Physician, Not A Consort

Half a month later, Linhai Hospital was officially established! 

Lin Haihai finally found the purpose of living here. She began to recruit disciples in large numbers and many children from impoverished families came to sign up. She quickly accepted about a hundred disciples or so. Almost all of them were boys, except for a pair of twin sisters. Their father was a woodcutter who made a living from chopping wood and needed to raise nine children. One day, he accidentally fell off a cliff while chopping wood in the mountains. Fortunately, Lin Haihai had saved him. Because he couldn’t pay for the medical fees, he decided to give Lin Haihai his two daughters to let them work to repay her. 

Lin Haihai accepted his offer. She knew that raising a family of ten was indeed a strenuous task. She accepted the sisters as her disciples and gave all her disciples two taels each as allowance per month. She required the children to take the money home to help with their families’ economic situations. Lin Haihai believed that kids were only able to focus on studying medicine when their family situations had improved. 

Naturally, the woodcutter’s family and the other disciples’ families were extremely thankful and grateful to her. Lin Haihai renamed the twin sisters. The older one was called Qing Feng while the younger one was Ming Yue. The sisters and several other disciples were mainly in charge of nursing patients in the hospital. 

Ever since Lin Haihai saved someone in the city center, she rose to fame. Every day, numerous patients would come over due to the beautiful miracle doctor’s reputation. There were poor citizens as well as high officials and noble people. In order to see more patients, Lin Haihai began to treat the patients when the rooster crowed and didn’t stop until the sun went down. 

Then, she would teach her disciples the art of healing and carry her medicine box up the mountains in order to gather medicinal plants. The moment she found out she had the ability to understand animal speech, Lin Haihai would communicate with the animals and insects each time she went to gather medicinal plants. She also boldly tasted various herbal plants and recorded down their effects. However, the hospital still mainly relied on the ingredients they bought. 

She never slept more than two hours per day. Thankfully, she had the spirit pearl to protect her. Otherwise, if she kept on pulling all-nighters, she would become a zombie sooner or later. Ever since she opened the hospital, Lin Haihai never returned to North Court. She had Xiao Ju and Liu’er stay there to take care of Tangtang. Xiao Ju would take Liu’er and Tangtang out to help sometimes. 

Although Xiao Ju was curious, she didn’t ask Lin Haihai why she knew how to heal people. Deep down, she faintly knew that this hardworking and lively Lin Haihai wasn’t her young miss, Lin Yuguan. Yet, for some strange reason, she trusted and believed in her.

The number of patients increased each day but Lin Haihai was the only doctor. She couldn’t help but wish to have a thousand hands. Sometimes, a patient in grave condition would take up half the day’s time and she would not be able to deal with the rest of the patients. To prevent everyone from waiting, Lin Haihai suggested the patients go to other hospitals or gave the less serious patients a numbered paper. They were to come back later on. 

Lin Haihai thought of recruiting physicians. However, the moment the recruitment announcement was out, the physicians all snorted disdainfully. The physicians from ancient times were different from the ones from modern times. The physicians from ancient times basically all had their clinics, while the graduated intern physicians would stay in their original clinics and work there for a few years before moving on to opening their clinics. How would the noble and virtuous physicians be willing to work for Lin Haihai?

As a result, Lin Haihai had to rely on several intelligent disciples and strengthen their training. Hopefully, they would become interns in a short period of time. She didn’t dare to let them look after patients in critical care, but at least, they should be able to write out prescriptions for colds. Lin Haihai invited a teacher over to teach the illiterate disciples. Thankfully, the disciples were all sensible. Seeing that their master was very exhausted, everyone couldn’t help but want to share a bit of her burden. In these teens’ hearts, Lin Haihai was their role model and idol despite being only a few years older. 

Many people came to Lin Haihai’s hospital to seek treatments for their illnesses. Yet, the income wasn’t enough. The 1,000 taels the sixth prince gave her monthly were used to pay her disciples and the medicinal ingredients. Lin Haihai often gave poor patients free treatments. She didn’t charge very much even for those with wealthier backgrounds or high-up officials. Essentially, Lin Haihai was a poor businessman! 

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The weather gradually became warmer. In this alternating weather, it was the height of the flu period. 

The moment Lin Haihai opened the door, there was a long line of people waiting to see her. She immediately started working although it was still pitch-dark outside. 

Around lunchtime, a flustered Liu’er ran over, “Sister, you must quickly return home. The prince is here and has been waiting an hour for you. He’s in a bad mood now, so scary!”

Lin Haihai didn’t tell her money tree that she opened a hospital. Plus, the sixth prince never goes to North Court. Why would he suddenly drop by to see her today?

Lin Haihai knitted her eyebrows. With so many patients, she definitely couldn’t step out of the clinic. Yet, she couldn’t just let the sixth prince release his anger out on Xiao Ju and Liu’er either. After weighing the two situations, she decided to send Liu’er back. 

“Tell the prince that I’m not feeling well and I am seeing a physician. Tell him to return home first and I’ll go find him tonight.”

Liu’er didn’t move. Lin Haihai urged, “Don’t worry, just respond the way I told you to. I need to go back to work.” Since Lin Haihai hurriedly ran off, Liu’er had no choice but to head back. 

Yang Hanlun waited in North Court for an hour but Lin Haihai still didn’t appear. He coldly stared at the two maids and snapped, “Tell me the truth. Where did she go?”

Liu’er had long been trembling from head to toe. Being the courageous one, Xiao Ju took a step forward. “Reporting to Your Highness, Consort Lin said that she went for a stroll. Should I tell Liu’er to go and find her?”

Yang Hanlun impatiently barked, “Quickly go!”

Liu’er ran off rapidly!

After another hour, Liu’er came back and kneeled on the ground, trembling in fear. She crawled over and pleaded, “Reporting to Your Highness, Consort Lin isn’t feeling well and is seeing a physician right now. Consort Lin said she will come and find you tonight. Please forgive me, Your Highness!”

Yan Hanlun squinted his eyes and growled, “Why does Consort Lin feel unwell?”

“Her head hurts!”

“She’s dizzy!”

Xiao Ju and Liu’er said in unison.

Yan Hanlun said nothing but stared menacingly at Xiao Ju and Liu’er. Xiao Ju braced herself and stammered, “At first she had a headache and then she felt dizzy. It is probably the repercussions due to her being in a coma.” Young Miss, we’re in so much trouble because of you! 

Liu’er didn’t dare to get up. She remained kneeling on the ground. 

“Guards, seize these two maids and flog them each twenty times!” Yang Hanlun ordered. 

Liu’er dropped to the ground while Xiao Ju’s face turned pale white. She could no longer speak.

At this moment, Tangtang walked into the room from the bedroom, half-asleep. He started to cry when he saw unfamiliar faces. 

Yang Hanlun was annoyed and when he heard a child crying, he immediately roared, “Shut up. Servants, take him away!”

Xiao Ju hurriedly got down onto her knees. She begged, “Your Highness, please have mercy!”

“Speak! Where did that woman go?”

Xiao Ju acted like it was the end of the world. “Young Miss is in Linhai Hospital on the east side of the city.”

Linhai Hospital? Yang Hanlun had heard about this hospital and knew that a woman with brilliant medical skills had opened it. Did she go there to visit a physician? Could she really be sick? But if she was seeing a physician, why would she go there by herself without her maid? The maids appear to be hiding something... Yang Hanlun felt like something was going on.

-----

“Master, come here quickly. An official has been wounded by a blade and is bleeding a lot. Help him staunch the blood first.” A disciple ran over in panic. 

Lin Haihai was writing down the prescription. She immediately placed the coal pen down and raised her head. Along the way, she instructed, “Carry him inside so others don’t panic!” 

The disciples brought the wounded man to the crude emergency room. Lin Haihai looked at the victim. His head and abdomen had been slashed and his face was covered in fresh blood. His clothes were dyed red as well. She immediately staunched the blood for the patient. There weren’t any patented western medicines so Lin Haihai could only use Panax pseudo-ginseng to stop the bleeding. She mixed it with warm water and made the victim consume it.

She cut open the victim’s clothes. The blood had already congealed, pressing tightly against the skin. Lin Haihai didn’t dare to apply too much pressure so she cut very lightly. She went to get ethanol, a high purity disinfectant that she refined. Then, she lowered her head and slowly cleaned the wounds. The disinfectant had upset the victim and he could not stop shivering because of the pain. Gradually, the man recovered his consciousness and weakly whispered something Lin Haihai had trouble hearing. She warmly smiled and comforted, “Don’t worry. Relax. I’m going to sew your wounds for you.”

She instructed a disciple to look after the victim before running to the counter to take out the ‘anesthesia drug’ she developed based on a famous doctor’s remedy. In addition, she grabbed the needle and thread. In the modern world, the doctors used “thread lift surgery” but she had no choice but to keep everything simple here. 

After she was done with the procedure, Lin Haihai called someone over to transfer the victim to the ward. There was a big room with five beds inside. It was used for patients with serious conditions.

Meanwhile, Yang Hanlun brought his guards and arrived at Linhai Hospital. He surveyed the surroundings but didn’t see any traces of Lin Yuguan. He was infuriated, thinking that Xiao Ju had lied to him. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Lin Haihai ordering her disciples. His expression turned cold and he spun around, walking into the inner hall. He came just in time to see the disciples transferring the patient to the ward. He inadvertently glanced at the patient’s face and he was stupefied. It’s General Chen!

The moment Lin Haihai saw who it was, she felt a headache rising. It was the busiest time right now. How did she have time to deal with him? Lin Haihai knitted her eyebrows and said, “Your Highness, didn’t I say that I will come and look for you tonight? I’m very busy now. Can we talk tonight?” 

She knew that he definitely wouldn’t have shown up if he didn’t need something. Otherwise, he would not be in such a hurry to find her. But there were too many patients outside. She just accepted another patient in a grave condition, so she definitely couldn’t step away. 

Yang Hanlun widened his eyes. She was the famous miracle doctor the entire capital was talking about?! How is that possible? She couldn’t even read! 

Yang Hanlun immediately grabbed her hand, wanting to investigate. But the attendant by his side shockingly exclaimed, “General Chen, it’s General Chen! What happened? Isn’t he supposed to be on the frontier?”

Yang Hanlun snapped out of his trance. There was a more urgent matter to handle right now. He looked at Lin Haihai and asked, “How was he sent here? Are his injuries serious?”

“I’m not sure how he got here but I will need to further observe him in regards to his condition,” Lin Haihai honestly responded. 

Yang Hanlun narrowed his eyes at Lin Haihai. “You don’t know how he got here? Do you even accept people you don’t know?” Yang Hanlun felt a tint of anger rising in his heart. 

Lin Haihai faintly replied, “I am a physician!”

Yang Hanlun turned and left the room with his suppressed anger and questions. After taking two steps, he turned around and ordered his guards. “Bring General Chen to the palace. Let the imperial physicians cure him!”

“Yes!” A guard accepted the order and walked over. 

“Wait! You guys can’t move him!” Lin Haihai hurriedly stopped them. 

“Carry him out!” Yang Hanlun sternly roared.