CHAPTER 365: CHAPTER 0351 THINKING OF LI YUZHU (1)

The Zhao family’s servants sought out seven or eight renowned doctors in the city.

All of them said the old man’s illness couldn’t be cured and advised the Zhao family to let things take their natural course.

The servants couldn’t persuade them, so the chief steward and Mrs. Zhao went to invite them personally.

The most renowned old doctor said, "Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural order of things. If you want the old man to defy nature to live, I’m no Immortal, there’s nothing I can do."

Having said that, the old doctor laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "If there really were a way to cure the sickness of the elderly, I’d want to make myself young again, too."

Mrs. Zhao said, "Doctor Lin, our old lady wasn’t like this last year. Ever since she slipped on the icy road at the end of last year, she’s gradually become somewhat confused and constantly forgets things. As her juniors, we’re worried she’ll completely lose her memory. It’s manageable at home, but what if one day we take her out and she gets lost? At home, she often can’t even remember the way back to her room."

Mrs. Zhao was telling the truth.

When Old Mrs. Zhao appeared energetic, she would have the maid take her for a walk in the garden.

If the maid got distracted for a moment, she’d wander off by herself to some other place.

The Zhao family was wealthy, and the residence was large, with big gardens, small gardens, large rooms, and small rooms interconnected.

Once Old Mrs. Zhao left the garden, she’d become disoriented, wandering aimlessly and eventually getting lost, standing in the garden crying loudly.

This house, which she and the old master built together, she’d lived in for over forty years, and yet she got lost in it!

The Zhao family felt both heartbroken and worried.

They had no choice but to have the maid follow her every step of the way.

However, although the old lady was aged, her temperament was sometimes like a child’s; in the time it took for the maid to scratch her head, she could sneak off to play.

Once she ran off, she got lost.

If she got lost, she’d cry.

Old Mrs. Zhao did this almost every day.

Mrs. Zhao, who was in charge of the household, was on the verge of madness.

But more importantly, what Mrs. Zhao was most concerned about was that sum of money!

Even though you say the old lady is senile and forgetful, she happens to remember the fifty thousand taels of silver! The old lady would ask Mrs. Zhao for the fifty thousand taels of silver every time she saw her.

She absolutely insisted that the fifty thousand taels of silver were hidden by Mrs. Zhao.

Mrs. Zhao felt that if this continued long enough, she would die before Old Mrs. Zhao did.

So she was determined to cure the old lady, even if she couldn’t be completely cured, at least to stop her from constantly demanding the return of the money!

The old doctor laughed, "Mrs. Zhao has such filial piety, I’m sure the heavens will be moved, and the old lady will remember all of you."

No matter how much Mrs. Zhao pleaded, the most prestigious old doctor in the county refused to treat Old Mrs. Zhao’s illness.

He even suggested that Mrs. Zhao go to a temple and offer incense, hoping perhaps the Bodhisattva would appear and grant the old lady a long life so she’d remember her descendants.

Seeing that she couldn’t persuade them, Mrs. Zhao had no choice but to return to the Zhao residence.

After returning home, she had scarcely taken a couple of sips of tea when the maid from the old lady’s room came to report.

They said the old lady was searching for the money again; this time she wasn’t asking people for it but was instead digging the ground with a shovel, muttering to herself about where exactly the silver might be buried.

The yard’s flowerbeds were riddled with holes, covered with dirt everywhere.

Mrs. Zhao was speechless, "..."

Couldn’t this energetic old lady be quiet for a while?

Mrs. Zhao rubbed her throbbing temples.

The steward said, "Madam, don’t worry. Let’s write a letter to the master, asking him to look for a good doctor while he’s outside the city since no doctor in this city is willing to look at the case here; maybe he can find someone elsewhere?"

Mrs. Zhao, exasperated, sneered, "If the city’s doctors can’t treat it, perhaps an excellent doctor can be found outside. But now, no one is willing to look! It means the old lady’s illness can’t be treated! Can we really find a doctor?"

Despite her complaints, she still wrote a letter and instructed the steward to send it promptly to Old Master Zhao.

The Zhao family owned a bank, and each county town had a branch of their bank.

Customers deposited their silver in Zhao Bank and could withdraw an equivalent amount in any other branch of the Zhao Bank using a silver note stamped with the bank’s seal.

At this time, the bank did not need to pay interest.

When customers deposited money, the bank charged a storage fee based on the amount deposited.

The bank also conducted loan business.

The Zhao family prospered through storage fees and loan interests.

Because Zhao Bank was spread throughout Zhen An Prefecture, most months, Old Master Zhao was busy inspecting the bank’s business outside.

After celebrating Old Mrs. Zhao’s seventieth birthday, Old Master Zhao went to the neighboring county town.

The steward took Mrs. Zhao’s letter and personally rode a fast horse to find Old Master Zhao.

Old Mrs. Zhao was sometimes clear-minded, sometimes muddle-headed, and Old Master Zhao was also aware of this.

Receiving an urgent letter sent by his wife from home, he was even a bit impatient, "Old Mrs. Zhao is seventy! People get muddle-headed as they age, it’s not a big deal, why call a doctor? If old age confusion could be cured, the world would be full of centenarians."

The housekeeper said, "Master, that’s what the doctors in the county town also said, but Mrs. Zhao is anxious."

"People can’t rejuvenate with age, what’s the use of her being anxious?" Old Master Zhao disagreed.

In fact, in his heart, he found his wife bothersome, making a fuss over nothing.

He’s busy right now, how could he have the leisure to worry about whether his mother is muddle-headed?

Being muddle-headed in old age is only natural, how do you handle it? How do you treat it?

The housekeeper, seeing that Old Master Zhao was unmoved, relayed Mrs. Zhao’s reminder to him, "Master, if it weren’t for this incident, Old Mrs. Zhao being muddle-headed would be just that, but ever since the birthday feast, after something happened, Mrs. Zhao started to worry."

Only then did Old Master Zhao become attentive, hastily asking the housekeeper, "What happened?"

"Master remembers, on the day of the birthday feast, something worth hundreds of silver taels went missing from Old Mrs. Zhao’s room, right?" the housekeeper said.

Old Master Zhao nodded, "I know."

The Zhao family was prominent, and even the County Magistrate and his wife came personally to the feast.

There were many people visiting to celebrate, estimating nearly two thousand people.

So, when they lost items worth hundreds of silver taels, he didn’t let the family investigate, maybe a servant from some house stole in the chaos.

At the time, the County Magistrate was still drinking at their home, wouldn’t investigating make Lord County Magistrate embarrassed?

The Zhao family wasn’t short of those hundreds of silver taels, after weighing the situation, he let the matter pass.

The housekeeper then raised a new issue?

The housekeeper said, "The stolen money was gifted by Old Mrs. Zhao, not stolen."

Old Master Zhao raised his brow, "Gifted? To whom?"

The housekeeper said, "Old Mrs. Zhao, in her confusion, put gold leaves, silver ingots, and a silver bracelet in red packets as if they were copper coins, if not for her maiden family’s grandniece, Miss Yun, coming to thank her saying the gift was too grand, this would have remained a mystery."

"..."

"The items were packed by Old Mrs. Zhao herself, Miss Yun spoke up, but Old Mrs. Zhao doesn’t remember any of it. Ten pieces of gold leaf in the packet, forty silver notes, jewelry, and only Miss Yun who is very close to Old Mrs. Zhao would say anything, how would others say anything?"

Old Master Zhao said, "Yunniang is not an outsider either, given to her is given, Old Mrs. Zhao recklessly packed the red packet and gave it away, yet it landed in the hands of family, it’s Yunniang’s and Old Mrs. Zhao’s blessing, internally circling wealth is better than spillover to outsiders."

He did not grasp the main point, speaking with a casual tone, showing a lack of seriousness.

The housekeeper anxiously said again, "But Master, have you considered, what if Old Mrs. Zhao packs even more money next time? This time Miss Yun was lucky, what if next, she gives it to a passerby at random?"

"..."

"And about the fifty thousand silver taels that Old Mrs. Zhao has, who knows if it’s real or not, Old Mrs. Zhao can’t recall, what if it’s real and she gives it away heedlessly? Fifty thousand taels, Master."

Besides discussing the money, the housekeeper also mentioned Old Mrs. Zhao’s recent behavior.

Burning famous calligraphy and paintings, digging around in the courtyard searching for lost silver, wandering a hundred steps outside the courtyard unable to find her way back, consistently mistaking other people’s young girls as the second lady and asking if they were weaned, and even pulling down her pants to urinate publicly with affection.

In short, nerve-wracking incidents were unfolding one after another.

The housekeeper repeatedly persuaded.

Alongside the extremely anxious letter from Mrs. Zhao, Old Master Zhao started contemplating Old Mrs. Zhao’s situation.

"Old Mrs. Zhao causing such unending chaos, the family can’t find peace, and outsiders will gossip." Old Master Zhao nodded, saying, "I’ll go find a doctor now, tell Mrs. Zhao not to worry."

He let the housekeeper go back first, intending to find a good doctor to bring home within two days.

The housekeeper then returned to the Zhao family.

Receiving the housekeeper’s reply, Mrs. Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, patiently waiting for Old Master Zhao to bring a doctor back.

The next morning, Old Master Zhao indeed brought home two elderly doctors.

Old Master Zhao first went to see Old Mrs. Zhao, realizing Mrs. Zhao hadn’t exaggerated, he, too, began to be anxious.

Yet just like the county doctors, after the two elderly doctors examined Old Mrs. Zhao’s body, they both shook their heads, stating that there wasn’t any physical issue with Old Mrs. Zhao.

One said there’s no need to treat, this is an old age ailment, the elderly are like this, reversing aging is beyond a doctor’s ability.

One said even if treated, it couldn’t be cured.

No matter how Old Master Zhao and Mrs. Zhao pleaded, even raising the consultation fee price to a hundred taels, the two elderly doctors claimed it was untreatable.

Old Master Zhao had no choice but to arrange for someone to send the two doctors back.

Just as the couple was at their wit’s end, a maid by Mrs. Zhao’s side said, "Mrs. Zhao, once Miss Yun brought over a young girl, said she was the little sister-in-law from her younger sister-in-law’s husband’s family, named Miss Li, who knows some medicine, she claimed she could cure Old Mrs. Zhao’s illness."

Old Master Zhao raised an eyebrow, "If the whole town’s senior doctors can’t treat her, can a young girl really manage?"