The vast palace grounds housed several infirmaries. The busiest of them all was the one near the military officers' training grounds.
"Hey! My head got split clean open! Stitch it up!"
"My shoulder came out of its socket. Pop it back in!"
"A rookie collapsed! Give me some smelling salts!"
This kind of thing was an everyday occurrence.
Basically, new medical officers were sent here to be toughened up.
Maomao
and the others were occasionally dragged along to help, but it was generally a place you'd want to avoid being assigned to. There were plenty of rough characters around, and it likely also served the purpose of keeping oddball strategists from worming their way in.
"It's about time you got some real experience."
With those words,
Doctor Liu
brought Maomao along.
"If anything comes up,
Doctor Li
is the one you should go to."
When a woman was assigned to a rough department, all sorts of problems could arise. Doctor Li had openly opposed sending Maomao to the western capital, but beneath that opposition lay genuine concern for her. Liu probably figured that if it was Doctor Li, he'd protect Maomao even in a place like this.
(He really is a good person, that Doctor Li.)
It was just that lately, his goals had gone a bit off course. Besides, the bulge of his muscles was now visible even through his medical officer's uniform, so it was getting harder and harder to tell whether he was a doctor or a soldier.
"Well, it's not like anyone's going to mess with you even without asking for help."
According to someone, a ghost wearing a monocle could be seen lurking behind Maomao.
"Anyway, there's plenty of work, so don't get discouraged. Also, when it's your turn to watch the medicine cabinet, make sure you come back on time."
Doctor Liu finished his explanation and left.
In his place, the senior medical officer who had originally been assigned there appeared before Maomao and the others. He was a gentle-looking elderly doctor with a bushy mustache.
"Well then, I'm counting on you all. The other medical officers haven't come in yet—they're out running errands or on half-day shifts. Also, we frequently make rounds at the military barracks to check on the wounded. About twenty medical officers are assigned here, but on a good day, only about half are actually in the infirmary. Patient traffic is usually lighter in the morning, but don't let your guard down."
"Understood."
While Maomao was putting her belongings away on the shelf, an emergency patient was promptly brought in.
"Hey. There's a wooden sword stuck in my gut. Do something about it."
Never mind how one managed to get a wooden sword lodged there — treatment was needed regardless.
"Uuugh, uuugh..."
The injured party was a young military officer who hadn't yet reached his twenties. He was drenched in cold sweat, groaning.
"Could you explain the situation?"
He was in no state to talk, so Maomao addressed the officer who had brought him in.
"It's exactly what you see. He got hurt during training. What else is there to say?"
The two officers who had brought the wounded man in promptly left the infirmary.
"What's with those guys..."
Dr. Li scowled but quickly switched gears — treating the patient came first.
"It appears a broken wooden sword is lodged in the wound."
What Maomao said sounded obvious, but it carried meaning. The wooden sword hadn't snapped after being thrust in — a sword that was already broken had been stabbed in.
Dr. Li and the other medical officers seemed to grasp what Maomao was getting at and nodded.
Why a broken wooden sword ended up lodged in someone during training — the explanation so far was woefully insufficient. Had he coincidentally fallen onto a broken wooden sword? No, if anything, it looked more like it had been stabbed in.
"Prepare for surgery. You two won't know where the instruments are yet — clean the patient's wound for now."
The bearded senior medical officer pulled equipment from a large cabinet.
Dr. Li and Maomao lifted the patient onto the examination table. They pulled up his tunic, exposing the wound.
"For now, I'll remove the wooden fragments."
Maomao pulled out the larger pieces by hand. The wood was slick with blood and slippery, making it difficult to extract. She used tweezers to carefully remove them.
"There's a lot of bleeding. Let's stop it first."
Dr. Li layered gauze several times thick and pressed down on the abdomen. Pressure was the fundamental method of stopping hemorrhaging.
"With skin this mangled, it's going to be difficult to heal."
It would have been better if the wound had been cleanly cut, if anything.
"After trimming away the excess skin, we'll stitch it together. Now then—how to go about stitching it."
Simply sewing the skin back as it was would leave it too short and pulled taut. The wound edges would need to be carefully shaped so the skin could be joined without undue tension. That meant making incisions that might seem unnecessary at first glance.
"Are the internal organs intact?"
The old physician returned with the surgical instruments all laid out.
"For the amount of bleeding, the wound isn't as deep as it looks."
Physician Li explained while pressing the gauze against the wound once more.
"I'll handle the suturing together with Physician Li. You go fetch the hemostatic, anti-inflammatory, and any other medicines we need. There's a medicine cabinet in the next room."
"Understood."
The medicines on the shelves were arranged the same way as in the other medical quarters. That was probably why he'd asked her—Maomao could identify them all at a glance.
(They're going to do this without anesthesia?)
Maomao felt a twinge of pity, but this was hardly unusual when dealing with military men. Those who might find themselves on the battlefield at a moment's notice were expected to grow accustomed to pain, which was why anesthetics were so often foregone.
(Now then, which herbs have hemostatic properties?)
Suisai,
,
Mogusa,
,
Cattail pollen,
plus, from animal sources,
Ejiao—
that is to say,
donkey
hide
gelatin,
and the like.
(This time of year, they should be readily available.)
Many herbal medicines are hard to come by depending on the season. From early spring to summer, however, they are relatively abundant.
In the next room, another physician had returned and was helping the old doctors with the suturing. With no anesthesia, they cut and stitched patients who sometimes thrashed about. For that reason, the beds were equipped with restraints for the limbs.
It seemed they also muzzled the patients to keep them from biting their tongues, and muffled screams could be heard from time to time.
Maomao would be assigned there for a while, and after that
Yao
and
Yen-Yen
would likely come as well.
(Yen-Yen would probably be fine.)
Yao was stubborn enough that she might endure it too, one way or another.
But what about the two new court ladies? It would be a waste if they were given such grueling work and ended up quitting. On the other hand, going easy on them didn't seem right either.
(They're going to be a real handful.)
Maomao nodded to herself and carried the medicines over.
The suturing itself seemed to have been completed quickly. Bloodstained cloths were scattered across the floor, and the young military officer whose abdomen had been stitched up had pitifully wet himself. This was nothing unusual, so the infirmary kept spare undergarments and
trousers
on hand.
"Will these medicines be sufficient?"
She had brought, at minimum, hemostatic agents and anti-inflammatories, along with painkillers and antipyretics.
"Ah, well done."
The old doctor applied the hemostatic powder to the sutured wound and wrapped it with a cloth.
"Doctor Li, prepare the anti-inflammatory, painkiller, and antipyretic. Now then, you are—"
"My name is Maomao."
"That girl, I take it."
(That girl?)
Maomao pretended she hadn't heard.
"Maomao, could you see to washing the bandages and tidying up the instruments?"
"I'll get right on it."
Maomao was better at compounding than Li, but here it was only proper to defer to Li. She tossed bloodied bandages into the basket one by one.
"The well is right beside the infirmary. The stove too. Do you know how to do boiling sterilization?"
"Yes."
The senior physician seemed to be a considerate man. It was a relief that he gave clear, precise instructions. There were plenty of people in this world who would tell you to think for yourself and act accordingly, then fly into a rage when you actually did.
(A decent enough place, all things considered.)
Setting aside the matter of being near the eccentric strategist—
It was only her first day on the move, but casualties kept coming in.
The sun had begun its descent before Maomao was finally granted a break. Ironically, it was thanks to the monocular eccentric's figure flickering at the edge of her field of vision from behind.
"Say, Maomao…"
Li glanced back and forth between Maomao and the eccentric strategist.
"Don't say it, Li."
Maomao set about preparing tea. The senior physician had apparently taken a break at last as well, sipping warm tea with a sigh of relief.
"It must have been tough on your very first day."
"Not really. I'd already heard about it beforehand."
Li's body, nourished on soy flour and goat's milk, seemed to be brimming with more than enough energy—he looked like he could carry on without a break. However, sitting alone with the senior physician during a rest period was awkward, so Maomao made sure to prepare tea for Li as well.
"But didn't you two find anything a bit odd?"
"Odd? Do you mean the unusually high number of deliberate injuries?"
Maomao hesitated for a moment, then spoke. Li nodded along.
"You noticed it too?"
"Yes, well. That very first wound from the broken wooden sword—it looked like it had been stabbed in on purpose."
Li had gone ahead and said what Maomao had been thinking.
"Could there be some insidious bullying going on?"
The military officers who had brought in the wounded had also left without offering any explanation, which only added to the suspicion.
"It's not so much bullying. It's factional infighting."
"Factional infighting?"
Doctor Li and Maomao tilted their heads in unison, then glanced at the suspicious figure loitering behind them.
"What's the matter, Maomao?"
The eccentric military strategist flashed a grin.
Maomao ignored him and looked at the elderly physician.
"In nature, when a large predator sits at the top, the balance of power among the prey beneath it is kept in check."
"Yes."
Maomao and Doctor Li snuck another glance at the suspicious person behind them.
"For the past year, that predator has been gone, and the prey have been fighting over feeding grounds."
"Yes."
The old physician explained it in a remarkably clear way without naming any specific parties.
"The prey may look the same, but they're not all the same species. While the predator was away, some of the prey grew strong enough to start preying on the others."
"So the ones who've made it into the predator's role are now doing whatever they please, is that it?"
"Exactly."
"It's a troublesome situation, but won't things settle down eventually?"
"I'd like to think so."
He wondered if the ecosystem would return to normal once the predator—that is, the eccentric strategist—came back. The old physician chose his words in a way that hinted at something more.
"Is there something else on your mind?"
Doctor Li picked up on the fact that the old physician seemed to want to be asked.
"You'll hear about it sooner or later, so I might as well tell you now. The two major factions currently splitting the military are—the Empress Dowager's family, and the Empress's family."
"Eep!"
Maomao involuntarily let out a strange noise.
"Well, well, well."
"Quite the predicament, isn't it? So, I suppose you can guess what I'm getting at?"
The old court physician gazed intently at Maomao.
"Handle the predator deftly, and do what you can to quell this chaos."
"..."
Without thinking, Maomao pulled a thoroughly disgusted face.