Without an assistant to help, it took Qi Yue nearly an hour to complete the four-layer suturing. Her clothes were also soaked through with sweat.

The neighbors carried A’Ru’s brother into the house, all gathering around curiously to look.

“Indeed, the doctors from the Marquis’s mansion are amazing…” they whispered among themselves. After helping clean up the courtyard, they all dispersed.

However, the young doctor remained, pacing around excitedly without leaving.

“Does it hurt? Does it hurt?” he kept asking A’Ru’s brother, very puzzled that during this time A’Ru’s brother showed no signs of pain at all. He even wanted to lift the gauze to look at the sutured wound.

“It doesn’t hurt,” A’Ru’s brother shook his head, he himself looking shocked.

“How can it not hurt?” the young doctor exclaimed, looking disbelieving. Taking advantage of an unguarded moment, he picked up a needle Qi Yue had left aside waiting to be disinfected and put away. This was a strangely shaped needle, completely different from the needles women used for sewing. After observing it for a moment, he rolled up his sleeve and stabbed it into his own arm.

He cried out in pain.

“What are you doing!” Qi Yue was startled, rushing over in two or three steps to knock the needle from his hand. Looking again, blood was already seeping from this fellow’s arm. “Are you crazy! It could get infected!”

Qi Yue was so angry her face went white. She raised her hand and slapped his arm repeatedly.

A’Ru’s eyes widened. After being stunned for a moment, she hurried over to pull Qi Yue away.

“This idiot,” Qi Yue was still furious. She turned to get antiseptic cotton from her medicine box. “Wipe it.”

The young man was so frightened by her outburst that he stood there stunned, his face alternating between pale and flushed. When the antiseptic cotton was thrown at him, the cool sensation brought him back to his senses, and he unconsciously blushed.

“Well, how can it not hurt? Do you… do you know sorcery?” he asked while clumsily wiping with the cotton, still feeling embarrassed.

“Sorcery! More like mathematics!” Qi Yue snorted.

“Doctor, thank you. Please return now,” A’Ru said.

The young doctor was unwilling to leave and was still pestering them when A’Hao came running back with a bundle in her hands.

“Quickly change clothes and go back,” A’Ru didn’t want them to stay here longer.

“It’s fine. I’ll observe a bit more to see if there’s any bleeding,” Qi Yue said.

“Please hurry. Originally this isn’t a place you should come to…” A’Ru said in a low voice, her voice choked with emotion.

“What do you mean can come or can’t come? Your family has something going on, so I can’t come see?” Qi Yue smiled.

“What kind of family does this servant have? What kind of matter does this servant have?” A’Ru looked at her and sighed, then knelt down. “Thank you for your great kindness, Madam. Even if A’Ru works like an ox or horse, she cannot repay it…”

“Don’t kneel. I’ll go back right away,” Qi Yue said hurriedly to reassure her.

“Hey, aren’t you leaving yet?” A’Hao glared at the young doctor in the room.

The young doctor was startled.

“We’re going to change clothes,” A’Hao said.

Only then did the young doctor hurriedly walk out. A’Ru followed closely, chasing him all the way to the door and bolting it shut.

After changing clothes, A’Hao boiled water to sterilize those strange instruments according to Qi Yue’s instructions, wiped them clean, and put them back in the medicine box. She also made thin porridge. Qi Yue observed the wound—there was no bleeding. She took out anti-inflammatory medicine, thought for a moment, left half a box, and explained to the siblings how to take it and how much. Only then did she feel at ease walking out.

A’Ru, who had been sitting by her brother’s side talking to comfort him, helped tuck in the corner of his blanket and followed them out.

“Why are you following us back? If you go back, who will take care of your brother?” Qi Yue asked in surprise.

“I’ve entrusted him to the neighbors,” A’Ru said.

“You’re the patient’s family member,” Qi Yue shook her head in disagreement.

“Young Madam, this servant sold herself with a death contract. In this world, except for Marquis Dingxi’s mansion, I have no relations with anyone else,” A’Ru said tearfully, kneeling down. “That A’Ru was allowed to come visit is already a great favor. Staying overnight is absolutely impossible.”

Qi Yue sighed, understanding the rules here, and reached out to help her up.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry. I’m very confident in my skills. Your brother will definitely be fine. In a few days when the stitches are removed, he’ll be the same as before,” she said with a smile, only able to comfort her from this angle.

A’Ru cried and finally kowtowed three times before getting up.

The three left the house. Watching A’Ru’s whole body shake as she closed the door, obviously reluctant in her heart, but ultimately turning around without hesitation, Qi Yue sighed again and followed with A’Hao.

“Miss…” someone jumped out from a corner and called.

A’Hao and A’Ru were startled and stood in front of Qi Yue.

“Miss, are you a doctor from the Marquis’s mansion?” the young doctor asked with shining eyes.

“That’s not your place to ask,” A’Ru scolded in a low voice. “Move aside quickly. If you block the road again, I’ll call people to send you to the authorities.”

The female family members of wealthy families indeed couldn’t be offended. I heard that on the street, some boy who didn’t know better looked at a traveling noble young lady a few times too many, actually angering her family and being beaten half to death with clubs…

The young doctor shrank his head and hurriedly moved aside, watching the three people walk past.

“I, I, I’m surnamed Hu. I’m also a doctor. I…” he couldn’t help saying.

Qi Yue stopped.

“That’s right, I am a doctor. However,” she turned to look at him and shook her head, “I don’t think you can say you’re also a doctor.”

“My family has been doctors for generations. I just don’t know this kind of treatment method you use. What I know, you might not necessarily know. Besides, besides, you’ve sewn it up, but whether it can actually cure the person is still uncertain…” the young doctor said unconvinced.

“That’s not the issue,” Qi Yue said, shaking her head. “How to put it? I don’t know the rules for doctors here, but from my understanding, you don’t have a doctor’s heart.”

“A doctor’s… heart?” The young doctor was stunned. “You mean ‘doctors have the heart of parents’?”

“If you had compassion, when you saw this patient today, you wouldn’t have made a diagnosis of ‘untreatable’ from a distance, and said things like ‘prepare for the funeral’ in front of the patient’s family…” Qi Yue said.

“I… my medical skills aren’t good enough to treat it…” the young doctor’s face turned red as he stuttered.

“Doctor, doctor—when you appear, you are the patient’s hope for life. If you’re afraid first and don’t even have the courage to try, what’s the point of talking about ‘doctors having the heart of parents’?” Qi Yue looked at him and said. “Young man, you’re not suited for this profession. You should change careers.”

The young doctor stood there stunned, watching the three of them walk away. It was quite a while before he came to his senses.

“Young man?” He exhaled, his face scrunching up. “Who’s the young man? You’re probably not even older than me, right? Talking even more pompously than my dead old man. Really…”