Li Shizhen was smart since childhood. Before he could go to school, he became familiar with his father. His father Li Yanwen was a good doctor at that time. He was once a clerk in the Imperial Hospital and was very famous in Hubei.
When he was a child, he didn't want to study medicine, but he liked to be close to his brothers (after he passed the scholar, he failed the exam three times). When he was eight years old, he went to a private school to study. The private school teacher had long heard of this little prodigy. He looked at the distant mountains surrounded by trees and decided to take the test for this doll.
Mr. twisted his beard and opened his mouth and said: I'm going to write a first couplet, I wonder if you can match it?
Li Shizhen answered respectfully: "Teacher, please come out."
"Okay, the first couplet is: The sound of the distant sound is clear across the forest."
Li Shizhen looked up, but saw that the morning glow was particularly bright. Passers-by had already set off, so he blurted out:
"Mingxia flew to the passengers."
When the teacher heard this, he immediately stretched out his thumb and praised it repeatedly.
When Li Shizhen was 14 years old, she went to Huangzhou Prefecture to take the exam. She returned home from the scholar and met a friend named Ma. Although Mr. Ma was not as talented as Li Shizhen and was loyal and honest, the two soon became close friends.
There is a pharmacy owner named Huang. He has a wealthy family and has a daughter under his knees. This daughter is smart and beautiful, and is a famous beauty in all corners of the countryside. Many children from aristocratic families ask someone to come and call the media.
In order to choose a talented man for his daughter to get married, Boss Huang decided to use the first couplet to call for marriage with a famous medicine:
" Jade leaf and golden flower one root."
Many suitors sighed at the couplet. Although Mr. Ma is loyal, he lacks a little literary talent, and he has to ask his friend Li Shizhen for help. Li Shizhen was happy to help him, so she wrote the second couplet on paper and handed it to Mr. Ma.
The lower couplet is:
" Cordyceps sinensis Nine-level skin."
Mr. Ma handed this lower couplet to Boss Huang. When Boss Huang saw that Mr. Ma was handsome, but the right one was neat, so he then gave him a pair of upper couplets, which was limited to one day.
This upper line is:
"The water lotus half branch lotus sees the flowers shine on the water lotus."
Master Ma scratched his head and had to ask Li Shizhen twice.
Li Shizhen has been influenced by her childhood and is familiar with Chinese herbal medicines. Without hesitation, she wrote the second couplet:
"Mother of Pearls hold a pearl in a jade bowl."
Boss Huang was very happy after reading it, and then he sent out the first couplet. He only took half a day to match it:
"The white-headed man climbs the cow and plows cooked rehmann ."
Master Ma was helpless and asked Li Shizhen three times.
In order to satisfy your friend's marriage, Li Shizhen simply did a good job to the end. He thought for a while and wrote:
" Tianxianzi Acacia matches with the matchmaker". The above couplet of
uses three pairs of Chinese medicine names, namely: Baitou, Longniu and Craftsia. Li Shizhen also uses three pairs of Chinese medicine in the second couplet, namely Tianxian, Xiangsi and Matchmaker. The parallelism is neat and the meaning is beautiful, which can be said to be wonderful.
Boss Huang was very satisfied and immediately agreed to Mr. Ma's proposal.
Relying on Li Shizhen's help, my friend Mr. Ma returned home with her beauty and made a wonderful marriage. However, Li Shizhen himself failed to get his wish and married a woman he didn't love.
There is a girl named Dongqing who is well versed in pharmacology and is born with exquisite and clear birth. They are childhood sweethearts, and Li Shizhen likes her very much.
One year, a plague broke out in Hubei. Li Shizhen and Dongqing cooperated tacitly during the plague, partnered with each other and helped the people. While Li Shizhen was personally trying the medicine, Dongqing took good care of him, afraid that Li Shizhen would have any accidents, and she was very caring.
Taking this opportunity, Li Shizhen expressed her long-term love for Holly, and Holly girl shyly agreed.
Unexpectedly, he was strongly opposed by his father. It turned out that Li Shizhen and Miss Wu had a long engagement, and it was a marriage made by his father Li Wenyan.
The marriages at that time were all the orders of parents. The matchmaker said that Li Shizhen did not dare to disobey his father's accusation, so she had to marry Miss Wu, who he did not love.
However, after getting along with Wu Murong for a long time, Li Shizhen gradually discovered the beauty of her body, gradually developed a good impression, and the pattern of getting along with the two became more and more harmonious. In addition, Li Shizhen later offended high-ranking officials and fled everywhere. Wu Murong has always been with him. Li Shizhen was very moved and gradually fell in love with this wife.
In the later stage, the two of them respect each other. They would discuss medical books together and even taste herbs in the mountains.
Once, Li Shizhen went out to search for the compilation of Materia Medica. His wife Wu wrote him a unique love letter:
" betel nut has passed, and it has passed Pinellia . Wouldn't it be Angelica ? Who made a gentleman, and used parasitic grass to wrap around other branches, leaving the peony flowers in the hometown without a master. I looked up Tiannanxing , look at the honeysuckle vine below, and look forward to the book of angelica, and you can't eat the bitterness of coptis chinensis! Ancient poem says: 'Cardume cannot eliminate the hatred in the heart, lilac is empty and sad in the rain. 'What! What!"
In the letter, betel nut, Pinellia shank, Angelica, gentleman, parasitic grass, peony, aparagus, honeysuckle vine, angelica, coptis chinensis, cardamom, and lilac are all Chinese medicines. Linking the names of Chinese medicine together and expressing one's longing for his husband, which shows his talent.
Li Shizhen also missed his wife very much, so he replied:
"As soon as the red lady parted, the fragrance of the cinnamon branches has withered! I almost thought that the chrysanthemums are lush, and I want to return to Aster . However, the road to Changshan is far away and talc is difficult to move, so wait for calmness! Don't make you impatient and call me Clossium . When safflower blooms next spring, I will return home with Mabo and Eucommia ulmoides, and then there will be a gift from gold." The Hongniang, Clossium ulmoides, Clossium ulmoides, Aster, Changshan , talc, calmness, impatient ulmoides, Clossium ulmoides, Pony ulmoides, and Eucommia ulmoides are also traditional Chinese medicines. These Chinese herbal medicines were combined together and poured out his deep nostalgia for his wife.
In ancient times, women rarely left their names. Li Shizhen's wife had known her surname as Wu. In Li Shizhen's cemetery , there was a joint tomb of Li Shizhen and his wife Wu.
Wu gave birth to four sons for Li Shizhen. The eldest son was Li Jianzhong. He was a juren in the 43rd year of Jiajing (1564). He was appointed as the magistrate of Pengxi, Sichuan and the magistrate of Yongchang Prefecture, Yunnan.
second son Li Jianyuan, third son Li Jianzi, and fourth son Li Jianmu (because Li Shuchu served as deputy envoy of Shanxi Censorate and posthumously awarded the title of Zhongxian Doctor).
It is worth mentioning that Li Shizhen's grandson Li Shuchu also married Zhu Yiren, the daughter of the royal family, namely Zhu Yiren, the daughter of Andong King Zhu Yilin.
References:
"History of Ming Dynasty", "Compendium of Materia Medica", Baidu Encyclopedia.
