Even bandits fighting wouldn’t be this badly injured. Looking at these people’s clothing and attire, they didn’t look like bandits either, but rather each wore luxurious clothes and golden crowns.

Watching the roomful of doctors take turns trying but still unable to stop the bleeding, chattering that with so much blood lost the patients couldn’t be saved, one of the large men who had brought the injured roared and kicked a bench to pieces, frightening the entire room into silence.

“Doctor Liu has already been summoned. Are you all useless? If you can’t save lives, can’t you at least stop the bleeding?” the large man bellowed.

This man was like a black tower, with a sword hanging at his waist, scaring all the apprentice doctors into trembling.

“This… this truly… the wound is too large… the medicine we sprinkle on has no effect at all,” the senior disciple said reluctantly. “Perhaps when Master returns…”

“You useless bunch!” Hei Dahan shouted, kicking another bench to pieces.

All the apprentices in the hall fell silent and shrank back.

“Bandage it first, use more bandages and sprinkle on all the medicine…” the senior disciple could only urge the others frantically.

The whole room bustled with activity.

“Just sew it up.”

A low voice suddenly came from behind, which greatly annoyed the senior disciple who was sweating with anxiety.

“Who’s making trouble here!” he turned and scolded in a low voice.

The apprentices who weren’t causing trouble quickly moved aside, revealing a young apprentice standing at the back.

That apprentice was speaking quietly with another when he was suddenly exposed, startling him.

“Hu San! Who let you in? Go back to the rear courtyard!” the senior disciple shouted angrily upon seeing this person.

This young man called Hu San was the Doctor Hu who had once treated A’Ru’s brother.

Being scolded by the senior disciple and seeing the contemptuous looks throughout the room, anger flared in his heart.

He too came from a medical family, though not very famous, and his father died early without passing on the true teachings. But he couldn’t abandon the family trade, so he had struggled to get connections to enter Qianjin Hall as an apprentice, hoping to learn good medical skills and revive the family reputation. But after three years here, he hadn’t even had a chance to get close to Liu Pucheng, let alone learn medicine, and had to be ordered around by these apprentices.

What skills do you have? You still can’t treat such injuries—you’re not as experienced as me!

“I know how to treat this,” Hu San shouted hotly.

The hall immediately fell silent.

Having shouted this, Hu San panicked. Seeing all eyes on him, his heart pounded even harder.

“Get out of here,” the senior disciple glared and shouted.

The hall resumed its bustle as everyone went back to their tasks. Hu San was left standing there, and he couldn’t help feeling relieved.

“I told you that you lack experience, but you wouldn’t believe it…” he muttered with self-congratulation on his face, but wanting to save some face, he turned to leave.

Just as he lifted his foot, he heard a loud shout from behind.

“That fellow, come here and treat him!”

This voice frightened Hu San so much his legs went weak and he nearly collapsed.

“Sir, this is just a handyman here… he only picks herbs and such daily… he doesn’t know how to treat illness at all…” the senior disciple hurriedly explained to that person. Although Hu San was annoying, he still carried Qianjin Hall’s name, and if something went wrong, Qianjin Hall would be the one in trouble.

“Are you not just handymen too? You still can’t treat him—you’re all useless anyway!” the large man shouted. With a wave of his hand, two cold-faced attendants with swords strode over, lifted the weak-kneed Hu San, and pressed him before the injured person.

“Treat him quickly!” the large man shouted.

Hu San wanted to cry but had no tears, his face pale as death.

“I, I…” he stammered, not knowing if saying he couldn’t treat would result in the large man slapping his head clean off.

“I’ll treat him,” he gritted his teeth and shouted, extending his trembling hands. “Bring water!”

The others hadn’t expected him to actually say this, and for a moment they were all stunned.

“Senior Brother, we’re done for. Hu San has been scared into madness…” someone whispered to the senior disciple.

Hu San shouted with such authority that an apprentice nearby was also stunned and actually brought him water.

Hu San, with shaking hands and staring eyes, thought of the scene he had witnessed that day. Gritting his teeth, he tore off the cloth wrapping the wound. His clumsy movements caused the injured person to cry out in pain, making the large man’s eyebrow twitch, though he forced himself to endure.

“I… I’m now going to… to clean… clean that wound…” Hu San said, trembling as he looked at the bloody, mangled wound exposed before him. As he spoke, he pressed his hand on the wound and poured the water over it.

The injured person shuddered from the sudden stimulation, and blood and water scattered on the ground.

“You…” the large man stood up, glaring at Hu San, gritting his teeth but still holding back.

Having taken the first step, Hu San became bolder. He asked for more water to wash the wound, and even when the injured person howled in pain, he dared to say a few words.

“…This… is infected… those… cells… something… need to wash it clean… otherwise it won’t… won’t heal… bear with it. That day, that fourteen or fifteen-year-old child could endure it—you’re a grown man, you can’t be worse than a child…”

The injured person became conscious from the severe pain and, hearing his unclear muttering, gritted his teeth and truly endured it.

The black-faced large man and several others slowly relaxed their muscles, making cracking sounds that scared the surrounding apprentices pale.

“Good…” Hu San, sweating profusely, finally finished washing. Though blood was still flowing, at least the wound area wasn’t as messy. “Bring needle and thread…”

He extended his hand again.

The apprentices looked at each other.

“What needle and thread?” the senior disciple asked with a dark face.

“We definitely don’t have that kind here… then… then bring sewing thread… it’s all sewing anyway…” Hu San muttered and said aloud.

Everyone made sounds of surprise, looking at each other.

“Hu San, you’re seeking your own death. Don’t blame me for being ruthless. When something goes wrong, you’ll be thrown out of my Qianjin Hall,” the senior disciple said quietly.

Hu San’s face trembled as he swallowed.

“Bring it to him!” the black-faced large man shouted.

His words were effective—someone immediately flew to get it.

Hu San took the needle, which had been thoughtfully threaded…

Everyone stared at Hu San, then watched him tremble repeatedly before slowly piercing the needle toward the injured person’s arm…

A terrible scream immediately rang out, followed by another scream and the sound of a person hitting the ground.

Hu San, who had been in front of the injured person just moments ago, had been slapped away and fell in the corner, hitting a table and lying on the ground with rolled-back eyes.

“Damn you for daring to fool with me!” the black-faced large man cursed, clenching his fists until they cracked.

Everyone was too frightened to say a word. The apprentice who had fetched the needle and thread, fearing he’d be implicated, fell to his knees kowtowing for mercy.

“I, I really saw someone treated this way…” Hu San lay on the ground, seeing the large man seemingly about to beat him again. Scared until his nose ran, he cried out tremblingly, “Right on… right on the street… that person was fine…”

“You little bastard…” the black-faced large man didn’t listen at all, striding forward to grab him, his large fist ready to strike.

Everyone closed their eyes, unable to bear watching.

“Old Ma, wait.” A deep male voice suddenly rang out, sounding like heavenly music to Hu San.

Hu San opened his eyes and saw another man entering from outside. With his back to the light, his appearance wasn’t clear, but his upright figure was like a pine tree.

“Is it true that someone was cured this way?” he stood in the doorway, slapping a riding whip in his hand while asking.

“Yes, yes, sir, it’s true. That person’s arm was also cut and bleeding wouldn’t stop. That doctor used a needle to sew it up and he was fine. He could get out of bed immediately, and was fine in three days. Now he’s still swinging an iron hammer at Zheng Si’s blacksmith shop,” Hu San said loudly, afraid that being a step slow would get his head smashed by the large fist.

“Bring that person for me to see,” the man who had just entered said, striding inside.

Someone behind him responded and left.

When Yuan Bao was brought into Qianjin Hall, he was still in shock. Seeing the scene inside made his face even paler.

“You… what are you arresting me for? I didn’t fight…” he shouted with his neck stiffened.

He thought it was another fight among street laborers over work and he’d been caught up in it.

“Let me see your arm,” someone said from a corner inside the room.

Yuan Bao looked toward the voice and saw someone sitting there with two others standing, all dark and unclear in the shadows.

Before he could speak, the man who had escorted him pressed him down and tore off both arm sleeves in two quick motions, exposing his thin arms.

“The right one…” Hu San’s weak voice was drowned out.

“Let me see…” the black-faced large man strode over and grabbed Yuan Bao to the bright area by the door.

“What are you doing?” Yuan Bao shouted.

In the bright area, a clear scar could be seen on Yuan Bao’s arm, winding like a snake, completely different from naturally healed wounds, with clear stitch marks visible.

“This was really sewn up?” the black-faced large man shouted in surprise.

Yuan Bao suddenly understood what they wanted to do and turned toward the room, indeed seeing Hu San.

“Little brother, which doctor cured this?” the black-faced large man asked somewhat excitedly.

Yuan Bao just kept his mouth shut, his young face full of stubbornness.

His sister had once instructed him never to tell others the identity of the person who treated his injury.

“Still won’t talk?” the black-faced large man was somewhat surprised. “What’s there to hide? Could it be someone disreputable?”

Yuan Bao remained silent, enduring the increasingly painful grip on his arm.

“Yes, it was a doctor from the marquis’s mansion,” Hu San said from the side.

Yuan Bao glared at him fiercely.

“Little brother, saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Look at this injured person—we can’t delay any longer…” Hu San said urgently, meeting his gaze.

“Oh?” the man sitting in the hall stood up, his voice somewhat curious. “A doctor from the marquis’s mansion? Which marquis’s mansion? Could it be the marquis’s mansion in Yongqing Prefecture?”

Yuan Bao just wouldn’t speak, simply lowering his head.

“You little brat!” the black-faced large man slapped him. “Believe it or not, I’ll chop you up.”

Yuan Bao fell to the ground, raised his head to wipe blood from the corner of his mouth, and looked at the black-faced large man’s threatening gesture of drawing his sword, but still kept his mouth tightly shut.

“Sanqing, when did our family ever keep doctors?” the man walked out step by step, asking as he went.

“Replying to the Prince, we don’t have any. Should this subordinate go back and ask?” one of the standing attendants in the room answered quietly.

The man had already walked step by step to the doorway. Yuan Bao raised his head and saw his appearance clearly.

This was a man of twenty-four or twenty-five, with slightly dark skin, thick eyebrows and large eyes that were bright and spirited, a high nose bridge, thin lips and blunt jaw, with naturally noble dignity between his brows.

Prince? This thought flashed through Yuan Bao’s mind, showing some surprise on his face. Before he could think further, he saw the man’s thin lips curve slightly in a hint of a smile.

“No need. Since this child won’t speak even when scared like this, he must be hiding it from someone. If you go ask, you won’t find out either—why waste the effort…” he said, reaching out to grasp the black-faced large man’s sword hilt. “Better to treat it once more—that would be faster…”

As his words fell, Yuan Bao heard the sound of a sword being drawn, then saw a flash of blade light before his face, and intense pain instantly spread throughout his body.

Yuan Bao screamed and fell rolling on the ground, clutching his arm.

Looking at the man holding the sword and still smiling, everyone in the hall felt their scalps tingle, and Hu San collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Now there was big trouble…