The Tang Dynasty’s Female Forensic Doctor

Miss Yan furrowed her brows, her voice suddenly cold, and said severely: "Dress yourself properly before speaking!"

The prost.i.tute with an embarra.s.sed look trembled faintly, appearing to be extremely afraid of Miss Yan and quickly tidied up her appearance. Because she was too nervous, her hands constantly shook, while her movements were hasty, she could not even tie up her robe even after a long while.

Ran Yan with interest looked upon this act, in her heart she couldn"t help but develop a thread of interest in Miss Yan. Normally when a pimp hears that there was a death in their brothel, they would definitely hurry to the scene, but Miss Yan seemed to care more about the appearances of the young ladies in her brothel.

"There"s some trouble in the brothel, I need to go and take a look, please excuse me." Miss Yan took advantage of the pause to turn around to calmly say to Ran Yan.

Ran Yan lightly a.s.sented, "No problem, I will treat Zi Xu xiaojie[1] first."

During the early Tang Dynasty, the word "xiaojie" was usually used to address prost.i.tutes, especially towards those prestigious dancers, music courtesans and qingguan[2], whereas daughters from good families were only ever called "Miss[3]". Or those like Ran Yan, adding their surname and position, were addressed as Seventeenth Miss Ran[4].

Miss Yan smiled apologetically, bowed slightly, then gestured for a few maidservants to lead them inside.

A n.o.ble woman[5], hearing that someone has died, was actually so indifferent, has anyone heard of it before? Miss Yan couldn"t help but glance repeatedly at Ran Yan whose figure was blurred by her veil, felt briefly wary.

After entering the building, Ran Yan slowed her steps, faintly heard Miss Yan"s voice from outside, "What happened?"

The prost.i.tute quickly said: "Today Master[6] Han came over to look for me. We drank two cups before lying down. Who knew that just as we lay down, Fourth Master[7] Qin would kick down the door and pull me away, without any explanation fight with Master Han? I fell on the ground, when I got up, I saw Master Han foaming at the mouth, a pool of blood below his body..."

The voices got further away before Ran Yan came back to herself, and carefully inspected the interior of the building.

The building was extremely s.p.a.cious, with low tables, between a few dark brown pillars hung bamboo curtains acting as a part.i.tion. Through the gaps in the bamboo curtains, she could vaguely see the furnishing of the inner room: a four-part ebony screen covering the bed and a dressing table placed below the window on south wall.

The four men carried Zi Xu behind the screen, but were hesitant to transfer her to the bed.

Zi Xu"s condition was obviously second stage syphilis, which meant that it had progressed to a serious stage. At this time, the disease was at its most virulent, and may sometimes spread through indirect contact. Ran Yan did not dare be complacent and said to the maidservants who guided her in: "Go and find clean clothes to wrap around the hands of the guards."

The servant girl a.s.sented and exited. Those left behind were all looking at each other. Seeing this situation, their worries were also not unfounded as it genuinely was very contagious! The two people closest to Zi Xu quietly shifted half a step back.

Qing Dai seeing this, was indignant with grief, couldn"t stand it and went forward, "No need to look for cloth, if they are unwilling to lift her, I"ll do it!"

"Stop!" Ran Yan halted her movement with a cold voice, "Do you think that I am joking?! Anyone who shared the use of anything with Zi Xu xiaojie best be called here for a check up, especially those that shared the same man!"

At this moment, there was no sound within the building. The most surprised was Wan Lu, she could not understand her mistress at all, how could she have to nerve to say such words? For a moment, Wan Lu was in a daze and the person standing in front of her was not the mistress she was familiar with, but a stranger.

The maidservant had returned quickly a bolt of rough cloth. Ran Yan ordered them to tear it and wrap the guards" hands, then carry Zi Xu to the bed.

"If you are still worried, go back and wash your hands with vinegar." Ran Yan while saying this also wrapped her hands with two rough cloths and started to thoroughly examine Zi Xu"s body.

At this point, the guards had already completed their duty. Hearing Ran Yan"s words, they quickly exited.

Ran Yan pressed gently on Zi Xu"s temporal (side of head) and occipitals (back of head), using her hand, lightly grabbed a strand of hair, where the root of the hair lay, the boundary was unclear, resembling patchy "moth eaten" alopecia[8] (hair loss), it was definitely syphilis.

However, according to historical records, it was only during the Wanli[9] period of the Ming Dynasty that merchants from the west brought over "syphilis", but it was currently the Zhengguan[10] period of the Tang Dynasty! Why would there be such a difficult disease? Has history been diverted[11]?

Ran Yan sighed. She had always felt that the heavens would not freely drop meat pies[12], even if they did, sometimes it would be so big that it can crush someone to death, you need to have strength in order to receive it! From the beginning she had prepared herself psychologically, and sure enough Zi Xu"s condition was not something she would view optimistically. This twenty taels really wasn"t worth it.

Ran Yan was a little regretful, at that time she should have asked for two thousand taels.

"How is it?" Qing Dai straightened her body, anxiously asked. She had never seen anyone diagnosing without taking a pulse, but now, other than Ran Yan, there was no one else that could help them. Qing Dai had placed all her hopes on Ran Yan.

"Her condition is poor, I can guarantee that she will be alright for the moment." Ran Yan knew many ancient methods to treat s.e.xually transmitted diseases, but these methods were ineffective for those who were seriously ill like her (Zi Xu), unless... she was could extract penicillin G...

Penicillin G was a natural antibiotic for syphilis, able to cure gonorrhoea within a few hours and cure syphilis within a few days. In addition, it had good antibacterial effects on haemolytic Streptococcus and other Streptococcus species, Streptococcus pneumoniae and non-penicillinase[13]-producing Staphylococcus. In simple terms, if she was able to successfully extract penicillin, then illnesses like puerperal fever and pneumonia that were practically fatal in ancient times, would all be easily treated. At the same time, she could even change the course of medical history...

These thoughts appeared with a rush in Ran Yan"s mind and grew uninhibitedly. Her pa.s.sion towards her job that had been silent since she transmigrated, in an instant, was ignited.

"Great Doctor, Great Doctor!"

Ran Yan came to herself and heard Qing Dai calling her anxiously. The corners of her lips jerked slightly and she said: "Call me Doctor Yan or Yan Seventeenth, both names are fine, there"s no need to continue calling me Great Doctor."

The whole Suzhou city had enough Great Doctors, they did need to add Ran Yan to their ranks. Moreover, in the past, Ran Yan had never considered herself as a doctor who cured illnesses and saved lives, in reality, she actually rarely used her medical skills to save people, because when she saw them, they were already corpses.

"Doctor Yan, my meimei..." Qing Dai looked with Ran Yan filled with hope, her makeup streaked with tears, not only did not look sloppy, rather it created a feeling a pitifulness when seen.

Ran Yan judged that Qing Dai was not that young anymore, twenty seven or eight years old, in the ancient times can be called half-old xu"niang[14], but Qing Dai"s charms were comparable to those well-maintained women from her previous world, it really is rare.

"I will first give two prescriptions, one to be taken orally, one to be applied topically." Ran Yan said.

Qing Dai, immediately delighted, ordered the maidservants to bring a brush and ink.

Within there were about fifteen methods to treat this illness, but there were many types of s.e.xually transmitted diseases, the effect of those prescriptions on syphilis, it is obvious, if it was effective, then later on there wouldn"t be "turn pale at the mention of syphilis"[15]!

"Instruct everyone in the courtyard that they are not allowed to come in contact with this place." Ran Yan said evenly. The rest she would not elaborate on, speaking more on it would just cause more panic. She believed that even with this sentence would cause not inconsiderable waves, but Ran Yan knew that that Miss Yan had the ability to settle them.

After all, necessary warnings still need to be given.

Ran Yan also rejoiced that she had followed them here today, otherwise once syphilis started spreading, the consequences would be extremely frightening. It could even cause Zhenguan"s reign to collapse, in this situation, Ran Yan absolutely could not stand by idly.

She needed to immediately extract penicillin! This matter was simple to say, if there were a laboratory, extracting penicillin was a matter of minutes for Ran Yan. But it was currently the Tang Dynasty, there was nothing available at all.

The only thing worth giving thanks for was that it was summer now, finding enough Penicillum[16] was not difficult.

[1] 小姐 (xiǎo jiě): miss/young lady. I will continue to use the word "xiaojie" to avoid confusion with 娘 (niang).

[2]清倌 （qīng guān): courtesans who only sell their skills and not their bodies.

[3] 娘 (níang): miss/lady. Can also mean mother.

[4] 冉十七娘 （rǎn shí qī niang): the seventeenth daughter of the Ran family.

[5] 闺阁女 （guī gé nǚ): gui ge means boudoir/place where women stay and nu just means female. I"m guessing this refers to women from good families who are usually confined to their quarters.

[6] 郎君 （láng jūn): form of address for young men, particularly rich playboys, commonly used by prost.i.tutes to address their customers. May also mean my husband or son-in-law.

[7] 郎 (láng): form of address for young men without the connotations of the previous one.

[8] link to article regarding hair loss in s.e.xually transmitted diseases, in particular syphilis.

[9] 万历 (wàn lì): the t.i.tle of Shenzong"s reign in the Ming Dynasty (1673-1619).

[10] 贞观 (zhēn guàn): the t.i.tle of Taizong"s reign during the Tang Dynasty (627-649)

[11] 偏轨 (piān guǐ): as far as I can tell, it"s like taking the evil path?

[12] 掉馅饼: getting something without any effort.

[13] penicillinase: an enzyme which can inactivate penicillin, produced by certain bacteria

[14] 徐娘 (xú niáng): an elderly woman whose beauty is fading.

[15]谈梅色变 (tán méi sè biàn): probably a play on the idiom to turn pale at the mention of a tiger (谈虎色变). Meaning that in the future, people were deathly afraid of syphilis.

[16] Penicillum: fungi that produces penicillin.