Volume 6: Dream Record Chapter 396: One-stop service in ancient times
In the cabin, the maid Yinping lit the heater, Zhao Pan'er cleaned Sun Sanniang's body and changed her into clean clothes. Song Yinzhang stood by her side, looking panicked and at a loss. After Zhao Pan'er and the maid Yinping helped Sun Sanniang lie on the bed, Song Yinzhang hurriedly asked:
"Sister, what happened to Sister Sanniang?"
"I don't know either. Let's ask her when she wakes up!"
Looking at Song Yinzhang who didn't know what to do, Zhao Paner comforted him:
"Okay, you and Yinping go to sleep, I'll take care of you here!"
"Okay, thanks, sis!"
After a little hesitation, Song Yinzhang went to the next cabin with Yinping to rest. It was late at night, and she and Yinping were woken up by Yuan Xudong and Zhao Pan'er who suddenly came back to help Sun Sanniang who fell into the water. Then they tossed and turned for most of the night. In addition, she was tired from the long journey during the day, so she was indeed a little sleepy and couldn't help dozing off.
After a while, after Song Yinzhang and Yinping left, Zhao Pan'er simply packed up Sun Sanniang's changed clothes, then opened the wooden door of the cabin. She looked at Yuan Xudong who had been standing outside the door and said,
"Okay, you can come in!"
"How is Sanniang? Has she woken up?"
Yuan Xudong walked into the cabin and asked.
"No, he's still in a daze, still talking nonsense, saying things like Fu Zifang doesn't want me anymore!"
As she spoke, Zhao Pan'er glanced at Sun Sanniang lying on the bed and said worriedly:
"Tell me, has something happened in Sanniang's family?"
"Don't let your imagination run wild. You'll know when Sanniang wakes up!"
Yuan Xudong comforted.
At this moment, Sun Sanniang, who was lying on the bed, suddenly started coughing violently. Yuan Xudong and Zhao Pan'er hurried forward to check. Zhao Pan'er half-knelt at the head of Sun Sanniang's bed, holding her hand and said with concern:
"Sanniang, are you awake?"
"Pan'er?"
Sun Sanniang slowly opened her eyes, glanced at Zhao Pan'er who was worried about her, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Where am I?"
"Sanniang, you scared me to death!"
Seeing Sun Sanniang gradually regain consciousness, Zhao Pan'er finally breathed a sigh of relief. She held Sun Sanniang's hand tightly and cried:
"What happened to you?"
"Why am I here ?"
"We were on the boat. You fell into the water and we rescued you. Sanniang, why are you here and how did you fall into the water?"
Looking at Sun Sanniang who was still a little confused, Zhao Pan'er said softly:
"Did you slip, or did something happen to you?"
Hearing this, Sun Sanniang's confused look gradually became clear. Suddenly, she sat up from the bed and burst into tears:
"Pan'er, Fu Xingui divorced me, and Zifang didn't want me as his mother anymore. I took a horse carriage overnight to go back to my parents' home in Deqing. But when I got back to the village, I found that my parents' house had collapsed long ago. I felt like I had nothing left.
I just jumped into the river. Fu Xinggui lied to me and said that giving Zifang away for adoption was just a cover, so I believed it. I didn't expect that I would discover that he and Tao were having an affair. This adulterous couple had been together for at least half a year, and they would never admit it. Fu Xinggui also said that I was jealous, arrogant, disrespectful to my husband, and slandered my sisters-in-law. He wrote me a letter of divorce on the spot, but of course I refused.
Because Mrs. Tao gave benefits to the clan leader, they forced me to put my fingerprints on the document. Later, Zifang also jumped out, but he said that his father and Mrs. Tao were absolutely innocent. He said that Mrs. Tao treated him very well and I was not good. He said that I only beat and scolded them father and son and forced him to study hard. He said that I was not a good mother. He said he hated me and he would rather recognize Mrs. Tao as his mother than me.
I gave birth to my son after two days of dystocia. When I was poor, I would rather faint from hunger than deprive him of his food. He, he said he didn't want me anymore. He said he didn't want me anymore. My own son, he only recognized Tao as his mother. What's the point of me living?"
After listening to Sun Sanniang's intermittent stories, it took Yuan Xudong and Zhao Pan'er a while to figure out what had happened. It turned out that Sun Sanniang's husband Fu Xinggui coveted the widow Tao's property and had an affair with her. He also adopted his own son to Tao. Sun Sanniang disagreed, so he deceived her. As a result, Sun Sanniang discovered his affair with Tao. Fu Xinggui was so angry that he wanted to divorce Sun Sanniang on the spot, but Sun Sanniang refused. However, Tao bribed the head of the Fu family, and all the members of the Fu family helped Tao and Fu Xinggui, and forced Sun Sanniang to put her fingerprints on the divorce letter.
Just when the two sides were arguing, Sun Sanniang's biological son Fu Zifang jumped out. He helped his father Fu Xingui and Tao to criticize Sun Sanniang. He also testified that his father and Tao had no affair, that Tao treated him very well, and that Sun Sanniang only beat and scolded him and was not a good mother.
For a moment, Sun Sanniang felt disheartened, so she put her fingerprint on the divorce letter, left the Fu family alone, and wanted to go back to her parents' home in Deqing. She took a carriage overnight, but found that there was no one at home. After a series of blows, Sun Sanniang jumped into the Grand Canal. Somehow she hugged a dead tree and drifted with the current. Eventually, she was seen by Yuan Xudong and Zhao Paner, who rescued her.
After Sun Sanniang explained the whole story, Zhao Pan'er sat at the head of the bed, hugged the tearful Sun Sanniang and comforted her softly:
"Why is it boring? You are called Sun Sanniang, not just Fu Zifang's mother. You are a kind and righteous person. You make delicious fruits, dishes and soups. The neighbors all know that you are virtuous and kind, and you like to give charity. Besides, there is no child in this world who doesn't recognize his parents. I watched Zifang grow up. A teenager is the most playful. I think that it is likely that Mrs. Tao tricked him with something delicious and fun, so he said those stupid things!"
In fact, Zhao Pan'er also knew that Fu Zifang was naughty by nature and was not a naive and kind child. But in front of Sun Sanniang, she could only say good things about him. However, Sun Sanniang was not a fool. Although she loved her son Fu Zifang, she also knew his character. But she never expected that her own son could say such heartless words. In despair, Sun Sanniang said in despair:
"No, Zifang wasn't just saying that out of anger. He really hates me. He hates me forcing him to study hard, and he hates me for always saying I'm waiting for him to win a bridal tiara for me. He's just like his father, both are heartless. I'm also wrong. I must have done something wrong in my previous life, so God is punishing me like this in this life!"
Yuan Xudong watched from the side. Zhao Pan'er tried to comfort Sun Sanniang. No matter how hard she tried, Sun Sanniang became more and more agitated and cried sadly:
"That Fu Xingui, when he married me, he was so poor that he couldn't even afford the betrothal gift. It was me, I killed pigs for others every day, and saved up copper coins for him one by one. It took me two years to get together a string of coins. I gave all the coins to him as capital for his business. Now that he's rich, he has turned against me and is so ungrateful. Has he forgotten how I lived for two years killing pigs for others? Why did I marry him in the first place, and give birth to such an evil creature for him? If I had known that I was here to suffer in this life, why would I have lived?"
Seeing Sun Sanniang gasping violently while talking, Yuan Xudong walked straight to her side and gently hit her neck. Sun Sanniang couldn't help but stop and looked at him in confusion. Zhao Pan'er beside her also looked at Yuan Xudong puzzledly and asked:
"What are you doing?"
"It's okay, just continue!"
Yuan Xudong withdrew his hand somewhat embarrassedly. It turned out that movies and TV dramas were all lies. Shouldn't the person faint after being hit on the neck?
As if she had guessed Yuan Xudong's thoughts, Zhao Pan'er couldn't help but roll her eyes at him and said:
"Are you stupid? If you hit someone in the neck to make them unconscious, hitting them too lightly will be useless, and hitting them too hard will be dangerous. How can you be so stupid?"
"Didn't I try hard enough?"
"Fool!"
Zhao Pan'er couldn't help but roll her eyes at Yuan Xudong again. Although Yuan Xudong didn't really knock Sun Sanniang out, he made her quiet down. She just sat on the bed and muttered something. She looked like a fool. Zhao Pan'er looked at Yuan Xudong and said:
"No, Sanniang looks like she has lost her soul. She has also caught a cold. We need to see a doctor as soon as possible. When the ship docks tomorrow, we will take her off the ship to see a doctor, okay?"
"Okay, I'll let Xiao Li and the others take the luggage back to Tokyo first. When Sanniang is better, we'll hurry back, okay?"
"Okay, thank you Fanlang!"
…
A night passed, the sun rose, and Master Zheng's merchant ship docked at the Huating County Pier. Yuan Xudong and Zhao Pan'er found Master Zheng and spent a few taels of silver. He helped them find a carriage. Yuan Xudong, Song Yinzhang, Yinping girl, and the sick and dazed Sun Sanniang got off the merchant ship. Xiao Yan was responsible for accompanying them, while Xiao Li was responsible for taking the boxes of Zhao Pan'er and others back to Tokyo to wait.
After getting off the merchant ship, Yuan Xudong helped Zhao Pan'er, Song Yinzhang, Yinping girl, and Sun Sanniang onto the carriage one by one. He was the last one to get on the carriage. The black-clad guard Xiao Yan, who was accompanying him, sat in the front of the carriage and whispered to the driver to rush to the nearest clinic.
The carriage was bumpy, but fortunately the journey was not far. Soon, the carriage that Yuan Xudong rented stopped in front of a medical clinic called Tai'an Hall. The driver smiled and said:
"My dear, we have arrived at Tai'an Hall. This is the best clinic here. It can cure all diseases and bring people back to health!"
"Okay, wait here. We may need this carriage for a few more days!"
"Okay, I'll be waiting for you here!"
Yuan Xudong got off the carriage and handed the driver a small piece of silver as a reward. Amid the latter's thanks, Yuan Xudong brought Zhao Pan'er, Song Yinzhang, Yinping girl, and Sun Sanniang into the Tai'an Hall Clinic. Xiao Yan followed at the end. When they entered the clinic, the first thing they saw were two plaques with "Miraculous Doctors Bringing Back Springs" and "Healing the World with Medicine". They didn't know how good the medical skills of Tai'an Hall were, but the store was quite good. It covered a large area and had convenient transportation. There were indeed many people who came here to seek medical treatment.
After waiting for a while in the clinic, the doctor examined the foolish Sun Sanniang and said:
"The soul-separation syndrome caused by great sorrow has weakened both the heart and spleen. Naturally, the heart has nowhere to rely on and the spirit has nowhere to go. I will give her acupuncture treatment right now!"
"Thank you!"
Zhao Pan'er looked at the doctor at Tai'an Hall and thanked him. Yuan Xudong, Song Yinzhang, and Yinping, who knew nothing about Chinese medicine, stayed aside and watched the old doctor give acupuncture to Sun Sanniang, who looked like a wooden man. After some treatment, Sun Sanniang was indeed much more energetic.
After the treatment, Zhao Pan'er paid the consultation fee, and the old doctor who performed acupuncture on Sun Sanniang gave her a prescription and instructed:
"When you go back, you should pay attention to two things. First, this prescription originally uses rhino horn, but it is too precious and I don't have any here. If you want the patient to recover as soon as possible, you should go to Guiyuan Hall on West Street and buy rhino horn!"
"Rhino horn?"
When Zhao Paner heard the doctor mention rhino horns, he frowned and said:
"How much does that cost?"
After taking a look at Zhao Pan'er, the doctor thought for a while and said:
"For seven days, it will cost at least twenty strings of cash!"
"Twenty strings of cash?"
Yuan Xudong was shocked. This ancient doctor had a terrible vision. It was just twenty strings of cash, and that was for seven days. How could he call it too expensive?
Thinking about this, Yuan Xudong took out a five-liang gold ingot from his sleeve and handed it to Xiao Yan, the black-clad guard who had been following him, and instructed:
"Xiao Yan, go buy some rhino horns!"
"yes!"
Xiao Yan took the gold ingot and walked out of Tai'an Hall. Seeing Yuan Xudong being so generous, the doctor was also very happy and said:
"The second thing is that this disease is most sensitive to wind and movement. The patient has caught a cold. You should leave this place and find an inn to stay in. You must at least use up the medicine for these seven days!"
"Seven days? What if we are in a hurry?"
Zhao Paner asked.
"It's hard to say whether this lady is alive or dead!"
After taking a look at Zhao Pan'er who seemed a little worried, the doctor at Tai'an Hall looked at Yuan Xudong who was not short of money and recommended:
"If you want the patient to recover as soon as possible, you should go to the Yuelai Inn on East Street. The environment there is most suitable for the patient to rest!"
"Yeah?"
Looking at the old doctor who provided such thoughtful service, Yuan Xudong said with a smile:
"How much does it cost in total if you want to stay for seven days?"
“Ahem~~”
Looking at Yuan Xudong with a playful look on his face, the old doctor of Tai'an Hall coughed, cleared his throat and said:
"The rooms at Yuelai Inn are divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower. I see that you are wealthy, so I think you must want to stay in the best room. If you want a room in the best room, it will cost at least one tael a day!"
"Okay, then let's stay at Yuelai Inn!"
Hearing that Yuan Xudong agreed, the old doctor left with a happy face and went to see the next patient. Looking at the smiling Yuan Xudong and the doctor from Tai'an Hall who had just left, Zhao Pan'er reacted and said:
"Is he a doctor from Tai'an Hall, Guiyuan Hall, or Yuelai Inn?"
"Who knows?"
Yuan Xudong smiled indifferently. After all, it was only a few dozen copper coins, or a few taels of gold. There was no need to worry about it!
Soon, Zhao Pan'er got the medicine, and Xiao Yan also bought some rhino horns. Yuan Xudong led Zhao Pan'er and others out of Tai'an Hall. After getting back on the carriage, he looked at the driver Wang Er and smiled:
"Wang Er, which is the best inn here?"
"Sir, the best inn here is the Yuelai Inn on East Street. The rooms there are divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower. I see that you are rich, so I think you must want to stay in the best room. If you want a room in the best room, it will cost at least one tael a day!"
Hearing the same words from Wang Er and the doctor at Tai'an Hall, Yuan Xudong couldn't help but laugh:
"Okay, let's go to Yuelai Inn first, let's go!"
"Okay, sit tight, my lord. Let's go!"
With a joyful cry, the driver drove the carriage towards Yuelai Inn on East Street. After a moment, a bright red and quite imposing three-story brick and wood building appeared in front of Yuan Xudong. The big signboard was particularly eye-catching. It was "Yuelai Inn"!
