Chapter 9 Gastric Lavage

  "Little bean sprout! Little bean sprout! Hurry up and come out to save your life!" Zhao Yan hugged the little black dog and ran back to her bedroom. Outside the bedroom, there was a compartment where Xiao Douya lived. Usually, when nothing was wrong, Xiao Douya liked to hide inside and eat snacks. Although Zhao Yan also wanted to eat, she never had the nerve to ask a little maid for snacks.

  Xiao Douya was indeed here, and upon hearing Zhao Yan's shout, she immediately ran out. However, when Zhao Yan saw Xiao Douya, she was so startled that she almost fled in terror, because the other girl now had a face full of white foam, looking like a ghost.

  "Are you washing your face with soap?" Zhao Yan asked, looking at Xiaodouya's face full of foam.

  The little bean sprout nodded obediently, heaven knows how much soap this little girl used at once, otherwise there wouldn't be so many bubbles.

  "Perfect, you go wash your face quickly and don't throw away the water, bring it over to me!" Xiaodouya's biggest advantage is that she listens well, and even if she doesn't understand, she won't ask too many questions. Upon hearing Zhao Yan's words, she immediately turned around and ran back into her room, and in a short while brought over the washbasin with water that had become milky white. Looking at it, Zhao Yan believed that the soap she gave to this little girl would definitely not last for more than a few uses.

  The most effective way to deal with food poisoning is naturally gastric lavage, which works for both humans and dogs. Old Su Ma fed the dog arsenic, but he didn't know how to use it, and incredibly mixed it into egg whites, which would undoubtedly weaken the toxicity of the arsenic. It's estimated that after Bao Hu Er ate the arsenic, he must have taken a considerable amount of time to die, but fortunately, this is why the little black dog was able to hold on until now.

  Giving a dog a stomach wash isn't as particular as giving one to a human, Zhao Yan had seen veterinarians give dogs that had ingested pesticides stomach washes using soap water in her past life. The ingredients of soap and soap water are almost the same, so it just so happens that Xiaodouya's facial cleanser can be used. What's troubling Zhao Yan now is how to pour the soapy water into Xiao Hei's mouth.

  Later generations all use stomach tubes for gastric lavage, but where can Zhao Yan find a stomach tube now? Moreover, the stomach tube cannot be too hard and must have a certain degree of softness. If it's too soft, it won't be able to enter the stomach at all. Now Zhao Yan is really in trouble. The little black dog has fallen into a semi-comatose state, and if he doesn't get his stomach washed out soon, he'll definitely die.

  "Little bean sprout, you hold the puppy first, I'll go find some tools to give it a stomach wash!" Zhao Yan stuffed the little black dog into Little Bean Sprout's arms and quickly walked into the bedroom to grab his backpack, which had the syringes he brought for Liu Dage, along with ten disposable needles. These were useful for washing the stomach, but the key thing missing was a gastric tube.

  Zhao Yan rummaged through the things in her bag, but still couldn't find anything that could be used as a stomach tube. Finally, she took out the bundle of clothes and rummaged through it randomly several times, but still had nothing to show for it. Just when Zhao Yan was about to give up and put the clothes back, suddenly "clunk", a bunch of keys fell out of her pocket.

  When Zhao Yan saw the bunch of keys, his eyes lit up because he saw a fish-shaped pendant on the keychain, which was handmade using plastic tubes from an intravenous drip. Looking at the pendant, Zhao Yan couldn't help but feel moved in his heart, because this pendant was a gift given to him by one of his students. At that time, the student had been ill for half a month, and Zhao Yan went to his home every day to administer the IV drip. In the end, the student used the plastic tube from the IV drip to weave this pendant as a token of gratitude. Although it was not worth much money, it was a sincere gift from the student.

  Although this pendant had important significance to Zhao Yan, now that saving lives was urgent, he couldn't care about many things. He took down the pendant and disassembled it, finally obtaining a long tube of about one meter, which was soft and hard just right, and could be used as a gastric tube.

  Holding the IV tube and needle, they arrived at the outer hall. Xiaodouya was also holding a small dog with a painful expression. At this time, Zhao Yan asked her to hold the dog in an upright position, pry open its mouth, and slowly insert the IV tube into its esophagus. This is crucial, as it must not be inserted into the trachea; otherwise, it would not be called gastric lavage, but rather pulmonary lavage. If Xiaodouya's washing water enters the lungs, even a tiger would not survive.

  The little black dog was very small, only about two palms in size, so the infusion tube was inserted just a short distance before it reached the stomach. Without delaying any further, Zhao Yan immediately used a syringe to suck out the contents of the stomach, then filled the syringe with soapy water and injected it into the little black dog's stomach. Soon, the little black dog's belly began to swell up, and then she used the syringe to suck it out again. After repeating this process several times, the sucked-out soapy water no longer had any other unusual smell, and only then did Zhao Yan feel at ease.

  "Alright, Xiaodouya, go find some egg whites or milk, and we'll feed the dog later!" Zhao Yan gently pulled out the gastric tube and instructed Xiaodouya.

  Xiao Douya responded with a sound, turned around and ran away quickly. Zhao Yan then took the little black dog to the bedroom, found a wooden box for the little black dog to make a nest, at this time the little black dog was still in a coma, if it couldn't wake up all the time, then Zhao Yan's previous efforts would be in vain.

  The dog belongs to the earth in the five elements, and its vitality is very strong. Just after Zhao Yan gave the little black dog a stomach wash, less than an hour later, the little black dog woke up with a hum, then vomited some gastric juice again. Although his spirit was still very weak, he knew to find something to eat, which made Zhao Yan and Xiaodouya both very excited. When Xiaodouya put the sheep's milk in front of the little black dog, the result was that the little dog actually stretched out its pink tongue and licked it up.

  When she saw the little black dog eating, Xiaodouya was so excited that she almost jumped up. Little girls generally like small animals, especially this little black dog with its plump and fluffy appearance, which can be summed up in one word as "cute". Such an animal has a deadly power over little girls, so it's not surprising that Xiaodouya reacted this way.

  Cao Ying had just returned to her room after a busy day, but she didn't have time to rest. Instead, she took out today's account book to check it over. Because Zhao Yan owed a huge debt outside, Cao Ying wanted to pay it off as soon as possible. So in the past few days, she had been going through the assets of the Duke's mansion, selling what could be sold and discarding what couldn't, fully displaying the decisiveness and generosity of a lady from a noble family.

  "After selling the Beast Garden, I estimate that we can gain 8,300 taels. Adding this to the original sale of our property, we should be able to raise around 30,000 taels. This way, there will only be a deficit of over 33,000 taels left. Even if I sell my dowry, which was brought with me when I married, there will still be a deficit of over 20,000 taels." Cao Ying held her brush in hand and muttered to herself as she calculated how to repay the debts of the Duke's mansion, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but shake her head in distress. If it weren't for being forced to take this last step, she really didn't want to sell her dowry, especially since some of these items were very precious and her mother had told her to keep them for her future daughters.

  "Marrying someone like Zhao Yan, I'd rather die than let him touch me once. What's the point of having children in the future? Since that's the case, these dowries are useless too, might as well sell them off to pay back debts." Cao Ying muttered to herself, a resolute look on her face, then proceeded to record her own dowry in the account book as well.

  Just as Cao Ying was keeping accounts, her personal maid, Miao Xue, walked over and whispered: "Your Highness, it's already time for dinner. You were busy this afternoon and didn't have a chance to eat lunch. You must be hungry. Why don't you eat first before dealing with these things?"

  Upon hearing Miao Xue's words, Cao Ying also felt a bit hungry. She lifted her head and smiled: "Alright, Miao Xue, go to the dining hall and prepare dinner, I'll be right there!"

  "Yes!" Xunxue responded with a single word, turned around and left. Originally, Xiaodouya and Xunxue were both personal maids by Cao Ying's side, but since Zhao Yan also needed someone to take care of her, and Cao Ying didn't trust the original servants from the county prince's mansion, she could only send her most trusted Xiaodouya to serve Zhao Yan.

  Cao Ying sat on the chair and stretched, then put away the account book. She walked through the corridor to the dining hall. However, just as Cao Ying reached the entrance of the dining hall, she suddenly heard the laughter of Xue and Xiaodou coming from inside, mixed with Zhao Yan's voice. This made Cao Ying's face sink. She didn't like people around her getting too close to Zhao Yan because, according to her understanding, Zhao Yan was very strict with servants in the past and would often beat them cruelly. Therefore, she didn't want her own people from her hometown to suffer in the Duke's mansion.

  Cao Ying quickly walked into the dining hall, but what she saw inside made her pause for a moment. Zhao Yan was sitting at the dinner table with today's supper in front of him. Xiao Douya was standing beside him, holding a small black dog in his arms. Her personal maid, Miao Xue, was carefully feeding the little dog rice porridge from a small plate, while Zhao Yan sat on the side, smiling and occasionally pointing out to the two girls not to feed too quickly, lest they choke the little dog.

  Seeing the little black dog being held in Xiao Douya's arms, Cao Ying was momentarily stunned. Clearly, this little black dog had already eaten arsenic and it had been two hours since then, so it should have died from poisoning long ago. However, now it was jumping around in Xiao Douya's arms, except for not being in high spirits, there were no signs of poisoning at all.

  "Fourth sister, look at this little black dog, it's so cute! It was almost dead, but in the end, the duke and I managed to save it!" Xiaodouya had sharp eyes and saw Cao Ying enter, immediately excitedly ran up to show off her new pet.

  Originally, Cao Ying still suspected that Zhao Yan had brought a similar small dog from elsewhere to deceive her, but after hearing Xiao Douya's words, she immediately ruled out this possibility. It was just that thinking about how useless Zhao Yan in her eyes could actually remove the poison of arsenic made Cao Ying somewhat unbelievable. Had she underestimated Zhao Yan before?

  Zhao Yan also saw the look of shock on Cao Ying's face, which made him feel a sense of relief and pride. For some time now, Zhao Yan had been at a disadvantage against Cao Ying, but this time he finally managed to turn the tables. Moreover, he had already learned from Xiaodouya that Cao Ying had been studying medicine since she was young, although he couldn't understand why a rich girl like her would want to study medicine. However, as long as Cao Ying liked medicine, she would definitely be interested in learning about his method of treating the little black dog, and now all he needed to do was wait calmly for her to ask him for guidance.