Previously, everyone's attention had been concentrated on the Blood Canyang poison. No one knew and noticed when Shen Liang and Yaoguang had returned, let alone how much of their conversation he had heard. But since it had already come to this, they couldn't hide anything from him anymore. With Shen Liang's medical skills, with one look at his pulse, he'd know what was wrong with Pei Yuanxian instantly.
"Master!" seeing him stop before him, Lei Zhen took two steps back.
Just as he was about to lower his gaze, Shen Liang met with them, "Lei Zhen, I trust him."
He had been blind before and harmed everyone close and around him. Even so, he decided to trust again. Pei Yuanxian was different from Qin Yunshen. He wanted to trust in his own eyes. If in the end, reality proved him wrong once again, then even if the Heavens gave him hundreds of more chances, he'd give up. He wouldn't be able to fight back anymore. He was gambling. Gambling that he didn't place his trust in the wrong person and that what Pei Yuanxian felt for him was sincere.
"En," as though understanding the determination in his gaze, Lei Zhen nodded his head solemnly. Since the Master was willing to place his trust in the man, then he would also be willing as well.
"Thank you," the vermillion lips parted slightly before a trace of smile emerged on them. What Shen Liang needed now the most more than anything else was this kind of unconditional trust.
"Where's the manor physician? Tell me about your duke's condition," in the next second, Tianshu and the others who awaited Shen Liang's reprimand, never received it. Shen Liang only asked for the physician as he approached the bed. His white, slender fingers lifted the veil. Yaoguang took it from him in tacit cooperation and tied it back. Shen Liang stood by the bed and looked down at Pei Yuanxian, who lied there, unconscious. His face was deathly pale, and the heavy scent of blood immediately filled Shen Liang's sense of smell. His gaze moved down to the blood-stained abdomen where the red halo continued to seep through the layers and layers of bandage.
"Wangfei, I am the manor physician, surnamed Zhou. The Duke's wound is three inches to the left of the navel. It wasn't deep and avoided piercing the internal organs. The muscles are fine as well but since young when he contracted the Blood Canyang, his wounds have always been difficult to heal. Adding on that the journey back had been tedious and the rain worsening his condition, the Duke passed out half an hour ago." Physician Zhou who had been chased out returned. He wasn't clear on Shen Liang's identity and was also vigilant due to Shen Liang's young age. He wasn't sure whether this boy truly had the skills that could even compare to Lei Zhen but since everyone here said the Wangfei would be able to cure the Duke, he was willing to see for himself. As the way things were now, they had nothing more to lose.
"En. The qi of the blood has been damaged. It does indeed conform to the condition of excessive blood loss. Give me a portion of the medications you usually use. And go concoct some blood replenishing soup," after the manor physician finished reporting Pei Yuanxian's condition, Shen Liang had already seated himself beside Pei Yuanxian and was taking his pulse. He passed the orders as he took the blood stained gown off of Pei Yuanxian. The slender waist was wrapped tightly with gauze and white cloth that had been soaked with ink red blood. "Yaoguang, scissors."
After he removed the white bandage wrapped around him, the blood began to pool out even more so.
"Wangfei, allow me," there were scissors already prepared in the room. Most likely because it had been used before. Before Yaoguang could take it, Shen Liang turned away. His eyes were cold and frightened Yaoguang into a trance. Yaoguang could only gape as Shen Liang took the scissor from him.
After cutting off a new strand of gauze and he was prepared to take the soaked gauze off, Shen Liang realized his hands were trembling. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, the panic and anxiousness dissipated without a trace. His composure was frightening as he uncovered the gauze. The wound was already seeping with blood as it proved impossible to even see the wound itself from the blood that pooled out.
"Alcohol. Cotton."
"Huh?"
Weren't they using water and soft cloth?
The room of people were all perplexed. It was still Lei Zhen who reacted the fastest. He headed outside with Yaoguang in tow and the two were able to derive the materials Shen Liang requested. After disinfecting his hands, Shen Liang pulled out the silver needles. Swiftly, the needles were accurately and firmly inserted in Pei Yuanxian's body. The blood flow seemed to cease a certain degree and those who were watching couldn't help but be stunned.
"Hm...." the moment the cotton swab soaked in alcohol touched the wound, Pei Yuanxian, who had been in a coma, let out a cry of pain. Shen Liang's hand froze as he raised his gaze.
He looked at Pei Yuanxian, "Endure it even if it hurts. It's what you asked for." After, he used the cotton to clean the wound. First, he swiped around the periphery of the cut before slowly approaching the depths of the wound.
It hurts just looking at the process. Tianshu and the others couldn't help but break into cold sweat. The Wangfei wasn't angry, was he?
"Suture needles." As the manor physician stated, the wound wasn't deep. The width was only about the length of a finger, but it bled profusely. Even with Pei Yuanxian's acupuncture sealed by the silver needles, there was still blood gushing out.
"... Alright..." did such a small wound still require suturing? No one could fault their shock. It wasn't that they didn't know how to suture wounds, but such a process was mostly reserved for severe wounds such as severed limbs. For such a small wound, normally no one would bother suturing it.
"Wangfei, do you need some anesthetic powder?" Yaoguang passed over the items Shen Liang requested as he stared at the duke's wound and asked tentatively. It must hurt.
"If you want your duke to die faster, feel free to bring it over," raising his gaze to look at him, Shen Liang sterilized the suture needles and thread. Yaoguang who had been given the cold shoulder by Shen Liang twice now felt like crying. He retreated with an aggrieved expression.
When he returned to the manor physician's side, the physician hurriedly whispered to him: "Commander Yaoguang must not know that with the Duke's condition, he can't use the powder. It would only worsen his blood lost."
When Yaoguang heard his explanation, he felt better. Tianshu and the others had garnered an understanding as well. But at they same time, they were also certain that Wangfei was very angry right now. Extremely so.
"Lei Zhen, hit his acupuncture point to prevent him from tossing and struggling. Find something to stuff in his mouth," after making the necessary preparations, Shen Liang passed another order again with a cold voice. Lei Zhen, who also had some medical background tapped Pei Yuanxian's acupuncture according to Shen Liang's instructions. After, he picked up a piece of clean white cloth and stuffed it into Pei Yuanxian's mouth roughly. When Tianshu and the others saw this, they couldn't help but feel distressed for their duke. Weren't these two people being too brusque with him?!
"Mmm..."
When the needles pinned and went through the skin, Pei Yuanxian, who had the cloth stuffed in his mouth, groaned in pain, even in the midst of his coma. Shen Liang proceeded as though he never heard. His movements fastened and before long, the wound was stitched.
"Medicine!"
"Wangfei, the medicine you asked for," the manor physician did not dare to linger as he handed over the small porcelain bottle. At that moment, he could not deny that he had misread the Wangfei. The Wangfei was not an ordinary person. His techniques of sterilizing and suturing surpassed many of his colleagues who had been in this field for decades. He empathized and could even sense the duke's pain as his wound was sutured with the needles.
Shen Liang took over the porcelain bottle and first poured a minute amount into the palm of his hands. he took a light sniff of the medicine and soon distinguished the ingredients of the medicine. Afterwards, he sprinkled the powder around the wound and the periphery before finally wrapping up the wound again with clean clothes. However, Shen Liang didn't immediately take out the silver needles he had inserted into Pei Yuanxian's body. It was only after around an hour later that Shen Liang pulled out the needles one by one. With every needle he pulled out, Shen Liang would cautiously observe Pei Yuanxian's reaction and condition again before continuing to pull out the rest of the needles after ascertaining the blood flow wasn't affected. It took over an hour's worth of time simply to take out all of the needles.
When the needles were finally all pulled out, Shen Liang sat at the edge of the bed and stared at the unconscious Pei Yuanxian. Half an hour passed and only a minute amount of fresh blood stained the white cloth but Shen Liang still couldn't rest assured and reinserted the silver needles into Pei Yuanxian's body. He repeated the process several times and only after ascertaining that the blood had been stopped, did he stop. By then, two hours had already passed.
"Wangfei!"
"Master!"
Shen Liang stumbled and almost fell down when he stood up after two long hours of sitting. He legs gave out under his weight but fortunately Lei Zhen and Yaoguang reacted fast. The two of them hurried forward to support him on both sides. Shen Liang rubbed his eyes as he waved them away. He turned around and took out the white cloth in Pei Yuanxian's mouth before his slender fingers caressed against the pale cheekbones.
"Pei Yuanxian, when you wake up, we'll settle the accounts," after delivering the gloomy threat into Pei Yuanxian's ears, Shen Liang stood up again: "Clean everything up. Remember, avoid moving him as much as possible. The Blood Canyang has developed a resistance to the medication you commonly use. If he starts to bleed again, I won't be able to stop it this time."
"Yes," Tianshu and the others clasped their fists together. They understood he severity of the matter and knew that Shen Liang wasn't only saying that to scare them.
"Wangfei, the soup is ready."
"If it's done, then pour it down his throat. Do you still need me to teach you how to do that as well?" Shen Liang who had just sat down raised his gaze and said in an annoyed tone. No one could fault him for his tone. No one told him about such an important matter. It was only when the paper could no longer encase the fire when they came to find him to remedy the situation. If he had been unable to stop the bleeding, then wouldn't they all have no choice but to simply watch him bleed to death?
Especially Pei Yuanxian, he clearly knew about his condition but still used such a method to extract himself from Wangyue City. Was he afraid he couldn't die fast enough.
No matter how sensible and cool-headed a person was, it would be impossible for anyone to see their other half's lifeless appearance level-headedly.
"Grab the ingredients according to this prescription. Don't boil them. Hemight not be able to drink it down. Make it into a pill," as they were feeding the soup to Pei Yuanxian, Shen Liang wrote down a prescription and handed it over to Tianxuan who was the closest towards him. The latter didn't dare to say anything and simply disappeared without a trace immediately. Lei Zhen couldn't help but find it humorous: "Master, you've frightened them."
Honestly speaking, the Master was a beautiful person. Even angry, he looked beautiful. It didn't paint a frightening image at all. But the aura and temperament that surrounded him was oppressive and domineering. Adding on that Tianshu and the others had indeed hid the matter from him and everyone was clear on his position in Pei Yuanxian's mind, it was not a surprise.
"They deserve it!" Shen Liang leaned back against the chair as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, fatigued: "He lost too much blood. I'm afraid he'd won't be able to make up for it even after several months of supplements. There is indeed a blood transfusion technique passed down from the scriptures and there is also a manuscript for the making of the blood transfusion equipment. I wonder if it would work though? Lei Zhen, have you used it before?"
If possible, it was a good treatment plan. But the preparation and early stages were a bit troublesome and tedious to initiate. Even if it was the Nether Guards, it would take them a few days but surely it would be a better alternative to taking supplements for months to come? The Nether Guards were Jiang Heng's personal bodyguards. Perhaps there was someone amongst them who had inherited and built on Jiang Heng's creations. If so, then the equipment may prove to be even more efficient than a ready-made equipment.
"Aren't you angry? Why not just let him stay in bed for a few months?" Lei Zhen didn't immediately give him a response but rather looked at the bed covered by the veils again and arched an eyebrow.
Shen Liang's eye twitched as he was immediately aware Lei Zhen was teasing him. After a while he also followed Lei Zhen's gaze and shrugged: "So what even if I was angered to death? I chose the man myself. Could I not care?"
From the moment he saw Pei Yuanxian's pale, lifeless features, he had been in a bad mood. If he couldn't derive a method to help Pei Yuanxian recover as soon as possible, he felt his violent and erratic temper would only suffer for that long as well.
"Haha... Master, do you know that you are very adorable as you are now," Lei Zhen didn't have facial paralysis, but he was a steady and aloof man who rarely smiled. However, Shen Liang's smile amused him and provoked laughter from him.
"It's a pity there's no one to dote on?" Shen Liang couldn't help it and laughed as well.
Lei Zhen shook a finger as he said solemnly, "No. It's fine. It's worthy of doting." *Play on words.*
"Haha..."
With the way he said that, if it wasn't because Shen Liang knew him for this long, he wouldn't be able to help himself and wonder which family did this flirtatious young man come from? He truly was too humorous.
"The Master finally smiled," from the moment he knew that Pei Yuanxian's situation was worse than imagined, Shen Liang's mood had been suffering. Even the gaze he gave Yaoguang and the others became cold and chilling. Lei Zhen was certain that he was angry. Infuriated. If the fury wasn't appeased, before Pei Yuanxian recovered, thos close to him would have much to suffer from.
"Thank you," Shen Liang was taken aback. He then thanked Lei Zhen sincerely. He was a human being, not a celestial being. There would be times when he too would lose control of his emotions. For him, Lei Zhen went through great pains to make him laugh.