Contemplating Crane Notes

Chapter 164: My and Deng Ying’s daily life in Ming Dynasty (health preservation part)

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I remember when my brother was doing the renovation, my sister-in-law was already three months pregnant. My brother was so busy with work that he had no time at all, so he entrusted the renovation to my mom and dad. My dad likes the Ming and Qing Chinese retro style, and my mom likes the fusion of Mediterranean and Nordic styles. The two of them started the work together and worked for half a year, and finally my dad's high blood pressure was cured.

As for the result, it’s hard to say.

On the contrary, when my sister-in-law went to check the baby after her confinement, she almost cried in front of my brother.

So decoration is really a science and also a physical job.

So I decided that now that Deng Ying and I had almost recovered from our injuries, and before we were ready to start the big renovation project, I would organize a few health-preserving games for him.

In modern times, I am actually a dwarf in life.

Cooking depends entirely on semi-finished products, and washing clothes depends entirely on washing machines.

‌ Speaking of punk health care, I can give a few lectures on it in Daming. ‌‌ Goji berries and dates, and foot baths are not considered to be new. During the years of my doctoral studies, several sisters in my school were particularly keen on health care during team building. Although it hurts so much when I massage, ‌ After the pain, my shoulders and back are relaxed, and I feel so relieved.

In fact, the massage industry in the Ming Dynasty was integrated with the bathing and barbering industries in and around the capital, and was already very developed at that time.

However, most of the practitioners here are eunuchs without official status like Deng Ying. They cannot be registered in the palace or the government, so they can only wander around outside and make a living by rubbing people's backs and giving massages.

In several wild temples outside Nanhaizi, there are many eunuchs doing this business.

I think if I were to go, Deng Ying would definitely not say so, it’s just that I don’t want to take him with me.

So I could only ask Yun Qing to find a copy of Wang Tingxiang's "Essentials of Health Preservation" for me from Qingbo Pavilion. There is a chapter called "Massage" in it. In addition to discussing self-health massage, it also records a set of full-body health massage operation methods - "Da Du Guan" (refer to relevant information here)

Dadu Pass.

This name always sounds a bit strange, like some kind of evil martial arts.

I sat on my bed and studied for three consecutive nights, and finally I had some insights.

Maybe it was because I was reading too seriously, Deng Ying thought I was reading an article and was very restrained when flipping through the book when she sat next to me.

Our habit is to sit on the bed and read a few pages of a book before going to bed.

In order to run Qingbo Pavilion, I would read some books on "bibliography", while Deng Ying read a lot of different books, sometimes on engineering and construction methods, sometimes on poetry. When I was bored, I would kick the stool at his feet, exposing his feet, but he didn't say anything to me, but just smiled, put down the book, stood up and put my feet back into the stool.

This time, after I kicked the chair open, I didn't let him sit up.

Instead, he crawled out of the bed and walked to the end of the bed and sat down.

Deng Ying leaned on the bed, without reading, and looked at me with some uneasiness.

"Wanwan, you're cold sitting like that."

I held my research notes in one hand and straightened Deng Ying's toes with the other hand. I carefully studied the soles of Deng Ying's feet by comparing them with the acupuncture point map in the notes.

Deng Ying hurriedly supported herself on the couch and sat up.

"Wanwan... stop it. Stop touching my feet."

As he said this, he wanted to pull his legs back.

I grabbed his trouser leg and raised my voice, "Don't run..."

Before he could finish his words, he was pulled down by the force of his leg.

Deng Ying quickly reached out to help me up, "Wanwan, I'm sorry, did you fall?"

I sat up with his help, tidied my messy hair, crossed my arms and asked him, "Why don't you let me move?"

He lowered his head in silence for a long time before saying, "I..."

"Excuse me?"

Deng Ying did not deny it, and leaned on my shoulder and said, "They are all injuries, so I'm sorry to let you feel them."

I sat cross-legged again and pointed at my knees. "Stretch it out."

"Wan Wan."

"It's no use calling me, just hold it out."

Deng Ying had one particularly good thing, which was that he would definitely do what I said once I repeated it the first time.

Although he moved his feet out of the bed, he didn't dare put them on my knees. I didn't want to waste any more words and supported his ankles, lifted his feet up, grabbed half a blanket to pad them, and then slowly put his legs on my knees.

Then he picked up his notebook and said, "This is called family health care. Xiaowan, the family technician, is doing business for the first time, so she might be a little nervous. If you find something not quite right, just tell me directly, don't bear it."

Deng Ying looked at me in astonishment, "Now... sword, where is the sword?"

He seemed afraid that the weight of his feet would hurt me, so he kept supporting his thighs with his hands.

I laughed at his words, and while shaking my hands to loosen my fingers, I said, "That's what you call 'massage'. Deng Ying, relax, otherwise we'll both get hurt."

"oh… "

He hesitated and loosened his hands, his feet still stiff.

I followed the light and the picture on my notes, found the Yongquan point on the sole of Deng Ying's foot, and pressed hard.

Deng Ying's body trembled noticeably.

"Does it hurt?"

"have… "

"It hurts!"

I suddenly recalled the tone the technician used when he gave me the general health care, and I started to learn it naturally.

"This acupuncture point, the Yongquan point on the foot, hurts when you press it, which means you often have symptoms such as pain, insomnia, dry throat, tinnitus, and palpitations. You just need to feel the pain."

After I said that, I pressed it again hard, but Deng Ying laughed out loud.

"Wanwan... It's not painful, I just want to laugh."

"What?"

I instantly lost confidence in my skills. "You just want to laugh?"

"yes."

Deng Ying still couldn't stop laughing, and her chest rose and fell slightly as she spoke.

I suddenly felt a little dazed. I have known Deng Ying for so many years, we have been together through life and death, and we have been in physical contact, but I don't think I have ever heard him laugh so wantonly.

"Deng Ying, if I had known that this would make you laugh, I would have gone to such lengths before. It would have been much better to just do a full-body treatment."

As I said this, I pressed his Yongquan acupoint again.

Deng Ying quickly held my wrist and said with a smile, "Don't press it, Wanwan."

I was not willing to listen to him. "I just pressed one acupoint. You should lie down quickly. The next acupoint will hurt you."

Deng Ying asked, "Doesn't your hand hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt."

After I said that, I went to look for Deng Ying’s Dadu acupoint persistently.

Deng Ying did not insist any longer. He leaned back against the bed, supporting himself with the couch leg, and allowed me to lift up the leg of his underwear.

He lay obediently on the bed, trying hard to hold back his laughter, and let me mess around with his feet while he instilled in me his "health knowledge" that was full of loopholes.

Then we switched positions, I rolled up my trouser legs, leaned against the pillow, stretched my legs and completely relaxed.

Deng Ying was sitting at the end of the bed with his clothes draped over him, reading with his head down the pages of foot health notes I had written. He was much more cautious in everything he did than I was, and even when it came to a foot massage, he wouldn't act rashly.

He looks good in doing everything seriously.

What I like most is the way he sits calmly beside me. Even though he is dressed in thin clothes, he is not afraid of it.

"Wan Wan."

"ah?"

He studied it for a while, then lifted my ankle and said, "I'm trying to find your Duyin acupoint, are you right?"

"good."

I have to say that Deng Ying's technique is much better than mine. She can find the acupuncture points very accurately, and with just one touch of her finger, she can almost send me to heaven.

I covered my mouth and didn't dare to scream, for fear of scaring him away from doing anything to me, and tears kept flowing down. Deng Ying was concentrating on my single vaginal point, and when I raised my head again, my eyes were already filled with tears.

He quickly let go of her hand, "Wanwan... I..."

"fine."

I wiped away my tears and said with a smile: "My technician friend named Deng, you are really awesome."

After joint research by Deng Ying and I, this health-preserving routine became more and more perfect, and gradually developed to include relaxation of the shoulders and neck and stretching of the limbs.

On Deng Ying's somewhat hard bed, we finally lived happily.

I couldn't teach Deng Ying to use postmodern deconstructionist theory to treat his own body and eliminate the unnecessary shame in his heart.

It's me who can open up the acupuncture points, meridians, muscles, bones... these real things, and accompany him to get to know his own body again.

I am very fortunate that although I am a scientific researcher specializing in history, I have never given up exploring other disciplines within the liberal arts field.

I admit that I have a superficial humanistic character, and my theoretical level has not yet reached the point where I can discuss concepts, but this is the most suitable and harmless thing for Deng Ying.

No, this health-preserving game has not ended yet.

Later, I imitated the ideas found on Taobao and embroidered a pair of socks with acupuncture points for Deng Ying to wear.

This rustic way of keeping healthy was disliked by my brother many times in the 21st century, but Deng Ying was really funny. Not only did he wear it, he also carefully corrected the location of the acupuncture points on the socks and helped me improve it. Later, I embroidered another pair and gave it to Yang Lun.

When Yang Lun saw the pair of socks at the Yang Mansion, he twitched his lips noticeably.

"You're such a jerk."

"Foot health socks."

"What?"

"It's just a little toy. Wearing it can help you find the acupuncture points on the soles of your feet."

Yang Lun waved his hand in disdain, "This looks too weird, Yang Wan, take it away yourself."

When Yang Lun said this, he tugged at the pair of socks with a look of disgust on his face, and his expression was almost exactly the same as my brother's.

I had no choice but to take the pair of socks back and tell Deng Ying that Yang Lun didn’t want to wear them.

Deng Ying took them back and put them away carefully, telling me that the other pair was worn out and she was only wearing one pair.

Isn’t it amazing

My bad taste in the 21st century can still be found and preserved by Deng Ying in the Ming Dynasty 600 years ago.

The first four years, writing observation notes, participating in palace struggles, and witnessing human suffering, were really terrible. I also bent my back and endured torture, and many joys disappeared temporarily.

However, everything is gone now, and Deng Ying survived.

Stay by my side gently, so I seem to have found my happiness again.