The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 2068 - 2043: Examination

Madam Tang touched her belly, thinking to herself, especially since one fetal heartbeat is still so faint that Zhou Man had to listen carefully to discern it.

Manbao is pondering the same thing; one child is hard enough to deliver, let alone two.

With such a weak fetal heartbeat from one child, who knows whether it can be preserved, and it will still need care after birth, which is equally challenging.

Manbao contemplated, but did not show it on her face, and smiled at Madam Tang, saying, "I’ll take you to see Doctor Xiao this afternoon."

Madam Tang nodded.

Manbao then took her hand and said, "Let’s go, we’ll take a walk in the garden, and we’ll have lunch at Changxuan later."

After escorting her to the garden, Manbao wrote a note to Doctor Xiao, indicating she would bring a patient for a visit in the afternoon.

Then she sent someone to deliver it to the Xiao family. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Zhou Liru and Liu Sanniang were also in the garden, along with Ms. Cheng and Manbao’s Sixth Sister-in-law, the three pregnant women sat together chatting.

Liu Huan and Bai Erlang leaned against each other, with Wei Chen standing nearby, and the three of them shook their heads at Bai Shan, saying, "From now on, things will be different for us."

Liu Huan said, "We are dressed in white."

Bai Erlang continued, "He is in a green robe."

Wei Chen said wistfully, "He might even wear purple in the future."

Bai Shan asked, "Did you eat sour fruits when you entered?"

"No, but now we did."

Yin Huo stood nearby, smiling as he watched them.

Bai Shan turned his head and said to him, "Let’s go, didn’t you want to see the peonies?"

"By the way, the peony flowers in the corner of our garden have bloomed. Although they look a bit ugly, peonies blooming at this time are indeed rare. Would you like to take a look?" Bai Erlang asked his friends.

Of course, everyone nodded, replying, "Sure, sure."

Madam Tang listened curiously and asked, "Your garden has peonies blooming at this time of year?"

Manbao nodded and said, "They don’t look good; they are mutated. But the weather now is similar to early spring, just cold, yet not too cold, so it might have mistaken the season, thus it bloomed, which is still quite normal."

What normalcy? One should bloom in warm spring, the other in icy winter, even if temperatures are similar, other conditions are not, right?

Madam Tang felt she was being vague and asked, "Were they a rare variety you bought?"

"No," Manbao was quite certain about this; if so, she wouldn’t just announce and let people know, she’d secretly pinch it out instead. She said, "It’s from last year, hmm, seemed like something given by someone, not a particularly expensive type. My garden lacked flowers, so I planted it, and it was quite pretty when it bloomed in early spring. But who knew it would bloom again now, perhaps due to the wrong season, with some sparse petals. Except for being ugly, there’s no other flaw."

Madam Tang said, "Flowers should be appreciated for their beauty. If they’re ugly, what other qualities do they have?"

"It still has good color on the petals, which can be ground to make other things with the flower juice."

The County Magistrate Tang sat nearby, afraid they’d start arguing. Mainly because Madam Tang’s temper had been pretty bad recently due to pregnancy, making his days somewhat challenging. So he hurriedly changed the topic, saying, "Bai Shan has passed the imperial examination to become a Jinshi, have you sent a letter to Zhangbo yet?"

Manbao said, "Sending a letter just to talk about this seems too vain." It makes them look like they are boasting.

"But I estimated that my fourth brother and the others went to the grasslands in July, now it’s late October, they should be back. So I wrote a letter yesterday to send to Xiazhou, asking Senior Brother Yang to take care of them, and if there’s anything, he could bring it back with my fourth brother."

Tang He understood, this is called low-key boasting. He and Manbao exchanged a glance, thinking she handled it well, and said, "Xiazhou is close to the grasslands, there are plenty of cattle and horses there, and seemingly lots of furs, including good fox skins, and even tiger skins."

Manbao said solemnly, "The friendship between gentlemen is as lightly as water; we won’t accept such lavish gifts from Senior Brother Yang."

Madam Tang couldn’t help but laugh at her words, saying with a smile, "I heard from Zhihe that you are planning to go on an educational tour; since the weather is cold now, he sent you excellent fur. But considering the friendship between gentlemen as lightly as water..."

Manbao righteously declared, "That’s different, Senior Brother Tang and Bai Shan are as close as brothers."

Even Tang He couldn’t help but laugh, pointing to her teasingly, "You, you."

"But how did you know we were planning an educational tour?"

After thinking for a moment, Senior Brother Tang replied, "I heard from Deputy General Jiang, didn’t Bai Shan mention it?"

Deputy General Jiang is Yin Li’s subordinate and probably heard from Yin Li.

Manbao thought about it; indeed, they didn’t hide their educational tour plans from Yin Huo.

Thus, she let the matter pass.

After lunch, Yin Huo and the others stayed to play with Bai Shan and the others, while Feng Zongping brought out arrows for a pot-throwing game.

They also began questioning Manbao’s three students from the Western Regions, almost prying into secrets of the former Gaochang royal family.

Sure enough, they heard some stories; back in the Western Regions, they were apprentices to shamans and were selected to study medicine in the capital due to their promising skills.

Originally they came for the charms and incantations taught at the Imperial Medical Academy, but those classes were limited, whereas there were plenty of other courses.

Due to language barriers, they struggled greatly in their studies.

While other students needed only five years, these foreign students might need eight to nine years to complete their studies due to the difficulty.

Luckily, they had memorized acupuncture points, and when they touched the human body, they discovered remarkable effects, which kept them motivated, otherwise they’d have wanted to return home by now.

Although the Gaochang royal family no longer exists, they still hold it in high regard, and Bai Shan and the others adjust their attitude, refraining from being frivolous, and even when asking about minor secrets, they maintained a respectful demeanor.

Manbao left them to chat while she took Lord Tang and Madam Tang to see Doctor Xiao.

Doctor Xiao was also resting and had been waiting at home since receiving Manbao’s note.

After examining Madam Tang’s pulse, Doctor Xiao looked at Zhou Man, then stroked his beard and smiled at Madam Tang, saying, "Not bad, only since it’s twins, the previous diet was not appropriate, the children aren’t getting enough nutrition. Here, I’ll give you a dietary plan, and I’ll discuss with Imperial Doctor Zhou to prescribe a non-harmful medicinal formula to nourish the children, how about that?"

Madam Tang worriedly asked, "Will the children become too big with the supplements?"

Doctor Xiao chuckled, "They won’t, with Imperial Doctor Zhou here, she can palpate the fetus, and we can adjust the formula anytime. Right now, the children are somewhat malnourished."

Madam Tang breathed a sigh of relief and agreed with a smile.

So Doctor Xiao rose with a smile and went to discuss the prescription with Zhou Man.

After Doctor Xiao went out for a while, Madam Xiao brought the family’s daughters-in-law and daughters to meet Madam Tang, and they all talked animatedly about children.

Lord Tang took the opportunity to sneak away.