Physician's Odyssey

Chapter 667 - Planks Fixing Technique

Translator: Thyaeria

The young lady, woman, and the boy came together to Kinkakuji to pray for blessing. The young lady immediately rushed into the ambulance and asked, “Shinin, are you alright?”

The boy, Shinin, shook his head and replied, “I’m already fine, sister. It no longer hurts anymore.”

Shaking her head, the woman said, “We still need a check-up. Otherwise, I won’t be assured.”

The ambulance arrived at a high-classed hospital shortly after. When the orthopaedics doctor saw the two planks fixing the boy’s leg in place, he locked his brows together. “What is this?”

“A foreign young man helped with it. Is there a problem?” The woman immediately became anxious.

“Outrageous! Don’t you guys have any common sense? If there’s a fracture, the first thing is not to carelessly move. How can it be handled outside a hospital?” The orthopaedics doctor was a specialist in his fifties. He sighed at the fact that this mother didn’t have any common sense to allow someone to attend to her child’s wound and even a foreigner at that.

The woman burst out in a cold sweat from the fright as she nervously asked, “It was my fault for not thinking it over. Please, you must treat my son!”

Thereafter, her eyes turned red and she started to sob.

The doctor unhappily swept a glance at the woman before he snorted and checked the planks. After that, he started to remove them. When he looked at the foot, he locked his brows together since he was somewhat surprised. The skin was red with a faint medicine odour spreading out. There wasn’t any swelling from the fracture, and the skin only looked slightly redder.

Hence, the doctor started to doubt if the fracture wasn’t that serious.

“Let’s go for an x-ray and check the foot’s condition before we can come up with a treatment method.” The doctor was somewhat furious since he got to know from the woman that the foreigner who helped out actually touched the injury without any x-ray films. In the eyes of western medicine, it’s a huge taboo.

Just when the woman was about to pay for the bills, an old man suddenly rushed over and bowed, “I’m sorry. We’ve just gotten news of the young master and mistress of the Seto Clan’s visit. Please forgive me for receiving you now.”

The old man was the President of this hospital, and his name was Nagi Ooi. He had just been informed that the mistress of the Seto Clan had brought her child to this hospital, which immediately startled him before he rushed over.

The orthopaedics doctor widened his eyes in shock as he looked at the woman. He looked as if he misheard him.

This woman is the legendary mistress of the Seto Clan? The aristocratic clans in Japan were all hidden, and those that could be called aristocratic were few in numbers. Furthermore, why did they come to this hospital?

Yuko wore a warm smile before she immediately explained, “Everything was too sudden, and out of concern for the Prince’s condition, we found a hospital nearby. Please pardon me for the sudden visit!”

In Japan, aristocratic clans had a special position and significance. Although the aristocratic clans did not possess any authority, in the hearts of the citizens, their actions and political influence cannot be underestimated.

The injured boy was the heir of the Seto Clan, Shinin, and that meant that he’s also the next Patriarch.

As for the young lady, she’s Kiko, the cousin of Shinin. She’s also the daughter of the second prince, a member of the Seto Clan. In Japan, the royal clan did not have any family names since they’re known as the legendary god clan. On the other hand, aristocratic clans had a family name.

Generally speaking, the aristocratic and royal clans rarely appeared in public. However, Kiko had accepted the life of an ordinary person since young, so she often appeared in public. At the same time, reporters found that Princess Kiko’s life was no different from an ordinary girl’s. She had her own hobbies and interests as she enjoyed a normal life. Furthermore, they even analysed that it might be a significant change for the aristocratic clans.

Although aristocratic clans were also part of Japan, the hospital did not dare to be negligent by their visit, especially the orthopaedics doctor from before. He no longer dared to reprimand Yuko and immediately went to greet the payment counter. At the same time, he even made an exemption to allow Shinin to cut the queue.

An hour later, the orthopaedics doctor took the x-ray film and examined it for a long time with disbelief on his face. Prince Shinin clearly showed signs of a fracture, but judging from the x-ray films, it’s only a tiny crack without any displacement, and even the bone fragments from the fracture were in place. Generally speaking, those fragments had to be removed with surgery to avoid necrosis or deformation that might affect the growth.

He had no idea if it was a coincidence, but there were no displacements for the fragments as well. Their cracks were fine, and even without surgery, the cracks would disappear in due time.

But here’s another problem. If it’s an ordinary patient, he would definitely dare to make that suggestion. But Shinin was the future heir of an aristocratic family, so should he go for a surgery to remove the fragments or allow the bone to recover naturally?

From western medicine’s point-of-view, there’s a certain chance for the bones to fuse back together. But if it didn’t fuse, it would affect Shinin’s figure development. So what choice should he take?

“Doctor, is he alright?” Yuko asked in a concerned tone.

“It’s a little troublesome.” The orthopaedics doctor helplessly replied, “I’m afraid that we will need surgery as he has some bone fragments from the fracture. Although there’s a certain chance that it will fuse together and recover, it might result in deformation if the recovery does not go well. But based on the current situation, Prince Shinin’s bones might be fractured, but there’s no serious displacement. We only have to remove the bone fragments.”

The moment Yuko heard the term deformation, her face turned pale as she covered her mouth and asked, “Is surgery really needed?”

“Please don’t be anxious for now. We can get the few Imperial Physicians back at the Imperial Palace to take a look at little brother.” Kiko reminded her from the side.

Letting out a sigh, Yuko replied, “I’m afraid that we can only do that now.”

After that, she gave a deep bow to the orthopaedics doctor. “Thank you for your suggestion.”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t help.” The orthopaedics doctor sighed in relief.

Seeing that her son was no longer crying, Yuko was no longer that worried and said, “Since Shinin is fine for now, then let us leave.”

After the hospital sent off the three of them, the President of the hospital, Nagi Ooi, patted the orthopaedics doctor’s shoulder and smiled. “You’ve done well. For patients like them, we can’t carelessly take things into our hands even if we can treat them. It’s fine if we manage to treat them, but we will be in serious trouble if we fail.”

Upon returning to the Seto Clan, everyone had already heard about the heir’s injury, and the Imperial Physicians were already waiting. When the car stopped, men immediately came forth and transferred Shinin to a stretcher to be brought to the Imperial Physician Institution. The Imperial Physicians here were all talented doctors who graduated from Kyoto University. So despite having the x-ray film provided by Yuko, they still conducted another check-up.

Standing at the entrance, Yuko anxiously held onto her hands with worry in her eyes. At this moment, her husband, Crown Prince Tomohito, rushed over and asked in an unhappy tone, “How’s the situation?”

Lowering her head, Yuko could only frankly describe the situation, “From the current situation, Shinin doesn’t have any serious issues.”

“What do you mean by ‘doesn’t have any serious issues’?” Tomohito raged, “He’s the precious next generation of the Seto Clan, and if anything happens to him, can you bear the responsibility?!”

“Please don’t blame her, it was all my fault!” Princess Kiko immediately spoke up and continued, “I was the one who asked Yuko and Shinin to visit the Kinkakuji to pray for the blessing since grandfather’s health hasn’t been well lately.”

Tomohito helplessly looked at Kiko. This was the daughter of his younger brother, so he couldn’t take it too far and solemnly said, “I will tell your father later to teach you how to be a qualified descendent of an aristocratic family.”

Kiko knew that her uncle was ridiculing her since she had been too undisciplined, normally, becoming an oddball in the clan. After a brief pondering, she said, “Shinin was happy today, and he needs freedom.”

“Freedom?” Crown Prince Tomohito raged, “You’re a member of an aristocratic family. Since you were born with riches and the love of citizens, that also determines that we must pay attention to our lifestyle. It’s a life predetermined for us, and no one can change this destiny.”

Just when Tomohito was about to continue to educate this niece of his, the door suddenly opened and a middle-aged doctor removed his mask. He’s the best orthopaedics doctor that Kyoto University has ever produced, Toshi Amano. Whenever there’s any bone-related condition, he would be the one responsible.

“Your highness, may I ask you a few questions?” Toshi Amano bowed in Yuko’s direction.

“Please, speak,” Yuko gently said.

“Did someone treat Prince Shinin’s injury?” Toshi Amano curiously asked.

“That’s right!” Yuko was a little nervous as she looked at her husband, whose expression was turning darker and frankly said, “A Chinese young man claimed that he’s a doctor, and helped to deal with Shinin’s injury. Back then, I was too anxious and did not react in time!”

With a peculiar light flashing through his eyes, Toshi Amano continued, “How did he handle it? Did he perform bone-setting for Prince Shinin and also applied medication?”

“That’s right, and he also used two planks to fix the fracture. He even said that it would recover in two weeks!” Yuko tried her best to recall the scenery back then and curiously looked at Toshi Amano.

“Then, where are the planks?” As someone who had done research in orthopaedics, he immediately figured out that they must be planks commonly used by TCM. Although these sorts of tools were primitive, they’re useful in treating bone injuries. On the other hand, putting a cast might cause the joints to be stiff and affect the injury during recovery.

“The orthopaedic doctor in the hospital removed them.” Yuko kitted her brows together and asked, “Doctor Amano, is there a problem?”

“Reckless! Outrageous!” Toshi Amano waved his hand in anger.