Since coming to this era, Hu Xiaotian had performed surgery more than once. To him, an appendectomy posed no difficulty whatsoever. Long Yelin's status had initially given him pause, but once he truly decided to operate, Hu Xiaotian quickly steadied himself. So what if the man was the emperor? An emperor was still a patient. To perform a successful operation, he had to forget the patient's identity and simplify their relationship. There was no sovereign and subject, no highborn and lowborn. I'm the doctor, and you're the patient. It's that simple.
Hu Xiaotian had sought out Li Yifeng to obtain surgical instruments. His very first operation here had been performed with Easy Origin Hall's assistance. Later, using the diagrams he provided, Li Yifeng had commissioned Great Kang's finest workshop-the Heavenly Crafts Workshop-to make a complete set of surgical instruments. Before Hu Xiaotian left for Azure Cloud, Li Yifeng had even given him a set as a gift, but those instruments had been lost when he left Azure Cloud.
When Hu Xiaotian asked, Li Yifeng did indeed still have another set, so someone was immediately sent to Easy Origin Hall to fetch the instruments.
In modern surgery, spinal or epidural anesthesia was preferable for an appendectomy. Local infiltration anesthesia could also be used, of course, and under the present medical conditions, local anesthesia was the only practical option.
Li Yifeng supplied Easy Origin Hall's anesthetic, but it seemed to have little effect on the emperor. Even after both oral administration and external application, Long Yelin's pain had not eased much.
Operating in the imperial palace offered far better conditions than operating among ordinary people. At Hu Xiaotian's request, Xuanwei Palace was temporarily converted into an operating room. All unnecessary personnel withdrew, the surgical area underwent a basic disinfection, and strong liquor