The Assassin's Empire of Three Kingdoms

  Now that Long Fei has said he's not a doctor, no one would believe him. In that case, let's just pretend to be a doctor for once, it shouldn't be a big deal. Judging from the guess, the woman's belly is so big, and she's not pregnant, it must be something inside her abdomen, either a tumor or ascites. Being able to swell up like this, it's a miracle that the woman hasn't died yet. Let's have another miracle, hoping that he can see some clues.

  Long Fei limped to the bedside, imitating Hua Tuo's style, and placed one hand on the woman's swollen abdomen, pressing gently a few times. It was surprisingly soft, just like a water-filled leather ball, which led him to estimate that it should be ascites. But where did this ascites come from? That could only be guessed. The human body has only so many organs: heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, and two intestines, large and small. Only the stomach or intestines can accumulate water without dying for three years; if there were such a large amount of ascites in other places, they would have died long ago.

  There's another point, the stomach and intestines are connected, it's highly likely that water has accumulated in the large and small intestines. Thinking of this, Long Fei asked the shop owner: "In these three years, how have your wife's bowel movements been?"

  The shopkeeper was taken aback, how could he casually talk about such things? His own wife was a woman, and such private matters couldn't be told to outsiders. The shopkeeper turned his head to look at Hua Tuo. Hua Tuo smiled: "Since the young brother has asked, I'll speak plainly. In a doctor's eyes, there is no male or female, only patients."

  The shopkeeper took a deep breath: "To be honest, since I got this illness, my bowel movements have become less and less frequent. In the past half year or so, it's been about ten days or more before I've had even a little bit."

  Upon receiving the shopkeeper's response, Long Fei had a plan in mind. Based on his judgment, it was highly likely that the shopkeeper's wife had a tumor in her stomach, causing severe ascites. In this era, there were no B-ultrasound or CT scans, so nobody could detect it, let alone treat it. Traditional Chinese medicine couldn't cure this disease at all. Long Fei suddenly remembered that Hua Tuo was the pioneer of surgical treatment, and with him around, the woman still had a chance to be saved. Smiling, he said to the shopkeeper: "You're lucky! If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to cure this disease. In this world, only one person has a solution!" Long Fei pointed at Hua Tuo.

  The shopkeeper was overjoyed: "Really! Then please, divine doctor, quickly perform your magic to save my wife. I'm willing to give you as much money as you want." As he spoke, he tried to kowtow to Hua Tuo again.

  Hua Tuo hastily supported him: "Don't worry, shopkeeper, I'll give you my guarantee that I will definitely save your wife. It's just that it's too late today, and I'll treat her tomorrow!" The shopkeeper nodded repeatedly. He led several people out of the house, constantly expressing his gratitude along the way. But Hua Tuo didn't talk to the shopkeeper, instead asking Long Fei: "Young brother, you only lightly touched her and knew what was wrong with the woman's illness. You're indeed more skilled than me!"

  Long Fei laughed and said: "What a coincidence! I'm really not a doctor, I only know the surface, treating external injuries is fine, this time it's really a fluke!"

  Hua Tuo thought Long Fei was being polite, shook his head and smiled: "Young brother doesn't have to be like this, old man has long seen through these empty names. The things learned from young brother in just half an hour, I'm afraid some doctors won't understand for a lifetime. From now on, the title of divine doctor should be placed on young brother's head."

  Two men were pushing each other. The shopkeeper who had already returned suddenly rushed out and shouted loudly at Hua Tuo and Long Fei: "Two divine doctors, slow down, slow down, my wife, she...".

  The shopkeeper finished speaking, and Hua Tuo immediately turned around and ran towards the third courtyard. "Lu Wan" took a look at Long Fei, and Long Fei shouted: "What are you looking at? Let's go! Go take a look!"

  As I entered the room that had just been vacated, a foul odor wafted out from beside the small bed and pierced my nostrils. The woman on the bed was breathing weakly, her voice barely audible, as if she were about to die at any moment. The quilt covering her belly had been thrown open, and her outer garments had also been removed, revealing a distended belly that resembled a ball. Her belly was almost translucent, with dark purple blood vessels visible beneath the surface in a chaotic pattern.

  The shopkeeper was anxiously pacing back and forth nearby, while Hua Tuo was taking the woman's pulse. Long Fei took one look and knew that this woman probably wouldn't make it through the night; to save her, surgery had to be performed immediately - at the very least, a small incision had to be made on the woman's abdomen to release some of the accumulated fluid inside, or else before long, the woman would burst like a balloon.

  "Go, get a knife! Beat a few basins of clear water and find some cotton!" Long Fei shouted to the shop owner. The shop owner was already at a loss for what to do, circling around the house in a flurry. Long Fei grew urgent, raising his voice to shout at the shop owner: "Hurry up! If you want to save your wife, you have to listen to me!"

  Hua Tuo also took her pulse and said with a serious expression: "This woman is unlikely to make it through the night!"

  "Ah……!" The shopkeeper, who had already reached the door, stopped in his tracks and turned around, hastily kneeling down: "Miraculous doctor, please, I beg of you, save my wife! I'll offer up all my family's property if only you can save her!" Long Fei roared: "Didn't you understand what I just said? If you want to save your wife, do as I say and hurry up to prepare!"

  The woman's voice on the bed was getting smaller and smaller, like a mosquito's voice that was barely audible. Long Fei closed the door of the house with "Lu Wan" and looked at Hua Tuo: "Old man, I know you have the skill to operate on people, today it depends on you, according to my judgment, this woman has a problem in her stomach, causing ascites, let's operate first to drain the ascites, see if there is a tumor in her stomach, cutting off the tumor should be fine!"

  Hua Tuo had just prepared the anesthetic powder, and in order to test its efficacy, he had only experimented on some animals. So far, no one has been willing to let him operate on them. Today was a groundbreaking first time, and there was still some tension. Looking at Long Fei's determined eyes, Hua Tuo swallowed his saliva: "I'll do my best!"

  The commotion in the courtyard woke up all the guests staying at the inn, and they all came to the third courtyard to see. It was said that the divine doctor was treating the shopkeeper's wife who had a strange illness, and everyone was curious. They climbed over the door sills, crawled through the windows, and stuck their heads in to take a look. Long Fei took a glance and ordered "Lu Wan" to close all the doors and windows, then lit several lanterns and placed them at different angles, creating a makeshift shadowless lamp.

  Hua Tuo held the knife in one hand and looked at the woman's swollen belly, ready to make the incision. Long Fei stretched out his hand to stop him: "First roast it over the fire to prevent infection!"

  Hua Tuo didn't say anything else, and according to Long Fei's instructions, he heated the sharp knife over the fire. He took a deep breath, exchanged a glance with Long Fei, and with a light flick of his wrist, a small incision appeared on the woman's belly. A foul smell, even more pungent than before, began to spread throughout the room. The people present felt dizzy and were about to collapse. A thin stream of yellowish liquid flowed out from the knife wound, emitting a thick, foul odor that was both fishy and putrid. Long Fei felt his head spinning and quickly covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. He looked up to see Hua Tuo swaying unsteadily and grabbed him: "Get a cloth, cover the old man's mouth and nose, quick!"

  Time passed slowly, and the people outside had gradually calmed down from their earlier discussions. After hearing the descriptions of those who had taken a peek, everyone was reluctant to leave, wanting to see how the legendary divine doctor treated patients. The shopkeeper came back and forth in the courtyard all night long. It wasn't until dawn that there was still not a single sound coming from inside the house.

  As the yellow water flowed out, the woman's belly gradually became smaller, two large basins full of that disgusting accumulated water. "Luwan" had already vomited several times, and the pancake rolls she had just eaten were all gone. It wasn't until there was no more accumulated water flowing out that Longfei reached out to feel the woman's ribcage, and indeed there was a hard lump in the position of the pylorus, almost completely blocking it. No wonder this woman got this illness, it turned out that the food she ate hadn't entered her intestines at all, the intestinal secretions accumulated more and more, causing intestinal accumulation of water.

  "It's here!" Long Fei pointed at the location of the spout: "Think of a way to get it out, and this woman will live!"

  Hua Tuo also felt it and said: "Indeed, it seems that we can only enlarge the incision and take out what's inside."

  "Old man, let me explain, this thing is not just under the belly skin, under the belly skin there is another layer of membrane, that is the stomach wall, and the thing can be inside! Long Fei reminded: "This woman is weak, opening the stomach cavity may cause massive bleeding, if things go wrong, she might die in our hands."

  Hua Tuo nodded. He had already known these things from his experiments on animals. He said, "I know, with the experience I gained earlier, this time should be no problem."

  "Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo!" A rooster's crow echoed into the yard. The eastern sky had already turned white, and morning fog enveloped the entire village, just like being in a cloud. This was typical of the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, where the morning and evening fogs were always thick, with the moisture accumulated in the wild grasses evaporating under the sun to form a dense fog that wasn't unusual at all.

  "It's been a whole night, how come it's still not good?" The shopkeeper was still pacing back and forth. This wife of his had been through thick and thin with him, following him for half his life, from Hebei to here, never once complaining, no matter what he did she always silently supported him in the background, treating her parents-in-law even better than her own. The feelings between husband and wife had reached a point where they couldn't be parted.

  "Ah..." The door was opened by someone, and everyone in the yard stood up. "Rokumaru" supported Ryūhei as he came out first, facing the sun that had already risen into the sky, which Ryūhei found piercingly bright. Hua Tuo followed closely behind him, closing the door with a backward motion of his hand. The old man had been restless all night, and the fatigue on his face could not be concealed.

  "Divine Doctor, my wife...!" The shopkeeper hastily came forward.

  Hua Tuo smiled slightly: "After taking the tranquilizer prescribed by me, he fell asleep. When he wakes up, feed him some plain water first, and then give him some thin porridge and vegetable soup the next day to nurse him back to health gradually. He should be fine within three months!"

  The shopkeeper, upon hearing this, burst into tears. He quickly knelt down and kowtowed to Hua Tuo: "Thank you, great doctor, for saving my life! I will never forget your great kindness!"

  "Haha... " Hua Tuo smiled: "Thanks to this young man for saving your wife, I just lent a hand, if you want to thank someone, thank him!"

  The shopkeeper kowtowed to Long Fei again, and the crowd erupted in a chorus of praise. Long Fei felt a sense of relief and comfort he had never experienced before. In his military days, only after completing a mission and taking a hot shower did he feel this way. Today, he savored a different kind of satisfaction.

  "Alright, alright, it's getting late, we should get going!" A cold woman's voice came from the back of the crowd: "After causing trouble all night, you don't have to pay the few silver coins for the shop, do you?"