Chapter 42 Injured Arm? (3)
In the next few days, Li Youde went to the palace on duty as usual and Chen Hui stayed obediently in the residence. When her confinement progressed to the night of the seventh day, Ah Er suddenly returned to the residence alone and said to Chen Hui with panic on his face, “Lady Chen, please prepare. Lord is injured…”
Originally, Chen Hui had already fallen asleep, but she got up when she heard someone knock on the door. She was surprised to hear him say that, “Lord is injured? How did he get injured?”
Ah Er hesitated for a while before and said, “It…it is a stab wound…”
Stab wound?
Chen Hui suddenly remembered the man who had held her hostage and hurriedly asked, “How did lord get injured? Who injured him? Has anyone been caught?”
Originally, Ah Er didn’t intend to say much, but Chen Hui was holding onto him and asking. It was not good for him to hide it, so he truthfully told her what he knew, “An assassin tried to assassinate the emperor today. Lord blocked the stab for the emperor.”
Chen Hui was surprised, “Someone could actually enter the palace and try to assassinate the emperor? Who is so bold? Where is lord injured? Is it serious?”
Ah Er thought that since he had spoken, he didn’t conceal it anymore, “The assassination didn’t happen in the palace. He was out the palace on an incognito trip and this was somehow known to the assassin. Fortunately, lord blocked it for the emperor at that time, otherwise, the consequences would’ve been disastrous!”
Incognito trip? Did this emperor think he is Qianlong?!
- Qianlong was the fifth emperor of Qing dynast who liked to go on incognito trips.
“Where is lord injured? Is it serious?” Chen Hui asked. She believed that there was meat to eat following Li Youde and never thought what she would do if something happened to him. There were no antibiotics in this era. If the stab wound is serious, an accidental infection would be the death.
“This little one didn’t see it with my own eyes. I heard he hurt his arm, “Ah Er said.
Chen Hui was silent for a while and said to Ah Er, “Alright, I got it.”
She turned back to the room and slammed the door shut.
Xiao Tiao naturally heard this. She had a panicked expression and looked at loss at Chen Hui.
Chen Hui looked at Xiao Tiao and said, “Xiao Tiao, lord got injured for saving the emperor. The imperial physician in the palace should heal him. We just have to wait, right?”
Xiao Tiao nodded in confusion, then regained her senses. She nodded vigorously, “Lord will be fine!” She used to be afraid of lord in the past, but recently, she felt that lord treats Lady Chen very well. As Lady Chen’s personal maid, she felt less fearful in her heart. To her, if something happened to Li Youde, the master of this residence, it would be an earth-shaking change which was no different to her than an earthquake.
Chen Hui thought for a moment and said to Xiao Tiao, “Xiao Tiao, tell me, lord has been treating me well lately, right? The last time he got angry when I met up with Wen Jing. He was already angry like that, but had still been coaxed by me. Afterward, he didn’t imprison me and let me have food.”
Xiao Tiao nodded repeatedly.
Chen Hui was speaking to Xiao Tiao, but in fact, she was talking to herself, “He is pretty good to me. If I don’t do anything, it will seem very unconscionable.”
Chen Hui felt that she has no great abilities. If she was still locked up in Plum Yard and heard that Li Youde was injured with a dagger, she might not do anything and even take joy in his calamity. As the saying goes, the mouth that has been fed by others is soft, the hand that has received is short. Li Youde served her delicious food. If she just watched at a side and do nothing, she would inevitably feel that she had wronged her conscience. She still has a thing like a conscience. The ancient people didn’t have the concept of bacteria and viruses. If Li Youde didn’t know how to take care of his injury…She didn’t know how to make penicillin and other messy medicines, but at least she knew that disinfection of wounds could prevent the infection of bacteria. As long as there was no infection, the body’s self-healing ability is sufficient. The wound on her forehead wasn’t big before and she paid great attention to the hygiene every day, so, she was lucky to not have gotten an infection.
- The mouth that has been fed by others is soft, the hand that has received is short: when accepting things from someone, you will owe them a favor.
Was there anything that could disinfect the wound? There is wine in this era. Although, the percentage of alcohol was still not enough, but it was passable. There also needed to be clean boiled cotton cloths for wrapping.
After Chen Hui thought about what she could do, she opened the door, went out and told Ah Er to prepare the things according to her requirements. Although Ah Er didn’t know what they were for, taking into consideration that Li Youde’s attitude towards her changed during this period, he immediately set out to do it.
Afterward, Chen Hui moved a stool and sat in front of the gate of Chrysanthemum Yard and stood up from time to time to look into the distance. After a while, the things Chen Hui instructed Ah Er to do were done. Seeing the wine that was clear like water and smelling the strong alcohol, she felt that it would be useful. So, she let it be moved to the main room first and prepared enough hot water and cotton cloth that had been boiled in boiling water for a long time.
The Chen Hui who had calmed down tried to keep her imagination from diverging too much and restrained herself from thinking about what she should do if Li Youde wasn’t able to bear this and died. It was getting darker. The voices suddenly came from the front. Chen Hui got up and saw a few lanterns approaching slowly. She gradually saw the man among the crowd.
“Lord!” Chen Hui quickly ran over and her eyes moved towards his arm.
Li Youde’s injury was not as serious as Chen Hui thought. At least, he wasn’t carried back. Instead, he walked back himself. There was a piece of cotton cloth wrapped around his right arm and he was frowning as if he was enduring the pain.
Looking at Chen Hui’s face that revealed worry and a cherished look when she looked at his arm, Li Youde suddenly felt his heart tighten and said, “It’s just a small injury.” There was a sense of comfort.
Chen Hui followed Li Youde into Chrysanthemum Yard and took a look at his injury from time to time. She still couldn’t help but ask, “Lord, is the injury really not serious? Can you show me?”
Li Youde sneered, “You are a woman. Seeing this kind of injury will scare you to death!”
Chen Hui thought for a moment. the bloody scenes that she had seen before were all separated by a screen. It was true that she hadn’t seen the live version. Maybe she would really panic when she saw it.
Chen Hui didn’t respond. The two of them had already arrived at the door of the main room. Chen Hui noticed that Li Youde’s steps were somewhat unstable, but he didn’t have the meaning to let someone lend an arm of support. Presumably, he was someone who relatively wanted face. Hence, she also didn’t mention it.
“What is this?” Li Youde frowned when he saw the things in his room.
Ah Er hurriedly said, “Lady, Lady Chen let this little one prepares this. This little one came back first to tell Lady Chen that lord had been injured. Lady had been busy the all along.”
Chen Hui looked once at Ah Er. She felt that Ah Er must want to bootlick her, otherwise, why would he give her credit? She just instructed and didn’t ‘busy all along’…
Li Youde was slightly startled and looked once at Chen Hui. He still remembered that when he caught a cold two days ago, Chen Hui was not so diligent. Did her personality change today?
“What are these?” Li Youde covered his nose with the uninjured hand. “It reeked of alcohol.”
Ah Er looked at Chen Hui. He only obeyed the instructions. How could he know what she was going to do?
Chen Hui looked at Li Youde’s well-wrapped hand. She didn’t know if she should disinfect him now. The bandage was done pretty well. Maybe the wound was treated well? It was better for her not to gild the lily, right? Moreover, applying alcohol to the wound is quite painful. Li Youde might feel that she intended to kill him by hurting him to death. Then, how wronged would she be? Moreover, she couldn’t explain killing germs and disinfecting clearly.
Seeing that Chen Hui didn’t speak for a long while, Li Youde also didn’t care about her. He was almost unable to stand anymore. He sat down at the table and exhaled slightly. He took a look at his arm again. Blood oozed out. His expression immediately darkened. If he had known this, he shouldn’t have been brave in front of Wang Youcai and come back by himself.
“Go invite doctor Zhou!” Li Youde ordered.
Chen Hui also saw that Li Youde’s wound was bleeding. So, she hurriedly walked to him, hesitated for a while before saying, “Lord, should this Lady Chen help you?”
Li Youde was looking at his arm oozing blood and was pondering whether to go to the inner room, lay down to let the blood flow more slowly when he heard her voice. He stared at his arm and said impatiently, “Okay, go back. Don’t get in the way here!”
Chen Hui stood for a few seconds without moving. Suddenly, she pointed at Li Youde’s arm and said, “Aiya, lord, look, the blood is flowing so fast. Won’t it flow till there isn’t no more before doctor Zhou arrives…?”
“…Shut up!” Li Youde got stirred up and discovered that the blood seemed to flow faster.
Chen Hui said, “Lord, this Lady Chen happens to know how to stop bleeding. If lord believes in this Lady Chen, how about letting this Lady Chen have a try?”
Li Youde’s heart was beating irregularly and he was short of breath due to the excessive blood loss. He wanted Chen Hui to stand aside and not get in his way, but for some unknown reason, when he looked up at Chen Hui, he said the opposite, “Alright, you give it a try.” He paused and couldn’t help but utter a threat, “If you can’t stop the bleeding, see how I will deal with you!”
Chen Hui walked over and thought, if I can’t stop the blood, you already have become a dead eunuch, how can you still deal with me?
- Dead eunuch and exasperating eunuch are the same word in Chinese. So, Chen Hui was making a pun with his name.
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