Chapter 355: Fourth round of competition

Du Ruo sat under the stage, listening to the mockery coming from all around, feeling the blatant gazes of those people, still maintaining a calm and composed appearance.

"Master, is there really no problem?" Dr. Ke beside her asked with a worried tone.

Although he had confidence in his master, the matter of operating on eyes was too unbelievable.

He didn't have the bottom in his heart either.

If it fails, the consequences are very serious.

Being eliminated is a small matter, I'm afraid Du Ruo will never be able to practice medicine in the future, and will even become a thousand-year laughingstock in the medical world.

"What are you panicking about?" Du Ruo raised her chin toward the stage and smiled. "Just keep watching and you'll know."

On the stage, several attendants held oil-paper umbrellas, shrouding the blind old woman in a shadow.

Wen Shiyuan did it himself, untying the gauze on her eyes.

One layer...

Another layer...

The scene was silent, all heads seemed to be sunflowers, stretching in the same direction, watching this scene without blinking.

Soon, the last layer of gauze was removed.

The blind old woman's eyelids were closed tightly, her body shaking very violently, and it could be seen that she was nervous and excited.

"Don't be afraid, just open your eyes slowly." Wen Shiyuan comforted.

The blind old woman took a deep breath, her eyelids trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Although there was an umbrella covering her, the light that suddenly pierced into the bottom of her eyes still made her shiver.

She closed her eyes and opened them again.

Repeated this several times until she was completely accustomed to the surrounding environment.

Immediately after...

With a "wa" sound, she threw herself to the ground without warning and burst into tears.

Crying with tears streaming down her face, heart-wrenching.

Everyone was stunned, and then the pot exploded quickly.

"I said it wouldn't work, but she insisted on showing off."

"Operating on eyes with a knife, I really admire her imagination. Now it's good, she completely blinded the person and took a knife for nothing."

"She looks so beautiful, but her heart is so black. This is not treating other people's lives as lives!"

"Sigh, it's really pitiful..."

Over at the envoy group, a satisfied smile appeared on Zhaoyue's face.

Very good, everything is going according to her plan. That Du Ruo was indeed afraid, afraid of the Empress Dowager's punishment, and even more afraid that her husband, who had finally become a sixth-rank colonel, would be stripped of his position in the blink of an eye, so she had to choose to cut off her own retreat...

Between fame and profit, naturally profit is more real...

Just as she was thinking this, she heard the blind old woman's excited cry from the stage: "I can see! I can see! My eyes... my eyes are cured!"

Zhaoyue's smile froze instantly.

Cured?

How is this possible.

Not only Zhaoyue didn't believe it, but others were also dumbfounded. Someone immediately jumped out to question: "Crying even after being cured, do you think we are fools? If you have the ability, prove it to us!"

"Exactly, prove it!" Those who didn't think it was a big deal echoed.

Wen Shiyuan frowned and raised his hand to suppress those voices. "No need to worry, whether it's really cured or fake, we will verify it for everyone on the spot."

After speaking, he pointed to a fat man with a big belly and asked him to go on stage. "You were the one who shouted the loudest just now, so you try."

The fat man was not polite, walked to a place three steps away from the blind old woman, and raised his right hand.

"May I ask how many fingers I have on this hand?" he asked.

The blind old woman answered honestly: "Four."

The fat man was surprised.

Oh, she really got it right.

When the fat man was young, because he liked to gamble and wouldn't change, he almost lost his family property. His father was really helpless, so he cut off his little finger.

So there were indeed only four.

He rolled his eyes, retreated to the corner of the high platform, and then raised his volume, shouting at the blind old woman: "May I ask if the clothes I am wearing are blue or white?"

The blind old woman still had tears on her face, but she was amused all of a sudden.

"I say nephew, why don't you go check your eyes too? There is no blue or white, you are clearly wearing red, even more than the girls in the brothel."

Pfft, hahahaha!

A burst of laughter erupted from under the stage.

By this time, everyone finally believed—the blind old woman's eyes were indeed cured, she could see, and she could see very clearly.

The eyes everyone cast at Du Ruo changed instantly, becoming complex and admiring.

And looking up.

Especially those who had relatives suffering from eye diseases were full of enthusiasm.

Many people were already planning to bring their families and silver to visit after the Medical Conference ended. Du... no, now it should be called Divine Doctor Du... since she could cure a blind person, she should be able to cure other blind people, right?

If they were late, they would be snatched by others.

On the stage, Zongzheng Yun turned to look at Dr. Hua, laughing wantonly. "How is it, Old Man Hua, does your face hurt?"

Dr. Hua felt as if he had been slapped hard.

It hurts, it really hurts.

In all fairness, he didn't have such high medical skills himself, let alone him, even Divine Doctor Jun couldn't do it. In the entire medical world, only Si Zhu Xian from decades ago could do it.

And that was just hearsay.

Dr. Hua couldn't help but re-examine Du Ruo. Could it be... he really underestimated women, and women can really become divine doctors?

Zongzheng Yun was too lazy to care what he thought. After reporting the revenge of the stinky mouth, he turned his gaze to Wen Shiyuan. "Head of Conference Wen, since Du's medical skills have been verified, it's time to announce the results."

Wen Shiyuan nodded.

Then he cleared his throat and announced loudly: "The third round of the competition has all ended. There are ten people who passed, namely Xiao Minjun of the Fenglin Kingdom, Dongfang Qingyan of the Changli Kingdom, Du Ruo of Da Zhao, Mo Changsheng, Ji Xianyu..."

A total of eight men and two women.

The fourth round of the competition started quickly, which was also the last round to decide the outcome.

There is no need to think to know that the difficulty will surely far exceed the previous three rounds.

The rules remain the same: ten people are divided into two groups, with five people in each group working together to diagnose and treat one patient. The prescriptions are submitted, reviewed by the judges, and the final rankings are determined.

As for how the groups are divided, it will be decided by drawing lots to ensure fairness.

"Before drawing lots, everyone may take a look at the patients first to get an idea."

After speaking, Wen Shiyuan clapped his hands.

Immediately, two attendants carefully carried a stretcher onto the high platform and placed it in front of the contestants.

Everyone curiously stretched their necks to look.

Du Ruo was naturally no exception.

Lying on the stretcher was a woman, about forty or fifty years old, her eyes tightly shut, eye sockets deeply sunken, her face as white as a ghost, and her entire body so thin she was just skin and bones; she looked somewhat terrifying.

Moreover, she was motionless, and even the rise and fall of her chest was not obvious.

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was a dead person.

Du Ruo let out an "eh."

This person... why does she feel a bit familiar? It seems like she has seen her somewhere before.

Who could it be?

She tried hard to recall in her mind, running through all the women of the same age she knew, when suddenly her pupils constricted.

Is it her?

Lou Shi, that stepmother of Yang Dian Feng!

Du Ruo had met Lou Shi once before; at that time, she had gone to the Ya Men to find Jiang Li regarding the matter of Mei Ruxi, and had come face-to-face with Lou Shi and the mother-son pair of Yang Dian Feng in the living quarters.

They had even had a conflict.

Later, when Yang Dian Feng was imprisoned, Lou Shi had even gone to find Jiang Li, using the secret of Jiang Li's parentage as leverage to beg him to let Yang Dian Feng off.

However, the two did not reach an agreement, and by the time Jiang Li took the Truth Pill to find Lou Shi, the place was already empty.

So she had run off to Fengyang Prefecture.

It is just strange, how did Lou Shi end up in this half-dead state?

"This is one of the patients," Wen Shiyuan began to introduce Lou Shi's condition. "She suffered a severe blow to the head and has been in a coma for many days, relying only on acupuncture and medicine to hang on. If no miracle occurs, she will surely die in three days."

Hearing this, the expressions of the contestants became grave.

The situation is not optimistic; it is likely extremely difficult to treat.

Thinking about it, if it weren't a particularly serious patient, why would they be specifically saved for the final round?

Everyone was not very keen on taking over.

Xiao Minjun smiled and spoke: "Then where is the other patient?"

Wen Shiyuan clapped his hands again.

After waiting for a long time, someone finally shuffled up, pushed onto the stage by an attendant, appearing very reluctant.

The contestants all breathed a sigh of relief.

Being able to walk up on their own shows that the body is not yet too terrible; it should be easier to treat than the first one.

Du Ruo's attention also shifted from Lou Shi and began to size up this patient.

Calling it sizing up, in reality, one could see nothing.

This person was wrapped tightly from head to toe in black cloth, even wearing a black veil hat on her head, and not even a patch of skin was exposed on her face; she looked like a black widow, exuding a strange, gloomy air.

Judging by her stature, she is likely also a woman.

Everyone looked at Wen Shiyuan in confusion.

Wen Shiyuan, however, glanced at Du Ruo with a somewhat subtle expression, then slowly said: "This patient is still young, only sixteen or seventeen years old. A few months ago, she was unfortunately attacked by cockroaches, leading to toxins entering her body, causing the skin all over her body to fester and ruining her appearance."

Du Ruo suddenly raised her head.

Why does this story sound so familiar?

It couldn't be that coincidental, could it?

She stared at the woman for a long while, the more she looked, the more she felt it was her. Her thoughts shifted, and she smiled: "Divine Doctor Wen, she is covered so tightly that we have no way to diagnose her."

The other contestants nodded one after another.

The so-called 'look, listen, ask, and feel'—the first rule is 'look.' If you can't even see, how the hell are you supposed to diagnose!

Wen Shiyuan naturally knew this principle too, and sighed: "Young lady, let everyone see your face."

The girl shuddered all over and quickly lowered her head, her hands pulling the black cloth on her body even tighter.

Wen Shiyuan had no choice but to give a look to the attendant behind her. The attendant understood and immediately stepped forward, snatching away her veil hat.

Without the object to hide her shame, that face was instantly exposed to everyone.

What a terrifying face it was.

The entire cheek was covered in dense, thick lumps of flesh, one connected to another, each as large as a copper coin, bulging on the skin, and even the neck had not been spared.

It was simply more disgusting than a toad!

Ugh.

Xiao Minjun, who was closest to her, was so frightened that she retreated repeatedly, subconsciously covering her mouth, almost vomiting on the spot.

The others were also scared pale.

They were all medical practitioners with many years of experience; what kind of patients had they not seen? But a scene as terrifying as the one before them was unheard of.

It was truly, truly ugly!

The stage was silent for a moment, followed by a huge uproar.

"My god, is this girl too miserable?"

"I've lived for over forty years and have seen countless people, but this is the first time I've seen such an ugly face. It's truly unique!"

"Sigh, if this can't be cured, I'm afraid she won't be able to get married..."

There were voices of sympathy, mockery, and schadenfreude—all kinds of sounds.

The students of Xiushan Academy looked at each other.

One of the students nudged Xiao Liangchen beside him: "Brother Xiao, isn't this the girl you saved from Jin Que on the boat that day?"

Xiao Liangchen also recognized her and nodded: "Indeed it is."

He didn't expect that girl to have come to the Apricot Grove Assembly and even become a free patient.

That's quite good; at least there are many doctors here, and many good doctors too, so the chances are better.

Xiao Liangchen looked toward Du Ruo on the stage.

A-Man's medical skills are so formidable now, even being able to cure double pupils; I wonder if she can cure this girl's face?