No one had expected Qi Yue to say such a thing.

This was a threat! This was blatant threat and provocation!

Noble Consort Xian trembled with rage.

This woman was actually so bold!

Instead of quickly taking the offered way out, she immediately wanted to regain face!

Who did she think she was?

The Empress Dowager had merely invited her once more. Whether this illness could be cured or not was still uncertain—what was she showing off for?

“Let’s save the life first,” Noble Consort Xian took a deep breath and said with a slight smile while looking at Qi Yue.

Qi Yue nodded.

“Good, thank you, Your Majesty,” she said, turned around, and left.

Looking at this woman’s retreating figure, Noble Consort Xian angrily flicked her sleeves.

“Come, we’re going too. Let’s see how this divine physician saves lives!” she said.

Accompanied by the eunuchs and palace maids’ announcements, Qi Yue stepped into the Empress Dowager’s chamber.

Seeing this woman enter, the Emperor raised his hand and swept the newly placed teacup to the ground.

“What grand airs! Are you waiting for this Emperor to personally invite you?” he shouted angrily.

His voice was loud, his anger intense, instantly drowning out Little Prince Sima’s cries of pain in the room.

The eunuchs and palace maids knelt in a crowd again.

The Empress Dowager’s expression was indifferent.

She naturally knew the Emperor was angry, but it wasn’t at that woman.

Qi Yue was also startled and glanced up at the Emperor.

Thank you for helping me save face and vent anger, but with your good intentions, I’ll have to kneel a few more times…

“This commoner woman is guilty…” she said, about to kneel down.

“Don’t be in a hurry to confess guilt now. When something happens to the Little Prince, this Emperor will settle accounts with each of you one by one!” the Emperor shouted.

Qi Yue readily stood straight and in a few steps rushed to Little Prince Sima.

“How does it hurt?” she asked as she reached out and placed her hand on the Little Prince’s stomach, pressing down.

Little Prince Sima let out an even sharper scream, frightening the Empress Dowager, who had just stood up, into sitting back down.

“Ate something wrong? Acute gastritis?” Qi Yue asked again, looking at Zhou Maochun, her hands not stopping as they moved and pressed around on Little Prince Sima’s body.

Accompanied by the Little Prince’s cries, sometimes high, sometimes low.

“Do you, do you know how to treat illness?” The Empress Dowager couldn’t stand watching or listening anymore and stood up urgently.

At this time, Little Prince Sima’s attendants, concubines, and others had all arrived, surrounding the area and crying in high and low voices, making the entire great hall chaotic.

This chaos didn’t disturb Qi Yue and the others.

Zhou Maochun shook his head.

“We’ve tried everything, nothing works,” he said. “And also…”

He stopped here because Qi Yue’s hands had also stopped.

“Right inguinal mass,” Qi Yue nodded and said.

Zhou Maochun nodded.

Acute diffuse peritonitis? Acute appendicitis? Was the mass related to the abdominal pain? What exactly was this mass?

Qi Yue pondered the symptoms in her mind.

Seeing Qi Yue fall silent again, just randomly touching Little Prince Sima’s body, the Empress Dowager, who had walked over, became anxious again.

“Can you actually treat this or not?” she shouted.

“I can treat it,” Qi Yue said.

Her answer was so straightforward that the Empress Dowager couldn’t quite react.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t very good at seeing patients?” she couldn’t help asking.

“I’m not good at seeing the kind of illness Your Majesty the Empress Dowager mentioned. I’m good at seeing this kind,” Qi Yue said.

This kind, that kind—what was the difference?

The Empress Dowager looked at Qi Yue, then at Little Prince Sima.

But one thing she could be certain of: although the Emperor was sitting here without speaking, this woman’s words were becoming increasingly assertive.

“Very good, then you should examine him properly,” the Empress Dowager said, glancing at Qi Yue before turning to sit back down.

If you can’t cure him, this dowager will have words with you.

Even a noble consort—if she, the Empress Dowager, said to strike, she would strike; if she said to punish, she would punish. How much more so for you, a small female physician who couldn’t even be counted as a palace maid!

Qi Yue didn’t know and didn’t care at all about the Empress Dowager’s thoughts. She withdrew her hands from Little Prince Sima’s body.

“I need to perform exploratory abdominal surgery. Please prepare a surgical room in the Imperial Medical Academy. As for how to do it, the disciples of Qianjin Hall know,” she said directly.

Zhou Maochun’s eyes lit up.

He had been waiting for this moment!

“No problem,” he shouted loudly, immediately turning to urge people to make arrangements.

“Wait!” the Empress Dowager called out.

Everyone looked at her.

“What illness can’t be treated on the spot? The palace has every kind of medicine—why must you go to the Imperial Medical Academy?” the Empress Dowager said with raised eyebrows.

Not under this dowager’s watch, so you can make excuses at will later?

“Your Majesty, this place isn’t suitable,” Qi Yue said hastily.

“How is it not suitable? Is this dowager’s place not worthy of Lady Qi’s intervention?” the Empress Dowager said with a cold smile.

“Empress Dowager, surgery is very frightening. Disturbing Your Majesty would be a great sin for this commoner woman,” Qi Yue said.

The Empress Dowager smiled.

“Frightening?” She looked Qi Yue up and down with a mocking smile. “Ever since meeting Lady Qi, this dowager has been constantly startled. Being used to shock, it’s nothing.”

Qi Yue looked at the Empress Dowager.

“Then very well, this commoner woman obeys the decree,” she said. “This commoner woman will perform the surgery right here in the Empress Dowager’s presence.”

Everyone in the Empress Dowager’s palace became busy.

“What are they doing?”

“Surgery?”

“What is surgery?”

“It’s to treat Little Prince Sima.”

The news spread quickly, and consorts and female officials from various palaces curiously flocked over.

Meanwhile, outside the palace, Hu San immediately gathered the remaining four or five disciples upon hearing the news, directing the eunuchs to begin loading carts.

“A bed too?” The eunuchs couldn’t help asking in surprise as they watched a strange bed being loaded onto the cart.

No one paid attention to them. All the disciples were busy loading two full carts and pulling them into the Empress Dowager’s palace.

This was their first time entering the palace, and possibly the only time in their lives, but not one person looked around curiously.

With the spraying of medicinal solutions, a sharp, strange smell immediately permeated the air.

The consorts couldn’t help covering their mouths and noses.

“What are they doing?”

“It’s been quite a while now, with all that clanging—are they treating him or not?”

Everyone looked at the gauze curtains hanging in front of them, through which they could vaguely see the people inside.

The people inside the curtains could also see those outside. During a break in her busy work, Qi Yue looked over and was startled.

“Why are there so many people?” she said.

“They’ve all come to watch the excitement,” Zhou Maochun smiled.

“This excitement isn’t good to watch. Those who aren’t used to it, seeing it for the first time, will be frightened badly,” Qi Yue frowned and looked at Zhou Maochun again. “Adoptive father, you…”

“What are you joking about? Haven’t I seen it before? It’s not my first time,” Zhou Maochun said hastily, stepping back a few paces. “Besides, am I the kind of person who would be frightened?”

Everyone would say that. Qi Yue pursed her lips and looked at the other imperial physicians.

The imperial physicians who had been curiously watching the Qianjin Hall disciples’ setup hesitated.

“Gentlemen, Little Prince Sima is now under my care,” Qi Yue said. “Perhaps you should step back.”

Taking over care meant taking over responsibility.

On one hand, everyone wanted to see this skill, but on the other hand, if they stayed here and something went wrong, they would inevitably be implicated.

“Standing outside the curtains, you can still see,” Qi Yue said with a smile. “Besides, having too many people would affect my surgery.”

Although this lady was young, she seemed very skilled at dealing with people.

The imperial physicians lowered their heads and said thanks, with some gratitude and some admiration, they bowed slightly to Qi Yue and retreated to behind the curtains on the other side.

“Master, should we go read the surgical consent form?” Hu San asked.

Qi Yue snorted.

“With these people, what’s the point of reading it? It would be useless even if we did—I won’t waste my breath,” she shook her head and glanced outside the curtains.

Just as she was speaking, she suddenly saw two eunuchs approaching who actually lifted the curtains.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Qi Yue asked hastily.

“Her Majesty says she can’t see clearly,” the eunuchs replied.

Qi Yue frowned and looked over there, seeing the Emperor’s expression was calm while the Empress Dowager’s face was dark.

Really difficult to serve!

“In that case, this commoner woman has something to request of His Majesty,” Qi Yue said, beckoning to the eunuch.

The eunuch hurried over.

After hearing Qi Yue’s words, his expression showed surprise and some hesitation, but he still responded and quickly turned to leave.

The Emperor had seen Qi Yue whispering with the eunuch, so when he saw the eunuch hesitating to approach him, he smiled and raised his hand slightly.

“Your Majesty, Lady Qi says that Your Majesty, being a man, has greater courage than women. So after the surgery begins, she hopes Your Majesty will help. If any women are frightened, please have Your Majesty intervene to maintain order and not obstruct her surgery,” the eunuch then stepped forward, bowed, and whispered in his ear.

The Emperor smiled.

The Empress Dowager beside him snorted.

In front of so many people, speaking in whispers? How outrageous! Shameless!

“This Emperor understands,” the Emperor said, looking toward the interior where that woman had already turned around and was talking with the disciples beside her.

With the curtains lifted, they could see much more clearly.

Looking at it this way, those strangely dressed clothes weren’t too unsightly…

“It’s been so long, can we start now?” the Empress Dowager said with some impatience, then suddenly stood up as if remembering something. “Why isn’t Peng’er making any sound?”

Hu San inside looked at Little Prince Sima, who was lying quietly on the surgical table with closed eyes.

“Master, the anesthesia is almost ready,” he said.

Qi Yue looked toward the entrance.

“Wait a little longer, we’re still missing an assistant,” she said.

An assistant… she would faint at the sight of blood, not to mention she’d have to go out in a while. A’Ru was…

“Hey? Where’s Master Liu?” Hu San asked hurriedly.

When Hu San and the others were loading the cart, Liu Pucheng had heard a eunuch say something and immediately drove his cart straight to a residence.

“What? Little Prince of the Sima family?” Old Physician An looked surprised upon hearing this.

“Lady Qi had a eunuch bring you a message,” Liu Pucheng said with a complex expression. “She said she can’t guarantee anything, but… are you willing to take a gamble?”

These words seemed to have no beginning or end, but Old Physician An became excited.

Dare or not dare? Willing or not willing?

Last time, the Sima Prince family had left him physically disabled and spiritually destroyed.

This time, it was the Sima Prince family again…

Dare or not dare?

Willing or not willing?

Should he live out his remaining years safely, as long as he stayed away from the capital and avoided the Simas, or should he stake everything on this one throw, whether to live or die?

Old Physician An’s hand touched his numb leg.

Although it was completely numb, he still remembered the pain when it was brutally broken!

He still remembered the pain brought by the mocking eyes of the crowd when his leg was broken in public!

That kind of pain was three times worse than physical pain!

That kind of pain haunted him night after night, piercing his heart and lungs, penetrating his bones and marrow. Even if he died and rotted, it would still cling to his withered bones, never dissipating through endless lifetimes!

“I can’t… I’m not willing… I don’t want to… carry this pain to death, to the next life!” Old Physician An said in a trembling voice. He removed his hand from his leg and turned his wheelchair to go outside.

Having this opportunity was already heaven’s mercy. People spend their whole lives waiting for opportunities, but how many actually get the chance?

A smile appeared on Old Physician An’s lips.

Thank the heavens!