I Became the Eldest Daughter of a Fallen Family - Chapter 82

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 82. Antibiotics and Fever Reducer (2)
“I have medicine. It’s not a royal secret like the Cheonbo Pill, but honestly, it should work even better.”
“That… is that truly so?”
Wi Hyo-gwang furrowed his brow and craned his neck forward. A faint glimmer of light returned to his face, which had seemed lost in despair—the desperate gaze of a drowning man grasping at straws.
“Postpartum Fever occurs for a simple reason: during childbirth, external toxins penetrate a weakened body and cause inflammation. So you must not only reduce the fever but also eliminate that toxin.”
Perhaps he had known vaguely that the situation was dangerous, but not that the condition was so severe?
The room fell silent in an instant.
Wi Jung could not hide his alarm, and Ju Ha-yun gazed at So Yeon-hui in wordless despair.
Only Wi Hyo-gwang kept his lips pressed firmly shut, his ears straining not to miss a single word she spoke.
“You mean your medicine can resolve both at once?”
“Yes. To be precise, you must take a fever reducer and an antibiotic simultaneously. Her stomach may feel a bit queasy, and the taste will be quite bitter, but the effect is certain.”
After all, bitter medicine is good for the body.
Watching So Yeon-hui explain calmly despite her worried expression, Wi Hyo-gwang’s resolve gradually tilted toward accepting the treatment.
Besides, at this point, they had no other choice anyway.
“Then—then fetch the medicine at once! If my wife recovers, I would pay any sum!”
The Cheongpyeong Wi Household had plenty of wealth to spare. What would it cost to save his wife’s life?
“Don’t worry. Your wife will surely be fine.”
At least the newborn youngest of the Wi Household would not have her mother’s death day as her birthday.
Once the household head’s permission was granted, So Yeon-hui’s expression grew solemn. She carefully unwrapped the medicine cloth and withdrew one set of antibiotics and a box of fever reducers.
At the unfamiliar appearance of the items, every eye in the room fixed upon them.
There were those, like Wi Hyo-gwang, who simply marveled—but not everyone was so favorably inclined.
“What are these strange boxes? Are they really capable of treating Mother?”
“Oh, please don’t touch them carelessly. Odd as they look, these are quite precious items.”
So Yeon-hui spoke sharply, protecting the medicine box from Wi Cho-yeon’s reaching hands.
She had learned a lesson from the cooking competition when the tanghulu ingredients were carelessly lost, and now she guarded the medicines carefully against damage.
But Wi Cho-yeon, unprepared to be rebuked so directly, flushed crimson in an instant.
“You…!”
Though not without a twinge of remorse, So Yeon-hui could hardly afford to coddle an adolescent girl’s feelings in such an emergency.
She focused solely on the medicine she was about to dispense to Gyo.
What she had was eight tablets of 500mg Acetaminophen and six capsules of 500mg Amoxicillin.
‘For adults, antibiotics are typically dosed at 250mg to 500mg per administration, with a maximum of three times daily depending on symptoms, right?’
The reason antibiotics in cold medicine are rarely prescribed at more than three tablets per day, and preferably no more than a three-day course, was obvious enough.
One had to be cautious with such potent drugs lest resistance develop and cause harm.
‘But these ancient people would have no resistance to penicillin-class antibiotics, so administering twice daily should be more than sufficient.’
So Yeon-hui took one antibiotic capsule and one fever reducer tablet from the medicine box, then carefully wrapped them in a handkerchief.
She handed it to Wi Hyo-gwang and spoke.
“Have her swallow these with water. The effect should appear within half a time unit—or as little as two hours at most.”
“Understood. I shall give them to my wife at once!”
Wi Hyo-gwang answered with brightened eyes. Now hope seemed to flicker across his face at last.
But just then.
“Stop, Father.”
Wi Jung snatched the handkerchief containing the medicine from his father’s hand.
‘No, the patient is on the brink of life and death, and he’s raising objections now?’
Just as So Yeon-hui was about to voice her exasperation, Wi Hyo-gwang, as if speaking her mind, suddenly raised his voice.
“What are you doing?”
But Wi Jung was no less forceful in his manner.
He twisted his face viciously and began spewing harsh words.
“What are you doing, Father? You’ve brought Mother to this state, and now you mean to endanger her life further with untested medicine?”
“You dare—have I raised you so soft that you disrespect your father? What do you mean by ‘doing’? How do you speak of your father’s actions so?”
“Is a few words of honor more important than this situation? Your petty pride means everything while you see nothing else?”
“You whelp!”
With a sharp crack, Wi Jung’s head snapped to the side.
Simultaneously, the handkerchief in his grip scattered to the floor.
‘My antibiotic!!’
One set cost 100 points.
Since one set amounted to only six capsules, each was worth roughly 16 points.
But what did points matter? The problem was that this medicine could not be obtained anywhere in this place!
So Yeon-hui quickly moved beside Wi Jung and picked up the fallen handkerchief.
Fortunately, because she had folded it carefully before handing it over,
not a speck of dust had settled on the medicine.
“Phew… Thank goodness. If any of these had broken when I have so few, it would have been a disaster.”
At those words, Wi Jung belated felt a pang of conscience.
He flinched and turned his gaze toward So Yeon-hui.
Just as he parted his lips to speak,
a woman wafted in with a heavy fragrance and clung to Wi Hyo-gwang’s arm.
“Darling! The First Son’s been acting out day after day—why are you so upset? Shouldn’t we be attending to the Lady’s condition instead?”
So Yeon-hui had not seen this face during the cooking competition. Had another concubine been brought into the household in the interim?
So Yeon-hui’s expression filled with shock.
Yet however painful and suffocating the moment was, it could hardly compare to what Gyo’s own children must be feeling.
Wi Jung finally lost his composure and pointed his finger at the woman.
“You be silent! You crept into this household before the Lady had even given birth, making her collapse—and now you reek of perfume and stir up chaos? If anything happens to Mother, I will never forgive you!”
“B-but Darling! Did you hear how the First Son speaks? I may be a courtesan by birth, but I’m your father’s wife now. How could he treat me with such contempt? Sob! I should never have come with you!”
What kind of madwoman was this? How could she walk into the concubine quarters knowing the legitimate wife was due to deliver any day, flip the household on its head, and then what?
Faced with such a melodramatic tragedy unfolding in the Wi Household, So Yeon-hui’s eyes widened in disbelief.
But what was even more shocking was Wi Hyo-gwang’s reaction.
Rather than feeling shame for his actions, he grew angry at Wi Jung and began pointing accusingly.
“Wi Jung! Do you wish to be struck from the Family Register? Concubine or not, Son may be—but how is it proper to treat your stepmother so? Are you not ashamed before your brothers?”
Finding his shameless conduct impossible to overlook,
Baek, who had kept her eyes tightly shut to ignore the scene, finally opened her mouth.
“You be the one struck from the Register before you speak again! Whose fault do you think this disaster is, and yet you still haven’t come to your senses?”
Unable to bear the sight of her collapsed daughter-in-law, Baek’s face turned bright red.
‘I was foolish. I thought the household just needed to be prosperous and harmonious, but I was wrong.’
Doesn’t the old saying go that mothers-in-law don’t object to having ten daughters-in-law?
She too had thought it unremarkable for her able son to keep a concubine or two.
The relationship with her daughter-in-law hadn’t worsened after the concubine arrived, and a fine legitimate son stood firmly in place, so she’d thought there would be no discord in the household.
Who could have imagined that her shameless son would bring a courtesan into the concubine quarters as his new wife, mere days before his pregnant wife was due to give birth?
“M-Mother. How could you say such a thing? I merely brought Son here to take responsibility like a gentleman for my actions!”
“Responsibility? Going to a courtesan house while your wife carries your child is the very definition of irresponsibility! Don’t you dare speak of gentlemen! Should I bring out the rod as I did when you were young to knock sense into you?”
I’ve raised my child poorly.
A fine exterior isn’t everything.
Now that he’s grown old and stubborn besides, what in Heaven’s name am I to do?
As Baek struck her chest in lamentation, her granddaughter Wi Cho-yeon rushed to support her grandmother.
“Grandmother! Please don’t be so upset. Father lost his senses because he was worried about Mother. Of course, I understand why Elder Brother opposes him too. It’s just that this medicine looks rather strange, doesn’t it? I’m doubtful whether that girl truly has any skill in the Medical Art.”
That girl?
Unaware of So Yeon-hui’s bewildered expression, Wi Cho-yeon continued blithely disparaging her with fresh abandon.
How much could a mere child of fifteen possibly know of medicine, and how could the So Household, exiled and reduced to poverty, possess such precious drugs?
In short, the upshot was that So Yeon-hui appeared to be running a con against the wealthy Cheongpyeong Wi Household.
‘What grudge could I possibly bear against her to be maligned like this? We haven’t seen each other’s face even once since that cooking competition!’
Beyond mere frustration, So Yeon-hui felt her breath catch in exasperation.
Fortunately, she was not without allies.
Ju Ha-yun stepped in at a timely moment and came to her defense.
“The young mistress of the So Household has already saved Grandmother’s life. If she truly lacked skill in the Medical Art, how could such a thing have been possible?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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