Chapter 22: A Turn for the Better

  Huixiang didn't mince words either, her eyes wide with anger: "What did you say? My brother isn't asking for the sky, why are you speaking so harshly? Paying for medicine? Let me ask you, are you here to see a doctor or buy medicine? If you know how to use the medicine, why not just buy it yourself and give it to your daughter-in-law to eat? The sooner the better! What's the point of coming to our Guizhitang and kneeling on the ground begging my father?"

  The old woman held the purse, patted her waist and said: "What's wrong? I calculated the price of the medicine for you, isn't it enough? How much do you want? Can't I just give you five more coins as a labor fee?" She shook the purse in her hand, making a clinking sound: "You're thinking about money, aren't you? You're drooling at the sight of money! If you like money so much, why don't you go to the brothel and sell yourself?"

  She stood with her hands on her hips, thrusting out her high and prominent breasts, twisting her slender waist, looked up and down at the old woman's shriveled body, and snorted disdainfully: "I'm young, I really want to sell and there are people who will buy me, unlike you, an old hag who won't die! You're not even human, just a ghost! If you went to a brothel, no one would look at you even if you were naked! Even the butcher's chopping board wouldn't want you, you stink!"

  "Oh no, you little prostitute..."

  "That's enough!" Zuo Gui slammed his hand heavily on the table. "I don't want a single cent, is that okay? Get out! All of you get out!"

  The old woman immediately stood up and shouted in a shrill voice, "Alright, this is what you said, everyone heard it! It's not that we didn't want to give money, I was just about to pay for the medicine and even wanted to add five more coins! They themselves didn't want it, can't blame us! - Go, go! Hurry up and take them away!" She busily pulled the old man and others out, fearing that Lao Gui would change his mind and ask for money.

  "Mother!" The man's face turned bright red, and he knelt down with a thud. "Father said earlier that we should sell the house and land to save our daughter-in-law. Now they don't even want us to sell them, just giving it to us casually. We're already indebted to them, and you're still playing tricks not giving me the money? Where can we put our faces? Mother! I beg of you, they saved my wife's life! Please return the money bag to me and pay their medical expenses!"

  "You don't understand anything!" The old woman stuffed two bags of money into her bosom, one hand still pinching the hem of her clothes, and the other pulling at the man: "Hurry up and leave! What are you lingering here for? Go back and take care of your wife, that's the right thing to do!"

  Many onlookers outside the pharmacy door saw this old woman and immediately burst into a chorus of boos: "We've seen shameless people before, but never anyone as shameless as her!"

  "Yes, someone saved her daughter-in-law and she didn't even give them money, but what's worse is that she spoke so rudely!"

  "What a vicious mother-in-law! Being her daughter-in-law for eight lifetimes would be a bad luck!"

  "Crossing the river and destroying the bridge! Shameless to the extreme!"

  ……

  The old woman didn't hear, saw her son kneeling and unable to move, turned around and pulled the old man, but he didn't dare disobey the old woman, hung his head in shame and followed out of the pharmacy door. The old woman said to those relatives who helped: "Hurry up, carry him away!"

  They exchanged a glance, shook their heads with wry smiles, and cast an embarrassed look at Zuo Gui's ashen face before lifting the door panel with four hands and carrying the woman in labor out.

  "Wait!" The woman lying on the stretcher said with difficulty, and several people carrying the stretcher immediately stopped. She smiled bitterly at Xiaohuang: "Sister, can you come over for a moment?"

  Angelica walked over with her face down: "What are you doing?"

  The woman in labor struggled to lift the quilt, took off a jade bracelet from her wrist, pulled over Angelica's hand, and put the jade bracelet in her palm. Tears poured down: "I'm really sorry, this is... I brought it from my mother's house, thank you for saving my life, this is just a little token of appreciation, please accept it!"

  The old woman outside the door saw this scene and rushed in with a shrill cry: "What are you doing?" She stretched out her hand to grab the bracelet.

  She grasped the bangle and pulled it back, dodging her hand, and with a swift motion, pushed her to stumble. Holding up the bangle, she coldly sneered: "You dead old hag, did you hear that clearly? This is something my daughter-in-law brought from her natal family, not your family's belongings! Someone was grateful to my father for saving their life and gave this bangle to us. In the past, I wouldn't have accepted it, but seeing your wicked behavior today, I couldn't swallow this insult. I'm taking this bangle! It'll be the death of you, you old witch!"

  "Ah! Ah!……" The old lady's face turned pale with rage, but this bracelet was indeed brought by her daughter-in-law from her natal family. In the Tang Dynasty, people still respected the ownership of dowry, and if someone wanted to give it away, she had nothing to say about it.

  The old man at the door saw that his daughter-in-law was sensible, and he finally let out a sigh of relief. He was afraid that his wife would continue to make trouble here and lose face, so he hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Let's go!" He made a bow to Zuo Gui, led the way, and the man also quickly kowtowed to Zuo Gui several times, got up and helped carry the door panel out.

  "Hey! You guys forgot to take your wine!"

  The man smiled apologetically, bowed his waist and made a gesture of respect, saying: "Big brother, this remaining wine is yours, you've also worked hard, drink some to relieve your fatigue."

  Zuo Shaoyang had been savoring the aroma of wine and was secretly swallowing his saliva, when he heard this remark, he didn't force himself, and imitated a bow with his fist, saying: "Thank you so much!"

  The old woman saw that everyone had left and also lost her energy, coughed up a mouthful of phlegm, originally wanting to spit it on the floor of the medicine shop's main hall, but seeing the cold face of the mother-in-law like a mother tiger, she hurriedly swallowed the phlegm back down, muttering to herself, quickly walked out. The surrounding crowd also dispersed after discussing among themselves.

  Everything that happened just now was too sudden, and the Left family didn't come back to their senses. Having opened a pharmacy for so long, they had never encountered such a thing, nor had they ever met such a seriously ill patient seeking medical treatment, let alone treated such an illness, and of course, they had never met such an unscrupulous old woman who would cut off the bridge after crossing the river.

  Although Zuo Gui was angry, he felt more joy in curing the patient, especially since this patient couldn't be cured by even the most famous doctor in Fucheng, Dr. Ni of Huimin Hall, but he himself managed to cure him with just one treatment, saving a life. This sense of accomplishment quickly covered up the disgust and annoyance brought by the old woman earlier. The whole family soon became happy again.

  Hui Xiang placed the bangle on the table in front of Zuo Gui: "Dad, what should we do with this bangle?"

  "It's up to you how to deal with what others give you."

  "Dad! It's you who saved our family's life, and this bracelet is a token of gratitude for saving our lives. We know your good character, but if we gave it to you, that old witch would snatch it away from you, so I hid it in my hand instead. I said earlier it was for you, what do you think we should do with it?"

  "Right, sir, you just give the order."

  Zuo Gui thought for a moment, then said: "Then take it and pawn it, see how much money you can get, first pay the rent, pay as much as you have, and see if you can let San Niang delay again."

  "Great, you go ahead and I'll stay home and cook."

  Li's family took the bracelet and went out, Zuo Gui was walking around in the house with his hands behind his back, suddenly stopped, turned his head and asked Zuo Shao Yang: "You said, this abortion prescription, can it really abort the fetus?"

  Zuo Shaoyang also smiled and said: "Yes, Dad, I'm curious too. Maybe this is what they mean by 'no coincidence, no book'."

  Zuo Gui burst out laughing, walked around the room with his hands behind his back, and sat down at the table again. He had stopped laughing for a moment, but then thought about it some more and started laughing again: "You say, this is really strange! How did my old brain suddenly become so clever? I didn't use any of those other methods, but instead chose this one - isn't that fate? Isn't that the heavens opening their eyes? Alright, alright, from now on I'll use this method to treat this illness. This will be our family's secret recipe, passed down through generations! Haha!"

  Zuo Shaoyang was startled by these words, using this prescription to treat a miscarriage for someone else would be asking for trouble. But then he didn't know how to advise him not to do so, thinking about it, he could only take things one step at a time. Fortunately, the situation of a dead fetus in the womb is relatively rare, and more than half of the cases will deliver the dead fetus smoothly without taking medication. Only a small number of cases will have difficulty delivering the dead fetus, and an extremely small number will endanger the life of the mother. So, the opportunity to encounter such a thing is also not common.

  The sky slowly darkened. In the interval of cooking dinner, Angelica lit the oil lamp and placed it on the table.

  When it was time to close the shop, Liang returned. She carried a heavy bag of money in her hand and had an uncontrollable joy on her face. After entering the house, she put the bag on the long table: "Guess how much the bangle sold for?"