The young man looked at her pained expression, and asked, "Does it hurt a lot?"
Involuntary tears flowed down from Lu Yan's eyes, and she nodded.
Her mouth was thick with blood, and her voice came out muffled, "It hurts a lot."
The young man looked at her in sympathy, reached into his pocket, and produced a squashed piece of candied fruit.
He extended it towards her, and said, "Here, you can eat this after you see the doctor. It might make you feel better."
Lu Yan stared at him with teary eyes.
His expression was earnest.
Lu Yan reached out slowly with her uninjured wrist, and took the offered treat. It was a little sticky.
She smiled again, then grimaced as her mouth hurt, and said thickly, "Thank you."
The boy patted her head gently, then turned away and rejoined his companions.
Lu Yan looked after him as he walked away.
She tucked the small piece of candied fruit into her pouch, struggling not to jolt her injured wrist.
Then she turned to Luizhu, and said, "Let's go back. It really hurts."
---
Back at the house, the doctor calmly examined her injuries.
He turned the accident into an impromptu lesson, speaking his observations out loud, explaining and analyzing the process.
"Let's have you drink some willow bark tea first," he began. "It's not strictly necessary in this case, but in general when a patient is in a lot of pain, you can give them a cup of this tea for the pain."
Soon, one of the doctors' servants brought the tea.
The doctor handed it to her, "Drink this. I want you to pay attention to the effects. I'll teach you the dosage later."
Lu Yan drank carefully with her uninjured wrist, blowing to cool it down and taking small sips to prevent aggravating the wound on her inner lip.
The doctor waited patiently until she finished, then continued, "It seems the twisted wrist is the most severe injury. So let's deal with that first."
He pressed her wrist at different points, twisting slightly.
"Right now, I'm trying to understand how severe the injury is."
Lu Yan winced.
He continued, "I can tell it hurts when you move it. See how the joint is swollen. But there's no bruising. Which means the bone was not broken. In this case, it's enough to reduce the swelling."
He took a cloth soaked in ice-cold water, then applied it to her wrist. He wet it several times until the swelling visibly reduced.
"The next step is to immobilize the wrist. Watch how I do it."
He took a piece of bandage and wrapped it around her wrist several times.
"The key is to make it tight enough to prevent movement of the joint. But not too tight. That will cut off the blood flow. In that case, you might lose this hand."
When he was done, Lu Yan's wrist was securely tied up, the joint completely restrained.
"Usually, keeping it tied up for a few days will allow enough time for the body to heal itself. It's important not to use the wrist during this time."
Then he examined her split lip. The bleeding had already stopped.
"You can allow this to heal on its own. It's best to eat only soft foods and keep your mouth clean until this heals."
Finally, he showed her the medicines for small cuts, and guided her through how to clean and wrap up small wounds. This step, he had her do by herself.
By the end, both of Lu Yan's bleeding knees had been cleaned, smeared lightly with medicine, and wrapped gently in clean bandages.
The bruises on her elbows and chin had not broken flesh, and were not severe enough to warrant applying medicine.
Finally, the doctor stepped back. An aide came to clean up and take away the medicine bag.
Young master Ji lightly patted Lu Yan's head, "That was your first observation. I think it was very successful."
Lu Yan pouted, partly disappointed that he hadn't shown concern for her, partly pleased that he wasn't turning the fall into a big deal like Luizhu had.
After a pause, she said, "Hmm, I learned a lot."
"Let's eat lunch together today. It's too late for you to go back to the eating hall."
Lunch was served.
A big bowl of bland bone soup was placed in front of Lu Yan. She looked enviously at the master's dishes- spicy meats, pickles, and vegetables.
But even the little salt in the soup made her mouth sting, so she endured.
"It's a pity. I was planning to have you start learning from a physician tomorrow. But with your wrist..."
"I can still go watch." Lu Yan said immediately.
He smiled, amused, "Alright, tomorrow I'll take you to the treatment hall again. We'll move our morning lectures to the afternoon."
Lu Yan paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth, "What about the afternoon lectures?"
He paused, "Let's see, if I have time in the evenings, we'll do an hour then."
"En." Lu Yan continued eating her soup.
As young master Ji ate, he watched her drain the whole bowl. When she reached the bottom, and couldn't scoop the dregs with her spoon, she raised the bowl with her uninjured wrist, and sipped deeply.
Feeling a twinge of strange emotion, he asked, "How's the soup?"
She smiled happily, patting her full stomach, "It's good!"
The master lowered his head, and continued eating his own meal.
---
Lu Yan's knees hurt, so she just sat on a chair on the side table reading scrolls as master handled his own paperwork.
She soon fell asleep to the sounds of master opening scrolls, making notes, and talking to his aides.
When she woke up it was already late in the afternoon.
She felt her wounds didn't hurt much.
Carefully folding the blanket that had been placed over her, she placed it in its place and cleaned the scrolls on her table.
Then she said goodbye to the master, who nodded distractedly, and went for a walk with Luizhu.
They walked aimlessly around the inner camp, watching everything and everyone.
Lu Yan soon felt her knees hurt, so they sat to a side, chatting idly. Luizhu did most of the talking.
They went to the eating hall as soon as it opened. Lu Yan looked regretfully at the spicy beef noodles being served for dinner.
"I can't eat those today," she said, lightly running her tongue over the wound on the inside of her upper lip.
She waited as Luizhu ate, watching and drooling, while listening to all the talk around them.
They returned to the house slowly.
Master had arranged for someone to send her another bowl of bland bone soup.
Lu Yan, who had thought she'd be going to bed without dinner this night, was overjoyed. She ate the whole bowl with relish.
Master was busy, so she didn't get a chance to thank him.
Back in her room, Lu Yan carefully washed her mouth with warm salty water.
Then she took the candied fruit from her pouch, and placed it attentively in a box beside her bed.
"I'll eat this when my mouth heals," she told Luizhu.
Luizhu hummed and helped her wash up for bed with a wet cloth and a scented basin of water.
Lu Yan fell asleep early, content despite the little pains.