The Tang Dynasty’s Female Forensic Doctor

Yan Ran wrote down the prescription, handed it to Qing Dai and instructed: "White Liang Powder flower[1], Acorus flower[2], let the pharmacy grind them into powder, to be spread on the festering wounds. The other prescription is a decocted tonic, I will explain it in detail to you later."

After saying all this, Ran Yan took off the rough cloth around her hands, bringing Wan Lu with her, circled around to the other side of the screen. Syphilis is a tough illness to handle and they needed to be extremely vigilant,  if it is possible to avoid being close to the infected person, then they should avoid them as far as possible.

At this moment, a maidservant happened to lead a few famed women (名女) in.

Ran Yan still thinking about how to extract penicillin, did not notice that people have entered, went ahead and sat down on the seat.

"Didn"t you say there was a doctor here to treat us? How come the person cannot be seen!" said a beautiful, bright looking woman.

Wan Lu seeing that Ran Yan still had no reaction, quickly called her attention: "Miss."

"This person is the doctor,” said the servant girl extending her hand out to indicate.

This woman was momentarily astonished, in the Tang Dynasty, female doctors were rare, they only existed within the palace, served only the concubines, few were allowed to leave, even if they exited the palace and became commoners, they were quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed up by powerful families, among the common people it was almost impossible to see a female doctor.

"Is this a trick?" that bright-looking woman inspected Ran Yan with a piercing gaze, as if she could see through the veil"s barrier.

Ran Yan came back to herself, through the black veil calmly a.n.a.lysed the people who came. The famed women were about sixteen to seventeen years, some bright and some gentle, each with their own characteristics, they were all beauties, it is just that, that bright-looking woman with a pair of peach blossom eyes, her mouth was a little shrewish.

Towards matters outside her work, Ran Yan never had additional enthusiasm, "Who will come first?"

"I"ll go." The brightly coloured woman seeing that Ran Yan disregarded her words, inevitably was a little angry, lifted her skirt and sat opposite Ran Yan, extending her hand out.

"Below, is there any itching, swelling or pain, growth of foreign bodies without reason?" Ran Yan asked.

The woman startled a little, with some doubt asked: "You do not need to take my pulse?"

Ran Yan observed the subtle change in the woman"s att.i.tude, unless she was made to, according to her unyielding personality, she would not have a bit of softness, "For about a month, stop receiving customers, with men there cannot be intercourse, kisses..."

"Your meaning is, I am also infected?" The women interrupted Ran Yan, her face slightly pale, staring relentlessly at Ran Yan, "Are you taking revenge on my rudeness just now?"

Ran Yan was helpless, she didn"t say that she was definitely infected, but since she had symptoms of red swelling and itchiness, it was better not to have s.e.x, otherwise the result might not be any better than catching this disease.

"Regardless of whethe

r you"ve been infected, according to your symptoms, you still cannot continue to receive customers, after I"ve finished asking everyone else, I will then do a detailed examination." Ran Yan thought in her heart, it is likely that at least some of the people in the brothel would have gynaecological disorders, preventing them from receiving customers is directly breaking their livelihood, this consequence is not something that these people who sell their bodies for living can accept, thus said: "If you did not catch this disease, I will not force you to treat it."

Even though Ran Yan was not a gynaecologist, but during the five years in university, she often stood in[3] for her roommates in cla.s.s, to be honest, there were many gynaecologists who may not be as proficient than Ran Yan.

"Master Han has a new lover lately, isn"t it a good time for Hong Xing[4] jiejie[5] to take a break?" Standing beside her, a maiden wearing a beige ruqun with flowers embroidered on the chest said warmly with a pleasant sounding Wu dialect.

The girl wearing the beige skirt was fair and clear, her appearance was not like Hong Xing"s which shines in front of people"s eyes, but was delicate and gentle, docile-looking, her fair and clear wrist was adorned only with a white bracelet, her whole aura sophisticated, even when saying such sharp words, she made people feel like she had no ill intentions.

"You! That type of dandy who changes his mind all the time[6] going somewhere else, I feel peaceful instead, humph, it is lucky that he changes when seeing something different, otherwise today he would have died in my room, unlucky." Hong Xing"s pair of eyes containing peach blossoms, when staring at people, had a different feel.

The woman in the beige skirt lowered her eyes and combed back the hair at her temples, still retaining her warm and gentle look, softly said: "Hong Xing jiejie be care with you words, just now when I pa.s.sed by, I heard the coroner say, Master Han was poisoned... jiejie would not want to involve yourself."

Hong Xing violently slapped the table a few times, abruptly straightened herself up, "Cui Mei, what do you mean by those words!"

Ran Yan saw the two with their daggers drawn[7], did not press for their treatment, and even watched on from the side with relish. From Cui Mei"s two sentences heavy with meaning, at the very least could know, just now the Master Han mentioned who had died, was actually not beaten to death, seems like someone had poisoned him.

Although this matter did not concern her, but coming across a murder case in ancient times, inevitably roused her interest.

"I am a musician, selling my talents and not my body, one month ago I moved out from Zi Xu"s house, I should be fine right?" Cui Mei ignored Hong Xing, instead turning to Ran Yan and asked about medical matters.

If it was really so, it should be fine, Ran Yan wanted to answer her, suddenly noticed at the corner of Cui Mei"s mouth there was a sore, covered under powder, vaguely visible, Ran Yan hesitated slightly and said:  "The sore by your mouth?"

"Oh, the brothel"s dedicated doctor saw it yesterday, said it was internal heat, prescribed some medicine, it doesn"t hurt anymore now." Cui Mei"s voice was soft, like the gentleness of a March day in Jiangnan[8], making people question, which family"s lady is she.

Ran Yan glanced at her probingly, the early sign of syphilis on the skin was small red pimples/papules, and then it would rapidly rupture into small red ulcers, following the progression of the disease, the amount and spread of the ulcers would increase, moreover, the places where there was highest possibility of this symptom appearing, aside from the lower body, were the corners of the mouth, fingers, chest etc.

"That being the case, then I won"t ask further." Ran Yan replied indifferently and turned to question the last prost.i.tute.

This young girl was called Zi Ai, timid-looking, when replying, stared with slight fear at Ran Yan waiting for an answer.

Under her initial inquiry, only Zi Ai did not have any abnormalities, Cui Mei was described as gentle, but had already clearly rejected Ran Yan"s treatment, whereas Hong Xing was very accommodating. Unfortunately after examination, she was diagnosed with syphilis.

"You served the same man as Zi Xu?" Ran Yan actually wanted to ask who was the man, deliberately asked such a leading question.

As expected, Hong Xing did not disappoint her, said with a trembling voice: "It"s Master Han."

Ran Yan knitted her brows, her heart sighed once again, as expected the heavens would not simply drop meat pies. Stumbling across a good opportunity to earn money when she just entered the city, but this opportunity, actually burned her hand a little.

"Please save me!" Hong Xing suddenly fell to Ran Yan"s feet, said crying: "Just now when I was disrespectful towards you[9], it was my mistake[10], please don"t take it to heart, I am the type of person who has always been straightforward[11]..."

Miss Yan just pulled open the curtain and saw this scene, could not help but startle, when it rains, it really pours[12]!

"These few days, close the doors (stop business) and rest." Miss Yan collected her appearance, walked in at a slow pace and sat in front of Ran Yan, "Does the Great Doctor have a way to treat this disease?"

"There is a way, but it is not suitable for everyone. I have already prescribed two remedies, eat them first, if there is ulcerated rash, apply the medicinal powder." While speaking, Ran Yan noticed the ruptured rash on Miss Yan"s fingers.  When they were in the alley, the rash on her hands had not ruptured yet, rupturing at this speed, she practically did not need to continue her examination, "Your hands do not need to be concealed with powder, just use the medicinal powder."

Hong Xing looked at Miss Yan"s hands in surprise, but her heart sighed in relief, since Zi Xu had fallen ill, the brothel"s doctors were helpless, but Miss Yan just ordered everyone to hide the incident, at least Zi Xu had an older sister, but Hong Xing had no relatives at all.

"Who is Master Han? Does he have any wives or concubines?" asked Ran Yan.

[1]白梁粉钱 (Bái liáng fěn qián): could not find out if this was a real flower or not so I just did a direct translation. 钱 (qian) actually means money, but it can also refer to flowers because they look like money.

[2]石菖蒲钱 (Shí chāngpú qián): Acorus tatarinowii flower found in China, relative of Acorus calamus

[3] 顶课 (dǐng kè): to pretend to be someone in cla.s.s and stand in for them.

[4] 红杏 (hóng xìng): apricot

[5] 姐姐 (jie jie): older sister (also used to address women who are older than you)

[6] 见异思迁 (jiàn yì sī qiān): to change at once on seeing sth different (idiom); loving fads and novelty / never satisfied with what one has

[7] 剑拔弩张 (jiàn bá nǔ zhāng): lit. with swords drawn and bows bent (idiom); fig. a state of mutual hostility

[8] south of Changjiang or Yangtze river / south of the lower reaches of Changjiang / often refers to south Jiangsu, south Anhui and north Zhejiang provinces / a province during Qing times / in literature, refers to the sunny south

[9] 您: respectful form of "you" - a change from how she addressed Ran Yan before with the casual 你

[10] 有眼无珠: literally eyes without beads - meaning lacking the ability to differentiate/make good judgements

[11] 心直口快: frank and outspoken (idiom) / straight speaking / to say what one thinks

[12] 屋漏偏逢连夜雨: idiom: when there is a leak in the house, it rains continuously every night - basically many difficult things always happen at the same time.