“Chang Yuncheng, you’ve killed me!”

In the room, Qi Yue grabbed Chang Yuncheng and shouted loudly.

“I see you’re living quite well right now, with plenty of strength too,” Chang Yuncheng pulled her hands away. Through the window, he could see people outside anxiously looking in this direction.

“Why didn’t you make it clear? You didn’t come to get me because your father beat you!” Qi Yue was frantic, reaching up to scratch her head, but instead of her familiar flowing curls, she touched the high hair ornament, so she gave up and dropped her hands.

Chang Yuncheng couldn’t help but smile.

“My father beat me so I came to you for help?” He seemed to have heard the most ridiculous joke in the world and laughed heartily. “You woman, you’re truly absurdly arrogant and ignorant. I, Chang Yuncheng, have grown this old and never once thought of begging anyone for help to save my own life…”

Qi Yue let out a heavy breath. It was all her fault – she had been so happy that she lost her head and didn’t ask why this guy had come to apologize to her so humbly.

“I can’t save him. You should find someone else,” she said, supporting herself on the table with both hands.

“What more do you want to threaten me with?” Chang Yuncheng frowned with some mockery.

“What am I threatening you with! What have I ever threatened you with from beginning to end!” Qi Yue raised her head and shouted. “A wife wanting to live with her husband – is that threatening? A wife being bullied by servants and wanting to rely on her husband – is that threatening? Such trivial matters, yet you keep dwelling on them until now. Are you even a man?”

Chang Yuncheng’s face turned blue and purple. This woman… this woman… could she have been raised on firecrackers…

“Now is not the time to talk about this. People are waiting for life-saving treatment. Why did you drag me in here to talk about this? You can talk after you save the person,” he said, taking a deep breath.

“I can’t save him,” Qi Yue said flatly.

“You haven’t even looked yet – how do you know you can’t save him?” Chang Yuncheng could no longer contain his anger.

Qi Yue turned to look at him with a solemn expression, then lifted her chin toward the window.

Earlier, she had desperately broken free from the magistrate’s wife, brazenly saying the couple had something private to discuss, dragging Chang Yuncheng into the room and closing the door. Now the courtyard was filled with people whispering to each other. Among these people, there weren’t many servants from the Marquis Dingxi’s manor – mostly they were unfamiliar men…

“These people are all doctors, right?” Qi Yue pointed and asked.

Chang Yuncheng nodded.

“The doctors the magistrate could invite aren’t ordinary doctors, right?” Qi Yue asked again.

“If you have something to say, say it directly,” Chang Yuncheng replied irritably.

“Husband,” Qi Yue turned to look at him and called out.

This call of “husband” made Chang Yuncheng’s face twitch, and his heart felt sour. He seemed to think that hearing “Chang Yuncheng” sounded more pleasant.

“You think too highly of your wife,” Qi Yue said with a bitter smile. “So many good doctors can’t treat him – how could I?”

“You cured A’Hao,” Chang Yuncheng said.

Qi Yue sighed.

“I told you, I have no medicine left. A’Hao still had medicine then, so she was saved. But now, it’s simply impossible!” She wanted to reach up and grab her head again.

Chang Yuncheng was about to say something when there was a commotion outside – Marquis Dingxi and his wife had arrived.

The magistrate’s wife, who had been waiting so anxiously she wanted to crash through the door, could no longer restrain herself and pulled Madam Xie to explain the situation, then knelt down pleading.

“Yueniang, come out quickly and take a look. Saving a life is urgent – whatever you want to say can wait,” Marquis Dingxi said. Hearing that his son and daughter-in-law had hidden in a room to talk at such a time, he was somewhat displeased and called out urgently.

Qi Yue looked at Chang Yuncheng, and Chang Yuncheng looked at her.

“Serves me right!” Qi Yue ultimately said nothing, but instead raised her hand to lightly slap her own cheek, stamped her foot, and went out.

Chang Yuncheng stood in place, watching her retreating figure with an expression of changing emotions.

Seeing her come out, the magistrate and his wife breathed a sigh of relief and excitedly approached.

“Fine, I’ll take a look, but my abilities are limited. I might not be able to cure him either, so prepare yourselves mentally,” Qi Yue said, slightly lowering her head, unable to bear looking at the couple’s eyes.

While waiting for Chang Yuncheng to bring Qi Yue back, the magistrate’s wife had personally gone to see that legendary cured girl and saw with her own eyes the obvious sewn scar on her belly.

To think that someone could be cut open, sewn back up, and still live well – the magistrate and his wife were already full of confidence in this expert. Hearing Qi Yue’s words, they didn’t take them seriously, thinking it was just modesty.

The couple surrounded Qi Yue joyfully as they headed toward the room. The doctors on both sides made way, looking at Qi Yue with expressions of inquiry, curiosity, and shock.

Liu Pucheng stood at the doorway, beside him were Hu San and the senior disciple in a state of stupor.

“Young Madam,” Liu Pucheng bowed to her.

“Doctor Liu,” Qi Yue quickly returned the courtesy.

“M-m-master…” Hu San stammered.

The senior disciple beside him quickly pulled him hard.

Qi Yue smiled at him.

“Please,” Liu Pucheng said.

Qi Yue lifted her feet, heavy as a thousand pounds, and stepped inside.

As she entered, the other doctors also crowded in.

A’Ru, who had originally been directing the maids to pack Qi Yue’s luggage, rushed over upon hearing the news. When she squeezed into the room, Qi Yue was already examining the patient. A’Ru tightly held the wrapped medical instruments and looked over, but Qi Yue didn’t look at her or ask for her usual tools.

The patient was a boy around twelve or thirteen years old. It was obvious he had been well-nourished with fine food and clothing, but now the pain and suffering had almost completely changed his appearance.

“It doesn’t hurt?” Qi Yue asked with some surprise, looking at the child lying on the bed, pale as gold paper but not rolling around in pain.

From Liu Pucheng’s brief explanation earlier, she could already determine it was internal organ trauma. This type of condition would cause excruciating pain, so why did this child seem fine?

“I used medicine and acupuncture to temporarily stop the pain, otherwise this child couldn’t endure it,” Liu Pucheng replied.

“So you have this kind of medicine,” Qi Yue said.

“It can’t be used unless absolutely necessary,” Liu Pucheng said.

Qi Yue nodded, having heard of Liu Pucheng’s philosophy, and looked at the child without speaking.

“Young Madam!” The magistrate and his wife had been watching her anxiously. Seeing her stop, they quickly asked.

“I’m truly sorry,” Qi Yue raised her head with an apologetic expression. “I’m powerless to help.”

At these words, the magistrate and his wife were greatly shocked.

“How can this be? Young Madam, you already cured that girl…” the magistrate shouted urgently.

“Yes, yes, Young Madam, if that girl could be cured, how could this…” Doctor Guo, who had been squeezed to the side with an excited expression, also shouted loudly.

The other doctors whispered among themselves, their faces showing not much shock but rather an expression of “I knew it would be like this.”

“That girl’s case was different from this one,” Qi Yue had to explain dryly.

“How is it different! It’s the same! I saw it clearly!” Doctor Guo shouted loudly.

“Why are you shouting!” Qi Yue looked at him and also raised her voice.

Doctor Guo was stunned by her shout, his face turning red.

“What do you know? Just because they’re the same, the same – can people be the same? Can medical conditions be one hundred percent identical?” Qi Yue said with irritation, anxiety, and guilt. “If I could cure him, would I just watch someone die without helping?”

Indeed, she was the young madam of the marquis’s manor – her presence was extraordinary. The people in the room were quieted by her sudden outburst.

After a moment of silence, the magistrate’s wife rolled her eyes and fainted, causing chaos once again.

“I told you this would be embarrassing,” Madam Xie glanced at Marquis Dingxi and said quietly, then hurried to tend to the magistrate’s wife.

Marquis Dingxi looked embarrassed.

Naturally, many people volunteered to treat the magistrate’s wife. Liu Pucheng looked at the dazed Qi Yue and sighed.

“Young Madam, is it still because of the medicine?” he said.

Qi Yue looked at him. She didn’t hide anything from this respected elder, nodded, and her eyes couldn’t help but redden.

Watching a patient die before her eyes was also extreme torture for her.

Liu Pucheng looked at her and smiled. He gestured to his senior disciple.

The senior disciple quickly handed over the brocade box he had been clutching tightly.

Qi Yue didn’t know what he was doing and watched. Liu Pucheng opened the brocade box and took out two small porcelain bottles.

“Miss Qi… oh no, Young Madam, this is the anesthetic medicine this old man has concocted these past days,” he said.

Qi Yue looked at him in surprise.

“Although you said, Young Madam, that the wonderfully effective anesthetic medicine doesn’t exist in our Central Plains, I thought that all things in this world share the same root and origin. Since such a thing exists in foreign lands, perhaps it’s just that no one here has discovered it yet. So I’ve spent this time traveling through deep mountains and old forests, seeking out old herb farmers, testing datura, raw aconite, angelica, and other ingredients one by one, finally achieving a formula,” Liu Pucheng said.

Qi Yue looked at Liu Pucheng, her heart filled with mixed emotions. She had originally thought that after she said those words, Doctor Liu would give up the idea, but she hadn’t expected him to still…

Why was he so persistent? Didn’t he fear that ultimately there would be no results, that it would just be empty busy work, like drawing water with a bamboo basket?

“But the effectiveness…” she murmured.

“As for effectiveness, this old man has already tested it personally. Although I don’t know how it compares to your medicine, Young Madam, it’s quite effective for cutting with knives and sewing with needles,” Liu Pucheng said.

Qi Yue bit her lower lip and didn’t speak.

“Young Madam, I know your difficulties,” Liu Pucheng continued, sighing. “This child’s condition – I’m sure you understand in your heart that if abdominal surgery cannot be performed, he won’t survive tonight.”

At that moment, the painkiller’s effect wore off, and the child began crying out in pain again, his body curled up and rolling all over the bed. The revived magistrate’s wife lay by the bedside crying, repeatedly saying “let me die in my child’s place.”

Qi Yue naturally understood this point clearly. She lowered her head without speaking.

“Young Madam, not treating means death. Since death is inevitable either way, why not try?” Liu Pucheng said, extending the medicine bottle in his hand toward her, looking at her with some earnestness.

“Doctor Liu, this really isn’t a simple matter. Abdominal surgery involves too many aspects – the slightest carelessness renders it useless…” Qi Yue said quietly.

“How can we know without trying?” Liu Pucheng said kindly.

“Young Madam,” the senior disciple beside them couldn’t bear to watch anymore and stepped forward. “How… how can you be so heartless? You clearly know how to treat him but just won’t try. My master almost lost his life concocting this anesthetic medicine…”

Liu Pucheng turned to stop him.

Qi Yue looked over in surprise and confusion.

The senior disciple gritted his teeth and ignored Liu Pucheng’s attempt to stop him, lifting up Liu Pucheng’s outer robe and pulling up his trouser leg, exposing his calf.

“Look at how my master’s leg has been cut up by himself!” he shouted loudly.

Liu Pucheng hurriedly tried to straighten his clothing, but his inconvenient legs made him somewhat unsteady.

Qi Yue looked down at this old man’s calf and couldn’t help but cover her mouth to suppress a cry of shock.

This thin leg was covered with scars – some were old wounds that had healed, others were fresh wounds with red flesh exposed. The scars extended upward, suggesting there must be more above.

“You, you this is…” she asked in a trembling voice. “You were… doing anesthesia experiments… on yourself…”