After Madam Su and her husband left, Doctor Huang seized the opportunity to ask Leng Ruoli many questions about medicine, all of which Leng Ruoli answered for him.
Time passed quickly, and it was already evening.
Through their discussions, Leng Ruoli found her old disciple to be a decent person. Though his appearance was not striking, with his white hair, lean face, and a small patch of short, stiff, grayish-white beard, and his deep-set brown eyes, he possessed good medical ethics and a kind heart. He often treated poor villagers for free. With his existing medical foundation, a little guidance would surely lead to great progress in his skills, perhaps even benefiting more people.
Just then, a man dressed in blue brocade entered the clinic, exuding a palpable aura of killing intent. Judging by their attire, they appeared to be guards.
"Doctor, doctor, where are you?"
The man anxiously searched for a doctor as soon as he stepped into the clinic.
Behind him, two companions carried a man covered in blood.
"I am the doctor," Doctor Huang responded.
"Doctor, quickly tend to my master's leg wound."
After speaking, Doctor Huang approached the injured man and saw that he had already lost consciousness, being carried by two other men in blue brocade on a wooden plank. Doctor Huang took a cursory glance at the man's injuries and sighed, "I am afraid, Doctor Huang cannot save this leg."
But as soon as Doctor Huang finished speaking, the man in brocade beside him became instantly ferocious, drawing his sword and pressing it against Doctor Huang's neck.
"You must heal my master's leg wound, or I will kill you," the man in blue brocade commanded fiercely.
Leng Ruoli watched the tense atmosphere around Doctor Huang, her delicate brows furrowed. She walked over and glanced at the injured person. Seeing his distinguished clothing, she knew this injured man was either wealthy or noble.
Suddenly, a "beep! beep! beep!" alarm sounded in her mind. "Master, there is a patient requiring urgent treatment."
Leng Ruoli pressed her forehead with a sigh. This system had only sounded twice since she transmigrated that night, and had been silent ever since. Why was it suddenly chiming today?
"Doctor Huang, I can treat this man's leg. Have them carry the patient to the small room where Madam Su used to live. His lower leg bone is shattered, and he needs surgery as soon as possible. Please have someone prepare some warm water," Leng Ruoli said calmly to Doctor Huang.
"Are you a doctor?" The man in brocade could hardly believe that a girl in her teens could treat wounds.
Leng Ruoli nodded in response.
The man in brocade remained skeptical.
At that moment, Doctor Huang interjected, "She is my master."
This statement nearly made the three men in brocade drop their jaws. "Aren't all doctors old men? How can there be such a young girl?"
Doctor Huang cast a disdainful glance at these three "country bumpkins."
In fact, Doctor Huang was slightly taken aback when Leng Ruoli said she could treat a shattered leg bone. However, he quickly came to his senses. His master had already performed a cesarean section, a shocking feat. It wasn't surprising that she could treat this man's leg bone injury.
Thus, Doctor Huang quickly summoned the medical apprentices to boil hot water in the backyard and to carry the injured man into the small room where Madam Su had recently moved out.
Then, under the pretext of fetching her medicine chest, Leng Ruoli went outside, cleverly evading the brocade-clad man who had followed her from the clinic. She hid in an secluded spot, retrieved the medical kit she always carried for house calls in her past life from her system space, and returned to the room in the clinic.
She sent the other two brocade-clad men guarding the patient out of the room and called Doctor Huang in.
"Doctor Huang, didn't you want to learn the art of suturing? We have a patient today, so I'll demonstrate it for you."
"Excellent, excellent, thank you, Master," Doctor Huang replied, his face beaming with excitement. He rolled up his sleeves, eager to begin.
Ever since he witnessed Madam Su's wound suturing last time, Doctor Huang had become very interested in Leng Ruoli's suturing techniques. He had even secretly experimented on rabbits, performing caesarean sections and suturing their abdomens, but none of the little rabbits survived for more than three days.
Since Leng Ruoli was willing to teach him this time, he was determined to learn diligently.
Leng Ruoli opened her medicine chest in front of Doctor Huang. She felt that although Doctor Huang was somewhat unreliable, he was a person of good discretion.
She also made him promise to keep her secrets and took out the medical supplies she needed for surgery, explaining the use of each item to Doctor Huang in detail.
Doctor Huang, however, stared at the various strange items in her medicine chest, his face filled with astonishment, and he remained in a daze for a long time.
He was deeply shocked, wondering: Where did his master get all these peculiar things? He had never seen anything like them before. Where could they have come from?
Leng Ruoli glanced at the bewildered Doctor Huang and immediately understood his thoughts. She explained, "These items were left to me by my master. My master was an eccentric recluse who only taught me how to use these medical instruments. Unfortunately, he never told me where they came from."
Doctor Huang accepted her explanation with a hint of doubt. "Oh~" he murmured, not intending to inquire further. As long as he knew these things were for saving lives, that was enough.
Given the urgency, Leng Ruoli quickly disinfected herself and Doctor Huang to prevent post-operative infection.
Following that, Leng Ruoli began the surgery on the injured man. She expertly cut open the man's trouser leg with scissors, used a warm towel to wipe away the blood from his lower leg, and then disinfected it with saline solution. Afterward, she injected the man with an anesthetic.
Once the anesthetic took effect, she used a scalpel to open the wound on his lower leg, quickly applied a hemostat to stop the bleeding, then used retractors to hold the wound open and carefully removed the bone fragments from his lower leg, piece by piece.
Leng Ruoli was soon engrossed in the surgery, while Doctor Huang stood by, watching intently, afraid to even blink, lest he miss something. He dared not make any sound for fear of disturbing Leng Ruoli's procedure.
After removing all the bone fragments, Leng Ruoli applied a steel plate to the bone... then, she sutured the wound, disinfected it, and applied a cast...
By the end of the surgery, Leng Ruoli's hands and feet were numb.
Doctor Huang, however, was still in a state of shock.
Inside, Doctor Huang's mind was a turbulent sea. The last time Leng Ruoli performed a cesarean section on Madam Su, Doctor Huang hadn't personally witnessed how she did it or how she sutured.
But this time, he had personally seen Leng Ruoli cut open the wound, remove the bone fragments, insert what appeared to be a supporting plate into the bone, and he had watched firsthand as she sutured the wound. These scenes left him utterly dumbfounded.
He never imagined that a sixteen-year-old girl could possess such profound medical knowledge. He was greatly astonished; it seemed he had indeed found the right master.
"Master, I want to ask you, the other day I also cut open the bellies of a few rabbits and sutured them like you, but they all died."
"Did you sterilize them as I did? Surgery must be performed in a sterile environment. Everything used in the surgery must be sterilized. If not sterilized, post-operative infection is very likely. Once an infection sets in, it can easily be fatal."
Upon hearing this, Doctor Huang instantly understood.
An hour later.
As Leng Ruoli opened the door, a sharp, gleaming sword lunged towards her. Leng Ruoli reacted with extreme speed, bending backward and easily dodging the masked assailant's blade.
To her surprise, the masked assailant suddenly changed targets and thrust towards the injured man on the bed. With lightning speed, Leng Ruoli retrieved two silver needles from her system space and flicked them with her fingers towards the masked assailant who had attacked her. The assailant immediately fell unconscious to the ground.
Leng Ruoli and Doctor Huang emerged from the room to find the clinic in disarray. The medical apprentices and staff had all hidden. Leng Ruoli glanced at Doctor Huang, signaling him to quickly retreat back into the room.
However, Doctor Huang was also worried about Leng Ruoli's safety and insisted on pulling her into the room with him to take shelter. Despite Leng Ruoli's martial arts skills, the masked assailants were all highly skilled fighters, and Doctor Huang feared she might get hurt.
At that moment, the three men in blue brocade were locked in a fierce battle with more than a dozen masked assailants. The outcome was still undecided. Leng Ruoli didn't know which side to assist, so she could only quietly stand guard outside the injured man's room.