Chapter 222: Chronic complaint, sixth-rank doctor (2/2)
The high and mighty Director Li sucked in a cold breath at these words. “What an unbridled, aggressive woman. Come with this old man and I’ll let you accept the facts completely!”
Han Yunxi didn’t move, but looked towards Emperor Tianhui.
“Rise!” Emperor Tianhui was extremely reluctant to have her stand up.
“Thanks to Your Majesty!” Han Yunxi didn’t lose her poise as she grandly rose to follow Director Xi into the room. Emperor Tianhui and Gu Beiyue hastened to follow in her wake.
When she entered, it was to see Long Tianmo lying unconscious on the bed. He was only dressed in a layer of white under robes and his stomach was obviously swollen.
So this was the so-called chronic complaint resurfacing?
Impossible!
Even without a modern-day B-scan, the dissolving effects of her poison and its bloody, expelled liquid remnants were enough to make Han Yunxi swear on her life that Long Tianmo had been afflicted with nothing but fetus in fetu. It was impossible for him to relapse again. Even if she took 10,000 steps back and assumed he had yet another fetus inside him, it couldn’t make him stomach swell up again so quickly! Someone must have done something to his stomach!
“Han Yunxi, you kept saying it was a poison tumor last time and that getting rid of the poison would make it completely disappear. Now look, how do you explain this?” Emperor Tianhui said coldly.
Han Yunxi didn’t answer, but went forward to check Long Tianmo’s pulse. At the same time, she activated her detox system, but it gave her no reaction whatsoever. However…the pulse was exactly the same as last time, a smooth one!
A pregnancy pulse was one type of smooth pulse, so Han Congan had diagnosed it as such. Meanwhile, Han Yunxi had hid the true state of affairs by claiming that poison was to blame. Well, what now? What would Director Xi say? Han Yunxi was in no rush to ask, but inspected Long Tianmo’s stomach by pressing down with her hands. The results nearly caused her to draw back in shock! Heavens, the state of his stomach was identical to last time as well! It really seemed like he was pregnant!
After completing her examination, Han Yunxi shot Gu Beiyue a doubtful look. Gu Beiyue’s brows were furrowed, his worried look a reminder that this was no simple matter to contend with. It was obvious that someone had tampered with things, but they had no idea about the specifics.
“Director Xi, what’s your diagnosis?” Han Yunxi finally asked.
“What, are you admitting that yours was wrong?” Director Xi said disdainfully.
“Even if His Highness Crown Prince’s current condition is identical to the past, it doesn’t verify a thing. There are plenty of ailments with similar symptoms; I trust that Director Xi is clearer on that than I. It’s very possible that the crown prince has contracted a different illness,” Han Yunxi refused to yield an inch.
“Heheh, another illness. Then you tell me, what kind of illness is this?” Director Xi refused to let the matter drop.
“Even if I’m not sure, it’s definitely a different one than last time,” Han Yunxi was firm in her views.
“Of course it’s different from last time. Your diagnosis was wrong last time to begin with!” Director Xi rejected her outright and declared, “Listen well, Qin Wangfei. The crown prince is afflicted with ascites 4.”
Ascites?
Han Yunxi narrowly avoided a spittake at the words. Actually, this was her first thought when she heard of the crown prince’s swollen stomach, but taking his pulse had eliminated the possibility from her mind. Ascites was the professional term in pathology referring to accumulated fluid in the body’s peritoneal region that exceeded normal levels. All humans had some amount of fluid present in the peritoneal cavity that worked to lubricate the intestines. Underlying problems caused the amount of fluid to increase. When the quantity of liquid exceeded 200mL, it was called ascites. Ascites wasn’t an illness in and of itself, but a clinical symptom of other diseases present within the body
Although Han Yunxi was a doctor of poisons, she’d spent enough years working in a hospital to see all sorts of diseases. She’d even seen children who were all skin and bones with stomachs as swollen as pregnant women. She understood diseases like this one, and she trusted Gu Beiyue to know as well. There was no reason for either of them to miss such a diagnosis on Long Tianmo. His pulse reading was completely incompatible with someone who actually had ascites. Leaving aside the incongruity with his pulse readings, there was no way for ascites to swell up a stomach in such a short time! Hadn’t Long Tianmo been overseeing the Spring Hunt just a month earlier? He was perfectly fine then.
“Just by the pulse reading and time of illness alone, this can’t be ascites!” Han Yunxi refuted right then and there.
Now Gu Beiyue spoke up as well. “Director Xi, disregarding the current situation, the crown prince was sick for seven years. If it was really ascites, why didn’t he grown thinner? How could he have survived for seven years?”
1. Director Xi (玺理事) – Xi lishi, in which Xi means “imperial/royal seal.”
2. Xi Yubo (玺玉伯) Yu is “jade,” while Bo means “uncle, eldest amongst brothers, earl/count.”
3. In Chinese they’re written as 医徒 yitu (Medical Apprentice), 医士 yishì (Medical Scholar), 医师 yishī (Medical Adept) 大医师 dayishī (Grand Medical Adept), 神医 shenyi (Divine Doctor), 医宗 yizong (Primogenitor Doctor), 医圣 yisheng (Sage Doctor), 医仙 yixian (Empyreal Doctor), and 医尊 yizun (Sovereign Doctor)
4. ascites (腹水) – fushui, also known as abdominal dropsy, occurs when fluid accumulates in the peritoneal cavity.