Chapter 583: Chapter 575: Don’t Pity This Crafty Devil
“You’re doomed.”
When Qin Liuxi said that, just like when he previously mentioned Sun Lixun was no good, it scared Second Grandma Sun so much that her legs went weak.
If a man is no good, then so be it; they already have children, and that thing isn’t important anyway. But this sentence sounded as if Sun Lixun really was beyond hope, and it made her face turn pale.
“How… how doomed? Is it incurable?” she asked, trembling.
In Sun Lixun’s eyes, however, there flashed a hint of cold derision. He knew it, he had no hope of being cured. It was just this silly woman who wouldn’t give up and was pointlessly struggling.
“It’s not that it can’t be cured, it’s just that the treatment is especially miserable, extremely painful,” Qin Liuxi shook his head, still taking pleasure in others’ misfortune, cunning as ever, wondering how you could possibly bear it.
Both Sun Lixun and Second Grandma Sun were stunned, looking at her dumbfounded. What did they hear? It’s not that it can’t be cured, so does that mean it can be treated?
Second Grandma Sun sprang up, grabbing Qin Liuxi’s arms and shrieking, “Are you saying, it can be treated?”
Sun Lixun’s breathing became especially heavy, and his eyes, looking at Qin Liuxi, burst with fiery intensity. What does pain matter? As long as there’s a cure, what could be worse than the pain of paralysis?
“It can be treated. He’s not really paralyzed; you just met a quack,” said Qin Liuxi coolly. “When his spine was crushed initially, the bone was misaligned by one segment. Now, though the bone has healed, it joined incorrectly, thus forming a pseudo-paralysis.”
Sun Lixun’s head buzzed, as if struck by lightning, and he was completely dumbfounded.
Second Grandma Sun was also somewhat dumbstruck, saying, “That’s not right. The person who set my husband’s bone was Tie Guaili, the most renowned bone-setting doctor from Shengjing, with a reputation that speaks for itself. It’s impossible that he made a mistake.”
Sun Lixun said articulately, “After getting trampled by a horse, we immediately called him to set the bone, and also applied his family’s secret prescription. It did improve, and there wasn’t much pain.”
“Even if the bone was set wrong, once it fuses and heals, it naturally wouldn’t hurt, but of course, its function wouldn’t be normal. Wrong is wrong,” said Qin Liuxi indifferently. “I’m not questioning Tie Guaili’s bone-setting medical skills, but practicing medicine isn’t infallible. It’s inevitable to occasionally miss something or to misdiagnose.”
“Second Grandma, it seems that Tie Guaili recently became mentally confused and can no longer recognize people,” shared Second Grandma Sun’s confidant maid cautiously with a piece of news.
Second Grandma Sun stiffened.
Qin Liuxi raised his brows, “Old age and senility don’t come overnight; there’s always a gradual progression, definitely with early signs.”
This implied that it was very possible that Tie Guaili became confused during the bone-setting, and Sun Lixun just had the bad luck to be the victim.
“This, this…” Second Grandma Sun’s vision darkened, feeling it was too unfair.
“Of course, this is just speculation. It’s also very possible that you accidentally twisted it yourself, misaligned it upon setting, and then it just grew that way,” Qin Liuxi added another fair comment.
Sun Lixun felt like crying; this wasn’t comforting at all, in fact, it made things feel worse.
Now was not the time to argue about this. Second Grandma Sun took a deep breath and asked, “Junior Temple Master, then how should it be treated?”
Qin Liuxi grinned at Sun Lixun, revealing a cruel smile.
Sun Lixun felt a chill rising from his spine, instinctively wanting to hide away. Could you please not smile like that? He was terribly frightened.
“If the bone is set wrong, naturally it has to be reset, so the treatment, of course, involves breaking the healed spine and resetting it again. It’s that simple!” said Qin Liuxi with a smile: “As long as you can endure the pain of breaking the bone, you can be cured. What do you think?”
Sun Lixun: “!”
Why can someone speak such brutally harsh words with a smile?
When his spine was crushed before, he passed out from the pain. And now, is he really to endure that agonizing pain once again?
But Second Grandma Sun seemed somewhat pleased: “Is it really that simple?”
Sun Lixun: Simple? My dear wife, did you even catch the pitiful look in my eyes?
“It’s indeed quite straightforward, isn’t it? Just rejoining a broken bone, it’s done quite quickly.” It’s just that there is some physical and emotional pain involved.
Second Grandma Sun asked, “When do we start?”
“I’ll write a prescription, let’s get the medicinal ingredients ready first, then we’ll re-break and set the bone. After all, once set, it needs to be properly healed, and it’s not going to be better right away.”
Second Grandma Sun hurriedly had someone prepare paper and ink, and Qin Liuxi quickly wrote an external application prescription and another internal prescription, Zhu You Song, and handed it over, saying: “These medicinal ingredients and the Bone Healing Pill listed on this prescription can all be bought at Changsheng Hall.”
Second Grandma Sun took it, glanced at it, and promptly sent someone galloping to purchase them.
Qin Liuxi also looked at the prescriptions previously given by the Imperial Physician to Sun Lixun, mostly consisting of strengthening muscles and bones, promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis, and replenishing Qi and blood to treat deficiencies.
Based on Sun Lixun’s current pulse, she deliberated and rewrote a regulating prescription mainly aimed at promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis while also nourishing gold and water. The lungs are associated with gold, the kidneys with water; gold generates water, water moistens gold. When both support each other, the harmonious movement of the five viscera and the yin and yang in the body is promoted. When kidney yang is sufficient, the waist is healthy and the body is strong. Once well-nourished, all its functions will also return.
As Qin Liuxi was writing the prescriptions, a maid quietly left the room and hurried to the main house to bring Mrs. Sun good news, the second master could be saved.
Mrs. Sun was actually waiting for news as well, and upon hearing this good news, she couldn’t sit still. She personally came to her second son’s courtyard and was astounded to see the young Qin Liuxi.
Qin Liuxi finished writing the prescriptions and inevitably gave an additional explanation.
Mrs. Sun, excitedly holding her hand, said, “Master, go ahead and re-break his bone without any reservations, and don’t feel sorry for this good-for-nothing. If he’s afraid of this pain, he’ll dare not be so reckless in the future.”
Is this still his own mother?
Sun Lixun felt life was not worth living, and collapsed.
The servants quickly brought back the medicinal ingredients, which included various herbs and powders for relaxing the tendons, promoting healing of broken bones, and dissolving contusions, as well as a bag of pepper, and some dragon blood tree leaves for applying the medicinal paste.
Qin Liuxi, with Teng Zhao, personally simmered this herbal paste and had the servants roast the pepper and pack it in gauze for later use.
Everything was ready, and after dismissing the servants, only Second Grandma Sun and the maids and young servants who were assisting remained. Qin Liuxi had them remove Sun Lixun’s outer clothing. Watching Sun Lixun tremble in fear with only his undershorts on, she said, “Don’t worry, although I’m not an expert blacksmith, I do know how to break and set bones quite well, it will be over quickly.”
Sun Lixun: Be quiet, thanks, you’re making me even more afraid.
“Zhaozhao, recite a Zhu You Song for him.” Qin Liuxi applied some medicated oil to her hands, then began to massage and identify the bone positions. Her massage technique was very gentle, the pressure varying between light and heavy, as she occasionally pressed on certain acupoints.
Sun Lixun quickly felt a sense of relief and weakness; although he was sharp-tongued, this massage was indeed pleasurably soothing.
Qin Liuxi, feeling the muscles underneath her hands fully relax and having nudged the dislocated bone slightly out of position, waited until Sun Lixun hummed comfortably before she suddenly exerted her Inner Strength with one hand pressing and one hand pushing—a crisp snap.
“Ow, ow!”
A sudden, intense wail like a pig being slaughtered startled birds resting under the eaves away and caused everyone inside and outside the house to rub their arms—it was chillingly cold.
Sun Lixun, tears streaming down his face from pain: What have I done to deserve this, my bone is broken again!