Manbao thought his words seed to make so sense. Imperial Doctor Zheng turned to her and said, "Although this thing is not as pretty as a crystal mirror, it is still very useful for Doctor Zhou Junior. So, Doctor Zhou Junior, you’d best not make this widely known; it’s enough for you to know."
Imperial Doctor Liu nodded slightly. Though he hadn’t heard much about it, seeing Imperial Doctor Zheng nod, he knew Liu wouldn’t spread the word intentionally either.
This item might assist the Imperial Doctors, but it’s not essential, and neither Liu nor Zheng were particularly impressed by it.
Yet, they understood that there would always be people who adored rare treasures.
While this object might not be of much importance to them, Zhou Man’s surgical thods were excellent, and many treatnts she perford might require it.
Thinking this over, Imperial Doctor Liu, after leaving Imperial Doctor Zheng, couldn’t resist giving Zhou Man so advice. He felt she should focus more on researching diagnoses and prescriptions, or perhaps acupuncture and other treatnt thods, rather than dedicating so much energy to surgery.
"Surgery is rely one of many therapeutic thods," he said. "When other options for treatnt are available, surgical thods should be used sparingly. Forget the fact that cutting into soone can harm their vital energies and make them prone to infections—let’s assu you can address both issues. But for most ordinary families, this approach is simply not feasible."
"Regular families can’t even afford herbal remnants, let alone a treatnt thod like yours."
Hearing these words, Manbao raised her head to look at Imperial Doctor Liu and asked, "How did Imperial Doctor Liu get into the Imperial Hospital?"
Imperial Doctor Liu smiled and replied, "My family has practiced dicine for generations, though without much fa. By the ti my turn ca, I traveled far and wide as an itinerant doctor. Seeing enough patients, soone recomnded to the Imperial Hospital."
Which is why he understood the hardships of the common people. Zhou Man’s treatnt thods would only appeal to wealthy families; impoverished households would more likely prefer prescriptions or other convenient thods.
Because of his background, when Imperial Doctor Zheng sought fellow Imperial Doctors willing to assist Zhou Man with severed tendons, only he volunteered.
Did the other Imperial Doctors in the Imperial Hospital not know of Zhou Man’s dical prowess?
Of course they did.
But within the palace, it was one thing to defer to Director Xiao and her authority. Outside the palace, however, not everyone respected her.
Especially given her young age, aside from younger doctors like Imperial Doctor Zheng, who were eager to rise and learn new techniques, who else would willingly act as her assistant and take orders from her?
Manbao evidently hadn’t considered this aspect yet. Upon learning about Imperial Doctor Liu’s background, she understood and rembered his words in her heart.
Having already conducted the consultation, Imperial Doctor Liu asked Manbao when she planned to perform the surgery.
Manbao thought for a mont and replied, "I’ll make preparations. Probably the day after tomorrow, in the morning."
She could request leave from Jishi Hall. If everything went smoothly, she could go to the palace to administer acupuncture to the Empress in the afternoon, and take the following day off, which would allow her to visit Xuandu Temple without delaying other matters.
Imperial Doctor Liu and Imperial Doctor Zheng both nodded, agreeing to the arrangent.
Manbao began preparing, instructing the Xiang family brothers to clean the room thoroughly, including sunning and washing the bedding, while she readied needles and thread.
The needles for this procedure had to be extrely fine. Manbao had entrusted Shopkeeper Zheng to find craftsn to make them, but no craftsman had taken the commission yet—due to its intricate requirents, it wasn’t a job the average craftsman could handle.
She decided to use needles she had directly bought from the marketplace for this surgery, along with a thinner thread, which she had earlier asked Shopkeeper Zheng to find soone to produce.
Surprisingly, they had managed to make it—a very fine thread made from sheep intestines, already stead and treated with dicinal herbs. When Shopkeeper Zheng handed her the small batch of thread, he was quite reluctant, saying, "I’ll charge you only the cost price, no profit—twelve taels."
Manbao: ... Imperial Doctor Liu was right after all; surgeries like this are truly only accessible to the wealthy.
She glanced at the carefully packaged sheep intestine thread and nodded. This small bundle would last a long ti.
Shopkeeper Zheng had already heard from Manager Zheng about Manbao’s upcoming surgery, but he wasn’t particularly interested in it.
After all, how many people in the world suffer from severed tendons? And even encountering such cases was rare. They seed intriguing, yes, but not particularly useful.
In contrast, infertility was a much more common condition. Infertility, he thought, was far more fascinating.
Shopkeeper Zheng cleared his throat. Although society often blad won for childlessness, as a doctor, Shopkeeper Zheng understood that the truth is usually fifty-fifty. Of every ten childless couples, half were due to issues with the won, and the other half were due to issues with the n.
So infertility was genuinely an interesting topic. As he had been about to suggest to Doctor Zhou Junior that she pay more attention to it, Shopkeeper Zheng glanced at the youthful Manbao and swallowed his words. Forget it; this could wait. She was far too young, and scaring the child wouldn’t do!
Shopkeeper Zheng was actually a bit vexed. After all, the girl hadn’t even reached marriageable age yet, but she could discuss concepts like vital essence with remarkable fluency.
With an aching head, Shopkeeper Zheng waved his hand and said, "Go settle the bill at the counter. You’re allowed a day off tomorrow."
Manbao bowed and withdrew.
At the lobby, she handed over money while lanting the cost and asked Young Manager Zheng, "What did you use to treat this sheep intestine thread that made it so expensive?"
Young Manager Zheng replied, "Expensive? Let tell you how much we sell per bundle to others!"
"I don’t know."
"Twenty taels a bundle!" Young Manager Zheng exclaid. "When boiling it, we added angelica and safflower, then fumigated it with musk, sulfur, and atractylodes. Plus, during the separation process, you requested such fine threads while ensuring both flexibility and length. Our pharmacists nearly went blind! If it weren’t for the limited number of users requiring it, we’d have priced it even higher."
Manbao sighed, "No wonder it’s so expensive."
She handed him the money.
Young Manager Zheng curiously asked, "Does the Xiang family have no money?"
Manbao hadn’t answered when Young Manager Zheng sighed, "Indeed! They’ve fallen into such decline—aside from the land at Dongxi Village, I doubt they have anything left. How could they have money? Doctor Zhou Junior, why don’t you charge less for their surgery?"
Manbao replied, "... I only charge them for dicine; I haven’t taken any fees from them!"
Young Manager Zheng then rolled his eyes thoughtfully and glanced toward the backyard door. Seeing his father wasn’t around, he lowered his voice and said, "When you prescribe dicine for them next ti, mark it sohow. I’ll give them a further discount."
Manbao suspiciously looked at him. "Isn’t the dicine I pick up from Jishi Hall already discounted?"
Young Manager Zheng was silent for a mont before replying, "Actually, it could be cheaper. But this offer only applies to Xiang Mingxue’s family; other people won’t get it."
Manbao scrutinized him closely. Young Manager Zheng forced himself to maintain composure, eting her gaze.
Manbao grew suspicious, "You’re not secretly covering the cost from your own pocket, are you?"
Young Manager Zheng darted his eyes around but didn’t answer.
Manbao couldn’t help but marvel, "Being the protagonist of a story is truly great. I’ve already decided—my next book will be authored by Bai Er and will be about ."
Young Manager Zheng asked slyly, "Does Doctor Zhou Junior have any legendary stories worth sharing widely?"
"I heal people and save lives."
Young Manager Zheng wasn’t particularly impressed, "I watch people heal and save lives every day!"
So what’s the appeal?
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