Chapter 334 - The Beauty Standard (1/2)
Yu Xiaocao knew that when children were young, they perceived the world through their senses like animals. Little Linlin must’ve been attracted by the residual of spiritual power left behind by the little divine stone, and thus he unconsciously tried to get closer to her.
Little Linlin was almost one year old and was still drinking milk; however, they gave him some complementary food in addition to the milk. He had caught a cold in the past two days, so he began coughing. The best pediatrics doctor in the capital had visited them and prescribed some medicine for him. But the medicine was too bitter. Whenever he saw the dark substance in the bowl, he would start crying and refuse to cooperate. Even if they forced the medicine, he would cry, cough, and spit the medicine out. Therefore, he had been coughing for more than half a month, yet he still hadn’t recovered yet.
When Yu Xiaocao witnessed the tragic scene of Little Linlin being forced to drink medicine, she hugged him distressfully. She asked the little divine stone to release some spiritual power in the sugar water and fed it to the little guy. The wet nurse standing by the side wanted to stop her, “The doctor said not to give the young master too many sweet things…”
Lady Fang shook her head at her and said, “Cao’er has also learned some medical skills. Last time when Lin’er was coughing, it was his sister who had someone deliver the medicine over. The remaining half bottle of medicine was taken by the empress and given to the little prince…”
The wet nurse’s eyes brightened. She looked at Yu Xiaocao and said, “Young Miss, you should prescribe some medicine for the young master again. The medicine you prescribed is sweet, so the young master doesn’t reject it at all!”
Yu Xiaocao asked to look at the prescription the doctor had prescribed for Little Linlin, confirming that the medicine was for fever, cough, and asthma. After thinking about it, she wrote down a prescription and asked a servant to get all the medicinal herbs in the prescription. Lady Fang took the prescription and looked at it: five catties of fresh loquat leaves, five ounces of bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae, ten ounces of lotus plumule, ten ounces of dwarf lilyturf, ten ounces of jujubes, five ounces of Chinese asparagus, ten ounces of Rehmannia glutinosa, ten ounces of Ningbo figwort, and two catties of refined honey. Most of the medicinal herbs used in this prescription were present in the doctor’s prescription, so she allowed the servant to get the medicinal herbs.
Before dinner, Fang Zizhen rushed over. In the reception hall, they set up a table of a feast to entertain the father and daughter pair. Yu Xiaocao personally made a bowl of soft, tender, and smooth egg soup for Little Linlin. She added some mystic stone water, so Little Linlin happily ate it. The bowl of egg soup was quickly finished, and Little Linlin let out an ‘ahhh’ sound, indicating that he wanted more.
The wet nurse, who stood on the side, smiled as she wiped her tears and said, “Young Miss is indeed skilled in cooking. The young master has a bad appetite these days because we’ve been force-feeding him his medicine. He doesn’t even want to drink milk. This servant’s heart pained for the young master after seeing how much weight he has lost! This is the first time the young master has eaten so happily in more than half a month!”
After dinner, all the medicinal herbs had already been bought. Yu Xiaocao had the servants soak the medicinal herbs for two hours, and then boiled the herbs in a copper medicine pot. After that, it would be brewed on low heat while maintaining its boiling state. The medicine needed to be stirred from time to time and the floating suds would be removed. After boiling it for two hours, the liquid would be filtered out from the herbs, and then cold water would be poured into the medicinal dregs, so it could be reboiled. After boiling it in this manner for three times, the liquid medicine was poured all together and left to settle. Then the liquid medicine needed to be filtered three more times with four layers of gauze.
These steps were done by the maidservants who were in charge of brewing medicine. They took turns to brew the medication for the entire night and finally completed it. Early the next morning, after Yu Xiaocao got up, she began condensing the liquid medicine without eating breakfast first. As it turned into a paste, she added honey and rock sugar into it. She boiled the paste on low heat and continuously stirred it with chopsticks until it became sticky. Finally, the final product was packed in small porcelain bottles, which could be stored and eaten after it completely cooled down.
When Little Linlin woke up, Lady Fang had made a bowl of bulbus fritillariae cirrhosae and loquat leaf cough syrup for him to drink. Little Linlin was about to cry when he saw the reddish-brown liquid medicine, so Yu Xiaocao dipped the chopsticks in the medicine and placed it in his mouth. The little guy smacked his mouth and realized that it was sweet! The tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes were gone as he looked at the liquid medicine with a hesitant expression.
Yu Xiaocao took the little guy and allowed him to sit comfortably in her embrace. She whispered softly, “Little Linlin, this is sweet sugar water. Do you want to drink it?”
Little Linlin still had a hesitant expression on his face. He wanted to drink it, but he was afraid that he would be deceived again. After he fell ill, he had been deceived so many times that he had become doubtful. What should he do if this bowl was also bitter medicine?
“Have a taste first. If it’s bitter, you can just spit it out!” Yu Xiaocao scooped a spoonful of medicine with a spoon and blew on it, then she delivered it right in front of the little guy’s mouth.
The little guy hesitated for a moment, before putting on a courageous front like he was heading to an execution ground; he opened his mouth and let the spoon enter his mouth. Yu Xiaocao titled the spoon and poured the liquid into Little Linlin’s mouth.
The little guy wrinkled his face and kept the medicine in his mouth without swallowing. However, he soon realized that the medicine wasn’t as bitter and unappetizing as before. Instead, it was sweet and delicious, so he gulped it down. Lady Fang usually didn’t spoil him and rarely gave him sweets. The sweet liquid medicine tasted pretty good. Little Linlin stared at the medicine bowl in his mother’s hands.
Yu Xiaocao scooped another spoonful of medicine from the bowl in her godmother’s hands. The little guy waited with his mouth wide open even before she put the medicine in his mouth. Just like this, spoonful after spoonful, the bowl of liquid medicine was almost finished. Little Linlin unexpectedly appeared to want more.
Yu Xiaocao wiped his mouth and smiled, “Let’s leave some room for later. Older Sister will make you a bowl of vegetables and ground meat porridge later!”
In the Fang Family’s glass greenhouse, besides precious flowers and plants, there were also lots of vegetables. Lady Fang specifically ordered the gardener to plant them after she returned from Dongshan Village. The gardener felt very helpless about this. He was very good at handling precious flowers and plants, and he even had a reputation for it in the capital. Yet he was unexpectedly sent here to waste his talents by planting vegetables! Fortunately, the few beautiful and hard to plant orchids in the greenhouse allowed him to clear his head and realize his value.
It wasn’t necessarily bad to grow some vegetables in the greenhouse. At least, he and his masters would not lack vegetables to eat this winter. Being able to freeload some offseason vegetables was the only advantage of growing vegetables.