Courtyard Check-in: Starting with a Small World of Cultivation

July 15th marks the start of the dog days of summer.

In the small courtyard in front of the gate, the pomegranate tree was already laden with fruit, green tinged with red, so heavy that the branches bent low. The roses in the corner were in full bloom, red, pink and yellow intertwined, attracting several bees buzzing around them.

Chen Yu sat under the shade of a tree, holding a medical book in his hands, occasionally glancing up at the two women in the courtyard.

Qin Huairu, more than six months pregnant, sat on a small stool picking green beans. Her belly was quite noticeable, but she still moved nimbly, chatting with Ding Qiunan as she picked the vegetables.

Ding Qiunan squatted down next to her, also holding green beans in her hand, but her eyes kept glancing at the book in Chen Yu's hand—it was a commentary on the Treatise on Febrile Diseases, which she had just lent to Chen Yu yesterday.

"Qiu Nan, what are you looking at?" Qin Huairu asked with a smile.

"N-nothing...it's nothing." Ding Qiunan blushed and lowered her head to continue picking vegetables.

Chen Yu looked up, saw her, and smiled: "If you want to read, come and read. Don't sneak around."

Ding Qiunan hesitated for a moment, then stood up and walked to Chen Yu's side, but didn't dare to sit down, just stood there.

"Sit down." Chen Yu gestured to the stool next to him. "Finished preparing the vegetables?"

"I've finished selecting." Ding Qiunan sat down, her eyes fixed on the book in his hand. "Brother Chen, could I borrow this annotated edition?"

"It's not a loan, it's for you." Chen Yu handed her the book. "This is a compilation I made based on your progress. You'll start learning the prescription section of the *Shanghan Lun* today."

Ding Qiunan took the book, flipped through a few pages, and her eyes grew brighter and brighter. The book not only contained the original text, but also annotations written by Chen Yu in vernacular Chinese, and even a meridian diagram, marking the meridian tropism of each herb.

"Brother Chen, this...you wrote all of this?" She looked up, her eyes filled with shock.

"Yes." Chen Yu nodded. "You have a good foundation, so you can start learning about prescriptions. This book contains 113 prescriptions for typhoid fever, and each one explains the principles of compatibility and modifications. Take a look first, and ask me if you don't understand anything."

Ding Qiunan held the book as if it were some rare treasure, her eyes slightly red.

"Brother Chen, I...I don't know how to thank you."

"Studying hard is the best way to thank me," Chen Yu said with a smile. "Becoming a good doctor and saving more lives in the future is better than anything else."

Ding Qiunan nodded solemnly: "I definitely will."

Just then, the courtyard gate was pushed open. He Yuzhu came in carrying a basket, sweating profusely: "It's so hot today!"

"Brother Zhu is here?" Qin Huairu stood up. "Sit down and rest. I'll pour you a cup of herbal tea."

"No, no, no, you sit down." He Yuzhu quickly stopped her, went to the water vat, scooped up a ladle of cool water, gulped it down, and then let out a long sigh, "That feels good!"

He put the basket on the table: "My wife made mung bean cakes for Huairu to help her recover. She said pregnant women are prone to feeling hot, and mung beans can help relieve the heat."

Qin Huairu opened the basket, inside were pieces of emerald green mung bean cakes, emitting a sweet aroma.

"Sister-in-law, you're too kind," she said with a smile.

"Don't mention it, we're neighbors." He Yuzhu plopped down and looked at Chen Yu, "Little Chen, I heard you've been tutoring Qiu Nan in medicine lately?"

This book was first published on 2009.com, providing you with a reading experience free of errors and disordered chapters.

"Yes." Chen Yu nodded.

"Great news!" He Yuzhu gave a thumbs up. "Qiu Nan is a smart girl; she learns everything quickly. She'll be a respectable doctor in the future!"

Ding Qiunan blushed, but her eyes sparkled.

He Yuzhu chatted for a while longer before getting up to leave. Just before leaving, he suddenly remembered something: "Oh, right, Xiao Chen, something's happened again with the Jia family."

"What is it?"

"Jia Zhangshi is sick. She says she caught a fever and can't get out of bed," He Yuzhu said. "Jia Dongxu came to me wanting to borrow some money for medical treatment. I didn't lend it to him. That old hag is usually so mean-spirited; why is she thinking of us now?"

Chen Yu remained silent. Although Jia Zhangshi was disliked, she was, after all, Qin Huairu's mother-in-law.

He looked at Qin Huairu. Qin Huairu was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Chen Yu, how about... we go take a look?"

Chen Yu nodded: "Okay."

In the afternoon, Chen Yu and Qin Huairu went to the courtyard house. The side room of the Jia family's house was stiflingly hot, like a steamer. Jia Zhangshi lay on the bed, her face sallow and her lips cracked. When she saw them enter, a complex emotion flickered in her eyes—guilt mixed with expectation.

Chen Yu took her pulse and examined her tongue. It was just ordinary heatstroke, compounded by her advanced age and weakened constitution.

He wrote out a prescription and told Jia Dongxu to get the medicine. Then he took out twenty yuan from his pocket and handed it to Jia Dongxu: "Take this and buy some tonics for your aunt."

Jia Dongxu was stunned. He took the money, his hands trembling slightly. "Chen Yu... thank you... thank you..."

"Don't thank me, Huai Ru sent me," Chen Yu said casually.

Madam Jia lay on the bed, looking at Qin Huairu, her eyes reddening. She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but in the end only whispered, "Huairu... I'm sorry..."

Qin Huairu walked over, took her hand, and patted it gently without saying anything.

It was already evening when we came out of the courtyard house.

The two walked through the alley, the afterglow of the setting sun warming them.

"Chen Yu," Qin Huairu suddenly said, "thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"Thank you for coming with me," Qin Huairu said softly. "No matter how bad she is, she's still my mother-in-law."

Chen Yu held her hand: "I know. No matter what, she's family."

Qin Huairu leaned on his shoulder and didn't say anything more.

When she got home, Ding Qiunan had already prepared dinner: congee, side dishes, and mung bean cakes that He Yuzhu had brought.

The three sat together, eating and chatting. Ding Qiunan's eyes shone with excitement as she talked about her reading experience that day.

"Brother Chen, I read the chapter on 'Guizhi Tang' today. It turns out that the five herbs—cinnamon twig, peony root, licorice root, ginger, and jujube—can be combined to harmonize the Ying and Wei (nutritive and defensive qi) and treat wind-cold exterior deficiency syndrome."

Chen Yu nodded: "Yes. Do you know why Guizhi Tang is called the 'crown of all prescriptions'?"

Ding Qiunan thought for a moment: "Because its ingredients are perfectly matched, it can be modified and adapted to create many different formulas?"

"That's right," Chen Yu said. "If you keep reading, you'll find that Ephedra Decoction, Kudzu Root Decoction, and Minor Blue Dragon Decoction are all derived from Cinnamon Twig Decoction with modifications. Understanding Cinnamon Twig Decoction is equivalent to understanding half of the Treatise on Cold Damage."

Ding Qiunan's eyes lit up even more, and she couldn't wait to go back and read her book.

Qin Huairu looked at her and laughed, "Qiu Nan, this girl, now her mind is full of medical books, she hardly goes to the shop anymore."

"Sister Qin, I'm at the shop all day!" Ding Qiunan quickly replied, "I only read at night."

"Just kidding," Qin Huairu laughed. "I know you're hardworking, you'll definitely amount to something in the future."

After dinner, Ding Qiunan cleared away the dishes. Chen Yu accompanied Qin Huairu to enjoy the cool air in the courtyard.

The moon rose, and its cool light spilled into the courtyard, casting the shadow of the pomegranate tree on the ground.

"Chen Yu," Qin Huairu suddenly asked, "what do you think our child should do in the future?"

Chen Yu thought for a moment: "Anything is fine. As long as he's happy and healthy."

"What if it's a boy?"

"Boys will learn cultivation from me," Chen Yu said. "If it's a girl, she'll learn to cook from you."

Qin Huairu laughed: "What if you had two?"

Chen Yu laughed too: "Then one of us will learn cultivation, and the other will learn to cook."

The two looked at each other and laughed, their laughter echoing in the night sky.

Inside the room, Ding Qiunan finished cleaning up the dishes and then picked up the book "Annotations on the Treatise on Febrile Diseases" and began to read it carefully under the lamp.

Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.

The courtyard was peaceful and serene.

On a midsummer night, everything was just right.