t understand why Doctor Xu picked so much weed.”
Xu Yi said, “I didn’t pick it. I traded sugar beans with the children for it.”
Village Chief Zhang: “…”
For a moment he didn’t know what to say. He went to find a hemp rope for Xu Yi.
Xu Yi took the hemp rope, thanked him, tied up the foxtail grass, then asked Village Chief Zhang if he could go inside to examine the patient now.
Village Chief Zhang immediately led him inside. By this time, Old Lady Zhang had already hidden in bed with the bed curtains drawn on both sides. Xu Yi could only see her vague body outline.
Previously when Xu Yi examined Madam He and Madam Chen, it had been open and aboveboard.
This was the first time he’d encountered such a scenario. In a trance, Xu Yi felt an inner sense of disconnect between reality and ancient times, as if he existed simultaneously in modern openness and ancient restraint, unable to help himself.
“Doctor Xu?” Beside him, Village Chief Zhang spoke.
Xu Yi came back to his senses and said lightly, “I hope Auntie Zhang will extend her hand so I may take her pulse.”
Rustling sounds, and after a few seconds, Old Lady Zhang finally extended her hand from the bed curtain.
Village Chief Zhang was over forty years old. As his wife, she was naturally about the same age. However, looking at this extended hand, it was covered with traces left by labor. The palm and fingertips had black, deep calluses that had cracked into winding channels.
Xu Yi silently raised his hand, placed the pulse pillow under her wrist, and placed his other hand on the pulse at her wrist.
At this moment, the hand under his fingertips shrank slightly.
Xu Yi said softly, “Auntie, don’t be afraid. I’m just taking your pulse.”
Village Chief Zhang also spoke, “Old woman, what are you afraid of? Doctor Xu is young and capable. He’ll surely see what’s wrong with your body.”
Inside the curtain, Old Lady Zhang made no sound.
Xu Yi said nothing more and carefully took her pulse while holding his breath.
When first feeling the pulse, Old Lady Zhang’s pulse was somewhat sinking below while deficient above. Then when the pulse momentum came, it gradually became thin, deficient, and carried a sinking solidity.
This was a manifestation of heat evil in the body. Moreover, there wasn’t just one or two disease symptoms in the body, she’d already been ill for a very long time.