Chapter 21: The First Victory

The husband was more anxious still. This was their last hope. If it failed, his wife was doomed.

He held her, calling softly to her again and again. His mother stood nearby, shoulders hunched and hands tucked into her sleeves, looking rather indifferent.

Time dragged. Cold sweat beaded Zuo Shaoyang’s forehead. The man kept glancing from Zuo Gui to him, as though asking why nothing had happened.

Zuo Gui’s face revealed nothing. Zuo Shaoyang managed an awkward smile and tried to look confident, but inwardly he was losing faith by the moment.

Then the woman suddenly arched and gave a long scream, a thin, chilling sound like wind squeezing through a crack.

“Ah! It hurts! My belly—it hurts!”

All three panicked.

Her husband held her tighter and looked at Zuo Gui.

“Doctor, what… what’s happening?”

“Ah?” Zuo Gui pulled his hands from his sleeves in alarm. “Well…”

But hope had flared in Zuo Shaoyang.

He bent close. “What do you feel?”

She clutched her swollen belly, groaning and screaming.

“Pain! Ah—it’s… coming… ah, it hurts!”

A foul smell rose between her legs. Dark, blood-stained amniotic fluid began to flow.

Zuo Shaoyang was almost dancing with joy.

“It’s working! The baby’s coming! Push! Take your time breathing. Yes, like that! Push!”

At last everyone understood.

Madam Liang rushed into the room.

“Zhong! You men, out! The women outside—come in and help! Huixiang, hot water! Straw and coarse paper too! Quickly!”

The husband hurriedly laid his wife down and dashed outside.

“It’s coming! Please, come and help her!”

Confusion filled the shop. Some cried, some laughed; no one knew what to do.

“Go in and help!” Huixiang urged. “I’ll bring water. There’s hot water in the pot already. The paper’s on the counter, straw in the kitchen. Go!”

The older and younger women came to life. Some ran for straw, others for paper, while the rest crowded into the room, calling, “Push! Harder!”

Soon the supplies were inside and the women shut the door. The noise subsided.

The old man wept for joy. Holding his son’s hand, he stood outside, shouting encouragement through the wood as though that could help. Whether it did was another matter.

Amid the frantic activity, Zuo Shaoyang found himself standing forgotten and almost at ease. He looked at his father, who still seemed unable to grasp what was happening.

A little later, excited cries came from within.

“It’s out! The dead baby’s out! Oh, child, even in death you meant to take your mother with you? What an unfilial little thing…”

Weeping followed. It sounded like the mother. She was grieving for the baby who had died inside her, with no thought for how narrowly she herself had escaped death.

Those in the hall cheered.

Zuo Shaoyang grinned helplessly.

During university, he had trained at a well-known hospital of Chinese medicine, copying prescriptions for a respected old physician. For simple cases, his teacher had let him try identifying the pattern, making a diagnosis and prescribing, then corrected his mistakes. He had cured patients that way, but chiefly ordinary illnesses, rarely anything difficult. He had attended consultations on critical cases, but never had the opportunity to treat one himself.

This time he had judged independently, prescribed independently and brought a dying patient back from the brink.

The joy of success was so overwhelming that he scarcely knew what to do with himself.

His father craned towards the closed bedroom door, head raised and hands hanging loosely.

“Has it… really come out?”

“Yes, Father! Your medicine worked beautifully.”

“Ah?”

Zuo Gui’s delight was impossible to hide, but bewilderment outweighed even that.

Presently the door opened. A woman came out carrying something heavy wrapped in an apron. She looked around, her voice catching.

“A… a boy. Poor little thing…”

“How’s my wife?” the husband asked urgently.

“She’s all right. Still inside. Don’t go in yet. It’s a mess.”

He could not have cared less. He rushed in and gathered his wife into his arms. She clung round his neck and sobbed against him.

The women urged her to stop: crying during the confinement month would damage her eyes. At last she quietened.

Once everything was tidied, they carried her back into the hall on the door. A towel was wrapped round her forehead, and the quilt drawn up to her nose so that only her eyes showed.

Her husband knelt before Zuo Gui and knocked his head against the floor.

“Thank you for saving her, master physician!”

Zuo Gui hastened to lift him.

He was still stunned. How could a purgative have delivered a dead baby? Where had this miraculous good fortune come from? Had he stumbled onto the answer? Had Heaven opened its eyes?

“Father,” Zuo Shaoyang said, “examine her again and see whether she’s all right. Then prescribe a couple of doses to help her recover after childbirth.”

“Yes, please,” the elder and his son said together. “Something to strengthen her!”

Zuo Gui crouched beside her. The husband drew her arm from beneath the quilt. After taking her pulse and asking how she felt, the physician smiled.

“She’s out of danger. Let her rest at home. Keep her from draughts and exertion, and don’t let her touch cold water.”

They agreed eagerly.

He returned happily to his table and wrote a restorative prescription. Zuo Shaoyang checked it. This one was sound and balanced; nothing needed changing. He dispensed it exactly as written, wrapped it and handed it to the old man.

The elder thanked him, exchanged a look with his son and hesitated.

“How much… for the medicine?”

Zuo Shaoyang smiled and leaned close, speaking quietly.

“Normally, we’d charge our usual rate. We’ve no right to ask for more. But the shop has run into… a little trouble recently, and we urgently need money. So… well, I’m sorry to ask.

“You mentioned selling your house and fields. We don’t want that. Just give whatever you can. More if you have it, less if you don’t. Think of it as helping us out. We won’t complain that it isn’t enough.”

“Of course.”

The old man nodded gratefully and took out his purse. His son had already produced his own and passed it over.

Weighing both in his hand, the elder lowered his head and approached Zuo Gui apologetically.

“You’ve saved my daughter-in-law’s life. I’m ashamed. I told your son we’d go home and sell our fields and house, everything…”

His wife coughed heavily behind him and glared.

He plainly feared her. A little shudder passed through him.

“This is all we brought. It’s hardly worthy of your kindness, but please accept it as your fee. When things are easier for us…”

His wife suddenly stepped forward and snatched both purses.

“Let me see how much is in there!”

She pulled one open and peered inside.

“More than two hundred wen! Are those few packets of rubbish worth all that? I could buy the ingredients myself and return them!”

The words grated on Zuo Shaoyang.

“That’s hardly fair, ma’am.”

“Am I wrong? Show me the prescription! We’ll see what it costs. Your drawers all have prices. I’m not trying to take advantage. I’ll add it up herb by herb. Give me the prescription!”

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