Chapter 1419: Postpartum Confinement

Although there had been no contact with the Jiuli for a long time, the only person who could prove the connection between Huaxia and the Jiuli was Ayuduo. Having been left in Huaxia as a Princess of the Jiuli, Ayuduo had given birth to a child for Changle and was currently still in her postpartum confinement, resting and recuperating.

Before coming to Huaxia, she had no idea what postpartum confinement was, because for people, giving birth was just that one moment; once the child was born, if it lived, you raised it, and if it died, you threw it away. It was nothing for a woman either; after giving birth, you rested for a bit and then continued to do whatever work needed to be done, with no exceptions.

But after arriving in Huaxia, from the moment her belly began to show, she had to strictly follow the guidance of the doctors. How much to eat, what to eat, and how long to walk every day—there was a set of rules for everything, and even the amount of time she worked each day was regulated.

This made her feel very uncomfortable. Although the child she was carrying was very important, she felt it was being treated with too much importance; it was unnecessary, and in any case, the Jiuli had no such practices.

However, the postpartum confinement truly made her feel the preferential treatment a woman received in Huaxia. She could not touch water, could not be exposed to wind, and just lay there recuperating; they were truly treating her like an ancestor.

She had thought this was a privilege belonging only to her, but she later learned that in all of Huaxia, as long as a family had the means, they were required to do this for women; they had to arrange for postpartum confinement because it was to protect the woman's body, saying that since she had suffered so much to give birth, she must be well-rested.

Furthermore, it was also to allow women to live longer and be better able to give birth in the future. This latter point was something Baifeng had used to promote postpartum confinement and propagate it to those below; otherwise, basically no one would have paid any attention to it. After all, it meant one less laborer in the family all of a sudden. Winter was fine, but what about the Autumn Harvest? What were they supposed to do then?

Regarding the matter of domestic violence, Huaxia did not yet have a clear set of regulations. After all, such matters were difficult to determine and difficult to punish. A man was the main laborer in the family; if they were punished severely, those women would not agree, as they would not know what to do without their men.

But if they were not punished severely, would those men become even worse? Would they launch revenge against the women again?

Therefore, Baifeng now stipulated that whether a man hit a woman or a woman hit a man, it would be counted as intentional injury. If they were repeat offenders or if the injury was relatively serious, the family situation would not be considered—they would be severely punished.

For intentional injury, one needed to report the case, or someone else had to report it, before it could be investigated. Currently, no one had any concept of domestic violence, and even men and women thought it was normal for a man to hit a woman, as the concept of gender equality had not yet been fully implemented in Huaxia.

The younger generation was fine, but it was hard to change those with rigid thinking. Fortunately, life was getting better, and women did not necessarily have to rely on men. Those who were bolder would simply fight back; if you dared to hit me, I could hit you too.

But the one thing Baifeng explicitly stipulated was that if you dared to hit a woman while she was in postpartum confinement, you would be severely punished. There was no leniency on this point. The lactation period was the same; these two stages were the most strictly regulated, all for the sake of the next generation of Huaxia.

Moreover, as long as the timing matched that period, you could be punished. It did not matter if you had actually provided postpartum confinement for your woman; even if you made her work a day or two after giving birth, if you dared to abuse her during this month, it would be a severe punishment.

Everything brought back from the Jiuli was inevitably taken to Baifeng for inspection first, and Baifeng also rubbed his hands together as he went to look at the various local specialties sent from afar.

There was a huge number of sacks, and if you opened any one of them, you could see dried goods covered in white salt stains.

Because the water grasses looked too similar, and coupled with the fact that Baifeng's drawings might have been a bit abstract, these seaweeds were not entirely the two types Baifeng wanted; some other seaweeds were mixed in among them.

However, Baifeng was an inland person in his previous life after all. The seafood he could eat to his heart's content was just kelp, laver, and the like; he had never really seen other seaweeds, so he could not identify all of these that had already been dried.

But the kelp and laver he wanted were already among them. With these two, his goal had been achieved.

The other sacks contained ginseng that still had some dry soil on it. Although the roots were severely damaged, the quantity was large, and each one was definitely old enough—ten or several decades old were definitely there, and it was uncertain if there were any over a hundred years old. Even if there were, Baifeng's ability was not enough to identify them.

The value of these ginsengs alone was already incredibly high. After all, their medicinal value was extremely high; Huaxia had previously used Codonopsis to replace ginseng, and the effect was naturally inferior.

Of course, it was said that the best ginseng was actually produced in the Shangdang region. It was called Codonopsis at first, and only later was another medicine called Codonopsis. However, Baifeng did not know where the Shangdang region was now; it was probably in the territory of the Suiren clan, but finding ginseng still required luck.

However, now that there was ginseng produced in the Northeast, there was absolutely no problem; the effect was just as good. Some even had the leaves still attached, and there were even fruits.

Baifeng therefore hurriedly asked the people at the Pharmacy to use wool brushes to brush the soil off these ginsengs one by one, and then organize and store them all. Each one was very precious.

It was also because new medicines were frequently discovered and brought back that the knowledge base of the Pharmacy and the doctors had to be updated. With ginseng, the doctors had to relearn their prescriptions.

Every time, they had to hold meetings to study, just like in a modern Hospital when a new drug is introduced; they had to focus on promoting and implementing it first. Once the guidelines were updated, they had to keep up with the pace.

However, due to the era, the efficacy and potency of these medicines had to be verified through time and clinical practice to determine the dosage. This was a trial process that would take a long time to determine how much to use.

After all, wild ginseng of long age was not like the two- or three-year-old artificially cultivated ginseng, where you could put a whole root into a chicken soup and not feel much effect. With good medicinal materials, you could feel the difference with just a small dosage.

But because of the preciousness of ginseng, Baifeng specifically and repeatedly exhorted them that even a single root hair had to be picked up and could not be lost. This was not like the spicy root; it was very precious.

Likewise, when the doctors promoted it further down, they also had to instruct all the doctors that when prescribing ginseng, they must start with a small dosage and must not use too much. When there was no need to use ginseng, do not use it. After all, it took a whole year to get just this little bit from the Jiuli; it was truly too precious.