Chapter 2584 - 2558: Compassion

Don’t think that the food in the palace is plentiful; the work meals are always prepared based on headcount, and the kitchen obviously only prepared a portion for Director Xiao.

Just as he was wondering whether he should painfully share a bowl of rice with her, a senior palace maid arrived carrying two large food boxes and smiled, saying, "Imperial Doctor Zhou is back. This is what the Crown Princess had the kitchen prepare for you. Coincidentally, just as we prepared this for you to have as a late-night snack, someone from the princess’s side came and said you hadn’t had supper. So both the princess and the consort prepared some for you."

"The consort immediately had the kitchen make two extra dishes, some soup, and a porridge. If you can’t finish them, just keep them warm on the stove and have some in the middle of the night if you get tired from the night vigil..."

Director Xiao’s expression turned serious, and he immediately pushed his small work meal to the side on the table to make room for her, smiling lightly as he said, "Place them here."

The senior palace maid responded with a smile, stepped forward, and took the items out of the food boxes.

The medical assistant sleeping in the side room, smelling the fragrance, came out groggy and leaned against the door frame, staring at the food in a daze.

Manbao waved at them and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"

Director Xiao said, "They’ve eaten, but they’ve been sleeping for an hour, so they’re probably hungry as well. They’ll be joining the night vigil tonight. Let’s eat together."

The two medical assistants immediately stepped forward, each pulling out a chair to sit.

Only after the palace maid retreated did Director Xiao scoop a bowl of rice and speak, "What new prescription have you found?"

Manbao then told him about two prescriptions she had just received from Teacher Mo.

Director Xiao analyzed the dosage of the principal and minister herbs, pondered for a moment, and frowned, feeling that the dosage of the minister was too close to the principal, thus he shook his head, "The dosage is not good."

He had been meaning to say it for a long time, "Imperial Doctor Zhou, when you look at your previous prescriptions, many of them have no issues with the hierarchy of herbs, but the dosage always has a large discrepancy. Does your sect prescribe like this... wildly?"

Manbao pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps it’s because the quality of the herbs is different, thus the dosage varies."

Director Xiao then replied, "The herbs used by the Imperial Hospital may not be the absolute best, but they definitely have no quality issues."

Manbao smiled cheekily, "So how do you think this prescription should be modified?"

The two prescriptions given by Zhou Man were indeed good, and Director Xiao analyzed them and adjusted the dosages according to Zheng Erlang’s condition before they could be used.

Manbao then spoke of the acupuncture accompaniment, which she had learned a lot about this afternoon.

Director Xiao was stunned, as if the Zhou Man he knew had changed in just one afternoon?

Where did she learn all this so quickly?

Seeing the red blood vessels in her eyes, Director Xiao sighed and said, "Imperial Doctor Zhou, you’ve worked hard."

Manbao laughed, "It’s not hard, it’s not hard. Director Xiao, will you be keeping vigil with me tonight?"

Director Xiao: ...I don’t really want to, but facing Manbao’s sparkling eyes, he sighed again, deciding to show some consideration for his subordinate. Thus, with some reluctance, he nodded.

Manbao secretly cheered in her heart, deciding to rest for a bit after dinner and then take a nap, having spent the entire afternoon exhausting her brain. She felt a bit tired.

After dinner, Manbao and Director Xiao went together to see Young Master Zheng.

He was still in a deep sleep, with the bandage on his head showing faint blood color. At a glance, Director Xiao knew that the medicinal powder had been soaked by bleeding, so he said, "Add some more medicine for him."

The two carefully removed the bandage and stared closely at his head before applying the medicinal powder.

One of the medical assistants lit a candle for them to see more clearly.

Manbao pointed out a few places with her finger, "See? This area was actually darker and more swollen when I drew blood today."

Director Xiao: "It’s still somewhat swollen now; it seems there’s another blood buildup inside."

Manbao nodded, while also instructing Keke to scan, and asking Director Xiao, "Do you think he can absorb it himself?"

Director Xiao recalled the amount of blood drawn in the afternoon and shook his head, "It’s too much, no way, leaving it in the cranium spells tragedy."

Manbao thought so too, therefore she said, "So let’s draw blood again."

Director Xiao hesitated; during the day, Zhou Man was lucky and didn’t hit the brain matter when inserting the needle, but now it’s night, and the vision is worse than during the day. If any mishaps occur with the luck...

Manbao said, "It’s been more than three hours since noon when we drew blood, and there are still five hours until daylight. If the blood buildup isn’t removed..."

Director Xiao could only nod, "Be careful, insert the needle in the original position, and don’t insert too deeply."

Manbao nodded, but let Keke carefully scan, then took a needle again to find the optimal position.

She was very cautious, comparing several times back and forth, even letting Keke scan after the needle was inserted to confirm the depth before slowly pushing the needle forward. Not long after, blood dripped again from the catheter.

While pressing the needle, Manbao thought that this method of drawing blood could not compare to using a syringe in the classroom because a syringe actively draws, whereas here, blood flows out automatically after needle pricking, and is often not very clean.

It was sufficient for emergencies but still slow.

Thinking of syringes, actually the needle isn’t hard to make, just hollow silver needles, like they are using now, but she doesn’t know how to make the plug and transparent tube.

"Alright, change the needle."

Director Xiao’s words brought Manbao’s thoughts back. She carefully withdrew the needle, found a position to draw blood again.

Then took turns checking Zheng Erlang’s pulse, confirmed no large fluctuations in the pulse before wrapping up his head.

Their actions were very cautious, not daring to make too large movements.

Since a patient with a brain injury should not be moved carelessly; an accidental shake could worsen intracranial bleeding, or accidentally cause something to rupture.

So one carefully cradled his head, while the other carefully bandaged it, then gently rested it on the pillow.

Manbao sat still lost in thought, not wanting to sleep for a moment, thus letting Director Xiao and one of the medical assistants rest first, while she and another kept watch, planning to swap later in the night.

Director Xiao nodded and led people to rest.

Manbao sat quietly in the chair, with a pen in hand, after thinking for a long time, she began writing down Zheng Erlang’s pulse case. Zheng Wang, on the brink of sleep, came to check on Zheng Erlang’s condition one last time. Entering the door, they’re met with Zhou Man engrossed in writing by the candle light, as if she hadn’t noticed they had come right up to her.

Manbao was deeply engrossed in writing; she felt Zheng Erlang’s injury was very representative. There are quite a few people who survive head injuries until treatment, but very few who temporarily retain life after treatment. She’s very curious to know if he can be saved, if saved, whether he can return to normal.

If possible, she wants to make this case into a typical case and pass it down, so future physicians who encounter similar cases will have a reference method and steps for handling.