The detoxification process was long and painful.
Princess Baozhu remained naked; her whole body was covered with disgusting, sticky ointment, and then she was wrapped in layers of gauze, even on the face.
If it weren’t for Princess Baozhu’s insistence, Li Huairou would have even shaved her hair.
“How long will it take?” Princess Baozhu leaned on the head of the bed, feeling itchy all over. She couldn’t help but want to rub at her skin. “It’s so itchy!”
The maid next to her hurriedly held her. “Princess, please hold on.”
“Don’t move. It feels itchy because your skin is peeling and regenerating. If you scratch, it may leave scars later. So don’t blame me!” Li Huairou said casually.
Princess Baozhu was about to cry, and she struggled. “No, it’s too itchy! I can’t stand it anymore.”
The maids had their hands full, and the momo was distressed and anxious, asking, “Doctor, what do you think of this?”
“Feed her some calming soup and have her sleep. Or tie her up.” Li Huairou ate an orange and clapped her hands.
The momo was in a bind. In the end, she could only feed Princess Baozhu some calming soup and watch her fall asleep,
Li Huairou stood up. “Where is my brother?”
“He went to the army. Miss Sike went with him, don’t worry,” the maid replied.
“I’ll take a look,” Li Huairou said.
“But, the princess?”
“The princess will be fine as long as you watch her and don’t let her move. I’ve written down all the prohibited foods, and the rest is nothing important. I’ll come again tomorrow morning to change the medicine!” Li Huairou didn’t want to sit there, so it’d be better to go out and find something to do.
When the maid heard Li Huairou say this, she didn’t dare to stop her, so she arranged for someone to send Li Huairou to the army. The battlefield is bloody and messy. I hope that Dr. Li can realize the difficulty and come back quickly.
When Li Huairou arrived, Li Huaike and Liu Sike were very busy. There were several battles on the border and countless casualties; Li Huaike and the military doctors were too busy. Seeing Li Huairou coming, Li Huaike immediately said, “Hurry up and help.”
Li Huairou rolled up her sleeves and joined the ranks.
“You’re just bandaging it like this? What if the wound becomes inflamed?” Li Huairou frowned.
“But we’ve run out on medicinal powder? We can only bandage it first to avoid excessive blood loss!” Liu Sike replied.
Who would have thought that the army would be so short on medicine? In the past, Li Huairou had seen that most of the injuries in ancient wars were not fatal, but because the wounds were not treated in time, the wounds suffered from inflammation.
“Is there any wine?” Li Huairou asked.
“Alcohol is forbidden in the military.” A military doctor frowned.
“Wounds shouldn’t be bandaged without any treatment. In case of infection and inflammation, it will be too late. Pour strong alcohol on the wounds—it can kill the bacteria to a certain extent. There is no other way. Find some alcohol. The higher the alcohol content, the better. Before handling the tools, it’s best to either soak them in alcohol for a while or boil them in water. There are also these cotton bandages for dressing…” Li Huairou looked at those blood-stained cotton bandages and showed her disgust. She knew that the medical level in ancient times was backwards, but she didn’t expect it to be this backwards.
“Follow her instructions,” said the guard who had been responsible for sending Li Huairou here.
Someone immediately went down to prepare the supplies.
Li Huairou saw that the army was really short on manpower, and it couldn’t do many things at once, so relying on a few of them wouldn’t work.
She wiped her hands. “Find a few quick-witted people. The more, the better.”
The guard gave a look, and someone immediately went.
After a while, everyone was there.
Li Huairou cleared her throat and said, “I will only do it once, so watch carefully, then memorize it.”
Then she demonstrated how to disinfect the wound with alcohol and how to bandage it.
“Have you learned it?” Li Huairou asked.
Twelve out of the twenty people nodded.
“Wash your hands and start helping!” Li Huairou said. “You all, watch how they do it. When you learn it, go help.”
In this way, the burden on Li Huaike and the military doctors was greatly reduced.
The military doctor thoughtfully said, “Could we recruit some smart people to specialize in this method?”
Li Huairou nodded. “You could.”
The military doctor knew that if he brought this method out, it could greatly reduce casualties. He was a little impatient—they should immediately find the prince to facilitate this.
Whatever happened next, Li Huairou didn’t care.
It’d been a long day. The Li siblings dragged their tired bodies back to the palace.
During her bath, Li Huairou almost fell asleep in the tub, but the maid dragged her out.
When eating, Li Huaike looked at his sister’s tired face, smiled, and filled her a bowl of soup. “Huairou, brother is very happy today.”
Li Huairou looked at him in surprise. What had made him happy? Had he found gold? Li Huaike didn’t say anything else. He bowed his head and continued to eat.
Liu Sike knew why Li Huaike was happy. Huairou had always been indifferent—not towards them, but towards other people and things. Whether it was the free clinic or medical treatment, Li Huairou was passive in doing things. Today was the first time Li Huairou had taken initiative.
That was why Li Huaike was so happy.
Li Huairou didn’t understand, and she didn’t bother to think about it. After eating hurriedly, she said, “I’m tired. I’ll go to bed first.”
The next day, Li Huairou changed the princess’s medicine and went out to the army again.
Today was a lot better than yesterday; everything was in order. Li Huairou stayed for a while. Seeing that there was enough manpower and they didn’t need her, she stretched and went back.
Unexpectedly, halfway through the journey back, she suddenly heard something rushing through the air. Then she grew numb and could not move. The guard responsible for protecting her had engaged with the incoming person.
Immediately afterwards, she was being held in a man’s arms, and then her body rose to the sky.
Li Huairou’s eyes widened. Was this a trick of the light? Could Newton’s theorems explain this?
Seeing that Li Huairou was not afraid, the man was helplessly happy. “Aren’t you afraid that I’m a bad guy?” Fang Tianluo was speechless.
“A person’s face can be changed, but the person’s smell can’t be changed. As soon as you approached me, I knew it was you. You should be grateful that I recognized you—otherwise, you’d be poisoned right now,” Li Huairou said expressionlessly.
“I just did this because I knew you’d recognize me. Now is not the time to speak; I’ll slowly explain everything to you later,” Fang Tianluo said.
When he reached a safe place, Fang Tianluo put Li Huairou down and unlocked her acupuncture points.
Li Huairou moved her limbs around. “Let’s talk. What’s the matter?”
“Lingling is sick, so I really couldn’t do anything but come to find you.” Fang Tianluo was a little embarrassed.
“Is there only one doctor in the world? Is it worth the risk to come to Yancheng? Don’t you know that Prince Yan hasn’t revoked the order to kill you?” Li Huairou asked curiously.
“I know all this. But Lingling’s illness is really… She is a girl. I wanted to go find a doctor, but I could only come to you.” Even though Fang Tianluo and Li Huairou had become siblings, he still found it hard to talk about Xiao Lingling’s illness.
“Do you know why Prince Yan wanted to chase you down? It’s because after you left, Princess Baozhu was poisoned. The reason why we came to Yancheng was because we were invited to treat Princess Baozhu’s disease,” Li Huairou said, watching Fang Tianluo closely.
A trace of struggle flashed across Fang Tianluo’s face.
When Li Huairou saw him like this, she knew that he probably already knew; he’d recently learned about it, but he’d still chosen to come to Li Huairou, indicating that he had made a choice in his heart.
Fang Tianluo was a male protagonist in the traditional sense—with integrity, kindness, and a heavy sense of morality and responsibility. If he’d known about Xiao Lingling’s behavior, he would feel angry and quarrel with Xiao Lingling to break up, but his current situation showed that he had a relationship with Xiao Lingling, and his responsibility and morality made him unable to blame her.
This could also explain why Fang Tianluo had risked finding her to seek medical treatment. Fang Tianluo saw Li Huairou’s disappointed look, and he sighed, “Huairou, I know that this is not right, but when it comes down to it, it was also because she cared too much about me. I have worshipped heaven and earth with her, and we’ve become husband and wife. I’ve also had skin-to-skin relations with her, so I can’t ignore her.”
Li Huairou frowned. “The princess hasn’t healed yet. I can’t leave now. Wait until the princess gets better.”
“But Lingling can’t wait that long. She’s now covered with red bumps all over her body, and they’re extremely itchy,” Fang Tianluo said.
“Everything has an order—the first, the second, and so on! By the way, did you know? The princess’s body was festered and smelly, and it took a lot of effort to cure her. Although the toxin has been removed, her skin has not yet healed. I have to make sure that she’s back to the way she was before. At the very least, you have to wait ten more days! Who do you think gave the princess the poison in the first place? This is her retribution!” Li Huairou exclaimed.
“But Lingling really can’t wait that long!” Fang Tianluo was very anxious.
“Here. First, give this to her to temporarily curb the toxin. No matter what you say, I must cure the princess first!” Li Huairou took a porcelain bottle out from her sleeves and handed it to Fang Tianluo.
Fang Tianluo had no choice but to watch Li Huairou leave.
Li Huairou walked for a long time before meeting the guards who’d come to look for her.
Li Huairou didn’t speak, and the guards didn’t question her, but they split into two groups. One group escorted her back to the palace, while the other group continued to track down the assassin’s whereabouts.
Li Huaike knew that Huairou had been kidnapped by someone, and he was very anxious. When he saw Li Huairou coming back, he rushed forward. “Huairou, are you okay?”
“I am fine!” Li Huairou unhappily said, sitting down and drinking a few cups of tea.
“What the hell is going on?” Li Huaike asked.
Li Huairou sighed, took Li Huaike’s hand, and wrote something on his palm in front of the other people.
Li Huaike’s expression grew ugly, and it took a long time before he said, “How could this happen!” How could they have failed to distinguish right from wrong!
“Wine and women can lead people astray!” Li Huairou said. She feared that Xiao Lingling had had a realization and plotted the situation in advance to score a good deed with Fang Tianluo. Knowing how to dishearten him, she’d dragged Fang Tianluo down with her.
Li Huaike was actually having a conflict in his heart. On one hand, he had the heart of a doctor, but on the other hand, he was very dissatisfied with Xiao Lingling.
“Don’t worry, ge, I know what to do!” Li Huairou patted Li Huaike on the shoulder. The medicine she’d given Fang Tianluo could temporarily relieve itching, but it also had side effects—that is, insomnia and excessive dreaming. She wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. The most important thing was that if the medicine was taken too often, it would affect any future offspring.
Xiao Lingling had slept with Fang Tianluo in advance, and Li Huairou couldn’t wait that long. Just in case, it was better to start early!
