Chapter 2586 - 2560: It’s Difficult

State Duke Pi and Lu Zhongyan immediately pulled him along to take their leave of Manbao and Zhou Man, smiling as they said before departing, "We’ll entrust Young Master Zheng to Lord Zhou."

Then they dragged Zheng Wang away.

Zheng Wang and the others were staying over at the Office of Palace Affairs, since the crown prince’s family lived here and it wasn’t convenient for them to stay the night.

But the Office of Palace Affairs was also within the Eastern Palace grounds, and it wasn’t far from the courtyard where Young Master Zheng was lying; it took about half a quarter of an hour to walk there.

Once they entered the covered corridor, Lu Zhongyan glanced back at the courtyard with the light still burning and said to the two of them with a smile, "This Imperial Doctor Zhou truly lives up to her name. So young, yet not only is her medical skill outstanding, her tongue is just as sharp."

State Duke Pi laughed. "She’s just being honest with us; her eloquence is only so‑so. But her medical skill is truly good."

He said, "You both know, my unfilial son’s life was saved by her. Sigh, when he was carried back that year the family had already prepared the coffin and shroud. I wasn’t home at the time, but my old wife said my unfilial son’s belly had swelled up from the internal bleeding; the moment the knife slit open his abdomen, the blood just sprayed out..."

Zheng Wang and Lu Zhongyan couldn’t help growing curious. They had both heard of this matter; to this day it was still one of those strange cases that occasionally came up in teahouses and taverns.

But any ordinary event turned bizarre once it passed through a storyteller’s mouth, let alone something that was already quite legendary to begin with; the storytellers made it even more fantastical.

In any case, when Zheng Wang and Lu Zhongyan listened to those tales, they felt it all sounded very inauthentic.

But State Duke Pi was a family member. In the past it hadn’t been appropriate to ask; after all, it concerned someone else’s son, and falling off a horse while playing polo and getting trampled wasn’t exactly glorious, especially when it was tied up with the power struggle between the Crown Prince and Prince Gong, and even implicated the late Prince of Yizhou.

So everyone nursed their curiosity in secret but wouldn’t show it openly, much less ask the persons involved or their family about the details.

Now, however, an opportunity had presented itself. To give Zheng Wang a bit more confidence and blunt some of his hostility, State Duke Pi was very eager to exalt Zhou Man’s medical skills.

As for if they failed to save him in the end, that would be because Young Master Zheng’s injuries were worse than his son’s to begin with. Back then, his son had at least a forty‑percent chance of surviving—uh, was it forty percent?

Maybe he should quote a higher number and say fifty?

While he was still struggling with this, Zheng Wang had already grabbed him and asked, "Is the young lord in good health now? Does he have any discomforts?"

State Duke Pi fell into thought. This wasn’t something he could hide, so he answered honestly, "He does require more care than the average person."

He said, "After all, there’s an old injury inside his body, so Imperial Doctor Zhou strictly forbids him from drinking alcohol. Spicy foods, scalding hot and icy‑cold foods all must be eaten sparingly, and meat should be taken in moderation as well..."

Zheng Wang thought it over, feeling that his nephew didn’t have much appetite for food and drink and wasn’t fond of wine either, so it shouldn’t be difficult for him. He let out a small breath and asked, "These are taboos, as they should be. But apart from these, does he have... any other physical discomforts?"

He was asking whether there were any sequelae that couldn’t be eliminated.

State Duke Pi thought very carefully and then said, "If he observes the rules, he’s generally fine. It’s just that my unfilial son is extremely disobedient and will occasionally binge on food and drink. Every time afterward he has some abdominal pain to varying degrees."

So over these last two years, State Duke Pi had become quite keen on using the rod on his son.

Zheng Wang felt that wouldn’t be difficult for his nephew, and so he finally let out the last half of his breath.

Standing to the side, Lu Zhongyan looked at him and said, "Brother Zheng, the young lord’s injury was to his belly. Erlang’s injury is to his head." They were not the same at all, ah ah ah.

Zheng Wang substituted abdominal pain with headache in his mind and frowned slightly.

Manbao, however, couldn’t care less what they were thinking. After seeing them out, she went back into the room, watched Young Master Zheng for a while, then sat down at the table and continued writing up her pulse case record.

She had carefully examined and compared the patient; the color and location of the accumulated blood were slightly different. In the future, people might not have Keke’s methods for a long time yet, but they could determine the location through other means.

It just might not be very accurate. The most important thing was to be cautious when inserting the needles, so every time she pulled out a needle, Manbao carefully measured the depth of insertion.

Manbao bit the end of her brush and turned to look at Zheng Erlang on the bed. Unfortunately, she had too few cases; the reference value was very low. She didn’t know whether she would ever encounter a similar case again.

Manbao sighed once, then turned back and continued to write her pulse case record.

By the time she finally finished writing out the prescriptions and the needling methods one by one, a fair amount of time had passed.

She didn’t know where the medical assistant had fetched a brazier from, but he brought one in and set it at the side, then sat with Zhou Man to warm themselves by the fire.

There was a bit of returning chill in the night; this was more or less the coldest time of the day.

Manbao glanced at the palace servants dozing off in the corners of the room, then beckoned to them. The few of them snapped awake and hurried over at a trot.

Manbao motioned for them to sit and warm themselves as well—really just to chase off the chill.

The palace servants each found a small stool and came to sit, and indeed it felt much better to sit around the brazier.

In the enveloping warmth, Manbao yawned, leaned back in her chair, propped her head on her hand, and drifted off to sleep. In the end she was woken by Director Xiao pushing her.

Manbao groggily got to her feet, handed the patient over to Director Xiao, and then went back to her guest room to sleep. Once she lay down, she didn’t want to get up again.

She slept straight through until the sun was high in the sky. After she washed up and came back, the imperial doctor on duty had already been changed to Imperial Doctor Liu. He pointed at the table in the next room, indicating that she should go there to have breakfast.

Manbao, however, walked over with her hands clasped behind her back to take a look at Zheng Erlang, and asked, "How is he?"

"We’ve examined him; his pulse is a bit stronger than yesterday. That’s a good sign." Imperial Doctor Liu paused, then said, "Once you’ve eaten, Director Xiao will come by to take a look later. There’s no major issue; after that, it will just be the two of us taking turns on duty."

Director Xiao had quite a few matters to deal with; if it wasn’t a particularly urgent situation, he wouldn’t keep watch over a single patient all the time. This wasn’t the emperor, after all.

Manbao nodded, indicating she understood.

After the consultation, the three of them confirmed that his vital signs were improving. It was just that the patient showed no response at all. Director Xiao personally used a needle to test his pain reflex; he only twitched his eyelids and didn’t wake.

Seeing this, the three of them sighed in unison. They all felt that the possibility of him remaining in a coma was very high. One had to know, even the empress dowager, sick unto the marrow of her bones, would let out a howl from that needle of Director Xiao’s.

Director Xiao and Imperial Doctor Liu both turned to look at Zhou Man.

Under their gaze, Zhou Man couldn’t help taking a step back. "W‑what are you both looking at me for?"

Director Xiao reached out and patted her shoulder, speaking earnestly. "Imperial Doctor Zhou, prepare a course of acupuncture to rouse the mind and open the orifices. You can consult any of the medical texts in the Imperial Hospital, the Chongwen Pavilion, and the Hanlin Academy as you like."

Manbao: ...Don’t you know exactly what medical books your Imperial Hospital has?

But the medical books in the Hanlin Academy...

Manbao’s eyes rolled once, and she immediately said, "I’ll go check them in a while."

Director Xiao warned, "The most important thing is the patient’s present condition. As for the other medical books... borrow them first and read them later."

Manbao nodded repeatedly to show she understood. She definitely would not delay Zheng Erlang’s treatment.