Shiqiao Town, Chen family ancestral home.
It was still dark when Sun got up.
Chen Tingjian thought his wife was going to the bathroom, but after a while he found her sitting in front of the dressing table combing her hair. He asked in surprise, "Why are you up so early?"
Sun said to the mirror, "According to the route, the princess and her friends will probably arrive today."
Chen Tingjian: "So what? The house is cleaned every day by servants, and you have prepared the good tea in advance. Is there anything else that requires you to get up early and take care of it yourself?"
Sun tilted her head to look at him and said with a smile, "The miracle doctor is coming. Is it okay for me to be too excited?"
Chen Tingjian's expression became complicated. He paused and said, "The princess asked Doctor Li to check your pulse. When the people arrive, don't mention me."
Sun: "I will definitely not mention it in front of the princess. I must ask the imperial physician Li to check you in private. You have had this problem since you were in your thirties. It sometimes gets better and sometimes gets worse. I think you should have asked an imperial physician to treat you long ago. But you are too proud to take off your pants and endure it."
The elder minister, who was very proud, ignored his wife and turned over and lay down.
Although Sun laughed, she actually felt sorry for her husband.
The husband refused to seek medical treatment, partly because he wanted to save face, but also because he was too busy and had no time to stop and take care of his body.
Outsiders envied the current prosperity of the Chen family, but only she knew that her husband had risen from a poor student to his current position, and he had to look at the faces of many officials and endured a lot of resentment. Political enemies stared at him, wishing to put him to death and never use him again. Her husband dared not rest for a day, and his head never stopped scheming for his family, the court, and the people.
She lay back on the bed, hugged her husband's shoulders and said, "It's rare that the princess values us and has invited Doctor Li to come over. While we are still free, let him treat you. After he is cured, you will feel better and can concentrate on planning your big things in the future, right?"
Chen Tingjian remained silent.
Sun suddenly patted his buttocks and said, "Doctor Li has been treating illnesses for half his life, and he has seen everything. Others have opened their clothes and allowed Doctor Li to treat them. Is your buttocks so precious, Lord Chen?"
Chen Tingjian: …
Sun noticed that the roots of her husband's ears were red.
She just found it funny. They had been married for more than 30 years and now had grandchildren, but he would actually blush over such a small teasing.
"You can sleep a little longer if you want. Doctor Li is here now, and you have to listen to me. If you don't listen, I will tell the princess and let her persuade you. The princess has more face than me anyway."
Chen Tingjian: …
.
There was still an hour before noon when two carriages stopped outside the Chen residence.
Chen Jingzong got out of the car and turned around to help Huayang, but Huayang reminded him to go to the back to help the genius doctor Li Dongbi, as she had Chaoyun and Chaoyue to serve her.
Chen Jingzong went to meet Li Dongbi. It was not easy for the old doctor, who was nearly sixty years old, to drive a horse carriage for ten days.
"Thank you, Prince Consort."
Li Dongbi smiled and said, although he is old, he usually pays attention to keeping fit. His body is stronger than many young people, otherwise he would not have the energy to go to the deep mountains and forests to collect herbs.
Chen Tingjian and his wife Sun came out to greet him. There were internal and external guests. The two elders nodded to Huayang and went to entertain Li Dongbi first: "Doctor Li, I have heard of you for a long time!"
"You are too polite, sir. I am just a commoner now and cannot be worthy of the title of imperial physician."
Sun: "In our hearts, you are not just an imperial physician, you are already a miracle doctor!"
Li Dongbi smiled and shook his head, his eyes quickly swept across the faces of Sun and Chen Tingjian.
After the greetings, everyone moved to the hall to talk.
After all, Li Dongbi came to see a doctor, so he suggested taking Sun's pulse first.
Sun looked at the princess' daughter-in-law and said to Li Dongbi with emotion, "My relatives used to praise me for my good fortune. When I was young, I married a 19-year-old scholar and followed him all the way to the capital to become an official's wife. But in the past two years, I realized that my real fortune was that I married a princess as my daughter-in-law. Look at the princess, a fairy-like figure, who went to Wudang Mountain to pray for the people and still thought about an old woman like me. My three sons combined don't have such filial piety!"
Li Dongbi smiled and nodded.
Huayang blushed slightly: "Don't say that, mother. I just happened to meet Doctor Li and thought of this at the last minute."
Chen Jingzong said seriously: "Princess, you are too modest. We brothers are really ashamed of our filial piety to your mother."
Only Li Dongbi could not hear the weird tone. Out of courtesy, Huayang did not glare at him.
The maids put the chairs in place, and Li Dongbi sat down next to Sun. He first asked Sun about any discomfort she usually had, and then began to take her pulse.
Mrs. Sun did have some common problems common to women of her age, and she needed to take medicine to regulate her body. Li Dongbi prescribed her some medicine and also taught her some health-preserving methods.
Sun: "Thank you very much. You have come all the way here. Please go to the guest room and take a rest. We will treat you well at noon."
After she said this, Chen Tingjian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Huayang was a little anxious and winked at Chen Jingzong, thinking that it would be more appropriate for his son to speak.
Chen Jingzong really didn't want to say this and be a filial son to the old man, but he really made her angry, so she wanted to punish him to sleep in Liuyun Palace.
Pursing his lips, Chen Jingzong said to his mother, "Mom, my father is three years older than you. He might have some hidden problems. Please ask Doctor Li to take a look at him as well."
Sun was stunned. Could it be that the fourth son heard some sutra in Wudang Mountain that aroused his filial piety towards the old man
Chen Tingjian had mixed feelings. He was touched that the fourth brother was finally willing to be filial to him, but he also felt that this filial piety came at the wrong time.
He stroked his beard and said politely, "I am in good health, so I won't bother you, sir."
Sun also wanted to find another opportunity to deal with this matter.
Chen Tingjian looked hesitant.
Huayang reacted, got up from his chair, and said to the two elders: "Father, mother, I still have some things to deal with. I will go back to Siyi Hall first. Let the prince consort stay here."
Sun: "Okay, Princess, go now!"
Chen Tingjian didn't even want to keep his son, and looked at Chen Jingzong: "We don't need you here, you go back with the princess."
Chen Jingzong is not blind, and Li Dongbi's attitude towards the old man is like a woodpecker that finds a bug hidden in the tree trunk and has to peck at it. Could it be that the old man really has a serious hidden illness
The more the old man chased him away, the more he insisted on staying: "You need to see a doctor, and as a son, I leave without permission, isn't that a great act of filial piety? You chased me away at this time, are you deliberately trying to give me a bad name for being unfilial?"
Chen Tingjian: …
Huayang guessed that Chen Jingzong would not leave, so he left.
Sun seemed to be afraid that her husband would go back on his word, so as soon as the princess' daughter-in-law stepped out of the door, she pushed her husband onto the chair in front of Li Dongbi.
Chen Tingjian was still glaring at his son over there.
Li Dongbi grabbed his wrist and reminded him, "Please calm down, Lord."
Facing the miraculous doctor, Chen Tingjian could not put on airs as a strict father or a minister and had to cooperate.
Li Dongbi was indeed a genius doctor. He quickly discovered the problem and looked at Chen Tingjian and asked, "Is the elder..."
Chen Tingjian saw his son craning his neck and interrupted him in time, "Sir, please move aside. Let's talk somewhere else."
Li Dongbi respected the patient's privacy very much, although he felt that there was no need to do so since one of them was the cabinet minister's wife and the other was his son.
Seeing that the two were about to leave, Chen Jingzong couldn't help but ask: "Why are you hiding this? What's wrong with you?"
Sun pulled him aside and signaled her husband to take the doctor away first, then said to her son, "It's not a serious illness, but it would hurt your father's face if he told you, so he didn't want to tell you."
Chen Jingzong: "If he doesn't tell me, then you tell me."
Sun patted him and said, "Give up. I won't help you laugh at your father. Get out of my way."
Chen Jingzong thought for a moment and sneered, "It's embarrassing. Is it because he's too old and can't do it anymore?"
Fortunately, he was her own son and she was old enough, so Sun did not blush. She just took off one of her shoes, grabbed her son's arm and started beating him.
After Chen Jingzong was hit by the soles of shoes a few times and made sure that his mother would not reveal the old man's true condition, he slipped away.
Siyi Hall.
Although Huayang knew what her father-in-law's hidden illness was, and as a daughter-in-law, she was not in a position to ask, but in order to prove that she knew nothing, after Chen Jingzong came back, she still pretended to be concerned and asked, "How is father's health?"
Chen Jingzong looked at her and was silent for a moment before saying, "I don't know. The old man took Doctor Li to ask him alone."
Huayang continued to play the game: "Is there some difficult and complicated disease that father didn't want to tell you about because he was afraid you would worry?"
Chen Jingzong: "Mother should know. Judging from her appearance, it shouldn't be a serious illness. She just doesn't want to tell us."
Huayang looked surprised, then said awkwardly: "Then I won't ask, anyway, you should pay more attention and don't get angry with your father at this time."
Chen Jingzong smiled and said, "You seem to be the daughter of the Chen family, and I am the son-in-law who married into the family."
Huayang glared at him, not wanting to debate this any further, and turned to go into the inner room.
Chen Jingzong leaned on the couch, tilted his head and looked out the window, his eyes were dark and no one knew what he was thinking.
Chunhe Hall.
Since Li Dongbi already knew about Chen Tingjian's symptoms, he was willing to go out and, as Li Dongbi instructed, he lay on the bed and let the doctor examine him.
After the examination, Li Dongbi washed his hands and said solemnly, "Your Excellency, you have had this hemorrhoid for a long time, right?"
Chen Tingjian changed his clothes with his back to him and nodded.
Li Dongbi: "Your Excellency is a civil servant, and you have been busy with paperwork for a long time, so it is normal for you to have this disease. But your hemorrhoids cannot be treated any longer, otherwise they will become more and more serious when they occur in the future, and you may even be bedridden."
Chen Tingjian also hated this disease, so he asked decisively: "Sir, do you have a way to cure it? I have heard people say that it can be removed."
Li Dongbi shook his head: "It is too risky to remove it. It should not be used unless it is absolutely necessary. Besides, the elder is only a few years younger than me. If he is as young and strong as the prince consort, we can give it a try."
Chen Tingjian: "Then what should I do?"
Li Dongbi: "I have a prescription that can help you get rid of it with medicine, but it will take about ten days, during which time you will have to suffer a lot, and you will have to be careful to recuperate for a while afterwards."
Chen Tingjian breathed a sigh of relief: "It's good that it can be cured. Thank you very much, sir. Please write down the prescription and I will send someone to buy the medicine."
Li Dongbi nodded.
(End of this chapter)