Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 8 Practice brings true knowledge

The next morning at dawn, the Sun family sent someone to take the medicine away. Because it was a finished medicine, the person from the Sun family was a little surprised.

After all, the main focus these days is on prescriptions, and it is rare to give out ready-made medicines directly.

In the morning, Zhang Luanben sat down to prepare his homework. After all, he had listened to his son's instigation and was ready to take the examination for the provincial tribute. But when he picked up the book, he found that he was unable to concentrate on his studies.

"Master, please go to the city and ask her earlier. The eldest girl has been in a bad mood since yesterday. If you don't give me a definite answer, I'm afraid it will be..."

Jin went to comfort her daughter, and when she came back she said to Zhang Luan with a worried look on her face.

Zhang Luan said, "Young Master Sun is weak and sickly. Even if he doesn't have tuberculosis, he has wheezing. I asked the doctor yesterday, and he's afraid that the disease will be difficult to cure in a lifetime. He may die at any time. The sooner the disease is cured, the better it will be."

Zhang Yanling thought to himself, as a father you really know how to comfort people.

Zhang Luan didn't want to concentrate on studying, so this gave him an excuse to escape. He stood up and said, "Then I'll go into the city and take a look."

Zhang Heling said, "Dad, I want to go too."

"You two stay at home and behave yourself! If you go out, you will only cause trouble. Let your mother discipline you!"

While scolding his son, Zhang Luan packed up his belongings and went out to the city.

……

……

Originally, the family didn't expect Zhang Luan to come home early, but he returned home before noon. He was still in shock and hurriedly asked his wife to "exorcise" him.

When Zhang Yanling heard that his father had returned, he also went to the yard to see what was going on.

Jin asked, "Master, have you found out everything?"

"Don't mention it."

Zhang Luan had a gloomy face. "I arrived at the mansion early, but before I even entered, I was blocked by the door with the help of Fang Zheng and his men... Hey, guess what, someone in the mansion was infected with the plague. Fang Zheng asked me if I had been in there in the past two days. I could only say that I had just arrived today, and then he let me go."

"Plague? Then...then..."

Jin also became nervous when she heard this.

Zhang Luan said: "It's smallpox."

Jin almost wanted to wipe her tears after hearing this, and said worriedly: "The master took the two boys there yesterday, wouldn't they... get into trouble with evil spirits?"

Zhang Luan saw his wife blaming him, and immediately frowned: "Who could have thought of this beforehand? But I asked around, and it's just that a farmhand in the mansion has a rash on his body, it's not necessarily pox, anyway, he has been sent to the Yagu Temple... I heard that most of the people infected in the city have been sent there for quarantine recently."

Jin blamed herself a little: "If you knew there was an epidemic in the city, you shouldn't have let the two little ones go out."

"Isn't this all right?"

Zhang Luan seemed to be comforting his wife, but more importantly, he was doing it to demonstrate his authority as the head of the family.

Zhang Yanling came out and asked, "Father, is the smallpox epidemic in the city very serious now?"

Zhang Luan looked displeased when he saw his son. He felt even more resentful when he thought about how it was Zhang Yanling who took the initiative to ask to go into the city yesterday. He shouted,
"Recently, stay at home and don't go anywhere. There's an epidemic in the city, and it was originally just a few big families in the Wang family in the east of the city that had problems... The smallpox epidemic has always been a cluster of infections, and even though they were clearly isolated, it still spread somehow. Now there are sporadic cases of people being infected in the city."

The so-called smallpox is smallpox.

Zhang Yanling knew very well that smallpox would be prevalent every autumn and winter these days, regardless of region or wealth. Only those who had had smallpox were immune to the virus, otherwise it would be a test for anyone who got it.

However, in this era, people have a lot of experience in preventing and treating smallpox, and that is isolation.

It's the same as preventing leprosy, but it's better than leprosy. After all, smallpox can provide lifelong immunity once you recover, while leprosy usually takes several years. Therefore, many people who have leprosy or have had leprosy will be sent to the mountains for resettlement, thus forming many villages composed of leprosy patients, which are almost isolated from the world.

Zhang Yanling asked, "Is father okay?"

"Hey, what can happen to me? After all, I am the backbone of the family. I am strong and have a strong resistance. Your mother had acne when she was young, and she managed to get through it. She doesn't have to be afraid... Just you two kids, don't go anywhere recently..." Zhang Luan said.

Zhang Heling followed him out of the room and asked stupidly, "I've also heard people say that there's something called smallpox spreading in the city... Dad, is that something serious?"

"Humph!"

Zhang Luan said in a bad tone, "If you really get it, you're half dead and half alive, you can only leave it to fate. Those who don't die may also have scars on their faces. You two guys don't have to worry about it, but if it's passed on to your sister, she'll have pockmarks all over her face and won't even be able to get married."

Zhang Heling couldn't help but look at his old mother and said, "Didn't mother get married? Didn't she get married?"

"Go, go!"

Jin almost wanted to pick up the broom and hit her eldest son, but she still reminded him, "Let's boil some water and have everyone in the family take a bath to get rid of the bad luck. Don't go anywhere recently. It won't be too late to go out until the epidemic in the city is over."

……

……

Because the Zhang family's father and son had all been to the city and had been to the Zhang family mansion where there were suspected cases, the atmosphere at home became gloomy.

Zhang Luan no longer had to go out, nor did he have to worry about his daughter's marriage or borrow money. It was a rare moment of leisure, and in the end he had no choice but to run back to his room to read.

Zhang Yanling took the opportunity to serve tea and water to his old father and went into the main room. He saw Zhang Luan flipping through a book nonchalantly. He approached and asked in a low voice, "Father, you said that a wealthy family in the city had smallpox. How are they now?"

Zhang Luan took the tea and threatened his son, "They are all locked up at home and not allowed to go anywhere. All food and drink expenses are placed at the door by people sent by the government. People from the government are only allowed to come out and take them after they have gone far away." "Are there many deaths?" Zhang Yanling continued to ask.

"A few died."

Zhang Luan said, "It doesn't matter if you die or not, but if there are sick people around you and they won't let you escape, aren't you afraid?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Of course I am afraid. I am asking, what about the owners of those wealthy families?"

Zhang Luan said, "What else can we do? They have all been locked up. Some have been sent directly to the Yagu Temple... Do you want to go too? If you don't behave, I will send you there."

Zhang Yanling thought to himself, do you think I'm a three-year-old child?

You actually think this kind of scare tactic would work on an eleven-year-old boy?

Zhang Yanling said, "Father, if we can help them cure their smallpox, can we earn some money from it to pay off our previous debts? We can also earn some money for father to take the provincial examination and live a good life in the capital?"

"Silly boy, you are seriously ill." Zhang Luan reached out and touched Zhang Yanling's forehead, then compared it with his own. "Why are you talking nonsense in broad daylight?"

He frowned, as if he was also feeling strange. His youngest son's reaction was a little different recently. "I've never heard of anyone being able to cure smallpox. If it could be cured, not to mention a few dollars, even a mountain of gold and silver could be earned back. Do you think those princes and nobles wouldn't get sick? Hey, why am I telling you this...haha..."

Zhang Luan felt that he was being led astray by his son, and began to suffer from hysteria and have nightmares.

Zhang Yanling said seriously, "I'm serious. It may not be curable, but prevention should be no problem... My father is a student. If he says it, maybe they will believe it."

Zhang Luan said sternly: "Do you want your father to be criticized? When will your father practice medicine to save the world? Your father is a scholar!"

Zhang Yanling said, "Didn't the sage say, 'One must learn not to do something before one can do something'? If your father had the opportunity to help the people but was afraid to do it, how can he be called a competent scholar?"

"you……"

Zhang Luan was stunned when he heard this. "Where did you learn this from?"

"Didn't your father teach you? Son, remember, this is the meaning of the Mencius, right?" Zhang Yanling said.

Zhang Luan was ashamed for a moment, and suddenly thought of something, and cursed: "You little brat, you actually lectured me? What do you mean by do and don't do? Your father has never been a doctor, let alone how to benefit the world, how can I listen to your one-sided words? If you don't get out of here, be careful that your father will beat you with a ruler!"

Zhang Yanling was speechless for a moment.

There are indeed limitations of the times!

But think about it, even if the father in front of him had a sharp mind, he would not have thought that his mediocre son was capable of preventing and treating smallpox, right?

……

……

Even though his old father did not allow him to get involved in the cause of preventing and treating smallpox, it did not stop Zhang Yanling from asking around in the village for information about whether there were any sick cows nearby.

In fact, Zhang Yanling knew very well that smallpox could not be cured, it could only be prevented. If a person was in close contact with a smallpox patient, as long as he was vaccinated with cowpox within six or seven days, he could still successfully escape the disease without getting sick or with mild symptoms.

Since he couldn't explain it clearly to his old father, he was too lazy to say anything. It's better to have less trouble than more. He should just wait patiently for his sister to be selected as the Crown Princess and live a rich and prosperous life. Why worry about it?
But unexpectedly, just one day later, on the next afternoon, someone from the Sun family in the city came. When the Sun family visited, Zhang Yanling was playing with his eldest brother in the fields. He saw someone entering his house, who seemed to have brought a gift.

"What's going on? Are you here to propose marriage?"

Zhang Heling excitedly took his brother and ran home.

When they arrived at the door, they saw Zhang Luan greeting the visitor. It was Sun You, the head of the Sun family whom Zhang Yanling had met a few days ago.

When Zhang Luan saw his two sons coming back, he smiled and looked very proud: "That is indeed the ancestral prescription of my Zhang family. It can be regarded as my contribution to relieve the pain of my nephew Sun Xian."

Sun You asked anxiously, "I wonder what the prescription is... Please excuse me, but I just want to ask if there is any more medicine?"

Zhang Luan said, "How about this? I'll have someone prepare the medicine, and you can have someone come get it tomorrow."

"Very good, very good."

When Sun You heard this, he was excited.

Zhang Yanling saw that the Pueraria lobata he prescribed for Sun Bojian was indeed effective. Although this medicine is not as effective in later generations, it is impossible to say that it is not effective as a Chinese patent medicine that can still highlight certain value in an era when antibiotics and antiviral Western medicines are rampant.

Moreover, people these days have never used antibiotics, and everyone's body is original, which makes the effect of Pueraria lobata more obvious.

"Then the marriage between our two families..."

"We will do everything according to what Brother Lai Zhan said. Anything is fine." Sun You said, "If my son's condition gets better, I will bring him to thank you in person and fulfill my promise as promised."

"That's good."

Zhang Luan nodded with satisfaction.

Then the old father walked his former father-in-law out the door.

When Zhang Luan came back, he found Zhang Heling opening the thank-you gift brought by Sun You. He frowned but did not say anything to stop him.

"Second brother, come here."

Zhang Luan suddenly changed his attitude towards Zhang Yanling. He called his second son aside and asked kindly, "Tell me, where did you hear the prescription? Is the treatment for smallpox you mentioned... true?"

(End of this chapter)