CHAPTER 1629: CHAPTER 1604: FLOGGING

The two carriages rumbled out of the royal city and then turned into Chongyuan Courtyard. Manbao, feeling hot, had already rolled up the curtains early on. Seeing the carriage turning into a familiar street, she blinked.

But the carriage took another turn before reaching her home, directly passing through Chongyuan Courtyard to the back Guangde Courtyard.

Finally, the carriage stopped in front of a side door.

A Wang family illegitimate son jumped off the carriage, jogged over to invite Manbao, sweat dripping from his head as he pointed and said, "Lord Zhou, please come inside. My elder brother is in there."

Manbao couldn’t help but glance at him and asked, "I still don’t know how to address you."

"I am Wang Da, Wang Rong is my brother."

Wang Rong was Wang Ji’s nephew who had been beaten badly.

Following the man through the side door, Manbao found a courtyard with servants waiting. Seeing her, they immediately led the way inside.

Manbao thought they would head to the back courtyard, but after entering a door, she discovered it was an independent two-entry small courtyard, with its own gates. The patient was in the second entry of the small courtyard.

A very young woman was standing on the porch crying, with a nanny beside her holding a child. When she saw Zhou Man with a medicine chest, she immediately approached, "Are you the Imperial Doctor Zhou from the palace?"

Manbao nodded.

The young woman immediately wiped her tears and invited her inside, "Mother is waiting."

Yet another maid lifted the curtain, and as Manbao entered the room, she smelled a strong scent of medicine. A middle-aged woman was sitting by the bed, crying, with two other doctors in the room.

When Manbao saw those two doctors, she couldn’t help but exclaim because she was very familiar with them. One was Doctor Ding, and the other was Zheng Gu.

Manbao stared at Zheng Gu, "Didn’t you enter the palace today?"

Zheng Gu replied, "Master, this disciple was here since last night."

The young woman called the middle-aged woman "mother", so Manbao knew she was Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang hurriedly stood up and said to Manbao, "Imperial Doctor Zhou, please look at my son. He’s been feverish since last night."

Manbao nodded repeatedly, put down the medicine chest, and without using her own pulse pillow, directly took the hand of the person lying on the bed and placed it on Doctor Ding’s pulse pillow to feel the pulse, saying while doing so, "It’s not accurate to take the pulse while he’s lying face down."

Doctor Ding glanced at Zhou Man and simply lifted the fabric covering the patient to show her the injuries on the buttocks and waist, "He can’t lie down."

Manbao was startled by the wounds. "How could it be so severe? This, this looks like a flogging punishment."

Wang Rong’s back to the waist was completely beaten, possibly due to inadequate care or the hot weather, the wounds had started to fester. This wasn’t just a small injury, but a large area.

Manbao had only seen flogging punishment once, which was last year’s imperial complaint when Xiang Chao was beaten. At that time, Xiang Chao was immobile and also severely injured.

But then the weather was cooler, and although he was in prison, there were medicines available. Additionally, Xiang Chao was strong, so he only had two minor fevers and passed the crisis safely.

Looking again at the pus on his body, Manbao couldn’t help but touch his forehead.

Doctor Ding whispered, "He’s had a fever since last night. Before it was seen by a doctor from Baohe Medical Hall."

Because of Zhou Man and Imperial Doctor Zheng, Jishi Hall was somewhat seen as close to the Crown Prince, so the Wang family initially avoided Jishi Hall when inviting doctors.

It was only when the situation seemed wrong last night that the Wang family went to invite Doctor Ding, and Zheng Gu came along to learn. Initially, they thought it was a minor ailment, but all had been here for the whole night.

After feeling the pulse, looking at his face and mouth color, Manbao then checked the prescriptions given by Baohe Medical Hall and Doctor Ding.

Manbao took up a pen, wrote a new prescription for the Wang family, and said, "Go fetch the medicine. This is for internal use; we’ll handle his external injuries."

Doctor Ding glanced at Manbao’s prescription, showing no emotion on his face but was quietly surprised that Zhou Man’s prescriptions had improved beyond his in just a few months.

Doctor Ding stared at Zhou Man, only amazement remaining in his heart. Such a person, such a person, is destined for success.

Manbao was still looking at the wounds on Wang Rong’s lower back and thighs, asking without turning her head, "Doctor Ding, we need to clean his wounds, right?"

Zheng Gu noticed Doctor Ding was lost in thought, so he nudged him. Doctor Ding snapped back and quickly nodded, "Ah, yes, we must clean off the pus and dead flesh, then apply Chinese ginseng powder."

Manbao thought for a moment and said, "Using just Chinese ginseng powder might not be enough. Let’s get a few more herbs."

Then she wrote another prescription, asking the Wang family to fetch it from Jishi Hall. While the three were busy, a servant came in and said, "Madam, Shopkeeper Shi from Baohe Medical Hall is here."

Mrs. Wang didn’t want to see anyone. Her son was beaten, and it was Baohe Medical Hall that was treating him initially, and the more they treated, the worse he got. She hadn’t even gone to their door to cause trouble, which was already considered good.

Manbao had seen Baohe Medical Hall’s prescription. Although she didn’t know the initial situation, she had treated flogging punishment before and knew the initial prescription was not wrong.

So she said, "Madam, perhaps have them come in and ask. Maybe they’ve found a good prescription."

Shopkeeper Shi hadn’t found a good prescription, but he had found some new remedies for treating external injuries. So he came with medicines.

Doctor Ning came with him. When the two entered and saw Manbao, they were slightly surprised. Wasn’t she an Imperial Doctor in the palace? How did she get out?

Manbao raised her hand to greet them. Smelling a familiar medicine scent, she twitched her nose and asked, "Did you bring Grass Ginseng?"

After a pause, Shopkeeper Shi nodded, "Yes, it has been ground into powder. I also have kudzu root powder."

Manbao exclaimed happily, "I was just thinking of needing them."

Shopkeeper Shi immediately seized the opportunity and laughed, "Let me lend you a hand; are you going to prepare a wound medicine?"

Doctor Ding glanced at him, then stood beside Zhou Man and said, "We were just about to treat Young Master Wang’s injuries."

The wounds were still exposed, and Shopkeeper Shi saw them, sighing, "They do need treatment."

Manbao invited them, "The wound area is so large. Just Doctor Ding and I don’t know how long it would take to clean them. Shopkeeper Shi and Doctor Ning, would you like to join?"

Shopkeeper Shi had come with the medicine to restore his reputation, so he was naturally willing and looked towards Mrs. Wang.

Since the fabric was lifted, Mrs. Wang had been heartbroken. Her good son had been beaten like this. Hearing Manbao’s question, she raised tearful eyes and asked, "How should it be cleaned?"

Manbao said, "We need to clean all the pus and cut away the dead flesh, then apply medicine. This will help the recovery process. He’s in serious condition internally and externally. Internally, the temperature must be lowered first. Once the decoction is ready, he should take a dose to see how he responds. If not, we may need to change the prescription, but this external wound must also be treated quickly, considering the extent you’ve seen. If not handled properly, well..."