After barely managing to wait patiently for the physician to finish taking the pulse, Xiuzhu quickly asked, “How is my Miss? What illness does she have? Why did she faint?”

The physician seemed confused by Xiuzhu’s string of questions and didn’t know how to respond. After a long while, he finally said, “The Princess Consort has merely fainted from excessive fatigue combined with bodily weakness and cold constitution. There’s no serious problem, but…” Seeing the physician hesitate to continue, Xiuzhu urgently said, “But what? Speak quickly!”

The physician gritted his teeth slightly and said, “May I ask this young lady, did the Princess Consort recently have a miscarriage?”

His words made Xiuzhu’s expression darken. She nodded, “That’s correct. The Princess Consort just lost a six-month-old fetus yesterday.”

The physician said with understanding, “That explains why the Princess Consort’s constitution is so weak and cold.” Then he continued, “I’ll write a prescription now. After the Princess Consort awakens, brew the medicine according to the prescription for her to take. Take it for seven consecutive days, then I’ll come again to check her pulse. Besides this medicine, you must remember to have the Princess Consort rest in bed, not get up, and avoid fatigue. A miscarriage is even more harmful to the body than carrying to full term and giving birth.”

After Wenlan agreed to everything, he called for paper and brush, saying to a teenage boy who had been following behind him, “I’ll dictate and you write: Scutellaria, Cuscuta, Donkey-hide gelatin…”

After the boy had written down the dozen or so medicinal ingredients he mentioned, the physician took the paper to check. When he saw one particular medicine, his expression suddenly changed. Disregarding that Xiuzhu and others were present, he sternly scolded, “I clearly said bamboo leaves, how did you write light bamboo leaves? Do you know that this one-character difference can turn good medicine into harmful poison?”

Hearing this, the boy was greatly alarmed and quickly knelt down, “Please forgive me, Master. I… I was thinking about the question you asked me this afternoon about light bamboo leaves and accidentally wrote it wrong. It wasn’t intentional. Please spare me this once – I’ll definitely be more careful in the future.”

The physician snorted heavily, “With such carelessness, how can you practice medicine in the future?!”

The boy was scolded so severely he dared not raise his head. Xiuzhu tentatively asked, “Physician, you just said that light bamboo leaves would turn good medicine into harmful poison. Could it be… is it poisonous?”

“Not exactly, but light bamboo leaves have an extremely cold nature. When used on someone like the Princess Consort who has just miscarried and has a weak, cold constitution, it becomes no different from poison.”

“I see.” As Xiuzhu showed understanding, the physician added, “Let me mention something else – if any of you young ladies become pregnant in the future and suffer from heat and irritation, never take light bamboo leaves.”

Wenlan asked curiously, “Why not?”

“Though light bamboo leaves have the effect of clearing heat and relieving irritation, as I mentioned, this substance has an extremely cold nature. Using it on pregnant women is absolutely inappropriate.”

Xiuzhu’s face changed, and she urgently asked, “What would happen if a pregnant woman took it?”

Meeting her gaze, the physician slowly uttered two words: “Miscarriage!”

“Impossible, clearly…” Xiuzhu instinctively started to mention her inquiry at the medicine shop yesterday, but fortunately reacted in time and swallowed the words that had reached her lips, changing to say, “I’ve only heard that musk and saffron can cause miscarriage. As for light bamboo leaves, I’ve never heard of it!”

“Light bamboo leaves aren’t commonly used, so it’s not strange that you haven’t heard of it. Even some people who specifically sell medicinal materials don’t know that light bamboo leaves have pregnancy-terminating effects. In any case, remember my words – once pregnant, absolutely avoid contact with light bamboo leaves to prevent harm to the fetus.”

After having the boy rewrite the prescription and checking it for errors, he handed it to Xiuzhu, “Three bowls of water boiled down to one bowl, twice daily, taken within half an hour after meals.”

Xiuzhu took the prescription and forced out a faint smile, “I understand. Thank you, Physician.”

After Wenlan saw the physician off and returned, she found Xiuzhu still holding the prescription and standing in the same place. Puzzled, she said, “Sister Xiuzhu, why aren’t you having someone brew the medicine? Is there something else?”

Xiuzhu snapped back to reality and quickly said, “Nothing, I was just… suddenly thinking about that light bamboo leaves the boy wrote wrong earlier. If the physician hadn’t discovered it in time, Miss would have had illness upon illness.”

Wenlan nodded in deep agreement, “Exactly! Medical treatment is something that can’t be careless at all. The slightest mistake will be like what the physician said – good medicine becomes poison!” Saying this, she extended her hand, “Since there’s nothing else to do right now, Sister Xiuzhu, give me the prescription and I’ll go brew the medicine.”

Xiuzhu stared at the prescription in her hand for a moment, then handed it over – but not to Wenlan, but to another maid beside her. “Brew the medicine according to the prescription. Remember the physician’s instructions just now – the water for brewing can’t be too much or too little. Also, go stew a bowl of bird’s nest porridge. The Princess Consort hasn’t eaten anything these past two days and will surely be hungry when she wakes up.”

Wenlan was left empty-handed and said in surprise, “Sister Xiuzhu, you…”

Xiuzhu interrupted her, “I remembered some matters and must leave the mansion immediately. You stay here and take good care of Miss. If the medicine is ready but Miss still hasn’t awakened, remember to have them keep it warm – don’t let it get cold.”

“Leave the mansion?” Wenlan looked at the sky outside the window and said in surprise, “But it’s only the yin hour now. What matter is so urgent?”

“Don’t ask too many questions. Just take good care of Miss. I’ll go and return quickly.” With that, Xiuzhu left without further explanation, leaving behind a completely confused Wenlan.

Xiuzhu left the Prince of Qin’s mansion all the way. Since it was still early, the messenger hadn’t come yet. She waited until about the mao hour before finally seeing him. Xiuzhu quickly had him deliver a letter to the Eastern Palace, while she herself went to the small stream where they usually met.

The summer morning stream sparkled with rippling light, and fish could be seen swishing their tails and swimming underwater from time to time. In the stone crevices by the water, several crabs no longer than a finger were crawling about.

Xiuzhu waited for about an hour before finally seeing Ding Yang appear in her sight. He came before Xiuzhu under the blazing sun, wiped his sweat, and said, “What’s so urgent that you called me out? Could it be…”

“Slap!” A crisp slap interrupted Ding Yang’s words. He was completely unprepared and was stunned for a moment. After a long while, he came to his senses and angrily said, “Why are you hitting me for no reason?”

Xiuzhu ignored his words and raised her hand again, but this time Ding Yang caught it and prevented the slap from landing. “What’s wrong?”

Xiuzhu struggled free from his grasp and glared fiercely at Ding Yang, “Tell me honestly – does light bamboo leaves really cause miscarriage or not?”

Ding Yang’s expression changed slightly, then he said, “Of course not. Didn’t I explain it clearly to you last time?”

Xiuzhu gritted her teeth, “Yes, you did tell me yesterday, but I never imagined you had been lying to me all along. Ding Yang, you deceived me!” The more she spoke, the angrier she became. She clenched her fists and pounded hard on Ding Yang’s body.

Ding Yang felt pain in his chest from her beating and quickly grabbed her hands, shouting, “What madness has seized you? When did I ever deceive you?!”