Chapter 142: Surgical Operations and Broken Bones (2)

"This..." The imperial physicians of the Medical Bureau nervously stepped back a half-step. They knew about the Crown Prince's condition, but they had also been involved in formulating Empress Zhangsun's prescription. If the Empress had been poisoned, none of them could escape culpability. Furthermore, thinking back now, when the group of physicians had debated the dosage of the medicine, it seemed that Wang Zuikui had been the one who most forcefully advocated for increasing it.

If this was not a mistake or an accident, then what was it? Premeditated murder? Every single physician shivered involuntarily and stood off to the side, not daring to utter another word.

"Your Majesty," Wang Zuikui stepped forward at that moment, bowed to Li Shimin, and said in a slow voice, "When your humble subject decided to increase the dosage, it was truly because Her Majesty the Empress's illness had become extremely difficult to control; it was a measure of absolute necessity. Before administering the medicine, your humble subject reported this to Your Majesty, who was well aware of the matter. As for His Highness the Crown Prince's foot affliction, your humble subject indeed did his utmost at the time. It was merely due to my shallow medical skills that I could not share the burdens of Your Majesty and the Crown Prince. I beg Your Majesty to punish me for my crime!"

Stepping back to advance? Li Shimin glanced sideways at Wang Zuikui, raised his teacup, took a light sip, and suddenly chuckled softly, saying, "Official Wang speaks too gravely. As the saying goes, no man is perfect, and gold is never pure; it is enough that Official Wang did your best. Although Mr. Liu's words just now were somewhat harsh, I believe he meant no malice by them. Official Wang need not take offense; just wait aside for now."

"Your Majesty is wise and perceptive." Liu Yitiao cupped his hands and offered Li Shimin a subtle flattery, then turned to Wang Zuikui and said with exaggerated politeness, "What this minor person said just now was merely discussing the matter as it stands. All of it was based on my own personal views and opinions, and I had no intentional desire to slander Director Wang. Therefore, if there was anything improper, I ask Director Wang not to take offense. After all, performing surgery on His Highness the Crown Prince is no trivial matter, and this humble commoner cannot afford to be anything less than cautious when selecting personnel."

"This old man understands; it is simply that this old man was somewhat overestimating his own capabilities." Wang Zuikui offered a slight bow to Liu Yitiao, then retreated with a hunch back back into the crowd of physicians. He looked entirely honest and harmless, but who could possibly know what thoughts were truly churning in his heart?

That reasoning was fair. Liu Yitiao gave him a slight nod. Truth be told, although he found this Wang Zuikui unpleasing to the eye, he had never intended to target him here like this. After all, they had no past grievances, and recently, well, they had no major enmity either; he did not wish to maliciously harm the man.

It was just that this old man Wang lacked all sense of propriety, actually thinking of accompanying him to perform surgery on Li Chengqian!

What were his true intentions? The Crown Prince's foot and Empress Zhangsun's illness already made Liu Yitiao deeply suspicious of this Director of the Medical Bureau. Under such circumstances, how could he possibly dare to take such a huge risk and let Wang Zuikui accompany him on the side? Would that not be planting a time bomb outside of his own control right beside him? Should Wang Zuikui deliberately cause some kind of chaos during the surgery and result in some irreparable consequence, who would bear the responsibility? Would it not be him, the chief surgeon?

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress, Daoist Master Sun Simiao and his disciple have arrived." At this moment, an eunuch entered to report.

"Quickly invite them in!" Li Shimin waved his hand to signal. A whole group of people had been sitting here for so long, and what they had been waiting for was precisely him.

Before long, the old Daoist Sun Simiao was seen leading his disciple, taking small, measured steps all the way to the presence of Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun, where he bowed deeply in salute: "This poor Daoist pays respects to Your Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress!"

"Daoist Master Sun is most polite." Li Shimin nodded his head slightly. For this old Daoist who was over eighty years old yet still robust and healthy, Li Shimin held a great deal of respect in his heart.

"Daoist Master Sun." Liu Yitiao walked lightly to Sun Simiao's side, cupped his hands, and said, "The hour is not early. Shall we go and make our preparations now?"

Sun Simiao smiled and replied, "Everything shall be as Liu, my young friend, prescribes."

***

Afterwards, Liu Yitiao and Sun Simiao's master and disciple begged their leave from Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun. Guided by an eunuch, they entered the Crown Prince Li Chengqian's bedchamber.

Inside the bedchamber, Li Chengqian was dressed in simple undergarments, pacing back and forth on his toes in an anxious manner. Seeing Liu Yitiao and the others enter, he eagerly hurried forward to welcome them, saying, "Mr. Liu, Daoist Master Sun, I have been awaiting you both here for a long time. Please come inside, both of you."

"We have kept Your Highness the Crown Prince waiting for a long time; it is truly a grave fault, and we hope Your Highness will forgive us!" Liu Yitiao cupped his hands to Li Chengqian in apology and exchanged a few polite pleasantries. Then, he looked over the various instruments set up in the bedchamber, nodded slightly, and again cupped his hands to Li Chengqian, saying, "Your Highness, since the equipment has all been fully prepared, shall we begin right now? The earlier the procedure is completed, the sooner Your Highness can return to normal. Please, Your Highness, return to the bed."

"Yes, yes, then I must trouble Mr. Liu and Daoist Master Sun." Li Chengqian cupped his hands to both Liu Yitiao and Sun Simiao, then walked on his tiptoes to the side of the bed and lay down sideways. As he looked at the gleaming, cold-flashing small knife Liu Yitiao had just picked up, he could not help but feel his heart begin to tense up.

This surgery was unlike the time he was stabbed in Sanyuan; that stab had been an accident, and it had sliced into his body before he even had time to react, so although he felt pain, he was not particularly frightened.

This cut by Liu Yitiao, however, was going to slice into his foot bit by bit, peel open his bones, and extract the foreign object within, giving him the helpless sensation of being fish on a chopping block waiting to be carved up. Just thinking about it made it feel utterly wretched.

"Boil the water, and put all these instruments into the boiling water to scald them thoroughly!" Liu Yitiao put down the small knife and softly instructed the eunuchs standing nearby.

"Understood, Mr. Liu." The eunuchs replied in low voices, their tone appearing quite respectful. Before Liu Yitiao and the others arrived, Li Chengqian had already instructed these eunuchs that today, everything was to be done according to Mr. Liu's orders.

Seeing the eunuchs bustle into activity, Liu Yitiao walked over to Li Chengqian's side, bent down to pull out Li Chengqian's right leg, removed the white sock wrapped around his right foot, and had someone bring a basin of warm water to wash it meticulously.

"Mr. Liu, when... when do you plan to start cutting?" Li Chengqian watched his right foot being washed, suddenly recalling some of the ducks he had seen being slaughtered outside the palace in the past.

"Your Highness need not worry." Liu Yitiao noticed the trace of fear in Li Chengqian's eyes and smiled, speaking to him in a very gentle tone: "It is merely a minor surgery. In a moment, Your Highness will only need to lie here and take a nap; when you wake up again, all of this will be over. During this time, Your Highness will not feel even the slightest bit of pain."

"Uh, sleep? Mr. Liu, under these circumstances, how could I possibly fall asleep?" Li Chengqian looked at Liu Yitiao in puzzlement, unable to fathom why the man would say such a thing.

"Haha, Your Highness need not be anxious; shortly, you will naturally fall asleep." Liu Yitiao chuckled softly and said no more. Clearly, he had no intention of explaining to Li Chengqian how he would be made to fall into a deep slumber amidst excruciating pain.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the boiling water in the iron pot had bubbled through three rolling boils—the timing was just right.

Liu Yitiao ordered people to fish out all the instruments from the pot, and then pulled Sun Simiao over to wash both their hands thoroughly with strong liquor.

***

"Liu, my young friend, I wonder what this poor Daoist should do shortly?" Until now, Sun Simiao still did not know how Liu Yitiao intended to proceed, nor what his own role was supposed to be.

Liu Yitiao picked up a flask of strong liquor and sniffed it lightly. While called strong liquor, in reality, its alcohol content was probably less than forty degrees; he had no idea whether it would be effective for sterilization at all.

"Daoist Master Sun," Liu Yitiao poured the liquor into a basin, looked up at Sun Simiao, and said, "In a moment, this junior will need the Master to employ your peerless silver needle technique to temporarily seal the blood vessels in His Highness the Crown Prince's right leg, dulling the pain in his right leg and reducing the flow rate of his blood. I wonder if the Daoist Master is able to accomplish this?"

"This," Sun Simiao pondered for a moment before saying, "This poor Daoist can barely meet the requirements Liu, my young friend, has stated, but there are certain limitations regarding the duration. A quarter of an hour—at most, it can only be controlled for a quarter of an hour. If it exceeds that, I fear the Crown Prince's leg might never recover."

"A quarter of an hour? More than enough!" Liu Yitiao nodded. This was merely a minor surgery after all; it did not require such protracted precision. A quarter of an hour should be sufficient.

Carrying the basin of liquor, Liu Yitiao walked to the head of the bed, placed Li Chengqian's right foot into the basin, and washed it back and forth.

"Mr. Liu, is it about to begin?" Li Chengqian watched as Liu Yitiao carefully dried the liquor from his foot, and then looked at the cold, gleaming surgical instruments brought over by the eunuch. His little heart began to thump wildly, and he cautiously asked Liu Yitiao.

Liu Yitiao stood up, placed Li Chengqian's right foot onto a stool beside the bed, washed his own hands once more with the liquor, picked up a small surgical scalpel, and walked to Li Chengqian's side with a smile. He bowed deeply to him and said in a gentle tone, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, please forgive this humble commoner for any offense; I am about to perform the surgery for Your Highness now."

"Before that, however, this humble commoner would like to invite Your Highness to take a short nap. Please close your eyes first." Liu Yitiao gently coaxed Li Chengqian into closing his eyes, and then, extending his right hand, he swiftly patted the back of Li Chengqian's neck—much like how one would pat a plow ox on their farm.

Thus, His Highness the Crown Prince Li Chengqian promptly and smoothly lost consciousness.

"Uh?" Sun Simiao and the eunuchs were all startled. Was this... what Mr. Liu meant by sleeping? Truly, it was rather ferocious. Did he not fear that after the Crown Prince woke up, he would punish him for the crime of great disrespect?

Liu Yitiao clapped his hands, rolled Li Chengqian's trouser leg up high, and said to Sun Simiao, "Daoist Master Sun, it is all up to you now."

Sun Simiao nodded, signaling the long-browed Daoist to bring out his customary silver needles. He slowly poked two needles into the major acupoints all over Li Chengqian's right leg, leaving the needles inserted there. Then, standing up, he nodded to Liu Yitiao and said, "Please proceed, Mr. Liu. Remember, there is only a quarter of an hour."