Pale Aunt Cho lies on the bed, covering her eyes. The windows in the room have already been opened, fresh air let in, the lamp removed along with all those fatty pieces of pork in sweet crispy crust, everything fatty and sweet. They brought some broth and brewed tea - Minmin is simply indispensable in such matters, everything goes smoothly in her hands when it comes to food.
Little Liling cautiously peeks out from behind her sister's shoulder. She examines a small porcelain figurine, turning it in her hands.
"What is this?" she asks. "A ritual thing? What does it serve? Clearly not for beauty..."
"It's a physician's figurine," Liling hurriedly explains. "Apparently that foolish Master Wu forgot it here, that's all."
"A physician's figurine?" Elder Sister Tai furrows her brow. "Does he play with dolls?"
"Tai Dajie!" Liling immediately blushes. "It's improper to ask such questions!"
"What nonsense altogether. Minmin, what is this thing?" asks Elder Sister Tai, and Liling feels a slight pang of offense - her elder sister again thinks she's stupid! But she's not stupid, she can tell, but it's too shameful! Improper! Indecent! But... Elder Sister said so herself - the Will of Heaven depends on being informed, and she, Liling, should be able to overcome unnecessary fear, cast aside shame and morality, right?
"This figurine..." Minmin begins, but Liling hastily interrupts her.
"The physician is a man and he's not allowed to see a naked woman. This figurine is used so that a sick woman can show on it where she hurts!" she blurts out, feeling herself blushing completely. She managed it!
"What barbarism. And how to find out the degree and intensity of pain? The area? No, this is no good at all, how can a physician treat someone without even touching them? What nonsense." says Elder Sister Tai and decisively removes the figurine from the table, hands it to Minmin. "Throw it away somewhere. Aunt Cho! It's me, Xiao Tai! Please wake up!"
The lying woman says nothing, only opens her eyes slightly.
"I see you can hear me. Aunt Cho, your stomach hurts, right? Let's do this - I'll press on your stomach, and you show me where it hurts, okay?" Elder Sister Tai, Tai Dajie - throws back the blanket and decisively lifts the undergarment. Liling restrains herself from turning away. Shameful, yes, but Xiao Tai says that shame is a rudiment of fear, it hinders qi development, concentration formation, and she's certainly right! She's the elder, and at such an age she already has more qi than papa! So she must overcome herself. And she watches as Tai Dajie for some reason kneads Aunt Cho's stomach with her hands like dough while asking questions about where it hurts and what kind of pain exactly. She mutters something about palpation of some Desjardins, about positive phrenic syndrome and something else. Liling is very ashamed that she doesn't know any of this, but she's already used to her elder sister being a genius who knows everything about everything - she even learned the entire Book of Torn Kingdoms in one day, and there are fifteen hundred chapters there!
"When did this start?" the elder sister asks aloud, and at first Liling doesn't understand who she's asking, since Aunt Cho lies with closed eyes and barely breathes. But a young servant steps forward and bows.
"Two days ago she felt unwell, and then took to bed right after lunch," the servant answers, and Liling makes a mental note - to learn her name. It wouldn't have occurred to her before, but now... sister explained to her that the difference between noble and ignoble, between princess and slave - is just a light breath of fate. Think with your own head, younger one, she used to say, tapping herself with a bamboo stick on her palm in rhythm with her words, think for yourself. Today you're a princess in a wealthy family, and tomorrow, for example, they catch your papa taking bribes or plotting against the authorities and that's it. You're on the street, without means of subsistence, all your property confiscated immediately, you'll be lucky to stay alive. What will you do? No, we're asking the wrong question. What can you do at all? Light a qi flame on your fingers and that's it? Who needs a cultivator with Elementary level? What else can you do? Weave baskets? Well done there, you surprised me, how did you learn that? I see, your wet nurse loved you in childhood, you learned with her. Good, Lili, suppose you won't die of hunger and won't go to a brothel for a piece of bread. But what will you be? A basket seller at the market - and that's at best. Why? I doubt that anyone can just go and take a place at the market, you still need to pay, buy a license or whatever you have here, a label, paiza... so most likely you'll weave baskets for someone, sell wholesale or work for food altogether. Should I tell you how the wealthy and noble treat such people? No? See, you understand everything yourself. The Will of Heaven is merciless and unpredictable, its ways are inscrutable, today you're a princess, and tomorrow you're already sitting in stocks on the square. And I'll tell you, those stocks are a stupid thing, your neck hurts and you can't scratch anywhere. Besides, remember the parable of the righteous servant and the treacherous servant? So, if your own servants treat you well, the chance that they'll sell information about you to enemies or poison you - decreases noticeably. These girls and boys who walk around us in blue-white servant robes - are not things, not objects, but people. Treat them with respect, because nothing costs so little and is valued so highly as politeness.
Liling remembered this speech of her elder sister, even though she didn't have such excellent memory as her. Therefore she looked at the young servant with interest. New with us, she's worried, she thought, look how pale she is, probably those chatterboxes from the common room again told her horrors about the difficult character of the Head's daughters and terrible punishments from the butcher behind the stable. And how don't they get tired of scaring the new ones?
"I could use an MRI or at least an X-ray here," Tai Dajie swears with incomprehensible words and Liling pulls herself together again. No shame, no indecent words, there's only the Goal.
"At first I thought pancreatitis, but now... let's see..." Xiao Tai extends her hands over Aunt Cho's bare stomach and closes her eyes. Liling stares with all her eyes - will sister show something new now? Her hands don't glow, but she feels waves of qi emanating from Tai Dajie, waves of qi of such density that goosebumps start running over her skin. She looks at her hands and sees that every small hair stood on end, like goose skin. An unusual sensation. Still, her elder sister is incredibly cool and strong.
"It's unusual to see everything like this," says the elder sister. "Confusing. Like a three-dimensional image... hmm. Everything's clear. Spasm, intestinal volvulus... did she eat fatty food? Something very fatty?"
"For lunch there was mutton in garlic sauce," the young servant answers. "The Senior Housekeeper asked to put more on her plate."
"And what did she drink? Tea?"
"I... don't know. Sorry, young lady," the servant bows.
"What's to guess," Minmin interjects in the conversation, who lately has taken to speaking without permission, having understood that she won't get any whips from these two. "Aunt Cho adores cold berry juice from pine berries. She can specially send for ice to the ice cellar, or even go herself."
"There's the diagnosis..." Tai Dajie grumbles under her breath. "She ate fatty mutton, a lot of fatty mutton, washed it down with cold juice. Only dog fat solidifies faster than mutton fat at room temperature. That's how northern nomads send old people on their last journey. They give them a pot of mutton fat and spring water to wash it down. It was probably hard to wash the dishes after the mutton, they immediately got covered with a fatty crust? Well, that's how it is in her intestines now. Second day already! And most likely Aunt Cho still has pancreatitis."
"Will she die?" Liling asks the first question that comes to mind and immediately scolds herself - what lack of restraint, elder sister taught - first think about the question, then open your mouth.
"What can be done?" asks Minmin, and her question is strictly business. No panic "she'll die now," just - "is it possible to do something."
"What did the physician say?" Xiao Tai asks the servant. She lowers her head and says that the physician didn't speak with her, however she heard that he told Lady Mei that Aunt Cho was possessed by the Red Demon of Hell Mountain, and therefore she should be kept warm and her feet put in hot water, cauterize the Jing, Shu, Yuan and He points on each meridian and give cold drink to drive out the demon. He also prescribed pills from bear oil and dog liver, and also to anoint the crown with oil. Sesame. However, he said that things were bad and most likely Aunt Cho... she shakes her head.
"Specialist. Such specialists should be driven out by the neck," says Xiao Tai and shakes her head. "If it were earlier, we'd just have given her hot tea to drink, but now... surgical intervention is needed, and I have neither instruments nor an operating room... and assistants..." she glances at Liling and Minmin standing nearby. An evaluating look that seems to say "no, you can't make porridge with them." Such distrust from her elder sister is discouraging, like being slapped in the face with a wet rag. Liling blushes. She doesn't intend to retreat! She must act, as her elder sister taught her - don't be afraid to question the decisions of authorities. Sometimes even those who are older and smarter don't see the obvious solution.
"Elder Sister Tai!" Liling steps forward. "If there's a possibility to save Aunt Cho, please save her!"
"Young Lady Xiao Tai! Please make every effort!" Minmin bows, and Liling involuntarily experiences some strange feeling toward this commoner. She supported her. They are together. If necessary - they'll even kneel, they'll beg. Because all these moral norms in society only hinder, it costs her nothing now to stand like this, and for this Minmin it's nothing new.
"You don't understand what you're asking. How will I perform abdominal surgery in this wilderness? Besides, it's been two days since the volvulus happened... and this isn't the sigmoid colon where you can manage with an enema, this is the small intestine, you need to work with jewelry precision there... what if it doesn't work out? How will I look?" she looks doubtfully at Aunt Cho. "Really..."
"But..." Liling chokes with an acute feeling of helplessness. I should kneel, she thinks, like before papa that time, kneel and let her beat me, refuse to get up and that's it. Maybe...
"If the young lady tells what exactly she needs to cure Aunt Cho, this worthless one will make every effort," says Minmin. There, thinks Liling, she's right again. No need to stand on knees, need to provide the necessary material. Not try to pressure with pity and shift responsibility, but show that they're ready to help and share this responsibility.
"Tai Dajie! Minmin is right! I... no, we, we'll get everything needed for her treatment! Everything!"
"I see you're seriously determined," Xiao Tai sighs, raises her hand and scratches her head like some commoner, not a lady from a noble house. "To hell with it. But... I must warn you, there are no guarantees of complete recovery... what am I saying, I don't even promise she'll live. But that if we do nothing, she'll die - that's absolutely certain."
"So we must do something!" Liling hurries to finish the thought. "Right?"
"Right," her elder sister nods and her face darkens. "But do you understand what you're getting into... well, never mind. I won't spread responsibility among those present anymore, this is my decision and I made it alone. The most important thing I need is for no one to pass through this door for at least four hours, maybe less, maybe more - until I say so."
"I can do that," Liling nods. "I'll stand in the doorway, lay down my bones, but won't let anyone through."
"When I say no one - I mean no one. Absolutely no one. Even Head Baoshu. Even the Emperor himself. Is that clear?" Xiao Tai says slowly, pronouncing each word.
"Even if the Head..." Liling wants to say that the Head can pass wherever he wishes, but meets her elder sister's gaze and nods. "No one will pass through this door."
"I need assistants. And preferably ones who won't faint at the sight of blood and intestines," Xiao Tai continues.
"You have such assistants, young lady," says Minmin. "I grew up in a village."
"What else... a very sharp knife, preferably with a small blade and comfortable handle. You can ask Uncle Weidun for his small knife. I also need strong rice wine, even vodka. A lot of vodka. Fabric, white cotton. A lot of fabric. Hmm... hairpins like yours, not pins but ones that are like tweezers. And silk threads. A needle, several needles. Preferably curved, if not, I'll bend them myself. Ropes. And... lamps that are activated with qi, big ones that hang in the hall. That's about everything... oh yes, do you have poppy decoction here? Or chloroform? No... well, never mind. I'm just asking for the future, Aunt Cho is unconscious anyway. Oh yes, also bring a coal from the hearth. And the faster you bring all this - the better. One should stay, we need to do wet cleaning here."
"I'll send someone with a bucket and rag," Minmin nods, but Xiao Tai shakes her head negatively.
"The fewer people know what I'm doing here - the better. Gossip spreads through the house like wildfire, it'll reach Lady Mei, and from there to the Head. We don't need such hockey."
"What is hockey?" Liling asks, her elder sister talks about it so often. Don't need, she says, we don't need such hockey and that's it. And what kind is needed? And is this hockey a necessary thing or not? There, Minmin probably thinks - is it edible or not and can it be cooked in oil in her bronze pot.
"Hockey is a good thing," says Xiao Tai, covering Aunt Cho with a sheet. "But not all of it. Sometimes it's such that we don't need it at all. We need the right hockey. Why are you sitting around, do you want to save Aunt Cho? Get moving and run, first bring rice vodka and the stronger the better. Take jugs with red squares, there's such poison that Uncle Weidun's eyes pop out."
"Tsungming, Tai da-jiang!" Liling nods briefly, using the military "yes sir" and the address "da-jiang," meaning "general." Yes sir, my general! The three of them - she, Minmin and the young servant - fly out the door to get everything necessary as quickly as possible.
"So! Minmin, you go to Weidun for the knife, then get fabric, say I ordered it. And you... what's your name?" Liling turns to the young one and sees her startle from surprise.
"I'm a cleaner in the noble house, they asked me to sit with the Senior Housekeeper!" she bows and Liling irritably snaps her fingers.
"What's your name?" she asks a simple question.
"Younger Zhilan, my lady."
"Good name. Zhilan, you're with me, help bring jugs of rice vodka. Oh yes, and also remove the lamps in the main hall." To herself Liling notes that she still learned this servant's name. Now not to forget. Zhilan, Zhilan... interesting how she'll later explain to father why she removed the lamps in the main hall? On one hand it's good that Xiao Tai took everything on herself, but that's not fair. They pressured her, so everyone should answer. Although, this is sister showing by example, as in the Book of Torn Kingdoms - "the commander answers for every soldier under his command." Same here.
"Enough blinking, Zhilan. Follow me!"
"Yes, young lady!"