Chapter 172: Little Wan Discovers the Cubs
On the day Wei Wanlan ran away, the medicinal herbs he had gone to the pharmacy to procure right after leaving the palace had already run out.
Looking at the empty medicine box, Wei Wanlan was a bit bewildered. That anti-vomiting prescription was very effective; he couldn’t do without it for the time being. But buying medicine required going out, and going out meant potentially encountering government troops. Wei Wanlan felt extremely troubled.
His contest with the bad systemâthe result would be preliminarily decided in a week or two.
Wei Wanlan considered stopping this anti-vomiting medicine.
However, the moment this thought sprouted, he wanted to vomit. The psychological effect was far faster than the physiological reaction. Wei Wanlan was speechless.
He wanted to ask for help. But if he mobilized the secret guards, once those big brothers stepped out and faced the government troops, it would be comrades meeting comrades. He would be exposed in minutes. Not feasible.
He wanted to ask the landlady’s grandson to run the errand, but the little guy didn’t seem to have done his homework well recently. He was locked in his room by the old lady to study hard, only able to wait at the window for his grandmother to deliver meals. Wei Wanlan looked at the little guy through the window; he looked miserable.
“Sigh.” He sighed softly. Ancient children were also part of the rat race.
Wei Wanlan had to go out himself.
To buy medicine, one had to go to the West Market. It was morning now, the market had just opened. He wore a skirt, with a warm apricot-colored cloak over it, and hired a carriage in Chongren Ward to head straight for the West Market.
The driver’s gaze patrolled his face for a moment. Wei Wanlan quickly lowered his head, feeling awkward and at a loss. His toes curled tight inside his shoes, not knowing why the other party was looking at him.
He broke the silence and whispered, “Uncle, shall we go?”
“Hyaâ”
The carriage passed in front of the Regent’s Manor. Wei Wanlan cast a hurried glance.
The manor gates were unopened. The two stone lions in front of the Prince’s manor remained as before. He wanted to go down and touch the stone lions’ heads. He thought of the Regent holding his hand as they stepped over the threshold, and also thought of the Su Family Ancestral Hall they had worshipped in within the manor.
Wei Wanlan withdrew his gaze. Soon, the time was almost up.
It was inconvenient for vehicles to enter the West Market. The market was surging with people, shoulders rubbing against shoulders. The driver dropped Wei Wanlan by the roadside. Before leaving, he took another deep look at Wei Wanlan, making Wei Wanlanâs back feel cold.
Woo, run quickly!
Wei Wanlan lifted his skirt and pattered away from the spot.
He looked for a pharmacy as he ran. After just a few steps, his legs felt terribly heavy. Huffing and puffing, clutching his chest, he panted roughly for a while. Fortunately, he didn’t feel like vomiting yet. Looking back, he had shaken off that strange uncle.
Wei Wanlan breathed a temporary sigh of relief.
âBut why was he looking at Zhen?
“Step right up, take a look, ten copper coins for two rings, ring toss, ring toss…”
“Mommy, Mommy, I want to play!”
“So cute~”
The noise of the crowd was particularly lively at the intersection, with heads bobbing and figures swaying.
Wei Wanlan turned on his heel. He loved watching excitement. His eyes blinked, and he wanted to get close.
Inside the wall of people was a ring toss venue. The stall owner was very good at doing business. While others’ prizes were pots, pans, needles, thread, crafts, or sachets… the things to toss for at this stall were actually small animals.
Small turtles, little goldfish, little puppies. Palm-sized kittens sat in bamboo baskets, mewing softly.
Wei Wanlan liked these small animals too much.
A flower seemed to bloom softly in his heart. Wei Wanlan reflexively wanted to tug at the Regent’s sleeve. That cry of “Want to raise, want to raise, Regent quickly toss for it” was right on his lips, only to helplessly discover the Regent was not by his side.
He missed home a little. As he withdrew his gaze, he saw the stall owner was also looking at him.
Wei Wanlanâs heart tightened instantly, and he looked away from the stall owner.
The rings hanging on the stall owner’s left arm clattered, and his steps immediately moved a few inches toward the wall of people. Wei Wanlan hurriedly and warily dove into the crowd.
He ran very fast, quickly finding a corner to hide.
The ring toss owner was a few steps too late squeezing out of the wall of people. By then, he couldn’t find Wei Wanlanâs figure anymore and looked around blankly.
Everyone is looking at Zhen! Why are all these people so weird!
Quick, get the medicine, quick get the medicine…
At the West Market’s Huichun Hall, the smell of bitter herbs was thick upon entering. Three or four patients were waiting for diagnosis in front of the sitting doctor. Wei Wanlan didn’t need a consultation, just the medicine. He approached the counter to find a clerk, handing over the prescription Imperial Physician Fang had given him.
“Trouble you to fill these herbs.” He calculated the days; he didn’t want to show his face outside again. “Just give me forty packs.”
“Alright. Please wait.”
The clerk took a look. This prescription contained many precious Chinese medicinal herbs. Buying forty packs at once was evidently a lavish expenditure. The clerkâs attitude was exceptionally enthusiastic; he hurriedly ran to the medicine cabinet to grab the herbs.
Wei Wanlan was bored anyway, so he looked at the names of the medicines on the cabinet across the counter. Some sounded nice, and some were funny. His gaze locked onto the words on the cabinet: Wang Buliuxing (Cowherb), E Bushicao (Centipeda).
Zhen buyesi (Zhen won’t choke to death)!!!
Haha.
Just as he lowered his head to snicker, he found the clerk’s hands and feet were truly nimble. Forty packs of herbs were bundled up for him with hemp rope, tied neatly. His brows, eyes, and voice were full of the thoughtfulness reserved for meeting a big client:
“Little Lady, keep these safe. Forty packs of anti-vomiting fetus-soothing medicine. May your family’s Madam have a smooth delivery. We at Huichun Hall also have midwifery services. Midwife Feng is famous far and wide, and having her deliver brings good luck; out of ten times, nine times it’s a big fat boy…”
“What, did, you, say?”
It seemed he heard clearly.
Yet it also seemed he didn’t hear quite clearly.
Carrying these forty bags of medicine, Wei Wanlan suddenly felt the unbearable weight of life. He blinked very uncertainly, the fine hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
But the clerk thought the girl was inquiring about the midwife, so he retracted his exaggerated tone a bit. “Sigh, well, maybe not nine times a big fat boy, but seven or eight times is guaranteed.”
No no no, it’s not a question of a big fat boy.
It’s Zhen… Zhen has been drinking this kind of medicine!
His brain quickly audited Imperial Physician Fang’s medical ethics and felt there shouldn’t be a problem. Previously, stomach aches and fevers were also treated by Imperial Physician Fang. How could he suddenly prescribe a fetus-soothing prescription?
Could it be because he vomited too much, so he prescribed the pregnancy anti-vomiting formula to him?
Wei Wanlan still sought verification scientifically. “This prescription is for stopping vomiting. The Madam didn’t tell me it could also soothe the fetus. How can you tell it’s fetus-soothing medicine?”
“This Scutellaria, Atractylodes, and Dodder Seed are typical fetus-soothing medicines. Added with several herbs for stopping vomiting and adjusting flavor, it is a good formula for regulating discomfort during pregnancy and unstable fetal signs.” The clerk shook his head slightly, seeing Wei Wanlan was dressed as a young girl. “Little Lady, you will understand when you get married. Your family’s Madam has long had joy (is pregnant)!”
You, long, had, joy.
Zhenâ
Save me!!!
Zhen feels it’s unlikely QAQ…
It was hard to describe Wei Wanlan’s state of mind right now. His face suddenly burned scalding hot. He quickly paid the money and ran off carrying the medicine. While running, he was still thinking about how he could possibly be pregnant.
Nine years of compulsory education had told him, and the Regent had also told him: he was a little boy. Why was this happening???
Could it be because Zhen always called doing that thing “the baby-making thing,” so Zhen got what he said???
Unscientific!
The clerk at Huichun Hall might not be that reliable; ultimately, he needed to find a proper doctor.
Wei Wanlan decided to calm down first, then take the prescription to ask other clinics. Not far away, he found an apricot grove garden (Xinglin Yuan), which also wafted a strong herbal scent outside.
This time, he changed his questioning strategy. He took the prescription directly to the doctor, who happened to have no one in front of him. “Doctor, this is the prescription my Madam asked to be filled. Madam is worried the formula isn’t suitable, so she asked me to ask at a few more clinics. Could you take a look?”
The sitting doctor twirled a wisp of goatee, went over the prescription carefully, and said indifferently, “This prescription is stable and nourishing. It mainly treats nausea during pregnancy and has the effect of strengthening the constitution and soothing the fetus. It can be drunk. Your Madam must be having her first child, and her health isn’t very good; she shows signs of an unstable fetus.”
Wei Wanlan suddenly remembered the time he was with the army in Turkic territory, traveling day and night, exhausted.
Wei Wanlan: “Her stomach often hurt. Doctor, she took a fall once, and her stomach hurt unbearably then.”
“That is it,” the hall doctor analyzed. “The child should have already been conceived by then, only she didn’t know.”
Rewinding back to the time he and the Regent first did it…
Wei Wanlanâs face felt like it was going to explode!
If this book had a mpreg setting…
Two days and two nights, a full two days and two nights. He was pressed down and tossed about by the Regent endlessly. If one could really get pregnant, unless the Regent was impotent, he definitely could have conceived QAQ.
So the Regent was very potent, potent enough to install cubs in Zhenâs belly. Could there really be five of them inside here!!!
“Little Lady, your Madam currently cannot have mood swings that are too large. If a house call is needed, Xinglin Yuan can diagnose and treat the Madam at any time. Try to let her rest at home.”
“O-Okay!”
Wei Wanlan, whose mood swings were currently huge and who was still wandering the West Market, completely failed to follow the medical advice.
Now he was completely dumbfounded. He was carrying the Regent’s children. Little tiny dots that looked like Su Jingzhi and also like himself were inside his body.
From Turkic territory to the return to Chang’an, all his physical reactions seemed to match pregnancy symptoms.
Wei Wanlan still wouldn’t give up. He felt it was strange, yet there was a faint expectation he himself didn’t detect. His eyes darted around looking for other clinics in the West Market.
This time, letâs find a doctor to check the pulse.
He was still dressed as a young girl. If he stretched out his hand and was diagnosed with pregnancy, he would inevitably be treated as a joke. So this time he couldn’t go to a big place; he had to diagnose secretly. Finding that kind of itinerant doctor would do; checking for a “joyful pulse” was a basic operation.
Wei Wanlanâs gaze slid toward the wall.
There were fortune tellers, plaster sellers, a few beggars sitting at the base of the wall sunbathing, two yellow dogs strolling along the street…
He felt a bit helpless and curled his toes. Just then, he heard a voice speaking to him:
“Little Lady bought so many medicinal herbs. Does some pharmacy have a discount?”
It was an old man. His hair was gray, his clothes washed until faded white, with holes at the knees. His knees and spine were slightly bent; he was very hunched.
Wei Wanlan guessed the old man wanted to treat an illness like arthritis. “It was herbs from Huichun Hall. Grandpa, if you need medicine urgently, you can mention the Little Lady who just bought forty packs of fetus-soothing medicine. There should be a discount.”
After all, he counted as a big customer; the other party would surely be willing to build goodwill.
The old man beamed with joy and hurriedly cupped his hands. “Thank you, Little Lady, thank you, thank you…”
Wei Wanlan also guessed from this Grandpa’s attire that his conditions were likely not good. So he quickly asked in passing, “Grandpa, I want to find a doctor who doesn’t sit in a shop, to hire him into the manor to nurse the Madam’s health. Do you know where one is?”
The old man replied with a raspy voice:
“Walk straight along this road. Before the sun sets, you can see a thin itinerant doctor wearing a blue cloth shirt, holding a banner. He says he came from Luoyang and only recently entered Chang’an City.”
Wei Wanlan was about to say thank you.
The old man added, “Little Lady, slow down. Although this person is good at treating, his words are not pleasant. He has offended quite a few commoners in the vicinity recently. If not for seeing that this mad scholar truly has some skill, he probably would have been beaten out of the West Market long ago…”
The old man warned with good intentions.
Wei Wanlan thanked him, but didn’t care if the other party’s words were pleasant or not; he only wanted verification.
He hurried to run towards the doctor. Remembering something about “unstable fetus,” he didn’t dare move too vigorously. Suppressing the complex feelings in his heart, he found that doctor holding a banner. Sitting down without explanation, he placed his right wrist on the pulse diagnosis bag:
“Please take a look, have I fallen ill recently?”
Three thin, slender fingers placed themselves on his wrist. Merely feeling the pulse lightly, that person’s fingers suddenly trembled:
“You haven’t fallen ill, you have fallen into joy (have morning sickness/pregnancy). Congratulations, congratulations, Mrs. Su.”
Mrs. Su!?
Wei Wanlan quickly looked up, his deer-like eyes meeting a familiar face.
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