Chapter 215: Severed Finger, Reattached
The people in line were still waiting.
Those who tried to cut in line were dragged out.
However, if you went to the back of the line and waited again, no one would chase you away.
After a great disaster, having luckily survived, one had to think about how to keep living.
Being able to get a bowl of free medicinal porridge meant the probability of surviving increased by one, then another, and another…
They had also heard rumors that the Earthquake was divine punishment for the Sima family, and that many giant boulders had fallen from the sky, smashing right through the Sima estate.
They said Commander Jiang had destroyed Shangqiu Temple, and this was his divine retribution.
But Shangqiu Temple had never provided them with porridge.
Shangqiu Temple used to be a place only for the nobility.
Now, the children of commoners could go there to study.
Even now, when Commander Jiang’s own family was in such a miserable state, he still came out to provide porridge for everyone.
Who was a demon? Who was a ghost? Who was a Buddha? Who was a human?
When the soup, carrying the scent of medicine and grains, rolled down their throats and filled their empty stomachs, everything became self-evident.
Seeing Commander Jiang’s young daughter sitting there with a sign that read “Treating Illness and Saving Lives,” they all revealed friendly smiles.
Providing medicinal porridge was already a way of treating illness and saving lives.
This medicinal porridge felt incredibly effective; their previously muddled minds cleared up after drinking it for a while, and their heads didn’t feel as heavy, while their bodies felt stronger.
In truth, there was no such thing as an instant cure; it was just that after a sleepless night of rushing about, tension, and hunger, drinking a bowl of hot soup made them feel much better. Once there was something in their stomachs to stop the hunger, their heads naturally stopped spinning.
Moreover, with so many people sitting together drinking the medicinal porridge, they felt that there was still hope for survival.
Heaven was unfair, but the masters above were still good.
As long as there was a glimmer of goodness, a little hope for survival, they were very grateful.
That was until they saw Lord Sima bring over a Yamen Runner with a bloody, severed finger.
Everyone was a bit surprised, and they weren’t as focused on getting their porridge anymore.
They all stretched their necks to look.
That burly man who was in line for the fourth time stretched his thick neck particularly far.
Jiang Mianmian was also very nervous when she saw the person her Father had brought over.
The bad news was that current medical conditions were poor; things like sterility and disinfection were unheard of, and there were basically no antibiotics.
The good news was that the attending physician had good eyesight and nimble fingers.
The bad news was that the attending physician was young and had few practical cases.
The good news was that at critical moments, the attending physician might have the Spirit Spring to back her up—a buff, so to speak.
In any case, seeing her first patient,
Jiang Mianmian revealed a kind smile.
In fact, she had practiced with other things before; peeling melons didn’t count, but she had done quite a bit of dissecting small animals.
Her elder sister cooked small animals very well, and Jiang Mianmian often helped sew those small animals back together.
Who isn’t breaking apart, sewing back together, and cooking all at the same time?
As for humans, there had been few opportunities.
Jiang Mianmian looked at the Yamen Runner with great care.
The Yamen Runner looked at his finger in great pain.
He had been injured accidentally while working, and his index finger had been severed; this was enough to cost him half his life, if not kill him.
Even if he luckily survived, without an index finger, he would be a cripple and unable to do many things.
Thinking of his wife, children, parents, grandparents, and siblings at home—a whole big family.
Yamen Runner Old Jiu felt his heart in turmoil.
The good news was that his direct superior had personally brought him to seek medical treatment.
The bad news was that the doctor was the direct superior’s young daughter.
Damn it, damn it all, he really wanted to cry.
But thinking that his hand was broken and he might lose his status as a Yamen Runner in the future, it wouldn’t be bad to curry favor with his direct superior.
How did that idiom go? Anyway, a bad thing isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it could also lead to something good.
Even if the treatment went wrong, he would have still made a contribution.
The Yamen Runner appeared to have come in a daze, but in reality, he had done a lot of mental preparation, weighing his future and all aspects of the situation.
After all, every NPC had their own thoughts.
Jiang Mianmian quickly processed this fresh patient, stopped the bleeding, and then asked, “Is the severed finger still here?”
“It is, it is, it is.”
One’s body, hair, and skin were gifts from one’s parents; even if it was chopped off, it couldn’t be thrown away. It was best to bury it together after death to remain whole.
Looking at the fresh severed finger, it had been kept well; it hadn’t been pickled in salt, nor was it damaged, and the cut was clean. It should be salvageable.
The Yamen Runner felt he was beyond saving and prepared to settle into being a disabled person.
Anyway, using a severed finger to curry favor with a superior wasn’t a loss.
Jiang Mianmian looked left and right; there should be no risk of medical disputes.
She asked the Yamen Runner, “Can I reattach it for you?”
The Yamen Runner kept nodding through tears; she could do whatever she wanted, just don’t cook his finger in front of him—he couldn’t handle that.
That small pot next to them had been bubbling away, cooking something, and it scared him.
Jiang Mianmian:…
That wouldn’t happen, although in orthopedics there were pressure cookers that would boil patients’ bones.
Orthopedic doctors were two extremes; some doctors loved drinking bone soup, while others couldn’t stand the sight of it.
Jiang Mianmian asked Pang Ya to come over and help pass the instruments.
Commander Jiang sat to the side, chatting with Censor He.
And incidentally, he was there to back up his daughter.
The surgery was in a room specifically cleared out for it, and she could only perform general anesthesia.
Because local anesthesia wasn’t possible.
She used anesthetic powder to knock the patient out.
After a long while, everyone saw the Yamen Runner who had only had a severed finger actually being carried out horizontally. This was too terrifying; surely he hadn’t been treated to death?
He had walked in when he entered.
They saw him covered with a white cloth, and his hand was wrapped in a thick layer of white bandages.
The Yamen Runner’s wife and child also rushed over.
Seeing her husband lying there, she was speechless and choked with sobs for a moment. Wasn’t it said he only had a severed hand? Why did it look like he had breathed his last?
She didn’t dare to wail loudly because while waiting, the other Yamen Runners had already told her what was going on.
Her husband had a severed hand, and Lord Sima had personally brought him here for treatment.
The wife was a sensible person; although it was heartbreaking, she understood her husband’s intentions as soon as others mentioned it.
His finger was severed, so it certainly wouldn’t be good as new, but being able to earn favor with Lord Sima meant there would always be opportunities in the future.
But all of a sudden, he was carried out.
The wife’s eyes turned red instantly.
The son was also very sensible; large teardrops fell, but he didn’t wail, only supporting his Mother.
The young boy looked up and saw a girl dressed in white, with fresh blood on her body and gloves, and a white mask on her face; her eyes were extremely beautiful.
She didn’t care about the bloodstains on her at all, and while taking off her gloves, she said, “Madam, don’t cry. He’s about to wake up. While he’s just waking up and is still dazed, hurry and ask him if he has any mistresses or any secret stash of money. If you ask now, you’ll get an accurate answer; I guarantee he’ll answer you obediently.”
Sure enough, at that moment, the Yamen Runner opened his eyes, looking dazed.
His wife’s tears fell.
The boy excitedly called out, “Father!” He was so excited that a snot bubble blew out, and he quickly wiped it with his sleeve.
A nearby Yamen Runner asked, “Old Jiu, Old Jiu, how much secret money do you have?”
Old Jiu answered dazed, “Not much, just nine taels. Every time I save up ten taels, my wife swipes it.”
“Where did you hide it this time?” the other Yamen Runners asked, not afraid of stirring up trouble.
He opened his mouth to say it, but his wife covered his mouth: “I’ll deal with you when we get back.”
“Don’t let the wound touch water for seven days, don’t feed him anything spicy, and let him rest well, and he’ll be fine.”
The wife nodded repeatedly; as long as he was alive, that was enough.
She had already given up on the finger.
The patient left, and the crowd dispersed as well.
Naturally, having just seen a man carried out, no other patients dared to come forward.
Jiang Mianmian also let out a deep breath.
Censor He and Jiang Changtian, who had watched the whole process from the room next door, were both a bit silent.
It was mainly because watching a little girl first knock out a grown man with one move, and then use a needle threaded with some unknown thread to stitch into human flesh, was quite a shock.
Could it really be used after being stitched up like that?
And as for the mysterious books left by Shangqiu Temple, none of them were as efficient as Mianmian’s move.
She knocked the man out in an instant.
He had just been chatting a moment before.
Throughout the whole process of handling the severed hand, he hadn’t woken up.
When he was carried out, they saw her snap her fingers, and the Yamen Runner actually woke up, and then answered whatever was asked.
No wonder the masters of Shangqiu Temple wanted to steal her home; this must be the ancestor of Shangqiu Temple.
Others only saw Yamen Runner Old Jiu’s hand wrapped up and thought it was over.
But Jiang Changtian and Censor He had seen with their own eyes Mianmian sew the person’s finger back on. Could that really work?
If it could be reconnected like that, what if someone was cut into two pieces and then sewn back together? Wouldn’t that be bringing the dead back to life?
Jiang Mianmian saw that no more patients would be coming today.
Actually, this surgery had taken a bit too long.
She was covered in sweat.
Fortunately, Pang Ya was quick-witted and kept wiping the sweat for her.
It seemed she would have to train some like-minded people.
It was almost dark.
In the end, she had cheated, dripping a tiny bit of diluted Spirit Spring onto the severed finger.
Jiang Mianmian felt very helpless; she still didn’t have the confidence that she could do it.
If she could only rely on cheating in the end, she felt she had accomplished nothing and was quite useless.
Sometimes she thought, she was currently idling about, waiting for death, but what was the difference between that and her dream coming true?
Wasn’t that her original dream?
After the tense surgical process, she also needed to relax.
She asked Pang Ya to carry a bucket of hot medicinal porridge, preparing to go see the Star-Gazer.
Because of yesterday’s Earthquake, the location of the Star-Gazing Pavilion had also suffered damage, and some places had collapsed.
When Jiang Mianmian climbed to the top of the mountain, she indeed saw the Star-Gazer.
He stood like a statue in the same spot she had seen him last time.
It was just that in front of him, a whole section had collapsed, like a cliff had appeared, and one step forward would mean falling into the abyss.
Jiang Mianmian went up and handed him food.
The Star-Gazer tilted his head back to eat.
Today, dark clouds were thick, and not many stars could be seen.
“Yesterday’s Earthquake, were there any changes in the stars?”
“Yes, there was. One star flickered, seemingly brightening a bit, and then it dimmed significantly. I have a record of it, and then the Earthquake happened. The timing of the Earthquake corresponded to the brightness of that star in the sky.”
The Star-Gazer tilted his head back and handed the records of yesterday to Mianmian.
Jiang Mianmian looked at the complex star chart, drawn with a brush.
It was dense and incredible.
She had also done an incredible thing today.
Would future generations be surprised when they flipped through these books?
Wondrous, incredible, existence, continuation.
Just like this wind, these stars, this land.
Thank you for reading + listening 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
