Accompanied by the sudden crying in the middle of the night, lanterns approached from a distance. The night-duty matrons came over, banging on the door from outside.

“…If the person isn’t going to make it, carry her out early. She can’t die here.” A matron’s voice rang out from outside. “Pozi Zhao, you’re an old hand too. You understand this rule, don’t you?”

A’Hao’s mother in the room covered her mouth with her hand, desperately suppressing her crying.

“Get lost, get lost, get lost.” Qi Yue rushed out of the room in a few steps, standing under the corridor and shouting loudly. “Who are you cursing to die? In the middle of the night, do you want to taste house punishment too?”

Silence fell outside the door, followed by a cold laugh.

“Since that’s how it is, this old servant was being meddlesome. Young Madam, do as you please.” The matron said indifferently.

The night-duty matrons turned and left.

Standing in the courtyard, Qi Yue couldn’t suppress her trembling. She turned back to hear A’Hao’s mother’s suppressed heart-wrenching sobs coming from the room.

“Young Madam…” A’Ru stumbled out of the room.

“Go get another physician, the best physician…” Qi Yue looked at her and said. “Didn’t they say ancient surgery was also well-developed, that surgical operations existed? We must be able to find a physician who can treat this kind of injury…”

A’Ru’s face was streaming with tears as she fell to her knees with a thud.

“Please save A’Hao…” she said, kowtowing. “No matter who you are, as long as you save A’Hao, A’Ru is willing to exchange her life…”

Qi Yue was stunned by her words.

“You…” she smiled bitterly.

“Please, please, whether you’re human or ghost, you have divine powers. Save A’Hao, A’Ru is willing to give you her life…” A’Ru just kept kowtowing and crying.

“I…” Qi Yue looked at her and smiled bitterly. She knew people weren’t fools—how could they not tell whether she was their real mistress? “It’s not that I won’t save her, but… but I can’t save her… I have nothing… except these two hands, I have nothing…”

“What do you need? What do you need? A’Ru will find it for you even if she dies.” A’Ru lifted her head and crawled forward on her knees, her face full of hope.

Qi Yue shook her head at her.

“What I need, you can’t find.” she said.

A’Ru’s tears flowed like a spring as she prostrated herself and struck her head against the ground. Her forehead was already covered with bloody marks, her mouth only murmuring repeatedly “please, please.”

Qi Yue bit her lower lip, extremely anxious. She couldn’t help but look up at the pitch-black night sky, a night sky without any light pollution from modern civilization.

“…Dad, why do you want me to go to the countryside? There’s nothing here. They’re still using equipment that our hospital discarded.”

“Girl, don’t you think our equipment is too advanced?”

“Dad, isn’t good medical equipment a good thing? It can diagnose conditions fastest and most accurately, reducing patient suffering. Dad, you’re not going to argue with me about whether technological progress is good or bad, are you?”

“Haha, girl, have you ever thought about how you would treat patients and save lives without these advanced instruments?”

“Dad, what are you joking about? You’re just being unreasonable.”

“Dad, I understand what you mean now…” Qi Yue looked at the night sky and murmured.

She turned around and saw A’Ru still kowtowing continuously.

“A’Ru, get up.” Qi Yue stepped forward to help her up.

A’Ru looked at her, her consciousness already somewhat scattered.

“I’ll try, but I can’t guarantee I can save her.” Qi Yue gritted her teeth and said.

A’Ru’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Thank you, thank you.” she kowtowed again.

“I can’t do it alone. I need your help.” Qi Yue supported her. “Time is running short. We have much to do.”

“Whatever you want A’Ru to do, A’Ru will do.” A’Ru nodded through her tears.

“Good.” Qi Yue patted her. “Get up, let’s go inside.”

In the room, A’Hao’s mother, whose heart and spirit were shattered, looked even more frightened after hearing Qi Yue’s words.

“You… what did you say?” she asked stuttering in disbelief. “You want to cut open A’Hao’s stomach?”

A’Hao had also awakened, but seemed to be in an unconscious state, mechanically moaning.

A’Ru cleaned up the vomit while Qi Yue opened the medical kit.

“…Long needle… suture needle… needle holder… scalpel… hemostatic forceps… excellent, arterial hemostatic forceps… suture thread… anesthetic… procaine… vecuronium, midazolam, propofol… excellent… good thing they’re all here…” She laid out the instruments one by one while speaking with joy all over her face. Hearing A’Hao’s mother’s question, she turned her head. “A’Hao has abdominal blunt trauma, which means what that physician said about internal organ rupture and bleeding… blood is accumulating in her stomach… if we don’t quickly drain the blood and suture the wounds, she’ll die…”

“But… but if you open a person’s stomach, can they still live?” A’Hao’s mother cried, falling to her knees with a thud and kowtowing. “Young Madam, considering A’Hao has served you for so many years, please leave her with an intact corpse…”

Qi Yue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A’Ru hurried to help and comfort A’Hao’s mother.

Qi Yue’s hands stopped moving. She didn’t speak and picked up the syringe.

“I’ll first do an abdominal puncture on A’Hao. If I draw blood, that proves it’s the situation I described.” she said.

“Punc… puncture?” A’Hao’s mother couldn’t understand at all.

Qi Yue reached out to feel A’Hao’s stomach, breathing rapidly with sweat beading on her forehead. She repeatedly confirmed whether the spleen was enlarged. Without B-ultrasound, CT, ultrasound imaging, etc., she couldn’t determine which internal organ was injured. Although abdominal puncture was simple, it also carried risks. When the spleen was enlarged inside the body, it was easy to pierce it, and treating illness would immediately become fatal…

She had witnessed such a case herself.

“Young Madam.” A’Ru looked at her and called nervously.

Qi Yue collected herself.

“Use hands, hands. Without examination equipment, I have hands, I have experience, to feel…” she murmured, slowly exploring A’Hao’s abdomen and finally stopping. “It’s fine, no enlargement. Right here…”

Speaking, she efficiently disinfected and applied local anesthesia. Accompanied by A’Hao’s mother’s screams, Qi Yue inserted the syringe.

“Light.” Qi Yue shouted.

A’Ru brought the lamp over trembling all over. Accompanied by A’Hao’s moans, bright red blood appeared in that strange syringe…

“Blood!” A’Ru couldn’t help but cry out.

“There’s blood, there’s blood. Indeed, indeed internal organ rupture…” Qi Yue breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t expected that in this situation of relying completely on human skill without instruments, even a small puncture would make her body rigid. She couldn’t help but reach up to scratch her head. “But whether it’s liver, kidney, pancreas, stomach, intestine single-site injury or multi-site injury, we can only know through exploratory laparotomy…”

“A’Ru, take the white clothes I found earlier. Cut one into a square opening, boil all the rest and cut them into small pieces to serve as gauze. Also bring the wine from that day, and build a charcoal fire…” she instructed one by one.

A’Ru tried hard to remember, nodding continuously.

“Auntie, you go find lamps. Light all the lamps that can be lit and bring them here.” she turned to A’Hao’s mother.

A’Hao’s mother looked frightened and couldn’t speak.

“Are you… are you… really a ghost… ghost immortal who returned from the King of Hell’s palace?” she asked stuttering with wide eyes, clutching her chest.

Qi Yue looked at her in amazement, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“Auntie, please hurry.” she couldn’t answer and just said.

A’Hao’s mother made two sounds and turned to rush out with some panic.

Half a bottle of wine soaked the gauze, half a bottle of wine was heated and sprinkled beside the bed. A’Hao had been laid flat on the bed.

“The hot salt water you requested…” A’Ru came in carrying a basin of water.

“I need some more water mixed with salt and sugar, the ratio is one liter of water with two spoonfuls of salt and ten spoonfuls of sugar. Put it in this wine bottle for use…” Qi Yue drew the anesthetic into the syringe while speaking.

“Yes.” A’Ru nodded, took the wine bottle and turned to go out.

A’Hao’s mother stood to the side the whole time. All the lamps in Qiu Tong courtyard had been found and hung or placed beside the bed.

“Young Madam… am I going to die…” A’Hao looked at Qi Yue and said weakly.

“No, A’Hao, don’t be afraid. There’s a hole in your stomach. I’ll give you anesthesia, you sleep for a while, and I’ll sew it up for you. Then you’ll be fine.” Qi Yue smiled.

Her head and face were covered, only exposing her eyes. The smile in her eyes fell on A’Hao’s eyes, and she also showed a weak smile.

“Okay, Young Madam, thank you.” she said.

These words nearly made Qi Yue’s tears surge out again.

“No need to thank me. Come, I’ll give you anesthesia. It hurts a little, but A’Hao, be brave and don’t be afraid.” she said.

“Mm, A’Hao isn’t afraid.” A’Hao murmured.

“What is this? What is this for?” A’Hao’s mother watched that strange tool pierce her daughter’s arm, feeling her legs cramping, and asked in a trembling voice.

After finishing the injection, Qi Yue looked at her.

“Auntie, during the surgery in a moment, please go out first.” she said.

“Why?” A’Hao’s mother asked with a face full of terror. “I… I…”

“First, because disinfection isn’t good—this place isn’t clean to begin with, so one less person means less chance of infection. Besides, you’ll be scared…” Qi Yue looked at her seriously.

“I’m not scared, I’m not scared. Please let me watch, watch her. When people die, if relatives aren’t by their side to see them off with their last breath, they can’t reach the Yellow Springs Road and will become lonely ghosts…” A’Hao’s mother knelt on the ground crying.

In the end, she still didn’t trust her. Qi Yue smiled bitterly. Never mind that others didn’t trust her—even she didn’t trust herself. Laparotomy was one thing, but after opening the abdomen? She didn’t even know the extent of the damage. Should she excise or repair? And afterward, could A’Hao survive the infection?

She exhaled heavily.

“Fine, then stay here. Go to my room and find a clean garment to wear, then cover your head and mouth like me.” Qi Yue said. “Also, no matter what you see in a moment, you cannot interfere with me.”

A’Hao’s mother nodded frantically, wiping her tears as she went out.

No monitor, no assistant, no anesthesiologist. Nothing at all.

Qi Yue stood before the bed, looking at A’Hao who had been anesthetized under the surgical drape cut from white undergarments. Beside her were A’Ru and A’Hao’s mother with their heads and faces wrapped in the same cloth, their exposed eyes full of panic and fear.

“Well then, let’s begin.” Qi Yue took a deep breath and said, seeming to speak to A’Ru and A’Hao’s mother, but also to herself.

Saying these words, she seemed to return to her modern hospital operating room, surrounded by precision instruments and clearly divided assistants and nurses, everyone responding in unison “let’s begin.”

The scalpel cut through the peritoneum, blood seeped out. A’Ru and A’Hao’s mother simultaneously cried out in alarm. Qi Yue turned a deaf ear. Her movements were steady, skilled, and smooth. Though somewhat chaotic due to lack of assistants for retraction, as the incision grew larger, A’Hao’s mother’s screams turned to hoarse crying. Her whole body curled up uncontrollably, and finally with a thud, she fainted by the bedside. A’Ru wasn’t much better, her whole body shaking like a sieve from fright.

Under the lamplight, looking at that opened stomach and the continuously blood-soaked gauze being piled in the basin, the bloody smell hitting her nostrils directly, A’Ru felt her heartbeat had stopped. She could no longer cry out, just staring blankly at Qi Yue, watching her hands feel around inside A’Hao’s stomach, muttering something.

“…Liver is fine… esophagus is fine… spleen… indeed it’s the spleen…”

Then she saw Qi Yue lower her body, grasping a strange organ…

A’Ru finally couldn’t hold on and turned to vomit.

Qi Yue was blind and deaf to all this. Her mind was completely filled with familiar surgical procedures. Sweat continuously dripped from her forehead, and she could only blink to relieve it. Red-hot needle hemostasis, suturing, saline irrigation, gauze absorption…

The night was deep. The lamps in Qiu Tong courtyard swayed in response to the occasional lamps in the hands of patrolling matrons. In the more distant courtyards, lights blazed brightly. Deep into the night, song, dance, wine, and banquets were in full swing. Even the entering and exiting maids and matrons bore spring-like expressions. In the center of the courtyard, the imperial-bestowed Hu dancers were spinning rapidly, shattering the lamplight throughout the courtyard, their dance disrupting the laughter filling the main hall and under the eaves.