Outside the eastern suburbs, at the Xing family estate.
In the open space outside the estate, two different donkey carriages were already parked. The carriage drivers rested in a small pavilion nearby. A small charcoal stove burned inside the pavilion with a teapot hanging over it to boil tea. The drivers sat around the stove, drinking tea to warm themselves. It was quite an enjoyable arrangement.
After finishing a cup of tea, they noticed another donkey carriage approaching.
The young masters were coming to the estate to enjoy themselves today, so this must be another young gentleman arriving.
Soon, they saw someone descend from the carriage, a young physician who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, clean-featured and handsome, carrying a medicine chest on his back.
Did the young masters really need a doctor in attendance just to go out and play?
Xu Yi entered the estate with his medicine chest. A servant who lived on the estate guided him inside.
As the servant led the way, he explained, “Young Master Yue is already resting in the pavilion, waiting for Doctor Xu. Young Master Tao has also arrived, but Young Master Xin hasn’t come yet. Once he arrives, our Fifth Young Master said we’ll head to the peach grove on the back mountain. Hot tea and snacks are all prepared there. If Doctor Xu finds anything lacking, please don’t hesitate to tell me, and I’ll arrange it immediately.”
This Doctor Xu was an honored guest that their Young Master Yue had specifically instructed them to serve well, the estate’s servants dared not be negligent.
When the masters planned to visit, the estate had prepared everything two days in advance. They’d arranged fresh clothes and cleaned the rooms, worried about any possible oversights.
Xu Yi nodded, saying he understood.
This was his first time visiting the estate and he didn’t know the way, so he could only let the servant guide him to the pavilion.
Upon arrival, Tao Qinghao stood up first, laughing as he bent over. “Xu Yi, why are you bringing your medicine chest out to play? People who don’t know better would think you’re making a house call.”
Xu Yi glanced at him, not wanting to say much, but saw that Xing Yuesen was also curious, asking why he’d brought his medicine chest.
“Professional habit,” Xu Yi said briefly.
Hearing these four words, the two men paused, finding the phrase quite unfamiliar.
To say they didn’t understand would be wrong, and they seemed to understand. But to say they understood… somehow they still didn’t quite grasp it.
Tao Qinghao looked puzzled. “Where did you learn that expression? It sounds so strange to my ears.”
Xu Yi turned it around to tease him. “A swordsman never leaves his blade behind; a physician never leaves his medicine chest behind.”
Tao Qinghao: “…” Now he understood.
Xing Yuesen said, “Brother Yi’s habit is good. A medicine chest is a life-saving tool, there’s no harm in carrying it. If we encounter any incidents along the way, you can help.”
Tao Qinghao said nothing more.
He hadn’t really meant to tease Xu Yi, it was just a habit, and not a good one at that. Checking Xu Yi’s expression again and not detecting any real anger, he relaxed.
He’d grown closer to Xing Yuesen and Xu Yi because of Xin Shengyuan.
Now he wanted to build a good relationship with both of them.
Since Xin Shengyuan hadn’t arrived yet, Tao Qinghao told them, “Brother Xin made a bet with me that he wouldn’t be the last to arrive at the estate. I think he overslept, who knows if he’s even awake yet.”
Xing Yuesen frowned.
Xu Yi said, “East Street is close to the eastern suburbs. Brother Xin should be arriving soon.”
Tao Qinghao nodded. “He should be here shortly.” As he spoke, he called over a servant who’d accompanied them, telling him to wait outside and report as soon as anyone arrived.
The servant received his orders and left. The next moment, another servant came with a question. Someone from the kitchen came to ask if they would be having hot pot for lunch.
Xu Yi’s ears perked up.
The estate’s cook was originally from Guangdong and Guangxi. Due to flooding in her hometown, she’d fled to Shu seeking work. She had cooking skills and was hired by the Xing family as a cook. However, the Xing household already had a cook, and she couldn’t compete with the senior staff, so she was assigned to work at the estate.
Work at the estate was leisurely, but unfortunately, the masters rarely came to rest here throughout the year, so there wasn’t much opportunity for extra benefits.
This time, hearing that Xing Family’s Fifth Young Master had invited friends to the estate to play, she wanted to make a good impression and thought of this eating method called “hot pot.”
This was originally a cooking method from the Guangfu region that used local ingredients, winning through freshness. The soup base only needed water, the rest relied on the natural flavor of the ingredients.
However, Yanting County had no seafood. Xu Yi was very curious about how this cook would source ingredients.
Xing Yuesen had never eaten hot pot either. Hearing the servant’s introduction, he was quite tempted and asked Xu Yi and Tao Qinghao what they thought.
Xu Yi himself enjoyed trying various different foods, and Tao Qinghao not only loved eating but was also knowledgeable about food.
The two exchanged glances. What else could they do? Of course they applauded in agreement.
“It seems this trip today won’t be wasted. Not only can we pick peaches, but we can also try hot pot, this novel eating method I’ve only heard about from traveling merchants,” Tao Qinghao said with a laugh.
Xu Yi looked at him and asked, “You’ve heard of it?”
“I’ve heard of it, just never eaten it.”
“Oh.” Xu Yi responded, then suddenly looked toward the path they’d come from.
Xing Yuesen’s gaze happened to sweep in his direction, and he raised his eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”
“Brother Xin hasn’t arrived yet,” Xu Yi said.
With this reminder, Xing Yuesen and Tao Qinghao also felt something was off. Even if that fellow loved to sleep, the maids and servants attending him in his courtyard wouldn’t let him oversleep.
Could something have happened on the road…
“This is bad!”
At that moment, the servant who’d been guarding the gate ran back in a panic.
Gasping for breath, he called out to Tao Qinghao, “Young Master, this is bad! Something happened to Young Master Xin’s Xuelian on the road. She looks like she won’t make it!”
“Xuelian?” Tao Qinghao stood up frowning.
He and Xin Shengyuan had played together since childhood. He knew there was a personal maid in his quarters named Xuelian. The girl was clever and considerate. Though Xin Shengyuan didn’t understand matters between men and women, he often mentioned Xuelian’s virtues in front of Tao Qinghao.
Over time, Tao Qinghao had come to remember this person called Xuelian.
Just as he was puzzling over how Xuelian could be dying, Xu Yi had already shouldered his medicine chest and left the pavilion ahead of them.
Xing Yuesen and Tao Qinghao followed one after the other.
Xu Yi didn’t waste time questioning the servant. He quickened his pace, heading outside the estate. After walking some distance, he saw a carriage driver hurrying toward them looking for someone.
“Doctor Xu?!” The carriage driver saw Xu Yi and asked uncertainly.
Xu Yi responded calmly, “That’s me.”
“Our Young Master Xin is looking for you to save someone…” The carriage driver wanted to say more but was interrupted by Xu Yi.
“Lead the way.”
As he spoke, his steps didn’t stop, in fact, they quickened.
The carriage driver dared not delay. Running alongside him while anxiously wiping his sweat, he wondered how someone who’d been perfectly fine could suddenly be dying.
Outside the estate.
Xin Shengyuan knelt in the carriage, his expression panicked as he looked at Xuelian, her face pale, her lips cyanotic, painfully clutching her throat as she gasped for air.
He was completely at a loss, just shaking Xuelian’s shoulders while calling her name over and over. “Xuelian… Xuelian…”
Xuelian couldn’t answer. Her throat felt blocked by a massive stone. Breathing grew increasingly difficult, let alone speaking.
She opened her mouth painfully, wanting to cry for help and also to comfort the frantic Xin Shengyuan, but no words would come out. She only felt dizzy, her vision becoming blurred and unclear. She couldn’t even see Xin Shengyuan’s face clearly…
Was she really going to die?
Xuelian felt somewhat unwilling. She had no grand ambitions, she only wanted to live peacefully. When the madam had originally assigned her to Xin Shengyuan’s side as his personal maid, she’d been reluctant. Being a personal maid wasn’t easy, if done poorly, one could lose their life.
But Xin Shengyuan was a very easy master to serve. Though pampered and precious, he didn’t beat or scold servants…
Xuelian felt she must truly be dying. Why else would she have the leisure to think about all this?
“Cough, cough, cough, “
Xuelian was unwilling. She didn’t want to die. She desperately opened her mouth trying to breathe. In her daze, it seemed someone forcefully yanked open the carriage curtain, and a beam of light shone in.
When Xu Yi arrived, Xuelian’s condition was already critical, she could suffocate at any moment.
He shouted, “Brother Xin!”
Xin Shengyuan looked at him helplessly, his eyes reddening as he called out, “Xu Yi, quickly, quickly save Xuelian.”
Xu Yi silently pulled him aside and crouched in front of the girl called Xuelian.
Disregarding the propriety between men and women, he reached up to pry open her eyelids. Her pupils were slightly dilated. Looking at her lip color, it was an abnormal purplish-red.
Without a word, Xu Yi directly pulled away her hand clutching her throat. He saw large patches of red blotches appearing from her neck downward, resembling urticaria.
He quickly determined from the symptoms Xuelian displayed that this was reactive urticaria accompanied by laryngeal edema.
Xu Yi turned to look at the distraught Xin Shengyuan, frowning slightly as he spoke rapidly, “Xin, carry her out of the carriage.”
“…Oh, oh.”
Xin Shengyuan came back to his senses and obediently went to pick her up.
Though not very strong, carrying Xuelian wasn’t a problem. After bringing her out of the carriage, he stood there incoherently waiting for Xu Yi’s next instruction.
Xu Yi told him to carry her to the resting pavilion and lay her flat on the ground.
Xing Yuesen and the others rushed over and crowded around. With too many people affecting air circulation, Xu Yi told them to spread out and not all gather around Xuelian. He then retrieved a soft cushion from the carriage and placed it behind her head, elevating it.
Raising the neck prevented the patient in distress from suffocating.
At this point, Xuelian’s rapid breathing seemed to ease somewhat.
Xu Yi took her pulse. Confirming she wouldn’t continue to worsen, he had someone prepare a bowl of salt water.
When the salt water arrived, Xu Yi lifted her up, pried open her mouth, and made her drink it.
Xuelian instinctively tried to struggle, but Xu Yi gripped her cheeks. As soon as her mouth opened, he poured the salt water in.
“Cough, cough, cough…” A fit of violent coughing rang out.
It broke the deathly silence around them. Only then did Xin Shengyuan fully come to his senses. Seeing Xuelian open her eyes, he urgently called to her, “Xuelian, can you hear me? What happened to you?”
Tao Qinghao stepped forward and pulled him back. “Brother Xin, calm down. Xu Yi is treating her.”
“I know, I know.” Xin Shengyuan looked at his friend aggrievedly. He’d been terrified just now, not knowing what to do.
Now that Xuelian seemed like she wouldn’t die, he asked in a daze, “What happened to her?”
Xu Yi looked at him deeply and said, “This is an allergic reaction. The illness is caused by eating unsuitable food or smelling unsuitable pollen or scents. When it strikes, red rashes appear, often accompanied by breathing difficulties and swelling that prevents speech. In severe cases, it’s life-threatening.”
As he spoke, he opened his medicine chest and took out licorice and honeysuckle.
Drinking salt water could promote metabolism, but they couldn’t just wait for the allergic reaction to disappear on its own. Moreover, judging by Xuelian’s reaction, she hadn’t completely escaped danger yet. They needed to first decoct licorice and honeysuckle. These two could relieve allergies, in situations where medication was limited, they could reduce allergic reactions as much as possible.
Hearing Xu Yi say this, how could Xin Shengyuan dare relax? Xing Yuesen immediately called for servants to decoct the medicine.
“Why… why hasn’t her breathing difficulty improved?”
Xin Shengyuan asked anxiously.
Xu Yi told him not to panic. Feeling her pulse, Xuelian’s allergic symptoms hadn’t continued to react strongly. She probably hadn’t contacted much of the allergen.
He withdrew his hand and asked Xin Shengyuan, “Before the illness struck, what did she come into contact with?”
Xin Shengyuan gathered himself and said, “She just ate a piece of mung bean cake.”
He touched his own neck with lingering fear. “But I ate some too. Why am I fine?”
“If I’m not mistaken, this Miss Xuelian cannot eat mung bean cake. After eating one piece, she developed urticaria. The pathogenic factor also entered her system, causing breathing difficulties.” Xu Yi spoke unhurriedly while examining Xuelian’s eyes again.
Xuelian had regained consciousness by now, but her throat still felt blocked by a stone, so uncomfortable she couldn’t speak.
Facing Xu Yi’s uninhibited pulse-taking and eye examination, Xuelian only felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Not daring to raise her head, she turned away, preventing Xu Yi from touching her eyes.
Xu Yi paused. “…”
He quickly understood. Smiling helplessly inwardly, he moved back silently and explained sincerely, “The situation was urgent just now. Please forgive my somewhat presumptuous actions, Miss. I hope you won’t take offense.”
Xuelian propped herself up, head half-lowered, slowly shaking her head.
Tao Qinghao looked at Xuelian, then at Xin Shengyuan, then at Xu Yi, and said to Xuelian, “The person who saved you is a physician named Xu Yi. He’s a good friend of your Young Master Xin. Xuelian, you should thank him properly and not waste his effort in saving you.”
Xuelian raised her eyes. Her appearance wasn’t outstanding, she could only be called a modest beauty with delicate features. Her most lively feature was a pair of almond-shaped eyes naturally filled with tenderness.
Hearing this, she understood that Young Master Tao was helping her out of an awkward situation and quickly bowed to Xu Yi.
“Thank… cough cough… thank you, Physician… Xu…”
Her throat was damaged, her voice hoarse beyond recognition.
Xin Shengyuan looked at her with distress, holding her hand. “Xuelian, just sit. Don’t talk anymore.”
“Alright, alright, look at how scared you are.” Tao Qinghao patted his friend’s back and asked, “What took you so long after something happened halfway here?”
Xin Shengyuan was about to speak when he saw estate servants hurrying over with a bowl.
They quickly stopped talking to watch how Xuelian fared after taking the medicine.
After drinking the licorice and honeysuckle decoction, the red rashes on Xuelian’s neck gradually faded, and the laryngeal edema improved somewhat, it wasn’t as uncomfortable anymore.
However, a complete cure wasn’t yet possible. Once an allergic reaction occurs, it could fully resolve in a few hours if quick, or take several days if slow. If treatment wasn’t thorough, it could transform from acute to chronic. In severe cases, it could drag on for months or years without healing.
Allergy was easy yet difficult to eliminate. Since Xuelian had such a severe reaction, Xu Yi instructed her never to contact any food related to mung beans again.
Xuelian pressed her lips together. She too was frightened and just kept nodding.
At this point, no matter how slow Xin Shengyuan was, he’d caught on. He asked her in confusion, “You knew you couldn’t eat mung bean cake? Then why didn’t you say so? When I told you to eat it, you just ate it. What if something had happened to you?”
Xuelian bit her lip, knowing she was in the wrong. Her voice choked as she said, “I didn’t know it would be this serious. I thought I’d just feel uncomfortable for a while.”
The madam worried her son would damage his teeth, so she didn’t let him eat many sweets. Therefore, the small kitchen at West Garden didn’t stock many snacks.
But Xin Shengyuan loved mung bean cakes and often secretly had the cook make them. Xuelian hadn’t known at first that she couldn’t eat mung bean cakes. Later, one time when Xin Shengyuan rewarded her with mung bean cake, she ate a bite and felt her throat uncomfortable, so she gave the cake to a maid below her.
Later, after trying a few times and always feeling throat discomfort, she stopped eating them.
However, she dared not tell Xin Shengyuan this. As the head maid, there were plenty of maids who wanted to rise in position and would use her mistakes against her.
This time, when Xin Shengyuan urged her to eat in front of him, Xuelian had a moment of weakness and ate that piece of mung bean cake.
Hearing it was this kind of misunderstanding, Xin Shengyuan remained silent for a long time.
After a while, he said resentfully, “Am I the kind of master who’s unreasonable? You couldn’t eat it but didn’t tell me, making me worry for nothing. Now you’re crying all pitifully, people who don’t know would think I bullied you.”
When had Xin Shengyuan ever been so aggrieved? Speaking of it made him angry. Flinging his sleeves, he ignored Xuelian’s attempted explanations and walked away quickly. After he left, Xuelian chased after him.
Watching this, Xu Yi frowned imperceptibly.
Looking at Xing Yuesen and Tao Qinghao beside him, neither showed any sign of finding the master-servant relationship between Xin Shengyuan and Xuelian inappropriate.
Was he overthinking it? Xu Yi thought to himself, saying nothing as he followed his friends back into the estate.
After all this commotion, everyone’s enthusiasm for going to the back mountain to pick peaches had diminished by half.
“Not going anymore?” Xu Yi felt slightly disappointed.
He’d really wanted to pick peaches.
Xing Yuesen said, “I’ve had the estate people pick several baskets to bring back. You can take them home to try later.”
The peaches grown at the Xing family estate were late-ripening varieties. The fruit only matured at the end of September, not large, but with thin skin, thick flesh, and plenty of juice. Peeling away the pink skin revealed soft, sweet, fragrant flesh inside.
The delicious peaches restored the harmonious atmosphere.
Xin Shengyuan stopped being angry at Xuelian and said dully that he wanted to eat peaches.
Xuelian crouched nearby, taking peaches to peel for Xin Shengyuan.
Xu Yi sat not far from her. Looking at her nearly healed neck, he said, “Miss Xuelian, I’ll write you a prescription shortly. After returning home, decoct and take a few more doses of medicinal soup. Once your throat is healed, you can stop the medicine.”
Xuelian was infinitely grateful and quickly stood to express thanks.
After eating the peaches, the servants had already prepared paper and brush. Xu Yi sat down and picked up the brush to write the prescription.
He first wrote the symptoms, then wrote down one qian each of ledebouriella, schizonepeta, and cicada slough, and five fen each of kochia fruit, red peony, and huangqi.
After finishing, he told Xuelian and Xin Shengyuan, “One dose daily, taken twice a day. The medicinal soup should be decocted down to seven parts before drinking. The second dose should be reduced to five parts. Foods to avoid are all listed in the prescription, remember them carefully.”
Xin Shengyuan took the prescription to look at it and asked, “Why can’t soybeans be eaten either?”
Xu Yi said, “Though soybeans aren’t inflammatory foods, they can enter the spleen meridian. This medicinal decoction resolves pathogenic heat toxins. Eating too many soybeans would conflict with it, so it’s better to eat less.”
Xin Shengyuan nodded. “So there’s this kind of reasoning. It seems these things really can’t be eaten carelessly.”
Hearing this, Xu Yi laughed, telling him not to panic. As long as the food didn’t cause allergies, eating it was fine. But no matter how good something was, one should still eat it in moderation.
Seeing Tao Qinghao still eating peaches, he reminded him not to continue.
Tao Qinghao reluctantly put down the peach in his hand. He could ignore others’ words, but Xu Yi’s words had to be heeded.
Soon after, someone from the kitchen came back saying the hot pot was ready.
Xu Yi and the others moved locations, heading to the small stream at the foot of the back mountain. By the stream stood a pavilion. Inside, two tables were pushed together with two hot pots containing different soup bases.
Charcoal already burned in the stoves below. The copper pots above bubbled and gurgled with soup.
Xu Yi glanced over. One was a spicy soup base. The cook beside it introduced that the base used sheep bones simmered for a day and night until milky white. They used only the broth, discarding the bones, then added Sichuan pepper and zanthoxylum fried in sheep fat to release fragrance and spice, mixed into the soup to simmer over low heat.
Just smelling it, there was a fragrant aroma of spicy oil.
The other hot pot was a pure clear broth base.
The cook said, “This soup base has nothing added, only spring water from the estate’s back mountain. We don’t even add salt. After the ingredients are cooked, you taste the natural freshness of the food.”
“Excellent, excellent. And the meat?” Tao Qinghao stared at the spicy soup base and asked the cook.
The cook told them not to rush, saying the soup couldn’t be eaten just yet, there was a proper way to do it.
Shu didn’t have seafood, but it had river delicacies.
River shrimp weren’t easy to buy this season. The cook had searched for a long time to find some.
She brought out the river shrimp, first putting them in the soup to cook. After cooking, she scooped them out and had servants beside her peel the shells, placing the meat in small dishes.
Not only that, the shrimp meat had to be eaten with sauce. The sauce was only mixed with ginger and scallion water plus salt and soy sauce, no other seasonings added.
Xu Yi thought eating it this way would taste ordinary, but unexpectedly, the river shrimp dipped in sauce had an even sweeter, fresher taste.
Xing Yuesen and the others were all experiencing hot pot for the first time. This eating method was novel to them, and discovering the taste was surprisingly excellent, they dismissed the cook and servants from attending them.
“Hot pot is more interesting when you do it yourself.”
Tao Qinghao put in lamb slices, cooking them until they changed color and curled at the edges, then scooped them from the pot and dipped them in sauce before stuffing a large bite into his mouth. The fresh, fragrant flavor exploded on his taste buds, giving him immense satisfaction.
Xu Yi ladled a bowl of the clear broth that had cooked shrimp and meat, his eyebrows rising slightly. This soup was even fresher than the meat.
He said, “You all should try this soup.”
“What’s good about drinking soup?” Xin Shengyuan muttered, though his body was very honest as he ladled soup just like Xu Yi and took small sips.
After drinking, he made a surprised sound and said in shock, “This is just ordinary soup, how can it be so fresh?”
“Let me try too.”
Xing Yuesen was more composed. After drinking, he narrowed his eyes and said with a smile, “It really is quite good.”
Since everyone else had said so, Tao Qinghao, who’d been focused on eating meat, stopped his cooking motions and also drank a bowl.
Then the soup visibly decreased at an extremely rapid rate.
Because everyone drank the soup, the clear broth pot had pitifully little soup left and couldn’t continue cooking meat.
Xing Yuesen called over a servant and had him fetch the cook to add water.
The cook came over with a kettle and looked at the nearly depleted soup base. “…”
These wealthy young masters had different preferences indeed. Common people wished they could eat more meat, but these young masters preferred drinking soup instead.
Everyone found this hot pot meal delightful. Even Xu Yi thought this eating method was good.
The ingredients retained their original flavors to the greatest extent. Drinking a bowl of hot soup on a winter day was also excellent.
After eating, the servants cleared away the stoves.
Xing Yuesen planned to take them up to Peach Mountain to aid digestion.
But then a servant came running over anxiously, saying that several wild dogs had somehow gotten into the back mountain and were stealing the estate’s livestock.
The estate guards had already gone up the mountain to drive away the wild dogs.