Chapter 1009 - 988: Acupuncture (Monthly ticket extra 1 for August)
Bai Shan arranged a time for Manbao and Yin Huo, and the four met at Jishi Hall early the next day.
Shopkeeper Zheng welcomed them warmly, even brewing his best tea, and while Manbao was being treated, he took the opportunity to feel Yin Huo’s pulse.
Upon touching it, Shopkeeper Zheng couldn’t help but slightly frown and then looked at Yin Huo.
Yin Huo was well accustomed to such reactions. When he was very young, a physician hired by his father had said from behind a screen that his life would be short and that it would be difficult for him to survive. His body was weak, tonics were useless, and could even harm his health, so the physicians ultimately dared not leave any prescriptions.
Later, his father entered the palace and sought the help of Imperial Doctor Tan. Every other day, he had to take medicinal baths—that lasted over a year—combined with acupuncture before he could drink the medicine.
But he couldn’t take too much medicine; usually, he had to stop after a short period for fear of overtonification, which could lead to internal heat and possibly damage his health.
It was not until he turned thirteen that Imperial Doctor Tan gave him the final prescription and didn’t visit again. It was then Imperial Doctor Tan’s treatments, and his prescriptions didn’t change from one year to the next. Two years prior, they stopped changing at all. He found it odd and asked his grandmother, who simply said his health had improved and no longer needed constant adjustments.
He also felt his body was getting better, so he eagerly wanted to go to school. However, in the winter, he fell ill from just a slight exposure to the wind while returning late from dinner during the New Year.
In his delirium, he heard his grandmother and father saying, "We must at least preserve a single drop of our bloodline. Once he gets through this, we’ll start arranging a marriage. After nurturing the kidney essence and a couple of years, getting him a wife should ensure a continuation of our lineage."
From then on, he understood that the medicine brought to him daily was not for his own benefit but for his yet non-existent son’s.
Initially, he was defiant and secretly sought other doctors while out. Yet they proved to be even less competent than Imperial Doctor Tan, predicting he wouldn’t live past another couple of years.