Chapter 14: Surgery
After Chun Tao left for the banquet, Xia Qiqi washed off her makeup and changed into a black night outfit. She tied her long, flowing black hair into a high ponytail and slipped a sharp dagger into her sleeve. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone in the inn was gathered noisily in the front courtyard, she quietly made her way to the stable in the back.
“Ah Chi! Ah Chi!”
“Huff! They just keep drinking and eating, no one even comes to check on you!”
Xia Qiqi’s arms froze, clutching a bundle of hay tightly. Her already guilty heart pounded even harder. Who was this? Someone like her, sneaking in to steal horses while the inn’s staff were distracted?
Peering carefully into the stable, she saw only more than twenty tall warhorses inside. No one else was there.
“Ah Chi! What’s wrong with you?”
“Huff! Huff! Somebody, please! Ah Chi’s not doing well!”
Setting down the hay, Xia Qiqi took a lantern from a post and shone it inside. The scene made her gasp sharply.
A magnificent red horse, without a single stray hair on its coat, was lying on the stable floor, rolling in pain. Beside it, a white horse anxiously lowered its head, snorting toward the red horse.
“Someone’s here! Ah Chi, hold on!”
The white horse, seeing Xia Qiqi enter, snorted at her a few times before kneeling on one knee.
“Pretty lady, please, save Ah Chi!”
Xia Qiqi took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm quickly. Clearly, that voice was coming from the white horse. It was begging her to save Ah Chi, who writhed in agony on the ground.
“Huff! Ah Chi’s about to give out!” Tears welled in the white horse’s eyes.
Xia Qiqi’s own eyes glistened with moisture. She gently touched the white horse’s forehead. “Hold the lantern for me. Let me take a look at Ah Chi, alright?”
The white horse nodded and stood, carefully taking the lantern from her mouth. At that moment, a tear fell from its eye.
Crouching down, Xia Qiqi stroked the red horse’s head. “Ah Chi, my name is Xia Qiqi. I’m here to help you.”
“That’s right, stay calm.”
She soothed the horse rolling in pain while observing the stable floor’s droppings.
This was bad.
Ah Chi’s muscles twitched, it sweat profusely, and its gut sounds were faint—classic signs of acute intestinal torsion causing severe colic. Without prompt treatment, the horse would suffer intestinal necrosis, leading to shock and even death. The best solution was surgery.
Yet this was an ancient world—no anesthesia, no antibiotics, no surgical lights or tables.
What could she do?
---
“Huff! It hurts!”
Ah Chi writhed violently again, unable to bear the pain.
Xia Qiqi’s heart raced with urgency. No time to hesitate—she had to act now.
Biting her lip, she drew the sharp dagger she carried from her bosom...
“Who’s there?”
A dark figure stepped into the stable, voice harsh and commanding.
Xia Qiqi barely had time to react before the man’s shout startled her, nearly causing her to fall onto Ah Chi.
The white horse panicked and dropped the lantern it held, which shattered loudly on the stable floor.
The light went out!
In that instant, Chu Hanxiao’s eyes caught a small shadow crouched over the red horse’s belly.
Ah Chi lay on its side, its abdomen trembling violently.
The shadow held a sharp dagger raised high, about to strike Ah Chi!
“Seeking death!”
His heart clenched fiercely, his eyes flashing with determination.
In a swift move, he grabbed the dagger just before it struck the horse, his palm burning from the sudden grip.
“Hey! Who are you? Let go!”
Xia Qiqi struggled to pull the dagger free, but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t budge.
Assuming it was a stable hand returning, she shouted, “Can’t you see I’m trying to save this horse’s life?”
Wait—this voice sounded familiar.
Could it be her?
Chu Hanxiao’s mind stirred and he blurted, “Chun Tao?”
Chun Tao?
So the stable hand must have mistaken her for Chun Tao in the darkness.
“Brother stable hand, please let go! If you don’t, Ah Chi will surely die!”
Xia Qiqi didn’t turn around to explain but urgently added, “If you want to save Ah Chi, go get some strong liquor!”
Hearing this, Chu Hanxiao became certain the small figure before him was the maid he’d been searching for.
“And get some intestinal casing and embroidery needles, plus brown sugar water and salt!”
Sweat drenched Xia Qiqi’s brow, her hands and dress stained with blood. Watching Ah Chi’s rolling grow less intense, she understood this calm was only fleeting before the next wave of pain.
She had to quickly cut open Ah Chi’s abdomen, untwist the intestines, and stitch the wound to save its life.
She no longer cared who was behind her or that she had come to steal a horse and flee.
She only remembered that as a healer, saving lives was instinct.
“This surgery must be done!”
---
“Hurry up! What are you waiting for?”
Chu Hanxiao was struck by the fierce concentration on Xia Qiqi’s face, a rare trust blossoming within him.
“Wait for me.”
When Chu Hanxiao returned with the liquor, intestinal casing, and needles, Xia Qiqi was already covered in blood, her hair soaked with sweat, half hiding her face.
“Intestinal casing! Needles!”
“Hold Ah Chi steady, use some strength!”
“Watch out, it might kick you!”
“Grab a silk handkerchief and wipe my sweat!”
“Not the face, the eyes!”
“You’re so clumsy!”
“...”
The night hung heavy and silent over the inn.
Chu Hanxiao gazed at Xia Qiqi, who had fallen into a deep sleep beside Ah Chi, feeling dazed.
Who exactly was she?
Surgery?
He had never heard of such medical skills before.
The stable master had already examined Ah Chi earlier and said the horse could still fight by his side in future battles.
But the stable master also admitted it was the first time in his life he’d seen anyone save a warhorse from acute intestinal torsion—especially using such a brutal, open-abdomen method.
When he learned it was the maid who had been sleeping in the stable who saved Ah Chi, he had been utterly shocked, calling it impossible.
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