She breathed a small sigh of relief, then saw that A-Hao’s lower body was covered by an outer garment, likely her mother’s dress. Qi Yue pulled it back, and a scattering of bloodstains met her eyes, instantly heating her blood.
“Miss, it looked serious, but they didn’t strike hard, only ten blows in total. That was out of deference to the fact that the girl is by your side,” a wet nurse nearby said with a chuckle.
Qi Yue stared at her, her chest heaving violently.
“Send for a physician…” she forced the words out through gritted teeth, one by one.
The wet nurse giggled, nodding her chin toward the outside.
“Does Miss need to command it? We are most merciful. When the household maids are punished, we always call the physician at the same time…” she explained.
Qi Yue turned to look and indeed saw a trembling old man with white hair and beard shuffling in, a medicine chest strapped to his back.
The old man squinted, first taking the pulse.
“No harm done, just a reversal of qi and blood. She’ll be fine after a few days of rest,” he stated with his usual leisurely tone, and then made to leave immediately upon finishing.
“Look at the injury,” Qi Yue snapped, exasperated by yet another physician who dispensed a diagnosis without even an examination, as if they all possessed second sight.
The elder looked at Qi Yue with his faded eyes, his expression peculiar.
“Look?” he asked. “This young madam wants this old man to examine this girl’s wound?”
“Nonsense,” Qi Yue couldn’t help but retort, the veins in her temples throbbing. She could handle disinfection, cleaning the wound, and debridement, but she lacked iodine, iodine tincture for sterilization, tetanus shots, and other necessary medicines. Since this doctor frequently treated people here, he should be adept at handling such injuries...
“How utterly ridiculous! What kind of person do you think I am?” The physician became agitated instead, his face flushing red as he glared. “A woman’s skin, and moreover, a part so private and secret—you actually… you actually ask this old man to…”
Qi Yue was stunned, taken aback.
It seemed she had seen this in novels and dramas—that ancient doctors treated female patients behind screens, and even when Bao Yu’s maid Qingwen saw a doctor, she covered her hand with a handkerchief. A-Hao’s injury was on her buttocks, a place far more concealed than a hand... but she hadn't expected this formality to be truly observed.
“You are a doctor, yet you observe gender segregation?” she asked furiously.
The elder huffed, casting a glance at Qi Yue with a touch of arrogant disdain, clearly having no interest in conversing further with someone so ignorant of proper conduct.
“...A caning. There’s nothing to see for that...” he muttered, rummaging through his medicine chest and setting down a porcelain bottle. “Jinchuangyao (Trauma Powder). Apply this.”
With that, he ambled out.
Helpless, and remembering she did have enough anti-inflammatory medicine for A-Hao’s injury, Qi Yue angrily snatched the porcelain bottle. Turning, she saw the burly wet nurses watching the spectacle.
“Hurry up and carry her out!” Qi Yue commanded.
Only then did the wet nurses drag themselves over, fetching a door-plank to lift A-Hao. A-Hao’s parents, wanting to follow, dared not, only entering after Qi Yue gave the order.
A-Ru and A-Hao’s parents, crying, intended to tend to their daughter, but stopped short when they saw Qi Yue already donning strange coverings over her hands and face, stooping low beside her daughter to begin cleaning the wound.
“Miss, this must not be done…” A-Hao’s parents knelt and wept.
“It’s fine. I am... I will do it,” Qi Yue looked back at them and said, then began to inspect the injury inch by painful inch.
Extensive bruising of the tissue on the buttocks, the contusions already spreading to the thigh, ruptured capillaries, subcutaneous bleeding...
This was just a girl of fourteen or fifteen...
Qi Yue desperately controlled her emotions, keeping her hand steady as she wiped and cleaned the wound.
The pain of the cleaning caused the unconscious A-Hao to emit a miserable groan.
“I didn’t… it wasn’t me… it wasn’t my fault…” she mumbled.
Qi Yue’s tears welled up, sliding down her face hidden by the mask.
Having already witnessed Qi Yue cleaning her younger brother’s wounds, A-Ru managed to be somewhat calmer, passing the required instruments, cotton pads, and gauze under Qi Yue’s direction.
A-Hao’s parents remained kneeling on the ground, gradually ceasing their crying, instead watching with wide, astonished eyes as their young mistress performed the cleaning with practiced movements.
“Cold compress. Watch her, especially checking if urination is normal.” After cleaning the wound, Qi Yue applied the medicine the physician had given, covered it with medicated cotton and gauze, then stood up, removed her gloves and mask, and started walking out.
A-Ru reacted instantly, chasing after her and kneeling to clutch her leg.
“Miss, you mustn't go…” A-Ru cried.
“They said she broke it! They said she secretly ran into the Heir’s chambers! Even a fool wouldn’t believe such obvious lies! How dare they utter such things!” Qi Yue was furious, her whole body trembling.
“Miss, Miss, just consider the beating A-Hao already took, and endure it a little longer…” A-Ru wept. “A-Hao has already suffered; don’t let her suffering be in vain…”
A-Hao’s parents also came out of the room, kneeling and kowtowing.
“Miss, servants are meant to receive punishment for their actions, and there are established rules for punishment. Questioning it serves no purpose,” A-Hao’s mother cried. Though timid by nature, having lived in the Dingxi Marquisate for so many years, she was clear on the protocols she had witnessed.
“It was A-Hao’s misfortune to encounter this difficulty. We warned her again and again, but she still went out, and that’s how she was…” A-Ru sobbed, shaking Qi Yue’s leg. “This is her fate.”
Fate! Fate! Qi Yue spat a curse in frustration, but she couldn't stop A-Ru’s tears or the kowtowing of A-Hao’s parents, so she merely flung her hand away and went back inside the room.
The sky gradually darkened. A-Hao woke up for a period; she seemed lucid, only crying and insisting she was wronged.
A-Ru sighed, and A-Hao’s parents comforted her. A-Hao’s father, being a man, could not stay the night and left early. A-Hao’s mother, however, obtained Qi Yue’s permission to stay and accompany her daughter.
“Keep giving her cold compresses tonight to reduce the swelling, and sleep in shifts,” Qi Yue instructed after checking A-Hao again. “I will take the watch in the very early morning…”
Early morning... what did that mean? A-Ru and A-Hao’s mother looked at each other, bewildered.
“Miss, you absolutely must not keep watch,” A-Ru quickly cut her off.
“Yes, how can we let you keep watch? Besides, it was just a few strikes from the board. More than half the servants in the estate have endured that; it’s just a warning, and they always have a physician look at them. She’ll be fine after a few days of rest,” A-Hao’s mother said with a smile, bowing to Qi Yue. “For you to act this way is frankly too much honor for us.”
And A-Hao herself, who was fully awake, struggled to lift her head.
“Miss, A-Hao is fine, it just hurts my bottom…” she said, pouting.
This remark made Qi Yue let out a small laugh. She reached out and stroked A-Hao’s head.
“When you feel better, I’ll make you a delicious sweet dessert. Desserts can soothe pain,” she smiled.
“Really?” A-Hao’s eyes lit up at the mention of food.
A-Hao’s mother watched from the side, dumbfounded. How could this be the manner of a young mistress? She seemed more like a mother herself...
No wonder her daughter had been so unwilling to leave, insisting on remaining in the unpromising Qiutong Courtyard.
After comforting A-Hao, Qi Yue returned to her own room.
“You must watch her carefully, especially her temperature, breathing, and urination. If anything is abnormal, come wake me immediately,” Qi Yue instructed A-Ru one last time before leaving.
“Miss, I have noted it down. You should hurry and sleep; she’ll be fine,” A-Ru said with a slight chuckle.
Qi Yue glanced back at their room. A-Hao was whispering softly to her mother sitting beside her; although her face was pale and her complexion weak, her spirits seemed relatively good.
Hopefully, everything would be alright. Qi Yue took a deep breath and left. After a quick wash and change of clothes, she found she still had no sleepiness. The courtyard was utterly still, and the sounds of music, dancing, wind instruments, and laughter drifted in the night breeze.
It must be that Heir again, indulging in his revelry. Qi Yue let out an indignant spit, pulled the quilt over her, and was just about to lie down when she heard movement outside.
“...Bring water...”
“..I’ll go empty it...”
It was A-Ru and A-Hao’s mother speaking in hushed, anxious tones.
Qi Yue threw on her robe and walked out.
“What is it?” she asked, opening the door.
A-Ru and A-Hao’s mother, startled by the sudden opening, both jumped.
“Did we disturb Miss? We deserve death,” A-Hao’s mother rushed to kneel and apologize.
“It’s nothing, it’s A-Hao…” A-Ru began to say.
Before she finished, A-Hao’s groan echoed from inside the room.
“It hurts so much, it hurts so much…”
“This child, she can’t bear pain,” A-Hao’s mother said to Qi Yue with an awkward smile. “Perhaps I should take her home tomorrow to avoid her shrieking and disturbing Miss…”
Qi Yue’s expression tightened, her brow furrowing as she listened to A-Hao’s soft cries of pain.
“It hurts, my stomach hurts…”
When this sentence reached her ears, Qi Yue’s face instantly changed color.
“Her stomach hurts?” she gasped, ignoring the two women in the courtyard and rushing straight toward A-Hao’s room.
A-Ru and A-Hao’s mother were startled but quickly followed her in.
Qi Yue entered the room and saw A-Hao curled up like a shrimp. With her injured buttocks, she had been lying face down, but now she was in so much pain she had shifted to her side, clutching her hands across her chest, trembling and crying out in agony.
“A-Hao…” Qi Yue started, but before she could finish, A-Hao began to retch violently. She didn't even have time to shift; she vomited right where she lay.
“Miss, please go out quickly, it’s very dirty…” A-Hao’s mother hastily said.
Before her words died down, she saw Qi Yue running back out.
Young mistresses are always clean, A-Hao’s mother thought to herself, while she and A-Ru busied themselves looking for fresh sheets to change A-Hao. Before they could act, the door slammed open, and Qi Yue returned, carrying a box.
Seeing this box, A-Ru’s heart sank. Before she could even speak, Qi Yue opened the box and sat right next to A-Hao, completely unconcerned by the mess beneath her.
A-Hao’s mother watched, her eyes wide with shock. Heavens, only parents could be so unrepulsed! Then she saw Qi Yue holding a strange device, inserting both ends into her ears and probing one end toward A-Hao’s abdomen…
“Miss A-Ru, what is the young Miss holding?” she managed to stammer out.
A-Ru ignored her, instead stepping forward anxiously to listen as Qi Yue asked A-Hao precisely where the pain was—here or there...
“Miss, is it…” she couldn't help but ask.
Qi Yue put down the stethoscope, her face turning slightly pale. She reached out and lifted A-Hao’s clothing, clearly seeing a distinct bruise on her left rib.
“Wasn’t it a caning? Who hit you here?” she asked, her voice trembling.
A-Hao’s face was contorted with pain, sweat beading on her forehead.
“...It was... they... they grabbed me... and when I struggled... they kicked me once...” she managed to say in broken phrases.
Qi Yue’s hand shook.
“Go fetch the physician you had here earlier,” she commanded.
“At this hour?” A-Hao’s mother spoke up. “No need, it’s just pain. If the pain is severe, she will vomit. Miss need not worry…”
“Go quickly!” Qi Yue suddenly shouted, startling the three people in the room into a shudder.
A-Ru didn't say a word, sprinting out the door.
Never mind the effort A-Ru exerted, finally dragging the physician from earlier back into the courtyard—half the estate was alerted. However, A-Hao was in no condition to care about the commotion. The old doctor, sound asleep when disturbed, entered with a foul temper. Seeing Qi Yue pacing the room, looking anxious, and repeatedly muttering strange things about the lack of abdominal ultrasound exercises, he became even more displeased.
“What is it? What’s the matter?” he asked, his face grim.
“Doctor, please, quickly check, is this... is this internal bleeding…” Qi Yue rushed to him, shouting, which startled the old man.
“Internal bleeding.” The old doctor snorted, shaking his sleeves to evade Qi Yue’s approach, and mumbled his way toward A-Hao, who was still curled on the bed. “She only took a beating and she’s making such a fuss. I’ve never seen such a girl, truly pampered like a young lady of high birth…”
Muttering, he sat down and took her pulse. Suddenly, his expression changed drastically.
Seeing the physician’s swift shift in countenance, Qi Yue’s heart finally settled completely.
“The injury has affected the viscera. It’s incurable. Prepare for the aftermath,” the old doctor said, shaking his head and standing up.
The room fell into immediate silence. Everyone except Qi Yue stared blankly at the physician. A-Hao stopped groaning, looked at the doctor, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
Qi Yue gave a wry smile. All the doctors here seemed to share this overly blunt trait...
Just as A-Hao passed out, A-Hao’s mother let out a wail and collapsed onto the floor.
“Could it be?” A-Ru cried out tremulously, unable to control herself, her body shaking like a sieve.
“Doctor, can you diagnose precisely which organ has sustained a closed-loop injury causing bleeding?” Qi Yue seized the old doctor who was already turning to leave, demanding urgently.
“Closed… closed-loop?” The old doctor stared, confused.
“Meaning, which specific organ is damaged?” Qi Yue clarified.
“Is it necessary?” The old doctor glanced at her. “No matter which one, it’s a death sentence…”
“You…” Qi Yue frowned at him. “Must it be death? Laparotomy and repair is possible…”
She didn't finish her sentence before the old doctor shook off her hand.
“I will show you a way,” he said, gesturing toward the outside with his hand.
Qi Yue’s heart leaped with joy.
“...Go into the courtyard, burn incense, and kneel, begging the divine physician Hua Tuo to see if the old man might manifest his spirit…” the old doctor finished saying.
Damn it! Qi Yue felt as if a bucket of icy water had been dumped over her head.
“Are you even a physician? Is this how you act?” she shouted.
“I am not a physician. The divine physician Bian Que was not a physician either; he saw Duke Huan of Qi, refused to treat him, and left. I am truly not a physician,” the old doctor huffed, slowly dropping the parting shot, shouldering his medicine chest, and walking away.
Qi Yue was so enraged by the old man’s words she almost fainted. Who said people in antiquity were simple and honest? This man was actively driving people to their deaths without paying the price!
Inside the room, the wails of A-Hao’s mother and A-Ru grew louder, sounding particularly eerie in the black night.
Is by]. div> BAIDU_CLB_LT_ID = "519311";