Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

Chen skillfully examined Xu, and he knit his brows.

“Goodness. I can feel the heat in your joints. This must be very painful. Are you enduring this all this time?”

“…”

Chen pointed out, and Xu nodded while with downcast eyes.

He probably hit the bull’s eye, so she must have felt awkward.

“Your tolerance is pretty good and you have the grit, but it backfired this time. We have medicine that can help if you’re in pain, you know? Besides, these hands are the tools of your trade, aren’t they?”

“No, that’s because…”

Xu was about to rebut Chen’s scolding, but she just fell silent again.

Yui Mei recalled the story that she heard from Chen as she looked at them.

“Miss Xu, is there perhaps someone in your family who also suffered from feng shi?”

Yui Mei asked. Xu looked like she was conflicted on whether she would answer or not, but she chose to speak eventually.

“…Not sure if it’s feng shi or not, but the joints of my granny’s hands had been strangely swollen. I heard that the Taoists claimed that she was cursed, and she was driven out of the city.”  

“I see, so there was a precedent for that mistake among the people familiar to you.”

Yui Mei grimaced when she heard her reply.

Apparently, somebody from her family had been unjustly persecuted because of this condition.

“This old wives’ tale of prejudice is quite deeply rooted, huh.”

Chen looked extremely bothered while muttering this.

‘Even the curse stories from the previous winter’s influenza didn’t disappear in the end, too.’

Taoists were far more familiar to the citizens of this country compared to physicians, so they probably think that it would be better to trust them rather than the doctors.

There was also the possibility that those who put their faith in the taoists thought that physicians were quacks who wanted them to eat unknown weeds.  Humans were beings who believed whatever they wanted to believe, after all.

Chen and Yui Mei were nodding to each other in understanding, when Xu timidly inquired about her condition.

“Ahm, I’m still half dubious about what this girl here told me before, but is it true that I’m not cursed because I did something wrong?”

“You’re completely mistaken, you know? This is an illness called feng shi, and if you drink medicine as early as possible and have yourself treated, it’s possible to recover.”

Chen refuted her words right on the spot.

“I see, so it’s an illness… I see…”

Xu must have been scared of the possibility that her being cursed would be confirmed. She finally looked relieved after hearing his words.

‘Miss Xu, you’ve been suffering from a lot of bad things..’

Perhaps, if she hadn’t been burdened and shocked by the matter regarding the ‘death’ of her lover, she probably went to the physician by recommendation of the Jiaofang despite her doubts.

If that was the case, then Yui Mei was bothered by another thing.

“Miss Xu, are you perhaps refraining from moving your joints because of the pain?”

Did she want to continue hiding her condition while not moving out of fear that other people would point her out as being cursed? 

“Yeah, well, that’s right.?”

The words ‘Why are you asking that?’ were written on Xu’s face as she confusedly nodded in reply to Yui Mei’s question. 

“It’ll be bad if you don’t move them.”

Chen muttered when he heard her answer.

It might have been a good method to endure the pain, but she couldn’t continue doing that as her way of coping with the illness.

“Your joints will become stiff if you remain inactive, so please move them as much as you can while the pain is being calmed down.”

Yui Mei said, and she then demonstrated the rheumatism therapy exercises that they used to do in the hospital she worked at in her previous life.

She then cautioned Xu to cool her joints with a wet towel if she felt them heating up, and she also told Xu that it would be good if she were to warm her body otherwise.

“In other words, a warm bath is effective if your joints aren’t inflamed. Please observe your condition, alright?”

“So that’s how it is.”

Xu’s eyes widened as she listened to Yui Mei’s explanation.

“I had been struggling with baths because of the pain. I see, so I made a mistake with the timing, huh.”

Apparently, bathing had been the most challenging part of her daily life.

However, if she didn’t bathe, her reputation would be affected, so she still pushed herself to do it.

“Feng shi come in waves; there are times when it is very painful, and times when it isn’t, so we have to know your pattern, first.”

“Yeah, that’s right, we have to start with that.”

Chen voiced his agreement to Yui Mei’s words as he sat beside her.