The Tang Dynasty’s Female Forensic Doctor

Chapter 6

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Drowned Child

Ran Yan calmly nodded and let Wan Lu help her continue walking. Every once in a while they would pa.s.s one or two village women. They knew Wan Lu so seeing her help support a girl they also knew that she was Ran Shi Qi Niang. They moved to the side of the road to let them pa.s.s and slightly bowed to show respect.

Ran Yan was courteous and asked them to be at ease, leaving an amiable impression.

To use the shortest route, Wan Lu and Ran Yan walked through the village where they pa.s.sed an increasing number of people.

During the Tang dynasty it was not customary to bow on ones knees frequently. Even though these villagers were employed by the Ran family’s estate, seeing Ran Yan or even the head of the family, they only needed to show courtesy by greeting and bowing from the waist up.

When the two got to the village they suddenly heard a wave of loud noise. Within seconds, they saw an elderly man with a walking stick chasing ten or more kids. Like a group of fluttering young birds, they shouted as they ran like their lives depended on it.

Girls all had their hair rolled up into two buns. The older ones wore skirts and some wore pants and cross collared shirts. Boys had much more variation. Some had buns similar to the girls, there were also those who had only one bun. There was also a chubby young boy perhaps almost six years old who had a shaved head with only a scoop of hair left at the front. With the corners of his mouth downturned, it seemed like he was about to cry.

Seeing that he was covered in mud, and two others had some bleeding, she guessed that these kids probably fought behind their parents’ backs.

Sure enough, right after this thought crossed her mind, she heard Wan Lu tease the little chubby child who was left at the end, “Ping Xiao Lang, fighting and likely to be caught red-handed! Quickly, run faster, if you are caught by the elders your Ah Niang (mother) will punish you again when you get home!”

The chubby child started crying out loud, crying very miserably. His feet did not stop, two short little legs moved vigorously afraid that he will be caught. His look was seriously too cute.

Laughing, Ran Yan said “Wan Lu, you are truly very bad!”

Wan Lu saw that Ran Yan was much more outgoing than she used to be, joyful from the bottom of her heart she purposely bickered with her, “Niang Zi watches with this much cheer, and still picks on servant!”

Ran Yan has always been like this. Hearing someone point this out was a little awkward so she coughed twice. Before she could reply, she was pushed aside by someone. Wan Lu cried out in fear and quickly stretched out her hands and caught her. The two of them stumbled a couple steps before steadying themselves to avoid falling into the sewer next to the road.

After Ran Yan caught her footing, she looked up and saw that the person who had pushed her was a village woman wearing a light brown sackcloth dress. She was already a distance away. Though her face was not visible, seeing her messy and hasty gait, she looked like she was terrified.

“How could one act so rudely!” Wan Lu’s anger lit up, “Niang Zi, servant will first send you back to the estate and then find that village women to settle this!”

Ran Yan withdrew her gaze and said lightly, “Forget about it, seeing her hasty gait, it was perhaps an emergency.”

“What emergency? Did the sky fall! She pushed someone and didn’t know to apologize!” Wan Lu said angrily.

Seeing Wan Lu’s fuming appearance, Ran Yan couldn’t refrain from smiling.

Ran Yan found that after relaxing for a couple of days, though she was bored out of her mind, she became much more lively. In the past when facing corpses she had to be serious and careful out of respect for the deceased. There was no room for mistakes. On top of that she was also a workaholic so over time this formed a “dead face” that everyone respected from a distance.

This type of change, must be good news!

Wan Lu helped Ran Yan walk to the front of the village where they only needed to cross an arch bridge to reach the Ran estate. As they set foot on the steps, a heart-wrenching wail suddenly cut open the tranquil scene. Startled, the birds by the water to fluttered and scattered in all directions. Exactly as Wan Lu just said—the sky really fell.

“San Lang! San Lang!”

The woman’s grieving sounds were not far away, immediately following were the sounds of comforting simultaneously from both young and old all giving their condolences.

Pain from the loss of a son, pain penetrated the soul, let alone Zhou San Lang was Liu Shi’s only son. Liu Shi was a widow with two preceding sons that both died from sickness. Her husband also died three years ago entrusting Liu Shi with the last from his family line. Mother and child relied upon each other for survival; this was a pain no one could endure.

Liu Shi said in a panicked voice, “No, my San Lang can’t die. I want to go find the Great Doctor Wu! He can definitely save my San Lang!”

“Precisely precisely, Liu Sao Zi, for the time being you wait. We will bring San Lang to the Great Doctor Wu.” Said a man nearby.

It looked as if Zhou San Lang had already died, but everyone appeared to trust Wu Xiu He blindly. They wanted to believe that he was a miracle doctor who could help Zhou San Lang rise from the dead.

Upon hearing their plans, Ran Yan saw a group of people anxiously rush out from a small forested area. In the lead was a farmer carrying a child. Wearing a gray short sleeved shirt with narrow openings and shorts, clothing and hair were all soaked so they stuck to his body showing a robust body. Next to him were other strong men also dripping wet from the water.

Following closely were a few women wearing sackcloth long skirts, one of whom was the one who had shoved Ran Yan.

From afar, the group of people saw Ran Yan and Wan Lu standing at the bridgehead and disorderly yelled, “Xiao Niang Zi! Quickly help request the help of the Great Doctor Wu to save someone’s life!”

Wan Lu quickly said to Ran Yan in a low voice, “The Great Doctor Wu went to west mountain to pick medicine. At this time, there is no way he would come back! This can’t be good!”

“No matter what, let’s go look first in case the child’s life was not meant to end!” Ran Yan urged her.

Upon hearing Ran Yan’s logic, Wan Lu hurriedly picked up her skirt, turned around and ran towards the estate.

Soon after, the group of people noisily pa.s.sed Ran Yan as they followed. Ran Yan grabbed onto a young person as he pa.s.sed and stumbled from his movements.

“This Niang Zi, please stop pulling Zai Xia, saving a life is the most important!” The young man was impatient and restless, but due to etiquette, could not reach out and brush aside Ran Yan.

“What can you do if you go, what if the Great Doctor Wu is not there! Go quickly seek a horse and find a doctor from nearby just in case!” Ran Yan replied coldly.

The young man paused for a second and quickly submitted, “Many thanks for your help Xiao Niang Zi!”

Ran Yan did not partic.i.p.ate in empty etiquette with him. After saying this, she hurried to follow the crowd. A far water source cannot quench a present thirst, if that child still had a thread of life, she was not one to allow the rescue time to be wasted in vain.

After being a forensic doctor for many years, Ran Yan had a shortcoming. When she saw corpses she would instantly want to get a closer look. Meeting someone on the brink of death, she had to try her best to help. After all, in criminal investigation, a live person was more helpful at providing information than a dead one.

Because of this Ran Yan felt the need to save this child. It really wasn’t only because she harbored compa.s.sion, mostly it was from an instinct to “preserve life”.

The group stopped outside the Ran Estate and anxiously peered inside while that woman only held onto the child.

Time seemed to pa.s.s very slowly. Only after a short while, the people waiting were already restless. The man who carried the child said, “Human life is priceless, let us go inside the estate to seek the Great Doctor Wu! If the official places blame later, I will shoulder the responsibility!”

If they forced their way into the estate, the two lone doormen could not stop them. Everyone copied his actions. As they were about to move forward, Wan Lu came gasping for air, “The Great Doctor Wu went to west mountain today to pick herbs, I looked everywhere and he has not yet returned!”

This news amounted to no less than a clap of thunder. As Wan Lu finished, the woman started wailing, “Zhou family has only this one child, lowly woman could not guard him. Husband ah! Lowly woman let you down!”

The villagers were also silent, a few village women stepped closer to console Liu Shi.

Ran Yan brushed aside the group, silently walked to Liu Shi, and said, “Put the child on the ground.”

Voice was not loud, but respectful, calm as if lacking emotion which unexpectedly shocked Liu Shi who stared back blankly.

“If you want to save him, you must listen to me.” Ran Yan said impatiently as she crouched and received the child from Liu Shi’s hands.

Separated by the cloth cover’s black muslin, she could clearly see that the child’s face was swollen and blue, abdomen slightly swollen, and his whole body was soaked to the point of paleness from head to toe. His hands were gripped into small fists, his palms still grasping onto aquatic gra.s.ses, sandstones, and the likes. This gave Ran Yan a slight chill. She reached out to lightly press down on the slightly swollen abdomen. Ran Yan asked Liu Shi to confirm, “Did you not see your child all night?”

Hearing Ran Yan’s description, Liu Shi was like a drowning person who grasped onto a lifeline, and replied hurriedly, “Yesterday after dinner San Liang said he wanted to go play in the front of the village. When he returned for the night, he seemed displeased saying that he is now grown up and wanted to sleep in his own room. I thought he heard some gossip so I agreed. This morning when I was calling him to eat I realized that he was not in his room……Wuuuu Wuu……”

Saying this she started sobbing and was unable to talk anymore.

After Liu Shi said this, the others gave up hope. Drowned from yesterday night, soaked for a whole night, he already looked like this. There was no way he could live through that. Even if the Great Doctor Wu was here he may not even be able to bring him back. Everyone sighed collectively and started to give their condolences.

Tears weaved through Liu Shi’s face, but she looked at Ran Yan not willing to give up. Though she did not make noise, her eyes showed pleading and hope.

Ran Yan opened the black muslin of her cloth cover, and used her finger to press down on the child’s eye to observe pupil change.

This was a method to determine whether someone was really dead or fake dead. If the pupil changed from the pressure and returned back to original size when released, this meant the person was not yet dead.

In forensic medicine, there was a scenario called “fake death”, also known as a weak/feeble death. This showed how ones circulation, breathing, and brain function and operation are greatly suppressed and living functions are extremely faint. Using normal clinical exam techniques would yield no life indications and the outward appearance would seem like they have already died. In reality, they are still in a living state that could be resuscitated either for a short amount of time or heal in the long term.

Fake death is often seen in mechanical harm such as when one hung, strangled, drowned, consumes various poisons, etcetera. Ran Yan had come across this a couple of times in her work.

Ran Yan saw the child’s pupil could revert back, so perhaps still alive. To confirm this, Ran Yan used a handkerchief to bind the child’s fingers.

“Go find dry soil! The drier the better. Transport it here to save his life.” Ran Yan said looking up and using the most simple language to convey her intentions.

The crowd looked amongst themselves, Su Zhou folks lived by rivers, where would they find dry soil?

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