The next morning, Qin Chuyuan and Gong Xiaohua got up early to wash up and prepare. Since Qin Chuyuan not only had to treat Gong Xiaonan's leg during the day, but also had to rush back in the evening to attend the Qin family reunion dinner, everything was ready early. Outside, the carriages had also been prepared.
There were a total of two carriages, one carriage for people and the other carriage was full of gifts for the Gong family.
Yesterday, when the steward of Bi Chao Courtyard learned that the young master would accompany the mistress back to her maternal home today, he immediately prepared a gift list for Qin Chuyuan's review, adding and subtracting things. Today at the crack of dawn, a whole big carriage was loaded full.
When Gong Xiaohua and Qin Chuyuan arrived at the Gong residence, it was still early. However, the Gong family had also gotten up early. Knowing that the son-in-law and daughter were coming today, the family of three were sitting in the yard, cleaning up, picking vegetables, bustling about busily.
When Madam Gong saw her daughter and the son-in-law coming in from outside the yard, followed by several servants holding various gifts, she happily ran over and shouted, "Xiaohua, son-in-law!" While pulling Gong Xiaohua, she looked her daughter up and down. Seeing that her daughter was in good spirits and her complexion was rosy, half of her worries also disappeared.
"Mother," Gong Xiaohua called out to Madam Gong in front of her.
She then turned her head and called out to the two people who had just walked over, "Father, Xiaonan."
Beside her, Qin Chuyuan also followed to pay his respects: "Son-in-law pays respect to father-in-law and mother-in-law."
"Sister, brother-in-law."
After the mutual greetings, Gong dad busy invited Qin Chuyuan into the house: “Please come inside and have a seat, son-in-law.”
Madam Gong and Gong Xiaohua, who were walking beside, whispered softly: “You guys, coming without notice, and bringing so many gifts.”
"He prepared all of these. I only found out about it this morning."
"It seems that the son-in-law is quite attentive to you. Earlier, Mother was worried that you would not be used to the life of an elite family and that problems would arise between you two as husband and wife. Now it seems that you get along well."
"Mother doesn't need to worry. Everything is fine for me in the Qin family."
"Mother still doesn't understand you. Even if things were not good, you would say they were fine. If you are wronged in the Qin family, just come back. Our home doesn’t have all those secular rules."
"Mother is still the best to me."
"Of course! I thought you guys would come later. I didn't expect so early."
"How did Mother know I was coming back today?"
"You child, didn't they send someone to inform us last night?!"
It must have been Qin Chuyuan who sent someone to inform them. She didn't expect that as a young master from an elite family, he would still be so thoughtful. Thinking of this, she turned her head to look at Qin Chuyuan, and he happened to turn his head to look at her too. Their eyes met. Qin Chuyuan's bright and noble appearance suddenly jumped into her heart.
She saw him wearing a white robe, with dark long hair, slender eyebrows, bright eyes, a tall nose, and an upturned smile at the corner of his mouth, as elegant as bamboo, with extraordinary temperament. Gong Xiaohua felt her heart skip a beat. In panic, she immediately turned her head to look at her mother, pretending to be indifferent: "Uh... yes, yes."
Although no one else noticed Gong Xiaohua's abnormal behavior, perceptive Qin Chuyuan still captured that subtle hint of panic from her. His heart was delighted.
A few people went inside and sat down properly. After the servants placed the gifts into the house, they returned to the Qin residence.
“Father, Mother, in addition to coming over today, I also have an important matter that I would like to try to treat Xiaonan's leg.”
“Is this for real? Xiaonan's leg can be cured?” Dad Gong happily asked aloud.
Beside them, Gong Xiaonan and Madam Gong were also looking at Gong Xiaohua full of expectation.
“I only have a 50% certainty.” Gong Xiaohua told the truth. She did not really have confidence and did not want to give them too much hope either. Otherwise, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. It might even make Xiaonan completely lose spirit.
"Xiaonan, with that said, are you still willing to take the risk? Of course I will do my best to treat it. Even if it doesn't heal in the end, it will at least make it so you can walk without pain in the future." Gong Xiaohua asked.
"Sister, I am willing. I have said long ago that even if this doesn't work out, I can still continue to be lame. Moreover, it can also reduce the pain. I won't need to carry a cane every day and be unable to walk at all." He didn’t want to put pressure on his sister. Just being able to walk again would be good enough. He wouldn’t have to stay home every day, unable to do anything.
“Okay, then let's start preparing now.”
“Xiaohua, if there is anything we need to do, just go ahead and tell us.” Madam Gong and Dad Gong asked.
“Mother, please help me prepare a pot of hot water. Also, cover all the windows in Xiaonan’s room with cloth. Then light as many candlelights as possible in the room until it is as bright as daylight.”
“Alright, we will go arrange that now.”
“What can I do to help?” Seeing that the Gong elders had started busying about, Qin Chuyuan took initiative to ask if he could assist.
Gong Xiaohua looked at the humble and tranquil young master in front of her. There was indeed one suitable thing he could do: “Help me light the candles.”
“Okay.”
Outside, Madam Gong and Dad Gong were surrounding the windows with black cloth while inside, there were only Gong Xiaohua and Qin Chuyuan left.
Gong Xiaohua took out and laid down all the things she had brought, including golden sore medicine, medicinal herbs to induce perspiration, antibiotics, sheep guts for stitching, the strong liquor she had distilled, cloth strips, wooden boards and various tools needed for surgery.
Qin Chuyuan lit up hundreds of candles in the house while stealthily gazing in Gong Xiaohua’s direction from time to time.
“If you want to watch, just go ahead and watch openly.”
Embarrassed at having his little thoughts seen through, Qin Chuyuan walked over and stood beside her to watch her fiddle with tools he had never seen before.
“I’m seeing these things for the first time.”
“Mm. With more experiences, discoveries made for myself.” In her previous life while carrying out missions outside, she hadn’t seldom got herself injured with no access to hospitals for timely treatment. So she had read up quite a lot on surgical medicine and learned a lot too.
Hearing this in Qin Chuyuan's ears and thinking back to when she fought and got injured by the number one assassin, Nan Gong Jue in Nan Long county, he guessed that she must have suffered multiple heavy injuries during the battle at Ba Cheng Shan. His heart ached for her.
“Let me provide for you.”
This remark came out bluntly and dumbfounded them both.
Gong Xiaohua stopped her actions for a short moment. She did not respond. Ever since that split-second eye contact in the yard this morning, she realized she was no longer able to directly ask him like in the past: "Are you just lusting after me?"
And seeing that she did not reject him, Qin Chuyuan's mouth gradually raised in a smile. He turned around and started lighting his solitary fire again. The room regained its earlier tranquility.
The two were absorbed in their own tasks. After everything was ready, Gong Xiaonan lay on his bed while everyone else exited the room.
Gong Xiaonan downed a bowl of boiled medicine herbs and lost consciousness.
Gong Xiaohua soaked the surgical tools in hot water to disinfect them, then used liquor to wipe down her own hands as well as Gong Xiaonan’s broken leg area for further disinfection. She made an incision into the skin with a surgical knife. Elder Brother Qi had set the bones well. At the sides were several small bone fragments that had already grown into the skin and ligaments. She needed to carefully pry out each piece, causing as little damage to the major bones as possible.
After almost two hours of surgery, the bone fragments were finally removed one by one. She then stitched it up with sheep’s gut for sutures, applied the golden sore medicine, and fixed the leg in place with cloth strips and wooden boards since she had no plaster available. Finally she gave Gong Xiaonan two injections of antibiotics to reduce inflammation.
After cleaning up properly, Gong Xiaohua exited the room. Madam Gong and Dad Gong hurriedly came up to ask, “How is it? Did it go smoothly?”
At the same time, seeing that Gong Xiaohua looked a bit tired, Qin Chuyuan also quickly came over to assist her: “Come and rest first.”
Gong Xiaohua turned to look at Qin Chuyuan standing beside her, then at his hand holding her arm without refusing his assistance. She addressed her father and mother: “For now everything has gone smoothly. As for the effects, we’ll have to wait and see after three months during his recovery progress. During this period, let Xiaonan keep lying down without moving about. And add more bone marrow soup when cooking for him daily.”
“Alright, Mother remembers all this. Thank you for your hard work, Xiaohua.”
“We are a family. Let us go to the living room first.”
“Okay.”
Qin Chuyuan and Gong Xiaohua walked side by side in front while Madam Gong and Dad Gong followed behind. Seeing the backs of their daughter and son-in-law, Madam Gong said to Dad Gong: “Seeing them like this, now I feel truly at ease.” Dad Gong also nodded happily beside her.
