Chapter 43
Chapter 43: Alive, But Nearly Dead
This was a tough guy.
Xie Changqing was quite impressed. There was no choice but to find another wooden stick.
Seeing him look over, the second herder, although cold sweat was coming down from his temples from the pain, still nodded vigorously: “I’m fine! Doctor Xie, you go ahead and treat me!”
He even proactively opened his mouth and told Xie Changqing: “It’s just that my left hand also hurts a bit. If it’s convenient, please treat it. If not, forget it—it’s not very painful.”
Xie Changqing made an acknowledging sound and first checked if the anesthetic was working, then had him bite the wooden stick.
After confirming it was okay, he examined the leg injury.
This one not only had bite wounds but also a fracture—indeed quite tricky.
Fortunately, luck was fairly good. It was a tibial fracture, and the displacement wasn’t too obvious, with good stability.
In that case, direct reduction would be fine.
“Harile, come help me fix both ends of his leg.”
Harile immediately came over and pressed down hard: “Like this?”
“Oh, just fix the thigh end for now. I need to reduce the bone first.”
If the bone wasn’t fixed properly first, even if the suturing was done well, when the bone was repositioned later, it would easily tear open again.
But if the leg bone was fixed first and wrapped properly, the bite wounds couldn’t be sutured.
So at this time, Harile was simply a godsend for orthopedics.
Xie Changqing looked up, gripping his ankle: “Hold on.”
The herder bit the wooden stick and nodded vigorously: “Mm!”
However refreshing his agreement was in this second, the next second he suffered just as miserably: “…Mmf!”
Even Sangtu, watching from the side, felt his scalp tingle.
It really hurt—good heavens, this man was about to faint…
Xie Changqing had Harile press both ends tight to ensure they wouldn’t misalign, then carefully examined with his hands: “Mm, aligned. Not bad, good luck—got it right the first time.”
If luck was bad, this process would have to be repeated several times, which would be real torture.
It was just that…
Bone reduction was still a minor matter; these bite wounds were what really gave him a headache.
Even for Xie Changqing, it took considerable effort to suture these wounds properly.
The key was that these wounds clearly showed the wolf had bitten down and then forcefully torn and shaken its head, causing this damage.
“I’m not sure if this flesh can be saved. If it can’t be saved later and it becomes necrotic, have someone come find me and I’ll cut it off for you.” While fixing his leg with wooden boards, Xie Changqing gave instructions.
The injured man was already barely breathing. Alatan quickly agreed: “Alright, I’ll definitely check every day, and if anything’s wrong I’ll come find you immediately.”
“Good.” As he spoke, Xie Changqing had already fixed the leg bone properly and wrapped it with gauze.
Then he looked at this man’s left arm. Xie Changqing frowned, somewhat puzzled: “This looks like nothing’s wrong…”
Fortunately, this man wore a Mongolian robe, which was quite easy to open.
For convenience of movement, they often adopted asymmetrical wearing, with one sleeve worn and the other open or rolled up.
This wearing style could keep the body warm while allowing the arms to move freely without too much restriction.
Just loosening the belt would allow the left sleeve to be rolled down.
Previously, with the sleeve covering it, you basically couldn’t see what his arm looked like.
This man’s clothes were dark-colored, and when Xie Changqing pinched the sleeve, he couldn’t help but frown slightly: “Why is it so wet?”
Could it be…
When the wound was fully exposed, Alatan gasped.
This—this was what he called his left arm hurting a bit?
And he said it wasn’t very painful!?
Qiaoba and Sangtu’s eyes widened—holy cow…
His left arm was bent at a bizarre and twisted angle, with white bone breaking through muscle and skin, gruesomely exposed.
Originally the blood had somewhat coagulated, but now with movement, fresh blood began seeping out again, and the air was filled with a strong bloody smell.
The scene fell into dead silence, everyone stunned by this horrific sight.
This sleeve wasn’t just wet—it was completely soaked with blood!
“You call this not painful?” Xie Changqing was speechless, shaking his head: “Your adrenaline is working overtime, okay…”
To have held on until now without bleeding out, his ancestors were probably kowtowing frantically down below.
The key was that he’d already gone numb from pain, yet earlier he’d been howling less than the herder next to him with just bite wounds.
Thinking about it this way, indeed, in the future when encountering such situations, he should first save those who seemed calm and composed or even lively.
Mm, alive, but nearly dead.
Simply hanging on by a thread of bloody skin, okay? If he could measure blood pressure, that would be even better…
While muttering to himself, Xie Changqing quickly applied pressure to stop the bleeding.
The lighting was too dim, and conditions were just what they were. Fortunately, the weather was cold enough that the blood had somewhat coagulated.
After emergency pressure to stop bleeding, Xie Changqing skillfully debrided the wound.
At this point, he couldn’t worry about whether the anesthetic had taken effect. He hadn’t known earlier and hadn’t applied local anesthesia in advance. Now, fearing the man would bleed out, he could only proceed.
Having Harile help fix and reduce the bone.
Fortunately, after careful examination, Xie Changqing was pleasantly surprised to find that luck was good—no major blood vessels were punctured.
“Well, if an artery had been punctured, he’d have been gone long ago.” Xie Changqing shook his head and sutured the wound properly.
Alatan found a piece of clothing after the initial shock: “Change into this one—that one can’t be worn anymore…”
It was ice-cold; freezing all the way would kill him before reaching their destination.
“This one’s about to die too.” Xie Changqing shook his head and had them find some ginseng: “Do you have any? Preferably thick ones.”
This man had already passed out when he was treating the arm, and with so much blood loss, without some ginseng, he might not make it.
“Yes, yes.”
Some herders who had secretly come to watch, seeing this situation, quickly ran back and soon brought a somewhat thick wild ginseng.
Xie Changqing skillfully cut a small section and sliced it thin.
Without hesitation, he stuffed a piece into the man’s mouth, pressing it under his tongue.
He also cut another small section, processed it into medicinal water, and had him drink it.
It must be said, the effect was quite good.
At least by the time Xie Changqing and the others had packed up their things, this man had actually awakened.
“Arslen! You’re awake!?” Suren was very surprised.
“…Doctor Xie.”
Hearing this man call him, Xie Changqing walked over: “What is it? Don’t swallow the ginseng slice—you just drank the medicinal water, so just keep this slice in your mouth.”
“…Okay.” Arslen could now feel the pain, and even with the anesthetic, it hurt so much his back was soaked: “My… life… you… saved… from now… on…”
“Alright, alright, sleep now. Don’t think about these things. Healing the sick and saving lives is a doctor’s duty.” Xie Changqing thought he was going to say something grateful and patted his shoulder comfortingly.
But Arslen was very stubborn. Despite the pain, he insisted on finishing his words: “My… life… is… yours.”
What?
With the ginseng slice in his mouth, his speech was unclear, and Xie Changqing didn’t quite understand. But Arslen had already fainted again.
“Hmm, his complexion is much better. As long as he doesn’t get high fever and burn to death later, there should be no major problem.” To be safe, Xie Changqing still had Alatan ask Zhuo Lige to give him an anti-inflammatory injection: “Cover the wounds so he doesn’t see them.”
Zhuo Lige was petty; if he saw that Xie Changqing had treated them, he probably wouldn’t give the injection.
As for him, naturally he wanted to use one less vial of medicine.
His medicinal supplies still needed to be saved for their own pasture people!
“Good.” Alatan was extremely grateful to him, gripping his hand and shaking it repeatedly: “Doctor Xie, you’re really… amazing!”
If it had been Zhuo Lige…
To be honest, if Zhuo Lige had seen Arslen’s arm injury, he wouldn’t have given the earlier anti-inflammatory shot, to avoid waste.