Dong Lin arrived at Elder Li’s room in a daze, and the people in the room were also in a daze.

“…You’re saying there’s gas in his stomach?” Doctor Gong asked stammering.

“The patient definitely has a lung infection,” Qi Yue said, removing her gloves after completing the examination. “Give him some anti-inflammatory medicine. In a few days, when the phlegm decreases and there are no dry or wet rales in both lungs, he’ll basically be cured.”

Doctor Gong, being a professional, focused on these unfamiliar terms, while Elder Li, being a layman, was most concerned with what he should be concerned about.

“Lady,” he said quickly, raising his hand slightly. “Just prescribe the medicine, Lady.”

Qi Yue smiled and shook her head.

“I don’t know how to prescribe medicine,” she said, then looked at Doctor Gong. “Let them do it.”

What?

This was a very strange issue. Qi Yue had explained it before, but now she didn’t want to explain anymore.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave,” she said.

Having finally gotten her to come, how could they let her leave like this? They assumed this lady was still somewhat unwilling to treat patients, so Li Tong was pushed forward again.

“Lady Qi, what else should my grandfather pay attention to?” he asked.

“Nothing particularly special. It’s best to have liquid foods for the near future. As for other things, listen to them,” Qi Yue said, pointing again at Doctor Gong and the others.

Doctor Gong and the others were somewhat speechless.

What did that mean?

Dong Lin stepped forward.

“Yueniang, you should put more effort into Elder Li’s illness…” he said earnestly, glancing at the roomful of expectant eyes. “They’ve already apologized.”

Qi Yue turned to look at him.

This person…

Elder Li was no ordinary person. Though ill, he wasn’t confused.

“What did you do?” he shouted.

Though he lacked vigor due to his illness, he still made everyone in the room quite anxious and uneasy.

When the father was angry, the son immediately knelt down.

“No, no,” Qi Yue said quickly. “It’s nothing. It was a misunderstanding.”

She looked at Elder Li.

“Old sir, your illness won’t benefit from your bad temper,” she said.

Hearing this, Elder Li quickly restrained his emotions.

Without waiting for anyone to speak, Qi Yue gently explained the whole situation.

“You see, it was actually because both sides didn’t communicate well—we can’t talk about who was right or wrong,” she said with a smile. “If you scold your family members like this, you’re making me lose face.”

This woman’s voice was crisp yet gentle. As she spoke, her face showed a smile—courteous but not servile, gracious and approachable. Not to mention the content of her words, just this alone was enough to make people feel pleasant.

The gloomy and oppressive atmosphere in the room immediately dissipated.

Dong Lin was dumbfounded again. Looking at the woman before him with her gentle smile and graceful manner, he was one hundred percent certain that all the information he had gathered was wrong!

How the hell was this having a bad temper, being arrogant, and acting strangely?

This was clearly the most proper and well-mannered young lady from a good family!

And he had prided himself on knowing his enemy—he knew shit!

“Also, I really can’t prescribe medicine,” Qi Yue said again, this time looking at Doctor Gong. “You can ask around at the Yongqing Prefecture and you’ll know. I only know some methods for treating illness, but as for observation, listening, questioning, pulse-taking, and prescribing medicine, I’m completely ignorant. Doctor, I’m not being deliberately difficult—this is the truth. The reason your treatments for Elder Li haven’t been effective is because you haven’t treated the root cause. Now I’ve diagnosed pneumoperitoneum and extracted the accumulated gas, resolving the main cause of illness. From here on, it depends on everyone’s medication.”

Doctor Gong’s expression relaxed.

Regardless of whether what she said was somewhat incredible, her attitude seemed very sincere.

One doesn’t strike a smiling face.

“My knowledge is limited. Could the lady explain what pneumoperitoneum is?” he asked.

Qi Yue nodded.

“There are many types of pneumoperitoneum. Simply put, it’s free gas in the abdominal cavity caused by various reasons,” she said, gesturing on Elder Li’s body. “Depending on the cause and location, it’s divided into abdominal pneumoperitoneum, thoracic pneumoperitoneum, gynecological pneumoperitoneum, iatrogenic pneumoperitoneum, and idiopathic pneumoperitoneum…”

Everyone in the room, including the professionals, was completely dizzy.

Qi Yue could see this too, so she smiled.

“You see, this can’t be explained in a short time. Let me just talk about Elder Li’s case,” she said with a smile. “The egg choking was the trigger, causing alveolar or bronchiolar lesions that led to alveolar rupture… then…”

Her hand pointed to various places on Elder Li’s body.

“…gas enters the lung interstitium, then travels along the bronchi and vascular sheaths through the hilum into the mediastinum, from the mediastinum through the diaphragmatic hiatus into the abdominal cavity, or the retroperitoneal space and then into the abdominal cavity, forming subphrenic free gas… this is called pneumoperitoneum,” she said.

Doctor Gong fell silent. Those strange terms he’d never heard before, the woman’s skilled and accurate pointing on the human body—his face showed amazement while his mind rapidly memorized this passage.

For Lady Qi, they weren’t unfamiliar since they’d all seen her described in documents. They were somewhat surprised but mostly unconcerned—there were plenty of people with secret remedies for specific ailments. Such people couldn’t even be called real doctors. But at this moment, he no longer had such thoughts.

Elder Li and the others didn’t care how the illness was caused—they only cared whether it was cured.

“Is there still gas in my stomach?” Elder Li asked.

“I’ve already extracted it,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

Elder Li vaguely remembered words he’d heard while unconscious, and couldn’t help but touch his stomach.

Doctor Gong also remembered.

“How did you extract it?” he asked without thinking.

That was from the stomach, from a person—extracting from inside the stomach…

Qi Yue was about to speak when Dong Lin coughed.

Ridiculous! That was his master’s secret technique! Though he didn’t know it yet, absolutely no one else could know!

Doctor Gong realized his mistake.

Asking about diagnosing symptoms was fine, but asking about treatment methods involved medical secrets.

Qi Yue didn’t react.

“Just using a special syringe,” she answered casually. “But how to extract it can’t be explained in a day or two.”

Hopefully this doctor wouldn’t ask further—she really didn’t have time to explain to them.

Doctor Gong naturally wouldn’t ask more.

Qi Yue breathed a sigh of relief, gave a few more instructions, comforted the patient and family members, and took her leave.

By now it was getting dark.

The Li family insisted on having her stay for dinner, but Qi Yue declined with a smile.

Finally, Li Tong was signaled to come forward again.

“You’ve worked hard, Lady. If we don’t keep you for dinner, we feel bad about it. I also won’t be able to explain to Brother Fan,” Li Tong said.

“Him? Don’t worry about him,” Qi Yue said with a laugh.

This one sentence drew them closer, showing that the two had a familiarity that others in the Li family didn’t have.

The younger generation in the room all cast jealous glances at Li Tong.

This kid really had dog shit luck…

Who would have thought that useless dog from the Fan family would actually be useful sometimes? Looks like they’d have to cultivate a relationship with him in the future.

Li Tong tried to persuade her to stay again.

“Really, let’s talk about it another time. I still have things to do,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

I still have things to do…

As soon as these words were spoken, no one dared to detain her.

Li Tong even unconsciously took a step back.

“Lady Qi, thank you for your hard work. When you’re available, you must honor us with your presence,” Elder Li said.

“Naturally,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

Elder Li took a red envelope from a servant’s hands and personally escorted Qi Yue out of the room while handing it to her.

“A small token of appreciation—not worthy of respect. You’ve worked hard, Lady,” he said.

Qi Yue smiled and wasn’t polite about it. A’Ru reached out to take it.

“Elder, please don’t trouble yourself. It’s more important to ask the doctor about medication and care,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

Elder Li escorted her to the courtyard gate before having the steward take over. He turned back, and Doctor Gong had also finished his examination and was considering the prescription.

Elder Li stepped forward to symbolically tuck in his father’s bedding and quietly asked what else was needed.

Elder Li was after all recovering from illness and lacked energy, so he closed his eyes to rest.

Just as Elder Li was signaling for everyone to withdraw, he opened his eyes.

“Who invited Lady Qi?” he asked.

Because of his low rank, Li Tong was already standing by the door and had stepped out. When Elder Li asked this, he was hastily pulled back and pushed in front of Elder Li.

This was probably the closest Li Tong had ever been to his grandfather, and he felt somewhat uneasy as he lowered his head.

Elder Li looked at him with no impression whatsoever and couldn’t help but frown.

This child didn’t even know to introduce himself—did he expect him to admit in front of so many people that he didn’t know his grandson’s name?

Fortunately, while Li Tong wasn’t sharp, his father was.

“Tong’er, answer your grandfather,” Li’s father said quietly.

Only then did Li Tong come to his senses, and Elder Li nodded.

“Tong’er, were you introduced to Lady Qi through someone?” he asked.

Li Tong quickly replied yes.

“Lady Qi had just arrived in the capital when you met her—what luck for me,” Elder Li said again.

Li Tong stood there dumbly, not knowing what to say, so his father jumped in again.

“Ever since learning of father’s serious illness, this child has been worried day and night, daily seeking famous doctors. That’s how he happened to meet Lady Qi who had just arrived in the capital. Right, Tong’er? Which day after Lady Qi arrived in the capital did you meet her?” he said.

“The third day,” Li Tong answered.

Elder Li made a sound of acknowledgment and seemed to lack energy, slightly lowering his eyes without speaking.

A maid came in with medicine from outside.

Elder Li was about to take it.

“At your age, let the younger generation handle these things,” Elder Li said, glancing at Li Tong standing dumbly to the side. “Tong’er, help your uncle and serve me the medicine.”

Serving others was sometimes a servant’s job, but sometimes it was a favor and an honor.

For example, holding clothes and serving medicine—only those who were direct relatives, trusted, and valued could do this.

Even Li Tong’s father had never gotten such an opportunity.

At this moment, with Elder Li’s light words, this fell to a fourth-house illegitimate son whose name most people hadn’t even known before.

From now on, absolutely no one in this household would not know Li Tong’s name—everyone had this thought.

Li Tong, pushed by his father, dumbly took the medicine bowl from his uncle and dumbly sat on the stool by the bed, feeding his grandfather medicine sip by sip under the envious gazes of everyone in the room. Happiness had come too quickly—if Li Tong hadn’t had a burst of good character, in his dazed state he would definitely have fed the medicine into the old man’s nose.

Qi Yue wouldn’t know about or care about what was happening in the room. Under the steward’s respectful guidance, she reached the door.

“Open the main gate, open the main gate,” the already-instructed gatekeeper quickly commanded.

The main gate creaked open, startling two people who had just arrived at the door.

“Your Majes—” A chubby man with mustaches on both sides of his mouth grabbed the arm of the man beside him and was about to shout.

The man beside him was wrapped in a dark gold cloak that covered even his head and face, showing only his tall figure. As soon as the man opened his mouth, he raised his hand and gave him an elbow.

The fat man swallowed half his words.

“…the main gate opened! They couldn’t know…” the remaining words still came out.

The main gates of high officials and nobles weren’t opened lightly.

The cloaked man was obviously also somewhat surprised. He raised his head slightly, and the lamp at the gate illuminated his thin lips and high nose bridge.

Then he saw a woman walk out, glowing brilliantly under the four large lamps.