The cruel little princess

Shen Youyou cleared her mind and began writing and drawing in her notebook. Training young medicine boys in basic wound care might seem simple, but it actually requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. Wound care must be categorized by wound type, as different wound types require different treatments. Large and deep wounds, in particular, can easily become infected and worsen if improperly handled. Fortunately, most weapons used today are cold weapons, so injuries are generally limited to knife wounds, sword wounds, spear wounds, and arrow wounds. Furthermore, since these cold weapons are handmade, their edges are often irregular, resulting in irregular wound surfaces. If the wound is near an artery or major blood vessel, bleeding can be profuse and difficult to control. In such cases, treatment typically relies on bandaging and herbal remedies, lacking modern disinfection and surgical techniques. Her job was to teach the young medicine boys how to debride, disinfect, and suture—all the skills necessary for basic wound care.

For less seriously injured patients with perforated intestines, broken limbs, and fractures, she would draw several human models to help the military doctors understand the human body's organs, structure, blood vessels, and skeletal diagrams, ensuring a deeper understanding of the human body. Because ancient people valued burial, few willingly donated their bodies for research. While these military doctors might have seen more injuries, they certainly couldn't compare to Shen Youyou, who specialized in the internal anatomy of the human body. To gain a thorough understanding, she even spent two years as a forensic pathologist, dissecting at least eight thousand cadavers. Her technique was so refined that she could open the abdomen with her eyes closed without puncturing a blood vessel. She handled all kinds of cadavers, and specimens from all over the country were sent to her. Other forensic doctors flocked to her, not to work, but to observe her work, helping her and taking notes. According to the forensic doctors, an autopsy is supposed to be a very bloody and meticulous job, but watching her do it was like completing a work of art. It was quick, steady, and even eerily pleasing to the eye.

But there aren't that many corpses here for military doctors to learn from. Unless they're enemy soldiers! Her eyes lit up! She could start by drawing some similar human models, but they still needed to have real combat experience with real weapons! And the best experimental subjects would be dead enemy soldiers on the battlefield! But this idea couldn't be realized for the time being, so she'd just keep it to herself. She thought about it and asked Chuntao for help!

An Er carefully stored the small metal bucket containing the willow charcoal strips and returned with the charcoal strip to report to His Royal Highness Prince Jin. Prince Jin took the charcoal strip and tested it on rice paper. While it worked well, the charcoal's coloring ability on silk was less pronounced, not as good as with a brush and ink. His Royal Highness Jin strictly ordered An Er to remain silent on the matter and wrote down the detailed method in a memorial, along with a diagram of the tools and the charcoal strip. He initially wanted to write that this was another suggestion from Shen Youyou, but Prince Jin, well aware of the saying that even the most prominent trees in the court are often destroyed by the wind, put his pen down. He didn't want to give the credit to anyone else, however. Fortunately, Shen Zijin had just returned from a serious injury, so he wrote that he had learned the method from a farmer during his time there, as a way of compensating him. Shen Youyou, thanking An Er for sharing it openly and asking him to do it, was definitely not the type to keep secrets. But I still have to say hello to them later. I'll write the memorial after I say hello to them. Thinking of this, I was secretly happy again, "An Er, go back and tell Miss Shen that I will be there soon and I have something important to discuss with you."

"Yes!" An Er flew away and went back to continue breaking willow tree sections to prepare for burning willow charcoal strips.

His Royal Highness Prince Jin walked back behind the screen, donning a crescent-white brocade robe that accentuated his jade-white face. He wore a matching jade crown on his head, held together by a white jade hairpin. His long, inky black eyebrows slanted into his hair, his eyes blazing like torches, their depths adorned with a starry sea. His high nose bridge accentuated his deep features, while his thin, unadorned crimson lips accentuated his chiseled features with even sharper lines. Truly, a man as white as jade, a young master unparalleled in the world!

Prince Jin was quite satisfied with his newly changed outfit. He walked to the tent door, then suddenly turned back, took out a folding fan, and slowly walked out of the tent, heading towards Shen Youyou's tent. On the way, he met patrolling soldiers, who saluted him with fists.

"Hmm." Prince Jin nodded with a smile, waving his folding fan. He walked all the way to Shen Youyou in such a casual manner.

Chun Tao happened to lift the curtain and came out. Seeing His Royal Highness Prince Jin, she slid back in. "Miss! Miss!" she called softly. "I saw His Royal Highness Prince Jin coming our way!" She felt quite happy about his misfortune. "Could it be that his secret guards, having not seen him for so long, came to see if he obeyed my orders?! He's been gone for a while, so he must have been slacking off somewhere! Just wait and see what the prince will do to him when he finds out!"

Shen Youyou tapped Chuntao's forehead and said, "An Er has helped us a lot just now. We can't take advantage of him like this! Let's go out and see what the prince is here for!" Shen Youyou motioned Chuntao to go out together.

When His Royal Highness Prince Jin walked to the front of the tent, without waiting for the guard to ask Shen Youyou for permission, she lifted the curtain and walked out.

"Your Highness, best wishes!" Shen Youyou stepped forward and saluted.

"Miss Shen, please stand up quickly!" His Royal Highness Prince Jin raised his hand to help her.

Shen Youyou raised her eyes and looked at His Royal Highness Prince Jin, "I didn't know Your Highness was coming, and I'm sorry for not coming to greet you. Please forgive me, Your Highness."

His Royal Highness Prince Jin said, "No problem. I have something to discuss with Miss Shen. Is Miss Shen free now?"

"Your Highness, please come in!" Shen Youyou lifted the curtain and invited the prince in.

After they were both seated, Chuntao served each of them a cup of warm tea before leaving. This warm tea was made by Shen Youyou herself, containing poria cocos, angelica, astragalus, wolfberry, longan, red dates, etc. Drinking it can remove dampness, replenish qi, and nourish blood and skin.

His Royal Highness Prince Jin picked it up and took a sip. It tasted a little sweet, so he put it down again.

"I wonder why the prince came here today?"

"I've seen the willow charcoal you asked An Er to make today. It's much more convenient to use than a brush when conditions are unfavorable." Prince Jin first acknowledged Shen Youyou's achievement. "So I plan to report this to the court." He paused and looked at Shen Youyou.

"This is good news, Your Highness, please report it. Actually, it's not my credit. I just mentioned it casually, and An Er took it to heart and tried to bake it many times before he succeeded. If we have to reward him according to his merits, An Er should be ranked first!" Shen Youyou really didn't take this little thing to heart.

"He was just following your orders. I wanted to give the credit to your brother. I'll say he was seriously injured and rescued by the villagers. Seeing that poor families couldn't afford brushes, he used this to teach their children to write. That's why he came back and thought of it." He paused again. "I think you should understand the principle that the tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Youyou, I just don't want to put you at risk."

Shen Youyou felt quite charming when she heard him calling her Youyou directly.

"It's up to the prince to arrange! I thank the prince for thinking about my brother." She stood up again and bowed. She still had to have the attitude of thanking others!

"By the way, yesterday you told me that you wanted to prepare for the opening of classes and build a stable medical structure for the military camp. How is this going?" His Royal Highness Prince Jin asked with concern.

"Your Highness..." Before Shen Youyou could finish, His Royal Highness Prince Jin interrupted her and said, "I'm Chu Huaijin. Youyou, you can call me Huaijin when no one is around!" He walked up to her and said, "We met when we were young. You said you would protect me in the future. Have you forgotten? Why are you so distant and polite to me?"

Shen Youyou... If I said I'd forgotten everything, would you believe me?! ...

But Shen Youyou's greatest strength is that she knows how to adapt to the times. She immediately followed suit and said, "Huai Jin."

The corners of Prince Jin's mouth twitched uncontrollably. "You don't have to worry about others. When there are outsiders around, we can still address each other as Prince and Miss. When there are no one else around, you can just call me Huai Jin!"

Shen Youyou also felt that His Highness Tiantian's words were a bit difficult to understand, so she simply agreed. "I've been constantly refining the materials since the day I came up with the plan. There are still a few things that haven't been completed yet. It will probably take two or three days before I can start teaching. But I have something else to say. I don't know if I should tell you now."

Prince Jin suddenly remembered what Shen Duanfang had said to him at the time: "Don't talk about it!" He almost laughed out loud, but quickly suppressed it. "Youyou, you can talk about it!"

"Although I plan to draw them some diagrams of the human body, after all, it's not as realistic as actual combat exercises with real weapons. So, if there is another war, can we ask our soldiers to bring back some corpses of Qinglong soldiers? I want to perform an on-site dissection for them to see the internal structure of the human body."

Your Highness Prince Jin...I suddenly felt a chill down my spine. What's going on?!

But for this request, and for the sake of the other military doctors' learning and advancement, he agreed. "Okay, I'll tell them next time."

After finishing the business, the two were speechless for a moment.