Meng Sheng hurried forward, intending to help the woman, but found no way to begin.
As he hesitated, a woman reached out from the side, took hold of the woman, and dragged her away.
Only then was Lu Qingwan able to concentrate on saving the child. The child's palm-sized face was ashen, and his face and the exposed parts of his neck were covered in red blotches.
The child was struggling to breathe, appearing on the verge of passing out.
Lu Qingwan quickly removed the child's shoes, socks, and inner garments while cross-referencing with her spatial laboratory's database.
She quickly reached a conclusion, "What did the child eat this morning?"
"Just, just a little congee, and some pastries. He hadn't even finished them when this happened!"
Although the woman was still shaken, hearing Lu Qingwan say her distress would affect her son's treatment, she immediately suppressed it.
However, after speaking, she was still sobbing.
"Did the congee and pastries have peanuts in them?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Besides the congee, he also ate peanut crisp. It seems the child started crying and fussing right after eating the peanut crisp.
I thought he was burned by the hot congee, and I spent a long time coaxing him..."
Lu Qingwan decisively took out allergy medication, crushed it, mixed it with water, and gave it to the child.
"Your child has a peanut allergy, and this situation is already extremely severe.
After treatment here, when you return home, do not let him touch anything containing peanuts.
I will examine the child further later to see if there are any other allergens."
"Okay, okay."
The woman was so excited that she could barely speak coherently, "Doctor, can I see my child now?"
"Yes, but please remain calm and do not agitate the child.
The child is currently very weak. If he becomes tense or anxious and his breathing quickens, there is a risk of suffocation."
The woman had no time to respond to Lu Qingwan, nodding and tiptoeing to the child's sickbed. She looked at her child, whose breathing had returned to normal, and silently shed tears.
Lu Qingwan handed her a bottle of medicine, "The child is too young. When you get back, dissolve the medicine in water and divide one dose into three.
Keep the rest of the medicine for emergencies; it can be used for up to three years."
The woman clutched the medicine bottle and wept uncontrollably, "Thank you, thank you, Doctor Lin. You are truly a living Buddha!"
"Forget about being a living Buddha. Saving lives and healing the injured is a doctor's duty, and besides, I charge a consultation fee."
The woman didn't know whether to cry or not.
Lu Qingwan pursed her lips, realizing that not everyone was as eloquent as Miss Chi.
"Please get up and attend to your son's sickbed. Kneeling here obstructs my treatment of others."
The woman quickly got up, "Then, Doctor Lin, how much should I pay for my son's treatment?"
"Pay whatever you think your son's life is worth."
Lu Qingwan walked around the woman and sat down at the medical records desk, "Brother, what is troubling you?"
"Doctor Lin, I, you see my..."
Taking off his hat, the man instantly transformed from a commoner to a gentleman. Lu Qingwan understood, "You're here to treat premature graying hair?"
The man nodded. He looked at most thirty years old, but his hair suggested seventy.
Lu Qingwan extended her hand, "Please allow me to take your pulse."
Her pulse-taking left her troubled.
If she didn't say anything, it would go against her duty as a doctor. If she did, given the mindset of people in this era, she feared the man might beat her.
Lu Qingwan withdrew her hand, "Meng Tang, please escort this patient to the back hall to wait for a moment while I prepare the medication."
The man looked at Lu Qingwan in bewilderment. Lu Qingwan simply smiled at him politely, a smile that made him uneasy, as if he felt his days were numbered.
Lu Qingwan maintained her false smile, picked up her pen and ink, and while writing, politely said to the next patient, "Excuse me, please wait a moment. I'll see you after I finish this prescription for that gentleman."
The man was good-natured, but when Meng Tang took Lu Qingwan's prescription, his face turned grim.
Lu Qingwan pretended not to notice his resentful gaze and seriously attended to patients.
By the time evening came and it was time to close, Meng Tang had still not emerged, and she had been as busy as a dog.
After seeing off the last patient and closing the door, she was met by Meng Tang's panda-like eyes.
Lu Qingwan held back her laughter but couldn't help it, letting out a snort.
Meng Tang looked at her with a mournful expression, "Master, did you do that on purpose?"
He knew that kind of illness was prone to offending people, yet she still made him go and explain. Fortunately, he had escaped quickly, or he would have ended up with more than just these dark circles.
Lu Qingwan feigned ignorance and even shifted the blame, "What do you mean, on purpose? Where were you hiding and slacking off all day? Do you know I was almost worked to death?"
Meng Tang: ...
There was no justice! Did he have anywhere to reason with?
When Meng Sheng returned with Ying Yi, he saw his father's old face looking as if he were about to cry from grievance.
The young man took a step back in disdain, "Dad, what's wrong? Who hit you?"
"Ask your Grandmaster!"
Meng Tang finally found someone to vent his grievances to, and immediately poured out his woes like beans from a tube.
"Early this morning, a patient arrived, twenty-seven years old, with hair like a seventy-year-old. Your Grandmaster said he had nephritis and told me to tell the patient myself instead of going himself.
That patient was unreasonable. No matter how I explained it to him, he refused to admit there was anything wrong with his kidneys and even laid hands on your old father.
If he wanted to fight, then he shouldn't believe our diagnosis! Yet, as he was leaving, he snatched the prescription your Grandmaster wrote. What kind of person is that?"
Meng Tang was clearly indignant, but Meng Sheng and Ying Yi found it amusing.
Looking at his father's wronged face, Meng Sheng tried to save him some face, suppressing his laughter, "Grandmaster, you're too wicked. How could you ask my father to tell him about that illness?"
"I instructed him that explaining the patient's condition requires a specific method and tone, and not to agitate the patient. If his own eloquence is insufficient, how can that be my fault?"
Lu Qingwan also chuckled, "By the way, since he left, did you get the consultation fee?"
"Yes, I did."
Like master, like disciple. Having been influenced by Lu Qingwan, the money-grubbing nature of Meng Tang also began to subtly surface.
"As you instructed, I charged him a thousand taels of silver based on his condition."
"Tsk."
Lu Qingwan, filled with disappointment, said, "A thousand taels for the consultation fee, and you took those two punches for nothing? Given his vanity regarding this condition, with his disposition, if you had just promised to keep it quiet, he wouldn't have thought ten thousand taels was too much."
Kidney inflammation wasn't a shameful illness, but Lu Qingwan could guess that in this era, any illness related to the kidneys was ultimately concluded as impotence.
Involving a man's fragile pride, even someone like Feng Xiwu would go mad. This man would surely explode, forcing Meng Tang to take the fall, and thinking back, she felt a bit guilty.
Meng Tang felt it was a loss.
"Master, his condition isn't something that can be cured with just one dose of medicine, is it?"
Meng Sheng: ...
Ying Yi: ...
Lu Qingwan was speechless, "Let's go home.
As the carriage swayed towards the back gate of the manor, Ying Er spoke up, "Princess Consort, we are being followed."
"An old friend. Ying Er, tell her to go back first, and I will visit her tomorrow."
Ying Er jumped off the carriage shaft, utterly bewildered. When did the Princess Consort make such a mysterious friend?