Chapter 212 - Pregnan (1/2)

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Xiaocao could tell that Madam Liu was worried, so she smiled and said, “Mother, don’t worry. The seaweed here can be dried and stored for about a year afterwards. We don’t know how long we’ll have fresh red algae around, so storing extra isn’t a bad idea.”

When Madam Liu heard this, she immediately relaxed. She worked along with her two daughters, carefully washing the seaweed before it was placed on some grass mats to dry in the sun. It would take quite a long time to process a few hundred catties of seaweed. Fortunately, before long, Lady Fang came by with her two handmaidens. When she saw her daughter dripping sweat from work, she couldn’t stay seated and also began to help them.

This wasn’t the first time Lady Fang had helped out. She couldn’t watch her daughter work hard on her own, and Xiaocao wasn’t the type of person to sit around twiddling her thumbs. Thus, Lady Fang also bustled around every time her daughter was doing something. As for her two handmaidens, they couldn’t just stand on the side while their mistress worked, right? So, the Yu Family had an additional three working hands for free.

Freshly washed seaweed had a slightly fishy odor. Lady Fang was bent over, taking the just washed seaweed and placing them on grass mats. Suddenly, a puff of fishy odor wafted over and she couldn’t help but retch.

“Madam, is something wrong?” Linglong, who was right next to her, hurriedly supported her mistress to sit down when she saw her heaving. She then ladled up a glass of warm water from the ceramic jar and helped her mistress drink it down.

Lady Fang felt her stomach settle down after the slightly sweet taste of the warm water hit her mouth. She smiled reassuringly at Xiaocao, who had come over out of concern, and said, “I’m fine. Don’t get worried like Linglong. It might be that I’m not used to the smell of seaweed yet! Cao’er, Godmother will be fine after resting a bit!”

Madam Liu smiled, “When I first married and came to Dongshan Village, I was also not used to the smell of seafood. Every time I had a whiff of fishy odor I wanted to vomit. Her father even thought I was pregnant!”

Yu Xiaocao sniffed lightly at the red algae. The fishy odor was quite faint and was similar to the smell of the seafood porridge that she normally made for her godmother. In these past few months, her godmother had tried every type of seafood available without a problem. Furthermore, she had even been able to help with processing caught fish without vomiting. Why did she have a problem now?

Suddenly, she heard her mother say the word ‘pregnant’. Her eyes immediately lit up. Her godmother and godfather had been eating her medicinal cuisine with added mystic-stone water Both of their bodies were completely healthy now. Her godmother was in her early thirties while her godfather was around forty. They had a good relationship, so her godmother becoming pregnant wasn’t something out of the ordinary.

Xiaocao placed the seaweed in her hands down and carefully washed all traces of fishy odor from them. She then arrived next to Lady Fang and pulled at the woman’s hand to take her pulse.

Lady Fang watched as her adopted daughter solemnly took her pulse. The tiny and delicate little face had such a serious look that she couldn’t help but tease, “Oh! Our family’s little miracle doctor is showing off her skills now. What did you diagnose? Tell Godmother quickly!”

At this time, Fang Zizhen had just come in from the rear courtyard with a basket of freshly washed seaweed in his hands. When he saw his adopted daughter feeling his wife’s pulse, he grinned, “Wife, believe in her! Our daughter has quite the medical talent. The last time I saw Tongren Medicine Hall’s Doctor Sun, he even complimented our daughter for being quick at learning. If she truly wanted to learn medicine, I suspect that she would even have no problems entering the palace to become an imperial female doctor!”

Female doctors belonged to the Imperial Hospital, and they were in charge of treating the palace’s empress and consorts. They mostly handled the diagnosis and treatment of some more private ailments.

“Okay, then what does our little ‘female doctor’ think Godmother has right now?” Lady Fang felt like she had become healthier and healthier ever since she started living in Dongshan Village. The change was especially obvious after she started eating her daughter’s specially prepared medicinal cuisine. Now, she had so much energy that she was sure she could kill an ox by herself. However, she could tell that her daughter felt worried about her after she vomited a couple of times.

Feelings between people were mutual. Xiaocao clearly cared about her, so Lady Fang treated her as if she was her own biological daughter. Anything that was good had to go to her daughter.

Although Yu Xiaocao only had a dabbling of medical knowledge, she was quite talented at diagnosing through feeling a person’s pulse. The worried look on her face quickly cleared. It was still a bit early but she was certain that she felt a slippery pulse. Furthermore, she could tell that her godmother’s health was quite good. However, a pregnant woman should always take more care and needed to do less hard labor.

Fang Zizhen relaxed when he saw his daughter’s expression. However, he still had to ask, “Daughter, is your godmother okay?”

“No problems, she’s doing quite well! If I’m not wrong, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a little brother or sister eight months from now!” Yu Xiaocao was quite confident in her diagnosing ability, so she flashed a mischievous grin at her godfather.

Fang Zizhen smiled gently as he nodded, “As long as she’s okay——what did you say? What do you mean a little brother or sister? Am I thinking in the right direction…”