Just as Yizhe had expected, once Tsunade put on the sunglasses, she was no longer afraid of blood. Through those lenses, blood lost its original color. Tsunade could treat it as something else in her field of vision, no longer recognizing it as blood.
However, ever since Tsunade had developed her fear of blood, she had never personally performed another surgery. Even simpler operations had been carried out by Shizune under her guidance.
As a result, her skills had grown rather rusty.
Moreover, although Tsunade could no longer see the red of blood while wearing the sunglasses, the other colors in her vision had also become difficult to distinguish.
She could no longer easily identify different tissues, organs, and structures by color. Misjudgments would be all too easy, and that was unacceptable in a precise operation.
So she frankly told Yizhe that she still needed some time to practice. Only after thoroughly familiarizing herself with the dark vision beneath the sunglasses could she perform the surgery.
And so, Yizhe began a long wait.
"Big Sister Shizune, when do you think Lady Tsunade will fully get used to those two pairs of sunglasses and operate on me?" Yizhe asked listlessly as he leaned against a wall while accompanying her on house calls.
After seeing off the patient before her, Shizune tilted her head in thought before replying, "Probably... not much longer?"
"Lady Tsunade is already highly skilled. She just hasn't operated in a long time, and with the glasses, she's a little unaccustomed to them. She'll be fine after a while!"
As she spoke, she received another patient and began examining them.
"She goes to the casino every day wearing those sunglasses. That counts as practice?" Yizhe questioned.
Whenever he thought of it, he could not help getting angry. Every day, he and Shizune worked hard making house calls to earn money, and it all went into Tsunade's pocket. Then, under the excuse of practicing, Tsunade took it to the casino and lost every last bit.
"Well..." Shizune did not know how to explain it either, so she could only turn back with an awkward smile.
"It's because you're so soft-hearted that Tsunade became like this. She has the two of us making house calls to earn money every day, while she runs off somewhere to enjoy herself!" Yizhe said indignantly.
"What, are you planning to act tough in front of Lady Tsunade for once? Offer her some advice?" Shizune teased, without relaxing her examination of the patient.
"How would I dare?" He let out a long sigh and muttered, "If I could beat her, maybe I'd give it a try!"
"Ha, ha, ha!" Hearing that, Shizune clutched her stomach and laughed until tears streamed down her face.
"I... I thought... you'd forgotten the pain... once the wound healed!" She laughed so hard she could barely catch her breath.
"Miss, could you please hurry up and examine me?" someone waiting behind them said impatiently.
"Sorry, sorry!" Shizune apologized repeatedly. After calming herself, she continued the examination and said to Yizhe behind her, "Until you can beat Lady Tsunade, I think you should give up on that idea and go out with me every day to earn money in peace!"
"Ah..." Yizhe let out a long sigh. He had no answer, and his heart was filled with melancholy.
Making house calls with Shizune was terribly dull. Because of his hand injury, it was difficult for him to be much help. At most, he could pass things to her or use the White Insight Eye to investigate certain conditions for her.
Thus, most of the time, he simply stood to the side and quietly watched Shizune treat patients.
Still, whenever Shizune had some free time, she would take the opportunity while treating patients to explain things to him in person and introduce some basic medical knowledge.
Perhaps this was one of Tsunade's tests for him as well, he silently thought.
And so, Tsunade lingered at the casino every day, while Yizhe and Shizune worked hard on house calls day after day. More than ten days passed in a row.
"Kid, you two don't need to make house calls today!" Tsunade called out with a serious expression, stopping Yizhe and Shizune just as they were about to leave.
"Lady Tsunade, could it be..." Shizune trailed off.
"Mhm. I'm ready. I plan to operate on him today!" She glanced at Yizhe beside Shizune.
"Really?" Yizhe was overjoyed when he heard Tsunade's words.
After waiting so long, the day had finally come.
"Although the sunglasses cover up the red of blood, the visibility is truly too poor. I need a brightly lit environment to assist with the surgery!"
"So you need to find a way to increase the light around us even further!" Tsunade said solemnly.
"Then... should we go buy a few more lamps?" Shizune tentatively suggested.
Tsunade bit her lip and thought for a moment, then waved them off. "That works. Hurry up and buy some lamps, then!"
"Wait, that's not right!" After taking only a few steps, Yizhe felt the emptiness of his pocket. He turned back and said, "You haven't given us any money yet!"
"Well... um..." Tsunade stared at the ceiling and stammered, trying to muddle through it.
"Hand over the money!" He stretched out his hand toward Tsunade.
"There isn't any..." Although Tsunade had tried her best to keep her voice low, he still heard her clearly.
"What?" "What?" Yizhe and Shizune cried out at the same time.
"Well, um..." Tsunade turned her head aside, her pretty face flushing. In a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, she explained, "Last night, I kept tossing and turning and couldn't sleep. So I went to the casino again..."
"Good heavens! You spendthrift woman, did you lose it all again?!" Yizhe shouted.
Tsunade's gambling luck had always been terrible, yet she could never keep her hands off gambling. Nearly all the money Shizune and he earned from house calls ended up lost in the casino by her.
"What did you say?!" When Tsunade heard Yizhe call her a "spendthrift woman," rage immediately surged in her heart. The tiny trace of guilt she had felt vanished at once, and she made as if to attack him.
Shizune, who had also heard Yizhe's rude words, immediately knew things were about to go badly. Without a second thought, she hurried forward and hugged Tsunade, preventing the tragedy that was about to unfold.
"Lady Tsunade, let's talk this out, let's talk this out!" she hurriedly urged, trying to calm Tsunade's fury while repeatedly signaling to Yizhe with her eyes.
"Let go, let go!" Tsunade struggled.
Seeing her anger, Yizhe was terrified. Only after catching Shizune's signal did he reluctantly yield. "I was wrong, Lady Tsunade!"
"Hmph!" Tsunade turned her head aside at his words, too lazy to look at him.
After all, she really was in the wrong, so she could not say much more.
Only when Shizune felt that she had stopped struggling did she cautiously release her hands.
"So what do we do now? Are we not doing the surgery today? Should we make house calls and earn money first?" Shizune asked tentatively.
"Forget it. At this rate, there probably won't be any chance tomorrow either!" Yizhe refused outright.
He could not wait any longer. If they delayed again, they might still have no money afterward.
"Then what do you want to do?" Tsunade asked back, her anger not yet dispelled.
Yizhe rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment, and said seriously, "I have an idea. We won't need to buy lamps!"
"Speak!" Tsunade became interested. She wanted to see what solution this boy, who usually had so many clever ideas, had come up with.
"The weather is clear today. We can find a flat area with deep snow, dig a large cone-shaped pit with the point facing downward, pack down the snow around it, and focus the sunlight in the middle. Then Big Sister Shizune can hold up a mirror and reflect the sunlight onto my hand to make it brighter. That should provide enough light!" Yizhe slowly explained his idea.
Before you continue