Chang Yuncheng escorted the completely drunk Fan Yilin home, declined the Wang family’s invitation to stay for dinner, and by the time he returned home, the sky was already growing dark.
Though he knew Qi Yue wasn’t home, seeing the lit lamps in the room still made his heart feel warm.
“Lord, shall we serve dinner?” Qiu Xiang asked.
Chang Yuncheng shook his head.
“No need, I don’t want to eat right now,” he said.
Qiu Xiang acknowledged and was about to withdraw.
“Have the kitchen prepare a late-night meal for when the Young Madam returns,” Chang Yuncheng added.
Qiu Xiang acknowledged again and left.
After washing up, Chang Yuncheng couldn’t help but walk over to Qi Yue’s side, lighting a lamp to illuminate the somewhat messy desk.
This woman was strange – she wouldn’t tidy the desk herself and wouldn’t let the maids tidy it either, saying that once things were organized, she couldn’t find them.
With things this messy, how could she find anything?
Chang Yuncheng smiled, sitting down in Qi Yue’s usual chair. He seemed to catch a faint scent of cosmetics in the air.
He picked up a paper and saw it covered with writing that looked like ghostly scribbles. A sudden gust of wind violently struck the window, causing the candle flame to jump wildly.
Chang Yuncheng reached out to shield the flame and lowered his head to read carefully.
The wind howled past as Qi Yue pulled her hat tight, watching Hu San and the others huddling together shivering again.
“It’s fine, you’ll get used to it,” she told Liu Pucheng, curiously asking, “Teacher, when you first came here, were you afraid?”
Liu Pucheng’s beard was blown wild by the wind, and he reached up to smooth it down.
“Of course I was afraid,” he said.
Hu San and the others felt somewhat better hearing this.
“Master gets afraid too? We thought Master wasn’t afraid of anything,” they laughed.
The atmosphere relaxed considerably, and they had reached the charity morgue.
On a winter night with strong winds, the morgue was even more eerie.
A lamp suddenly appeared in the darkness, floating toward them.
Hu San couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.
“Doctor Liu, you’ve arrived,” Coffin Boy said, raising the lamp higher to illuminate his face.
He spoke to Liu Pucheng but his gaze fell on Qi Yue.
Like the first time, Qi Yue had her head and face covered, showing only her eyes.
She smiled slightly at Coffin Boy.
“Please come in quickly,” Coffin Boy said, suppressing his excited heartbeat as he led the way.
Compared to last time, Hu San and the others performed slightly better, but when Qi Yue made the incision in the corpse’s mouth and nose, they still couldn’t help but stir restlessly and look away.
This time Qi Yue was mainly experimenting with blue marking lines with Liu Pucheng, so she didn’t scold them for their reactions.
“…To achieve precise anatomical alignment… the most critical part is repositioning the orbicularis oris muscle, otherwise it will affect the entire upper lip movement function…”
Qi Yue explained while operating.
“What is the orbicularis oris muscle?”
Coffin Boy’s voice came from beside them.
Liu Pucheng was somewhat surprised, not having noticed that Coffin Boy was still there.
Qi Yue looked up at him.
“There, that’s it,” she said, pointing with the scissors in her hand.
Seeing her invitation, Coffin Boy immediately approached.
“…I make a full-thickness oblique incision here… then skin… muscle… mucosa… separate… Doctor Liu, you need to help me retract at this point… yes, like that…”
“…Here is where the nasal columella separates from the nasal ala, cutting apart. I’ll divide this into three muscle flaps… three cross-sutures… needle…”
Qi Yue extended her hand.
Liu Pucheng was holding retractors on the other side and couldn’t reach the needle and thread. Hu San and the other disciples were still trembling, and though A’Ru wasn’t afraid to look, her body was stiff and completely unable to move.
When doing real surgery, she would definitely need to place all needles and thread within reach, or it would be troublesome…
Qi Yue prepared to let go and fetch the needle and thread herself.
Coffin Boy reached over and handed it to her.
Qi Yue smiled at him.
“And forceps too,” she said.
Coffin Boy also smiled, his eyes bright, immediately turning around.
But forceps?