Chapter 33 Did the Doctor Kill Someone?

Tan Qingjiu paused in her steps. "I killed her husband with my treatment?"

How odd. Was this woman here to make trouble?

On the very first day Tan Qingjiu returned to the Tan residence, someone came to stir up a commotion. Was that a coincidence?

"Let’s go. I want to see what’s really going on here."

Tan Qingjiu took Qindai and Zisu along and followed the steward to the main gate. Sure enough, outside the gate sat a woman dressed in plain clothes, with a white flower pinned in her hair.

Beside the woman was a stretcher covered with a white cloth. Beneath the cloth, there seemed to be a body.

She sat with her back to the Tan residence, facing the gathered crowd, crying wretchedly. "I heard the famed miracle doctor’s skills were unmatched, so I entrusted her to treat my husband’s injuries. Who could have guessed he would die soon after? He was tortured to death by the pain!"

“She’s here, she’s here,” the onlookers whispered, spotting Tan Qingjiu.

The woman turned around, her voice trembling. "You—you—you—bring my husband back!"

Tan Qingjiu looked at the woman’s face and immediately recognized her as the wife of the hunter she’d encountered on the street—a man whose leg had been mauled by a wild beast.

Back then, the husband had been refused treatment by another doctor due to the severity of his wounds. Tan Qingjiu had amputated his leg to save his life.

Her eyes narrowed. Her husband? Dead?

Tan Qingjiu noticed a flicker of fear in the woman’s gaze, as if she dared not meet her eyes, and felt more convinced something was amiss.

She was being accused of killing the woman’s husband, but the woman couldn’t even look at her directly.

What was going on?

Suppressing her doubts, Tan Qingjiu spoke, "I remember you. Your husband was bitten by a wild animal and sought help from a doctor named Lin, who said his wounds were too severe to treat."

"I told you I could amputate his injured leg to save his life, and you agreed. So I performed the amputation."

"After the procedure, everyone saw that your husband regained consciousness."

"Later, I instructed you on how to care for him and even gave you a jade token, telling you to come to me if any problems arose."

"But you never once came to see me. Now you come here to make trouble, saying your husband died?"

The woman shouted in distress, "I’m not a doctor! How was I supposed to know when to seek help or when to leave it be?"

"Ever since you cut off his leg, he acted mad, always saying he could still feel his leg and cried every day about the pain."

"But his leg was gone—how could it hurt? So I ignored him. Who would have guessed he’d die from the pain in a leg that wasn’t even there…"

She wept bitterly, throwing herself over the body and wailing, "How could you die? What am I to do now?"

Her grief could move anyone to tears.

Tan Qingjiu’s expression was unmoved. "Did I not tell you that after amputation, patients may still feel the missing limb and experience pain? That’s called phantom limb pain."

"Did I not prescribe pain relief?"

"And as you said, he was suffering from pain in a nonexistent limb. How could that possibly kill him?"

"I’ve never heard of anyone dying from phantom limb pain."

Tan Qingjiu scoffed, "I see you’re full of lies. There must be more to your husband’s death than you’re letting on."

"You know better than anyone how your husband died. It’s your own family matter, and I have no desire to meddle. But to blame me for his death and make me carry this burden? I won’t stand for it."

She stepped down from the stone steps, approaching the woman.

The woman grew flustered, crying out, "You—you—what are you doing?"

"What am I doing?" Tan Qingjiu smiled. "I simply wish to examine your husband's body. Surely you wouldn’t refuse? Or is there something suspicious about the corpse?"

The woman bit her lip and pressed her hand firmly to the white cloth covering the body. "I don’t trust you. You’re a doctor. If you tamper with the body while examining it, I’ll have no way to defend myself."

"Is that so?" Tan Qingjiu was unperturbed and turned to Qindai. "Report to the authorities."

Qindai bowed. "I’ll send someone at once."

The woman’s eyes darted rapidly. She’d been told that Tan Qingjiu had connections, and if the authorities were involved, she’d make sure everything was arranged so Tan Qingjiu would be ruined.

Thinking this, her expression relaxed a little.

Tan Qingjiu observed her closely, forming a few guesses in her mind.

Tan Qingjiu’s lips curled. "Did someone instruct you to do this?"

"Did someone tell you that she holds power in the capital, and if you report to the authorities, she can bribe them and pin your husband’s death on me, so you needn’t be afraid?"

The woman’s grip on the white cloth tightened, and she looked up in disbelief. How did Tan Qingjiu know?

Her anxiety surged, but she stubbornly replied, "I don’t understand what you’re saying. I have no idea what you mean."

Tan Qingjiu was about to speak when another voice rang out from the entrance. "Oh heavens, what’s happened here? What’s going on?"

It was Chen Yueyu.

Chen Yueyu’s gaze landed on the covered corpse, her brow furrowing. "How could you bring a body here to cause a scene? How unlucky."

She turned to Tan Qingjiu. "Qingjiu, you’re here? I heard from the servants that you killed someone with your medicine?"

"Aren’t you the miracle doctor, famed for your skill? How could you have killed someone?"

"But you’re the second young lady of the Tan residence. Six years ago, you were still living here and hadn’t begun studying medicine. You had no medical knowledge then. From your disappearance six years ago to now, it’s only been six years. For you to go from an ignorant young lady to the miracle doctor—well, that’s quite an achievement."

"In such circumstances, it’s understandable that an accident might happen. You should handle this properly. Otherwise, when your father returns, he’ll be furious. It’s terribly unlucky."

As Chen Yueyu spoke, the crowd erupted.

"The miracle doctor is the second young lady of the Tan residence?"

"Isn’t she the one who was drowned for being pregnant out of wedlock?"

"She didn’t know medicine before? And now she’s a miracle doctor in just a few years?"

"Who learns medicine in just a few years? Unless she’s a charlatan posing as a miracle doctor."