Was she smiling at him?

Coffin Boy was astonished. No, no, she was smiling, just smiling, but not at him. Every woman in this world who dared to smile at him had long been dead.

His gaze shifted away from Qi Yue to Liu Pucheng.

"Doctor Liu, what are you doing?" he asked, frowning. "And why bring so many people here? Coming for a night stroll and a show?"

His eyes swept over the group of men huddled together like frightened chicks.

"I brought them to learn," Liu Pucheng replied. "Little Coffin, are things ready?"

Learn?

Did women learn medicine too?

Coffin Boy looked at Qi Yue again. What a joke!

"My dear wife, this is the caretaker of the Yi Zhuang, his surname is Yuan…" Seeing Coffin Boy’s confusion, Liu Pucheng murmured to Qi Yue, deliberately omitting the surname Qi, only addressing her as 'Niangzi' (wife/madam).

Was this woman really here to learn medicine? Not just to act as a midwife? She even dared to look at the corpse up close!

"Surname or not, they all call me Coffin Boy," Coffin Boy said, with a hint of provocation.

Truth be told, he, Coffin Boy, was quite famous in Yongqing Prefecture. Even if people didn't recognize his face, the name was known to everyone. Of course it needed to be known, so people wouldn't accidentally bump into him and pick up bad luck.

Coffin Boy? Qi Yue’s eyes brightened. Where had she heard that name before?

She couldn't help but stare at Coffin Boy.

Seeing her look at him like that, Coffin Boy gave a faint smile.

Oh, Qi Yue remembered.

"Oh, you are that Coffin Boy!" she exclaimed excitedly, instinctively reaching out a hand. "Hello, hello! I've heard so much about you, so much about you!"

What did that mean?

Judging by her expression, hearing the name wasn't surprising, but her attitude seemed... happy?

Coffin Boy froze for a moment, looking at the hand she extended.

Soft, white, and slender...

What did she want? Why was she holding out her hand?

Liu Pucheng cleared his throat softly.

Qi Yue snapped back to reality and awkwardly withdrew her hand.

"Hello," Qi Yue said with a smile. "I've heard of you before. You are very skilled."

Since Liu Pucheng was deliberately concealing her identity, she naturally couldn't say where she had heard his name.

Yes, she was still smiling, and she was smiling at him. Coffin Boy couldn't help but glance back. No one else—only him...

Hu San and the others were startled by his sudden movement, goosebumps rising all over their bodies again.

"Wh-what is he looking at?" Hu San stammered, squeezed behind a disciple, and whispered, "Master, Master is talking to him... why is he looking away..."

Teeth started chattering with a da da sound.

"Shut your mouth..." the disciple managed to stutter out.

They hadn't even stepped inside and they were already this scared. Liu Pucheng glared at the disciples irritably.

"Little Coffin, look," he prompted.

Coffin Boy stopped looking at Qi Yue and stepped forward.

"Come in," he said, reaching out to push the door open.

A wave of icy cold mixed with the stench of decaying corpses rushed out. Coffin Boy heard the unchanged sounds of sharp intakes of breath and dry heaves—this always happened when newcomers arrived.

He turned back with a smile, seeing the young disciples clutching their mouths and turning away. And the woman...

"Teacher, you brought clothes for me too, right? I didn't dare bring any from home," Qi Yue said, following Liu Pucheng inside. As she spoke, she shrugged off her cloak and walked casually past him, past the row of corpses lying on straw mats covered with white cloths.

It was as if she had always lived here, moving through the space as if unobserved. Another woman hurried past him; though her exposed eyes were filled with panic, she still followed closely behind the first woman.

Coffin Boy turned to look at the five men shuffling in from the doorway. They looked so terrified their eyes were glazed over. They bunched up, pushing forward, not daring to glance in that direction at all.

Who exactly were the men? Coffin Boy frowned.

"Is this the one?" Liu Pucheng asked.

Coffin Boy looked over and saw they had stopped in front of a long table, upon which lay a corpse covered with a white cloth.

"Yes, it's very fresh," he replied.

Hu San felt he would never like the word 'fresh' again in his life. Covering his mouth with his hand, he finally managed to stand behind his master.

"What are you afraid of? Don't be scared," Qi Yue laughed, deftly opening her medical kit and pulling on gloves.

Liu Pucheng did the same. Meanwhile, Hu San and the others slowly and tremblingly put on their gear.

Usually, Coffin Boy would ignore people after leading them inside, but this time he didn't leave. He watched these people's strange attire with keen interest.

"Hey, Doctor Liu, what are those things you're wearing?" he asked.

Liu Pucheng didn't answer. Qi Yue, while helping A'Ru fasten her outer layer, smiled at him.

"Isolation suits," she replied. "Surgical gowns, gloves, masks—to prevent staining things..."

He was right; women weren't men after all...

Coffin Boy tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"And contaminating the patient," Qi Yue finished.

Coffin Boy's mouth stiffened...

Meanwhile, Qi Yue saw that everyone was properly dressed. Liu Pucheng unfolded a cloth bundle, revealing the scalpels and scissors used for dissection.

Nothing unusual, Coffin Boy wasn't unfamiliar with these tools, but he remained standing, watching with full curiosity.

He wondered what the woman's reaction would be when the blade cut into the corpse.

Haha, it would be fun to watch.

"Alright then, due to time constraints today, we won't study the whole body. We'll only practice a cleft lip and palate surgery," Qi Yue announced, positioning herself by the table, and simultaneously pulled the white cloth off the corpse's head.

A gasp rose from Hu San and the disciples in the room.

This time, even A'Ru couldn't maintain control and turned away, unable to watch.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't be afraid," Qi Yue laughed, picking up a surgical drape and covering the corpse's eyes, leaving only the mouth and nose exposed. "I've covered it up; you can look now."

Only then did A'Ru dare to turn her head back. Seeing Hu San still trembling and unwilling to look, she nudged him with her foot.

"Hurry up, Teacher has things to do. Don't waste time," she hissed softly.

Hu San and the others then bravely looked over. Seeing only the mouth and nose exposed made them feel slightly better.

"Teacher has already told you that we are performing an operation on the mouth and nose next. Because this procedure requires precision and the operative field is small, any slight mistake can affect speech, mastication, or facial appearance, defeating the purpose and causing secondary harm. Therefore, I need assistants. Now, follow me to familiarize yourselves and observe how this kind of surgery is performed." Seeing they were calmer, Qi Yue picked up a scalpel from the instruments Liu Pucheng had laid out. "The first step of this surgery is marking the points. You don't need to do the marking today; we'll jump straight to the second step: separation..."Remember the fastest and newest text version update at Niu Pipi Academy

As she spoke, she reached out, flipped back the lip, and made an incision in the mucosal layer along the alveolar groove...

Another wave of low cries echoed in the room, this time mixed with stifled sounds threatening to turn into sobs. Hu San and the others turned away again and huddled together.

Qi Yue ignored them, continuing her work while explaining.

Watching this, Coffin Boy was completely stunned, the men's choked sobs mingling with the woman's voice.

They weren't here to learn...

They were here to teach...

My God!

"I must have lost all my money and I'm so distraught that I'm hallucinating," Coffin Boy muttered, slapping his forehead. He closed his eyes and turned around. "I'm going to sleep. I'll feel better after a sleep..."

Coffin Boy did indeed go to sleep. By the time he woke up, the sky was beginning to lighten. He listened carefully; the sounds from the other room had stopped.

A bag of money was placed by the door, signaling that the guests had left. Coffin Boy reached out, grabbed it, and tossed it casually into the room.

He suddenly remembered that he seemed to have dreamed last night. In the dream, a woman came to examine corpses and even started cutting them...

Coffin Boy shook his head. Had he gone crazy thinking about women?

He habitually pulled out his needle and thread kit from under the bed and tucked it under his arm.

"I'm here to help you fix things up. These doctors, they claim to heal, but for you all, they only know how to destroy and never repair. In the end, they are all just people..." he mumbled to himself as he walked into the room. The sight before him made him freeze.

The table where the corpses were laid out was neat and clean, the bodies covered in white cloth, just as he had arranged them initially, completely without the usual disarray left by doctors who had visited before.

He quickened his steps and reached out to lift the white cloth. The bloodstains had been wiped clean, and the cut mouth and nose had been restored to completeness, only the winding stitches on the surface proved what had happened the night before.

Coffin Boy looked at the stitches, then suddenly couldn't resist reaching out to touch them. His eyes shone brilliantly, as if he had found a rare treasure.

"Look, what perfect stitching," he murmured. "How was this sewn back together..."

When Qi Yue returned home, the sky was faintly beginning to lighten. The light in her own room was still on. She tiptoed inside and saw Chang Yuncheng sitting there.

"Heavens, you haven't slept?" she asked in surprise.

Chang Yuncheng was reading, seemingly absorbed. He grunted when he heard her voice.

Qi Yue looked at him, pursed her lips, walked over in a few steps, and snatched the book away.

"Alright, stop pretending. Thank you for worrying about me. I'm back now, you go get some rest," she said with a smile.

Chang Yuncheng's face instantly flushed red.

"You woman, you always..." He glared, ready to speak.

Qi Yue reached out and threw her arms around him.

Chang Yuncheng stiffened abruptly, his tongue tied, unable to utter the rest of his words.

"Thank you for caring, I know everything. Don't be shy, we're all adults; let's not play this guessing game," Qi Yue said with a smile, hugging him briefly before letting go.

I did not! I did not!

Chang Yuncheng's face was red to the point of being dark purple, but he couldn't say anything. He simply lifted his foot and walked away.

This woman was so annoying!

Not feminine at all!

So hateful!

Chang Yuncheng threw himself onto the bed, feeling a heat spreading throughout his body, an itchiness rising from within. He couldn't describe the feeling, but it was certainly uncomfortable; he only felt the need to roll and writhe on the mattress to find relief. He pulled the quilt over his head.

That damned woman! She actually hugged him just now!

That was assault!

Chang Yuncheng suddenly threw off the quilt and stood up. It wasn't his fault!

He hurried back toward Qi Yue's side, only to see the woman already lying in bed, fast asleep.

Chang Yuncheng stood by the bedside watching. After a moment, he carefully pulled the quilt out of Qi Yue’s embrace, placed her arm down by her side, tucked the covers in neatly, and blew out the lamp.

The room plunged into the darkness before dawn.