Elder Sister Ying’s mind was made up. She insisted on making the house call. A senior palace matron brought her a dark outer cloak, thinking to use the cover of night to conceal things a little.
“My lady, please put on the cloak to keep out the night wind.”
In her usual manner, Elder Sister Ying would have proceeded with great caution — but this time she said: “No need.” No matter how strong the night wind, she intended to go openly and without concealment.
The carriage set out, following the elderly woman to a large residence in the southern part of the city. On closer inspection: red lacquered gates, a hanging plaque — clearly a household of standing in this part of the city.
They then entered the rear courtyard.
The patient, Li Shi, was not in the main room but had been moved to a side chamber, with two matrons left to attend to her. Li Shi’s mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law had come upon hearing the news. Toward Li Shi, who lay bedridden with the suspected “fetus,” they felt both unease and a measure of compassion. Knowing that Elder Sister Ying was of noble birth, they kept their distance while also showing respect — their expressions were quite complex.
Elder Sister Ying first surveyed the sickroom. The windows were tightly shut, yellow charm papers were pasted about, and she could smell the thick haze of smoke drifting through the air. Beside Li Shi’s bed sat a bowl, its rim streaked with the dark ash of burned charm paper.
Clearly, this family had already called upon Daoist priests and shamans.
“Open the windows for ventilation.” With that, Elder Sister Ying sat down and began the examination, also directing a matron to lift the quilt and loosen Li Shi’s clothing.
Below the abdomen, the swelling resembled that of early pregnancy. Pressing lightly left an impression. The abdomen was distended while the limbs were thin, the complexion dark and dull, and she was accompanied by fever.
When taking her pulse, Li Shi’s hands trembled with muscle spasms, her body was fatigued and her breathing weak, and her pulse was deep and taut.
Li Shi’s mother-in-law, accompanying her during the examination, added further details: “During the day she still has some spirit about her, but every night her mind grows sluggish and her speech becomes incoherent — at times she shudders, at times she is overcome by great fright and terror, and cannot rest…” She deliberately emphasized the nighttime, as if there were some particular significance in it.
Elder Sister Ying understood. She already had a fairly clear idea in her mind — this condition was commonly seen in the waterway regions of Jiangnan and was rarely encountered in the north.
It was easy to see how Li Shi had developed symptoms right after her excursion into the hills to visit the temple — the onset had also been sudden. Combined with the shock she had suffered and her weakened state, she had already grown somewhat confused in her mind, making others around her think she had been overtaken by malevolent spirits.
Elder Sister Ying carefully helped her fasten her clothing again, then called forward the female medical apprentice who had accompanied her and gave her quiet instructions. The apprentice nodded, then departed and made her way back to An Qing Tang.
At this moment, Li Shi, who had been drifting in and out of consciousness, stirred and came to herself. She had already resigned herself to her fate. Hearing voices in the room, she assumed her husband’s family had brought in another shamaness. She opened her eyes — but there was no smoke filling the room, no peach branches striking her body. In the light of the candles, she saw only a young woman seated beside her bed, her dress simple and elegant, her brows and eyes gentle and lovely.
The candlelight played in the young woman’s hair, casting a soft shimmer.
Li Shi gazed at her for a good while before saying weakly: “You are very beautiful.”
Elder Sister Ying replied: “Once you are well again, with a little rouge and powder, you will be beautiful too.”
Li Shi’s birth mother leaned in close, took her daughter’s hand, and said through her tears: “Hui’er, this is… a female physician who has come to treat you. You will get better — you will certainly get better.”
“Ordinarily, I would light a stick of sandalwood and share a cup of flower tea with you,” Li Shi said with difficulty, managing a faint smile.
“There will be chances for that in the future,” Elder Sister Ying said gently to comfort her, then added: “I am also fond of flower tea.”
Elder Sister Ying rose, walked out to the outer hall, and the several women of the household gathered around her, waiting for Elder Sister Ying to write out a prescription. But they heard Elder Sister Ying say instead: “In a while, An Qing Tang will send over a prepared decoction — have her take it. Through the night, have someone attend carefully to her. I will come again tomorrow morning to write the prescription.”
“We understand, we will do everything as you say.”
After the night had passed, Elder Sister Ying came again. The women of the household met her at the main gate.
It turned out that after Li Shi had taken the decoction the previous night, both her bowels and urination had moved freely, the swelling had diminished somewhat, and her complexion had improved a little.
Paper and brush had already been laid out in the outer hall, waiting only for Elder Sister Ying to write down the prescription.
Elder Sister Ying saw that the “Ten Jujube Decoction” had proven effective, and felt a measure of relief. She wrote out the prescription for the Ten Jujube Decoction — yet it was not quite an ordinary Ten Jujube Decoction prescription. On the paper she wrote: Knot-weed flower from Wang Ji Tang — three qian; Gansui root from Sheng An Tang — three qian; Peking euphorbia from Yongshun Tang — three qian; Large jujubes from Ling Sheng Tang — ten pieces…
Wang Ji Tang, Sheng An Tang, Yongshun Tang, Ling Sheng Tang — these were several of the most prominent medical halls in the capital, known to everyone.
Elder Sister Ying instructed: “You must, in broad daylight, send people with banners and in procession to each of these medical halls to purchase these ingredients, then prepare a decoction of one coin’s measure and have her take it. If you do not, even should she recover, her recovery will only be half complete.”
Seeing that the prescription called for nothing but ordinary medicinal ingredients, the elderly matriarch was puzzled and asked: “We are grateful for your kindness, my lady — but going to such elaborate lengths, are you not afraid of damage to your reputation?”
Elder Sister Ying shook her head and replied: “If it is not done publicly and openly, how will outsiders know that she was cured by medicine?” With a slightly resigned expression, she continued: “Doing it in secret — outsiders will only assume I used shamanism to treat her, and she will forever bear the shame of having conceived in the hills while visiting a temple. What reputation could there be in that?”
“We will do exactly as you instruct.”
Half a month later, Li Shi’s abdominal swelling had subsided and she was able to get out of bed. The matter did not spread widely, but it did become a topic of conversation over tea and idle talk — particularly among the various medical halls of the capital.
At the very time when rumors were circulating to disparage An Qing Tang as “using shamanism to treat the afflicted,” an elderly imperial physician pointed out: “Knot-weed flower from Wang Ji Tang, Gansui root from Sheng An Tang, Peking euphorbia from Yongshun Tang, jujubes from Ling Sheng Tang — is this not precisely the renowned ‘Ten Jujube Decoction’ from the ‘Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders’?”
Everyone was slow to realize it, but once they compared, they saw it was exactly so.
The elderly imperial physician then said with scorn: “The four great medical halls of the capital have been mocked by a female physician for being unable — and unwilling — to prescribe the ‘Ten Jujube Decoction,’ and instead resorted to disparaging An Qing Tang as ‘using shamanism.’ Such conduct — is it not rather beneath them?”
Once these words of the elderly imperial physician got out, the four great medical halls were desperate to suppress all the rumors, yet the result was that the story spread all the more vigorously.
An Qing Tang went about its business without fanfare, treating patients as always, its halls bright and open as ever.
The situation was slowly changing, bringing with it a warmth in the midst of winter.
……
Another source of warmth came from the cotton weaving mills.
In the depths of winter, ordinary households could not afford wool felt bedding, still less silk quilts — they could only use dried straw as mattresses and cotton wadding as bedding. Common cotton wadding had short fibers that clumped easily and provided poor protection against the cold.
After the cotton weaving mills purchased the cotton bolls, half went to weaving cloth and half was made into padded jackets and quilts — priced fairly, and now selling very well throughout the prefectures of North Zhili. If a woman were employed at a cotton weaving mill, she could also exchange her labor for quilts, or exchange her labor for cloth.
Just as the year before, the Pei family and the Qiao family joined forces, preparing early a batch of cotton cloth and padded jackets to present to the court, which were then transported to the garrison towns along the Nine Frontier Passes and distributed to the soldiers defending the border, to help them withstand the bitter cold of the frontier winter.
Younger Sister Zhu came to the Earl’s household and described the grand scene of distributing wages to the women workers, her face brimming with joy. She said: “Word is spreading everywhere, and more and more women who wish to work at the mills are coming forward. Next year, we must continue to expand the workshops at various locations.”
Pei Shaohuai had not witnessed the grand scene of wages being paid, but each day as he passed through the market on his way home from work, he saw that the end-of-year twelfth month market this year was especially lively. Even as evening approached, there were still many farmwives coming into the market to buy provisions for the New Year, the sounds of bargaining rising and falling all around.
Younger Sister Zhu had come empty-handed, and felt somewhat embarrassed, explaining to Pei Shaohuai and his wife: “Expanding the workshops, promoting cotton cultivation, presenting cotton to the court — and after wages have been paid, there is still no surplus this year.” In fact, quite a bit of silver had been put in.
Pei Shaohuai understood perfectly well, and said with a smile: “When the cotton harvest increases further next year, there will be no worry about having a surplus.” Everything had to be taken one step at a time.
Three years of promoting cotton — to have achieved these results today was already very good.
And besides, the Pei and Qiao families had built the cotton weaving mills not merely to make money. Allowing the people to have warmth, allowing women to have a skill to rely on — this was far more meaningful than simply trading goods for profit.
……
On the eighth day of the twelfth month, snow swirled outside; inside, porridge simmered softly.
Great white snowflakes drifted and fell, and the streets were almost entirely empty of passersby. Taking advantage of the moment, the Lin family’s carriage quietly made its way to the Jingchuan Earl’s household.
Years of trading overseas had made the Lin family exceedingly prosperous — wealthy and well-established. But Pei Shaohuai’s maternal uncle, Lin Shiyun, remained as careful and cautious in his conduct as ever.
In the past, he had always kept his distance from the Pei family, because the Lin family’s reputation as merchants was not looked upon favorably. Now, Lin Shiyun was going to the Earl’s household to see his younger sister, and he still avoided doing so in front of others — because his nephew now bore the responsibility of opening the seas, and he feared that others might say his nephew was showing favoritism toward his mother’s family.
Over these years, the Lin family’s overseas trade had always been conducted in an upright and proper manner.
Upon hearing that his maternal uncle had arrived, Pei Shaohuai brought little Nan and little Feng with him to pay their respects to their great-uncle in the main hall.
Their great-uncle’s hair had turned white, and his clothing was plainer than ever. Yet because of his broad face and stout figure, his eyes were always curved in a smile, giving him a very kindly appearance. The moment he saw little Nan and little Feng, he chuckled warmly and opened a sandalwood box on the tea table, taking out two large gold locks, each half a catty in weight, engraved with the characters for “peace and safety.”
“This one is for Guan Ge’er, and this one is for Ci Jie’er.” Lin Shiyun placed the gold locks around little Nan’s and little Feng’s necks.
The locks were quite a weight on the neck. Pei Shaohuai watched as his son and daughter, just as he himself had done in those years, both extended their small hands and held the large gold locks out in front of them, their eyes carrying a faint look of bewilderment — Father, why have you hung this on me?
It felt, in a flash, as if he had been transported back to his own first birthday celebration, when his great-uncle had placed a large gold lock around his neck as well.
After the exchange of greetings, Pei Shaohuai asked his wife to take the children back first, then sat alone with his great-uncle for a further conversation.
Lin Shiyun then revealed the true purpose of his visit. His expression carried a hint of worry as he said: “Your eldest and second cousins’ fleet of ships has added another ten vessels — this trading business at sea is growing bigger and bigger by the look of it.”
Since Lin Yuan and Lin Yao had gone to sea, the Lin family’s fleet in the south had gradually grown from three or five ships to more than ten, then to twenty or thirty, and now they had added another ten all at once.
Pei Shaohuai understood his great-uncle’s meaning — on the surface the business was expanding and profits were growing, but what did the Lin family need so much silver for? No matter how large the business grew, there had to be substance behind it to sustain it.
Lin Shiyun understood the wisdom of knowing when to stop.
The difficulty was that so many people below had grown accustomed to the livelihood of trading overseas — it was not something one could simply decide to stop. Adding “only” ten new ships was already the result of Lin Shiyun pressing down again and again.
Lin Shiyun had come in person today not to make more money, but to stabilize the Lin family. He wanted to ask his nephew’s thoughts on the matter — after all, his nephew had seen and heard far more in the court, and could think further ahead than he could.
“Great-uncle should go north to do business,” Pei Shaohuai suggested. “Go and make unprofitable deals.”
“The northern frontier cities?”
Pei Shaohuai nodded.
Before Pei Shaohuai had even gone into detail, Lin Shiyun thought it over for a moment, then agreed without hesitation: “I will call Yao’er back and have him lead half the merchant fleet north.” Lin Yuan in the south, Lin Yao in the north.
Pei Shaohuai continued: “Sell silk and brocade, jewels and ornaments to Northern Yuan nobles, and in exchange take their prized horses — then bring them back and present them to the court… the Lin family could become officially-sanctioned merchants.”
This was far more meaningful than simply offering wealth directly to the court.
Pei Shaohuai stepped outside the door and instructed Chang Fan: “Please go and ask the Second Young Master to come and join us.”
“Yes.”