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S T E L L A R C L O U D
[Azurixa] [Celeste S.] [Christine G.-L.]
O R A N G E S T A R
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Y E L L O W S T A R
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G O L D S T A R
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R A I N B O W S T A R
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Gu Jiao waited for a long time at the gate of the Imperial Academy, but she didn’t see Little Jing Kong come out. She asked the guards and found out that school hours were not over yet, so she decided to continue waiting.
But after a while, Little San came in a hurry, "Gu girl! A patient is in urgent need of a house visit. All the physicians in the medical hall are already on a house visit. Only Physician Lu is in the medical hall, but he can't head out at the moment, there are also patients in the medical hall!"
"I see. I'll make the house visit." Gu Jiao got into Little San's carriage, went back to Bishui Alley to get her medicine chest, and then headed to the medical hall to meet the young man who came to ask for a house visit.
The young man was dressed in commoner’s attire and didn't look well born. He came by in someone else's carriage, and sat in the outer seat with Little San on their way back.
The weather in the fifth month was no longer cold, and it was even a little hot in the afternoon.
The young man was content sitting outside and taking in the breeze.
From the young man's mouth, Gu Jiao learned that the place they were going to was called a child care residence, which was equivalent to an orphanage in Gu Jiao's previous life. There were child care residences all over the place, most of which were established by the yamen. Some local squires and affluent families had also opened some child care residences to show their kindness and compassion.
Since there was an orphanage, Gu Jiao asked in passing if there were also something like a nursing home.
The young man answered, "Is young miss talking about a retirement home? There isn’t a retirement home on our street, only on Xiliu Street. Apart from soldiers and workers who are old and weak and have no children to take care of them, not many people go there.”
"Why?" Gu Jiao asked.
The young man smiled bitterly, "They can’t support that many people."
Gu Jiao didn't speak.
Welfare institutions were the same in any time and space. People couldn’t go there just because they wanted to, but the intention was good and it did address some people's livelihood needs.
The child care residence they were headed to was in a remote place, and it took the carriage more than half an hour of journey to finally reach the door of the residence.
The writing on the plaque had already faded, the gate was cracked, and mildew and moss covered the wall everywhere.
It was quite run down.
That was Gu Jiao's first impression.
After entrance was a large courtyard which had a similar layout to their house, with a small vegetable garden on the left and a small fish pond on the right. The courtyard connected several wing rooms, which seemed to be for adults to live in.
Passing through the main hall was the second courtyard, which was for the children.
A lot of children's clothes were aired in the yard. The material of the clothes obviously wasn’t bad, they were new and clean, and were without any patched parts.
It was nearing dinner time. All the children in the residence were sitting in the dining area on the east side.
Gu Jiao sniffed the air and smelled the aroma of vegetables and meat, thinking the food here wasn’t bad.
It seemed that this child care residence had spent all their money to where it should be spent.
"Where is the patient?" Gu Jiao asked.
The young man replied, "At the back, please follow me."
The patient lived in a room in the third courtyard. The orientation of the room wasn’t good. It was cold in winter and hot in summer, and it leaked on rainy days.
As soon as Gu Jiao stepped over the threshold, she felt a sweltering air. It was conceivable how uncomfortable it was to live in this room.
The young man stood at the door and said while scratching his head, "This little brother and I won't go in. I will have to trouble the young miss to treat Young Miss Gu."
Little San suspected that the other party had jumbled his words. Shouldn't it be "to trouble Young Miss Gu to treat the young miss"?
When Gu Jiao entered the room, she understood the young man’s statement. The patient lying on the cold bed inside turned out to be Gu Jinyu.
Gu Jiao hadn't seen Gu Jinyu for some days. She never expected to see her here.
Gu Jinyu was dressed in the coarse linen clothes of the common people, and the pearl hairpin and jewelry on her head were nowhere to be seen, replaced by two simple hair ribbons.
Her cheeks were thinner, and her skin wasn’t as fair as when she was still living a pampered life in the Marquis Estate. It was obvious that she had been exposed to the sun.
She seemed to have grown a little taller.
Gu Jinyu's eyes flashed a trace of surprise, as though she didn't expect the one to come to be Gu Jiao.
She looked at Gu Jiao with a complicated look, opened her mouth, and finally said in a small voice, "It's you."
This time, she finally stopped calling her sister.
Gu Jiao didn't come here for this so-called sister either. She had accepted people's money to treat a patient, that was all.
She walked up and sat down on the stool beside the bed, "Where do you feel uncomfortable?"
Gu Jinyu lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, "I had a severe menstrual cramp and passed out."
"Extend your hand out." Gu Jiao said.
Gu Jinyu slowly stretched out her right hand.
Gu Jiao didn’t have much contact with Gu Jinyu, but she had still seen these hands before. These fingers had never been used to fend for herself. They used to be as delicate as porcelain and as pretty as jewels, but now they were much rougher.
Although it wasn’t like Gu Jiao's hand, which had large and small scars, they still lost their original luster.
It was a pair of hands that had gone through some work.
Gu Jiao checked her pulse then withdrew her hand, saying, "Abdomen is suffering from cold and blood stasis. You need to take some medicine for relaxing muscles and promoting blood circulation. I'll prescribe a few painkillers too. If the pain is too much to bear, just take one. No need to endure it until you pass out."
Having said all that, Gu Jiao turned around and put her back basket on the table. She then took out the medicine from the medicine chest, put them into porcelain bottles separately, and wrote down the usage and dosage on the cloth strips wrapped on the bottles with her charcoal pen.
Gu Jiao didn't ask how she ended up in the child care residence, whether she came here on her own or the Marquis Estate kicked her out. After giving her the medicine, Gu Jiao planned to leave.
"Sister." Gu Jinyu suddenly stopped her, with a look and tone of hesitation, "How are mother and brother?"
"Not bad." Gu Jiao answered simply and concisely.
"I’m sorry." She whispered, feeling a lump on her throat.
Gu Jiao blandly said, "There’s no reason for a patient to apologize to the physician."
Gu Jinyu gazed firmly at Gu Jiao and said, "I know you can’t be bothered to hear what I say, but I'm really not putting on a show. After staying in the child care residence for a while, I fully realized how hard life is for the poor. Sister's life should be more difficult than theirs at the beginning, right? I heard that the family back in the countryside often didn’t give sister food to eat, and even beat and scold sister, as well as forced sister to work. If it wasn't for the mixed-up, I would have been the one to suffer all this.
I stole my sister's life, yet in the end, I was still the one who got jealous of my sister because I couldn't get the care of my mother and brother that I wanted. I looked down on sister because she was just a peasant girl from the countryside...
Some children in the child care residence are quite intelligent, but they are abandoned in such a place where they could neither study nor learn anything. Such good young seedlings are ruined in this way.
If I had been the one living in the countryside, I would probably have been like them. I always look down on sister because I am somewhat talented, never realizing that I only had these opportunities to learn thanks to sister's identity. If sister, just like me, grew up in the Marquis Estate since childhood, how can she be worse than me now?
I never wanted to admit that sister is better than me. It's the vanity in my heart. I’m not asking sister to forgive me. I just want to tell sister that I won't do my previous actions again in the future. Sister can think of it as me turning over a new leaf or resigning to my fate... In any case, I can't stay in the Marquis Estate for much longer."
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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