The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1118 - 197: Trial by Needle

Chapter 1118: Chapter 197: Trial by Needle

Manbao arrived at the Xiao Family a bit early, which was during dinner time for most families, hence not typically a time for guests to visit.

Daji knocked on the side door of the Xiao Family’s home, and as soon as he announced their names, the servants came out to remove the door sill allowing the carriage inside, smiling and saying, "The master had instructed us when he returned home, please come in, honored guests."

Daji drove the carriage inside, then extended his hand to help Manbao down, before handing over the carriage to them.

There were servants to lead the way.

Director Xiao had indeed just returned home not long ago, having just changed out of his official attire and washed his hands, and hadn’t even had a chance to eat. Hearing that Manbao had arrived, he turned back to the front courtyard and instructed, "Invite them to the study in the front courtyard."

Madam Xiao quickly followed him out, asking, "Are you not eating, my lord?"

"Just have some refreshments to fill the stomach will do."

"If the master isn’t eating, the guests still need to eat," Madam Xiao only knew that there were guests, yet didn’t know who they were or what their purpose was, but seeing how seriously her husband took it, she paid it much attention, "Since the guest has come at this time, they probably haven’t had dinner yet; why not have a meal while talking?"

Director Xiao replied, "I’ll go ask her."

Madam Xiao quickly joined him as they went to the front courtyard together.

Manbao was standing in the courtyard looking at the medicinal herbs in his herbal garden, and had not entered the study.

Hearing some noise, Manbao turned around, and upon seeing Director Xiao, she smiled and bowed. After standing straight, upon seeing the woman closely following behind him, she smiled and asked, "Is this Madam Xiao?"

Madam Xiao looked at Manbao in astonishment, clearly not expecting her husband’s guest to be a young lady.

Director Xiao had already nodded and introduced them, "This is my wife, and this is Young Doctor Zhou."

Madam Xiao hurriedly exchanged pleasantries with Manbao.

Director Xiao asked Manbao, "Has Young Doctor Zhou had dinner?"

"I have."

Director Xiao then turned to his wife and said, "Just have the kitchen prepare a bowl of noodles for me; I will eat and talk with Young Doctor Zhou."

He gestured for Manbao to come inside.

Madam Xiao quickly sent a servant to the kitchen and followed them to the study herself.

Manbao and Director Xiao spoke, "Director Xiao, is your entire house filled with herbal gardens?"

"No, just this courtyard is planted with some medicinal herbs."

Manbao said, "I just saw several plants of medicinal herbs, I’ve only ever seen them processed, never fresh."

"Really, Young Doctor Zhou is also interested in medicinal herbs?"

"Of course, treating diseases really depends on the quality of the medicinal materials, not only strict demands on processing, but planting is also very important."

"Exactly," Director Xiao agreed greatly, "unfortunately, nowadays medicinal materials are mostly harvested from the wild, truly cultivated materials are rare, and physicians rarely pay attention to this aspect, relying solely on pharmacies and medicine merchants isn’t enough."

Director Xiao invited Manbao to sit down in the study, then turned to a nearby bookshelf to search for something, while Madam Xiao smilingly brewed tea for them, listening attentively to their conversation.

Director Xiao took a book from a shelf and, after flipping to a page, handed it to Manbao. "Imperial Doctor Zheng and the others just left. They probably need some time before coming back. Young Doctor Zhou can take a look at this first."

Manbao took the book and smiled. "I have read this article."

She flipped to the cover to check the title and browsed through other pages, then laughed. "So, this article is included in so many books?"

But Director Xiao became curious and asked, "Where else have you seen this book?"

"Our Doctor Ji has a copy of Medical Strategy Collection, and it includes this article."

"Medical Strategy Collection," Director Xiao chuckled. "I’ve heard of it. It seems to be a medical book from the Zheng Family. Does it document many cases?"

"Not bad," Manbao nodded. She had exchanged one of her books for Doctor Ji’s copy. Of course, they each copied the other’s book, and now Manbao had a handwritten copy of Medical Strategy Collection.

As Manbao had already memorized the article, there was no need to read it again. She glanced at the book in her hand, thought for a bit, then closed it and handed it back to Director Xiao.

"Better not," she thought. "They are not yet familiar with each other, better not to casually flip through other cases."

She knew that the attitude towards medical books here differed from that of Teacher Mo’s.

At Teacher Mo’s, as long as you have points, you can buy almost any book; they are all shared.

But here, medical books are rarely found in bookstores, and the few that are available are common medical texts.

However, the pharmacies here have a vast collection of medical books, mostly handwritten. Not only that, they also have numerous documented cases and prescriptions, all meant to teach their own children and direct apprentices.

Like Doctor Ji, his father was a doctor at Jishi Hall, so he has been studying at Jishi Hall since he was a child and never left, and so did Doctor Ji Junior.

Generally, as an independent doctor not bound by contract working at Jishi Hall, they wouldn’t specifically teach Manbao. But she had many medical books, so Jishi Hall wanted to learn her medical skills, and she also wanted to learn theirs. Thus, they began to exchange.

But Manbao had once accompanied Doctor Ji to several medicine shops for exchanges. Of course, it was not about exchanging medical skills but about sharing knowledge on medicinal herbs and their identification.

She had overheard their exchanges and knew that they had strict rules about the transmission of medical knowledge. Peeking into someone’s medical books without permission could be seen as stealth learning.

Director Xiao took the medical book back since Manbao had already read it. He continued the conversation.

On the side, Madam Xiao watched the energetic discussion between the elder and the younger. Initially, she could understand a bit, but later she couldn’t follow at all.

But it didn’t matter. Most importantly, as they talked, Director Xiao turned to call his servant: "Go and call the eldest young master over."

After giving the instruction, he said to Manbao, "My eldest son is strong and healthy; you can try it on him later."

Manbao nodded, took the medicine box from Daji, opened it, took out a packet of needles, and placed it aside. After looking at Director Xiao, she smiled and said, "Actually, my acupuncture technique for inducing sleep isn’t bad. Director Xiao, would you like me to try it on you?"

Director Xiao smiled and replied, "That’s okay. I’ll just use my own sleeping incense."

Manbao then spoke about the sleeping incense, "The sleep incense I make always has a lingering medicinal smell, but I read in a book that there are many types of scents for sleep incense. What scent does Director Xiao make?"

"Peach blossom scent," Director Xiao stroked his beard and laughed. "Other scents don’t suit me; instead, they keep me awake."

Madam Xiao tried to interject several times but couldn’t get a word in, and before she could speak, her son arrived.

Upon hearing his father mention an acupuncture trial, Xiao Dalang didn’t think twice and started to take off his clothes, beginning with his belt. Then he saw Manbao still standing there and looked towards her.

Director Xiao said, "Go ahead, it’s for her to practice. This is Young Doctor Zhou, the reputed young miracle doctor in the capital recently."

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