Chapter 241: Fever Reduction
Author: White Pear Flower
Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/
Translated by Gumihou
Proofread by Pill Bug
Gumihou: There’s a scene here that would nearly make Pill Bug spit nails…
Fu Qiuning decided that she had wasted enough of her time on useless thoughts and decided to check the clock [1]. It was almost time for the children to leave school. She stood up and thought about visiting Jin Zhenyi when Chuang Hua suddenly rushed into the room. The maid actually ran inside and nearly skidded on the floor in her hurry. She hastily saluted a surprised Fu Qiuning and said, “Madam, Matron Liu just arrived with an imperial physician. They are here to have a look at Young Master Yi’s illness.”
The junior maid had hardly finished speaking when more rapid footsteps were heard and Concubine Xu rushed in. The woman immediately seized Fu Qiuning’s arm and said anxiously, “Brother Yi’s body suddenly felt very hot. He was fine before his afternoon nap. Just now, I noticed his face looked flushed and I touched his forehead and, it felt so hot that I nearly died from fright. Madam, what should we do?”
Fu Qiuning was already slapping away at the hands clutching at her arm, Concubine Xu’s nails had snagged into her sleeves and she really did not want to think about what would happen if those nails suddenly ripped out the material. She nodded at Chuang Hua, “Go and invite Imperial Physician Liu in.” She turned to Concubine Xu and said, “[2] As you have heard, the imperial physician is here. Before this, two other imperial physicians have already seen him. All three physicians were invited by the Young Marquis. No matter what, Brother Yi is his son, and he would not be treated carelessly.”
[2a] It was a lie, of course, and Concubine Xu knew it. So what if Jin Zhenyi was Jin Fengju’s son? Wasn’t Jin Changfeng his son too? Didn’t Jin Fengju neglect him back then, to the point that the boy and his sister looked more like raggedy beggars than the firstborn children of an important man? The main difference now was their father’s favour upon the ‘mother’. Although Concubine Xu hated to admit it, the reason that three imperial physicians had been called to look at Jin Zhenyi was because he was now this favoured official wife’s ‘son’.Even so, it would be crass to throw vitriol at her benefactor’s face. Together, they entered Jin Zhenyi’s room, just in time to see Imperial Physician Liu in the middle of taking Jin Zhenyi’s pulse. Jin Ming was also there with him. After a prescription had been written, Jin Ming smiled at Fu Qiuning and said, “As arranged by the Young Master, Imperial Physician Liu will now stay in this estate to monitor Young Master Yi’s condition.” [3] [3] Concubine Xu actually gasped at this. She turned to Fu Qiuning with eyes that shone with tears. To think, this woman’s hold over the Young Marquis was so strong that he would not only invite three imperial physicians to look at a shu-born son, but also have one to stay and monitor him? She would understand if Zhenyi was the only son, or was at least the most talented one. Although she loved her son and used to curse the twins as ‘cheap seedlings’ she knew in her heart that the washerwoman’s son was favoured not only because he was taken in by Fu Qiuning, but because the boy showed great literary promise.
[3] In short, Zhenyi was given such favourable treatment because he had been taken in by Fu Qiuning. If he had been taken in by any of the other women in Jin Fengju’s harem… leaving aside this kind of good treatment, who knew whether her child would have eaten well or had enough clothes for winter or not?While she was in the middle of such thoughts, a maid suddenly came in to report that Madam Jiang, Jiang Wanying and Concubine Huo had arrived to visit Jin Zhenyi. When she heard this, Concubine Xu immediately sneered and said, “Here to visit the sick? They are clearly here to see whether my boy has died or not. If they knew that he had woken up, who knows whether they could still eat or sleep well at night?”
Fu Qiuning sighed and said, “Come, let us go and entertain them. After all, Elder Madam is there too. She, at least, appeared sincere in her worry for her grandson. You just do your best to restrain yourself.” She cast a stern glare at Concubine Xu and was relieved when the woman nodded compliantly.
The two of them set out for the receiving hall where Elder Madam Jiang and the rest of the women were waiting. At the sight of Concubine Xu, Jiang Wanying and Concubine Huo were shocked. [4] The two of them had been on pins and needles all day and night as they worried over whether that wretched boy would implicate them the moment he woke up. Jiang Wanying had wanted to inquire about his condition but feared that she would appear too eager for news. In the end, she decided to play it safe and not even engage in housekeeping work for a bit just to secure plausible deniability by pleading a headache.
[4] Unfortunately, she had essentially put herself into an information blackout, to the point that she had even missed the news of Concubine Xu’s return. As for Madam Jiang, she had some idea about Madam Xu’s presence because the Old Madam had sent for her to scold her about keeping Jin Zhenyi’s accident a secret and casually brought the news that his birth mother was here to take care of him.Madam Jiang had nothing but disdain for Concubine Xu and displayed this by a simple glance at the woman before looking away. Jiang Wanying [5] gasped exaggeratedly and said, “Concubine Xu, I had not expected to see you here.”
Concubine Xu’s eyes were fiery with hatred as she glared at Jiang Wanying. Even so, she bit her lip and did not rise to the obvious bait. Her most reliable backer, Fu Qiuning had ordered her to be quiet, therefore she intended to stay quiet no matter what.
When it was obvious that Concubine Xu would not answer, Fu Qiuning said in her stead, “Since Brother Yi has fallen seriously ill, I thought that the best person to take care of him would be Concubine Xu and had her brought back [2].”
By now, Jiang Wanying had regained enough of her composure to smile and say, [5] “You are saying that our Lord Husband allowed this person to be brought back? Goodness, I must say that he has gotten much more forgiving than before. Don’t you think so, Elder Sister?”
[6] Fu Qiuning’s answer was a neutral, “I would not know. Hasn’t he always been the same?” [2a] more than ten years had already passed, but he was still employing the same tactic of using women to make one of his other women jealous. Didn’t he use this trick on that washerwoman when he hired the unusually beautiful Aunt Yu to look after the twins? His own twin children whom he never bothered to even name. Yes, let us not forget that. [6a] Madam Jiang suddenly coughed and said, “That’s right. No matter what, Fengju values his children very much. When a child is ill, I’m sure it is natural for them to want their mother. Moreover, I’m sure that Concubine Xu could at least be trusted to take care of her offspring.” [5] “Hah, trusted to care for her offspring? Has everyone forgotten why she was cast out in the first place? Didn’t she take a blade to her own son’s face, or have I misremembered that?” sneered Jiang Wanying. [5] Everyone in the room froze. Madam Jiang looked flustered. Concubine Xu looked angry and frustrated but was unable to say anything. Concubine Huo appeared nervous, looking as though she would like the ground to swallow her up. As for Fu Qiuning, she was already fed up with all the drama happening in this room. [5] Madam Jiang finally stood up. She wavered as she looked at Jiang Wanying’s direction, but in the end, lost her nerve. Instead of scolding her niece, she said, “Let us have a look at the boy.”At Jin Zhenyi’s room, she cried out loud at the sight of his flushed face. “A fever! Hurry, someone sends for a doctor quickly!”
Fu Qiuning smoothly cut in to say, “Imperial Physician Liu has already taken a look at him. He said that injuries caused by wind and snow would inevitably lead to colds. Therefore, there is no need to worry [2].”
[6b] As expected, Madam Jiang heaved a loud sigh of relief and said, “Amitabha, amitabha. What did I say? Fengju loves all his children equally. Look at how well he treated Brother Yi even after… Not to mention, he shows great favour to Brother Feng and Xuan’er too…”Fu Qiuning kept her gaze directed to the window looking out the garden as Madam Jiang continued to verbally dig herself into a hole.
[6b] “… A-anyway, make sure that there are maids and servants with Brother Yi at all times. Always have someone watch out for him. We still have no idea who that evildoer is and they could strike at any moment.”Fu Qiuning muttered something agreeable along with all the maids, servants and the rest of Jin Fengju’s extra women.
Just then, Jiang Wanying spoke up, “Why did it take so long before anyone discovered Brother Yi? Surely he should have woken up by now? Has he said anything about who it was that did such a heinous, black-hearted thing? If we knew, I personally would never forgive them.”
Fu Qiuning smiled and said, “He managed to wake up once or twice, but was too confused and frightened to say anything. Imperial Physician Liu advised us not to force the matter.”
Jiang Wanying frowned slightly at that. [4a]
Madam Jiang proceeded to question Fu Qiuning about Jin Zhenyi’s condition while the maids and Concubine Xu rushed in and out of the room, applying damp towels to Jin Zhenyi’s forehead and being generally busy. On the other hand, Jiang Wanying and Concubine Huo remained on the side in pensive silence.
In the midst of this, Madam Jiang suddenly stood up and said, “Let us go, it is not good to sit here and be in their way. The most important matter now is Brother Yi’s health.”
Then, she turned to Fu Qiuning and said, “There is no need to pay respects to myself or the Old Madam. The Old Madam also said that Brother Yi’s condition is very delicate now. Should there be any changes, just send someone to inform me.”
Fu Qiuning serenely accepted the order before escorting her mother-in-law out. With the entourage gone with Elder Madam, she returned to Jin Zhenyi’s side to sit for a little while. [7] She touched the boy’s cheek with the back of her hand and frowned at the heat.
[7] Beside her, Concubine Xu hovered anxiously. She said, “Madam, Brother Yi’s fever appears to be worsening, what should we do…” Her voice ended in a sob as her hands reached out to touch her son before withdrawing again, as though afraid to touch him. [7] “He feels very hot,” said Fu Qiuning superfluously. “Get Imperial Physician Liu here. [7] When Imperial Physician Liu’s solution was to pour more dark medicine down a drowsy Jin Zhenyi’s throat, Fu Qiuning frowned to herself. This so-called imperial physician only seemed to have one solution for everything. Is this what they call ‘when the only tool in your hand is a hammer, every problem is a nail’? [7a] Or, more worryingly, considering how precious and important imperial physicians were to the imperial family and its extended harem, not to mention it is now wintertime when colds are rife among the people including the weak noble women and elders, just how did Jin Fengju manage to call him in to stay over at the Duke of Jing’s estate to look after a shu-born son? Isn’t it already a grand thing to call one over for a house visit? [7a] Even as Concubine Xu was thanking Imperial Physician Liu for shoving more of his noxious potions into her son, and saying things like ‘we must not let the fever get too severe or his life would be in danger etc etc’, Fu Qiuning was already quietly giving orders to Yu Jie. Although this maid had sold her loyalty to Jin Fengju, she had also lived with Fu Qiuning for over 5 years and could be trusted to carry out direct orders.Later, when night fell and Jin Zhenyi’s fever rose, Concubine Xu became so hysterical that she collapsed to the floor out of sheer anxiety and grief.
“E-even Imperial Physician Liu’s medicine is ineffective, all hope is lost. It’s all over now,” Concubine Xu sobbed. “Madam, c-could you please ask Jin Ming to call Imperial Physician Liu to visit again? Perhaps…”
[7c] Fu Qiuning thought: Call that quack again? I don’t think so. [7c] Just then, Yu Jie came in with a covered basin. “Madam, I have brought the things you asked for!” [7c] Inside the basin were several leather small pouches. Due to the cold air, there was no condensation, but the moment Fu Qiuning touched them, she nodded. “Good work.” [7c] “Madam? Wh-what are those…?” asked Concubine Xu. [7c] “Something that could potentially save your son,” said Fu Qiuning as she swiftly took off Jin Zhenyi’s cover. [7c] “Madam!! What are you-” [7c] “Hush now, it’s our best bet,” said Fu Qiuning firmly. She nodded at the other maids. “Restrain her.” [7c] Concubine Xu actually screamed, Yu Jie took the opportunity to slap her and said cheerfully, “It will all be fine, Madam Concubine. This is a tried and true method. So, please trust in the Madam.” [7c] “Y-you—!” [7c] Still ignoring her, Fu Qiuning frowned at the sticky clothing and ordered the maids to remove the wet clothes and bedding, replacing the sheets before swiftly tucking the pouches under Jin Zhenyi’s armpits, knees and neck. She also placed one on his head. Finally, she placed a thin sheet over Jin Zhenyu’s chest and covered his groin, but allowed his limbs to be exposed. [7c] When she heard nothing from Concubine Xu, she turned and found that Yu Jie had ordered some maids to gag her as well. She was glaring at Fu Qiuning with fiery eyes. Fu Qiuning sighed and said, “If you promise to remain calm, I shall explain what I am doing.”Just then, Jin Fengju’s voice came from the doorway to say, “Explain this to me as well.”
“To bring down the body heat, the best way is to use snow. However, a child’s body is delicate, the best way to do this is through these leather pouches packed with snow,” she said matter-of-factly. “Isn’t it a logical solution to cool things down with cold?”
Instead of questioning her, Jin Fengju nodded and said, “Bring in more pouches of snow-”
“There’s no need,” said Fu Qiuning. “We just need to cool his body down a little, not make him completely cold.”
“I-I see,” a single tear rolled down Jin Fengju’s cheek as he rushed forward to wring his hands over his son. “You are saying he looks better now? Is he really? Just how did you come by this ingenious method?”
[7c] She smiled ironically, “Naturally, it is through experience. However, I must say, these leather pouches make monitoring his condition much easier. At least, it is much easier than that time when we had to almost bury poor Jiao’er’s body in the snow to bring down her fever…” [7c] Fu Qiuning pretended not to hear the ringing silence in the room as she blithely continued, “Having no medicine available and with only a couple of leather pouches at hand, it is either snow directly applied to the body or ice wrapped in cloth. Unfortunately, cloth-wrapped ice would only result in soaked towels and blankets. To dry these, we would require fire and fire requires fuel, so we could only bring her out and pack snow against her little arms and legs. That naughty child, I swear, she will be the death of me…”
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[7c] That evening, Imperial Physician Liu came in with more of his medicine. Naturally, he made sure to tsk over the leather pouches, before exclaiming Fu Qiuning’s genius when he realised who came up with the idea. Later, when he realised how effective it was, he was effusive with his praises.
Fu Qiuning thought: At least, this quack now has two tricks up his sleeves instead of one.
All jokes aside, Jin Zhenyi’s condition was pretty serious. The fever only properly subsided by the afternoon of the third day since the attack. Fu Qiuning waited until the last minute before sending the good news to Health & Longevity Court and Elder Madam. On the same day, Jin Yu and Madam Jiang came to visit the sick. By the fourth day, Jin Zhenyi was properly lucid once more.
Naturally, Concubine Xu was elated, along with Madam Jiang and Old Madam Jin. Well, the last two looked happy at least. On the other hand…
“I saw Tian Yu and Qiu Xia sneaking around here and there at the plum blossom forest and thought it was a little strange. I thought they were going to steal something to sell. I wanted to be the one to tell Honoured Mother and so I dismissed my servant boys. In the end, the maids just ended up stopping near a large rock and started whispering to each other. I sneaked closer to hear, but bumped into a tree. When they saw me, I said… I said something, I can’t remember, but when I turned around to leave, there was a pain in my head and- and I can’t remember any more…”
In the room, Jin Zhenyi recounted his experience within the plum blossom forest as clearly as he could. When he peeked at his father’s expression, the stern emotionless face he saw made him even more uneasy.
[Gumihou: Deleted two occasions where Jiang Wanying implicated himself through ‘humph, I has ebil thoughts, grrr’]
[1] In the original, it was an ‘hourglass’, but ma’am, I guess you forgot JFJ bought FQN a Western clock? Also, an hourglass? Seriously? Ancient China has sundials, water clocks and even mechanical clocks by the 11th century, but an hourglass?
Even if hourglasses existed during that time, which is unlikely given that they needed high-level glass-making skills, just how big does the hourglass have to be for Fu Qiuning to tell that it is ‘time for the children to leave school’ through a freaking hourglass?
[2] Reduce unnecessary long-ass explanation [2a] Since the long-ass explanation had been reduced, added some juicy details [3] It’s kind of a big deal to have an imperial physician stay with a noble household, so let’s make a big fuss [4] ‘Bad ladies’ implicating themselves to the readers. This part of the scene was done really awkwardly. Like, I’m so embarrassed for White Pear Flower that I refuse to even put the original here. [4a] Deleted 80 more words of ‘bad ladies’ muttering evil things to make themselves look bad for the readers [5] Real Jiang Wanying reaction, instead of the ‘dumb villain’ [6] Deleted Madam Jiang nodding dumbly and thinking that her niece is a villainMrs. Jiang frowned slightly and secretly wondered when, why did the girl Wan have to take advantage of every opportunity now?
Dude, like, this is so unnecessary.
[6a] Have Madam Jiang speak the words that she nodded approvingly at on the side. [6b] Madam Jiang is just here to say good things about JFJ, Gumi just made it a bit more obvious [7] Create a somewhat realistic delivery of the ‘medical scene’ that does not need too many mental gymnastics to navigate. What a pity it made JFJ look bad [7a] Question the imperial physician’s qualification, because he really seems like a one-trick pony here [7b] Deleted ‘I so medically kleber bla bla’Here’s a snippet of the deleted genius ‘In this era, there were no thermometers. Fu Qiuning saw Jin Zhenyi’s flushed face and touched his forehead. With just one touch, she was startled and muttered to herself, “This temperature must be over forty degrees, right? No, it seems like we need to find a solution.”
Like, no shit, Sherlock
[7c] Deleted 130 more medical gobbledygook that involved ‘volunteer work looking after lonely old men in a modern hospital in the modern world where I originally came from’Gumihou: …you’re clutching at straws at this point.
Also, why ‘to go cut some ice in the pool outside, wrap it two or three layers in a white towel’ when you can use leather pouches, you idjit? Ancient problems require ancient solutions.
By the way, the phrase ‘the medicine has no effect’ was used 3 times and implied twice. So, FQN is justified in thinking he’s a quack
Pill Bug TL Notes:
Okay, I have quite a lot to say about fever
Fever is the way the body boosts our immune system’s response to fight off infection. Usually, it’s controlled. The heat from fever comes from shivering. It is enhanced due to shrinking blood vessels in the extremities (remember the frostbite treatment?)
A fever over 39.5 C is dangerous, people can start to have seizures and hallucinations.
A fever over 42 C can cause permanent brain damage!
Fevers this high usually don’t happen unless it’s a response to a life-threatening problem, like sepsis (blood infection) or meningitis (brain membrane inflammation) because before we had medicine, if anyone had a fever this high, they’d usually die anyway even before the illness kills them, so it makes no sense for the body to make a fever this high unless it really needs to.
Do we want to lower a fever? In modern times, since we have medicine to treat the infection, we can let our immune system slack a bit by giving medicine to fight the infection and then give medicine to lower the fever. Otherwise, simply lowering the fever without fighting the infection would just let the infection do more damage. Yes, that means taking paracetamol to keep working during a common cold is letting the infection cause you more damage. Get your bed rest!
However, if the fever is over 39.5 C, then definitely yes, we need to lower the fever. Brain damage is imminent if we let it keep going up.
41 42 C is when we start doing emergency temperature-lowering measures like what Fu Qiuning did, but that only works for a short time because the body will start shivering due to the sudden temperature loss and make the fever go up again unless we keep the temperature low with medicine
That is why the ‘warm towel over head’ thing to lower temperature exists in anime – lower it SLOWLY to prevent shivering, unless it’s an emergency.
I do not know how high Jin Zhenyi’s body temperature was, so I can’t accurately say whether what Fu Qiuning did was proper or not. It’s not like they have accurate thermometers in ancient China, right?
…
The first line drug we have for lowering fevers in modern times is paracetamol.
This is because it’s relatively safe, even in children, unless you overdose and kill your liver.
We HAD other drugs to lower fever in the past, like aspirin, but aspirin is dangerous to use in children! Look up Reye’s Syndrome – brain swelling, liver damage. We did not find out that aspirin was dangerous to use in children until modern times. Aspirin was used like paracetamol for pain and fever. Poor children.
Anyway, before we discovered how to distil aspirin, we used willow bark (which has similar compounds to aspirin. It also has similar problems with aspirin in children…)
I have no idea what the imperial physician was pouring down Jin Zhenyi’s throat, but considering it’s ancient China…
All I can say is Jin Zhenyi is lucky to survive. Or maybe he has brain damage, but was already so dumb that no one noticed? Considering the multiple injuries to his head over the course of the story, I highly suspect Jin Zhenyi already has brain damage…
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