Chapter 72: Would You Dare Eat the Food I Cook?

After much difficulty, Qiao Qingyun finally managed to control the woman’s bleeding. She swiftly took the hemostatic injection, hung it on a nearby hook, and quickly wrapped the tourniquet around the woman’s wrist.

Perhaps due to excessive blood loss, the woman’s hand had already begun to wither.

“What should we do?” one of the helpers asked anxiously. They were here to learn both the medical procedures and how to manage emergencies; this place was truly the best training ground.

Yet, this woman had been here for two days without any improvement. Now, with Qiao Qingyun finally present, if they couldn’t find a vein because the vessels had collapsed, things would become even more tense.

“Wait for me a moment,” Qiao Qingyun said. She pushed open the door and walked to the railing on the second floor. Looking down, she noticed that Yuan Zaichun and Feng Ke had arrived at some point.

“Chuncheng!”

“Teacher, what is it?” On hearing Qiao Qingyun call him, Chuncheng immediately stood up and hurried over.

“Go and fetch me some nutrient solution—the kind that hasn’t been diluted with saline. Be quick!”

“Alright.” Chuncheng nodded quickly. Usually, to avoid causing nutrient overload during intravenous feeding, everything was diluted. Now, since Qiao Qingyun requested the undiluted solution, the situation was clearly urgent.

Qiao Qingyun didn’t linger on the second floor. She rushed to the nearby consultation desk and began searching through drawers and cabinets.

“I remember I left a syringe here—a particularly small one, with a fine needle. Where did it go?” She searched everywhere but couldn’t find it and grew anxious, asking Xu Lu if she had seen it.

“It’s just there, teacher. I didn’t move it,” Xu Lu replied, realizing the urgency of the patient upstairs. She immediately joined Qiao Qingyun in the search.

At last, perseverance paid off. After rummaging through a small drawer, they found the syringe at the very bottom.

“Teacher, here’s the nutrient solution.” Chuncheng, under everyone’s gaze, handed over a bag of yellow liquid. Qiao Qingyun nodded, took it, sterilized the syringe, and drew out less than fifteen milliliters.

“Seal the rest and put it back. Remember, from now on, this is to be used for direct injection. If we encounter this situation again, nothing else is to be used. Understood?”

“Yes,” Xu Lu and Chuncheng replied in unison. The other patients watched with interest as Qiao Qingyun led the two of them upstairs and injected the solution into the patient’s arm.

The withered arm, which moments before had no visible veins, now showed them clearly within five minutes. This was Qiao Qingyun’s chance—she immediately administered the hemostatic injection, applied a bandage, and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

“Teacher, will this suffice?” Chuncheng and Xu Lu were stunned. The same arm that moments before couldn’t be injected now yielded after a single dose of nutrient solution?

Qiao Qingyun nodded, stripped off her gloves, and as she walked out with them, gave instructions to the nurse on duty.

“That nutrient injection instantly replenished what we would normally dilute and give over a longer period,” she explained. “Our main goal was to make the blood vessels more visible. Veins are those blue and purple lines hidden beneath the skin—I always have you use these for intravenous injections.”

She continued, descending the stairs with them, explaining as she went. “The body has many veins, but the most crucial artery is the carotid. If the carotid artery is cut, a small wound can be sutured, but a large rupture or complete severance—no one, not even immortals, can save that. Understood?”

After her explanation, Chuncheng and Xu Lu nodded repeatedly. It all made much more sense now.

Downstairs, most patients had already finished their infusions and left after their needles were removed. Only Yuan Zaichun, Qiao Qingyun, and their companions remained.

“Princess Consort, I never expected you could pull someone back from the brink like that. When that woman was brought in, I thought it was hopeless,” Feng Ke exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief.

Qiao Qingyun couldn’t help but laugh. “If she managed to hold on until I arrived, and I still couldn’t save her, wouldn’t that ruin my reputation?”

She spoke without sparing Yuan Zaichun a single glance.

The man’s heart smoldered with irritation. If they’d never properly become husband and wife, it would be one thing; but now that they were officially married…

“You—”

Before Yuan Zaichun could finish, the door to another ward opened and a handsome man in a patient’s gown emerged—Qin Hao.

“Oh? The Princess Consort has time to visit today? And Yuan and Young Master Feng are here too?”

Qiao Qingyun paused, noticing the bandage on Qin Hao’s arm, and recalled that he had been undergoing treatment here.

“Has Young Master Qin recovered? Or are today’s injections finished?”

Glancing at Xu Lu, Qiao Qingyun added, “Fetch an extra-large syringe and change his needle.”

Xu Lu nearly burst out laughing, barely managing to stifle her amusement as she nodded and hurried away. Qin Hao realized something was off and his face darkened.

“Princess Consort, don’t go too far.”

“How is this excessive? I’m making sure you recover quickly. A larger needle works better, doesn’t it?”

Ignoring Qin Hao’s expression, Qiao Qingyun slipped her arm around Xu Lu’s shoulders. “How’s the meal coming? Did Baihua Pavilion deliver it?”

“They did, teacher. But you can’t eat fish for now, so I left out the fried fish scales and such.”

“What? That won’t do—I want to eat that.”

“Hey! I’m the patient here. Shouldn’t you make some special preparations for me?” Qin Hao protested.

Qiao Qingyun paused. “Would you dare eat what I cook?”

“You—” Qin Hao sputtered.

Chuncheng, barely containing his laughter, had never imagined he’d witness his teacher bantering like this—every word was a precise retort.

“Brother Yuan, just look at your Princess Consort—she’s a spirited one,” Feng Ke remarked.

“Oh? I didn’t notice that last night,” Yuan Zaichun replied indifferently, sipping his tea as he gazed at Feng Ke, as if searching for something in his eyes.

Feng Ke had once tried to win over Qiao Qingyun, but after she made their relationship clear, the matter had passed. Now, Feng Ke showed no trace of emotion, meeting Yuan Zaichun’s gaze without the slightest fear.

“I didn’t expect your feelings to have warmed so quickly,” Feng Ke remarked.

“Naturally so. After all, we’ve been married for some time. It’s only right for husband and wife to be united in heart.”

Though their words seemed casual, a subtle tension simmered between the two men, unnoticed by others.