The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 15 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Anesthesia

The letter indicating that more of Kada's Book had been restored just happened to arrive on Maomao's day off. Since the letter said to come when she had a free day, she headed right over. Normally she would have sent a letter of her own back first, but there was no time for such things.

"Please let him know I'll be coming right away," she said to the messenger who had brought the letter.

Then, practically skipping, she made for Jinshi's office-or, more precisely, the restoration room near the office.

Ka! Da's! Book!

The site of Maomao prancing along attracted a great many stares. She took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to hop like a bunny.

It was the right decision.

A group of three people in white coats was ahead of her. One walked with a cane and from behind looked almost like an elderly woman.

Maomao cocked her head, puzzled, but continued on the path to the restoration room. The three people walked ahead of her the entire time -until she finally saw that they were all going to the same place.

"Oh, Maomao. Isn't today your day off?" asked the grandmotherly one. It was Luomen. He was with Dr. Liu and another upper physician whose name Maomao didn't know.

"Pops? What are you doing here?" Maomao asked.

"He's not Pops. Call him Dr. Kan," said Dr. Liu, giving her a severe look

They heard footsteps approaching. "I didn't think you'd come quite so soon. If I'd known, I would have sent my message at a different time."

It was Jinshi. Behind him came Hulan, who was grinning as if there were something delightful about all this.

"I heard the book had been repaired," Maomao said. It must have been Jinshi who had summoned Luomen and the others.

It is a very important book, after all. It only made sense that he would show it to Dr. Liu before he showed it to Maomao. Sure, she might have been the one to find it, but it didn't have her name on it. It would have been wrong to insist that she should see it first.

"May we go in, sir?" Dr. Liu asked.

"Please," said Jinshi, and so the physicians entered the room.

"Aren't you coming, Lady Maomao?" Hulan asked, his face popping up in front of her.

She bared her teeth at him. "Keep away from me."

Jinshi put himself between the two of them. "Hulan, keep your distance. And Maomao, quit making that face." He did not look pleased.

"If you're going to make anyone quit anything, it should be this guy ... and it should be his job," she said. Hulan had surpassed Lahan to lead the rankings on her list of people she couldn't stand.

"Even the likes of him can be useful. Unfortunately for me," Jinshi said.

"Yes, sir! I am useful," said Hulan, who was much too close to Maomao again. Jinshi put a hand on Hulan's face to keep him away. "Ahh! The Moon Prince touches my face!" Hulan said.

God, he is just like Lahan, Maomao thought with a chill.

"Hulan, you withdraw. Send Basen around to replace you," Jinshi said.

"Understood, sir," Hulan said. He was gone in a flash. His unusual speediness was somehow reminiscent of Chue.

Maomao was able to calm down somewhat now that her archenemy was gone.

"If you summoned Dr. Liu and the others, that must mean that there was something very important on the pages you reconstructed," she said.

"Indeed. We've been focusing the reconstruction on pages showing dissections related to similar cases. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to know whether what we found will be helpful or not."

"I'm sure it will, sir."

At last Maomao entered the room. The three physicians studying the reconstructed book were the picture of seriousness. Dr. Liu and Luomen both possessed prodigious medical knowledge. The other physician with them was no doubt equally adept.

"If the pages were worthless, they wouldn't be staring at them so intently," said Maomao.

"Good point," Jinshi said, and he sounded somewhat relieved.

Now, let's see if I can get in there ...

Maomao came up behind the physicians and took peeks at the new pages. They recorded many cases of typhlitis, but also noted that this condition was frequently confused with appendicitis.

The appendix is that part that looks like a worm, isn't it?

Some of the case studies recorded failures, many of which were on account of complications already present.

So when the inflamed area bursts, there's a temporary relief of the pain.

Presumably, the swelling in the afflicted area caused pressure that caused pain. It was a similar principle to how removing the filth would reduce the pain.

Maomao wanted to take a long, hard look at the reconstructed book, but she couldn't get a good view; the three men were all riveted as well. She turned instead to the pages the physicians were done with.

No autopsy diagrams here.

Instead there were pictures of plants.

Maomao narrowed her eyes. "Is that ...? "

The reconstructed page bore the heading Mafeisan.

Maomao clenched her fists. The names of several herbs were written there, but only one could be deciphered with certainty. Part of the page was missing and couldn't be reconstructed.

"What's that?" Jinshi asked her.

"I've only heard the name before. It's a legendary anesthetic supposedly invented by a superlative doctor."

Maomao went up to Luomen, who was studying a different page. "Pops?"

"That's not what you call me, is it?"

"Dr. Kan? What will you do for anesthetic when you operate on the typhlitis?"

"That's a rather sudden question." Luomen, looking uneasy, tugged on the sleeve of Dr. Liu, who was standing beside him. He seemed to want to confer about how to answer Maomao, presumably because at the moment, the Emperor's illness and its attendant surgery had not yet been made public. "The anesthetic," he said. "What's the status?"

"Still being researched," answered the upper physician whose name Maomao didn't know. "We're planning to use needles to suppress the pain, but it's not likely to be enough. We'd like to combine it with some sort of orally administered anesthetic."

In short, they didn't have anything yet.

"It's hard to find a safe anesthetic, considering toxicity and dependency, isn't it?" said Maomao, recalling what Tall Senior had said to her.

"What's with the look?" Dr. Liu asked. "Are you suggesting that you could whip something up if we'd let you?"

"No, sir. But I happen to have an acquaintance who's experienced in such matters. Perhaps you'd let me confer with them?"

"This person can make anesthetic medicines?" Jinshi asked.

"I can't say for certain. Most of the ingredients on this list are illegible, and we don't know how potent the effects might be. But this person does know a lot about these things."

"Who is it?"

Maomao smiled.

The one ingredient on the list that she'd been able to make out was thornapple.