Journey to the West: The Mysterious Doctor - Starting with a Heart Transplant for Princess Sizi

Jiang Jizhang explained, "We can have Yuan Shoucheng cast a divination for the princess to determine her fate and where her chances of survival lie."

"Fortune-telling is a vague and unreliable practice, and entrusting the life of the rhinoceros to a mere chance is quite risky." Li Shimin shook his head: "Let him perform a divination first, but it must not be relied upon."

"No one is more wise than Your Majesty." Jiang Jizhang first offered a flattering remark: "The second person is Zen Master Xuanzang of Jinshan Temple. He is well-versed in Buddhism and possesses the ability to exorcise demons and ward off evil spirits. His unfathomable skills are renowned in the area."

Li Shimin thought he was crazy: "Jinshan Temple is three hundred li away from Chang'an. It would take more than six hours to get there and back, not even a day. It's like trying to quench a thirst with water from afar."

"Your Majesty may not know this, but the layman's surname is Chen, and his mother, Yin Wenjiao, is the granddaughter of Lord Yin Kaishan. The monk recently came to Chang'an to visit his maternal grandfather and is currently at the Yin residence."

"Good!" Finally, some good news: "Immediately send someone to the Yin residence to invite the monk Xuanzang to the palace to treat the princess's illness."

"And who is this third person, Physician Jiang?" Li Shimin asked with anticipation, "Could he be from some Taoist temple?"

The two people recommended by Jiang Jizhang were a folk eccentric and a Buddhist monk. The next two would be either a Taoist priest or a Confucian scholar.

"This third person is Zhang Zhao, the owner of Xuanhetang in Wannian County and the resident doctor."

Li Shimin was inwardly surprised: "Oh? You, a royal physician, actually recommend a fellow physician? Aren't there naked hatred and enmity among physicians?"

"Your Majesty is joking," Jiang Jizhang explained. "Zhang Zhao, though just over thirty, has fully inherited the true teachings of his master Zhen Quan and is a master of the typhoid fever school of medicine."

"Since I began practicing medicine, I have never failed to cure any patient with my medicine, and I have never made a mistake."

"We deeply admire his profound and skillful medical skills and his exemplary medical ethics."

Thirty years old? A young man with no experience is unreliable. Without decades of immersion in medicine, it's hard to say what achievements he'll make.

Li Shimin finally understood.

Jiang Jizhang probably only wanted to recommend the two people mentioned earlier. As for Zhang Zhao, he might have some merit, but it was mostly about social connections and taking the opportunity to promote him.

You would have helped him at any other time, but why did you have to do this to him at such a critical moment when you were saving his life?

Li Shimin had already sentenced Zhang Zhao and Jiang Jizhang to death in his heart, and was just waiting for this matter to be resolved before carrying it out immediately.

"Then, someone come here," Li Shimin summoned a eunuch, "Go to Xuanhe Hall and have Zhang Zhao enter the palace to treat the princess's illness."

"yes!"

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Zhang Zhao had no idea that a huge problem was waiting for him.

Even if they know, they might not care; the current troubles are quite significant.

Visually, the cyst's surface protrudes like a living thing, and the system's warnings are all telling him that this is not an ordinary disease.

Logically speaking, at this point, it would have been better to have Mr. and Mrs. Xiao seek help from someone more capable, or simply suggest that they ask a Buddhist or Taoist practitioner for assistance.

However, now that the Medical Compendium has been officially activated by the evil spirits, it is clear that as long as he treats diseases caused by these evil spirits, he will receive a reward.

Even treating common illnesses can reward medical skills; treating strange and unusual diseases might bring some extraordinary rewards.

If we give up this time, what about next time? Besides, the first treatment after the Medical Encyclopedia is activated might have some newbie protection.

If similar treatment is performed again later, this good thing might not happen.

As for other dangers, they were completely outside his consideration.

Fortune favors the bold, and what about medicine—is it not dangerous?

"Please wait here, Madam Shen." Zhang Zhao first told Shen Yu, asking her to rest and have some tea, and then instructed Du Zhong:

"Let's go to the inner room."

Zhang Zhao led Xiao Qing to the inner room, had him take off his shirt and lie face down on the bed, and examined the affected area again: a lump the size of a table tennis ball, with an uneven surface, hard texture, and painful to the touch.

There appears to be a living organism inside the mass.

Conventional acupuncture techniques are too gentle and cannot reveal the true condition of the affected area. Zhang Zhao decides to cut it open.

"Prepare for cyst incision surgery:" Du Zhong immediately focused intently on his master's instructions.

"Strong liquor, needles and thread, scalpels, gauze, gloves, masks. Go and prepare."

I've used both strong liquor and needles and thread before.

Gauze. There's no cotton yarn available right now, only silk yarn, which is ridiculously expensive. He can only buy a little to experiment and see if it works.

Even if it's suitable, it can only be used on wealthy people in the future; ordinary people can't afford it because it's not enough to cover the costs.

He also bought some fine linen to experiment with. Fine linen is much cheaper than silk, but it's also much coarser, even though it's considered quite fine among linen fabrics.

A scalpel. The first thing I did after transmigrating and learning I was a doctor was to have a scalpel forged by a blacksmith. It cost more than the liquor and silk combined.

After all, in this era, most other items were designed with large, bold strokes, and very few were made of small knives, especially those that could cut hair in an instant.

However, in Chang'an, although blacksmiths were as numerous as hairs on a cow, very few possessed this skill. Having finally found one, one naturally had to accept whatever the blacksmith said.

Fortunately, the finished product is indeed worth the price; it can easily pierce cowhide, let alone human skin. However, one must be extra careful when storing it to avoid injuring oneself.

Masks and gloves are upgraded versions of gauze, and are also available in two types: silk gauze and fine linen.

We wear masks and gloves now, mainly because we're worried about potential contamination during the surgery.

However, if there really is some kind of evil contamination, then let alone masks and gloves, even gas masks would probably be of little use.

It's better than nothing, just something to comfort yourself.

Du Zhong arranged all the utensils in positions most convenient for Zhang Zhao to move in. Then,

The two of them worked together to tie Xiao Qing up.

Xiao Qing found the treatment method, which resembled a kidnapping scene, quite strange. She couldn't help but struggle a couple of times before asking for the reason.

Zhang Zhao tied his hands and feet to the bed legs, then used hemp rope to tie his entire body to the bed from the waist, and finally stuffed a burlap sack into his mouth.

"In a moment, I'm going to cut open the cyst, drain the pus, and then clean it with strong liquor. The whole process will be very painful."

"To prevent you from struggling and affecting the treatment, we need to restrain you first."

Xiao Qing was not relieved after hearing Zhang Zhao's explanation; instead, she became even more anxious, wondering how painful the treatment would be.

Regardless of Xiao Qing's unease, Zhang Zhao stood still, one hand supporting the cyst and the other holding a scalpel, with Du Zhong standing beside him, ready to assist at any moment.

This is a strange and bizarre disease. Let me see what's going on.

"Cyst incision procedure, to begin now."

With a single cut, the skin and flesh separated, and a stench assaulted the senses.

Zhang Zhao immediately held his breath.

Du Zhong gasped when he saw the condition of the knife wound, then ran outside to vomit.

The moment the knife cut open, countless tiny white worms emerged from the cyst.

They were densely packed, smaller than grains of rice, and white. The key was that they were moving, gushing out of the wound like flowing water, running down Xiao Qing's skin onto the bed, and falling to the floor.

They are still wriggling.

This scene is enough to kill any person with trypophobia on the spot.

"Ah!" It wasn't Xiao Qing who cried out, but Shen Yu outside, as if she had encountered something terrifying.

But Zhang Zhao couldn't go out yet; he had to deal with the immediate problem first.

Seeing the worms as evil spirits, he had no way to deal with them. Zhang Zhao simply treated the white worms as pus.

Squeeze the cyst to allow as much pus as possible to drain. Pour in strong liquor to disinfect the area. Finally, pour the liquor onto gauze and stuff the gauze into the cyst for final cleaning.

Repeat this process ten or more times to ensure the cyst is completely clean and free of pus. Finally, apply ointment and bandage.

Zhang Zhao looked at Xiao Qing. He had already fainted.

The white worms on the bed and floor had been neglected for a while and had become shriveled and motionless, as if they were dead.

It appears that, like most pathogens, they can only remain active in the human body.

He didn't have time to untie Xiao Qing, and hurriedly went out to check on Du Zhong's condition.

At a glance, you can see Shen Yu staring in one direction with a look of terror on her face, hiding behind a beam or pillar.

Following her gaze, Zhang Zhao saw a Eucommia ulmoides plant that had swollen to twice its original size, with bulging, wriggling worms under its skin.