A’Ru originally hadn’t wanted Qi Yue to come along, but when she got the news and was leaving, she happened to run into Qi Yue returning from the storehouse. A’Ru had wanted to lie, but her swollen eyes could only fool a blind person. Qi Yue wasn’t blind, and she was nearly ten years older—an “elder” who could read the young girl’s thoughts written all over her face.

Within a few words, she had gotten the story out. Hearing that her first patient since coming here had been injured again, Qi Yue insisted on going along.

“If old wounds are reopened, they’ll be very difficult to treat. Last time, that fellow said he couldn’t treat such a minor injury. If I don’t go, what will you do?” Qi Yue efficiently dismissed the other maids in the room and had A’Ru help her change clothes. “You two are just half-grown children without parents. I won’t feel at ease unless I go and keep watch.”

They were clearly about the same age, and before, she used to cling to A’Ru like a child holding onto an adult’s clothes. How had Young Madam suddenly changed and started treating them like children…

A’Hao had laughed about this privately with A’Ru several times. What could A’Ru say? The thought that the Young Madam before her was no longer the same Young Madam—she could only bury this in her heart alone. That time when saving A’Hao, both had spoken plainly about it, but afterward, neither mentioned it again, as if it had never happened.

After all, such words truly couldn’t be spoken.

While A’Ru was still conflicted, Qi Yue had already changed into simple clothes and had A’Ru carry the medical box. After the previous surgery on A’Hao, they had surgical sheets and surgical towels, and A’Ru had even made surgical clothing following Qi Yue’s drawings during her recent leisure time. These things would naturally come in handy today.

“No need to borrow your neighbor’s clothes again,” Qi Yue said with a smile.

“Where are Young Madam and Sister A’Ru going?” Que Zhi, standing in the corridor, couldn’t help asking as she watched Qi Yue and A’Ru walk out.

“Young Madam’s affairs—if she doesn’t instruct us, how can we servants ask?” A’Hao said.

Que Zhi knew she was being scolded for being nosy and smiled without saying more about it.

“Sister A’Hao, I heard you’re good at doing hair. Could you teach me?” she said with a smile, changing the subject.

Here, A’Ru and Qi Yue left the gate and saw a woman crouched in the corner. Seeing A’Ru come out, relief showed on her face.

“Quick, go look. He’s at Qianjin Hall. Those doctors can’t save him,” the woman said, her face pale as death.

This was a neighbor’s sister-in-law who often helped look after her brother. A’Ru pulled her, crying and thanking her.

“I thought he really went to the blacksmith shop. I didn’t expect he was lying—he was still mixing with those people…” she cried.

“Young people have rebellious periods. It’s nothing, nothing. Don’t talk about this now—quick, saving someone is urgent,” Qi Yue said from the side.

“Yes, Big Sister, don’t worry. Teach him slowly,” the woman said. She didn’t know how Yuan Bao was injured—someone had run to tell her, so she panicked and went to look, then hurriedly came to find A’Ru.

The woman led the way as she spoke, with A’Ru and Qi Yue following. They left the alley, turned a corner, and came to the street.

Qi Yue suddenly froze.

The bustling marketplace scene came rushing at her with its fresh, lively atmosphere—nothing like what could be experienced on those imitation Ming-Qing dynasty streets. Everything here was real, so real it gave her goosebumps all over.

“…finest quality…”

“…take a look, come and see…”

“I heard Ruixiang Studio got new fabric…”

“…young lady…”

Hawking cries, bargaining voices, and laughter mixed together to create the joyful song of the marketplace. The ding-ding-dang-dang came from the blacksmith shop, while bursts of applause came from the teahouse for the blind storyteller.

Qi Yue felt like her body wasn’t her own. Following A’Ru through it all, her mind buzzed as she looked at the passersby and antique shops with eyes that couldn’t take it all in.

This was a real ancient marketplace! Look at this ground, these deep wheel ruts—this wasn’t some tourist attraction from later times, but something she was actually standing on…

Qi Yue felt one phrase could describe her feelings: ten thousand of those creatures were stampeding through her heart…

Sister has come to ancient times, real ancient times. This ground under her feet is soil from a thousand years ago…

This feeling… it really made her hair stand on end from the shock.

“Here it is.”

She didn’t know how far they’d walked when she heard the woman call out. Qi Yue came back from her reverie, wiped the dense sweat from her forehead and face, and saw herself standing before a shop.

Like all the shops she’d seen along the way, it was antique… bah bah… seeing something European-style at this time would be seeing a ghost. Qi Yue couldn’t help grinning.

She raised her head and her gaze fell on the door plaque.

Qianjin Hall.

A’Ru and the woman had already rushed inside. A’Ru’s crying could be heard from within, so she quickly averted her gaze and entered.

There were many people in the hall, some standing, some sitting, and some lying down, but the atmosphere was very quiet except for the injured person’s continuous moaning.

Qi Yue had no time to look around this ancient hospital or see who was in the room. In her eyes, they were just a group of ancient people she wouldn’t recognize anyway. She went straight to A’Ru and saw that Yuan Bao indeed had an injured arm, though fortunately it was the other arm.

A’Ru was both sad and angry, crying while scolding Yuan Bao, mostly about why he went fighting again and such.

“I’m fine, Sister, don’t worry about me. Go, go, leave quickly!” Yuan Bao struggled to get up while shouting loudly.

But soon two people standing nearby reached out to hold him down. Weak Yuan Bao was like a chick under these two men’s hands, unable to move at all, and couldn’t even make a sound.

“Don’t move, or the blood will flow faster,” they said quietly.

A’Ru didn’t suspect anything and looked at them gratefully.

“Are you a doctor?”

A’Ru heard someone ask nearby.

“How am I a doctor? Where are your doctors here? Quick, treat him!” she became even more anxious hearing this.

No one nearby answered her. Qi Yue had already stepped forward.

“Good heavens, don’t you even know how to stop bleeding?” she said with a frown, then efficiently reached out her hand. “Quick, clothes, mask.”

“Let the doctors here…” A’Ru’s gaze finally turned from her brother. Only then did she see the people in the room.

So many people—around her, behind the counter, and in the dark areas of the hall backlit by the entrance. All were… men…

Her heart skipped a beat and she reached out to grab Qi Yue’s hand.

“If they could treat him, would they let Yuan Bao keep bleeding until now?” Qi Yue asked, while looking at the people around.

Hu San was kicked by the man behind him and walked out trembling.

“Madam…” he stammered.

Seeing him, Qi Yue and A’Ru understood.

“It’s you again…” Qi Yue said, looking around the hall. “This is your medical clinic? It looks quite impressive. What a pity…”

Hu San knew what she meant by “pity” and awkwardly stretched his mouth corners.

“Yes, what a coincidence…” he stammered, sweat rolling down his forehead. He simply bent down in a bow. “I must trouble Madam again. This humble one is incompetent…”

“He can’t treat him, let’s go home, go home,” A’Ru shouted frantically, moving to lift the door plank under Yuan Bao. “Big Sister, Big Sister, help me…”

“Forget it, there’s no time!” Qi Yue said with an anxious expression. Walking home would take too much time. She opened the bundle she’d set aside, and the people around couldn’t help craning their necks to look.

What were all these things… white cloth pieces?

Qi Yue efficiently put on the garment and donned mask and cap.

“Bring water,” she said.

The others finally awakened from their initial stupor, and their first thought was to look toward the men in the hall. After seeing one of the men nod, someone went to fetch a water basin and brought it over with a surprised expression.

A’Ru, focused entirely on her brother, and Qi Yue, busy taking out tools, neither noticed these small actions.

“A’Ru, cut away the clothing around his wound and prepare for debridement. You others prepare more water—boiled water that’s been cooled, as much as possible…” Qi Yue said while quickly washing her hands, then snapped open the medical box.

“Young lady, what… what is this?” the senior disciple standing at the front couldn’t help asking.

Qi Yue, wearing cap and mask with only her eyes showing, glanced at him.

“Medical box,” she answered simply.

A’Ru was still hesitating here when Qi Yue glared at her.

“What did I tell you? Move fast, react fast. When doctors treat patients, they’re racing against death—not a moment’s delay is permitted,” she said with a furrowed brow and heavy tone.

Qi Yue wasn’t a gentle doctor, especially after a year of emergency room rotations. Though she was just a recent graduate then, she was already quite strict with junior students and interns. But this was nothing unusual—she herself had been trained by being scolded by her instructors.

A’Ru snapped to attention at her shout and held back her tears.

Qi Yue said nothing more, took scissors and cut open Yuan Bao’s arm sleeve. The following scene was somewhat familiar to the people here, since Hu San had done it earlier, except this didn’t look… as brutal.

Watching that woman wash the wound with water again and again, even using her hands to separate the flesh and blood… they couldn’t help shuddering.

“This… what you’re doing is…” seeing novel treatment methods was an irresistible temptation for any doctor. Of course, when Hu San demonstrated it was another matter—after all, the outside monk knows how to chant sutras, but Hu San, well, they knew him too well. The apprentices of Qianjin Hall forgot about the fierce-looking men in the hall and couldn’t help crowding forward, with some asking questions in confusion.

“Debridement,” Qi Yue said, lowering her head to wash her hands again and change gloves while answering. “Only after cleaning thoroughly can the wound be sutured, otherwise it will get infected.”

“Infected? Debridement?” Everyone was even more confused.

“You… you’re really going to sew up the wound?” the senior disciple asked with wide eyes.

Qi Yue took out a syringe to draw anesthetic, and the strange instrument and action caused another round of inquiries.

Qi Yue just hummed and murmured without answering—she couldn’t answer! This wasn’t something that could be explained quickly, and she wasn’t a teacher, nor was this a university classroom.

A’Ru no longer protested, lowered her head and washed her hands too. Seeing Qi Yue arrange the needle and take out thread, she actively selected a surgical drape to cover Yuan Bao’s arm.

This caused another round of inquiries, which naturally received no answers.

Soon everyone stopped asking because Qi Yue began her needlework. Though completely different from daily clothes mending in needle movements and everything else, with strange needles and even stranger tools for holding the needles—everything was strange—she was indeed doing needlework on the arm. The hall fell into silence; even breathing stopped as everyone stared unblinkingly at this scene.

“I said this was how to treat it… you didn’t believe me… you even hit me…” Hu San, who had shrunk back to the corner at the black-faced large man’s feet, felt wronged enough to cry and muttered.

Then he sensed a dark shadow covering him. Hu San thought he was about to be beaten again and quickly covered his head, but no fist came down. He released his hands and saw the man who had been sitting, smiling as he cut someone with his blade, walking toward the center of the hall.

Let’s hope he doesn’t hit women… Hu San prayed in his heart.

Qi Yue finished the last stitch and covered the wound with sterile gauze, bandaging it up.

“Done. This injury isn’t as serious as last time… but the nature of it is more serious than last time,” she said to Yuan Bao, pretending to be stern. “You scared your sister badly. Didn’t you promise not to fight? A real man keeps his word—how can you not count your words?”

Yuan Bao’s face reddened, wanting to say something but unable to speak.

“He’s fine now. No need to hold him down,” Qi Yue said to the two men who had been standing nearby.

These must be people from this pharmacy, right? They held the patient down to prevent struggling—indeed, pharmacies have many professionals who didn’t need her instructions. Only this doctor’s technique was a bit poor…

The two men glanced at her, then looked behind her. After receiving approval, they released their hands and stepped back.

“Let’s go home quickly,” A’Ru hurried to help Yuan Bao up.

“Don’t rush to leave—there’s still another injured person here who hasn’t been treated,” a male voice suddenly said.

“Sister, leave quickly! They’re the ones who cut me, they tricked you into coming to treat someone…” Yuan Bao could finally speak and shouted hoarsely.

“What?” Qi Yue and A’Ru didn’t understand, but they both turned around and saw a tall man standing before them.

Oh my, Qi Yue felt her eyes light up—a handsome man! Just like an ancient costume star walking down from a TV screen. Look at those features, that build, that presence…

But the next moment, her vision went dark.

“Prin… Prin… Prince…” A’Ru called out tremblingly and fell to her knees with a thud.