Chapter 198: Left Eye Twitch for Wealth, Right Eye for Misfortune – Strange Beliefs and Superstitions! (1 / 2)

The gate of the Xu family courtyard was knocked on once more.

This time, the visitor seeking Xu Yanmiao was none other than the Commander of the Jin Yi Guards.

Unlike his usual imposing appearance, the Commander was dressed in a plain long robe. A few locust flowers that had fallen onto his neck remained there, unnoticed and unremoved.

“Xu Lang!” He gazed at him pleadingly. “I beg for your help.”

What the Commander was requesting pertained to the practice of “unbinding feet.”

“My younger sister was abducted and ended up in Prince Fu’s manor. Her feet were forcibly bound and left ruined. She now suffers unbearable pain during the day and struggles to sleep at night. Previously, you mentioned in court the matter of unbinding feet… I wanted to ask, how does one go about this process?”

“Apologies,” Xu Yanmiao replied. “I only know of the concept of unbinding feet, but I’m not familiar with the specifics of how it’s done.”@@novelbin@@

The Commander’s face immediately drained of color.

After some thought, Xu Yanmiao offered a suggestion: “Foot binding damages the legs and feet. Perhaps consulting a skilled doctor who specializes in this field might help. If your sister feels uncomfortable with a male doctor, I happen to know a female one. She is the sole disciple of the late Divine Doctor, having inherited all his skills. However…”

“What is it?” The Commander’s hope was reignited, only to be tempered by concern.

“However, the female doctor is currently eight months pregnant. I’m not sure if she would be willing to make a house call.”

The Prince of Jin’s Manor

The Prince of Jin was slightly taken aback. “Why are you packing your medical kit?”

“Chuanxiong… Guizhi… Chicken-blood vine…” The Princess of Jin listed the herbs she was gathering while glancing at him briefly. “Didn’t you mention the dance girls in Prince Fu’s manor are suffering from rotting muscles and bones? I’m going to take a look.”

She picked up her medical kit, preparing to leave.

The Prince of Jin grabbed her wrist. “We’re in the capital, with countless skilled doctors. You’re eight months pregnant; going out for house calls is far too dangerous.”

The Princess of Jin replied calmly, “I’m a doctor. I know my body’s condition very well. I’m perfectly healthy, and there’s no problem with me making a visit. The baby is also very cooperative and never causes me trouble. As for medicines that are harmful during pregnancy, I don’t have any in my kit. Even if another doctor’s kit contains such medicines, as long as I don’t inhale them excessively, there won’t be any issues. Before leaving, I’ll take a stabilizing pill. Gui Yi will carry my kit, while Gui Er and Gui San will accompany me to prevent anyone from accidentally bumping into me.”

Gui Yi, Gui Er, and Gui San were loyal guards under the Prince of Jin.

The Princess of Jin withdrew her wrist from his grasp, instead holding his hand as she softened her tone. “My lord, I will take good care of myself. You don’t need to worry.”

The Prince of Jin was still uneasy, but seeing the firm determination in her eyes, he decided to change his approach. “I’ll go with you. As a prince, I can ensure order wherever we go.”

“Great! Let’s go!”

The Princess of Jin eagerly called for someone to prepare the Prince’s wheelchair while she walked beside him. Due to the Prince’s cautious nature, the manor rarely stationed guards at its gates, which were often kept shut. As the gates creaked open, they were met by the Jin Yi Guard Commander, hand raised, ready to knock.

The Prince of Jin recognized him and narrowed his eyes warily. “Commander, why are you here? Has someone in my manor committed a crime?”

“Forgive me, my lord,” the Commander quickly replied. “I’m here on personal business, not official matters.”

The Prince’s suspicion deepened, and he immediately rejected him. “I’m a retired prince, unfit to involve myself in the capital’s affairs. Please take your leave.”

The Commander, realizing the misunderstanding, smiled bitterly. “Please, my lord, don’t misunderstand. I’m here because of my younger sister, seeking the Princess’s help.”

Afraid of being refused again, he hastened to add, “My sister was a victim of Prince Fu’s abuse. Her feet are now in unbearable pain. I heard the Princess is the disciple of the Divine Doctor and came to seek her medical expertise.”

The Princess of Jin was surprised to learn that the Commander knew about her master, but there was no time to dwell on it with a patient in need. She promptly said, “Let’s go. I was just about to head out for this. You can explain your sister’s condition as we travel.”

In ancient times, women from higher social classes regarded their feet as extremely private, equivalent in modesty to their breasts or genitalia.

Thus, even though Xu Yanmiao was curious about the Divine Doctor’s disciple, he refrained from going along. Instead, he tracked the treatment’s progress through the gossip system.

When Xu Yanmiao saw the Princess of Jin confidently declare that she could treat the condition, he smiled brightly with joy.

However, when he heard her add that it was impossible to fully restore the natural shape of the feet, he muttered Prince Fu’s name angrily, cursed a few times, and flung himself back onto the bed in frustration. Unfortunately, his foot struck the edge of the bed, causing him to wince and grimace in pain.

“Luckily, no swelling or bone injury,” he muttered as he massaged his foot.

A thought seemed to linger on the edge of his mind, almost ready to surface, but no matter how hard he tried, it felt just out of reach, as if veiled by a thin layer of mist.

“Forget it. If I can’t recall, it’s probably not that important.”

He was very philosophical about it!

The issue of foot binding was temporarily resolved. According to the gossip system, the afflicted women were recovering well. The arches of their feet were no longer as severely elevated, and their toes were slowly straightening out. Though their feet still appeared deformed, they were at least in a much better state than before.

The Princess of Jin even devised a formula using the oil extracted from the marrow of fresh sheep bones, which proved effective in alleviating the pain caused by the unbinding process, especially when it involved pulling on corns and calluses.

During this period, the Princess of Jin reached full term and went into labor. The scene was chaotic, with everyone panicking. Ironically, it was the Princess herself who remained calm when her water broke. She methodically directed her maids and guards to fetch a midwife and prepared to use a guest room in one of the former foot-bound women’s homes.

Meanwhile, the imperial court devised a policy: foot binding was to be classified as a form of punishment, applicable to both men and women. It would be added to the list of corporal punishments alongside branding the face (qingpei), shaving the head (kunshou), cutting off the nose (yinbi), and amputating the foot (yuezu).

“First, announce the new punishment publicly and spread the edict across the land. Then, select prisoners with relatively severe crimes from various state prisons to enforce it as an example. The Ministry of Justice must quickly draft corresponding legal measures, outlining the crimes that warrant such a penalty…”

In essence, much like shaving the head or branding the face was a mark of criminality, foot binding would henceforth become a symbol of lawbreaking.

Prime Minister Dou summed it up succinctly: “As the practice of foot binding has yet to become widespread, we must stigmatize it as abnormal before the public comes to view it as normal. Of course, there will always be those who pursue the forbidden; the more prohibited it is, the more enticing it becomes. In such cases, they should be punished harshly under the law against private mutilation.”

Scholars of the modern Confucian school submitted yet another revision of the Analects, Rites, and other classical texts, adapting them to align with the needs of those in power.

Their commentary focused on Confucius’s teaching, “The body, hair, and skin are gifts from one’s parents and must not be harmed or disfigured,” arguing that foot binding was an affront to moral values. With flowery language, they warned that such a practice would encourage men to indulge in lustful desires while women would be labeled as vain and corrupt. Thus, they concluded that the custom of foot binding must not be allowed to flourish.