Chapter 4

Crossing the street, circling around the buildings, and slipping into a narrow alley, Li Ang left the bustling city noise behind.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Is Mr. Pu here?"

Li Ang knocked on the gate, and a refined middle-aged man opened the door.

Pu Liuxuan, a professor at Yizhou Prefecture School, was a good friend of Li Ang's father, Li Hanquan, in literature and tea ceremony.

"Risheng, come in and sit down."

Pu Liuxuan gave a somewhat forced smile, opened the gate, and led Li Ang into the inner room to sit down.

Li Ang placed two jars of Qujiang thin slices and smiled, explaining that they were gifts from Song Shaoyuan and himself.

"Shaoyuan..."

Mentioning Song Shaoyuan, Pu Liuxuan's face showed a hint of a smile, and he said gently, "He has always been diligent and honest. As long as he doesn't get too nervous, he should have no problem passing the provincial examination and becoming a juren."

"Yes."

Li Ang nodded, his heart calm. Song Shaoyuan was good in every way, but his character was too honest and straightforward. With some savings at home, he often invited guests for meals and helped classmates from less affluent families at the prefecture school.

Whether it was called public-spirited or a pushover, Song Shaoyuan always had a few literary friends around him. They often went on excursions, drank, and composed poetry, engaging in activities like "Qu Shui Liu Shang."

With such a group of friends praising him, Song Shaoyuan must have felt a lot of pressure. If he didn't pass the juren examination, it would be embarrassing.

"By the way, where is Aunt?"

Li Ang took out a hexagonal rouge box, "This is Feixia Ji's rouge cream. I remember Aunt often bought peach blossom powder from them. That stuff is made with cinnabar, which, although finer and more vivid in color, is harmful to the body and should not be used frequently, just like white lead powder.

Ordinary rouge and rice powder are fine."

Cinnabar, actually a mercury sulfide mineral, can cause allergic reactions if it comes into prolonged contact with the skin. Lead powder, a heavy metal, can cause skin discoloration and even metal poisoning with long-term use.

"Isn't cinnabar used for calming the mind?"

Pu Liuxuan frowned slightly, rubbed his forehead, and said, "Never mind. Your aunt is in the back yard comforting the child. Juer almost fell off the bed a few days ago and has been crying a lot recently. By the way, how is your preparation for the prefecture school examination going?"

"Alright... I guess."

Li Ang cleared his throat. The content of the imperial examination in the Yu Kingdom included policy essays, poetry and verse, understanding of Confucian classics and their commentaries, calligraphy, mathematics, and Yu Kingdom law.

Li Ang's policy essays, calligraphy, and mathematics were fine, but his skills in poetry and Confucian classics were average.

On average, he was probably just above the passing line for the provincial examination.

"Alright is not good enough."

Pu Liuxuan frowned and said, "The turtledove is on the mulberry tree, its young on the thorn."

"The virtuous gentleman, his conduct is not wrong. His conduct is not wrong, he is a model for the four states."

Li Ang straightened his back, adjusted his posture, and honestly said, "The 'Turtledove' from the 'Cao Feng.'"

"Hmm."

Pu Liuxuan nodded in satisfaction and continued to quiz him, randomly selecting a few lines from classics like the "Zuo's Commentary," "The Book of Rites," and "The Analects," asking Li Ang to recite the context and official commentaries, as well as his own understanding.

Li Ang struggled to answer. The classics were a required subject in the Yu Kingdom's imperial examination, with nine main classics (the required texts): "Zuo's Commentary," "The Book of Rites," "The Book of Songs," "The Book of Zhou Rites," "The Book of Zhou Etiquette," "The Book of Changes," "The Book of Documents," "The Gongyang Commentary," and "The Guliang Commentary."

Not only did candidates have to read these nine classics thoroughly, but they also had to read the official commentaries for each and have their own understanding, and in their spare time, they had to read other possible examination texts, such as "The Classic of Filial Piety," "The Analects," and "The Tao Te Ching."

The classics were vast and difficult to read, and it was not easy to finish reading them once, let alone memorize them all.

Li Ang struggled to recall the texts, even though he had once studied medical books taller than a person, he still found it challenging.

Just as he was struggling to answer his teacher's questions, a loud cry of a child came from the back yard.

Pu Liuxuan interrupted the questioning, pursed his lips, and walked to the back yard. Li Ang also breathed a sigh of relief and followed.

In the back yard, Pu Liuxuan's wife, Guan Lishu, was holding her three-year-old son, who was crying incessantly, and trying to comfort him with a worried look.

"What's wrong?"

Pu Liuxuan took his son from his wife's arms, "Why are you crying again?"

"I don't know. As soon as I touch Juer's hand, he starts crying, and I can't comfort him."

Guan Lishu looked exhausted, probably not having slept well for a long time. She managed a weak smile when she saw Li Ang approach, "Risheng is here. Have you had breakfast? We still have some porridge."

"No need, Aunt. I just had breakfast at home."

Li Ang looked at the child struggling and crying in Pu Liuxuan's arms, frowned, and said, "Teacher, can I take a look at Juer?"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"If his arm hurts, it might be dislocated."

Li Ang asked Pu Liuxuan to sit on a chair and hold the child steady. He leaned forward and examined the child's arm.

The left arm was in a standard 135-degree deformity, with the elbow partially flexed and the forearm moderately pronated. Pressing on the elbow made the crying louder...

"Radial head subluxation."

A passage flashed through Li Ang's mind. He comforted the child while skillfully pinching the child's arm, flexing the elbow joint, and rotating the forearm.

Click.

A slight sensation of a pop came from the child's arm, and Li Ang breathed a sigh of relief, lowering the child's arm.

"It's done."

He shook his hand and stepped back a few steps.

A few seconds later, the child, who had been crying loudly, suddenly quieted down, sobbing and looking at his arm in confusion.

"Huh?"

Pu Liuxuan and his wife were stunned. They had been worried about their son's inexplicable crying for several days, and Guan Lishu had almost started copying Buddhist scriptures at home.

Pu Liuxuan quickly asked, "What happened?"

"Dislocated arm."

Li Ang patted his elbow and explained to his teacher in a relaxed tone, "A child's elbow joint, or the elbow, is not as strong as an adult's.

There is a small head on the bone of the elbow, which fits around the surrounding bones like a half-circle.

If it doesn't fit tightly or is subjected to external force, it can easily be pulled out of the half-circle, causing dislocation.

When a child rolls around in bed, the upper limb can be pressed under the body, easily causing the elbow joint to hyperextend and dislocate. Additionally, when adults pull a child's hand to walk, they should be careful to prevent falls, as this can also cause dislocation.

By the time a child is around five years old, the elbow bones will have grown larger and are less likely to dislocate."

"I see."

Guan Lishu breathed a heavy sigh of relief, looked at Li Ang with gratitude, and said, "Juer, thank Brother Risheng."

"Thank Brother Risheng."

The child, with tears still on his face, bowed to Li Ang in a childish manner. Li Ang waved his hand, feeling a bit proud inside.

Although modern doctors rely on modern industry, and without the necessary equipment, their skills are hard to fully utilize, traditional bone-setting and massage techniques are still effective.

Wait.

Li Ang's expression stiffened. He suddenly realized that his mind contained a large amount of information about massage techniques, from Thai stretching massage to Japanese shiatsu, in great detail.

What does this mean? Why do I have this information in my mind?

What was my past life?