Travels of a Female Physician in the Ming Dynasty

The nights in the Imperial Hospital were always quiet. Except for the occasional chirping of insects or the rustling of fallen leaves in the wind, the surroundings seemed exceptionally peaceful.

However, the atmosphere tonight was extremely tense. The news that the palace maid was unconscious was like a hot stone hitting the calm water, immediately causing waves.

Zhu Yuan and I hurried to the ward, which was already packed with several imperial doctors.

Everyone's face was filled with anxiety, especially the Queen herself, who was sitting beside the bed, with a hint of uneasiness in her eyes.

The atmosphere is suffocating.

"Miss Yang, this time you have to take action!" Zhu Yuan followed me breathlessly, muttering softly, "None of the imperial doctors dared to step forward, for fear of losing their heads!"

I took a deep breath, knowing that this was a serious situation.

Things in the palace are never simple, especially when it comes to the Queen. Any decision may affect our future or even our lives.

The palace maid on the hospital bed was pale, breathing weakly, and her forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Her hands hung limply by the bed, and she looked like a dying flower.

When the Queen saw me come in, she immediately stood up, her eyes filled with anxiety: "Miss Yang, quickly check on her, what happened? She was in good health, how could she suddenly faint?"

I secretly groaned in my heart and hurried forward to take the palace maid's pulse.

Her pulse was weak, but she had no obvious symptoms of injury or illness, which was very strange.

"Your Majesty, please don't be anxious. Let me take a closer look first." I pretended to be calm, but in fact I was quickly analyzing the possible reasons in my mind.

The palace maid's symptoms came so suddenly that after ruling out trauma and serious illness, I suspected it might be poisoning.

Just as I was about to continue the inspection, Zhu Yuan suddenly leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Miss Yang, I heard that someone in the palace recently sent some rare ingredients to the Queen. Could this palace maid have eaten something she shouldn't have?"

I was shocked. The food in the palace was rich and varied, but poisoning was often caused by some rare or uncommon ingredients.

The symptoms of this palace maid's coma do seem to be neurotoxicity caused by some kind of plant toxin.

"Empress, has the palace maid eaten anything special recently?" I asked cautiously.

The Queen frowned, thinking for a moment, and then her expression changed slightly. "A few days ago, the palace did receive some tribute fruits from the Western Regions. I heard they are very beneficial for the body, and the palace maids did eat some."

I understood in my heart that it seemed that the problem lay with these rare treasures from the Western Regions.

Although some plants in the Western Regions are rich in nutrients, they can easily become poisonous if not handled properly.

I immediately decided to take emergency measures.

"Your Majesty, this palace maid may have suffered from food poisoning. I need to give her detoxification treatment immediately, otherwise the longer we delay, the more dire the consequences will be." I said in a deep voice.

Although the Queen was filled with anxiety, she finally nodded when she saw my conviction and said, "Miss Yang, it all depends on you."

What follows is a race against time.

I immediately ordered Zhu Yuan to prepare the antidote, and asked the imperial doctors to bring the emetic.

In order to help the palace maid expel toxins from her body as quickly as possible, I personally performed simple acupuncture on her to stimulate her meridians and help speed up her metabolism.

Zhu Yuan was busy and frantic, while muttering quietly: "Miss Yang, you never taught me this detoxification method before! What on earth did this palace maid eat that could poison someone?"

I glared at him angrily. "This isn't the chicken, duck, fish, or meat you usually eat! The rare ingredients in the palace are sometimes poisonous, especially those unprocessed fruits. The toxins in them may affect the nervous system."

Zhu Yuan immediately shut up and continued to get the medicine.

Time passed minute by minute, the maid's face was still pale, but her breathing gradually stabilized.

As she took the emetic potion, her body began to react gradually, and she let out a few weak gasps from her throat.

"Your Majesty, her condition is improving." I whispered to the queen.

The anxiety in the queen's eyes eased a little, and she called softly: "Xiaolan, wake up..."

Finally, the palace maid's eyelids trembled slightly and she slowly opened her eyes.

Her eyes were still somewhat dazed, but she could already hear the Queen's call and responded weakly, "Your Majesty..."

The queen was so excited that tears welled up in her eyes. She held her hand tightly and said, "You finally woke up! You scared me to death!"

Seeing the queen's excitement, I also breathed a sigh of relief.

The crisis was finally resolved. Although the maid's poisoning symptoms were serious, fortunately we discovered them in time and took measures.

Zhu Yuan stood aside and breathed a sigh of relief: "Miss Yang, you saved everyone's life this time! If anything happens to this palace maid, we will all be in trouble!"

I smiled and said, "Yes, things in the palace always affect the whole body. Fortunately, we discovered it early, otherwise things would be troublesome."

Afterwards, the Queen thanked me personally and sent a lot of rewards to express her gratitude to me and the Imperial Hospital.

The imperial doctors also gave me thumbs up and praised my excellent medical skills.

Zhu Yuan stood aside, patting my shoulder proudly. "Miss Yang, I have to say, you're truly amazing. You handled such a complicated case in just a few strokes! It seems that with you in charge of our Imperial Hospital from now on, there will definitely be no major chaos!"

I smiled and shook my head. "Don't be too happy too soon. Things in the palace are very complicated. I was lucky this time, but I have to be more careful next time."

Zhu Yuan scratched his head: "That's right... But don't worry, with me here, we will definitely be able to continue to come up with more 'magical inventions'!"

A few days later, the Imperial Medical Service returned to its former tranquility.

Zhu Yuan and I continued to work hard to improve our postoperative care plan, and our patients' recovery rates continued to accelerate.

Looking at the patients who have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, my heart is filled with a sense of accomplishment.

"Miss Yang, should we consider our next step?" Zhu Yuan suddenly leaned over and asked, "I heard that someone in the capital has been researching some novel medicinal herbs recently. Are you interested in checking it out? Maybe they'll come up with some new inventions!"

I looked at him with a smile, a new plan already in mind. "Of course I'm interested. But before that, I'd like to research improvements to surgical instruments. The current instruments are useful, but if their precision and durability can be further improved, the success rate of surgery will be even higher."

Zhu Yuan was excited. "What are we waiting for? Let's get started! The improvement of surgical instruments will definitely make big news!"