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When Fei Qian regained consciousness, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead. Reaching up to touch it, his hand came away covered in blood. However, apart from the pain, Fei Qian didn't feel any other major discomfort, which reassured him that it was likely just a superficial wound.
Looking around, Fei Qian noticed Uncle Fu lying nearby and quickly went to check on him. Fortunately, Uncle Fu had only suffered a minor fall and wasn't seriously injured.
Uncle Fu, regaining his composure, turned and saw Fei Qian's bloodied face. He was immediately alarmed and grabbed Fei Qian's arm, exclaiming, "Young master! Your head…"
"Ah, it's nothing, just a scratch. It shouldn't be serious," Fei Qian reassured him.
When Fei Qian turned to look at the overturned carriage that had caused the accident, he heard a piercing scream coming from inside the carriage: "Ahhh—Miss! Your hand! Someone, help! Ahhh… Wuwuwu…"
The driver of the carriage, likely having hit his head, was covered in blood and staggering unsteadily. He tried to make his way toward the overturned carriage but couldn't walk straight, stumbling a few steps before collapsing to the ground again.
Rescuing people came first; assigning blame could wait.
Fei Qian approached the overturned carriage and called out, "How is everyone inside? Do you need help?"
"Wuwuwu… Miss… Miss's… hand… it's gone…" came a sobbing, incoherent voice from inside the carriage.
Fei Qian was startled. What? A hand gone? That sounded serious. He quickly pulled aside the carriage curtain and peered inside. He saw a young maid, about eight or nine years old, clutching a girl around thirteen or fourteen years old, crying uncontrollably. The younger girl's face was streaked with tears and snot, and she was sobbing so hard that snot bubbles formed at the tip of her nose.
Wait, wasn't the hand supposed to be gone? Fei Qian looked closely and saw that both girls had all their limbs intact. Did the unconscious girl have a third hand or something?
The young maid, suddenly seeing a bloodied head poking into the carriage, was already terrified. Now, she let out another ear-piercing scream, her eyes squeezed shut.
Fei Qian covered his ears and took a couple of steps back. The sonic attack was overwhelming.
After screaming for a while, the maid cautiously opened one eye and saw that the bloodied head had retreated from the carriage. Only then did she stop screaming.
Fei Qian, seeing that the maid's tongue had stopped trembling, lowered his hands from his ears and said irritably, "Didn't you say her hand was gone? Which hand is missing?"
"You… you… you're the one who's missing something! My lady's hand… it's… it's broken!" the maid retorted, puffing out her cheeks. But halfway through her sentence, she looked at her unconscious mistress's arm, which was twisted at an unnatural angle, and tears began to fall again.
—It must be a fracture.
Fei Qian examined the unconscious girl's arm and saw that it was indeed bent unnaturally, likely due to the impact.
"Hey! If you keep crying and delay treating your lady's injury, her arm really might be ruined!" Fei Qian snapped, annoyed by the maid's incessant sobbing. A fracture needed to be treated quickly by a physician; otherwise, internal bleeding could complicate the healing process.
The maid immediately stopped crying and looked at Fei Qian with wide, pleading eyes.
Fei Qian was about to step into the carriage to carry the girl out but hesitated. Instead, he called Uncle Fu over and had him carry the unconscious girl to their own carriage.
The maid quickly scrambled after them and climbed into the carriage as well.
In the Han Dynasty, the strict separation of men and women wasn't as extreme as in later dynasties, but it was still better to be cautious. Fei Qian, being a young man, felt it would be inappropriate to handle the girl himself, even if she was just a teenager. Uncle Fu, on the other hand, was older and wouldn't attract any gossip.
The carriage driver, who had been staggering around, finally managed to make his way over. Fei Qian grabbed him and asked, "Do you know where the nearest medical clinic is? How do we get there?"
"Y-yes… Go straight ahead, turn left at the intersection… It's not far!" The driver, though unsteady on his feet, was still coherent.
Fei Qian looked at their carriage. With both him and the driver, there wouldn't be enough space. He instructed Uncle Fu to take the carriage to the clinic first while he and the driver followed on foot.
Fortunately, the clinic wasn't too far away.
By the time Fei Qian and the driver arrived, the unconscious girl had already been taken to the back for treatment, and the maid had followed. Only Uncle Fu remained at the entrance, pacing anxiously. He wanted to go look for Fei Qian but was worried about leaving the carriage and its contents unattended.
When Uncle Fu saw Fei Qian, he hurried over and helped him into the clinic.
Inside, an apprentice was waiting with hot water. Seeing Fei Qian and the driver, both covered in blood, the apprentice quickly led them to sit on stools and began cleaning their wounds with warm, wet cloths.
The apprentice examining Fei Qian's wound said, "Sir, it's just a scalp wound. The bleeding has stopped. We'll apply some medicine, and it should heal without issue."
Just as he finished speaking, the driver, who was having his face cleaned, suddenly vomited and began to sway, collapsing to the ground.
The apprentice quickly called for help, and two others carried the driver to the back.
—This was a classic case of a traumatic brain injury.
Fei Qian felt a mix of concern for the driver and relief for himself. Thankfully, his injury wasn't severe, or he might have ended up like the driver, suffering from a brain injury that would be difficult to treat in the Han Dynasty.
But now what? The people from the accident carriage were either being treated or accompanying the injured. Who was going to cover the damages?
Fei Qian suddenly realized a serious problem: had anyone even paid the medical fees yet? Upon asking, he found out that no one had.
He considered waiting, but with nightfall approaching, the priority was to find a place to stay. Otherwise, being caught by the night patrol during curfew would be no joke.
The famous incident of Cao Cao's five-colored staff involved him killing Jian Shuo's uncle during curfew enforcement…
Although Fei Qian had just arrived in Xiangyang and the carriage accident was beyond his control, would the night patrol care about that? In an unfamiliar place, his life could easily be at risk.
Should he just run away? The apprentice who had bandaged his wound was sticking close by.
Forget it, consider it a loss to avoid greater disaster…
'I'm the victim here! Why do I have to pay upfront?' Fei Qian felt like crying.