Qi Yue gritted her teeth and was about to speak when Chang Yuncheng had already stepped forward.

“All of you, get out!” he shouted sternly while drawing the sword from a nearby guard’s waist.

As he drew his blade, the guards beside him also stepped forward and drew their swords.

Under the sunlight, the neat row of blades flashed with cold light.

“Clear the area! Those who refuse to comply will be treated as unruly citizens!” Chang Yuncheng looked at the common people crowding in the courtyard and slowly shouted in a deep voice.

Unruly citizens! That meant they could be killed without mercy!

The people’s faces turned pale with fear.

Finally, everyone retreated.

“You’re insane!” Qi Yue shouted in shock, looking at Chang Yuncheng. “Do you know what you’re doing! What if…”

No explanations, no guarantees, no gentle or reasonable words—just drawing swords and harshly driving away these people full of doubts. If the treatment succeeded, everything would be fine, but if it failed, the consequences were unimaginable!

“That’s my business,” Chang Yuncheng interrupted her, turning his back to her and looking toward the gate. “You do what you need to do. Everything else has nothing to do with you.”

“The Prince is doing this for his mother too—his filial piety is understandable,” Imperial Physician Zhou said while busy, though his main purpose was to remind Qi Yue to hurry with the surgery. If the person died, there would be no surgery to watch…

Was he only doing this for his mother? Of course not…

Qi Yue looked at the man’s back with a complex expression.

“Now preparing emergency thoracic surgery with the goal of removing foreign objects and repairing damage,” she turned to look at several disciples. “First step: general anesthesia. Liu Jiang, from now on you’re responsible for anesthesia.”

The disciple called Liu Jiang was around thirty years old, covered in blood on his hands and body. Hearing this, his whole body trembled, but he straightened his chest and responded loudly, then turned to take out all the anesthetics from the medicine box.

“Now we need to prepare charcoal fire and pick pumpkin vines to wash and prepare!” Qi Yue said.

Other disciples responded and went to do so. The charcoal fire was also self-prepared, considering various emergency situations. As improvements were made, the emergency cart was almost becoming a mobile operating room, except for the lack of a simple room structure.

“Now performing tracheotomy surgery with the goal of removing foreign objects from the trachea,” Qi Yue said again, pointing to several disciples. “You, you, you will be my assistants. Although you haven’t been in surgery before, you’ve watched every time. Now, you are A’Ru. You are Zhang Tong.”

She was naturally referring to each person’s position. Saying this, she looked at Zhang Tong.

“Senior Brother, from now on, you are in Xiao Guan’s position,” she said.

First assistant! First assistant!

Zhang Tong responded affirmatively.

“Change clothes, disinfect!” he shouted.

Imperial Physician Zhou watched as the disciples efficiently stepped aside, removing their contaminated gowns, hats, head covers, and gloves all together and piling them up. Immediately, one disciple held a porcelain bottle and sprayed these people. Another disciple took out a stack of yellowed, medicine-scented cloth and distributed it. Everyone wiped their hands up to their elbows.

Imperial Physician Zhou watched without blinking. He simply walked over and extended his hands.

“I want some too,” he said.

The disciple said nothing more and efficiently sprayed him and threw him a cloth, except there was no gown for him, because they needed to change clothes for the two surgeries, so they couldn’t waste any on unrelated people.

During this time, the disciples who had fetched lime and strong liquor had already begun disinfecting the area in the courtyard.

“Why do all this?” Imperial Physician Zhou asked loudly.

But no one answered him.

Here, the patient with the bamboo pole through his chest was being anesthetized, while Qi Yue had already knelt on the ground facing Madam Xie to begin surgery.

Fortunately, she was used to carrying her own medicine box, whether for consultations or emergency calls, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to perform surgery.

Disinfection, local anesthesia, taking the scalpel.

She cut…

Imperial Physician Zhou felt goosebumps all over his body, his temples throbbing with excitement.

She cut!

He shouted wildly in his heart—the neck! That’s the neck!

“Hook retraction and lateral traction,” Qi Yue said, reminding the somewhat stiff Zhang Tong.

“Yes,” Zhang Tong said with a trembling voice. He was naturally also kneeling on the ground, recalling Coffin Boy’s movements, using two iron pieces to reach toward the incision.

But he ultimately couldn’t control his shaking and bumped into Qi Yue’s knife performing blunt dissection.

Qi Yue’s instinct was to raise her hand and heavily knock Zhang Tong’s hand away.

This was what a lead surgeon would do without hesitation in an operating room, along with a warning.

She forcibly restrained herself, saying nothing, and freed the hand that was palpating the trachea to properly perform traction.

Zhang Tong’s face flushed red, both ashamed and nervous as he pulled properly.

“This—this is the trachea!!” Imperial Physician Zhou couldn’t help but shout from the side, pointing at the trachea exposed by Qi Yue’s cutting and separation.

The trachea! Look! A living person’s trachea!

He almost wanted to scream and shout!

Qi Yue picked up heated iron chopsticks from the charcoal fire for hemostasis.

Imperial Physician Zhou shouted again.

A living person! A living person! Help!

Fortunately, only he was shouting. Qi Yue and her disciples were all busy with their tasks, as if they neither heard nor saw.

A hand covered Imperial Physician Zhou’s mouth.

“You, get out too,” Chang Yuncheng said in a low voice.

Imperial Physician Zhou finally understood why this place needed to be cleared. Even he, a physician, was losing his composure like this—if those common people, those blood relatives had seen…

It would have been absolute chaos!

“I won’t move…” he said to Chang Yuncheng with muffled speech.

Chang Yuncheng released his hand.

“I won’t speak anymore,” Imperial Physician Zhou expressed clearly, and even covered his own mouth with his hand.

Seeing the trachea, Qi Yue stopped the hand holding the knife.

She looked down at the surgical instruments placed beside her.

No tracheal retractor…

These forceps might not be sufficient either…

“Do you know approximately where it’s stuck?” she turned to ask.

Imperial Physician Zhou, who had been covering his mouth, quickly lowered his hand and nodded without the slightest hesitation.

“Here,” he also knelt down, extending his hand to point at Madam Xie’s throat.

Haha, haha, I touched the exposed trachea! And it’s still moving!

Did he have X-ray vision? How could he be so certain?

But there was no other option.

Qi Yue didn’t hesitate. With one hand holding open the trachea and the other taking the knife, she cut open the tracheal ring and picked up forceps to insert them.

Everyone held their breath, staring intently at Qi Yue’s hand.

Qi Yue’s hand slowly stopped, then slowly withdrew.

“Ha!” Imperial Physician Zhou couldn’t help but shout again.

Fortunately, it was Qi Yue holding the forceps—didn’t you see Zhang Tong beside her was startled by this shout and nearly dropped the retractor?

The forceps were gripping a small piece of swollen matter.

“It really is a date!” Imperial Physician Zhou said, this time lowering his voice.

Qi Yue inserted again, but this time found nothing.

“Adjust body position, lower the head more,” she said.

Zhang Tong and several other disciples carefully supported Madam Xie, allowing Qi Yue to slowly lower Madam Xie’s head further, while she herself had to bend even lower while kneeling on the ground.

Bit by bit, the soaked and deteriorated dates were gradually extracted.

“How much longer until the anesthesia takes effect?” she asked loudly.

The disciples standing around the injured patient waiting for surgery immediately answered.

“Also, Master, we’re almost out of blood!” he shouted.

Sweat densely covered Qi Yue’s forehead and continuously flowed down.

Chang Yuncheng reached out with a handkerchief to wipe it away for her.

“Go ask that family for more blood,” Qi Yue said.

A disciple responded and ran toward the gate.

Here, Qi Yue finally extracted the last piece and looked at Madam Xie’s complexion.

Once the airway was clear, blood oxygen saturation immediately recovered.

“Keep still,” Qi Yue said, putting down the knife and forceps and standing up.

After kneeling for so long, her body was numb, and she stumbled when suddenly standing up.

Everyone was frightened and cried out. Chang Yuncheng reached out to support her.

Qi Yue steadied herself with his help.

“What do you need?” Chang Yuncheng asked urgently.

“To draw blood—they don’t know how,” Qi Yue said, supporting herself on Chang Yuncheng as she walked toward the other patient.

“Teacher, they… no one will give blood,” the disciple who had run outside came back with a nervous expression and shouted.

What?

“I’ll go…” Chang Yuncheng immediately started to walk outside.

Qi Yue pulled him back.

“There’s no time for explanations back and forth,” she said, already pulling off her gloves and starting to roll up her sleeves. “Give me a needle.”

The disciple, not knowing what to do, handed her the syringe.

Qi Yue crouched down, took some cotton from nearby to wipe her arm, and inserted the needle.

Amid everyone’s shocked cries, blood was drawn out.

“Qi Yueniang!” Chang Yuncheng’s body trembled as he called her name through gritted teeth, looking at her with reddening eyes.

“Here,” Qi Yue drew two tubes in succession before pulling out the needle. A disciple had long forgotten about propriety between men and women and immediately pressed disinfected cotton to the spot.

Qi Yue handed the needle to the trembling disciple.

The disciple was almost in tears, taking it with shaking hands.

Qi Yue had already turned and knelt again beside Madam Xie.

“Disinfect the syringe immediately after use and bring it to me,” she said, efficiently disinfecting and putting on new gloves.

The syringe was quickly brought over. Qi Yue put down what she was holding, picked up scissors, looked at the syringe, pulled out the inner tube, removed the needle, and forcefully cut it off.

“Master!” the disciples cried out.

“What is Master doing!” Zhang Tong also shouted, eyes wide.

No one understood the significance of this syringe better than they did! There were only three in the world!

Qi Yue ignored them and quickly cut the syringe.

“This will have to do—better than pumpkin vines anyway,” she muttered to herself, threading the needle through both sides with thicker cotton string to create a tracheal cannula.

Next, she completed suturing, packing, and drainage in quick succession.

“Done. Pay attention to observation,” Qi Yue said, standing up.

Looking at Madam Xie, whose breathing had obviously returned to normal, Imperial Physician Zhou knelt on the ground and felt her pulse, then made a sound as if he were about to cry.

How is this possible… how is this possible…

How did she… just… come back to life…

“Now performing emergency thoracotomy surgery.”

Qi Yue’s voice came from the other side.

Thoracotomy… My God, was he dreaming? So… so fascinating…

Imperial Physician Zhou seemed to be crying and laughing at the same time as he struggled to stand up. Whether from over-excitement or something else, it took him three or four attempts to get up, and he stumbled over.

Right posterior lateral incision, entering the right chest through the fifth intercostal space, the bamboo pole pulled out and thrown aside…

Imperial Physician Zhou knelt on the ground watching the terrifying scene before him, watching that woman’s flying needle and thread, knives and scissors dancing together, watching her direct the disciples to lift surgical drapes and pass medicine as she commanded.

“…Right middle lobe shattered beyond repair, removal required.”

“…Saline solution…”

“…Check for air leakage in lung lobes…”

“…Two drainage tubes…”

Imperial Physician Zhou sat collapsed on the ground, staring at the scene before him. He seemed to have forgotten how to blink, his mind completely blank…

Where on earth did this come from…

This must be what the ancient medical texts described—divine physicians performing abdominal surgery and skull drilling…

Commotion came from outside the gate—hoofbeats, cart wheels, people shouting.

But people didn’t rush in. Instead, there were scattered sounds of disinfection.

“Master, Master, they’re here!” Zhang Tong, who had been dutifully guarding Madam Xie, shouted, his voice almost tearful.

Chang Yuncheng’s guards stepped aside from the gate, and Liu Pucheng, A’Ru, and a group of disciples rushed in. They were all already wearing gowns, hats, and masks, with gloved hands held in front of them.

Seeing them, the busy disciples on scene couldn’t help but want to cry.

Thank heavens, they were so frightened…

More people, medicine, and surgical equipment made the scene more stable.

A large surgical drape was erected to form a crude temporary ward, and more disinfectant and sterilizing solutions began to be sprayed.

The contaminated items they had changed out of were also taken away by designated people to be burned.

Liu Pucheng and the others looked at these two patients with expressions no better than Imperial Physician Zhou’s.

Two patients—one with throat injury, one with a bamboo pole through the chest…

My heavens…

What had happened here…

Here, Qi Yue closed the chest cavity and completed the last suture.

When the words “surgery complete” were spoken, cheers couldn’t help but ring out in the courtyard.

Because the entire surgery was completed while half-kneeling or simply kneeling on the ground, Qi Yue could no longer stand up.

A’Ru supported her while holding back tears. Qi Yue had just barely managed to stand when the disciple monitoring the patient let out a shocked cry.

“Master, bleeding!” he shouted.

“With such a serious injury, what’s strange about bleeding?” Imperial Physician Zhou couldn’t help but say.

Liu Pucheng also came over. Seeing the bleeding was from the man’s initial thigh wound, he pressed down on it.

“The wound is large—let’s suture it again,” he said.

“No need,” Qi Yue’s voice sounded.

This made everyone pause and look up at her, only to see Qi Yue’s face was pale, her gaze staring directly at the patient.

“It’s not poor suturing…” she murmured, “it’s hemolytic reaction…”

So…

She didn’t always have good luck…

Qi Yue let her head drop in dejection.

She wasn’t a deity—how could she possibly cure every illness…