There are thousands of ways to solve any given problem, tens of thousands, maybe even an infinite number of these very solutions. The most important thing is to see these ways. Not to follow the path of simple, binary choice "either-or," "yes or no." There is no "yes or no" choice - if you face such a choice, it means you don't see something, don't understand, you have little information, insufficient flexibility of thinking.
And now - it would seem that Xiao Tai faces a simple problem that can be solved in two ways: first - leave Aunt Cho to die, and second - using everything she knows about such operations, as well as everything that can be obtained in this house. Excluding the first option - we're left with the second. Or, in other words - she has no choice. There is only fate, a path that is predetermined.
But she doesn't believe in fate. Robert Sapolsky, Stanford University professor, neurobiologist, primatologist and author of a bunch of books on ethology, sincerely believes that humans have no freedom of choice in principle, that we roll along life's path like carts on a narrow gauge railway, and that upbringing, genetic heritage and external environment shape our choice. Which doesn't exist. But even if so - the wider your options, the more variants of problem solution you see, the greater the probability of choosing the optimal one in these specific conditions.
What are the inputs? If not for this "qi energy permeating the entire world," the inputs would be quite simple - an urgent operation is needed, intestinal volvulus is no joke, intestinal obstruction, spasms, toxins in the blood, of course pancreatitis, the pancreas begins to digest itself and release decay products directly into the blood, the most delicate and toxin-sensitive organs suffer first - the brain, kidneys, liver and vision. Right now Aunt Cho needs to be connected to a hemodialysis machine, toxins removed from the blood, condition stabilized and surgical intervention initiated. If necessary - in field conditions.
However, in this world there is qi energy, and this isn't fairy tales, she really feels it, can control it. Yes, she still can't feel any meridians in her body, but she feels warm energy and can even manipulate it! And she long ago understood that even with closed eyes - she feels the surrounding space within about five meters radius. In her room she moves freely with closed eyes, knows exactly where the porcelain cups and cast iron teapot with hot tea stand, feels where Minmin is now and what she's doing, despite sitting with her back to her. Within five meters radius she simply feels everything that happens. This can be compared to the feeling of one's own body - even with closed eyes a person still knows exactly where his hand or leg is, he doesn't need to see to feel. Same with her - these five meters around are perceived as an extension of her body... she can't manipulate her qi in this radius, but feels everything inside this sphere. A useful skill - now no one can sneak up on her unnoticed, at least not within striking distance of a short blade or even sword.
But the most interesting thing here isn't even this, the most interesting is that if she concentrates - she can not only find out where exactly the teapot stands, but also - how much tea is in it. And this in turn means that this qi sense doesn't equal vision. It's rather something like ultrasound, penetrating through obstacles. Different material density gives different illumination on internal vision, confuses because all this is also three-dimensional, you have to close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling to separate useful information from white noise. That's exactly how she could make the diagnosis - by scanning Aunt Cho's insides. There's the bend in the small intestine that should be eliminated. Conducting abdominal surgery in medieval conditions is very unwelcome and now she's going through problem solution options.
All she needs is to melt this piece of fat inside the organism, and then Aunt Cho will manage herself. Considering that golden qi accelerates regeneration not only in her, but also in the same Minmin (got burned with oil the other day, was caught and healed) - there are chances for success.
However, she hasn't tried manipulating qi through obstacles yet, for example - warming water in a teapot by putting her hand on the wall, heating only the water but not the teapot. That's one thing. And if you warm mutton fat in the small intestine and go a little overboard with temperature - Aunt Cho will swell up... or rather - the intestine will burst, that's all we need. And even if it doesn't burst - thermal trauma of the small intestine will most likely lead to its perforation. During this time Xiao Tai understood one thing - she has unexpectedly much qi, and maybe that's exactly why she's not capable of precise manipulations with it. What Liling does easily, as if not straining at all, all these "qi sparks," all this "rolling a qi sphere" - didn't work for her at all. Instead of sparks she got more like fireworks, a qi fountain, blue flame like from an acetylene torch. So gently warming a piece of mutton fat inside Aunt Cho, warming so as to melt the fat and not touch the small intestine walls - unlikely to work. With her skills in delicate qi energy manipulations, she'd rather cook half of auntie's intestines, that's all. Or fry them.
Here's a dead end. Too high risks and however much she'd like to manage just by laying hands on the stomach - it won't work. Hmm. Nevertheless, there's another option - Liling is remarkably good at exactly these delicate manipulations, and she doesn't have so much qi as to cook Aunt Cho's intestines... moreover, she can raise temperature very smoothly and maintain it for a long time... though this needs clarification. However, Liling can't see exactly where to direct energy, she won't have feedback, and unfocused qi won't help at all. She needs to see exactly what she's doing and where to direct efforts... needs something like a screen on which she can see the consequences of her work. She doesn't know how to manipulate qi blindly, Xiao Tai already found this out.
She tries to create something like a screen from energy and predictably fails. Form a three-dimensional image. Also nothing. Clear. So they'll have to work in tandem, describe in words and correct her if something goes wrong.
Total, based on current inputs a plan is formed - first we try to melt the fat inside the small intestine through qi energy influence, without opening the abdominal cavity. If it doesn't work - we'll have to conduct abdominal surgery. That's all for now.
She opens her eyes. It took her no more than five minutes to make a decision. The girls ran off for materials, she looks around and sees a bucket with a rag that the young servant left. Well, she still has time, should spend it usefully. She ties up the sleeves of her garment and forms a ponytail from her long hair, which she coils on top of her head and pins with a hairpin so it doesn't get in the way. Should wipe everything here.
When Liling returned with Zhilan, they found Xiao Tai washing floors. Zhilan immediately put the jugs of rice vodka in the corner, threw up her hands and gently took the rag from her - it's not right when a young lady washes floors. What if someone sees?
"So," not upset at all, Xiao Tai put her hands on her hips. "Lili, come here. Can you heat water in a teapot, but so the walls don't heat up, and so the water doesn't boil, but just becomes warm? About sixty degrees Celsius?"
"Huh?" Liling was confused but quickly pulled herself together. "I don't know, Tai Dajie, never tried."
"Try it." The elder immediately put a teapot on the small table in front of her, opened the lid and stuck her finger in. "Cooled down. Just what we need, room temperature. Alright, let's try. Put your hand and concentrate your qi inside, but not just like that, specifically warming the water."
"But there's tea there," Liling notes automatically. "Tai Dajie."
"Water, tea, doesn't matter. Liquid. If it works, we'll need to run to the kitchen for mutton fat to establish temperature regime, practice. Give me your hand."
"Of course." Liling barely restrains herself from saying "Tsungming, Tai Da-jiang!" like that overly bold Minmin. She hastily puts her hand on the teapot and...
"Uh... how to do this?" she asks her elder sister. "What spells and prayers, how to move qi through meridians?"
"No need to move anything. Just concentrate qi in your palm, then direct it inside the teapot, focus scattered energy in one place," she says. The door slams, Minmin returned, she places white fabric on the table, straightens up, surveys what's happening and without saying a word - joins Zhilan, immediately producing a rag from somewhere.
"O-okay," says Liling, she doesn't feel such confidence. How can you manipulate qi directly, without rituals and spells, without meridian combinations? Everyone knows there are twelve paired meridians corresponding to zang and fu qi concentrations, plus two special meridians. There are yin and yang meridians, there are also temporary meridians, there are meridians that advanced adept-spellcasters form during cultivation. They say that above the fifth rank, "Heavenly" cultivation level, a spellcaster no longer needs to speak spells and consider qi movement through meridians, but she's never seen such spellcasters in life.
Pull yourself together, she thinks, elder sister is counting on you, it can't be that she doesn't know something, this is another lesson from elder sister. She never gives tasks that are impossible to fulfill, she knows her limits better than Liling herself. And this means she can do it. But how? Just gather energy in hand? Now it's past noon, so the Snake meridian is active, what is it, remember! Paired meridian, yin, earth element, centripetal, twenty-one qi exit points on the body. But it ends at the shoulder, therefore to transfer qi further - she needs to switch channels. From shoulder to little finger she'll use the Horse meridian. Fire element meridian, will have to convert the sign in qi, costs will increase, not natural interaction, earth to fire... won't work.
Will have to select another meridian, since by time of day it doesn't work - means you can take energy from lunar day. What date? Month of monkey, moon waning, fourth day. Ruling energy - yin. Yes, here it is, monkey! Paired meridian, element - water, water and fire - antagonists, combination gives steam, that's energy, and she needs energy. So first we gather qi along monkey meridian, starting from dantian point, monkey meridian is the longest, most powerful, goes through the whole body, short prayer to the Monkey King who carries his dimensionless staff, Biwa Menu, Who Descended to the Valley, Great Sage Equal to Heaven, He Who Pissed on Buddha's Hand. Address, request for blessing, qi gathering and concentration in dantian. Now the received qi energy should be twisted according to lunar calendar, division of taiji matter into yin and yang, accept elemental transformation and...
"Why are you taking so long?" a voice sounds. Liling loses concentration and feels how disobedient qi dissolves in space. She coughs and tries to explain to elder sister how difficult it is to do something from scratch. She doesn't know which meridians should be used and in what order, she doesn't know the correction coefficient for element transformation, she's generally not sure anyone has done such a thing.
"Hmm. Even so." Tai Dajie takes her finger out of the teapot and puts her palm on its wall, slightly touching her hand (Liling hastily removes her hand and involuntarily blushes). Liling looks at the teapot. Water in it immediately boils and bubbles.
"Something like that," explains Xiao Tai and sighs. "I have too much of this qi. Where from? And you have too little. Hmm... what if I transfer qi from me to you?"
"What?!" Color immediately rushes to Liling's face and she hastily turns away and presses her palms to burning cheeks. "Tai Dajie! How could such a thing come into your head! We're sisters! And girls! And... no! Never!"
"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Tai is surprised. "The most logical solution. You have little of this qi, you need to scrape by dregs, and I have loads of it. I'm not capable of delicate manipulations, Aunt Cho will burst or cook with me. And you're just capable, I'll put my hand on your dantian center and will supply a little qi during..."
"Aaa!!! Don't want to hear! Tai Dajie!" Liling covers her ears. "How can you! I'm a decent girl! This is shamelessness! No!"
"What's wrong with you?" Xiao Tai is puzzled. "Main thing tell me, is such a thing theoretically possible at all, or will such procedure damage your meridians? Has anyone done such a thing at all?"
"Tai Dajie!" Liling sits down and covers her head with her hands, she can't endure this, it's too much.
"Minmin, please explain to me what's happening here," says Xiao Tai. "What happened to my sister and why is she so red? Do you have some prejudices in this area?"
"Young lady, this worthless Minmin doesn't know so much about cultivation, but everyone in the Middle Kingdom possesses knowledge about yin and yang," Minmin breaks away from washing floors. "In qi transfer one is always yang, and the other is always yin. Therefore such transfers are possible either between spouses or between lovers."
"I see." Xiao Tai looks at Liling huddled in the corner and sighs. How complicated everything is. These are dense prejudices. And what choice does she have? The choice is very simple - either overcome all these stereotypes and prejudices in one young lady's head, or abdominal surgery. She didn't want to do surgery, primarily because there was no confidence in success, plus high complication risks, starting with sepsis, and also the probability that Aunt Cho's weakened organism might not withstand such stress. Besides, the very possibility of qi exchange... wait a second. Didn't she already transfer some of her qi to Minmin?
"You were within your rights, young lady," Minmin bows in response to her silent question. "This servant simply performs her work. Satisfying young lady Xiao Tai's needs is my duty."
"Holy shit," says Xiao Tai. So it turns out I already managed to rape the servant with my qi? And the main thing is she didn't even blink, if the young lady needs - always welcome, that's what servants exist for. So it turns out not a personal servant, but a personal slave, do what you want, and she'll even wash floors afterward. What horror. Well, we'll figure this out later, the main thing here is that Minmin herself doesn't experience any inconvenience with this, thank god. But what to do with Liling...
"Lili," says Xiao Tai and sits down next to her. "Look, the choice here is very simple. You can save Aunt Cho, or you can remain highly moral and proper. I don't know what business you have here around transferring qi from person to person, it's just like blood transfusion. In my view. Fine, I understand that in this world it's improper, like all sorts of nonsense like 'indirect kiss,' but I assure you that I don't feel any such feelings toward you. It's just a procedure."
"Yes, that's what you say now! And then you'll lay me down naked and say it's just a procedure!" Liling blushes even more and covers her face with the sleeves of her garment.
"If necessary - I will. Understand the main thing here is not what happens, but your attitude toward it. And we already talked about moral frameworks and social condemnation. Treat this as Heaven's Will. In your opinion, what does Heaven want now - for you to remain a stubborn puritan or for Aunt Cho to stay alive? Besides, such emergency qi transfer will give you opportunity to grow as a spellcaster. You spend more than half your time in qi gathering prayers. Inefficient. And here - I transfer to you and that's it, do what you want."
"It's improper!"
"Pfff... what do you want yourself - to remain proper, or save a person and learn to manipulate qi, grow as a spellcaster?"
"Uh... what do I want?"
"Exactly. What do you want? Think. And we girls won't say anything to anyone. Come on, just once, eh?"