Chapter 171: An Eye-Opening Experience

Guo Yuanzheng was watching Jun Zijin perform an autopsy for the first time. Having practiced medicine for many years, he considered himself to have seen countless corpses. Yet, the scene before him still left him unable to close his mouth in shock.

The coroner stood to one side, his face, etched with deep furrows, now wearing an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

He had spent half his life dealing with corpses—horizontal or vertical, complete or missing limbs—there wasn't a style he hadn't encountered.

But he had truly never seen one dissected so beautifully.

The internal organs had been removed cleanly and were laid out in their entirety to the side, without the slightest damage.

Every incision was as smooth and beautiful as a work of art. This wasn't dissecting a corpse; it was like sculpting a masterpiece!

"This... this is simply incredible!"

Guo Yuanzheng’s eyes were fixed, and he couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

He felt his medical understanding had been completely overturned, like someone who considered themselves a master of chess suddenly being checkmated by a three-year-old—and checkmated with a pair of toy scissors, at that.

The group became more and more mesmerized; before they knew it, Jun Chengcai, Guo Yuanzheng, and the coroner had all crowded around the corpse.

Everyone felt Jun Zijin’s voice was like music from heaven, listening to her explanation with rapt attention.

Coroner work was originally a lowly and taboo profession, after all, not only did one have to deal with the dead every day.

One also had to cut open the dead, disembowel them, and even dismember them; ordinary people wouldn't even dare to think about it.

If not driven to the brink by life, who would want to do this job? Just thinking about it felt ominous, and one would surely have nightmares at night.

But as Jun Zijin stood before the autopsy table, the golden sunlight spilled onto her, gilding her with a sacred radiance.

She was like an angel descended to the mortal world, performing a solemn and sacred mission.

The group suddenly felt that autopsy was actually such a solemn and sacred thing.

Every move she made was watched by all. The Jingzhao Yin had seen the world; he had seen the scene of a coroner performing an autopsy for half his life and had long since become accustomed to it, even somewhat numb.

Yet, he had never seen an autopsy performed so cleanly and neatly.

Even... even with a hint of enjoyment? The Jingzhao Yin shook his head; he must be crazy.

Comparing the usual coroner’s autopsy to Jun Zijin’s, the scene of the coroner’s work was simply too ghastly to look at, a total mess.

He couldn't help but secretly admire her in his heart; this Princess was truly worthy of her reputation.

He suddenly felt that the profession of a coroner might not be as unbearable as he had imagined. At least in Jun Zijin’s hands, this profession seemed to have taken on a brand new, even respectable, meaning.

Aside from Jun Zijin’s voice, no one at the scene spoke, fearing they might break this sanctity.

Jun Zijin had no time to care what the others were thinking; she examined the organs while teaching anatomy to Jun Chengcai.

Jun Zijin checked them one by one; the organs looked perfectly intact from the outside, the surface of the liver was smooth, with no signs of poisoning at all.

Due to the lack of modern advanced equipment, Jun Zijin could only rely on a silver needle to check for poison residues.

Holding a silver needle of extremely high purity, she carefully probed the deceased’s stomach, throat, and oral cavity one by one.

In ancient times, poisons like arsenic would undergo a chemical reaction upon contact with silver, causing the surface of the needle to turn black.

Although this method was not entirely reliable and had some limitations, in ancient times, 70 percent of poisons could be detected with a high-purity silver needle.

However, after checking the stomach, throat, and oral cavity with the silver needle one by one, there were no poison residues.

The deceased did not die of food poisoning, nor was it caused by internal injuries; this was very strange.

Jun Zijin frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

A moment later, she raised her head, her eyes clear:

"The source of death is not here, so the only thing left is the brain."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone showed expressions of admiration.

"The Princess’s medical skills and insight are truly rare in this world. To peel back the layers like this and seek the truth step by step is truly admirable!"

Guo Yuanzheng stroked his beard and spoke first, offering praise without reservation.

The coroner stood to the side, nodding incessantly, his eyes full of respect and gratitude:

"The Princess’s dissection technique has opened my eyes. From now on, I must study hard under the Princess so as not to disgrace this job of a coroner."

The Jingzhao Yin looked at Jun Zijin, his heart filled with relief and anticipation:

"In that case, the medicine from Tong'an Hall is indeed not the problem. I ask the Princess to continue the autopsy; if the truth can be uncovered and justice served for the deceased, everyone in the Jingzhao Prefecture will be eternally grateful."

Jun Chengcai looked proud, as if he were the one being praised, and the corners of his mouth lifted unconsciously.

"But how do we examine the brain?"

The coroner asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

"Craniotomy."

Jun Zijin swept a glance over the eager gazes of the crowd and said calmly.

"Craniotomy?"

Guo Yuanzheng’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Princess, can this craniotomy be done on a living person?"

Whenever the topic turned to medical skills, Guo Yuanzheng became energized.

"Sister, if a craniotomy were performed on a living person, would... would they die?"

Jun Chengcai also became energized.

"Generally, no. Under specific circumstances, perhaps it is possible."

Jun Zijin answered Jun Chengcai patiently while her hands never stopped, shaving the hair off the deceased.

In later generations, a craniotomy was considered a major surgery, requiring general anesthesia and special instruments like electric drills and nerve dissectors, and post-operative recovery was also extremely important.

But in this world, medical conditions were rudimentary; trying to complete such a surgery with only a set of scalpels was too difficult. She didn't even have 30 percent confidence.

Here, there were no special instruments; one wrong move would damage the intracranial tissue.

The surgical environment was completely inadequate; how could one perform a craniotomy?

Performing a craniotomy on a corpse meant there was no need to worry about intracranial tissues or nerves.

It was just that without an electric drill, it would all depend on manual grinding, which would take a bit longer.

Guo Yuanzheng was somewhat disappointed, but he was quickly drawn in by the movements of Jun Zijin’s hands.

The crowd stared unblinkingly at her every move.

They saw her first cut open the scalp and then separate it from the skull.

Jun Zijin continued to operate while explaining the principles and key points of each step to Jun Chengcai beside her.

"Since it is a corpse, there is no need for anesthesia. There is no blood, so there is no need for clamps to stop bleeding."

She then explained in detail to Jun Chengcai how to anesthetize and how to effectively stop bleeding if performing a craniotomy on a living person.

In her view, whether or not such a surgery would be needed in the future, teaching everything she knew was her duty as a master.

She patiently drilled holes one by one with a grinding drill; because she was teaching Jun Chengcai, every movement was extremely precise, as rigorous and serious as if she were operating on a living person.

It was unknown how much time had passed before five holes were finally drilled.

Following that, she cut, separating the skull from the dura mater; as the dura mater was cut open, a mass of brain matter was exposed before everyone’s eyes.