Hong Lingxue clutched her lower abdomen, her face contorted with pain. "I... my stomach hurts so much..." she said in a trembling voice.
Zhu Guanqi and his wife had always shared a deep, devoted love. Seeing her in such a state, the usually composed man lost all sense of what to do. "I'll take you to a doctor!" he cried, gathering Hong Lingxue into his arms and preparing to rush outside.
Hu Xiaotian, however, sensed something was wrong. "Brother Guanqi, try not to move her," he said.
Visa also hurried in at the commotion. Seeing what had happened, she rushed off to fetch a physician. Fortunately, a Hall of Benevolent Aid stood right next door, and its physician was quite well known in Eastern Liang Commandery. Before long, he hurried over with his medicine chest.
Hu Xiaotian had already helped Zhu Guanqi carry Hong Lingxue into a room nearby. The pain in her lower abdomen showed no sign of easing; instead, it grew steadily worse. Drawing on his extensive clinical experience, Hu Xiaotian judged that she probably had an acute abdomen. From the location she described, the pain was in her lower left abdomen, making a gynecological emergency a strong possibility.
The physician entered, set down his medicine chest, and said unhurriedly, "There's no need to panic. Let me take the lady's pulse first." He was a sluggish fellow who did everything slowly. He felt Hong Lingxue's wrist for a long time, his brows tightly knitted, without saying a word.
Worry threw Zhu Guanqi into confusion, and sweat streamed down his forehead. Hearing his wife's repeated moans of pain, he finally could not help asking, "Sir, what illness does my wife have?"
The physician sighed, wearing an inscrutably profound expression. "Abdominal pain. Here's what we'll do: I'll prescribe some medicine