The Lucky Farmgirl

Manbao sat under the tree in the courtyard, holding a book in her hands, while Xi Bing fanned her with Eldest’s old palm fan.

May came up from the foot of the mountain carrying a food box. After putting it down, she took out two large bamboo tubes from inside and said, "My lady, Eldest Madam sent some things over this morning. Knowing you love douhua, she made some today and sent it over. I’ll take it up to the cold spring to chill in a while."

Manbao nodded, turned a page of the book, and asked, "Has the letter been sent out?"

"It has. Eldest Madam said there’s a stone mill at the manor, and right now there are plenty of idle women in the village, and lots of beans at home. Whether they want tofu or douhua, they can make it, it’s not hard at all."

Manbao nodded, placed the book face down on the table, took a slice of melon from the side to eat, and asked, "Have you seen the person the Imperial Guards sent over to talk business?"

"I have. It was just a guard, not really a formal negotiation. They were quite generous and directly agreed with Eldest Madam and the others on a hundred catties of tofu and two hundred catties of douhua. They said they’ll try the taste first, and if it’s good they’ll keep buying, all at the market price. The only thing is Eldest Madam’s people have to deliver it to the foot of the mountain."

Manbao brightened. "Pu Village isn’t all that far from here. We have oxen and mules at home, they can all draw carts, it’s not much of a burden."

"Yes, Eldest Madam said the same, and that the mules can be used to turn the mill as well, so making tofu is not difficult," May said with a smile. "Eldest Madam asked if you had anything you wanted to eat—just tell her, she’ll make it and bring it next time. It’s quite convenient."

Manbao thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No rush. They just took this order, they definitely won’t be used to it at first, and they’ll be busy for a while. Let’s talk about it after a few days. I want to eat steamed meatballs, and Bai Er wants fried meatballs. You write it down first and tell Sister-in-law after some time."

May responded with a smile.

Manbao finished the melon, wiped her hands with a cloth towel, then leaned back in the reclining chair and went on reading.

Xi Bing sat beside her fanning and also tried to read along. Unfortunately she knew very few characters; after a while her head started spinning and she turned her gaze away, staring idly at Zhou Man’s neck.

She kept feeling that my lord’s neck had been bitten by mosquitoes, but sadly most of it was covered by clothes, so she couldn’t see clearly.

A palace maid knocked on the courtyard gate. After hearing permission, she lifted her skirt and came in. After saluting, she said, "Lord Zhou, our princess invites you to the imperial estate tomorrow to pick grapes."

Manbao looked at her and recognized her as someone from Princess Mingda’s side. She shook her head. "No, I can’t go. I still have to go to court."

The palace maid laughed and said, "His Majesty is going as well. For His Majesty’s safety, my lord really ought to accompany him."

But the emperor is already almost fully recovered now. Starting today he’s not taking medicine anymore; food therapy alone will do. As long as he avoids overexposure to the sun, drinks plenty of water, keeps his mood pleasant, and gets enough rest, it will be fine.

The main patient right now is Lord Wei, all right?

This morning she had sneaked over to feel Wei Zhi’s pulse; he hadn’t slept well again last night.

Manbao glanced at the book in her hand and, with some pain, shook her head. "You all go. I won’t. I’ll have Imperial Doctor Zheng accompany the carriage."

The palace maid’s mouth fell open. She hadn’t expected Lord Zhou to actually resist the temptation.

The palace maid could only take her leave and go.

Manbao sighed, tilted her head back to look at the blue sky, silently regretting it for quite a while before lowering her head to read again.

Xi Bing kept an eye on the time and reminded, "My lord, you’ve been reading continuously for a whole hour. Rest for a bit. My lord did warn you, this is bad for your eyes."

Manbao responded with an "Mm," then perfunctorily said as she turned a page, "Let me finish this page first."

After she finished the page, she added, "Let me finish this paragraph."

In the end, May came out and forcibly took the book away. Only then did Manbao close her eyes and flop onto the reclining chair, rocking up and down as she mentally reviewed what she had read all morning.

Making incense was too difficult. Even with the proportions, the sequence of processing mattered a lot, and so did technique; if you were even a bit off, the incense that came out would be worlds apart.

Manbao felt that creating a scent suitable for Wei Zhi was too hard. It was definitely not something that could be done in a day or two, or even in a month or two, so she decided to change methods.

If she couldn’t make a sleep-aid incense that suited Wei Zhi, then only acupuncture and foot-soaking remained.

As for acupuncture, she didn’t mind; she just didn’t know whether Lord Wei would mind her turning up in the middle of the night to stick needles in him.

Given what Manbao knew of him, he would definitely mind. Even the midday sessions every five days made him a bit self-conscious.

Manbao opened her eyes as she remembered. "I’m supposed to go give Lord Wei acupuncture at noon today, right?"

"It seems so."

Manbao said, "Go send someone to speak to Lord Wei’s old servant. Have him make arrangements—after lunchtime, Lord Wei needs to rest for two hours."

"That long?"

"That’s why we’re having them arrange things in advance." Manbao lay back down on the reclining chair, took the palm fan from Xi Bing, and fanned herself. "But if he can manage to carve out even one hour, I’ll be thanking heaven."

Sure enough, Wei Zhi bargained it down by half and only gave her an hour—not even a full hour, since that hour included the time for eating lunch.

So Manbao simply freeloaded a meal at his place.

Fortunately, Lord Wei’s meals were also supplied by the temporary palace, with dishes matched to his rank. But his appetite was fairly modest, so most of it ended up in Manbao’s stomach. As for Manbao’s share, she turned to Xi Bing and said, "Go back and eat your meal. I’ll head back after I finish treating Lord Wei."

There were only two courtyards between their residences, very close, so Xi Bing smiled in assent and withdrew with a bow.

Wei Zhi chuckled and shook his head. Seeing Zhou Man eating so heartily, he couldn’t help but eat an extra half-bowl of rice himself. So after the meal he paced around the room a few times to aid digestion before getting needled.

Manbao said, "My lord damaged your stomach by irregular eating, otherwise you wouldn’t be eating so little now."

Wei Zhi sighed. "Nowadays, in you imperial doctors’ eyes, I’m a bundle of problems no matter where you look."

Manbao’s heart softened, and she immediately comforted him. "It’s all right. You don’t need medicine for this for now—it can be slowly nursed. Some of your eating habits are quite good already, such as a proper balance of meat and vegetables. If you could eat on schedule as well, then slowly, even if it can’t be fully restored, at least it won’t worsen."

Manbao judged the time and felt his food should be mostly digested, so she felt his pulse and then had him lie prone on the couch for acupuncture.

Since she was planning to rely on acupuncture, the needles she used today were adjusted a bit: she removed two of the original points and added five new ones elsewhere.

The old servant at the side quietly memorized the locations and was just about to ask when Wei Zhi, who usually whispered about political matters with Manbao during the treatment, suddenly began to snore.

The old servant was startled and asked in a low voice, "My lord fell asleep?"

Manbao nodded, let out a soft sigh, and said, "This set of needles isn’t as good at regulating internal qi as the previous one, but it can help people sleep and thus nourish the spirit. Well, you win some, you lose some."