“It’s because he’s eaten too much Guanyin Clay, and his body can’t digest it,” Old Master Shi explained. “His stomach has become so bloated that he’s struggling to breathe. If this continues, he’ll suffocate.”
“But… I ate it too. Why am I fine?” the old woman asked.
“How old are you? And how old is he?” Old Master Shi snapped. “Go ahead and eat it for a few more days. By then, you won’t be much better off than he is.”
“Doctor! Please, save my grandson!” The old woman dropped to her knees, sobbing. “If he dies, I won’t be able to go on living either. I… I don’t want your grain anymore. You can stay here for free. I only beg you to save him.”
“Please, get up.” Old Master Shi sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to save him. Under normal circumstances, I could. But right now… I’m afraid I can’t.”
“Why, Grandpa?” Shi Yu asked.
“Doctor, please have mercy…” the old woman cried. “I’m begging you…”
“Oh, please stand up.” Old Master Shi hurried to explain. “It’s not that I won’t save him. We’re out here in the middle of nowhere. I simply can’t get the medicine I need.”
“Waaah… Heaven, have mercy… please…” the old woman wailed helplessly.
“What medicine do you need?” Chen Yuan asked. “I bought some medicinal herbs earlier. I’m not sure whether I have what you’re looking for.”
“Do you have baizhu, sharen, fuling, muxiang, zhishi, dried tangerine peel, banxia, xiangfu, and licorice root?” Old Master Shi asked.
“I’ll go take a look.”
With that, Chen Yuan left the room.
After returning to hers, she secured the doors and windows before entering her Storage Space.
She went straight to the Alchemy Room and began searching through the shelves one herb at a time.
Then she froze.
Wait… what am I looking at?
Great Strength Pills!
Truth Pills!
Loyalty Pills!
…
After gathering all the medicinal herbs Old Master Shi had requested, she hurried back and handed them over.
Once the prescription had been prepared, Old Master Shi called out, “Yu’er… Grandmother, boil this medicine. Use three bowls of water and reduce it to one. I’ll perform acupuncture in the meantime.”
“I’ll do it,” Chen Yuan said. “Auntie, you stay here with the child.”
She picked up the herbs and headed for the kitchen.
It wasn’t that she was particularly eager to help.
She had seen the water in the kitchen’s storage jar—it was murky.
If she hadn’t noticed it, that would have been one thing. But now that she had, she simply couldn’t bring herself to ignore it.
If she weren’t worried about exposing her Storage Space, she would have replaced the entire jar with clean river water.
After Xiaobao received the acupuncture treatment and drank the medicine, the color in his face improved noticeably.
“He’s all right now,” Old Master Shi said. “He should wake up around morning. This ordeal has injured his stomach and spleen somewhat. From now on, don’t feed him anything difficult to digest. Let him drink plenty of millet porridge to help his stomach recover.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” the old woman said gratefully. Then she burst into tears again. “But these days we can’t even get enough to eat. Where am I supposed to find millet?”
Chen Yuan exchanged a glance with Old Master Shi.
Neither of them spoke, but they both understood exactly what the other was thinking.
It was already well past midnight, and dawn was only a few hours away.
Chen Yuan decided not to bother going back to sleep.
Instead, she took the opportunity to inspect those mysterious pills she had discovered.
Good heavens…
All this time, so many treasures had been sitting right under my nose, and I’d never even noticed them.
Thank goodness they hadn’t been lost.
The medicine cabinet didn’t contain a single ordinary medicinal pill.
Instead, it was filled with all sorts of bizarre concoctions.
There was even something called a Stinky Fart Pill.
The description claimed that after swallowing one, a person would spend an entire day passing unbearably foul-smelling gas.
Chen Yuan stared at it in silence.
…What?
A huge question mark practically appeared over her head.
She genuinely couldn’t understand why her ancestors had ever bothered inventing something like that.
The Heart-Itching Pill made its user itch unbearably from head to toe within an hour of taking it. The itching became so intense that they couldn’t stop scratching themselves until their skin split open and bled.
Just reading the description made goosebumps rise on Chen Yuan’s arms.
What in the world would a Cultivator need something like this for?
Next came the Zombie Pill.
Whoa… now this one is impressive.
After taking it, a person’s face would turn pitch black for an entire day. They would be unable to speak, their body would become stiff and immobile, and the only way they could move would be by hopping around.
“…”
Our ancestor certainly had… unusual tastes.
The Great Strength Pill…
She skipped that one.
She didn’t need it.
The Truth Pill caused anyone who took it to answer every question truthfully for the next hour.
Hmm. This one’s actually pretty useful.
Then there was the Loyalty Pill.
Mixed with a drop of the person administering it, the recipient would remain loyal to that person for the rest of their life. Should they ever betray their master, their body would explode on the spot.
This one deserves special attention, Chen Yuan thought.
Once I have servants in the future, this will come in handy.
In truth, the pill she wanted most was something like a Death Pill—one that would make someone “kick the bucket.” Unfortunately, no matter how thoroughly she searched, she couldn’t find anything of the sort.
Dear Ancestor…
Just what were you researching all day?
Couldn’t you have made more medicines for healing illnesses or extending life instead? Then I could’ve been a miracle doctor for once.
The next morning, Xiaobao woke up.
He still looked rather weak, but at least he was awake.
After feeding Niuniu until she was full, the three of them left in their carriage without eating breakfast.
Before leaving, Chen Yuan quietly left behind five jin of millet, five jin of rice, and five jin of white flour in the room where she had stayed.
It was the only help she could offer.
She had assumed that the Shi grandfather and grandson had skipped breakfast because they had also seen the murky water in the kitchen.
Only after asking did she learn the real reason.
To quote Shi Yu exactly:
“Brother Chen, I felt so sorry for that grandma and Xiaobao. If we ate breakfast, Xiaobao would have one less meal to eat. If I go hungry for one meal, Xiaobao gets one extra meal. If all three of us skip a meal, then Xiaobao gets three more meals. That way, he’ll recover faster.”
Chen Yuan fell silent.
All right…
I was the narrow-minded one.
But still…
Young man!
You’re the pampered young master of a prominent family. Is it really okay to be this innocent and kind?
“Old Master,” Chen Yuan said with a smile, “I never expected you to be such a miracle doctor.”
“What miracle doctor?” the old man replied modestly. “I merely know a little medicine.”
“But I’ve heard that quite a few people who eat Guanyin Clay end up dying from severe abdominal swelling. This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone actually saved.”
“It was simply good timing.” The old man waved his hand. “If we’d arrived even fifteen minutes later, he couldn’t have been saved. And fortunately, you happened to have the medicinal herbs I needed. Otherwise, even the best cook can’t prepare a meal without rice.”
Chatting as they traveled, they arrived at Pingyang County around noon.
“Let’s stay in the county today,” Old Master Shi suggested, looking toward Chen Yuan. “If we keep traveling now, we won’t find anywhere to spend the night. We might as well rest for the afternoon and replenish our supplies.”
“Sounds good,” Chen Yuan agreed.
After settling into an inn, Chen Yuan carried Niuniu into town to browse the streets.
Eventually, she found a blacksmith’s shop.
“Master,” she asked, taking out one of the bolts used in her sleeve crossbow, “can you forge arrows like this?”
The blacksmith was hammering away at a piece of iron. He glanced up briefly before replying, “Yes, but I can’t make them quite this finely crafted.”
“From now until tomorrow morning, how many can you make? Could you finish fifty?”
Only then did the blacksmith take a proper look at Chen Yuan.
“That depends on how much you’re willing to pay.”
“What price do you think is fair?”
The blacksmith held up a single finger.
“One hundred taels?” Chen Yuan guessed.
“That’s right. This is precision work, and you need them in a hurry. My brothers and I won’t get a wink of sleep tonight.”
Forget a hundred taels—even a thousand wouldn’t be a problem for Chen Yuan.
Still, one hundred taels felt rather expensive.
Judging by modern purchasing power, a hundred taels of silver was roughly equivalent to seventy thousand yuan.
Seventy thousand yuan…
For fifty arrows?
But after giving it more thought, she decided the price wasn’t unreasonable.
Iron was far more scarce and expensive in ancient times than in the modern world. Everything was handcrafted, and she was asking for an overnight rush order.
Forget it.
The math is giving me a headache.
One hundred taels it is.
Seeing that Chen Yuan had remained silent for so long, the blacksmith asked impatiently,
“So? Do you want them forged or not?”