Chapter 628 Hope for Surgery (First Update)

The Duke was very quiet.

Gu Jiao wasn't sure to what extent his consciousness had recovered—whether he could only vaguely react to external stimuli or clearly recognize external sounds.

To put it bluntly, I don't know if he can understand what I'm saying.

But Gu Jiao still treated him as a patient with a complete sense of self. She rolled up his sleeve, completely exposing the wound on his forearm.

"The wound isn't long or deep, so you don't need stitches. I'll clean it up first and then apply some wound ointment."

As Gu Jiao spoke, she used a disposable iodine swab to wipe away the bloodstains from the wound, then opened her homemade wound medicine, dipped a little in it, and applied it evenly to the wound.

As dusk settled, the setting sun cast its rays outside.

The Duke's breathing was very even, and he didn't move at all during the entire process of applying the medicine.

"Alright." Gu Jiao put away the medicine bottle and cotton swabs. The cotton swabs were wrapped in oil paper. She never threw away any of her used medical supplies casually, but handled them as carefully as possible.

The person was rescued, and the wounds were treated. Gu Jiao decided to leave.

She took one last look at the man on the bed. His condition did seem to have improved since their first meeting; at least his body wasn't so cold anymore.

Gu Jiao reached out her finger and touched his forehead; there was a slight sheen of sweat.

Gu Jiao pulled his quilt down a little, opened the window to ventilate the room, and then turned and left.

The Duke on the bed trembled as he raised his hand, as if trying to grasp something.

...

After leaving the Duke's mansion, Gu Jiao visited several clinics. This time, she changed her strategy, not asking about the operating room, but only about her family member's serious heart disease and whether there was a cure. She even showed the doctors at the clinics the Chinese medicine she had written.

Doctors can generally determine the severity of a patient's heart condition through the prescription, and experienced doctors know that medication cannot cure it completely.

"I have a family recipe here that you might want to give."

"I've been practicing medicine for decades, and there's no disease I can't cure. Bring your patient over another day so I can take a look!"

"This ancestral golden pill of mine can cure all diseases and neutralize all poisons. It costs eighty taels. I can tell you are a kind-hearted and honest person, so I'll sell it to you for fifty taels!"

...

By the time Gu Jiao emerged from the fifth clinic, it was completely dark.

"These people don't know they need surgery. Could it be that Yan Kingdom really doesn't have operating rooms... So that time-traveling predecessor, like me, was just looking for an operating room and drew a sketch of one?"

"Get out of the way!"

As Gu Jiao muttered in confusion, a commotion suddenly broke out on the street ahead. A man dressed in black had fallen from a rooftop and landed on the ground.

Gu Jiao heard a sharp cracking sound from a great distance, and knew without guessing that his leg was broken.

Moreover, he appeared to have other injuries, with blood gushing from his abdomen.

Almost simultaneously, several men in gray robes rushed out of the alley. They held knives to the neck of the seriously wounded man, but one of the men in gray robes knelt down, examined his injuries, and said solemnly, "He's badly injured! He needs surgery as soon as possible! Otherwise, he'll die!"

Operation?

Gu Jiao's eyes narrowed.

Several men in gray robes rushed back into the alley and carried out a makeshift stretcher. They carefully moved the seriously injured man onto the stretcher.

"Get in the car!"

The gray-robed man who examined his injuries said.

Several people carried the injured man onto a carriage in the alley.

Gu Jiao followed.

But as soon as he stepped through the alley, a strong hand grabbed his arm.

Gu Jiao drew her dagger almost instinctively.

"It's me!"

The other party said.

Gu Jiao put down the dagger and turned to look at Mu Qingchen, who had suddenly appeared: "What are you doing here?"

Mu Qingchen retorted, "That's what I should be asking you. This is the inner city, how did you manage to sneak in again?"

Gu Jiao put away the dagger and didn't reply.

Mu Qingchen seemed to understand Gu Jiao's personality; there was no need to ask what she wanted to say, and asking what she didn't want to say was pointless: "Also, have you lost your mind? You dare to associate with just anyone?"

Gu Jiao said, "That person was seriously injured. I'm just curious how they will treat him."

That's pretty much the truth.

Mu Qingchen said coldly, "Is all your curiosity being used for things like this?"

Gu Jiao said, "I'm willing."

Mu Qingchen: "..."

"Can I let go now?" Gu Jiao looked at his hand that was still holding her arm.

Mu Qingchen calmly lowered her hand, glanced at Gu Jiao, and turned to walk forward: "I just happen to be going out of the city."

"Oh." Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow and followed Mu Qingchen into his carriage without being invited.

"Leave the city," Mu Qingchen said.

The coachman was confused. Hadn't he just returned? Why was he going out again?

The coachman turned the carriage around and slowly headed out of the city.

"Have the assassins from the Crown Prince's residence been caught?" Gu Jiao asked.

"We caught him, but the assassin committed suicide out of fear of punishment," Mu Qingchen said.

Royal power struggles are common in any country, so Gu Jiao's situation is not surprising.

On the contrary, the assassin she encountered at the Duke's mansion aroused a lot of suspicion in Gu Jiao's heart.

When she first entered the Duke's mansion, the guards discovered suspicious people. She thought she had been exposed. Considering the situation today, she feared that an assassin had intended to harm the Duke of Anguo that day.

However, the guards of the Duke's mansion discovered them in time, and they fled before they could succeed.

Today's assassin was more cunning and managed to evade the Duke's guards.

Gu Jiao thought for a moment, then took out the dagger from her bosom and tossed it to him.

Mu Qingchen reached out and grabbed, asking suspiciously, "What?"

"Someone attempted to assassinate the Duke, and this is the murder weapon dropped by the assassin." Gu Jiao decided to tell Mu Qingchen the truth.

First, when Gu Jiao went to treat the Duke that day, she did not sense any hostility from Mu Qingchen towards the Duke; second, the prescription Mu Qingchen gave her was clearly for treating fainting, which shows that Mu Qingchen was secretly seeking medical treatment for the Duke.

He was not an enemy of the Duke of Anguo.

Upon hearing Gu Jiao's words, Mu Qingchen's first reaction was: "You went to the Duke's mansion again?"

Gu Jiao: "Would you believe me if I said it was just a coincidence?"

Mu Qingchen: "..."

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

Gu Jiao told Mu Qingchen about her two times mistakenly entering the Duke's mansion.

Mu Qingchen was at a loss for words. No wonder she seemed to be revisiting the Duke's mansion when he took her there. It was true!

Gu Jiao thought that Mu Qingchen would ask her how she was able to defeat an assassin, but to her surprise, Mu Qingchen didn't mention anything about questioning her skills at all, as if he had seen it before.

However, Gu Jiao couldn't recall ever showing off her skills in front of Mu Qingchen, and could only conclude that Mu Qingchen wasn't interested in her abilities.

Mu Qingchen looked at the dagger in her hand and said, "I understand. I will inform the Duke's Mansion and have them strengthen their defenses."

Gu Jiao reached out her hand to Mu Qingchen.

Mu Qingchen: What?

Gu Jiao said matter-of-factly, "Give it back to me. I earned this dagger through my own abilities."

I'm just showing you the evidence, not giving it to you.

Mu Qingchen again: "..."

There was nothing on the dagger that could identify the murderer, so it wouldn't matter if Xiao Liulang used it.

Mu Qingchen returned the dagger to Gu Jiao.

"I once promised someone that I would take good care of the Duke."

"Um?"

Why are we suddenly talking about this?

"Are you talking to me?" Gu Jiao asked Mu Qingchen.

Their relationship isn't close enough for them to have heart-to-heart talks.

Mu Qingchen was taken aback, and seemed to realize that she had misspoke, so she explained, "I just suddenly remembered that person."

Gu Jiao wanted to kill the conversation, but after glancing at Mu Qingchen, she still asked cooperatively, "Someone very important?"

Mu Qingchen recalled, "It was a little girl. Before she left, she said to me, 'Mu Qingchen, you must take good care of my father. If I find out you haven't taken good care of him, I will beat you up.'"

"The daughter of the Duke of Anguo?" Gu Jiao said, "Hmm, so arrogant?"

Mu Qingchen said, "She's younger than me, but I can't beat her. Even wolves can't beat her."

Gu Jiao thought to herself, "Even wolves can't beat me."

That said, this plot is a bit melodramatic.

Gu Jiao wasn't good at handling this kind of situation. She felt that if they continued talking like this, she could dig a three-bedroom, two-living-room house out of her little toes in the carriage.

Fortunately, Mu Qingchen changed the subject: "Those people just now were from the Imperial Preceptor's Hall."

"Which ones?" Gu Jiao asked.

"Those are the ones you're supposed to be tracking," Mu Qingchen said.

Gu Jiao immediately perked up: "What kind of place is the Imperial Preceptor's Hall?"

Mu Qingchen said, "The predecessor of the Imperial Advisor's Hall was the Imperial Observatory. After it was taken over by the Imperial Advisor, it was rebuilt into the Imperial Advisor's Hall. The Imperial Advisor's Hall is the largest force in Shengdu. The Imperial Advisor is very powerful and highly valued by the Emperor. He can enter the palace with a sword without needing to announce his arrival."

Legend has it that the State of Yan was just a minor state decades ago, but one day a powerful national advisor suddenly appeared and presented the king with six great classics. It was by relying on the secrets in these classics that the State of Yan rose like bamboo shoots after a spring rain.

Gu Jiao didn't know if these rumors were exaggerated, but since even Mu Qingchen praised the other party for his great abilities, could he be the transmigrator senior who built the operating room?

The monthly pass event has started. Check your pockets, do you still have any monthly passes left?

(End of this chapter)