Qi Yue was delighted to see Quezhi arrive, but Ah Hao merely snorted and turned away, pointedly ignoring her.
Originally, Old Madam Xie had intended to send over all of Qi Yue’s original senior maids, but Quezhi had refused to leave. Not only did she not leave, but somehow, through flattery and smooth talking, she had convinced the Xie family to allow her to remain in the Heir’s courtyard.
“You still have the nerve to show your face? Don't delay your own prospects, Elder Sister Quezhi,” Ah Hao scoffed.
Quezhi’s expression flickered with a slight awkwardness, but she showed no real unease.
Qi Yue didn't think much of it either; everyone had the right to choose how they lived.
“Why are you here? Have you eaten?” she asked with a smile.
“This servant hasn’t had a chance to visit the Young Madam yet. I happened to be free to go out today, so I rushed over to see you and put my mind at ease,” Quezhi said, curtsying, her gaze sweeping over Qi Yue’s breakfast table.
The table held two small dishes, a plate of fried pastries, and a bowl of porridge—nothing else.
Looking around the room, the tables, chairs, and benches were clean and tidy, but everything appeared starkly simple. Compared to the Marquis’s residence, this was truly a world apart.
Quezhi couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of relief that she hadn't followed them.
“Thank you for your kind thought,” Qi Yue smiled, offering her to eat.
“No, I wouldn’t dare stay long. Knowing the Young Madam is well is enough to settle my heart,” Quezhi quickly replied with a smile.
“Master, Master!” A frantic knocking sounded at the door, accompanied by hurried shouts.
Qi Yue swallowed the last of her porridge in a few quick gulps.
“It’s Hu San,” she said.
Yuan Bao had already opened the door.
“Master, Master wants you to hurry! We have a critical case—a severe bed sore injury. Master suspects internal bleeding,” Hu San gasped out.
“Ah Hao, you see Elder Sister Quezhi out,” Qi Yue instructed, swiftly rising to her feet and rushing out.
A'ru followed immediately.
“Young Madam, you don’t have to…” Quezhi began to protest, but when she looked up, the courtyard was empty.
“Elder Sister Quezhi, let’s go,” Ah Hao said flatly.
“I stayed behind so that when the Heir eventually sees me, he’ll remember the Young Madam. That way, the Heir won’t forget the Young Madam either…” Quezhi murmured with a knowing smile.
Ah Hao cut her off with a cold sneer.
“Let’s go. You keep worrying about that; we certainly don't covet it,” she said.
Quezhi’s face flushed slightly.
“What’s wrong with striving for higher ground?” she retorted.
“Nothing’s wrong with going up, but it’s wrong to mock those who are going down,” Ah Hao countered, opening the door. “Besides, who’s truly faring better is still up for debate.”
Oh my heavens. Quezhi looked at Ah Hao, holding back a laugh she dared not release, and finally left without saying another word.
At the Hall of a Hundred Beauties, Qi Yue examined the injured man, while the victim’s family members intently watched her.
As Qi Yue pulled back the last sheet covering the patient, the men could bear it no longer.
“Hey, hey! What are you doing, woman?” The burly men couldn't help but shout.
“I am examining him. I am a physician; don’t worry,” Qi Yue stated calmly. “My name is Qi, and I am a doctor at the Hall of a Hundred Beauties. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone on the street.”
The men looked on with doubt, watching Qi Yue continue her examination.
“…The head injury is secondary; the injury to the fore-chest is the most severe. When he arrived, he was already unconscious. I first controlled the bleeding and protected his brain, but the situation still looks poor. Based on his pulse, the five viscera and six bowels have been damaged,” Liu Pucheng reported.
Qi Yue nodded, looking at the patient diagnosis card Zhang Tong handed her, while simultaneously taking the stethoscope A’ru offered.
“…No abnormality in the circulatory or respiratory systems,” she announced after listening, removing the device. “There is fluid accumulation in the left chest cavity.”
Liu Pucheng confirmed the finding with a nod.
“Has the patient remained unconscious?” Qi Yue asked, looking at the injured man.
Liu Pucheng nodded. “Excessive blood loss and craniocerebral trauma certainly cause unconsciousness. When I saw him last night, I treated it primarily as a head injury, administering the Shufeng Liqi Tang (Herbal Decoction for Dispelling Wind and Regulating Qi), but he still didn't wake. Only after taking his pulse did I discover the internal organ issue,” he explained.
Qi Yue frowned, her gaze fixed on the patient. CT scan, oh, how I desperately miss a CT scan at times like this…
She reached up and scratched her head.
“Teacher, wake him up,” she commanded. “We’ll use inquiry and palpation to confirm the location of the injury.”
Liu Pucheng nodded, taking his golden needles and beginning to insert them into the patient’s Suliu, Baihui, and Shenque acupoints. Zhang Tong then brought over the moxa sticks.
Qi Yue couldn't assist much at this point; she watched intently. She had to admit, the anti-shock effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine was remarkable.
Within the time it took for one stick of incense to burn, the patient slowly awoke, immediately letting out groans and drawing his body inward.
“Brave man,” Qi Yue called out, signaling her disciples to hold his limbs. “Can you hear me?”
The address of “brave man” made the patient look at her. Qi Yue waved her hand in front of his face.
“Brave man, I am a doctor. I need to examine you now; you must tell me where it hurts,” she said loudly, immediately beginning to press along his neck.
“I don't hurt…” the man gritted out.
Qi Yue’s face darkened. That wasn't what she meant by “brave man.”
“If it hurts, it hurts. Pain isn't shameful; only the dead feel no pain,” she said firmly, increasing the pressure of her hands.
The patient finally let out a sharp cry of agony.
“It hurts, this spot hurts…”
“And here?”
“Hurt…”
Watching the man’s increasing cries of pain and the sweat pouring from him, the surrounding men’s eyes grew red.
“Hey, you woman…” one of them couldn’t help but interject.
He was stopped by Liu Pucheng before he could finish his sentence.
“Your elder brother’s injuries are to the internal organs. Since we cannot see them, we must know exactly where he is injured. The body does not lie; this is the only way to locate the most severely affected area,” he explained.
The men fell silent.
Qi Yue continued her questioning and pressing until she had finished the examination. She broke out in a sweat, then paused, frowning deeply, silent for a long moment.
Everyone in the room watched her.
“I suspect a mediastinal hematoma…” she murmured, her brow tightly knit as she stared at the wound on the man's chest.
What is that?
The men in the room exchanged confused glances.
The wooden demonstration board used for lectures was brought over. Qi Yue picked up a piece of charcoal and quickly sketched a diagram of human anatomy on it.
“Here, this is the mediastinum…” She heavily circled the area with charcoal, pointing it out to everyone.
The patient’s family stared blankly at the utterly incomprehensible drawing. What on earth was that?
Qi Yue grabbed Hu San and pointed at his body to elaborate.
“…Between the lungs lie the heart and the great vessels entering and exiting it, the esophagus, the trachea, the thymus, nerves, and lymphatic tissue…” she explained, pointing out each structure one by one. “Now, due to this external trauma, there is internal bruising here, causing a hematoma. If this hematoma is not removed promptly, it will lead to mediastinal infection, eventually resulting in circulatory organ failure and death.”
The men remained utterly confused.
“But, the other doctor said our big brother’s head injury was the serious one. How can you say it’s a medi-something?” one man asked, eyes wide.
“Other doctors?” Qi Yue smiled. “Then why did you seek me out if you trust the other doctors?”
This question momentarily stunned the men.
“Since you brought him here, you are listening to me. Bringing up the diagnoses of other doctors now to refute mine is rather inappropriate, wouldn’t you agree?” Qi Yue continued.
This woman’s temper isn’t very good, the men thought to themselves.
“Then how do we treat it?” Liu Pucheng asked.
Qi Yue’s brows were deeply furrowed.
“Thoracotomy,” she stated, making a cutting motion in front of her chest with her hand. “We split the sternum, remove the hematoma, and suture the bleeding site.”
Splitting the sternum…
Those in the Hall of a Hundred Beauties who had witnessed laparotomies were not overly shocked; furthermore, Liu Pucheng was already convinced that they needed to open the chest to see the organs.
But the patient’s family had never heard of such a procedure. Their eyes widened—what kind of joke was this!
“Can a person live after that?” they cried out in unison.
“Nonsense!” Qi Yue’s sharp voice drowned them out. “This is a medical hall, not a slaughterhouse! We are here to save lives, not end them!”
This woman’s temperament really is something…
“So, if we perform the thoracotomy, will he be cured?” one man asked.
“I cannot guarantee it,” Qi Yue admitted.
The scene erupted in renewed clamor.
“This surgery is different from a laparotomy. I lack the necessary instruments, and…” Qi Yue bit her lower lip.
“Is it because of the medicine again?” Liu Pucheng inquired.
Qi Yue shook her head. “The instruments for a thoracotomy are different from those for an abdominal surgery—rib shears, retractors… I have none of them. More importantly, I don’t have a CT scan. I cannot see the enhanced chest CT images, so I cannot determine the exact state of the illness. A mediastinal hematoma is extremely complex, truly…” She tightened her grip on the charcoal stick, leaving her thought unfinished.
To operate or not to operate?
Silence fell over the room.
“If we don’t operate, what happens to our big brother?” one man asked cautiously.
“He will die,” Qi Yue stated plainly.
The men looked at each other, whispering and conferring. Meanwhile, Hu San couldn't help but lean closer.
“Master, our Hall of a Hundred Beauties has just expanded its operations. If anything goes wrong during this, what about our reputation…” he murmured worriedly. Now that they no longer had the powerful backing of the Dingxi Marquis’s residence, what would they do if a disaster struck?
Had he not mentioned this, Qi Yue would have continued to hesitate. But hearing his concern made her mind suddenly clear.
“Even if I cannot guarantee saving his life, rather than stand by and watch him die, I must try,” she straightened up, facing the group.
Hu San froze. That wasn't what he had meant at all…
Liu Pucheng, who was about to speak, remained silent, looking at Qi Yue and nodding slightly, his eyes filled with gratification.
The men looked at this woman. Her face was one of unparalleled beauty they had never seen, but beyond the beauty, there was a spirit—a radiant confidence.
“Good!” they finally conceded, nodding and speaking with resolve.
“In that case, please sign the surgical consent form,” Qi Yue requested.
Hu San immediately produced a sheet of paper and presented it.
The men exchanged looks.
“We are illiterate,” one of them said. “What does this say?”
“This states the condition, the risks of the surgery—everything I have told you—and it stipulates that we are exempt from liability should the patient suffer any misfortune,” Qi Yue explained.
“Good.” The leading man extended his hand, dipped it into the cinnabar paste Hu San was holding, and pressed his handprint onto the paper.
“Prepare for emergency thoracotomy. The objective of the surgery is to remove the hematoma,” Qi Yue said, placing down the charcoal stick and addressing everyone.
“Yes,” the disciples replied in unison.
The atmosphere in the Hall of a Hundred Beauties instantly grew tense.
One more chapter to come~RS