In addition to the exam candidate, the household now had one more patient awaiting surgery. Qi Yue notified the kitchen to add another invalid meal. When Concubine Zhu, who was expecting, heard about this, she mentioned it to Marquis Dingxi, so the Marquis came to ask if there were prenatal meals available.

“Young Madam, you absolutely must not agree to this,” Chang Chunlan said quietly.

Qi Yue was teaching Yan’er daily oral care when she heard this and casually asked why.

“When women give birth, it’s like passing through the gates of hell – extremely dangerous,” Chang Chunlan said, glancing outside and lowering her voice even more. “If anything happens to the mother or child, having the food and drink implicated would be troublesome.”

Qi Yue made an “oh” sound. She had seen this kind of thing in books, novels, and on television…

“Thank you, big sister,” she smiled, calling A’Ru over. “Go tell the Marquis that since she’s about to give birth, there’s no need for special tonics. Just light, plain food – whatever she wants to eat. Eating is actually human instinct, so when the body lacks something, it will crave it. Following that instinct is the best tonic.”

A’Ru acknowledged and turned to go.

“Then Yan’er wants to eat sugar cake because my body is lacking sugar cake…” Yan’er quickly tugged at Qi Yue’s sleeve.

Qi Yue shook her head.

“That won’t do,” she said. “Isn’t there a saying ‘arising from emotion but restrained by propriety’? If people did whatever they wanted, wouldn’t everything be in chaos?”

Yan’er was left stunned by this explanation.

Chang Chunlan couldn’t help but laugh.

“I don’t care, I don’t care, I want to eat, I want to eat,” Yan’er came to her senses and tugged at Qi Yue’s sleeve while swaying.

Chang Chunlan never expected her daughter would have a day when she could act coquettishly with someone. She laughed until her eyes grew moist.

“Alright, alright,” Qi Yue always had no resistance against children and could only raise her hands in surrender. “Eat, eat, let’s go eat. There’s also a saying that the world belongs to children. No truth is useful in front of them.”

Where did all these sayings come from? Chang Chunlan laughed again, gently dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.

She looked around Qi Yue’s room – simply furnished, without heavy incense. There were also few decorative ornaments. The table was piled with thick papers and books, not neatly arranged but rather messy, a mess full of vitality and approachable warmth.

Simply put, it had human presence.

Her gaze fell on the bedding on the arhat bed and she paused slightly, involuntarily looking toward the outer room.

Qi Yue and Yan’er were in the parlor sharing a sugar cake, talking and laughing.

Were the husband and wife sleeping separately?

Chang Chunlan felt a flash of confusion.

“The Prince has returned,” the maids announced from outside, lifting the door curtain.

Chang Chunlan quickly stood up. Yan’er, more sensitive than normal children, immediately quieted down and frantically looked for her face veil.

“What are you afraid of? Your uncle is very brave – he’s not afraid of anything,” Qi Yue held Yan’er back with a smile.

Chang Yuncheng had already entered, returning from the morning martial arts ground with sweat still on his forehead.

“Don’t come back right after exercising. At least cool down there first. Even though you walked all the way home, it’s still freezing winter wind,” Qi Yue said.

Yan’er stood quietly behind Qi Yue. Chang Chunlan didn’t come over but watched them talk, her confused expression fading into a relieved smile.

“There’s not that much fuss,” Chang Yuncheng said, noticing Chang Chunlan.

“Prince,” Chang Chunlan bowed.

“Big sister came over,” Chang Yuncheng nodded in greeting, glancing at Yan’er. “Indeed thin and small. Eat more and build up your strength.”

Yan’er stood behind Qi Yue with her head lowered, bowing properly.

“Thank you for uncle’s teaching,” she said quietly with unclear pronunciation.

Chang Chunlan took Yan’er and bid farewell. Chang Yuncheng went in to wash and change into casual clothes.

“Come with me to pay respects to Mother,” he said.

Qi Yue frowned.

“I’d better not go,” she said. “You see, last time I went she wasn’t happy either. You go by yourself – you mother and son can have a good…”

Her words were cut off irritably by Chang Yuncheng.

“That time Mother was resting. What are you imagining, woman?” he said.

Qi Yue looked at him and restrained her temper.

“Chang Yuncheng, don’t play dumb. Your mother doesn’t like me – that’s a fact. She won’t start liking me just because I go pay respects and say nice things a few times. Instead, she’ll find me more annoying…” she said patiently.

Chang Yuncheng’s expression darkened.

“Since you know this is a fact, why won’t you try to make Mother like you?” he demanded angrily. “With this kind of attitude, how could Mother possibly like you?”

“She doesn’t like me not because of my attitude!” Qi Yue also raised her voice.

“What kind of attitude is this!” Chang Yuncheng also raised his voice, glaring angrily. “Who would like you with this attitude!”

Qi Yue exhaled.

“If she doesn’t like me, that’s fine. I’m not begging you to like me,” she said, grabbing her organized papers and walking out.

Chang Yuncheng grabbed her papers and pulled her back.

“So you actually don’t care at all, do you?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“I care about some things and don’t care about others,” Qi Yue looked at him. “Chang Yuncheng, I don’t want to fight with you. Let’s calm down and talk properly…”

Chang Yuncheng flung her away and strode out.

The door curtain lifted heavily and fell back down with a muffled sound.

Qi Yue sighed.

Chang Yuncheng’s anger had no effect on her. As she had said herself, what did it matter to her whether people here liked her or not?

Arriving at Qianjin Hall, Qi Yue asked if they could go to the mortuary earlier tonight.

Liu Pucheng looked surprised.

“We can’t go tonight,” he said.

Qi Yue was also surprised.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Well, finding a… corpse isn’t very easy…” Liu Pucheng said quietly.

“There are so many corpses there – aren’t they available for use?” Qi Yue asked.

Liu Pucheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. From her tone, it sounded like this girl had unlimited access to corpses before. But perhaps that’s exactly why she could develop such skilled techniques.

What kind of person could use corpses freely?

“Of course not – those bodies all have owners,” Liu Pucheng explained quietly. “Only when we encounter ownerless corpses do we have a chance to borrow them for use, and even then secretly. If reported to the authorities, that’s the serious crime of corpse theft.”

Qi Yue made an understanding “oh” sound and sighed again.

“I’ll ask Little Coffin to help arrange another one for us as soon as possible,” Liu Pucheng said quietly.

That was the only option. Qi Yue nodded.

“Then we’ll just have to wait,” she said, perking up. “But that’s fine too – let’s solve other problems first. From last night’s experiment, we still have many issues to discuss.”

Liu Pucheng nodded and picked up paper and pen.

“Without methylene blue and iodine, I can’t do proper marking design…”

“What are methylene blue and iodine?”

“They’re for marking and drawing lines, so I can make accurate sutures… Also the thread… last night’s thread was too coarse…”

After discussing with Liu Pucheng, since they couldn’t do physical experiments for the time being, Qi Yue could only continue teaching.

“Where’s Hu San?” A’Ru immediately noticed Hu San was missing and asked urgently.

Only then did A’Hao and Que Zhi look around.

Right, this person didn’t seem to be here. Usually when they entered, he’d be the first to come over.

“Senior Brother went to get… the model…” a disciple said.

The human model from last time, for emergency practice. Qi Yue made an “oh” sound, very pleased.

“It’s finished so quickly?” she asked.

“Yes, Senior Brother said the carpenter had almost finished it. He went to get it today for Master to see. If it’s good, he’ll have him make two more,” the disciple replied.

Amazing ancient craftsmen. Qi Yue clenched her fists.

“Then let’s start class first – we’ll teach while waiting for him,” she said.

The class ended quickly, but Hu San still hadn’t returned.

“Why is he so late? Is that carpenter’s house far from here?” A’Ru couldn’t sit still and asked.

“Not far,” several disciples said. “Did Senior Brother go off to play?”

“No way,” A’Ru said decisively.

“Maybe he thought it wasn’t well made and is having it modified,” Qi Yue said. “Don’t worry.”

A’Ru paused, then her face turned red.

I’m not worried – what am I worried about? I don’t care if he comes or not…

Here, Qi Yue finally got revenge for being teased by her a few days ago and giggled.

A’Ru shot her a reproachful look. Seeing everyone looking at them in confusion, she didn’t dare say more.

“I’ll go help in front,” she stamped her foot and left.

Now, besides teaching and attending classes, they also participated in Qianjin Hall’s work, doing basic nursing care.

“Come on, let’s go too,” Qi Yue laughed and called out.

Just as they walked out the door, they saw A’Ru running back.

“Young Madam, something’s wrong! Hu San has been arrested!”

When Qi Yue and the others ran to the street, the onlookers hadn’t dispersed yet, gathered together discussing animatedly.

“What exactly happened? What’s going on?”

“Did Senior Brother get greedy again and rashly try to treat someone?”

The disciples grabbed onlookers and asked frantically.

“We don’t know either…”

One after another, the questioned onlookers hurriedly dodged away.

Were the people he offended very powerful? Qi Yue pulled off the silver bracelet on her wrist and held it up.

“Whoever tells me what happened gets this,” she shouted.

The onlookers who were about to scatter paused, looking at the silver bracelet the woman held up, glinting brilliantly in the sunlight.

“I know!”

Under heavy reward, there must be brave men. An old woman jumped out shouting.

“That young man you’re looking for molested a nobleman’s son in the street. He was arrested and they said they’d take him back to beat him to death…” she said loudly.

At these words, Qi Yue and the others were stunned.

What… what what?

Molested a young nobleman?

Qi Yue gaped in astonishment, dropping the bracelet. The old woman quickly snatched it up, shouted thanks to the lady, and ran off.

Hu San was actually… cut sleeve? And such a bold cut sleeve at that?

Fan Yilin felt today was an auspicious day. On the third day of accompanying his wife back to her natal home, he was finally free. No more accompanying his mother-in-law and a group of old women playing cards and watching opera, no more accompanying his father-in-law, brother-in-law and other old men drinking tea and discussing books. No help for it – who told him to marry the youngest daughter of the family? His father-in-law and mother-in-law had her in their old age, so his brother-in-law was almost his father’s age, while the younger ones were a generation below, so they couldn’t talk to him either. For someone proficient in romance, cockfighting, and dog racing like him, this was truly lonely as snow. Fortunately his wife was wise, understanding his melancholy. Today she graciously allowed him to roam freely in Yongqing Prefecture, only requiring he return home to sleep at night.

Young Master Fan was romantic, and his attendants were also debonair. While he was eating heartily at the tavern, they inquired about Yongqing Prefecture’s finest pleasure quarters and reserved the top courtesan.

There was still much time before dark – enough time to do many things.

Fan Yilin rode his horse, thinking about the servant’s description of how alluring and seductive Miss Hong was. He wished he could sprout wings and fly there, feeling the horse was walking too slowly, so he whipped it hard twice.

The horse, startled, reared up and charged forward. Fan Yilin was only thinking about the upcoming pleasure, his bones going soft, and didn’t grip the reins well. He cried out and fell backward from the horse. Before his body hit the ground, the kicking horse caught him right in the chest.

The attendants only heard a short cry that seemed cut off before it could fully emerge, then saw their master lying motionless on the ground.

The young master had never been good at riding but loved to show off, saying real men should ride horses. Really losing face to save face.

Great, he fell off the horse again…

The attendants called out in confusion and dismounted to surround him, but didn’t see their young master spring up like a carp and dust himself off as usual. Instead, he remained face-down and motionless.

Several attendants panicked. They turned him over and saw – good grief, this time he was even scared unconscious.

“Young Master, Young Master,” the attendants called urgently while slapping his face.

Finally one attendant noticed something wrong.

“Young Master’s face!” he suddenly shouted, pointing at Fan Yilin lying on the ground.

Cyanosis!

Hu San looked over from outside the crowd, and this thought flashed through his mind at first sight.

“Move aside!” he shouted, raising his hand. “I’m a doctor!”

This shout overwhelmed the surrounding chatter. The word “doctor” also awed the crowd, so Hu San easily stood in front of Fan Yilin, pushed aside the servants, and half-knelt down.

Check vital signs.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Can you hear me?” Hu San shouted loudly near Fan Yilin’s ear.

No response. Straighten the body position, tilt head back to open airway, lean close to mouth and nose to check breathing. Look, listen, feel – no breathing.

Hu San took a deep breath, opened his mouth and pressed it to Fan Yilin’s mouth, slowly exhaling.

The surrounding people froze. What were they seeing?

In this moment of stunned silence, Hu San had already performed mouth-to-mouth several times in succession, then pressed heavily on Fan Yilin’s chest with his hands.

“Two effective breaths, five compressions, one defibrillation, cycle…” Hu San muttered, performing each action in sequence.

The surrounding people finally recovered and erupted in loud voices.

“Boy! What are you doing?” Fan Yilin’s attendants also finally woke up, shouting and swinging fists at Hu San.

“He’s not breathing – I’m helping him breathe…” Hu San shouted, ducking a blow and beginning the next artificial respiration cycle.

Fan Yilin coughed twice, slowly opened his eyes at this moment, then saw a man’s face approaching him, a stinking bloody mouth kissing his own mouth.

Dead…

Fan Yilin’s eyes rolled back and he truly fainted.

“Young Master!”

The nearby attendant saw this – heavens, their young master was molested and scared unconscious by this man. They no longer hesitated, quickly restraining this audacious lecher.

“Beat this pervert to death!”