There's Something Wrong With My Little White Flower - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Princess of a Weak Nation in a Peace Marriage X Barbarian General

Jiang Peifeng first smoothed Ruan Jiyun’s hair, confirming that the bump hadn’t hurt her, then asked loudly: “Anjisa, what happened?”

The commotion outside had subsided. A moment later, Anjisa’s voice came through: “General, it’s Narenna. She is a herdsman’s child. She was rushing and bumped into us. Please forgive her.”

Hearing it was just an accident, Jiang Peifeng didn’t pay it much attention. Ruan Jiyun also heard Anjisa’s words and explained softly: “Narenna is one of the little girls who picked herbs for us. I heard she doesn’t have adults at home…”

This meant she wanted to inquire further. Jiang Peifeng understood and lifted the carriage curtain, asking again: “Did something happen?”

A thin little girl, about eight or nine years old, stood in front of the carriage. Her coarse blue jacket was faded, but her dark eyes were very bright. She pursed her lips and bowed to Jiang Peifeng and Ruan Jiyun: “General, I’m sorry. I ran too fast just now, which is why I nearly startled your carriage.”

Jiang Peifeng would never genuinely quibble with a child. Seeing her breathless from running, she asked kindly: “Where are you rushing to?”

Narenna looked up cautiously, then replied: “General, I need to go to the Witch Hospital. My little brother is sick… he is very sick, and I…”

She was still just a child. As she spoke, her eyes reddened, and she stood in front of the carriage, sobbing softly.

“Don’t cry, tell us slowly.” Ruan Jiyun heard the child crying and immediately asked her maidservant Ashinuo to get out of the carriage, bring the girl up to the carriage shaft, and then coaxed her: “What is your little brother suffering from? Do you need help?”

Narenna sobbed and recounted the situation.

Her little brother, Xiaoxi, had a fever a few days ago. Seeking medical help was inconvenient on the prairie, so they usually just slept it off. Unexpectedly, starting last night, her brother began to vomit and have diarrhea, and by dawn, he was quite weak. Narenna’s crying had attracted a neighbor, and now the neighbor’s auntie was watching over her brother while she rushed to the Witch Hospital to fetch a witch doctor.

After hearing Narenna’s story, Ruan Jiyun glanced at Jiang Peifeng, who signaled her not to worry. Jiang Peifeng turned and instructed Anjisa: “You make a trip, ride your horse to the Witch Hospital and ask for someone. That will save some time on the round trip.”

Ruan Jiyun tugged on Jiang Peifeng’s sleeve: “Then let’s take Narenna home. I want to see her little brother.”

Jiang Peifeng had the same intention. She immediately asked Anjisa to dismount, took the whip herself, and personally drove the carriage forward.

Narenna’s yurt was near Mirror Lake. A girl about ten years old was tending a stove fire at the entrance and looked up in surprise when she saw the group approaching.

“Did you get the witch doctor?” She was clearly familiar with Narenna. “It’s too cold in the tent, so Amma asked me to bring some firewood to burn.”

Narenna nodded vigorously in gratitude and respectfully invited Jiang Peifeng and the others into the yurt.

The interior of the yurt was somewhat shabby. Darkened cowhides were plastered on the felt walls for warmth. Lying on the only slightly comfortable felt mat was a thin boy. A herdsman’s auntie nearby was wiping his sweat.

Seeing Jiang Peifeng and the others, the auntie was clearly surprised. She scrambled to her feet, repeatedly wiping her hands on her apron, and then asked nervously in a low voice: “Why did you bring the Princesses here?”

“We met on the road,” Jiang Peifeng often dealt with commoners. Seeing the auntie’s uneasiness, she explained: “The Princess of the Great Jing happens to understand medicine, so we came over first to see if we could help.”

The auntie’s gaze turned even more admiringly toward Ruan Jiyun.

Understands medicine! In Xiji, only attendants of the Witch God could study medicine! The adults in the Witch Hospital were all favored by the gods. This beautiful foreign little Princess also knew medicine.

Thinking this, she immediately moved aside to make way for Ruan Jiyun to examine the patient.

Ruan Jiyun walked to the felt mat and knelt down to carefully examine the patient.

The little boy looked very weak, with a pale, lifeless face. Ruan Jiyun reached out to touch his forehead, finding his fever scalding hot. Red rashes appeared on his neck and arms.

She asked Narenna a few more questions about his symptoms, roughly understanding what was wrong. She said: “He is indeed sick.”

Narenna’s brother was suffering from typhoid fever. The initial symptoms were very similar to a common cold, but gradually he would start to vomit and have diarrhea. Seeing that the child was starting to drift into a coma, Ruan Jiyun urgently said: “Ashinuo, quickly get my medicine bag from the carriage and start preparing the decoction for him.”

Everyone in the room started to busy themselves. The maidservants had been with Ruan Jiyun for some time and were gradually familiar with the procedure. One went back to the carriage for the medicine, and the other gathered the only stove fire in the tent to boil hot water.

The auntie saw that she couldn’t help inside, so she quickly said: “I’ll go back and make some milk tea for the Princesses to drink!”

Ashinuo soon returned with the medicine bag. Ruan Jiyun asked Narenna to watch over her brother, then took the bag and went to the stove to sort the herbs. Typhoid could be treated with Minor Bupleurum Decoction. She had been busy making medicine recently and conveniently had the right herbs on hand, saving the time it would take to return to the General’s residence.

Just as they were busy working, they suddenly heard a voice ask: “What are you doing?”

Two middle-aged men in black robes walked into the yurt, followed by Anjisa. He had ridden his horse hard and was lucky enough that the witch doctor on duty for the pastoral area was right there in the Daxi prairie. He immediately brought the man back.

The man saluted Jiang Peifeng briefly and then asked in a stern tone: “Where is the patient?”

Ruan Jiyun saw that the local witch doctor had arrived and stepped back a little.

The man covered his nose, clearly unhappy with the environment in the yurt. He stopped three or four steps away from the little boy, lifted his eyelids, and glanced at him.

“This is an evil spirit entering the body,” he stated definitively. “He must be sent to the temple for prayer.”

As soon as he said this, Narenna, who had just calmed down, immediately cried out in fear: “No!”

The witch doctor frowned slightly: “Your brother’s condition means he has been invaded by an evil spirit. If he is not sent to the temple, it is a dead end.”

Narenna tightly held her brother’s hand: “But… but if he goes to the temple, he is so small, he won’t be able to endure the seven days and nights of prayer… Just now, the Princess said he could be given medicine!”

She looked at Ruan Jiyun with hope: “Your Highness, you can save him, right?”

From their conversation, Ruan Jiyun vaguely sensed that the Witch Hospital was perhaps different from the medical halls she remembered. The witch doctor had just glanced at the patient and made a diagnosis, which indeed seemed… a bit too simple?

She thought for a moment and asked the man: “Excuse me, Witch Doctor. If the person is sent to the temple, how will you treat him?”

The man looked at her strangely, as if he didn’t understand why she was asking: “Naturally, with prayer and invocation, so that the spiritual power of the Great Witch God can dispel the evil spirit.”

Ruan Jiyun’s eyes widened in surprise: “That’s it? You won’t give him any medicine?”

“If an evil spirit possesses the body, what medicine can cure it? We can only pray for the Witch God’s blessing,” the man said blankly.

“Then I cannot let you take him away,” she said. “He has typhoid fever. I have medicine that can cure him.”

If the man had been merely confused by her questions earlier, he now simply laughed.

“Your Highness, you are a foreigner, so you don’t understand our Xiji ways,” he said, signaling his subordinate to step forward. “We Xiji people are protected by the Witch God. A patient like him, who has been entered by an evil spirit, can only be blessed by the Witch God.”

Narenna tearfully hugged her brother tighter.

When her Amma passed away, she instructed her to take good care of her brother, but she failed to fulfill that promise, and now her brother was sick. She knew that if he went to the Witch Temple, it would be difficult to return. She had seen that tall, cold temple where the sick lay on the prayer altar, surrounded by smoke. Her Amma died there.

Thinking of this, she looked to Jiang Peifeng and Ruan Jiyun for help again.

The witch doctor, seeing their lack of a conclusion, signaled his attendant again to take the child.

A figure blocked his path. The witch doctor looked up and saw Jiang Peifeng’s calm, easy smile.

“I have a suggestion,” she said. “Since we are already here, why not let the patient try the Princess’s medicine first? If the medicine doesn’t work, it won’t be too late for you to take him away.”

The witch doctor hesitated. He didn’t dare openly refute Jiang Peifeng, but he still asked hesitantly: “But… if using a foreigner’s medicine angers the Great Witch God, what then?”

“The Witch God has protected the people of Xiji for generations, and you, Witch Doctor, are personally here watching. What trouble could there be?” Jiang Peifeng said with a smile. “You are the medical official who serves the Great Witch God. With you present, I believe the Witch God will surely be understanding.”

Witch Doctor: “…” He felt he was being set up.

Jiang Peifeng continued to smile at him. He knew very well that although this Royal Daughter seemed very approachable, her methods in battle were highly cunning. Remembering the King’s favor for her, even he, a witch doctor blessed by the gods, could only take the offered step back: “Then I shall wait here for a while.”

Jiang Peifeng turned to Ruan Jiyun and smiled gently at her: “Your Highness, just proceed with preparing the medicine for the patient. With the Witch Doctor standing guard beside us, nothing will go wrong.”

That alignment is too forced, the witch doctor wiped his sweaty forehead. “You do your healing. I am merely waiting here out of respect for you, General Peifeng.”

Jiang Peifeng had already turned to retrieve Ruan Jiyun’s medicine bag, thinking, When the little white flower cures the person later, don’t you dare regret this.

Ruan Jiyun knew this was an opportunity Jiang Peifeng had won for her. She worked non-stop, sorting the herbs from the bag, pouring them into the pot, and after soaking them for a moment, began to simmer the decoction over a low fire.

The fragrance of the herbs slowly permeated the yurt.

The witch doctor initially ignored them, but when he caught the strange scent in the air, he couldn’t help but turn his head curiously. Seeing the pot boiling, he asked: “What… what is this? Why does it smell fragrant?”

Ruan Jiyun glanced at him and explained: “This is Minor Bupleurum Decoction. Minor Bupleurum Decoction relieves and harmonizes, with Pinellia, Ginseng, and Licorice combined. Add Scutellaria, Ginger, and Jujube. This formula is the cornerstone for all Shaoyang illnesses. This prescription is appropriate for treating typhoid fever.”

Looking at her gentle and beautiful silhouette, illuminated by the firelight, the witch doctor was stunned: “These are things only foreigners have. I have never heard of them.”

Ruan Jiyun didn’t bother to pay him much mind. The decoction in the pot was ready. She filtered it into a bowl and personally carried it to the patient.

“He’s already unconscious, how will you feed him?” The witch doctor’s voice sounded again from the side.

“There is a way.” Ruan Jiyun handed the medicine bowl to Narenna and personally picked up the little boy, letting him rest against her chest without any sign of distaste. She picked up a small black pill and rubbed it against the boy’s lips.

A scene that stunned the witch doctor occurred: the unconscious child actually opened his mouth slightly.

Seizing this moment, Ruan Jiyun took a spoon and began to slowly feed him the medicine.

She was very slow, stopping after one spoonful to feed the next. If the pause in between was too long, and the child closed his mouth again, she would take out the pill and rub it against his lips once more. In this manner of rubbing and feeding, she actually managed to feed him the entire bowl of medicine.

“What is that thing you rubbed on him?” The witch doctor finally found his voice again, asking as soon as she was finished.