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Published at 19th of July 2022 09:43:12 AM


Chapter 141

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Zheng Zhe was an experienced doctor. He had made breakthroughs in his medical skill recently and had become more skilled in administering acupuncture and medicine. He just took a brief look at her pulse and said, “Ma’am, have you constantly suffered from abdominal pain and vomiting year round?”

The strong man who was supporting the woman nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, yes, doctor, what you said is extremely accurate. My woman does suffer from abdominal pain frequently, often accompanied by vomiting. This time it lasted for three days and three nights, so I invited many doctors but they couldn’t treat her. That’s why I rushed to get an ox cart to take her into the city for treatment. Doctor, please save her!”

Zheng Zhe waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry, she just has normal gastroenteritis. Just take a few doses of Baohe (protect and harmonize) Decoction.” After he spoke, he shouted toward the medical practitioners in the clinic, “Go and brew a Baohe Decoction immediately! I need two people to come here and help carry this madam inside to settle her down.”

Several apprentices agreed in succession. Some went to brew medicine and some came to help lift the person.

Listening up to here, Lin Dan instead took two steps forward, blocking their way, and carefully warned: “Physician Zheng, there is a big problem with your treatment. I took this madam’s pulse just now as well– she does suffer from gastroenteritis, but……”

Before she could finish her sentence, that woman cried out mournfully, as if in severe pain. Her husband shoved Lin Dan away and scolded: “We’re already at this stage, so why are you wasting time with nonsense? Can’t you see that my woman is dying of pain? Hurry up and get lost! If you delay my woman’s treatment, I will smash your signboard into pieces!”

The watching passers-by sneered: “That’s right, that’s right, you should quickly get out of the way! Don’t interfere with other’s illness. You’re an inexperienced, young little doctor. How dare you challenge Physician Zheng? You’re really going mad for attention and fame! You also said that this madam was inflicted with gastroenteritis. Everyone here knows that Baohe Decoction was a divine medicine developed by Physician Zheng and has a miraculous effect on gastroenteritis. After one dose, the patient will be mostly recovered. Could it be that you can make a medicine better than Baohe Decoction?”

Lin Dan shook her head and said, “But it’s true that Baohe Decoction cannot be used for this illness…”

Someone next to her interrupted again, “Whatever, why don’t you just drop it! Obviously, this madam can’t hold on much longer. What you’re doing is murdering people, did you know that?”

Somebody mixed into the crowd and muttered: “Hey, I recognize her! She often goes to our mountain village trying to treat people, saying that she doesn’t charge a fee if she can’t treat them. In the end, after a whole year, having treated eighty to a hundred people, she only received payment twice. You can imagine how awful her medical skills are.”

Lin Dan followed the voice and looked over, and the person who spoke immediately shrank his neck and hid, but the people around him all exploded, laughing at her for having an exaggerated opinion of her own abilities. Some people accused: “Your medical skills are so poor, so how could you even open a clinic? If you do things like this, what’s the difference between you and a killer? A killer charges money for killing people, and you also charge money for killing people, but at least they won’t be sued for taking a life. Sooner or later, you’re going to get yourself beaten to death!”

The woman gritted her teeth and glared at Lin Dan fiercely while moaning. Her husband was even more straightforward, directly ramming Lin Dan away. He then cooperated with several medical practitioners to lift the woman in as quickly as they could.

Before he left, Zheng Zhe said sincerely and earnestly: “What crime is it to live? If one does not die of illness but because of a doctor, it would be better not to have a doctor than to have one. If you have no talent for learning medicine, it is better not to study it. Little girl, if your medical skill is not proficient, it is better to go out and practice. Don’t be in a hurry to open a clinic. Don’t you think so?”

Lin Dan nodded and said: “You’re right, if you have no talent for learning medicine, it’s better not to study it. I will return this sentence back to you. Did you really investigate the symptoms of that person? Before she takes the medicine, I advise you to take a closer look. The madam is not sweating, has a murmur in her chest, has thick phlegm stuck in her throat, and her voice cuts in and out, this is…”

But it was a pity. Her words were once again interrupted, this time by Wu Xuancao, who was hurrying out: “Master, a patient is still waiting for you.”

Zheng Zhe immediately walked toward Xuancao Hall. Although something flashed in his heart, he didn’t catch it. He had another patient with a cramping bellyache who needed treatment. Judging from the symptoms, it should be an intestinal carbuncle*. He had to do surgery and open his abdomen to cut off the rotten part of the intestine. Eight or nine out of ten patients with intestinal carbuncles died from abdominal pain. But the solution he and Wu Xuancao jointly came up with, although risky, did have a very high probability of success. If the patient could make a full recovery, the names of him and Wu Xuancao would be permanently recorded in the annals of history and shine in the world of medicine alongside Lin Chaoxian.

*WARNING, GROSS MEDICAL INFO: A cluster of boils filled with fluid, pus, and dead tissue.

Thinking like this, Zheng Zhe’s heart burst into flames, and he immediately walked into the inner hall with Wu Xuancao to persuade the patient’s family members to agree to their treatment plan. It was a pity that the patient was very timid. Even if he was in so much pain that he rolled all over the floor, he still adamantly refused to allow them to cut open his abdomen. His family members also didn’t dare to gamble with his life. They just shook their heads and refused to relent.

Zheng Zhe and Wu Xuancao were a little discouraged, and said: “You have been in pain for two days in a row. The burning and toxicity are too high; your flesh is withered and rotten and has turned into pus, which may lead to abdominal inflammation or even an intestinal infarction*. When the time comes, even we will have no way to treat it. Go back and think about it. In this capital city, I’m afraid that doctors who dare to accept patients with this condition, other than us two, don’t exist.”

*A decrease in blood supply to the intestines.

The patient was already delirious from pain. His family hesitated for a short period of time, but still did not dare to agree.

Zheng Zhe and Wu Xuancao were helpless and could only look on as they left. Just now, that other madam had recovered after drinking Baohe Decoction. Her stomach was no longer in pain, her complexion was ruddy, and, without needing her husband’s support, she walked over and thanked Zheng Zhe repeatedly.

Seeing that the woman was carried into Xuancao Hall on her dying breath, but came out healthy and active, the passers-by’s evaluation of Zheng Zhe and Wu Xuancao climbed another level again. They kept chattering that the two doctors could bring people back from the dead.

Lin Dan stood at the doorway and looked at that woman with heavy eyes. She originally wanted to go forward, but was stopped by some busybodies who grinningly mocked: “This young lady over here, you said that Physician Zheng is not proficient in medicine. Now look. At the end of the day, who’s the one who actually isn’t proficient? If you had stopped her from taking the medicine, I’m afraid this madam might have already died of pain.”

“Why are you still talking nonsense with her? Just don’t go looking for treatment from her in the future. I don’t know who gave her the courage to open a clinic opposite Xuancao Hall.”

Seeing that Lin Dan still wanted to come over and pester them, the strong man hurriedly pulled his woman to leave. Lin Dan was stopped by a few hoodlums, and couldn’t follow even if she wanted to, so she could only give up. Just when she was about to pull free and fix those ruffians, several guards came over with big sabers and forcefully asked, “What are you trying to do?”

The several hooligans turned pale with fright, trembling like chaff, and were unable to talk for half a day. Seeing that these officials were unsheathing their sabers, they immediately screamed and fled in all directions.

Xue Boyong had gone to the street corner to buy fruit for Lin Dan, so he came back a step late. He saw the backs of these people and a murderous aura flashed through his eyes, but the moment he saw Lin Dan, he immediately restrained it and smiled gently: “It’s already past noon, but you didn’t pick me up from the barracks today. Was it because you were being pestered by these scoundrels? The environment in the capital is getting worse and worse. Petty criminals are running rampant. It seems like I have to present a memorial to the emperor and ask him to rectify public security in the capital.”

“It’s not because they were bothering me, it’s because there was a misdiagnosis.” Lin Dan waved her hand, her worried expression already completely gone.

When she practiced medicine in the countryside, she said that she would not receive money if she could not cure the disease. So, people from ten miles and eight provinces around all came to find her for medical treatment, but no one was willing to pay. If she went to their door to ask, they immediately lay down and pretended to be sick and tried to act dumb. Some of them even, while pretending to be sick, would try to defraud her and then get people to surround her to beat her up.

If it wasn’t for Lin Dan having bodyguards as well as her own martial arts, she probably would have died outside long ago. She had only been practicing medicine for a year, but she had already seen the ugliness of human nature and her expectations for humanity had long since fallen to the lowest point. She never expected to be trusted, protected, or even loved, so she did not feel saddened when she was being attacked, insulted, or doubted.

If that lady had been right in front of her, out of a sense of morality, she might try to do something. But the other party had already left, so whether she was dead or alive, it was no longer any of Lin Dan’s business.

Lin Dan had no expectations for this world, but Xue Boyong was the only exception. He didn’t hate her because of those unbearable past events, but instead trusted and respected her very much and protected her wholeheartedly. This kindness, Lin Dan took in and remembered in her heart.

She took the frozen pear that Xue Boyong handed over and said calmly, “I wasn’t the one who misdiagnosed, it was the other side. But it’s nothing now. Brother, what do you want to eat? I’ll go cook it now.”

“I want to eat dumplings. You knead the dough and I’ll dice the stuffing.” Xue Boyong rolled up his sleeves, not at all conscious of “gentlemen stay away from the kitchen.”

Lin Dan immediately became happy and said, “What a coincidence! I also want to eat dumplings. Brother, let’s make dumplings with cabbage and pork stuffing. There are still a few cabbages in the cellar, so we might as well use them all up today…”

The two talked as they walked into the inner hall together, side by side. One tall and one petite silhouette looked very harmonious together, and there was even a sense of intimacy that made it difficult for outsiders to intrude. Xue Jiming, who had come to Xuancao Hall to find Wu Xuancao, happened to see this scene, his expression extremely complicated.

Ever since Eldest Brother’s legs got better, he rarely stayed at home for any significant amount of time. He was always either at the barracks or at Lin Dan’s place, as if he regarded it as his second home. Grandmother and Mother asked him what he was thinking. If he fell in love with Lin Dan, they could disregard past enmity, bring her back, and then marry the two. But Eldest Brother shook his head and said carefully: “What happens between me and Lin Dan does not depend on what I think, but on what she thinks. If she is willing to accept me, I will propose to her. If she is not willing, I’ll wait for her for the rest of my life. I respect any decision she makes.”

Xue Jiming almost suspected that his brother had been swapped out. Back then, Eldest Brother could even defy the emperor’s orders, but now he took Lin Dan’s wishes more seriously than his own. To Lin Dan, had he really reached the point where he would never marry if it wasn’t to her?

Xue Jiming stared blankly at Xing Lin Spring for a long time until Wu Xuancao came out to call him; then, he quickly fled into Xuancao Hall. His current self didn’t dare to face Lin Dan at all. She cured his brother and was a great benefactor of the Xue family, but due to his own bias, he always belittled her and excluded her, which finally led her to leave Xue Manor.

To say something unpleasant: the person who should hate, despise, and even take revenge had always been Lin Dan. But he, a grown man, had no chest at all, and instead pushed all the blame onto the other person’s head. Brother was right. He was a coward.




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