Chapter 222: He Can’t Even Compare to a Wild Boar?
"Alright, if you say no anesthesia, then we won’t use any. We can even save on resources. You’re truly remarkable."
Gu Jiaojiao went along with it and praised the injured man, drawing out the ends of her words in a soft, gentle voice.
She noted the dirt smudged on Han Jingshen’s face but didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t look like a high-ranking official at all.
But judging by Dean Rong’s deference, Gu Jiaojiao knew this young, injured man held a high position.
’It’s clear the army really forges a person,’ she thought. ’From the perspective of his profession, Han Jingshen is definitely up to par.’
Everything was already prepared. She took only five minutes, and with a CLINK, she tossed the bullet casing into the aluminum tray beside her.
Xia Qiuming respectfully handed her the suture needle, thread, and gauze. Gu Jiaojiao took another five minutes to suture the wound.
Her movements were not only deft but also gentle, and the resulting stitches were beautifully done.
Han Jingshen felt this most keenly. A flash of shock crossed his eyes. He had heard that this was the very Little Divine Doctor who had saved his grandfather when he was on the brink of death.
The fighting had been intense back then, and he had been on the front lines, so he hadn’t witnessed it himself.
When he returned and saw her for the first time, her beauty had stunned him.
Back then, Han Jingshen had assumed everyone was just hyping up her medical skills because she was pretty.
The next time he saw her, she was in the kitchen brigade making braised pork, and he had even eaten some of it.
It had tasted excellent, but Han Jingshen had thought she was just trying to grab everyone’s attention. He had even offered to send her away.
But his grandfather had refused, insisting he still wasn’t fully healed. And this, the third time he saw her, was for her to dig a bullet casing out of him.
’So her medical skills really are that advanced,’ he thought. ’She can remove a bullet casing from near the heart in just a few minutes!’
This time, if not for her, he might have lost consciousness, or worse.
Xia Qiuming was his childhood friend and had studied abroad in the country with the most advanced surgical medicine.
After returning, he was considered a rising star in the Empire, yet even Xia Qiuming hadn’t dared to perform this surgery lightly.
Yet she had extracted it with ease. No wonder Xia Qiuming was so reverent toward her.
While Han Jingshen was lost in thought, Gu Jiaojiao had already finished treating the two major wounds on his body.
One of the wounds, in particular, had already begun to fester. Gu Jiaojiao could see traces of some kind of medicinal powder on it.
She first debrided the necrotic tissue before applying her medicine. Her hemostatic powder was incredibly effective.
It was the most advanced and complete formula, far superior to what would be found in the general hospitals of a later era.
’Looking at Han Jingshen covered in wounds,’ she thought, ’if we were to bandage all of them, we probably wouldn’t have enough gauze here.’
Gu Jiaojiao said decisively to Xia Qiuming, "Professor Xia, you can handle the remaining minor wounds."
"Are you tired, Little Divine Doctor?" Dean Rong asked with concern.
"Not at all~ A little half-hour surgery like this could hardly tire me out. The patient’s major wounds are all taken care of."
"The minor wounds are easy to bandage. The main reason is that Mr. Han is waiting for me up ahead. He said he’s craving some wild boar."
"Little Divine Doctor, Mr. Han can actually go into the mountains to hunt wild boar now?" Dean Rong asked excitedly.
"He can manage a short walk. Besides, we won’t be the ones actually hunting the boar. He has bodyguards for that."
Gu Jiaojiao said while packing up her important tools.
"Master Jiaojiao, I don’t have to personally treat Han Jingshen’s remaining wounds, do I? Can I go with you all to the mountains to hunt wild boar?"
Xia Qiuming was craving braised wild boar, but what he wanted most was to stay by Gu Jiaojiao’s side and protect her.
If anything happened to her, Su Shuochi would undoubtedly tear him to shreds.
Han Jingshen: ...
’In her eyes, I’m less important than a wild boar!’
’And Xia Qiuming, my own childhood friend, actually wants to ditch me, a seriously wounded patient.’
’My wounds aren’t even fully treated, and they’re about to run off and hunt a wild boar!’
"Professor Xia, this patient has too many wounds. It would be best if you bandaged them yourself. My master will give him acupuncture with silver needles later."
Even though Gu Jiaojiao had formally taken Xia Qiuming as her disciple, she still habitually called him Professor Xia.
After all, Xia Qiuming’s surgical skills were already superb. After studying with her for over a week, he had reached an even higher level of mastery.
"Very well, whatever Master Jiaojiao says is right," Xia Qiuming said, trying to curry favor with Gu Jiaojiao.
He had formally acknowledged Gu Jiaojiao as his master, but Gu Jiaojiao had yet to formally acknowledge Xu Qingxu as hers.
Xu Qingxu, for his part, felt a little inadequate being Gu Jiaojiao’s master. Not only had she taught him how to use silver needles, but she had also given him many medicinal formulas.
While he had taught her a great deal as well, he felt it paled in comparison.
Gu Jiaojiao, however, had no particular reaction. She believed that Chinese medicine was vast and profound, and she still had a great deal more to learn.
She applied herself wholeheartedly to whatever she wanted to learn. As for things she had no interest in, they were like sand slipping through her fingers—if she couldn’t grasp them, she simply let them go.
That was why she learned things so quickly, not just learning them well but mastering their very essence. It had been true in her past life, and it was true in this one as well.
In the end, Xu Qingxu and Gu Jiaojiao began addressing each other as senior and junior martial siblings. Although Gu Jiaojiao’s supposed master was as elusive as a dragon that shows its head but never its tail, he already had two other disciples: He Shen Yi, the Divine Doctor far away in the Imperial City, and Divine Doctor Xu, who was stationed on the battlefields year-round.
Those close to her, of course, knew that Divine Doctor Su Gu’s real name was Su Gu Jiaojiao.
"Grandmaster Jiaojiao, please take care. We’ll be here waiting for you all to return with the wild boar so we can eat."
The doctors present were either students of Xia Qiuming or students of Elder Xu’s disciples; in any case, they were all of a lower seniority than Su Gu Jiaojiao.
"Jiaojiao, you be careful now. If you see a wild boar, stay far away and let Old Han deal with it."
Xu Qingxu said this without the slightest compunction, as Mr. Han was several years younger than him!
After Gu Jiaojiao left, Xia Qiuming obediently got to work cleaning his wounds.
"Tsk, tsk... No wonder my Master Jiaojiao wanted to leave. Turns out Han Jingshen has a lot of wounds on his inner thighs."
Xia Qiuming said teasingly, casting a meaningful glance at the two female military doctors at his side.
However, they acted as if nothing was amiss, calmly assisting him. Xia Qiuming was quite satisfied with their professional demeanor.
Although these wounds of Han Jingshen’s weren’t life-threatening, they still needed to be treated and medicated as soon as possible.
The hemostatic powder was from Gu Jiaojiao’s personal space. Its effect was excellent, stopping the bleeding the moment it was applied.
Watching this, Xu Qingxu stroked his beard and said, "This Western medicine of yours is quite impressive. Although I feel that Western medicine often treats the symptoms rather than the root cause, I can’t deny that some of it is indeed very useful."
"Western medicine is certainly fast-acting, but there are also excellent Chinese medicines for treating external trauma," Dean Rong chimed in agreeably.
As the dean, he believed that whether it was Western or Chinese medicine, all that mattered was that it helped the patient.
Han Jingshen had been conscious the entire time. He had even kept his eyes open to watch Gu Jiaojiao extract the bullet casing earlier.
After Gu Jiaojiao left, he had simply closed his eyes and remained silent, but he was still wide awake.
’So she was too embarrassed to treat my other wounds,’ he realized. ’And here I was thinking a wild boar was more important than me!’
But Gu Jiaojiao wasn’t concerned about the location of Han Jingshen’s wounds in the slightest. She genuinely just wanted to go into the mountains to search for medicinal herbs.
Mr. Han had no idea that the "special patient" was his own favorite grandson. At that very moment, he was leading his subordinates and Gu Jiaojiao deep into the mountains.