Chapter 638 Ancient Suturing Techniques
The news that Sui Gongren was still alive spread throughout Nanyang City.
"Have you heard? Sui Kyoto is not dead."
"Have you heard that Sui Gongren saved the entire Huaihua Village?"
"Not only that, Lady Sui sent her son to Nanyang with 200,000 kilograms of grain to save all the victims."
"I finally understand why an unknown village woman could become a fourth-rank imperial lady in just two or three years. She had the country and the people in her heart. With Sui Gong around, this is the blessing of us ordinary people."
"Please, God, let Sui Gongren live a few more years!"
As word spread throughout the city, Cheng Wanwan was resting at the prefect's residence.
She had been up in the mountains for so many days, getting rained on, going into the water, falling down, worrying... all sorts of troubles kept happening. As soon as she relaxed, she got sick.
Fortunately, it's not a serious illness; with some rest, I should recover.
Zhao Dashan invited a renowned doctor from Nanyang to examine her pulse. This doctor was none other than the same Dr. Liao whom He Ling had originally planned to invite to the capital to treat Madam He's illness.
Doctor Liao looked at the wound on the back of Zhao Dashan's head and was surprised: "This is the unique suturing technique of my Liao family. I don't know if there are other people who can do this..."
His grandfather was a military doctor who honed his skills in external wound suturing in the army. This technique was passed down to his father and then to him. He continued to study this method and gradually developed an internal wound suturing technique from external wounds. Over the past three or four decades, he has saved many people of all kinds with his suturing skills, thus earning the title of "miracle doctor".
"This wound is stitched beautifully. I wonder who did it?"
"I will bring the person here right away."
After a while, Mrs. Huang was brought over.
She hurriedly said, "This was sewn by Lady Sui. I am skilled at sewing and embroidery, but this is the first time I have sewn something onto a person..."
"Reverend Lady Sui..." Divine Doctor Liao stroked his beard, "If it's Reverend Lady Sui, then everything makes sense."
He had heard of Sui Gongren's name long ago. It was not unusual for a village woman to know how to farm, but it was astonishing that she could make all kinds of agricultural machinery. Moreover, Sui Gongren also knew the Asabu language, which made her the first female court official of the Dayu Dynasty.
It seems that having medical skills isn't so hard to accept.
He planned to find an opportunity to talk to Sui Kyoto about the suturing technique.
Cheng Wanwan had no idea that someone was waiting to have a heart-to-heart talk with her. She slept for two or three days before her spirits gradually returned.
Madam Lü prepared many clean clothes and precious jewelry for her, and specially arranged for maids to serve her.
She changed into clean clothes, dressed neatly, and got up to go next door to check on Zhao Dashan's situation.
"Greetings, Lady Sui." Divine Doctor Liao bowed slightly. "Master Zhao's head wound has healed, and his right leg is fine. Only his right arm is fractured, and it will take a hundred days to heal."
Cheng Wanwan bowed and thanked him, "Thank you, Doctor Liao."
Doctor Liao waved his hand: "I heard that the suturing of Lord Zhao's back of the head was done under the guidance of Lady Sui. May I ask how Lady Sui came up with such a method?"
"This all started two years ago," Cheng Wanwan said with a smile. "Back then, we had a pregnant ewe at home. She had a difficult birth, so I thought about cutting open her belly to take out the lamb. But that would mean the lamb wouldn't have any milk and would easily die... In the end, we cut open her birth canal to help with the delivery and then stitched it up. To my surprise, the ewe survived. When I went up the mountain, my son was almost dead. I had no choice but to try anything, so please don't laugh at me, Dr. Liao."
The renowned doctor Liao was stunned, as if struck by a sudden enlightenment.
His suturing technique was mainly used for external injuries. The internal suturing technique he later developed was also mainly for the intestines. For example, if one end of the intestine is blocked, it can be directly connected with needle and thread. He never thought that it could be used on women in labor.
If the belly of a woman in labor were cut open, the baby taken out, and then the belly was sewn up again, how many women would be able to survive?
However, the belly is different from the intestines. It has too many layers and is extremely complicated to sew.
But it doesn't matter. He's only in his forties. He can still study for another ten or twenty years. He will definitely be able to find a proper method...
Seeing that Doctor Liao was lost in thought, Cheng Wanwan said nothing more.
She wasn't a medical student and didn't know much about this, so she could only offer some pointers, suggesting that Doctor Liao use the wisdom of the ancients to improve ancient suturing techniques. If it could one day be used on women in labor, it would be a good deed.
Zhao Dashan still needed to heal his head injury, so she was not in a hurry to go back.
Two years ago, when she came to Nanyang City to sell soap, Nanyang was a prosperous and bustling city. However, a flood has made the city desolate.
Although it was a depression, fortunately there was no major chaos. The victims were all outside the city and received two free meals of porridge every day and free medical treatment...
"In this flood, a total of 78 villages in five counties of Nanyang were affected. Among them, four villages were severely affected, 40 villages were moderately affected, and 24 villages were slightly affected," Lord Lü told Cheng Wanwan, explaining the current statistics. "The death toll is about 5,000, and there are more than 26,000 disaster victims outside Nanyang City."
In fact, the number of disaster victims was far more than 20,000. Thousands of people went to other cities, but most of them stayed in Nanyang City.
Moreover, Nanyang City is not short of food and medicine, and these disaster victims are stable and are not wandering around.
Cheng Wanwan asked, "The floodwaters are almost receding. What are Lord Lü's plans for resettling the disaster victims?"
Lord Lü replied, "The imperial court will allocate 30,000 taels of silver to help the disaster victims rebuild their homes, and about 200,000 catties of grain are on their way to Nanyang. As long as the imperial court does not abandon these disaster victims, there will be no major chaos."
Because of two consecutive years of bumper harvests, the Great Yu Kingdom is not short of food. It can give away 200,000 catties of grain without hesitation. In addition to the 200,000 catties brought by Sui Gongren's son, the total is 400,000 catties. With so much grain and 30,000 taels of silver, it is enough to stabilize the situation and help Nanyang City get through this crisis.
“Let’s do the math,” Cheng Wanwan said, taking out paper and pen. “There are over 20,000 disaster victims, and they consume at least 10,000 catties of grain a day. That means 400,000 catties will only last for 40 days. And 30,000 taels of silver might not even be enough to build houses for the disaster victims… What will happen to these disaster victims when the grain runs out in 40 days, but the new grain hasn’t even grown yet?”
"After they recover, they can find work at the docks..." Lord Lu said uncertainly, "Does Lady Sui have any good ideas?"
In the past, after a natural disaster, the imperial court would only provide about half a month's worth of food to help people through the crisis. After half a month, the victims would be left to their own devices, and the imperial court would not spend any more money or food... Capable people could immediately find jobs to make a living, while incapable people would become refugees... Although a small number of refugees would not cause too much harm, they were also a hidden danger.
Lord Lü stared intently at Cheng Wanwan.
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