The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Lin Dan was escorted into a manor with her hands tied. As she walked through the front gate, she lifted her head and glanced up. Seeing a plaque hanging from the beam with "Xuanping Marquis Manor" written in big characters, she immediately understood in her heart. In the original host’s memory, this Xuanping Marquis was the number one soft rice* king in Great Qin. Relying on his pretty face, he won the favor of the eldest princess. He married up, jumping from being the down-and-out son of a petty official to Xuanping Marquis in one leap in a meteoric rise. But he had a licentious nature and couldn’t control his lower body. Even though he married a princess, he still didn’t change his dissolute and fickle instincts, attracting peach blossoms everywhere.

*Slang word referring to a man who leeches on a woman. He usually comes from a poorer background, is unemployed, and waits for his woman to earn a living and sometimes even do the chores. Bonus points if he’s also a cheater.

In the beginning, the eldest princess ruthlessly resolved each and every case, dealing with all of the women he attracted. A wedge was driven between husband and wife and they lost their affections for each other. He was honest for a few years and then reached his branches out again – no longer daring to loiter in brothels, he turned to find girls from respectable families. His face really was that handsome, and, adding his luxurious attire and aristocratic mannerisms, as soon as he hooked his finger, women were fooled. One fell into his embrace, and the next followed, wave after wave.

He raised five or six mistresses in a row, and made seven or eight illegitimate children. When he didn’t have enough money, he went back to the manor to ask the eldest princess for more. Whether he lied or coaxed her, he would always get gold, silver, and jewelry from the eldest princess to support his mistresses. The eldest princess wasn’t an idiot either. She quickly realized what was happening. Her heart finally cooled to ash, and she closed the door to focus on raising her single young son by herself, never again caring about his romantic affairs.

But Xuanping Marquis took it as a sign that the princess had compromised, so he brought back his mistresses one by one and brazenly kept them in the manor. The eldest princess had nothing to say, merely sneered and divided the Xuanping Marquis manor – which is to say, her own princess manor – into two. She occupied the majority of the residence, leaving only a small square courtyard for Xuanping Marquis and his women and children to live in. She completely stopped caring about their food, clothing, and other living expenses and made Xuanping Marquis take care of them with his own salary.

Xuanping Marquis’ salary was only a little more than fifty taels a month, which wasn’t even enough for his own expenditures, so how could he afford to provide for so many people? He immediately started kicking up a fuss, crying and shouting to apologize to the eldest princess in an attempt to reconcile with her. But the eldest princess had already lost all of her feelings for him. If it weren't for her son needing to smoothly inherit the marquis position in the future, she would’ve kicked him out long ago.

Presumably, this young man in front of her, whose appearance looked like spring flowers, must be the only son of the eldest princess, Zhu Yimin, that is, the heir of the Xuanping Marquis. He often went in and out of the palace and was doted on by the emperor, but he seldom went out and about and did not like to participate in social activities. Therefore, the original host did not know much about him.

But what kind of person he was was not important to Lin Dan. She only knew that he was a patient, urgently needing treatment, and that was enough. After being locked in the woodshed, she found a haystack and lay down, feeling very calm.

On the other side, the little prince clutched his chest and ran into the main courtyard with a deathly pale face, wailing and shouting, "Mom, Mom, something bad happened! You have to save your child!" At this time, where was his brash, domineering, ruthless, and vicious style? He was clearly only a little kid who was scared out of his wits.

The eldest princess put down her teacup heavily and scolded: "Haven’t I told you to be calm and steady at all times? Even if the sky is falling, there are tall people to hold it up. What are you afraid of? Didn’t I tell you not to go out whenever you wanted? Why didn’t you listen?"

"I, I thought that winter clothes were thicker, so most people shouldn’t be able to see it." The little prince gripped his collar tightly with tears in his eyes: "I didn't think that my horse would be frightened and gallop chaotically downtown, almost trampling someone to death. I also fell off the horse and was rescued by a little girl. The little girl touched my chest; she probably knows something now. Mom, what should I do? She did save me, after all. I can't just kill her to keep my secret, can I?"

The eldest princess rubbed the middle of her eyebrows with a gloomy expression. What she feared the most had finally happened. Her son had originally been perfectly all right, but for some unknown reason, his chest became plumper day by day, and his lower body also hurt so much that it basically lost its function. Since then, his skin was glossy and smooth, his facial hair didn’t grow, and his features became more and more beautiful, as if his gender had changed. Seeing that his chest was getting bigger and bigger, to the point where he could no longer cover it, the eldest princess was so worried, her hair almost whitened overnight.

Her son's illness could never be made known to outsiders; otherwise his title of heir could not be kept, and he might even be accused of being a demon and then be burned to death. Thinking of such an outcome, the eldest princess shuddered and didn’t dare to invite an imperial physician for him at all, lest any news be leaked. These days, she had been thinking about whether she needed to go to another country to find a doctor, but she didn't expect an accident to happen so quickly.

"Where is she? What’s her background?" The eldest princess smacked the table and said: "No, Bengong* has to personally go and see."

*“This palace,” one of the various royal “I”s used in Chinese. This one is often used by female royalty.

The capital was said to be a small world, but it could also be said to be a big world. You could casually walk around the street a few times and meet one or two powerful people, so prudence in conduct was extremely necessary. The eldest princess dared not dispose of people at will, lest small matters became big problems, and big problems became never ending issues. She hurriedly arrived at the woodshed, even forgetting to open her umbrella. She cut a sorry figure, with her hair and skin covered with snowflakes, which her two most trusted senior palace maids were wiping off of her with handkerchiefs. All of the surrounding guards were sent away to avoid having too many people, as there could be spies mixed in with the crowd.

Zhu Yimin hid behind the eldest princess and peeked out at Lin Dan, his expression a little ashamed.

"Which family are you from?" The eldest princess walked slowly to Lin Dan's side and looked down at her with drooping eyes.

"It doesn't matter who I am. All you need to know is that I can cure your son's illness." Lin Dan opened her eyes. Seeing the blushing cheeks of the indescribably beautiful eldest princess, she couldn’t help staring blankly.

The eldest princess's heart skipped a beat, but she grit her teeth and said, "How come Bengong didn’t know that my son is ill?" This little girl was only seventeen or eighteen years old, yet as soon as she opened her mouth, she said that she could cure this unusual illness. She wouldn’t be a swindler, would she? Before she found out her background, the eldest princess would never let down her guard.

Lin Dan stared at the eldest princess attentively, and said confidently: "Not only can I cure your son's illness, but I can also cure yours."

Zhu Yimin said in surprise: "How come I didn’t know that my mom is ill?"

Lin Dan chuckled, thinking that this mother-son duo was really interesting. Even their wording was the same.

The eldest princess patted her son's head, her tone frozen: "That’s right, how come Bengong didn’t know that I’m ill, but you already know about it?"

Lin Dan got up from the haystack, saluted and said, "No need to put on a brave face, Your Royal Majesty. Although your majesty’s complexion is tender and pink, as colorful as peaches and plums, having an appearance of health, your majesty has actually been plagued with a serious illness for many years. If I’m not mistaken, ever since you gave birth to the little prince, I’m afraid your majesty hasn't had a good night’s rest ever since, am I right?"

The two senior palace maids’ pupils flickered slightly, and they tried their best to hold back from glancing at their master.

The eldest princess remained unmoved and sneered coldly: "Oh, tell me more. Where is Bengong ill?"

Zhu Yimin promptly jumped out and hollered: "Yeah, where is my mom ill? You list all of the ins and outs for me right now. If you're wrong, I'll have people kill you right away!"

Lin Dan didn't even look at this toothless little unweaned puppy who liked to bounce around. She just stared at the eldest princess and gently said: "Your Majesty’s complexion is flushed red, not because of the cold frost and snow, but rather because of internal fire ascending in your body. During a cold day in winter, your majesty is wrapped in thick clothes, but you only wear a pair of thin unpadded shoes – and yet your legs and feet show no signs of being frozen stiff at all. It can be seen that internal fire is tossing about in the Shaoyin acupoint in the foot, along the kidney meridian, to the well acupoint,* with no way out. It rushes to the head and face, which is actually because the scorching yang energy is too weak to control the kidney yin energy, causing the yin fire to boil up and the soles of your feet to burn hot. If I’m not mistaken, deep into the night, every night, the heat will burn blazing hot in the soles of your majesty’s feet, which must disturb you so much that your majesty can’t get a peaceful night’s rest. When you’re exposed to even a little bit of cold, your knees will feel awfully sore and cold to the bone. When it’s severe, even standing is out of the question, and you need to lie in bed all day long recuperating. Your majesty’s yin fire is vigorous, so your complexion is rosy and your eyes are clear, as if extremely healthy, but your majesty’s root bones have actually been almost boiled dry, isn’t that right?"**

*A transitional acupuncture point found in the fingertips and toe tips.

**Translator’s note: (My family does TCM, so I will try my best to explain. Please do be aware that the author has made some of this up, so it doesn’t all make sense.) All of this talk about fire, energy, yin, yang, is qi (chi, internal energy). Yin is negative energy, yang is positive energy. According to TCM, yin and yang need to be in balance for optimum health. If either one starts overpowering the other, illness sets in. In the eldest princess’ case, her yin energy (associated with her kidneys) is much stronger than the yang energy. When yin energy is too strong, a corrupted version of yang energy, which is this scorching or burning internal heat, rises up, which is why it’s very common for people who have sleep problems (associated with the kidneys/yin) to have hot feet. (The meridians of the kidney run down to the feet.) Also, since she has an overload of yin energy in her body, even the slightest bit more cold or yin energy will make things much worse. 

The eldest princess finally showed a surprised look, but she still couldn't bring herself to believe that the little girl in front of her could see through her illness at a glance. That's right, she really had been ill for more than a dozen years. Every night, she had to stick her feet out of the quilt and step on cold jade in order to fall asleep, but she couldn’t stay asleep for more than a few hours because she was constantly awakened by the scalding heat. Her appetite grew weaker day by day and her body became skinnier day by day. Whenever she felt even a little cold, her knees seem to be wrapped in a layer of ice, both sore and cold, but the soles of her feet felt like she was stepping on hot coals, making her want to jump up. That feeling was truly so painful she had a hard time describing it.

Bystanders said her complexion looked good, but they would never have guessed that she was terminally ill! She invited countless imperial doctors and drank countless decoctions, but there was no effect at all and she gradually despaired.

"So what if you’re right? Even imperial physicians can't cure this disease. Don’t tell me that you can cure it?" The eldest princess's hoarse voice hid her anxiety.

Lin Dan took a whiff of the strong smell of herbs on her body, then shook her head and said, "It's not that they can't cure it, but that they used the wrong medicine from the very beginning. Your majesty’s illness is caused by the rise of yin and the fall of yang. Your majesty’s yin fire waxes, your yang fire wanes, yet the imperial physicians’ prescriptions nourish yin, supplement your majesty’s kidneys, and decrease internal heat, as well as purging your bones by heating them up. This exacerbates your yin fire. How could it have the desired effect? If I smelled it correctly, your majesty has recently changed the prescription and started taking yang boosting, fire scattering soup. Remember, in the philosophy of yin and yang, yang is the root of yin; if you boost yang, yin will grow. The imperial doctors want to boost your majesty’s yang fire, which indirectly causes your majesty’s yin fire to grow, inversely aggravating your majesty’s condition. In this way, even if you undergo dozens more years of treatment, Your Majesty will never make a recovery."

The eldest princess secretly pondered her words, and the more she thought about it, the more she thought it made sense. Her half-believing expression was gradually replaced by her suppressed excitement, and she immediately softened her tone and asked, "May I ask this young lady’s name?"

"This subject’s surname is Lin. I'm just a novice rural doctor, not worth mentioning." Lin Dan was not being self-deprecating at all. She truly believed that her skill level was still very shallow.

However, the eldest princess absolutely didn't dare to look down on her anymore. She quickly took off her own cloak, draped it over her shoulders, respectfully invited the guest into the main courtyard, offered hot tea, and then finally began to ask about the treatment method. She had been ill for more than a dozen years, and this young lady had a way to cure it. If she wanted to treat her son's strange illness, it should be no problem.

The little prince dizzily followed his mom all the way around in a big circle, but he was also faintly aware that there seemed to be hope for him!