The Fallen Medicine Woman: The Daily Life of Chun Nuan-Chapter 272 - 180:

Xiao Hu brought Chun Nuan to see Aunt Ma.

This was also a house with three rooms, but the difference was that theirs was much more spacious and bright, and there were fewer people living there.

"Grandpa Ma and Grandma Ma live in the village with some children, while Uncle Ma and Aunt Ma live here," Xiao Hu said. "Aunt Ma is the best. Sister, you must save her."

"Alright, I will do my best."

As soon as Xiao Hu entered the door, he shouted, "Aunt Ma, I brought Sister to see you for your illness."

"Who is it?"

A weak voice came from the inner room: "There’s no one else at home, come in."

"Auntie, it’s me, I’m Xiao Hu," Xiao Hu lifted the curtain to let Chun Nuan in first. "Auntie, Uncle Ma said you are ill. My sister can diagnose, she’s here to help treat your illness."

The room was still well-lit, and Chun Nuan immediately saw the woman on the bed with a big pregnant belly.

"Xiao Hu," the woman said weakly, "It’s been a long time since we last met. Where... did this sister come from?"

Xiao Hu had been an orphan since childhood, with both parents deceased, needing only to feed himself. The sisters he referred to were the village girls, but this one in front of her was clearly different.

"She’s my newly arrived sister, very skilled at treating illnesses."

"You child..." Aunt Ma sighed, "I’m afraid my illness is incurable."

"Aunt Ma, your belly is so big, are you expecting a little brother or sister again?"

Xiao Hu also noticed Aunt Ma’s protruding belly: "When will he be born? I want to play with him, I’ll protect him and not let anyone bully him."

"That’s very thoughtful of you. I don’t know when he’ll be born either," Aunt Ma said with a bitter smile. "I’ve been pregnant for over two years, yet he’s not yet born, constantly draining my blood. Look at me, I’m as thin as a vine."

"I probably owe him from a previous life. He’s come to drink my blood and take my life."

"Aunt Ma, let me feel your pulse."

Chun Nuan sat down and had Aunt Ma extend her right hand for a pulse diagnosis.

Sure enough, it was as she suspected.

"Aunt Ma, you are not pregnant."

"If I’m not pregnant, then why is my belly so big?" Aunt Ma was skeptical, "I noticed my belly getting bigger since last New Year’s. I thought it was embarrassing at this age to be pregnant again, but as time went by, the months and belly grew without a birth."

Immediately, everyone at the mining site said she carried a monster fetus.

People usually carry for ten months, but she had carried for two ten months without any sign.

"And now my belly is getting bigger and harder, making it difficult even to get out of bed or eat..."

Previously, she had carried seven and birthed six, but it had never been like this.

"Have you still had your periods during these over two years?"

This question made Aunt Ma a little embarrassed to turn back.

She turned to look at Xiao Hu.

"Xiao Hu, go outside and boil some water for your sister to drink."

"Oh, okay."

Xiao Hu wondered what Aunt Ma was thinking, avoiding him? What hasn’t he seen yet? Never mind, if he doesn’t listen, so be it, as long as sister can cure her illness.

After Xiao Hu went out, Aunt Ma spoke.

"My periods stopped very early, at thirty-eight I no longer had them," Aunt Ma said, "I even thought, after stopping for five years and getting pregnant again, this is really a late-born child."

The emperor loves the firstborn, the people love the youngest.

They also liked late-born children.

Chun Nuan understood well that it was simply ignorance.

Once women stop having their periods, the chance of conception is greatly reduced.

Especially in her case, having been stopped for five years.

"You have a growth in your belly, it’s not pregnancy, it’s a disease."

Such a disease, let alone in this remote Northern Desert, even in the Capital there would be cases like this, though none as severe as hers.

"A disease? What kind of disease do I have?"

Aunt Ma had always thought it might be a stillborn, unable to come down.

The doctors all said there was no way, unwilling to prescribe labor-inducing medicine, saying it didn’t feel like a slippery pulse, randomly prescribing medicine risked causing trouble.

The result was that it grew larger, getting very hard, and unable to be delivered.

"Cold evil invaded the intestines’ exterior, entangling with the body’s defensive qi, preventing regular qi flow. Cold evil and defensive qi stagnated deep within the body, attaching to the intestine’s exterior, gradually growing into polyps," Chun Nuan explained. "Initially, it was the size of an egg, but as the illness progressed, the mass became larger, and when fully formed, the abdomen swelled as if pregnant."

"Pressing on it, the mass is very hard and movable when pushed."

"Yes, yes, it is moving," Aunt Ma said. "Press and see."

Chun Nuan pressed on it, causing Aunt Ma to cry out in pain.