Xie Qiqi stood dazed for a moment.
Second Grandpa glared at her impatiently and scolded, "Saving a life is like fighting a fire! What are you standing there for? If you don't have the guts, get out... don't stand here getting in the way!"
Thinking of her goals, Xie Qiqi gritted her teeth. She thrust her hands into a basin of wine to rinse them, then picked up the needle. When she had been a government slave, she had done plenty of sewing; she would just pretend she was mending clothes.
Suppressing her terror, she used trembling hands to push the injured man’s intestines back into his abdomen, pulled the edges of the wound together, and began to stitch them up with focused care.
*Can this really save him?*
Xie Qiqi looked at the injured man's young, tender face and prayed he would survive. He looked to be about her age; if he died, his parents would surely be heartbroken.
When she finally finished the suturing, Second Grandpa came over to inspect her work and nodded with satisfaction. "Good. Go and stitch the others! Keep doing it just like that. You’re much better than that brat Wang Mian; he was retching his guts out the first time he tried stitching..."
As he spoke, Second Grandpa turned his head and asked, "Moyuan, what do you think? Does this kid have the grit to be my apprentice?"
Xie Qiqi instinctively followed Second Grandpa’s gaze. A man sat beneath the window with one leg resting on another chair, his black "flying fish" uniform clinging to his other long, muscular leg.
*Moyuan?* The royal surname of Dongyue State was Mo. Was he a member of the imperial family?
Moyuan’s face was cast in shadow as his back was to the light. The first thing Xie Qiqi noticed were his eyes—cold and bright as winter stars. Moyuan was devastatingly handsome, his chiseled features sharp and severe. His thick black brows and high-bridged nose exuded a sense of nobility and elegance, yet carried an air of untamable, solitary arrogance.
Xie Qiqi looked away instantly, lowering her gaze by instinct. The powerful presence of a superior radiating from Moyuan filled her with a reflexive fear—a survival instinct honed during eight years as a government slave. She knew that a man like him could determine her life or death with a single word or even a glance.
"Little Bell, you stitch up his wounds. Second Grandpa even praised your skills as better than mine. You do it!" Wang Mian nudged her, his voice trembling. It wasn't that he lacked loyalty; he was simply terrified of the killing machine that was Moyuan, fearing he would be kicked across the room if he caused the man any pain.
Xie Qiqi reflexively took the medicine tray Wang Mian thrust at her and, before she could object, was pushed right in front of Moyuan.
While continuing to treat other patients, Second Grandpa smiled at Qiqi. "Kid, put on a good performance. If you do well, I’ll take you as my apprentice!"
Xie Qiqi was terrified of Moyuan, but with no way out, she steeled herself and knelt to examine his injuries.
Moyuan’s calf had been slashed by a sharp blade, tearing his trousers. The wound had only been hastily wrapped in a cloth strip to stop the bleeding, and the blood had already soaked through.
As Xie Qiqi’s trembling hands unraveled the cloth, fresh blood welled up.
Second Grandpa saw this and ordered, "Use a strip of cloth to tie off his thigh before treating the wound!"
Hands shaking, Xie Qiqi pulled a cloth strip from the tray. Finding it awkward to work while crouching, she simply knelt to tie off Moyuan’s thigh. When she touched his rock-hard leg, her hands trembled so violently she nearly dropped the cloth. She didn't dare look at Moyuan, repeating to herself silently that she wasn't offending him; she was merely treating his wounds.
Afterward, she washed her hands in strong wine and, following Second Grandpa’s method, began to cleanse the wound. Moyuan’s skin was a bronze color, a stark contrast to her own fair complexion. The wound was ghastly, the flesh turned outward. When the wine touched the raw tissue, she saw Moyuan’s leg twitch once, before turning as still as stone.
*That must hurt so much!*
Xie Qiqi thought of how she had nearly fainted from pain when her own finger was broken. A wound as horrific as this must be agonizing to the bone.
Once she finished cleaning it, she pulled the edges together and, with a trembling hand, drove the needle into Moyuan’s flesh.
Moyuan’s leg twitched again!
Xie Qiqi froze in panic, shrinking her shoulders, certain that Moyuan would kick her away. She had forgotten that the previous patient was unconscious, but Moyuan was fully awake. Surely he wouldn't let her off for causing him pain!
After a moment of silence, the expected punishment never came.
"Continue."
Moyuan spat out only the two words. His voice was as steady as a mountain, and that calmness inexplicably eased Xie Qiqi’s terror. *He isn't blaming me!*
Xie Qiqi let out a silent breath of relief, lowered her head, and didn't dare delay any longer, quickly finishing the sutures. As she worked, she could feel his piercing gaze fixed upon her, which made her nervous all over again. She tried to focus entirely on the wound. If she worked faster, he would suffer less pain, and then perhaps he wouldn't mind that she had caused him discomfort.
Stitch by stitch, Xie Qiqi counted silently. She placed twenty in all.
*He must be fainting from the pain by now!* If it were her, she wouldn't have been able to endure even two stitches of such raw work.
When she finished the bandaging and finally looked up, it hit her that he was a man; a proper young lady should not have such intimate contact with one. Xie Qiqi had assumed he was unconscious, saving her from embarrassment. Instead, she found Moyuan’s obsidian eyes looking at her with cold indifference.
Terrified, she immediately hung her head again. *Will my rude behavior anger him? It’s over—I can’t escape this time!*
Moyuan stood up. The hem of his black uniform brushed against Xie Qiqi’s shoulder as he strode away.
"Wang Er, if you really want to take this... 'kid' as an apprentice, their grit still needs a lot of work."
Moyuan dropped the remark and left. His voice was clear and deep, yet the way he said "kid" held a profound, ambiguous tone. Xie Qiqi had a feeling he had seen right through her disguise.
After the chaos subsided and all the patients were treated, Second Grandpa Wang Zhi pulled a weary Xie Qiqi aside.
"Little Bell, you did well today. I see you have potential. If you’re willing, I’ll take you as my apprentice!"
"You’ve seen it—my methods are different from other doctors, but they work..."
Xie Qiqi looked up at Wang Zhi in surprise. He was in his early forties, nearly seven feet tall, lean, with a dark, ruddy complexion and eyes as black as ink beneath a messy mop of hair. He had a limp in his right leg; Xie Qiqi had noticed him hobbling as he walked.
Wang Zhi thumped his own leg and said, "When your uncle was young, I broke my leg. If I had met someone who understood my medical arts back then, I wouldn't have ended up a cripple."
"Bell, look at those wounded men earlier. Think of the soldiers guarding the border. If you learn my medical arts, there will be far fewer disabled people in this world!"
Xie Qiqi thought of her father and her third brother; they were exactly the type of soldiers Second Grandpa described. She wished she could learn his skills to help them in the future. But she didn't have much time left to live—how could she have the energy to learn everything?
Imperial Physician Wang walked over. Hearing their conversation, he glared at his unconventional younger brother and scolded, "Second Brother, Bell isn't going to learn from you. Stop pestering her. Bell, go wash up, change your clothes, and head back early."
Imperial Physician Wang had already recognized Xie Qiqi. He hadn't exposed her earlier, but now, he didn't want her to stay at Baicao Hall a moment longer.