The Lucky Farmgirl

Li Dalang wanted to stir up trouble, but unfortunately, Zhou Man didn’t come around their area much; she only took care of the matters on the woman’s side.

Even if he threw a fit, those circling him were still Imperial Doctor Lu and Imperial Doctor Liu, a few old geezers. Moreover, they weren’t lenient; they smiled kindly but weren’t gentle at all, always using his fever as an excuse to give him bitter medicine and stick him with needles.

Li Dalang was suffering immensely.

The young women separated by two rows of houses were also suffering; they were sobbing quietly. Of course, only the gentle-natured or proud ones were sobbing softly; the more extroverted ones were outright wailing.

Upon hearing the crying, Manbao came over and asked puzzledly, "What’s going on with them?" Haven’t they all recovered?

Liu Sanniang said, "Master, the young ladies feel that the pockmarks on their hands are unsightly."

These eight young girls recovered the fastest; now the smallpox had crusted and fallen away, leaving pockmarks on their arms, which were a bit red because they had just fallen off.

Initially, they didn’t care much because the pockmarks were on the inside of their arms, not easily noticeable. Besides, being unaware of the evils of the world, they thought the pockmarks would disappear.

Today, they visited each other and started comparing the pockmarks on each other’s arms; one had as many as five, while another had only one.

Seeing this made them feel ugly, and hearing others say these marks might not fade, the young ladies started crying.

The youngest among them was nine, but knew well about beauty; they were all dressing up already. How could they not know how bad these marks looked on their arms?

As such, one couldn’t hold back her sobs, prompting the others to join in, as if the sky was falling.

Manbao:...

Sharing their love of beauty, Manbao, with rich experience, comforted them, "Don’t worry, I have ointment that can fade the pockmarks. Look at mine."

Manbao rolled up her sleeves to show them.

The young ladies then looked with tearful eyes at her arms, noticing those three pockmarks close together. Only then did they recall that Zhou Man had been the first to test it before they did.

So they stopped crying, sniffled, and asked, "Don’t you find it ugly?"

Manbao said, "It’s alright. I’m still applying the ointment, and after two or three months, it should fade quite a bit, leaving just a tiny mark. Besides, when I inoculated, I purposely did it on the inside of the forearm, and it’s covered by clothing, so it’s generally not seen."

Eldest Lady Han hesitantly asked, "What if in the future someone sees it?"

A young lady nearby chimed in, "Lord Zhou, Sister Han is talking about marriage."

She’s twelve this year, indeed time to start seeking marriage prospects, Manbao sighed, "I remember you; when your little aunt had a baby, you were just eight or nine years old, now you’ve grown so big."

Eldest Lady Han:...

She looked at Zhou Man, who wasn’t much older than her, wanting to speak but held back.

Manbao waved her hand, "Don’t worry, your future husband will surely be inoculated too; his pockmarks might even be more than yours. Why worry?"

Everyone followed her thought and realized indeed; officials under sixteen needed inoculation. Their future husbands couldn’t escape it too, so what’s to fear?

Maybe they’ll have more pockmarks than them.

Thinking of it this way, the girls felt much better. A young lady asked her, "Lord Zhou, has your Deputy Magistrate Bai been inoculated?"

"No," Manbao started thinking, "How could he not be inoculated? That’s not safe; I’ll make sure he gets inoculated."

On hearing this, their eyes lit up, "Isn’t it best when below sixteen?"

"That’s true, but eighteen or nineteen isn’t much different," Manbao smiled, "He’s in good shape."

Lady Liu immediately said, "Then my brother can too?"

This time, Lady Liu barely made the cut at sixteen, the oldest among them here.

She was about to marry, going to Luozhou, and Minister Liu felt she should be inoculated before leaving, so sent her in.

Lady Liu felt she shouldn’t suffer alone; someone in the family had to accompany her, and her brother was the most fitting.

No choice, all elder siblings were of age.

Manbao exchanged a glance with her and both chuckled.

With mutual understanding, Eldest Lady Han was still more concerned about the pockmarks, weakly asking, "Lord Zhou, what does the ointment look like, can I use it now?"

Manbao generously said, "I have a jar with me, I’ll bring it to you all later. Try it first, if you find it effective, then you can buy more from me."

She said, "You don’t need to apply much, just a little, gently rub it on the pockmark until it’s absorbed."

Manbao gave them her ointment, then happily turned to Liu Sanniang, "Go back and find Liru to make this ointment; she knows how. Teach Fifth Sister-in-law, Fourth Sister-in-law, and Sixth Sister-in-law, see if they can make it. Have Lichong find a craftsman to make porcelain jars, start with a hundred sets, don’t make them too big, half the size of the jar I just gave them is enough."

Liu Sanniang hesitated, "Would that be too few?"

Manbao shook her head, "Not few at all, I’ve calculated while using it. A jar that size, just for pockmarks, would last a year, so half is enough. Everyone’s young, easier to fade the pockmarks. A jar would still be leftover."

Liu Sanniang asked, "How much should we price it?"

Manbao frowned thinking, calculated the cost, hesitating said, "Eight hundred coins?"

Seemed a bit much, mainly the medicinal costs are high, "They should be willing to buy it, right?"

Liu Sanniang also felt it was a bit pricey; if it were her, she’d hesitate, being an aide without rank, her monthly salary was one thousand six hundred cash, with three stones of salary rice, meals included, occasional shifts, no land, but there might be extra earnings.

For example, accompanying her grandfather and master on outside consultations, they’d share some fee with her.

Other aides wouldn’t have this luck, not only do they seldom accompany Imperial Doctors on outside consultations, even if they could, they generally wouldn’t get a share.

And because she had the special relationship of being her master’s disciple, sometimes the officials’ families would consult her when they couldn’t find her master.

Even if not for consultations, doing acupuncture would provide some comfort, garnering some income.

Yet under such circumstances, even she’d find it hard to suggest freely spending eight hundred cash on ointment; she’d probably rather try to make it herself.

But these young ladies were different; they were quite willing. Not only did they have money themselves, if not, they could ask their mothers upon returning home.

Was appearance more important or money?

Of course, it was appearance.

Thus, Liu Sanniang expressed a sentiment that the ointment was a bit pricey, prompting the young ladies, who had used the ointment and noticed some fading, to immediately assert that money wasn’t an issue.

On hearing they’d seen results, Manbao curiously checked, did it really work that well?

She’d used it for seven or eight days before feeling the difference.

Looking at their pockmarks again, with her professional eye, she didn’t notice much fading, but Eldest Lady Han and others insisted, "It really faded."

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