Chapter 162: Money

Chapter 162: Money

Chapter 162 Gold

"Have you heard that the Changchun Palace killed several maids with a stick today?"

 “Huh? What happened?”

“It is said that someone ordered me to do something about the dragon seed in the belly of Concubine Zhen… People in the Changchun Palace are now kneeling on the ground, and the envoy hurried into the palace just to give Concubine Zhen a baby…”

In the front hall of the Medical Officer's Hospital, two medical officers were talking with each other holding bowls. Lu Zhuo walked past them. When they saw someone coming, they immersed themselves in eating and fell silent.

In addition to being on duty in the Medical Officer's Court, the medical officers of the Medical Officer's Court spend most of their time walking around among the major official families, and they also know a lot of secrets in high-level mansions.

The Concubine Zhen is very favored recently. Now that the emperor is old, there are four princes in total. Except for the prince, the third prince is the most favored. If the dragon seed in the belly of the Concubine Zhen is a boy, it is still unclear how the court situation will change in the future. .

 Changes always happen in an instant.

Lu Zhen walked around the table and chairs, went to the kitchen, picked up some leftover steamed buns and wrapped them. He left the dining room and walked to the pharmacy in the corridor behind the back.

This row of pharmacies has always been empty all year round. Since Lu Zhu came to the Medical Officer's Hospital, it has rarely been used.

Lu Zong walked along the corridor until he reached the second to last room, opened the door and walked in.

There was a medicine stove on the floor in the room, and steam was coming out. Lin Danqing was sitting in front of the medicine stove, his eyes narrowed by the smoke. Medical books and medicines were scattered all over the floor.

There were several green-shelled eggs stuffed into the gap next to the medicine stove. The eggshells were roasted until they turned slightly black, and they were squeezed under the medicine jar, like pebbles piled under the jar.

Lu Yan handed her the steamed buns in the bag, and Lin Danqing smiled: "Thank you so much, I asked you to specially bring me food."

"There are only cold steamed buns," Lu Zhuo sat down next to her, "Why don't you go to the dining room to eat them?"

Chang Jin was not allowed to eat outside the dining room, so Lu Zhen could only bring her a few steamed buns.

"I'm making medicine right now." Lin Danqing carelessly picked up a steamed bun and bit off half of it. He almost choked. He took a sip of water and swallowed it before saying, "It's not like you don't know. Of course, we doctors can't leave the hospital. A jar for decoction."

 Lu Yan was silent.

 Lin Danqing had nothing to do these days. The hospital assigned her fewer errands and she had a lot of free time. She seemed to be interested in making new medicines next door to Lu Shu.

The formerly empty pharmacy is now occupied by the two of them. The first one from the bottom belongs to Lu Zong, and the second to the last one belongs to Lin Danqing. It was like a competition between the two, with one staying up longer than the other during the night.

Lu Zhu lowered his head and put away the scattered medical books on the floor. He was slightly startled when he saw that the "Mingyi Medical Classic" in Lin Danqing's hand had opened to the section "All Poisons".

It seems that before, she also saw Lin Danqing reading at night and reading this.

 Lu Zhen looked at the medicine jar in front of Lin Danqing.

The decoction in the jar is boiling with white foam. The medicinal materials are not clearly visible, but a faintly familiar bitter aroma can be smelled, which seems to be detoxification medicinal materials.

 After a moment of silence, Lu Huan asked: "Are you making an antidote?"

"You're so awesome," Lin Danqing said with half a steamed bun in his mouth, glaring at her: "The precious medicinal materials I used were specially made to remove some of their medicinal properties. You can smell it right away?"

Lu Zhuo pointed to the "Mingyi Medical Classic" on the ground: "Didn't you turn to this page?"

 Lin Danqing: “…”

 Speechless for a moment, she said: "So you relied on guessing."

Then he put the Mingyi Medical Classic in front of him together and put it aside, looking a little melancholy: "I thought that the medical officer's hospital had a rich collection of books. Doctor Chang said that the poisons recorded in the Mingyi Medical Classic were the most comprehensive in the Liang Dynasty today. Yes, there are more than 500 kinds, but I have read this book several times and found that it is nothing more than this. There are many poisons, which are not recorded at all. It can be seen that the medical profession has a long way to go. "

 She seemed very lost.

Lu Zhen thought for a while and asked, "Isn't the poison you want to find listed here? What kind of poison do you want to cure?"

Lin Danqing’s eyes moved.

After a while, she sighed, used silver chopsticks to push aside the green-shelled egg on the medicine stove, and poked the egg shell with her chopsticks.

 “Do you know the poison in southern Xinjiang?”

 Lu Huo: “I’ve heard of it.”

 The far southern region is home to many venomous snakes, insects and ants, and there is no shortage of exotic flowers and plants. The poisons here are ferocious, and because they are far away from the Central Plains, what can be recorded in the medical books of the Liang Dynasty is only a drop in the bucket.

Lin Danqing rolled the baked eggs on the ground and tried with his hands to see if they were not so hot. He knocked the eggs on the ground and the green shells shattered all over the ground. He then peeled the eggs open a few times to reveal the white and tender eggs inside.

This is a free-range egg picked by Du Changqing himself. It is not big in size, but he said it sells better than the ones set up in Guanxiang stalls.

“Eggs are better baked than boiled,” Lin Danqing handed one to her, “Do you want it?”

 Lu Zong shook his head, and she took a bite by herself, her eyes brightening: "It smells so good!"

 Lu Zong waited for her quietly.

Lin Danqing took a bite of the baked egg and said, "I want to find an antidote to 'shooting in the eyes'."

 “Shoot in the eyes?”

Lin Danqing sighed.

She said: "You also know that the poisons in southern Xinjiang are ferocious. I have never been to southern Xinjiang, and I don't even know what the poisonous weed called 'shooting eyes' looks like. Doctor Chang was saying that there are medical books in the library of the Medical Academy. It’s the most complete one, but I haven’t found any record of ‘shooting the eyes’, and I’ve asked the hospital envoys and doctors, but I’ve never heard of the name of this poisonous weed.”

The girl smiled bitterly: "I almost doubt whether the poisonous weed 'shooting eyes' is fake at all and is just a made-up name."

She is usually carefree and carefree, but now she is a little sad. She is sitting on the ground, eating eggs one by one, and she looks a bit bitter.

Lu Zhen thought for a while and said: "'Shooting eyes', is it the poisonous weed that gradually blurs the eyes until blindness after taking it?"

 “Cough cough cough—”

Lin Danqing coughed violently.

 “You, you, you…ahem—”

Lu Zhen handed her the kettle, Lin Danqing drank half of it and looked at her in shock: "How do you know!"

 The poisons in southern Xinjiang are difficult for people from the Central Plains to encounter. Just as she has been looking for records about this herb everywhere, but she has found nothing over the years. Not only the medical official hospital, but also the highly respected and well-informed old doctors in Shengjing Medical Clinic had not heard of this poison. Lin Danqing almost gave up, but he didn't expect that Lu Zhu would say it here.

 “How, how do you know this poison?!”

When she got excited, the half egg she was holding was crushed into pieces, and she rubbed the yolk in her hand.

Lu Zong handed her the wet cloth covering the handle of the medicine jar.

 “I have seen this record in Master’s notes.”

Yun Niang's medical books are all piled up in Luomeifeng. To be precise, there are few medical books and many poison scriptures. Sometimes Lu Zhuo doesn't know where Yun Niang collected these strange poisons from, from the Central Plains to foreign races, from mountains to the sea. , some are natural poisonous weeds that grow in inaccessible places, and some are new poisons made by her hand, which are more poisonous and more cruel.

 Lu Zong has read them one by one.

During those days on the mountain, she just regretted not reading enough.

Lin Danqing grabbed Lu Yan's hand and his eyes flickered: "Sister Lu, where is your master? Can you take me to see her..."

 “The family teacher has passed away.”

“What about the manuscript? Can you lend me the manuscript to take a look at?”

Lu Xu lowered his eyes and said, "The notes were burned together with the master when he was buried."

Lin Danqing was stunned for a moment, with a look of disappointment on his face.

But soon, she cheered up again and asked Lu Yan: "Sister Lu, since you have read the Master's Notes, what is the record about the 'shooting eyes', what does it look like, and is there an antidote?"

Lu Zong shook his head: "No."

Yun Niang likes to collect poisons in the world, but she doesn’t like to detoxify them. Many of those poison sutras are poisons that have no cure. Poisons that can be easily solved are not worthy of Yun Niang recording in her notebook.

"Shooting eyes" only records its name and efficacy, but there is no antidote.

"The handwriting says that if a person takes the poison of 'shooting in the eyes', his eyes will gradually become blurred, just like the pain of being shot in the eyes with an arrow, and he will be blind in as short as three to five years, or at most as short as twenty years."

Lin Danqing was startled and murmured: "Yes, it hurts to be shot in the eye with an arrow..."

After being silent for a long time, she smiled bitterly: "It seems that there are not enough records about 'shooting the eyes'."

She picked up an egg dully and knocked it absentmindedly on the ground twice, seeming very irritable.

Lu Zhen's eyes passed over the medicine jars in the room, and he suddenly said: "What you are doing now is the antidote for 'shooting in the eyes'?"

Lin Danqing nodded, then shook his head.

“I used a lot of antidote medicine, but the effect of the medicine is very average, just like ordinary antidote medicine.”

 “It’s better to try to fight fire with fire.” Lu Huo suggested.

Lin Danqing looked at her in surprise, then flatly refused: "When I first joined the Imperial Medical Bureau, my husband said that light prescriptions are worse than heavy ones, good ones are worse than poisonous, and small ones are worse than big ones. 'Shooting eyes' is inherently poisonous. , Use poison to make poison, and the person who takes the medicine will not be able to bear it."

 The medical officers of the Medical Official Hospital have always been gentle in using medicine, and they are also afraid of accidents. Lu Zhen, who usually looks gentle and weak, actually revealed such a domineering recipe for medicine, which shocked Lin Danqing.

"Medicines have seven emotions, and those that harm each other and kill each other are the kingly ways of using medicine. The Imperial Medical Bureau only teaches students to use the same medicine according to the needs of each other. Although it is safe, there are too few options. It is better to find another way." He didn't care, and just said calmly: "Some poisons can cause poisoning when viewed alone, but if they are combined with other auxiliary drugs to wash away the toxicity, they can also be used as medicine. Some medicinal materials are inconspicuous on their own, but they are good medicines for curing diseases, but if used with When special utensils are used, or other things are introduced, good medicine can also become dangerous..." At this point, Lu Zhuo suddenly stopped talking. He didn't know what he thought of, and his expression was a little startled.

Lin Danqing didn't notice anything strange about her, and seemed to be affected by her words. He lowered his head and pondered quietly, saying nothing for a while.

 After a moment, Lu Yan stood up and said, "I've delivered the steamed buns. If there's nothing else, I'll go out first."

Lin Danqing came back to his senses and looked up at her: "Aren't you going to make medicine?"

Today is not the day to treat Jin Xianrong. When he has nothing to do, Lu Zhuo will stay in the pharmacy, looking through medical books, making new medicines and so on - Jin Xianrong's dressings have been changed several times.

  “I won’t do it anymore.”

 After a pause, Lu Zhuo said: "I'm going to the Palace Commander's Mansion. Today I'm supposed to treat the camp guards."

 …

 The Commandery's Mansion in Jingyingdian was very lively today.

When the young guards heard Lu Zhuo's name, they came out from everywhere. Some of them were training in the martial arts field. They didn't even bother to change out of their sweat-soaked clothes, and shot like arrows into the hall of the palace commander's mansion, holding his arms. He put on his sleeves to show off his strong arms intentionally or unintentionally: "Medical Officer Lu is here!"

The five hundred ducks in the Palace Commander's Mansion began to make a noise again.

Chi Jian stood on the sidelines and watched with cold eyes.

He didn't understand why Lu Zhuo was favored by so many guards in the Palace Commander's Mansion. It was obvious that the girls who had come to Dian Shuai's house were warm, generous, gentle and bright, but Lu Yan was always cold, and it was his cold face that won the most hearts in Dian Shuai's house.

 And my own master…

I heard from Qingfeng that Pei Yunying pushed a mountain of official documents and spent a whole day accompanying Lu Shun out of the city to visit the tea gardens. As a result, he was busy processing official documents until midnight that night.

Chi Jian glanced at the female medical officer who was surrounded by everyone, and felt confused.

 Could it be that Lu Zhen had poisoned these colleagues?

I heard that women from southern Xinjiang are good at using the love charm. When they see a beautiful man from the Central Plains, they will secretly cast the charm and trick him into coming over, wholeheartedly. If he doesn't obey, his life will be worse than death and he will be tortured every day.

Gu bugs are really scary.

 He shuddered and left in a hurry.

Lu Zhen didn't know that Chi Jian was slandering in his heart, and he was speechless when surrounded by the crowd.

Going to the Palace Commander's Mansion for medical treatment was just a reason. Who would have thought that so many guards in the Palace Commander's Mansion would come to see her for medical treatment. One by one, the arrogant and full-blooded men pointed at the scratches the size of fingernails on their arms and asked her to see a doctor, and their tone was particularly aggrieved.

 She was also confused.

Everyone says that the guards in the palace of the Jingying Palace are selected based on their appearance and figure, but could it be that they are only based on appearance and figure? With such a fragile body, the stability of Shengjing is really guaranteed?

If all the guards in the Grand Master's Mansion were so delicate, maybe she wouldn't have to use poison and could go on a killing spree in the Grand Master's Mansion on her own.

Thinking like this, the movements of my hands became much faster.

It wasn't until the setting sun gradually set and Pei Yun came over to drive people away that the group of guards reluctantly dispersed.

Pei Yunying stood at the door and smiled at Lu Zhu. Lu Zhu stood up, packed the medical box, and followed the man into the house.

It's still the room where official documents are processed. On the long red sandalwood polka-lacquered desk next to the window, there is a thick pile of official documents. The purple hair pen tip hanging on the official kiln pen mountain is moistened, and there is an inkstone and inkstone next to it. It seems that the person sitting here was writing furiously just now.

 He looks very busy.

 The young man pointed to the rosewood chair, and Lu Zhu sat down on the chair.

Pei Yunying also sat down opposite.

 He asked with a smile: "Why did you come suddenly?"

 Today is not a clinic day.

Lu Zhen took out a letter from his sleeve and pushed it over.

Pei Yunying glanced at it.

The familiar envelope was the letter he sent to Lu Zhen before parting after visiting the tea garden that day.

 The letter containing the "prescription".

He reached for the letter and did not open it in a hurry. He only raised his eyebrows and looked at Lu Chen: "Have you read it, Doctor Lu?"

"yes."

"has a problem?"

"have."

 There was silence in the room for a moment.

He lowered his eyebrows and thought for a while. When he raised his head again, he was still smiling, but his eyes suddenly turned cold and asked, "What's the problem?"

Lu Yan's voice was calm: "They are all tonics. The prescriptions are very subtle. At first glance, they seem to warm and nourish the body. But if they are mixed with something, the tonics turn into poison. Although they are not immediately fatal, over time, the body will gradually weaken. Finally, Died of heart failure.”

Pei Yunying stared at her: "What?"

"gold."

 He was startled: "Gold?"

“Gold chips are poisonous and can cure epilepsy and loss of will, soothe the mind and soothe the soul. Generally, a small amount can be added to pills for cough, typhoid fever, lung damage, vomiting blood, lung disease, and extreme exertion and thirst.”

 After a pause, Lu Xu continued: "But if the prescription given to me by Mr. Pei is mixed with gold dust, the consequences will be endless."

 He was silent, seemingly deep in thought.

Lu Zhen continued: "The medicinal materials used in this prescription are expensive, and the family of the person who uses the medicine must be wealthy. If the medicine is filled in a golden bowl..."

Pei Yunying's complexion changed slightly.

If it is served in a gold bowl, there is no need to add gold shavings. The tonic will become highly toxic on its own, and no one will notice it for many years. Just because the prescription and medicinal materials are harmless, the golden bowl is also harmless. However, the collision of the two creates a dangerous situation that is difficult to describe.

 It is both secretive and clever.

Lu Yan lowered his eyes, feeling uneasy in his heart.

After Pei Yunying gave her the prescription, she studied the prescription carefully these days, but after reading it many times, she couldn't find anything wrong. She didn't think that Pei Yunying would give her a common prescription for no reason. She studied it for a long time and couldn't figure it out. Until today, when she was talking to Lin Danqing, she talked about the conflicting properties of the medicines, and suddenly figured out the key to the matter.

If gold shavings are mixed into medicine, it will be too obvious and can be seen through at a glance. But if it is served in a gold bowl, although the effect is not as fast as the gold chips, it will still kill people if it goes on for many years.

She didn't know who made Pei Yunying's prescriptions or who prepared them. However, it was common for wealthy households who could afford such expensive medicinal materials to use luxurious cups and utensils.

 As for the golden bowl…

This material is expensive and ordinary people cannot afford it. Those who have this kind of wealth must be either rich or noble.

Just when I thought of this, Pei Yunying's voice came to my ears: "Doctor Lu really has superb medical skills."

 Lu Zong looked at him.

He put the letter away with an expression of indifference, making it difficult for anyone to get a clue.

 “Thank you.”

"No need," said Lu Huan, "Master Pei told me about the Huamei case, and I tested the prescription for Master Pei. This is the transaction condition agreed upon at the beginning, and it is very fair."

Pei Yunying smiled and said, "It's Dr. Lu's usual style."

 Always keep a clear distinction between public and private affairs. For fear of owing favors to others or being owed favors by others, one must make the distinction clearly and clearly, as if one must break off the business once and for all and never have any contact with him again.

He glanced out the window. The sun was setting in the west. The golden and red rays of light passed through the branches in the courtyard and were reflected on the window. He could see half of the sunset in the distance.

"It's getting late," Pei Yunying looked away, stood up and picked up the medical kit for her, "Let's go, I'll take you out."

 Lu Huo nodded.

When we left the house, there were not many people in the Palace Commander's Mansion. It was in the evening, and all the guards had gone to the dining hall to eat. The guards at the Palace Commander's Mansion were more ruthless in grabbing food than at the Medical Officer's Hospital. They arrived late and didn't even have the leftover steamed buns to eat.

The setting sun dyes the plantains in the courtyard of Dian Shuai Mansion a layer of smoked red, and when people walk among them, the glow also gives them a layer of furry warmth. In the distance, there are late spring swallows circling the trees, and there is a gentle tranquility in the dusk.

Lu Zhen saw that the wooden shed under the flower vines was empty, with some cotton cloth piled randomly inside, and an empty bowl filled with water.

That is…

As if he knew her doubts, Pei Yunying suddenly said: "After you came, I asked Duan Xiaoyan to take Gardenia to the martial arts field."

 Lu Zhuo was startled.

 He said: "Don't be afraid, Doctor Lu."

 (End of this chapter)