Zhang Yushu processed Huang Youwei's withdrawal from the academy.
For this, he felt deeply pained.
Although Huang Youwei was quite dull and even feared dissecting corpses, Zhang Yushu still regarded him as his student, teaching him earnestly. While he often called him foolish, he had never once considered abandoning him.
However, since Huang Youwei was leaving to serve Her Highness the Princess, Zhang Yushu did not try to dissuade him. Instead, he said, "For Her Highness the Princess, you must succeed in your task."
His tone almost implied that Huang Youwei's life was of little consequence, but the Princess's affairs must be accomplished.
Huang Youwei: "…"
He shouldered his baggage and left, carrying none of Zhang Yushu's expectations with him.
Zhang Yushu also left the teaching building shortly after. Taking advantage of having no classes that day, he headed to the cafeteria early.
The meat served daily at the medical academy was always rabbit.
But no matter how delicious rabbit meat was, one could grow tired of it.
Carrying a rice bowl, Zhang Yushu walked toward the cafeteria, thinking of suggesting to the kitchen staff that they add some pork to the menu. Last time, the roasted meat slices with cumin and chili that Her Highness the Princess had treated him to were truly fragrant—
However, he kept these thoughts to himself, because even rabbit meat was now scarce. If he didn’t rely on his teaching duties to dismiss class early and rush to the cafeteria ahead of the students, he wouldn’t get any.
Sure enough, as soon as he entered the cafeteria, he saw it was packed with people.
Zhang Yushu took a deep breath. Classes hadn’t even ended yet—he had come early specifically to avoid the crowd. How could there still be so many people? These auditors were truly shameless!
Her Highness the Princess had taught the chefs cooking methods so that the instructors and students of the medical academy could eat well and be satisfied after their studies, not for these auditors who had barged in halfway!
Indeed, less than half a month after the medical academy opened, many auditors had appeared.
This was all because of the textbooks Her Highness the Princess had distributed a few days earlier, or perhaps because after he and Imperial Physician Yu had collaborated to treat a young girl a few days ago, the reputation of the medical academy had spread far and wide, attracting widespread attention and causing this aftermath.
Initially, a group of physicians had been manipulated to cause trouble at the medical academy.
Yes, trouble. Many of the secret formulas used for teaching were claimed to be the exclusive heritage of other families. Yet these secrets had been written into textbooks by Her Highness the Princess and made available for anyone to learn.
Thus, dozens of families banded together and gathered at the entrance of the medical academy. Although they dared not resort to violence or extreme actions, when Her Highness the Princess happened to visit, they blocked her at the gate.
In Zhang Yushu’s mind, this was nothing short of a riot.
Fortunately, the situation was quickly quelled by Her Highness the Princess.
Because they had no grounds for their claims!
What theft of their ancestral secret formulas—how shameless! The books written by Her Highness the Princess were the true secret formulas, the most correct knowledge passed down by the ancestors.
For example, the Hu family of Ping’an Lane specialized in pediatric diseases. Among the books distributed by the Princess was one titled Specialized Compilation of Pediatric Diseases, which detailed multiple treatments for childhood fevers alone.
The Hu family physician possessed only one of these formulas, but Her Highness the Princess pointed out that compared to the formulas in the book, the Hu family’s prescription was missing one ingredient, making its efficacy much weaker. She even had the medicine prepared and asked Imperial Physician Yu to verify this fact in person.
Zhang Yushu, unable to contain his indignation, muttered among the crowd, "Who knows if the Wu family's prescription was also learned from the medical formulas Her Highness knows? They just didn't master it completely."
His words carried a sarcastic tone. Physician Hu, flushed with shame and anger, looked up to reprimand the speaker, only to see Her Highness smiling gently. "However, Physician Hu, if you turn to page thirteen of the book, you'll find another prescription modified from this formula. You can memorize it and study it carefully when you return."
Physician Hu: "…"
He flipped to that page and saw: Xiao Chai Hu Granules.
Physician Hu had arrived in anger but left clutching the textbook (snatched away), both weeping and laughing—weeping because his family's secret formula was now exposed, laughing because it could be improved in such a way.
Not to mention other textbooks like the Shennong Medical Classic and Compendium of Materia Medica.
After the visitors had left, Her Highness stood at the doorway and addressed the uninvited guests: "Gentlemen, I established this medical academy with the sole intention of reviving long-lost medical knowledge. The techniques in these books are also open for you to learn. Once you've studied them, you'll understand whether the knowledge in these books truly belongs to your families."
Zhang Yushu felt deeply distressed for Her Highness. She had founded the medical academy for the sake of preserving medical knowledge and benefiting physicians across the land, yet these people had come to cause trouble without understanding the truth.
Ah, but Her Highness was too kind-hearted. Despite their despicable behavior, she allowed them to audit classes, issued them auditor passes, and even permitted them to eat rabbit meat in the cafeteria!
How infuriating!
However, these were matters for the pharmacology classes, which differed from his surgery class.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yushu sighed. Out of the four classes, three were pharmacology classes, and only one was a surgery class. At first, it was understandable—people were unfamiliar with surgery and hesitant to enroll. But now that surgery had been proven reliable, why were there still no transfers to his class?
Fortunately, Her Highness placed great importance on the surgery class. She had personally visited several times to offer encouragement and even remarked while looking at his head, "It would be wonderful to have a few more like him."
This was Her Highness's special regard for him! She remembered him personally!
How proud he felt!
These rabbits were proof of his surgery class's daily research into the miraculous medicines Her Highness had mentioned, a token of their gratitude for her kindness.
Lost in thought, Zhang Yushu accidentally bumped into someone. Looking up, he saw it was Physician Hu.
He remarked sarcastically, "Physician Hu, do you have time to audit classes today?"
Physician Hu, rushing to attend the afternoon class, failed to notice the sarcasm in Zhang Yushu's tone. "Ah, it's Mr. Zhang. I'm not on duty today, so I came specifically for Imperial Physician Yu's afternoon class."
The afternoon class was about pharmaceutical preparation, featuring Imperial Physician Yu's newly improved syringe. Imperial Physician Yu had even promised to teach how to make such syringes during the lesson, so Physician Hu naturally wanted to arrive early.
Nowadays, Imperial Physician Yu's classes were in such high demand that they were difficult to secure.
However, no matter how rushed he was, Physician Hu felt compelled to exchange a few words with this young Mr. Zhang. After all, Mr. Zhang had mastered the human meridian charts, understood the pathways of tendons and vessels, knew the number of bones in the body, and could classify blood types.
Ah, in the future, when learning about injections, he would have to seek guidance from Mr. Zhang.
Hurrying away, Physician Hu left Zhang Yushu snorting coldly. Just as Zhang Yushu was about to head to the serving window, his eyes suddenly lit up as he spotted a familiar figure at the entrance.
Her Highness, the Fourth Princess!
Why has Your Highness come? I heard you've been busy lately preparing textbooks for the Barefoot Doctors, mobilizing many scholars from the Hanlin Academy, working day and night without rest, and have already fallen ill from exhaustion.
He hurried over, "Your Highness, are you feeling better now?"
Zhe Qing smiled, "Ah, it's Mr. Zhang."
Zhang Yushu's face flushed red. Every time Her Highness called him "Mr. Zhang," he felt a sense of shame. He had failed to live up to the princess's teachings—there was still much in the "Specialized Compilation of Surgical Procedures" she had given him that he hadn't fully grasped.
As usual, Her Highness offered a few words of encouragement, some uplifting remarks, and then turned her eager gaze to the left.
Zhang Yushu grew alert and glanced over, then sighed in relief: Oh, it's Imperial Physician Yu.
He had been so focused on watching Her Highness that he hadn't noticed when Imperial Physician Yu arrived.
Zhe Qing had come in such a hurry because she had received a letter from Imperial Physician Yu that morning. In the letter, Imperial Physician Yu first mentioned having important matters to discuss with the princess but, due to being too busy with classes and drug research, feared he couldn't personally visit the palace to see her. He then suggested that since his time couldn't be wasted, the princess should come to him instead.
While she was reading the letter, Emperor Yu was by her side. After finishing it, he laughed and said, "What's going on with this Imperial Physician Yu? He used to speak with some decorum, but now he's become so arrogant."
But Zhe Qing thought it was wonderful.
"If he still had time to come to the palace, I'd have to give him even more work to do," she said.
She loved people who were constantly busy like this.
Then she felt deeply ashamed: After only three years in this ancient era, she had already become a proper slave driver.
So she hurried over. Imperial Physician Yu was chewing on a rabbit head when she arrived. He quickly stood up to bow and said apologetically, "Your Highness, you came so quickly."
He hadn't even finished his meal yet.
Zhe Qing smiled, "It's no trouble."
But Imperial Physician Yu refused to continue eating. He led the Fourth Princess to the teachers' office for a detailed discussion.
As soon as they left, the cafeteria erupted in chatter. Ears that had been perked up earlier now strained even harder, as if trying to listen all the way into the office.
"There's probably another major move coming."
"Indeed, but with the Fourth Princess involved, it's sure to be something beneficial for the country and the people."
"Yes, yes, the Fourth Princess is the kindest of all."
Imperial Physician Yu had developed fertilizer.
Fertilizer wasn't strictly necessary, but it was highly important. Originally, Xuesheng was supposed to research it, but he was still working on steel, so the fertilizer project had been temporarily shelved. A few days ago, while drinking at a tavern with Imperial Physician Yu and Zhang Yushu, Zhe Qing mentioned it in passing, and Imperial Physician Yu took it to heart.
He discovered it entirely by accident.
The dregs from the pharmacology class were usually discarded after brewing medicine, and no one paid them any mind. Moreover, in Yu Guo, medicinal dregs were supposed to be dumped into the nearest river. Common folk believed the dregs were inauspicious, and such unlucky things naturally had to be washed away elsewhere.
Thus, no one kept the medicinal dregs. Imperial Physician Yu, who had been researching new drugs lately, had accumulated quite a pile of them. He had also instructed his apprentice to dispose of them, but the servant grew lazy and piled them all under the flowerpots in the garden. One day, while passing through the garden, Imperial Physician Yu caught a whiff of the medicinal scent and discovered them.
The truth came to light, and the servant was dismissed. However, Imperial Physician Yu also noticed something unusual.
The flowers in this place grew better than elsewhere. However, by this time, he still hadn't extracted any useful substances, but this old man was quite cunning—he borrowed a chemistry book from Xuesheng to read.
And he actually understood it.
He managed to produce fertilizer.
So he immediately wrote a letter to Her Highness the Princess, inviting her over to show off his achievement—after all, with so many talented individuals emerging around Her Highness lately, the old man felt a bit neglected not being visited by her for so long.
His beard twitched as he said, "I just wanted to give it a try casually, but who knew it would succeed?"
Zhe Qing: "…"
She thought that if Imperial Physician Yu had a tail, it would have been wagging long ago.
How could someone so old still be so competitive? This was interdisciplinary research, after all. She could foresee that when Xuesheng found out about this, he would be so angry he couldn't sleep.
But it was good that the fertilizer was ready. It could be sent to Yun Zhou for testing. While industrial infrastructure was being heavily developed there, agriculture couldn't be neglected either.