Chapter 19: Chapter Nineteen: Saving Lives

Just moments ago, there were so many people working there; such a massive landslide must have crushed many—Li You, worried about Wu Dading, sprinted toward the site.

Meanwhile, everyone at the wooden shed shouted and ran over; the salt workers from the northern salt field also rose up, crying out in alarm…

Li You was the fastest—he arrived as the side of the mine near the mountain foot had already been transformed; black dust had not yet settled, and twenty to thirty people, caked in dirt and mud, had been swept out; Li You spotted Wu Dading's figure at once.

"Dading, are you alright?"

"N-nothing serious… pah… luckily it was just dirt, but some stones hurt people."

Wu Dading spat from his mouth as he spoke to Li You.

Li You's heart eased slightly, but soon cries for help rose in waves…

"Quick, Brother Jingkun… and Brother Shu…"

"Someone, anyone! Xiang Ying is buried under rocks—hurry!"

"Hey, where's Sanshui and Lü Yi? They must still be trapped under the debris…"

…

The cries for help came from both miners and the bandit guards.

Cao Er ran over, shouting for the miners to save their own people first—what a joke, those were their enemies!

So no one paid attention; chaos erupted instantly, everyone began digging, rescuing, carrying—scenes grew wildly disordered.

Wu Dading turned his face to Li You; his dark face bore a pair of bright, shining eyes. He tugged gently at Li You's sleeve and, almost imperceptibly, raised an eyebrow toward Cao Er, standing alone in the distance.

Li You shook his head slightly and said, "Save lives first!"

He joined the miners in their efforts; due to his agility and astonishing strength, in a short while he carried out one person—but it wasn't a miner, it was a bandit named Chen Shu.

"What are you standing there for? Help!"

Li Qinxiang glanced at the bandit Li You had rescued, clenched his lips, then barked out the order.

Behind him, Gao Conghu, Guan Hongxin, and others finally moved; Gao Conglong grumbled, face full of reluctance, but ultimately followed.

Since only a few were buried, rescue ended quickly—but moans and cries of pain continued unceasingly; this open iron mine wasn't all iron sand and soil—the mountain slopes and hillsides were mixed with many rocks.

Thus, many were only slightly buried by dirt and unharmed, but several unlucky ones were crushed by boulders the size of millstones—these injuries were severe.

The most serious case was a bandit named Zhao Ding, struck on the head; his neck was twisted, and he lost consciousness moments after being pulled out.

Another large bandit, Qi Jingkun, had a sharp rock pierced into his abdomen; blood gushed like a spring—he clearly had no chance of survival.

Next were a bandit named Lü Yi and a miner named Xiang Ying; both were running when struck by a massive boulder—one hit in the left leg, the other in the arm; both suffered internal and external injuries.

There were also three or five with lighter injuries, but most were bleeding.

In this era of medical capability, any wound must be taken seriously—just like on a cold-weapon battlefield, most deaths came from bleeding, infection, fever, and even being literally tortured to death.

Dying from pain was not uncommon; thus, many heroes, in their final moments, begged only for a swift end.

The surrounding clamor faded; miners and bandits stared silently at the wounded lying on the ground.

"Give them a quick death!"

Cao Er frowned for a long moment, then spoke with full voice, turned, and walked away, flanked by Xu Lifang.

"Qianjun, what are you standing there for? Give him a quick death!"

Qi Jingkun, clutching his stomach on the ground, could no longer bear the pain; he strained his neck and shouted to a bandit he was close to.

The bandit named Mu Qianjun sniffed, dropped the leather whip in his hand, and with a sharp "whoosh," drew his waist sword; several other bandits drew their blades at the same time.

Judging by their demeanor, they'd done this many times before—no wonder Cao Er was always short of manpower.

No one could withstand such a method.

"No, no, I don't want to die."

"Don't be ridiculous—I still think I can live!"

Most of those lying on the ground weren't as tough as Qi Jingkun; many still wanted to cling to life.

Though they knew the Shanzhai had no Physician and no medicine, and would likely suffer terribly in the end, they still clung to survival—after all, preferring life and fearing death is human nature.

"Don't do anything rash—they won't die!"

Li You roared, shouting to Wa Qingyun: "Go get the big iron pot from the kitchen, boil some hot water, then prepare cleanish cloth, Liu Jiandao, needles, thread, chopsticks, cotton… and that jar of mustard greens you gave me today—oh, also bring more ceramic jars and salt…"

Mu Qianjun, Gao Conglong, and the others froze; perhaps the lingering fear from the killing of Tian Si, combined with Li You's dual identity as a scholar, silenced any objection—they all followed Wa Qingyun to gather materials.

Soon two large pots were set up, flames licking their bottoms, each filled with water boiling furiously.

In this interval, Li You had already laid out the six wounded in a row, and tied tourniquets around the most severe cases: Qi Jingkun, Chen Shu, Lü Yi, Xiang Ying, and Dang Suosheng.

"Cloth!"

Wa Qingyun threw some blue-and-black mixed cloth toward Li You; seeing how filthy it was, he frowned and refused to take it—he instead stripped off his Chengyi, revealing a white inner garment; amid the onlookers' sighs of regret, Li You swiftly tore it into strips, used them as bandages, and tossed them into the boiling pot.

Then he selected two clean ceramic jars, scooped clean water into another pot, and added a pinch of fine salt.

Moments later, he retrieved the boiled cloth, twisted cotton into balls, wrapped them, and walked to Qi Jingkun, the most severely injured, to examine his wound.

***Qi Jingkun's abdominal wound, pierced by a sharp rock shaped like a triangle, had torn a hole the size of a teacup lid.

Seeing this injury, Li You suddenly thought… there was truly little hope.

If he vomited blood, it meant severe internal bleeding; if the stomach wall was ruptured, liver and spleen were likely reduced to pulp—spleen rupture even in later eras claimed many lives.

If rib fractures had pierced major vessels and the digestive tract, survival would be even less likely.

Fortunately, Qi Jingkun hadn't vomited blood; Li You guessed he might still be saved—what if the sharp rock hadn't penetrated deeply?

Amid Qi Jingkun's piercing screams, Li You pulled out the rock—blood surged again instantly…

Such a large wound—Li You pressed his hand over it, but couldn't stop it; he had no solution, and could only watch helplessly as blood flowed until the gush weakened, then began cleaning with saltwater-soaked cloth balls.

He cleaned with great skill; the cloth, aided by the cotton, absorbed blood exceptionally well.

He noticed the wound was not as shallow as he'd thought—it was deep; the sharpest tip had shattered part of his ascending colon and cecum, for a small segment of intestine had protruded.

"What the hell is this? Hope it's the appendix…"

Li You stared at the small segment of intestine in his palm, shook his head, and tossed it away—it landed on Shi Jiuen's heel.

Shi Jiu'en looked down, and his face instantly twitched wildly!

Everyone else saw it too, thinking Li You looked less like a Physician and more like a paper-paster, and a very unprofessional one at that.

Shi Jiu'en stood on tiptoe, pointed at the thing on his foot, and said, "Now, good heavens, this section of intestine... just leave it out?"

"Hmm, what else? Stuff it back in?"

Li You didn't even lift his head; he said it offhand, swapped in a fresh cloth to wash it again, then gently scraped off the top layer of mold from the mustard jar and smeared it onto the surrounding wounds. Next, before the astonished eyes of the crowd, he began doing needlework.

Li You had been very dexterous since childhood; as a kid, he had often helped his grandmother thread needles and do needlework.

He skillfully squeezed the upper and lower edges of the wound, executed a binding stitch, his hands fluttering, and with the final stitch right next to the *** he applied a backstitch technique, tying off with a bow...

"There!"

This entire sequence was as smooth as flowing water; the crowd stood there with their mouths agape. Was this really healing the sick and saving lives?

Guan Hongxin in the crowd shouted loudly, "My goodness... saving lives like this? Truly, it's like a small knife scraping the buttocks—opened my eyes, hey!"