Administer medicine

For the first time in his life, the bearded doctor was humiliated by a woman. Unconvinced, he shouted at Fu Zhi Qiao's back, "You little woman, stop spouting nonsense! What do you mean by saving our lives? Do you think you're the King of Hell?"

"Hahaha!"

"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"

The bearded doctor's words made everyone laugh; they all thought Fu Zhiqiao was exaggerating.

"Shut up! Don't be rude to Boss Fu!" Doctor Gao quickly stopped them. These doctors didn't know the magic of alcohol, but he had seen it for himself. Although Boss Fu was a frail woman, she was very capable!

Imperial Physician Gao took out the alcohol that Fu Zhiqiao had given him and showed it to the doctors. "This stuff is called alcohol. It can help patients reduce fever. I have already tested it on the young master, and it is indeed very effective!"

The doctors couldn't believe that this transparent, water-like substance could reduce a high fever.

Seeing that no one believed her, Fu Zhiqiao said calmly, "Whether it's possible or not, we'll know once we try."

How do we test it?

"Does anyone have a wound? A fresh one."

The doctors' lips twitched. Who would come here to take care of a patient if they were injured themselves?

After asking around, no one had any injuries.

When Wang Qianxin came out after wiping Xie Zhuo's wound with alcohol, he saw Fu Zhi Qiao still in the clinic. "Miss Fu, didn't you say you were going back to rest?"

Fu Zhiqiao waved her hand, "You've come at the right time. Are there any injured people in your elite cavalry? Preferably those who were injured in the last two days."

Although Wang Qianxin didn't understand why, he still summoned a soldier from the elite cavalry. This morning, the soldier had slipped and fallen while moving stones on the embankment, and his arm had been cut by sharp stones.

As soon as the soldier rolled up his sleeve, Fu Zhi Qiao smelled blood. The wound was indeed fresh. Although the arm was no longer bleeding, the gauze used to bandage it was already stained red with blood.

Out of professional habit, the bearded doctor lifted the gauze and said, "Oh dear, this injury is quite serious. Wait here, I'll go and boil some herbal water to wipe it on for you, and then apply some wound medicine. It will be fine in a couple of days."

As he spoke, he turned to go out and brew the medicine.

Fu Zhiqiao interrupted, "Boiling herbs is too much trouble, just wipe it with alcohol."

The bearded doctor glared angrily at Fu Zhiqiao, thinking she was deliberately causing trouble. "This wound must be treated with herbal medicine, otherwise it will swell and ulcerate."

Ignoring the doctor's words, Fu Zhiqiao took the gauze and bowl from the medical supervisor beside her.

She poured some alcohol into a bowl, soaked a gauze pad in it, and carefully applied it to the wound about half a finger joint away.

The alcohol stung his skin, making the soldier's entire body tense up.

"Alcohol is irritating and cannot be applied directly to the wound." She explained as she wiped the wound, pointing to the doctor: "It should be applied about half a finger joint away from the wound. See, do you see it clearly?"

The imperial physician nodded, indicating that he understood.

"If there are stones or debris in the wound that need to be cleaned, you need to rinse the wound with cooled boiling water, then apply alcohol around the wound before applying medicine. Do not apply alcohol directly to the flesh." After Fu Zhiqiao helped the soldier wipe the wound with alcohol, he asked the medical supervisor to apply wound medicine and bandage the wound.

"Is that all?" The doctors all looked doubtful.

"It's done."

"Not applying herbal water and not drinking herbal medicine?"

Fu Zhi Qiao nodded, "No need, just go downstairs and apply the medicine."

"No, no, this is too frivolous." The bearded doctor shook his head. "Ignorant child, if such a big wound isn't cleaned properly with medicine, he'll die once it festers."

"The wound has already been disinfected with alcohol."

The bearded doctor refused to believe that alcohol could disinfect and reduce fever, and dragged the soldier away to brew herbal water again to wash his wound.

"Whether the alcohol works or not, we'll know tomorrow. Physician Gao, I would appreciate it if you could send a doctor to watch over him, preferably this highly skilled doctor with a beard." Fu Zhi Qiao emphasized the words "highly skilled doctor" when she spoke.

Fu Zhiqiao was absolutely certain that the soldier would be alright. The soldier's wound looked frightening, but it wasn't deep, and disinfecting it with alcohol would be sufficient.

"In case anything unexpected happens, this highly skilled doctor can save his life, wouldn't you say?"

The bearded doctor gave a disdainful snort but said nothing more. Seeing Fu Zhi Qiao's confident demeanor, Imperial Physician Gao agreed to her suggestion.

*

As darkness fell, Wang Qianxin, wanting to stay by Xie Zhuo's side, arranged for guards to escort Fu Zhiqiao home.

When Fu Zhi Qiao returned to the Fu residence, it was already dusk. She had been busy at the clinic for most of the day, which had taken a lot of her energy. After having dinner with Yu Rou Lan, she returned to her own courtyard, where Yin Xing had already prepared toiletries.

After washing up, Yinxing Luodeng left the room, and Fu Zhiqiao quickly fell asleep.

The next day, she went to the clinic to check on Xie Zhuo's condition.

Two elite cavalrymen stood guard at the door. When they saw her coming, they automatically made way. When Fu Zhiqiao entered, she saw Imperial Physician Gao feeding medicine to Xie Zhuo.

Although Xie Zhuo is still in a coma, his self-preservation instinct is very strong, and his body rejects all external intrusion.

The medicine was fed into Xie Zhuo's mouth but then flowed out of the corner of his mouth. Doctor Gao asked Wang Qianxin to help Xie Zhuo up and try to force the medicine down his throat, but he would spit it out again the next second.

The imperial physician shook his head. He was at his wit's end. This was the third bowl of medicine he had brewed, but Xie Zhuo had only drunk less than two mouthfuls of it.

Wang Qianxin saw Fu Zhiqiao as if she were his savior.

“Miss Fu, what should we do if the young master can’t drink his medicine? He vomited up both bowls of medicine we fed him before. Physician Gao said that without medicine, his fever cannot be completely reduced.”

Upon hearing this, Fu Zhiqiao touched Xie Zhuo's forehead, which was still a little hot.

Xie Zhuo couldn't swallow the medicine; he must have fallen into a deep coma and was unable to swallow on his own.

After applying the alcohol, Xie Zhuo's temperature dropped considerably, but this only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. He still needed to take herbal medicine to completely reduce the fever. Right now, Xie Zhuo couldn't drink the medicine; even if we tried to force it down his throat, he would vomit. We had to find a way to get him to take the medicine.

"How about we try feeding it to him orally?" Wang Qian didn't believe that medicine couldn't be fed to him mouth-to-mouth, so he planned to call a woman over to feed him the medicine.

After hearing this, Physician Gao agreed, as he really didn't want to repeatedly decoct the medicine and waste it.

"To ferry them by mouth?" Fu Zhi Qiao asked, wondering if it meant what she thought it meant.

"Ahem." With Fu Zhi Qiao present, Wang Qianxin cleared his throat awkwardly and said to Physician Gao, "I'll go find a woman right now."

"No!" Wang Qianxin had just reached the door when Fu Zhiqiao stopped him. He and Imperial Physician Gao both turned to look at Fu Zhiqiao, their eyes clearly asking, "Why not?"

Imperial Physician Gao: "Master Fu, the young master will die if he doesn't take his medicine soon. Orally administering the medicine is the last resort. Are we just going to watch him die?"

"If the medicine is to be administered orally, then why bother with a woman?"

“Of course, this kind of thing should be done by a woman!” Wang Qianxin answered without hesitation. Actually, he had considered having Fu Zhiqiao do it, but there was a certain risk of infection from mouth-to-mouth administration of medicine, and he couldn’t let Miss Fu take the risk, so he wanted to find another woman to take her place.

Fu Zhi Qiao was furious. She gritted her teeth and said, "Are you crazy? You yourself said that the plague is contagious. Is your young master's life more important than other people's? Why don't you feed him yourself?"

Wang Qianxin lowered his head. "If the Crown Prince finds out that I, a man, am feeding him medicine mouth-to-mouth, he will kill me."

Fu Zhiqiao: ...

Unexpectedly, this was the reason why Wang Qianxin wanted a woman to feed him the medicine.

Fu Zhi Qiao was visibly stunned when she heard the reason. Xie Zhuo was indeed someone who didn't like being touched by others casually. If Wang Qianxin, a man, were to feed him medicine mouth-to-mouth, Xie Zhuo would wake up to find out that a man had fed him medicine mouth-to-mouth...

To be honest, Fu Zhiqiao couldn't imagine what would happen to Wang Qianxin.

The imperial physician Gao had obviously thought of this as well, and the three of them looked at each other in bewilderment.

Xie Zhuo's current condition is not good, but it is too immoral to feed medicine mouth-to-mouth to someone infected with the plague using a healthy person. She cannot do it.

After a brief silence, Fu Zhi Qiao beckoned to Wang Qian Xin, saying, "It's just feeding him medicine, I have a way."

Wang Qianxin hesitated after hearing this: "Will this work?"

"Fine, don't believe me then."

“I believe you, I don’t disbelieve you.” Wang Qianxin hurriedly went outside and returned after about an incense stick’s time. As instructed by Fu Zhiqiao, he brought a bamboo tube with both ends open, a stack of Xuan paper, and scissors.

However, could these two things really help the young master take his medicine? Wang Qianxin was highly skeptical.

"Bring the things over here."

Wang Qianxin presented the tray to her.

"Were the bamboo tubes and scissors boiled in boiling water?"

Wang Qianxin nodded: "It's been cooked."

Fu Zhi Qiao turned to look at Physician Gao, "Is the medicine ready?"

"Alright." Doctor Gao lifted the lid of the bowl. He had just had someone brew another bowl of medicine, which was still steaming hot!

Everything is ready; the medication administration plan will begin.

Wang Qianxin helped Xie Zhuo sit up against the headboard and placed two pillows behind him to secure him and prevent him from shifting during the administration of the medicine.

"Pry open his mouth?"

Huh? Wang Qianxin's mouth dropped open. "Pry... pry open the young master's mouth?"

Seeing that Wang Qianxin was still hesitant and dared not make a move, Fu Zhiqiao said impatiently, "Hurry up, if you don't drink your medicine, your young master will not see the sun tomorrow."

Wang Qianxin had no choice but to bite the bullet and grab Xie Zhuo's chin, using external force to open his mouth.

Fu Zhiqiao slowly inserted the bamboo tube into Xie Zhuo's mouth. To avoid scratching his oral cavity, Fu Zhiqiao's movements were very gentle and slow. She stopped when she felt it was about to reach his throat.

Take two sheets of Xuan paper and stack them together to increase thickness. Cut the Xuan paper into appropriately sized squares with scissors. Then, starting from the outer corners, roll the square Xuan paper inwards to form a cone shape. Finally, cut a hole at the tip of the cone and attach it to a bamboo tube. A simple funnel is now formed.

"Imperial Physician Gao, administer the medicine!"

You can't swallow on your own, right? I'll just force-feed the medicine down your throat for you.

The imperial physician was stunned. Could this really be done?

"Don't just stand there, hurry up!"

"Okay, sure."

Xie Zhuo, who was in a coma, was completely unaware of what was happening and could only let them manipulate his body.

With the combined efforts of the three, they finally managed to get the medicine down Xie Zhuo's throat. The warm medicine slid directly down his throat, and seeing that Xie Zhuo showed no signs of spitting it out, Fu Zhi Qiao and Doctor Gao both breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Wang Qianxin felt extremely guilty looking at the two red finger marks on his young master's face.

He silently prayed to himself, "Please forgive me, Your Highness. I had no choice. If you must blame someone, blame Miss Fu."