Chapter 559: 275 Local Tycoon (First Update) Chapter 559: 275 Local Tycoon (First Update) Today, Gu Jiao is making a house call at a three-compound mansion in the eastern part of the city. The master of the house is a scholar who teaches at a nearby academy. His wife hails from a decent family, so their household is fairly comfortable.
The patient this time is their eldest son, who turned twenty this year. He had just passed the imperial examinations and became a graduating student. The family was overjoyed, but unfortunately, he contracted a severe disease a few days ago.
They took him to a nearby medical hall, but were turned away at the door. They were told he had smallpox and advised to treat him at home.
The medical hall did provide medicine, but after a few days of administration, there was no sign of improvement. They heard from a student at the academy that the physicians at Miao Shou Tang were skilled, so they desperately sought their help.
However, to their surprise, the physician was a woman.
Both the husband and wife were disappointed.
Gu Jiao had been practicing medicine for a long time and was used to such reactions. There were no female doctors in Zhan Country, and the status of a female physician was low. A few successful treatments were not enough to overturn the established status quo.
Regardless, she never aspired to be a hero anyway.
Gu Jiao entered the room.
Now that she had arrived, the couple had no choice but to let her treat their son.
The young groom seemed to be in poor spirits, lying in the bedchamber in a state of panic and irritability. His symptoms of fever, headaches, and rash did indeed resemble smallpox.
However, a careful examination by Gu Jiao revealed it was not so.
“It’s an allergic rash,” she said.
This case was indeed severe. The young man was lucky to have held on until today. Many severe allergic reactions could lead to shock or asphyxia. His survival was a testament to his good fortune.
Gu Jiao took out a few tablets of chlorpheniramine from her first aid kit, put them in a porcelain bottle, and handed it to the couple. “Take one tablet a day with warm water. Come to the medical hall for a follow-up check-up after you finish these.”
“Is… is that all?” the wife asked, looking at the small medicine bottle in her hand in disbelief. “But they said he had smallpox.”
Gu Jiao said, “He has a mild cold as well as the allergic rash. At first glance, it indeed looks like smallpox, but it isn’t. Please, don’t worry. However, an allergic rash is also not a trivial matter and could be fatal if severe. He is lucky this time, but you must be careful in the future. What did he come into contact with before this happened?”
“He…” The wife pondered for a moment before replying, “He ate a peach earlier that day. In the afternoon, he started to feel uncomfortable all over. I didn’t think much of it at first, assuming the peach fuzz had stuck to his skin. I asked him to take a bath and he seemed a bit better. But the next day, his condition worsened.”
Since Gu Jiao had no allergy test strips at the moment, the only thing she could do was to ask the patient to stay away from peaches: “Do not let him come into contact with peaches anymore.”
“Ah, alright, alright,” the wife replied.
She was just a young female physician, but why did her words bring an unexpected conviction?
Regardless, the other physicians couldn’t cure their son either, so they could only try this young female physician’s method for now.
The wife went into the room to give the medicine to her son.
The assistant collected the medical fees, two taels of silver for the consultation and one tael for the medication.
Considering this was the capital city, these rates were quite reasonable.
Gu Jiao, carrying her small backpack, left the mansion and got into the carriage.
After collecting the fees, the assistant sat on the front seat of the carriage and asked Gu Jiao, “Miss Gu, are we going back?”
Gu Jiao nodded, “Yes, let’s go back.”
There was nothing else to do.
“All right!” The assistant picked up the horsewhip and drove the carriage at a steady pace.
Before the carriage had traveled far, a group of men suddenly dashed forward on their horses. They rode at an incredibly high speed, completely disregarding the common people on the street.
The commoners hurriedly moved out of the way, but an old man carrying a load couldn’t avoid them. His load was knocked over, and he fell to the ground.
The guilty party didn’t even look back and simply galloped away.
The old man remained on the side of the road, unable to get up for a long time.
Naturally, this incident caused a stir among the spectators.
A young man from out of town finally spoke up, asking the local next to him, “Brother, isn’t this the capital? How can people run their horses so recklessly?”
The local replied, “Don’t you know? Didn’t you see the uniforms they were wearing?”
The out-of-towner said, “It happened too fast, I didn’t notice.”
The local looked at the departing figures and said, “Those were men from the Marshal’s Residence.”
“The Marshal’s Residence?” The newcomer frowned, obviously not very familiar with the situation in the capital.
The local explained patiently, “The former General of the Tiger Mountain Camp was recently appointed as the Grand Marshal of all the military forces. Those men belong to the Marshal’s Residence.”
The young man asked with a puzzled look, “Are they always so arrogant?”
The local quickly made a gesture for silence, “Hush! You can’t say such things indiscriminately. They must be in a hurry to be so reckless.”