The Prime Minister’s Darling-Chapter 427 - : 216 Foster Mother (Second Update)
Chapter 427: 216 Foster Mother (Second Update)
The business at the Medical Hall only remained slow for one day, and the number of patients increased again the next day, with those who had been previously treated gradually being dismissed from the hospital.
Jiang Shi was still in treatment.
He was the most severely injured patient in the accident. Just a few days ago, he successfully passed the critical period, and his current situation was good, with visible improvements every day.
His voice was also gradually recovering, he could occasionally utter a few words hoarsely.
Gu Jiao learned that his name was Jiang Shi, a native of Yuxian, 21 years old, with a sister named Jiang Li, who was eight years old.
They had experienced a famine in their village, their parents, and family members all starved to death, only he and his sister survived.
The two of them were sold by people and were traded many times. Actually, they could be sold at a better price if they were separated, but Jiang Shi did not want to part with his sister.
By a stroke of luck, they were sold to the Capital City, where he worked as an undocumented laborer for the Ministry of Works.
The wages for undocumented laborers were not high, but by living frugally, it was barely enough to feed his sister.
From Jiang Shi, Gu Jiao learned that there were many undocumented laborers like him. It was a bit of luck to be able to work for the government, some were not bought by corrupt government officials, but were sold to some unscrupulous workshops, which was truly miserable.
Such undocumented laborers in the Capital City did not have a household registration or a travel permit. Although the government paid for their medical expenses and made up some wages for them, they all had to leave the Capital City after they recovered.
Gu Jiao set up today’s IV drip for Jiang Shi.
Jiang Li was not in the ward, she had gone to help in the Grand Hall.
The little girl had already become familiar with the people at the Medical Hall and understood that they would not hurt her. She gradually let down her guard and would help when there were many people.
She was helping to pack some medicine bags today. She was not particularly swift, but she was thorough.
As Gu Jiao was observing Little Jiang Li, Dr. Song suddenly walked over and laughed, saying, “The little girl is very diligent in her work, she can already recognize quite a few medicinal materials. She’s much better than I was at her age.”
As they were talking, a carriage arrived from outside the door.
The four attendants were all riding tall horses and it was obvious that the person inside the carriage was of high status.
Sure enough, the carriage curtain was lifted, and a glamorous and prestigious young lady stepped down.
If it’s not the Princess of Rui, then who could it be?
Having met Gu Jiao once at the Stone Arch Bridge on New Year’s Day, the Princess of Rui never appeared again.
With the assistance of two of her female attendants, she got out of the carriage and impatiently waved them off, “Enough, stop holding me. I have my hands and feet!”
“But you need to be careful,” said the female officer, Xu.
Ignoring her, the Princess of Rui walked into the Grand Hall, saw Gu Jiao, and broke into a delighted smile, “Miss Gu!”
Gu Jiao gave a slight nod.
The Princess of Rui glanced around, then walked up and took Gu Jiao’s hand, “Can we go sit in your courtyard?”
“Sure.” Gu Jiao told Dr. Song, “I’ll leave this place to you.”
“Ah,” Dr. Song replied, giving the Princess of Rui a salute.
While the patients here were unaware of the Princess’s identity, he was.
The Princess of Rui didn’t pay him much attention and she and Gu Jiao walked toward the courtyard.
The two of them sat down.
Gu Jiao poured her a cup of tea.
However, the Princess of Rui did not drink it. Instead, she said, “I’m sorry for not coming to see you for so long. It was only after I returned from the Imperial Palace on New Year’s Day that I found out I was pregnant. The maids wouldn’t let me out, so they locked me up for two months!”
The maids were following the wishes of the Grand Princess. They had to wait until the foetus was three months old before they could announce it or go out.
“Congratulations.” Gu Jiao said.
A shy expression appeared on the Princess of Rui’s face: “It’s my first pregnancy after several years of marriage with His Highness, can you check my pulse for me?”
Gu Jiao took her pulse: “The pulse is very steady.”
The Princess of Rui showed an unusually naïve and radiant smile: “The imperial physician said the same, but I’m not reassured by his words. I feel reassured if you say it!”
She suddenly remembered something, “By the way, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for last time. If you hadn’t warned me to prepare in advance, I wouldn’t have been able to save those people who fell into the lake.”
Gu Jiao said, “I just told you. It’s your merit that they were saved since you believed me. You don’t have to thank me.”
The Princess of Rui opened her mouth: “Ah….”
How could she reply to that?
Gu Jiao calmly asked, “Did you come here today just to check your pulse and thank me?”
The Princess of Rui gave an embarrassed smile: “Actually, there is something else. I would like to invite you for a house call. I know I’m being very abrupt, I should have told you earlier. But I found out today when I went to the palace to pay a visit to the Emperor and the Empress, I’m not reassured by anyone else going…”
That was Gu Jiao, she would only act on kindness but not on threats.
If the Princess of Rui oppressed her with power, she would have refused early on. However, when the Princess of Rui stared at her like a pair of doe eyes, she sighed and gave in.
“You are the best!” The Princess of Rui, along with Gu Jiao, seated herself in her carriage.
Gu Jiao’s patient was the current emperor’s mother, who did not live in the imperial palace but in a nunnery near Puji Temple.
She too had to cross that river.
Suo Bridge had been repaired, but would not be able to withstand the weight of a carriage, so they had to use the Stone Arch Bridge instead.
The carriage stopped outside the nunnery.
They both got off the carriage.
The Princess of Rui asked her lady-in-waiting to wait outside while she led Gu Jiao into the nunnery.
The nunnery was small, and there were not many nuns; they only saw two.
“Is the Empress Dowager here?” The Princess of Rui asked.
“Yes, please come this way, Princess.” A young nun led the Princess of Rui and Gu Jiao to a meditation room in the backyard.
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A suppressed cough came from inside the room.
The Princess of Rui’s heart tightened, she walked over, lifting her skirt: “Mother Empress Dowager! How are you?”
In front of the bed, an old maid gave a bow to the Princess of Rui: “Princess.”
The Princess of Rui sat down by the bedside, holding the thin hand of the coughing individual: “How did you become so ill?”
“Cough…why are you here? I am fine…it’s just an old illness…cough…” she coughed severely.
Gu Jiao walked in with a small basket on her back.
Her gaze fell on the patient, it was an elderly lady who had started her monastic life, about the same age as her grandmother-in-law. Her graceful face still gave glimpses of her youthful beauty.
“Who is this…” The patient turned her gaze to Gu Jiao.
“Empress Dowager, this is my friend, Miss Gu. Her medical skills are very good! She is here to treat you!” The Princess of Rui told her, and then turned to Gu Jiao, “Miss Gu, this is Empress Dowager Jing.”
Gu Jiao nodded.
She was not in the habit of bending down and saluting others.
Since Empress Dowager Jing had already become a nun, she did not care about this. She covered her face and coughed twice, saying to Gu Jiao: “Since you are Qianqian’s friend, be at ease, I am not Empress Dowager anymore, you can call me Nun Jing’an.”
Gu Jiao felt Nun Jing’an’s pulse and examined her body: “Nun, have you always had asthma?”
Nun Jing’an was quite surprised that such a young girl could diagnose she was having an asthma attack, but given her age, she wasn’t easily astonished.
She said, “Yes, it’s an old illness. It gets the worst in spring.”
“Can it be cured?” The Princess of Rui looked at Gu Jiao.
“It is hard to eradicate completely, but it can be managed.” Gu Jiao opened her first aid kit, took out some asthma medication and an inhaler for Nun Jing’an, explained how to use them and some precautions to take in her daily life.
Nun Jing’an thanked Gu Jiao.
The Princess of Rui and Nun Jing’an talked for a while, leaving only when Nun Jing’an was too tired to continue.
On the way back in the carriage, the Princess of Rui sighed deeply: “Empress Dowager’s life is so pitiful, why is she taking such pain?”
Empress Dowager Jing was the emperor’s foster mother. The emperor’s real mother had a humble background and was a only a minor palace maid, which didn’t qualify her to raise a prince. The moment the emperor was born, he was adopted under the name of Jing.
At that time, Jing was just a concubine of the emperor. A few years later, she had a princess which elevated her status to an Empress.
Empress Jing was a mild and kind woman, she was neither jealous nor mischievous in the imperial harem.
Perhaps it was her non-competitive nature that the Empress Dowager at the time chose her foster child as the emperor over the other princes.
However, she too made sacrifices.
Since the emperor was adopted by her, he became her son. After he ascended the throne, she should have been named the Empress Dowager.
But would the Grand Empress Dowager allow another Empress Dowager in the palace?
Hence, the story of Empress Jing missing the late emperor, wanting to become a nun and chant sutras for him every day, came to be.
“However, there is another saying among the people.” The Princess of Rui did not regard Gu Jiao as an outsider. She did not have a little sister of her own, and Gu Jiao was the first, and she single-sidedly recognized her.
She went on to say: “Empress Dowager Jing has someone she loves, and she didn’t care about being empress dowager, she requested to become a nun on her own.”
She had never shared this with even her own sister, Du Xiaoyun.
Of course, the main reason was that Du Xiaoyun talks too much and she has an unthinking bias towards the crown princess.
