Ye Wanmian was pulled off - balance by Li Zhao's force and fell to the ground. Without thinking about anything else, she lunged forward to check Li Zhao's breath. Her fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Finding that he still had a breath, Ye Wanmian let out a slight sigh of relief. Then she immediately felt his pulse.
Chaotic!
It was truly in a complete mess!
She had never seen such a chaotic pulse!
An inexplicable sense of panic enveloped Ye Wanmian. She shouted loudly, "Uncle Li, Uncle Li! Wake up quickly!"
But Li Zhao remained unconscious. The bloodstain on his lips was so glaring. She gritted her teeth, grabbed Li Zhao's hand, and tried to lift him up. After all, Li Zhao was a grown - up man, and with her strength, she couldn't even move him an inch.
Just then, two doors opened one after another. Xiao Jingcheng and Qi Wen almost stepped out of the house at the same time.
"Madam Jiang, what's going on?" Qi Wen asked in a hurry.
Xiao Jingcheng had long legs and took the lead to reach Ye Wanmian's side. He pulled her hand away and without a word, picked Li Zhao up horizontally.
Ye Wanmian stared blankly at the suddenly - appeared man and was a bit slow to react. Xiao Jingcheng asked in a deep voice, "Where should I take him?"
Ye Wanmian came to her senses and quickly said, "Follow me!"
Then she turned to Qi Wen and said, "Qi Wen, clean up the broken pieces on the ground to avoid getting pricked by them."
Qi Wen watched the two leave in a hurry, scratched the back of his head, and fetched a broom to start cleaning.
Directing Xiao Jingcheng to place Li Zhao in the consulting room where he had always lived, Ye Wanmian rushed to get silver needles, medicinal wine, and candles. Then she sat down beside the bed and felt Li Zhao's pulse again.
Li Zhao's pulse was still extremely chaotic. Sometimes it was deep, sometimes it was shallow; sometimes it was fast, sometimes it was slow.
Ye Wanmian searched through all the medical books and cases in her mind, but none of them matched Li Zhao's current symptoms.
Anyway, the first thing was to stabilize his condition!
Seeing that she was about to untie Li Zhao's belt and take off his clothes, Xiao Jingcheng instinctively grabbed her hand. "What are you doing? He's a man!"
Ye Wanmian angrily shook off his hand. "What time is it? Why are you still concerned about this? Besides, I'm a doctor. It's only natural for me to treat patients!"
But she was really scared at this moment. Her hands were trembling, and she just couldn't untie Li Zhao's belt tied in a diamond knot. After several failed attempts, Xiao Jingcheng forcefully pulled her up and then sat in the position where she had just been.
Ye Wanmian thought he was deliberately causing trouble and was about to get angry. But seeing him calm and composed as he smoothly untied Li Zhao's belt, she quickly said, "Pull up all his upper - body clothes to expose his chest. I need to apply the needles."
Xiao Jingcheng did as she said. With just a gentle tug, Li Zhao's bony body was exposed.
There was a lamp in the room, and the sight was very clear. So Xiao Jingcheng immediately saw the red mole on Li Zhao's chest. Such a red mole on a man was a bit strange. He took a few more glances and then shifted his gaze, giving the position back to Ye Wanmian.
After sterilizing the silver needles, Ye Wanmian inserted them one by one into several major acupoints on Li Zhao's body. Then she fetched moxa sticks and repeatedly burned the areas where the needles were inserted.
She didn't dare to stop for a moment. She didn't dare to miss any step. Gradually, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She didn't have time to wipe them off and could only let the sweat slide down her skin and hang on the tip of her nose.
Just as that drop of sweat was about to fall, a hand reached out from the side and used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off for her.
Ye Wanmian was stunned. She turned her head and saw Xiao Jingcheng holding a handkerchief in his hand. She pursed her lips and said in a low voice, "Thank you."
Xiao Jingcheng said, "If you need any help, just ask."
Ye Wanmian didn't dare to really trouble him. She said, "No, I can handle it alone."
She lowered her head and continued to focus on the treatment. During this period, she didn't say a single word to Xiao Jingcheng. The only interaction between them was that Xiao Jingcheng would occasionally wipe the sweat off her face.
Fortunately, Ye Wanmian's efforts were not in vain. After three rounds of acupuncture, Li Zhao's breathing became much more stable. When she felt his pulse again, it was no longer as chaotic as before, but it was still a bit weak, which was a sign of physical weakness.
She extinguished the moxa sticks and pulled out all the silver needles. When Ye Wanmian was about to close Li Zhao's clothes, Xiao Jingcheng pressed her shoulder again. "I'll do it. You go and do something else."
Since he had helped her wipe the sweat a few times, Ye Wanmian wasn't an ungrateful person. Seeing this, she got up and walked outside to grind ink and write the prescription.
It had been the time to drink two cups of tea by the time she finished grabbing the medicine and put it on the small medicine stove to boil. When she returned to Li Zhao's room, Xiao Jingcheng had already dressed him and was sitting on the side with his arms crossed.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your help just now," Ye Wanmian said to Xiao Jingcheng. "I still need to boil the medicine and feed it to him. I don't know how long it will take. If Your Highness has nothing else to do, you can go back and rest."
Xiao Jingcheng saw her full of defense and such a distant attitude. He felt very unhappy.
"Humph, so eager to get rid of me? I'm not leaving."
Whether he left or not was none of her business.
Ye Wanmian was too lazy to bother with him. She stepped forward and carefully looked at Li Zhao's complexion to check his condition. Then she pulled over the quilt and carefully covered Li Zhao with it.
Then she turned around and walked out of the door to check the heat of the medicine on the stove to prevent it from being over - boiled.
Xiao Jingcheng didn't notice at all that his eyes had been following Ye Wanmian all the time, taking in all her actions.
Seeing that she came in and out twice and really ignored him from beginning to end, he felt as if a cat was scratching at his heart. He just couldn't feel at ease.
It seemed that this girl really didn't care about him at all. His presence was not even as important as a man old enough to be her father. Did she really dislike him that much?
When Ye Wanmian came into the room with a steaming bowl of medicine, Xiao Jingcheng deliberately leaned over and tried to take the medicine bowl from her hand.
"What are you doing?" Ye Wanmian frowned and dodged to the side.
Xiao Jingcheng raised his eyebrows. "Of course, I'm here to help you."
"How dare I trouble Your Highness? Such rough work is better left to a country woman like me," Ye Wanmian said expressionlessly.
Xiao Jingcheng crossed his arms. "Jiang Mian, if I hadn't helped you just now, he would still be lying on the ground unconscious. What on earth are you afraid of? Are you afraid that I'll poison him?"
Ye Wanmian lowered her eyelashes to hide her thoughts and said indifferently, "Your Highness is over - thinking. That's not what I mean."
Xiao Jingcheng said, "There's no Your Highness here now. I've said that from today on, call me Jingxiao."
"No matter what, Your Highness is still Your Highness," Ye Wanmian insisted. "Your Highness doesn't belong to Dongli Town. You'll leave sooner or later. Instead of getting entangled in my address and attitude, it's better to think of a way to turn the current situation around earlier. Or does Your Highness plan to stay here and be a countryman like me forever?"