Married to a Villainous Minister - Chapter 232

Yu Jiao listened to his words without a ripple on her face, offering only a faint smile. “There’s no need for Physician Lin to lecture me. But speaking of arrogance, I dare say I fall short of you. Looking at you reminds me of a story, ‘the frog at the bottom of the well.’ I wonder, have you heard that one?”

“You insolent brat!” Lin Fang bellowed. “I’ve been practicing medicine for years and never seen someone as arrogant and incorrigible as you!”

Yu Jiao sneered. “Your narrow view doesn’t make others’ medical skills invalid. There’s always a sky beyond the sky, a person beyond the person. Just because you’ve never seen it doesn’t mean it can’t be done. If anyone is ignorant and obstinate here, it’s you. Lady Sun has already taken an abortive medicine once and is bleeding. In her current condition, she simply can’t endure anything as harsh as those drugs. Knowing it would kill both mother and child, yet insisting on it, that’s the real malpractice! I’ll throw your words back at you: if your medicine causes her death, will you pay with your life?”

“You… you…” Lin Fang pointed at Yu Jiao, so angry that his chest heaved.

“You’re twisting logic! Lady Sun is frail to begin with. If she can’t handle the medicine, that’s fate. Physician Lin is doing his best, and if she dies, how can he be blamed? Taking the medicine at least gives her a chance, refusing it is just waiting to die!” Said the young physician who had come with Lin Fang and always followed his lead.

Yu Jiao replied slowly, “So you’re saying your medicine gives her just a ten percent chance of survival?”

She turned to Shen Wan, her voice calm and steady. “But if I perform a cesarean, I have an eighty percent chance of saving Miss Xueyan.”

Shen Wan looked into her clear, resolute eyes and asked, “Miss Yu, can I trust you?”

Yu Jiao nodded firmly.

Shen Wan clenched the handkerchief in her palm. Yu Jiao’s confident demeanor stirred something in her. Recalling what she’d said earlier to her cousin, Shen Wan took a deep breath and made her decision. “Miss Yu, I’ll entrust my cousin’s life to you.”

Yu Jiao inclined her head. “Rest assured, Miss Shen. I’ll do everything I can.”

“Miss Shen…” the young Physician tried to stop her. “You mustn’t! Physician Lin’s mentor is an imperial physician, and even he has never heard of such a procedure. How can you trust her?”

Another Physician, Song, who had come with Lin Fang but remained silent until now, spoke thoughtfully, “There is a record in The Bamboo Annals: ‘Xiuyi cut open her back and gave birth to Yu at Shiniu.’ If that account is true, perhaps Miss Yu’s method is not impossible.”

The young Physician frowned. “Physician Song, that’s just legend. Emperor Yu’s whole life was mythical, probably something fabricated to entertain people.”

Not wanting to offend Lin Fang, Physician Song smiled lightly. “I merely recalled the text, it’s indeed hard to verify.”

The young Physician wanted to argue further, but Lin Fang stopped him. “Since Miss Shen has made her decision, if something goes wrong, Miss Yu will bear the responsibility. We need not say more.”

He wanted to see just how this girl planned to cut open a belly and remove a fetus.

“But I must offer one last piece of advice,” Lin Fang added smugly. “Miss Shen, the body, hair, and skin are gifts from one’s parents. If Lady Sun dies from the medicine, at least her body will remain whole. If you cut her open, her intestines will spill onto the floor. When you see that, as her closest kin, I fear you won’t be able to handle it.”

Shen Wan paled. She was three years younger than Wang Xueyan and had never imagined such a thing happening in Qingzhou, her mind was spinning.

Yu Jiao comforted her gently. “A cesarean isn’t about slicing someone open haphazardly. It’s a small incision on the abdomen. What Physician Lin described won’t happen.”

She turned to Lin Fang with a faint, mocking smile. “You don’t have to prove your ignorance so eagerly. Physician Lin, have you never read the classics? To know what you know and to admit what you don’t, that is wisdom. Stop pretending to understand things you clearly don’t.”

Lin Fang was rendered speechless, his face livid.

Yang Jiyan tugged Shen Wan’s sleeve and whispered, “Sister Shen, maybe it’s better to let Physician Lin use the medicine? How could a living person endure having their belly cut open?”

Shen Wan was visibly tormented, neither option seemed safe, yet she had to choose. “I’ll ask my cousin,” she finally said, unable to make the decision herself.

She went back to the inner room.

Just then, Yu Fuling returned with a maid, having gone back to the Mu household to retrieve the medical kit.

Yu Jiao wrote down two prescriptions and handed them to Yu Fuling. “Sister, this one includes datura flower, also called Sheep’s Madness, Peach Drunken Flower, Dog Walnut. If none of those are available, get Rhododendron molle instead.”

Note: Datura flowers have a long history in traditional medicine for treating spasms, asthma, epilepsy, and as pain relief. Rhododendron molle is used in traditional Chinese medicine primarily for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and pain relief.

Yu Fuling committed it to memory and rushed out to gather the herbs.

Shen Wan emerged from the room again, tears still streaking her face. Her voice was solemn, heavy with trust. “Miss Yu, my cousin says she trusts you.”

That kind of wholehearted trust, Yu Jiao had seen it countless times, but it never failed to move her.

Carrying the medical kit, she walked into the inner room and said to Shen Wan, “I’ll need a jar of strong liquor, the stronger the better, a pair of scissors, and ask the servants to boil a pot each of licorice water and Sichuan pepper-salt water.”

Shen Wan instructed a trusted servant to carry out the tasks, then followed Yu Jiao into the room.

Yu Jiao placed the medical kit beside the bed, took out a sachet of herbs prepared from magnolia, sweetflag, and patchouli, and lit it in the incense burner.

Note: This sachet helps as anti-inflammatory and has antimicrobial properties. Practically to sterilize the room.

She lit a candle on the bedside table, then took out the surgical instruments and sterilized them one by one over the flame.

Shen Wan looked at the cold, gleaming tools and felt a chill in her heart. She poured herself a cup of tea and drank it to calm her nerves.

Meanwhile, Wang Xueyan, lying on the bed, showed no trace of fear. Her eyes curiously followed the tools in Yu Jiao’s hands, and she weakly smiled. “Miss Yu, are you going to cut me open with those?”

Yu Jiao nodded. To ease her nerves, she gently explained the purpose of each tool.

Shen Wan, listening from the side, also began to feel a bit more at ease. The tools, all forged from refined iron, were rare and valuable. Yu Jiao’s familiarity with them suggested considerable experience.

Soon, the servants arrived with the requested items. Yu Jiao wiped the instruments with liquor, soaked them in pepper-salt water, then dried them thoroughly.

With Shen Wan’s help, she removed Wang Xueyan’s undergarments. Then, using a cloth dipped in the pepper-salt water, she carefully cleaned away the blood from her lower body and shaved the fine hairs on her abdomen with a surgical blade.