Killer Queen: Tyrant, prepare to die!

Chapter 22: My treatment for frostbite shocked the imperial physician! My miraculous prescription is miles ahead of his!

Mornings in the cold palace always begin with a biting chill.

When Shen Qingci opened her eyes, it was still not fully light. The window paper had several holes, and a cold wind was blowing in, scraping her face like knives.

She exhaled a puff of white breath, which swirled in the dim light before quickly dissipating.

The baby in my belly is still sleeping, very quietly.

She propped herself up and sat up, the wooden bed creaking.

There was a rustling sound coming from outside; Jinshu had gotten up.

"Your Majesty, you're awake?"

Jinshu lifted the tattered curtain and came in, carrying a chipped, rough earthenware bowl with a faint steam rising from it.

"I've boiled some hot water, please have a sip to warm yourself up."

Shen Qingci took the bowl, her fingertips touching the back of Jinshu's hand, and her brows immediately furrowed.

"Show me your hands."

Jinshu instinctively tried to pull back, but Shen Qingci had already grabbed her wrist.

Those hands—red and swollen, with purplish-red patches on the backs of the hands, and several cracks in the skin oozing pale yellow pus.

My knuckles are swollen like small radishes, and several of my fingernails are ulcerated.

frostbite.

Moreover, it's severe frostbite, and it's already infected.

Shen Qingci's heart clenched painfully.

"When did it start?" Her voice turned somber.

"Just... just a few days ago..." Jinshu lowered her head, her voice soft, "It's alright, Your Highness. It's always like this in winter, it'll be fine by spring..."

"Will it be better by spring?" Shen Qingci interrupted her, her tone laced with anger. "If it keeps getting this bad, your hands will be useless! Then you won't even be able to feed yourself, let alone serve me!"

Jinshu was stunned by her shout, and her eyes instantly reddened.

It's not that I feel wronged, it's... the helplessness of being cared for.

In this cold, cannibalistic palace, who would care whether a palace maid's hands are rotten or not?

"This servant...this servant knows she was wrong." Her voice choked with sobs.

Shen Qingci took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in her heart—not at Jinshu, but at this damned world, at this cannibalistic palace, and at that dog emperor who left them here to fend for themselves!

"Go and fetch a basin of clean, cold water," she ordered. "The coldest water possible, preferably freshly drawn from the well."

Although Jinshu didn't understand why, she still obediently went.

Taking advantage of the moment, Shen Qingci got up and took out a small cloth bag from a hidden compartment under the bed. It contained the wound medicine that Eunuch Li had prescribed for her, and there was still a little left. She also rummaged through the corner of the wall and found a few other things—a small piece of coarse salt, a few pieces of dried mugwort, and half a piece of hardened soapberry that Physician Chen had secretly given her earlier.

The food was pitifully shabby.

But that's enough.

When Jinshu returned with the basin of water, Shen Qingci had already started a small fire on the ground—using dry branches he had picked up from the corner of the yard. The flames were weak, but in the cold room, they at least provided some warmth.

"Put your hand over and soak it," Shen Qingci said.

Jinshu immersed her swollen, red hands in cold water, and shivered from the cold.

"Bear with it." Shen Qingci squatted down in front of her, her voice leaving no room for argument.

"Frostbite is most aggravated by sudden changes in temperature. Your hands are already swollen like this. If you soak them in hot water directly, the blood vessels will dilate too quickly, which will only worsen the ulceration."

Thaw slowly with cold water to allow blood circulation to gradually recover.

This is basic common sense for treating frostbite in modern times.

But in this era, when most people see frostbite, their first reaction is to warm themselves by a fire or scald it with hot water—which only makes things worse.

Jinshu didn't quite understand, but she believed what the Empress said.

After soaking for about fifteen minutes, Shen Qingci told her to take her hands out and gently wipe them dry with a clean rag—she couldn't rub them, she could only dab them.

Then she picked up the piece of coarse salt, crushed it into a fine powder at the bottom of the broken bowl, broke off a small piece of soapberry, put them together in another bowl, poured in some hot water, and stirred it into a cloudy liquid.

"It might hurt a little." Shen Qingci looked up at Jinshu. "Bear with it."

Jinshu nodded vigorously: "This servant is not afraid of pain."

Shen Qingci used a relatively clean strip of cloth, dipped it in the soapberry salt water, and began to clean the festering sores on Jinshu's hands.

"Hiss—" Jinshu gasped.

pain.

The saline solution irritated the wound, like being pricked with needles.

But she gritted her teeth and didn't utter a sound.

Shen Qingci worked quickly and meticulously. Every crack and every festering sore was cleaned with soapberry and salt water. This was the most basic form of disinfection—salt kills bacteria, and soapberry cleans. Although the effect was far less than that of alcohol or iodine, it was better than doing nothing.

After washing, she picked up the dried mugwort leaves, roasted them over a fire until they were slightly charred, then crushed them and sprinkled them on the back of Jinshu's hand.

"Mugwort can reduce inflammation and stop bleeding," she explained as she sprinkled it. "Although the effect is slow, it's better than nothing."

Finally, she took out the wound medicine given to her by Eunuch Li and applied it thinly to the most severe part of the wound.

After finishing, she loosely wrapped Jinshu's hand with a clean strip of cloth—not too tightly, as it would affect blood circulation.

"I remember," Shen Qingci stared at Jinshu and instructed her word by word, "From now on, soak your hands in cold water for fifteen minutes every morning and evening, and then wash them with soapberry salt water. If there is no hot water, just rub your hands with dry soapberry powder. No matter how itchy your hands are, you must not scratch them, and you must not warm them by a fire. Before going to bed at night, raise your hands a little higher and place them under your head to promote blood circulation."

Jinshu listened blankly, her eyes widening.

Your Majesty... how do you know so much?

She had never even heard of these methods.

But the pain in my hand actually subsided somewhat after that treatment. The burning, throbbing pain lessened, replaced by a cool, slightly tingling sensation.

"Your Majesty..." her voice trembled, "You...you...how could you..."

"My mother taught me," Shen Qingci lied without changing her expression. "She knew some medicine when she was alive."

This isn't entirely a lie. The original owner of Shen Qingci's mother did indeed come from a scholarly family, was well-read, and knew some pharmacology. She simply didn't know such a systematic method for treating frostbite.

Jinshu accepted the letter.

With tears welling in her eyes, she knelt down with a thud: "This servant...this servant thanks Your Highness! This servant's life belongs to Your Highness, and these hands were saved by Your Highness. From now on..."

"Get up." Shen Qingci pulled her up. "Stop saying such useless things. Take good care of your hands; I'll have many more things for you to do in the future. How will you help me if your hands are ruined?"

Jinshu nodded vigorously, tears streaming down her face.

As the master and servant were talking, a very soft knock came from the outside.

Three long and two short.

It was a signal from Physician Chen.

Shen Qingci and Jinshu exchanged a glance. Jinshu immediately wiped away her tears, walked quickly to the door, and opened it a crack.

Physician Chen, dressed in a faded old official robe, hunched his shoulders and slipped in, carrying a small medicine box. As soon as he entered, he rubbed his hands together and breathed on them to warm them, his nose turning red from the cold.

"Greetings, Your Majesty." He lowered his voice and bowed, his gaze falling on Shen Qingci, then glancing at Jinshu's newly bandaged hand, and paused slightly.

"Doctor Chen has arrived early today." Shen Qingci gestured for him to sit down—actually, there was nowhere to sit, just a broken wooden board.

"The Imperial Medical Academy is on duty today, so I came during the break between shifts," Physician Chen said, taking out several packets of herbs from his medicine box. "These are the angelica and astragalus that Her Majesty requested; they're of decent quality. And this packet..." He hesitated, his voice lowering, "is 'dragon's blood' from the Western Regions. It's incredibly effective at removing blood stasis and stopping bleeding, but... it's extremely expensive. This is all I could get."

Shen Qingci took the packet of blood essence, opened it, and examined it; the quality was indeed quite good.

"How much?" she asked.

Physician Chen waved his hands repeatedly, "No money needed! It's an honor for me to be able to help Your Highness..."

"Let's keep things separate," Shen Qingci interrupted him. "You risked your life to get me the medicine, I can't let you take the risk and spend money for nothing. Jinshu, bring me that silver hairpin from the bedside."

That was one of the few pieces of jewelry she had left, made of plain silver, not worth much money, but it could still be exchanged for a few taels of silver.

Physician Chen panicked: "Your Majesty, you mustn't! This humble official is absolutely not one to be greedy! It's just... it's just..."

His face flushed red, but he finally mustered his courage: "Yesterday, I witnessed Her Majesty's method of treating wounds, which was quite different from that of ordinary physicians. I was truly curious, so I came today... to ask for your guidance!"

After he finished speaking, he bowed deeply.

Shen Qingci raised an eyebrow.

She glanced at Jinshu's hand and understood.

Yesterday, when Physician Chen came to take her pulse, he happened to see her using soapberry and salt water to clean a shallow wound on Jinshu. Physician Chen glanced at it a few more times, but did not ask any questions.

So that's where they were waiting.

"Please rise, Physician Chen." Shen Qingci offered a slight gesture of support. "It's not really a matter of seeking advice; it's just some folk remedies from the countryside."

"This is absolutely no folk remedy!" Physician Chen looked up, his eyes shining. "In my twenty years of medical practice, I've never seen such a way of treating wounds—instead of using wound medicine to stop the bleeding first, you repeatedly wash the wound with soapberry water, only applying the medicine after it's completely clean. I secretly checked on the palace maid's hand wound this morning, and the redness and swelling have subsided considerably, with no signs of suppuration! This...this is simply miraculous!"

He became increasingly agitated as he spoke: "Ordinary wounds, nine times out of ten, will fester and ulcerate, causing a persistent high fever, and finally... but the wound treated by the Empress healed so quickly! There must be a secret to it!"

Shen Qingci looked at the pure fervor for medicine in his eyes and felt a slight stirring in her heart.

This is a real doctor.

He is neither a lackey of the powerful nor a quack doctor who just coasts along.

"Since Physician Chen is curious," she said slowly, "then I will tell you. However, what I say may be quite different from what you have learned in your life, so please just listen and let it go."

"Your Majesty, please speak! This humble official is all ears!" Physician Chen immediately sat up straight, like a student waiting to listen to a lecture.

Jinshu also curiously came over.

Shen Qingci organized his thoughts, trying his best to explain using vocabulary understandable in this era:

"Does Physician Chen know that there are countless tiny creatures invisible to the naked eye in this world, existing in the air, water, soil, and even on each of us?"

Physician Chen was taken aback: "Tiny creatures? Like... insects and ants?"

"Millions of times smaller than insects and ants." Shen Qingci gestured with his fingers. "So small that they are practically invisible, yet they are everywhere. Some are harmless, while others can cause disease. When a wound is exposed, these disease-causing little creatures will enter the wound, multiply inside, and cause the wound to become red, swollen, festering, and even lead to high fever and death."

Physician Chen was dumbfounded.

Invisible little creatures?

This is unheard of!

"Your Majesty means... the festering wound isn't due to 'evil spirits entering the body,' but rather the work of these... these little creatures?"

"That's a fair understanding," Shen Qingci nodded. "So when I treat wounds, the first step isn't to stop the bleeding, but to clean them. I use soapy water or salt water to wash away as much dirt as possible from the wound—including those unseen little creatures. Once it's clean, I apply medicine and bandage it, so the wound is less likely to become infected."

Physician Chen was completely dumbfounded.

He has practiced medicine for twenty years, is well-versed in the "Huangdi Neijing" and "Shanghan Zabing Lun", has memorized countless prescriptions, and has heard about various theories—Yin-Yang and Five Elements, wind-cold-summer-dampness, pathogenic factors and righteous qi...

But no one ever told him that there are invisible little creatures in this world!

But... but what the Empress said seems to make sense.

Otherwise, how can you explain why the same wound heals so quickly when treated with the Empress's method?

"Then, how do we kill these little creatures?" Physician Chen asked anxiously. "Besides soapberry water, what else is there?"

"Liquor," Shen Qingci uttered two words, "high-proof liquor, the stronger the better. Washing wounds with strong liquor can kill most of the small, disease-causing creatures."

"Wine?!" Physician Chen was stunned again.

The idea that alcohol can disinfect is common knowledge in modern times, but in ancient times, alcohol was mostly used as a medicinal ingredient or for internal use, and rarely for treating external wounds—especially high-proof alcohol, which was too irritating, and many doctors were afraid of aggravating the injury.

"Yes, liquor," Shen Qingci affirmed. "Preferably distilled, stronger liquor. Physician Chen can try washing the wound with strong liquor and compare it with washing it with ordinary water, and see which one produces less pus."

Doctor Chen's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He suddenly stood up, paced a couple of times in the cramped room, and muttered to himself, "No wonder...no wonder! I once saw some veterans in the army who, after being wounded, used strong liquor to wash their wounds, and more of them survived than those who used wound medicine! At the time, I just thought they were tough, but now I see...so that's why!"

He turned abruptly and bowed again to Shen Qingci: "Your Majesty is truly talented! Such insights are enough to establish a new school of thought! This humble official... this humble official wishes to become Your Majesty's disciple!"

Shen Qingci: "..."

There's no need for that.

"Physician Chen, you flatter me." She helped him up. "We can learn from each other. Right now, I do have something I'd like to ask for your help with."

"Your Majesty, please give your orders! This humble official will gladly die for you!"

"It's not that serious," Shen Qingci chuckled. "I'd like to ask the imperial physician to prepare some strong liquor for me, the stronger the better. Also... if possible, I'd like to try making a purer, stronger 'alcohol'."

"Alcohol?" Doctor Chen had never heard of this word before.

"It's the essence of the liquor," Shen Qingci explained. "Ordinary liquor isn't strong enough, and its disinfecting effect is limited. If we can extract purer alcohol, the effect will be several times better."

She paused, then looked at Physician Chen: "But this requires repeated distillation, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and also requires a place and equipment. If you think it's feasible, Physician, we can try it together. If you think it's too shocking, then just pretend you've never heard of it."

Physician Chen remained silent for a moment.

Then he raised his head, his eyes resolute: "I will do it!"

"Has the imperial physician thought this through? If others find out about this, it could cause trouble."

"I've thought it through!" Physician Chen said decisively. "A doctor's heart is like a parent's. If there truly is a way to save more injured people, what's a little risk to me? Besides..."

He gave a wry smile: "In the Imperial Hospital, I was always a marginal figure."

With Imperial Physician Liu in control of the Imperial Medical Academy, those of us who refuse to compromise our principles will never get ahead in our lives.

Since that's the case, why not follow Her Majesty and do something truly useful!

Shen Qingci looked at him and finally revealed a genuine smile.

"Okay. Then let's cooperate."

She reached out her hand.

Physician Chen was stunned for a moment, then solemnly reached out and gave her a high five as a pledge.

In the dilapidated, cold palace, a medical collaboration spanning a thousand years quietly began.

Outside the window, the sky was gradually brightening.

The cold wind was still biting.

But inside the house, the three people were huddled around a small, weak fire, their eyes shining.

Looking at her mistress's calm and composed profile, Jinshu felt an indescribable sense of pride welling up inside her.

Physician Chen was immersed in the new world of "tiny creatures," his mind racing as he pondered where to get the wine and how to find a place to distill it.

After seeing off Physician Chen, Shen Qingci felt somewhat tired—not physically, but rather a relaxation after mental tension.

She leaned against the broken wooden board, her hand habitually resting on her lower abdomen.

The little one in my belly is very quiet.

From the moment Wang Fu was warned this morning, to the few slight fetal movements when Doctor Chen arrived just now, Bao'er doesn't seem to have any malicious reaction to Doctor Chen. The little guy has already "worked" several times today.

Now, he's completely at rest.

Shen Qingci could sense that her keen perception of the outside world had been completely shut down.

Bao'er, like a little animal, curled up in the warmest and safest place and fell into a deep sleep.

"Sleep well," she whispered. "You've had a long day."

Bao'er, can you feel it?

Mother is weaving a net, bit by bit.

A net that is strong enough and large enough.

Once the net is woven, your mother will take you away from this awful place.

then……

Repay grievances and avenge wrongs.

She looked out the window toward the palace, her eyes as cold as a blade.

Nangong Ye, you'd better pray I die here.

Otherwise, the day I leave—

That's when your nightmare begins.