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.