Various necessary medicinal decoctions were being prepared, and the operating room began sterilization.

The room normally used for lectures was serving as the doctor’s office. At this moment, the surgical personnel selected by Qi Yue all stood here, except for Coffin Boy.

Liu Pucheng would handle anesthesia, while A’Ru, Zhang Tong, and Hu San would manage instruments and also serve as second and third assistants. As for the first assistant, only Coffin Boy would do.

This surgery was different from previous ones—a large chest opening would be quite shocking for the disciples. The only one they could trust was Coffin Boy, who was constantly around dead bodies.

“But there’s still one most important problem,” Qi Yue said. “That’s blood transfusion. Although we don’t yet know how much bleeding this chest surgery will involve, blood transfusion is certainly inevitable. I don’t have blood testing strips now, so there’s only one method—autologous blood transfusion.”

“Autologous blood transfusion?” Liu Pucheng asked. “Using one’s own blood for oneself?”

“Exactly. Originally this type of transfusion requires dilution, but extracorporeal circulation blood recovery machines… these things…” Qi Yue said, sighing.

None of these things were available…

“Then we can only take the risk. After opening the chest, I’ll ligate the arteries, let his blood flow back into the circulatory system, then use siphoning to extract internal bleeding and inject it back intravenously…” Qi Yue said, writing and drawing on the blackboard with charcoal. “This way, we might be able to avoid hemorrhagic shock.”

Liu Pucheng and the others didn’t understand this either.

“Little Qi, don’t be afraid. As doctors, as long as we have a clear conscience, we have nothing to fear,” he said with a smile.

Qi Yue nodded.

“Teacher, I’m not afraid,” she also smiled. “I just want to do my best.”

After speaking, she put down the charcoal.

“Teacher, Little Coffin is here. Please explain today’s surgery to him,” she said.

Liu Pucheng nodded and agreed.

“Then everyone prepare,” Qi Yue clapped her hands. “Hu San, come with me. We’re going to find tools.”

When Qi Yue and Hu San rushed out of Qianjin Hall, a carriage was heading toward Yongqing Prefecture.

“Is this really true?” Old Physician An asked with a grave expression.

“Yes, Father. It’s spread all over outside the city, so it must be true,” Young Physician An said, barely concealing his excitement. “That woman has no wifely virtue. The Marquis Dingxi’s mansion should have long ago…”

Before he could finish, Old Physician An picked up his walking stick and struck him.

“Get out! If you’re disrespectful to your grand-master again, I’ll forbid you from practicing medicine!” he scolded sternly.

Grand-master! Although Young Physician An was indignant inside, he knew his father meant what he said about certain things, so he didn’t dare speak and sat outside.

When Coffin Boy hurried over, he met Qi Yue just as she was entering.

“You’re here. Excellent, hurry up. We need to meet and discuss the surgery again,” Qi Yue said directly.

Coffin Boy’s gaze fell on what she held in her hands.

Chisels, saws, iron pliers, iron wire…

“Have everything boiled,” Qi Yue handed all the items to two disciples.

The two disciples took them with pale faces.

In the room, the blackboard covered with writing was still there. Liu Pucheng led Coffin Boy to look at everything one by one. Here, Qi Yue picked up the charcoal again and began explaining.

“…For this surgery, I’m using a median sternotomy approach, cutting through the skin…” she said, marking the chest anatomy diagram. “…sawing through the sternum from top to bottom…”

Hearing this, Hu San and the others couldn’t help but gasp and cover their mouths.

“That… that…” he stammered.

“This approach minimizes damage to the pleural cavity and provides good surgical exposure,” Qi Yue said, ignoring Hu San and continuing her explanation. “Then I’ll explore the mediastinal thymus until I find the hematoma, clear it, and suture the bleeding points…”

Coffin Boy stared intently at her hands and diagrams, his eyes bright with excitement.

Previously he had only seen dead people. Finally, there was a chance to see a living person…

A living person cut open…

This was truly thrilling…

“After eliminating the hematoma, I’ll use wire to fix the sternum. Then I’ll use sub-total layer continuous suturing…” Qi Yue continued, rapidly writing and drawing on the blackboard.

Liu Pucheng and the others held their breath listening. The surgery hadn’t even begun, but just hearing Qi Yue’s explanation made their hair stand on end.

What kind of technique was this? My heavens, where did she learn this!

After explaining everything that needed explaining and giving everyone a basic understanding of the surgery, Qi Yue put down the charcoal and took a deep breath.

“Then, let’s begin,” she said.

“Yes!” Liu Pucheng and the others responded in unison.

As they spoke and left the classroom, heading toward the sterilization room, the patient’s family members squatting in the courtyard saw them.

“Hey, hey!” they immediately shouted loudly, pointing at Coffin Boy. “What is this unlucky person doing here?”

Coffin Boy stopped.

“He’s my assistant,” Qi Yue said. “Whether this surgery succeeds depends entirely on him.”

This statement made the men stare wide-eyed, momentarily unable to react as they watched Qi Yue pull Coffin Boy inside.

“Third Brother,” one man came to his senses and looked at the leader. “Is this going to work? Everything here seems strange.”

The man called Third Brother looked down at the paper in his hand—the surgical consent form Qi Yue had asked him to sign.

“Plug, take this and find someone on the street to read it. See what it actually says,” he said quietly.

Plug acknowledged and took the paper outside. The disciples in Qianjin Hall were too busy to notice, and besides, family members had to avoid the surgery and couldn’t enter the intensive care unit afterward. Whether these people were here or not didn’t matter much.

After leaving, Plug didn’t know whom to ask, but he was clever enough to know that if he asked near Qianjin Hall, these people might collude with them and not tell him the truth. So he walked straight out.

Not far from East Street, he happened to see a pharmacy. Since they were all medical practitioners, professionals would surely understand professionals. Plug stepped inside.

He grabbed a young assistant and handed him the document.

“Young brother, read what this says for me,” he said.

Seeing this person wasn’t here to buy medicine or seek treatment, the assistant ignored him.

“I’m busy. If you want documents read, go find a scribe on the street,” he said impatiently, pointing outside.

“Just read it when I ask you to! Why are you doctors covering for each other!” Plug had no patience and immediately glared and shouted. “Quickly tell me what Qianjin Hall wrote!”

The assistant trembled with fright, drawing attention from those around. A plump middle-aged man walked over and took the paper from Plug.

“You say Qianjin Hall wrote this for you?” he asked.

The assistant called out “Boss,” and the middle-aged man waved him away. The assistant quickly left.

Plug looked the man over, saw his dress, and knew he was the pharmacy’s proprietor. He nodded and explained the situation.

The middle-aged man had already finished reading the document, showing a surprised and disdainful smile.

“How ridiculous. How can they make people sign such a life-and-death document?” he said, shaking his head.

Seeing him shake his head, Plug immediately panicked.

“What does it say?” he asked hurriedly.

“This says that your relative is entrusted to them. Life and death are matters of fate, unrelated to their Qianjin Hall. How can it be unrelated? In treating illness and saving lives, if cured it’s related, but if not cured it’s unrelated? Really…” the middle-aged man said with dissatisfaction, shaking the paper and looking at Plug. Seeing this man had a rough air about him, he couldn’t help but smile slightly. “Is your family member being treated at Qianjin Hall?”

Plug nodded and hurriedly explained everything from beginning to end, even including what the first doctor had said.

The middle-aged man’s eyes narrowed. When he heard Plug mention that Coffin Boy had also come, his eyes widened suddenly.

“What?” he exclaimed, but then stopped and nodded. “Indeed, indeed…”

But he said nothing more.

This exclamation and repeated “indeed” made Plug even more panicked.

“Boss, what’s wrong?” he asked.

The middle-aged man shook his head and sighed, looking at him with some pity.

“Young man, go back and prepare for the funeral,” he said quietly.

Plug was immediately stunned.

“But, but that doctor said there was some hope of a cure…” he cried.

The middle-aged man smiled mysteriously. He looked outside, then pulled Plug to a corner and lowered his voice.

“Foolish boy, do you know what Coffin Boy does?” he said quietly.

“Watches over the mortuary,” Plug answered.

“Besides that, he does other things,” the middle-aged man lowered his voice further. “This is something only we doctors know—he also plays with corpses, using knives to cut them open and examine the internal organs…”

Plug’s eyes immediately widened, and he couldn’t catch his breath.

“We won’t hide this from you—many doctors go to him to buy corpses, practicing medicine by studying corpses and examining internal organs. I can see you’re a martial artist, so you know how martial arts improve, right?” the middle-aged man continued quietly.

Plug nodded.

“More practice…” he said dazedly.

“Exactly.” The middle-aged man patted his shoulder, looking at him with sympathy and pity. “Qianjin Hall can perform abdominal surgery on people—how do you think they practiced for that?”

Plug stood there stunned, then let out a howl and rushed outside.

This howl startled the middle-aged man, but he quickly recovered and smiled happily.

He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a letter, shook it, then smugly tucked it back.

“There’s excitement to watch,” he muttered to himself, then walked away humming a tune.

At this moment in Qianjin Hall, the surgical team had finished sterilization and entered the operating room.

This was everyone’s second time entering, but the tension remained. After all, last time was a child’s oral and nasal area, but this time was an adult’s chest. Just looking at the hammers, scissors, and saws on the rack was frightening enough.

“Anesthesia complete,” Liu Pucheng said.

Qi Yue nodded and took her position. Seeing her ready, Coffin Boy also took his place. He had been instructed about his position last time. A’Ru moved the instruments while Zhang Tong and Hu San opened the surgical drapes and secured them with clamps.

“Now performing emergency chest surgery. Prepare for chest opening,” Qi Yue said, extending her hand.

A’Ru placed the scalpel precisely in her hand.

Qi Yue held the knife and made a median sternotomy with left cervical transverse incision. Blood gradually seeped out, and Coffin Boy clamped gauze to wipe it away.

Only rapid breathing could be heard in the operating room.

Outside the operating room, disciples were also observing. When they saw Qi Yue pick up the saw and begin sawing at the patient’s chest, everyone closed their eyes. The timid ones desperately covered their mouths to prevent screaming.

Nearby, Hu San and Zhang Tong had reached their limits. One barely managed to retract while the other’s hands and feet trembled, causing the writing on the surgical record to continuously deform.

“Blood recovery complete,” Liu Pucheng took the blood flowing from the siphon. A’Ru took the porcelain bottle and placed it on the rack, next to the prepared syringes, needles, and the single plastic tube that had been divided into three.

“Mediastinal tension is very high…” Qi Yue said for Hu San to record.

Coffin Boy studied the opened chest cavity intently.

“There’s blood clotting here!” he said.

Qi Yue nodded.

“This is the thymus, this is the mediastinum… the hematoma extends from the upper mediastinum downward…” Qi Yue said, feeling each area with her hand. “…affecting bilateral mediastinal pleura… this is the left innominate vein… posterior side…”

She spoke, then suddenly stopped.

“Found it! The hematoma is here,” she called out happily, extending her hand. “Now cutting open the fibrous capsule to eliminate the blood clot…”

A’Ru handed her the scalpel. Qi Yue inserted it, and blood suddenly gushed out—bright red and startling, instantly filling their vision.

“Ah!”

Screams immediately rang out in the room. Even Coffin Boy, who was standing close, couldn’t help but let out a low cry.

It wasn’t venous bleeding—it was arterial!

Qi Yue’s mind exploded with a thunderous roar, her hair standing on end as a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.