Is this some kind of old acquaintance reunion lately?

First Wang Qingchun, then Concubine Zhou.

Or perhaps it’s the great comeback of old enemies?

These people who had left in disgrace—how have they all returned looking so prosperous?

Wang Qingchun wore official robes, and now Concubine Zhou was also dressed luxuriously. If one didn’t look carefully, they might think the marchioness of Marquis Dingxi’s manor was out touring.

“Yueniang,” Concubine Zhou walked over slowly, her eyes actually shimmering with tears, her expression sorrowful and pitying, as if she were seeing lost flesh and blood again.

This was really…

Too disgusting…

Qi Yue got goosebumps all over. She looked away, said nothing, and walked off.

“Yueniang!” Concubine Zhou called out several times behind her, but Qi Yue left her far behind.

Liu Pucheng was more skilled with bone injuries, so Qi Yue wasn’t busy treating this patient. When Liu Pucheng was in charge of the ward, she took over the outpatient clinic. Qianjin Hall was busy but orderly.

She put the matter of Concubine Zhou behind her—what did it have to do with her? She didn’t believe Concubine Zhou would dare leave the Marquis Dingxi manor to harm her! But this woman was formidable, actually managing to make a comeback. This showed that men were unreliable.

Qi Yue shook her head and sighed, then smiled again. Madam Xie’s days were probably not going well, but that had nothing to do with her. Whether life was good or bad, one lived it oneself.

Over the next few days, the various bottles and jars Qi Yue had Hu San make were gradually completed.

“I still think this is somewhat absurd,” Qi Yue smiled, touching her ear. “How could this be possible?”

“Why couldn’t it be possible?” Liu Pucheng asked, puzzled.

Qi Yue just smiled—she couldn’t really explain it.

“This medicine is called penicillin,” she thought for a moment and said. “It’s extracted from penicillium mold. I told you before that various bacteria cause our illnesses. These bacteria aren’t all bad—they also inhibit each other. So medicine, to some extent, is also bacteria.”

“That’s the principle of mutual generation and restraint, fighting poison with poison,” Zhang Tong said.

Qi Yue nodded.

“Penicillin is very powerful. It’s a bacterium that can kill bacteria—that is, it can prevent pathogenic bacteria from surviving. Naturally, it won’t harm the human body either, thus achieving therapeutic effects. The effects are very obvious—obvious to what extent?” She looked at everyone and raised her finger. “For that wet nurse’s septicemia last time, injecting it into the human body could completely control the condition within one or two hours. For diseases like gonorrhea, syphilis, plague, pneumonia, puerperal fever, and so on, it could easily cure them all.”

However, when these diseases were mentioned, everyone didn’t show the shock Qi Yue had imagined.

“What’s gonorrhea?” Liu Pucheng asked. “Syphilis? Plague? Is that the rat disease? Puerperal…”

“Alright, alright,” Qi Yue raised her hand to stop him.

She knew some diseases came from foreign countries, so perhaps no one knew about them yet.

If she had to explain these diseases, it would probably take half a day.

“In any case, it’s very, very powerful. It was once called ‘life-saving gold,'” she said concisely.

Liu Pucheng and the others all showed excited expressions.

“However, that’s under the condition of effective extraction,” Qi Yue spread her hands again. “For now, everyone shouldn’t get their hopes up.”

“But it was extracted by people, wasn’t it?” Liu Pucheng said with a smile.

Qi Yue rolled her eyes.

That’s right, but among all the people in this world, it was ultimately only researched by those few.

She, Qi Yue, was no physicist or biologist…

But she was standing on the shoulders of many predecessors.

Perhaps…

“Well then, let’s work hard. If we can really obtain this medicine, then we’ll…” Qi Yue clenched her fist, “we’ll have created history…”

Everyone was happy, but still not as excited as Qi Yue had imagined.

“What does ‘creating history’ mean?” Hu San asked studiously.

“Nothing,” Qi Yue said dejectedly.

The bottles and jars were quickly completed. Because there was precedent for extracting injection solutions, these things weren’t difficult to make. Even the culture medium was ready-made.

Qi Yue didn’t treat this as something to be realized immediately. For now, she preferred to rely on traditional Chinese medicine injections.

“Initially, this medicine took a full ten years from discovery to finding high-purity extraction,” Qi Yue murmured. “If I could produce an effective injection within a year, that would be tremendously lucky.”

Since it was a long-term plan, they decided to build a laboratory. To obtain enough mold, and because there would be bacterial experiments, it had to be far from the prefectural city. When Wang Tongye came to Qianjin Hall for treatment and heard the disciples’ discussion, he enthusiastically offered his suburban rural residence.

“Doesn’t Lady need melons?” he invited with a smile. “Our family has a melon garden, not just melons, but also an orchard with plums, oranges…”

Qi Yue was already tempted hearing this. She personally went to see it and confirmed that Wang Tongye’s family didn’t normally live there—it was just a plantation where the steward and servants stayed during harvest season. The distance was moderate, wouldn’t affect others’ normal lives, and resources were abundant. It was simply perfect.

Qi Yue paid rent to lease the Wang family’s manor. After some renovation, she simply moved the traditional Chinese medicine injection laboratory there too.

“Consider it Qianjin Hall’s pharmaceutical factory,” she said with a smile.

Baskets of melons and green oranges were brought in, and Qi Yue personally supervised their placement.

“Stack them in ways that will rot and mold quickly,” she directed.

“All of these can be made into medicine?” Wang Qian’s voice came from behind.

Qi Yue turned around, first seeing Wang Qian, then seeing a little head quickly ducking behind Wang Qian.

“Hey, hey,” she hurried over. “Little troublemakers can’t come here. This isn’t for playing.”

Wang Qiao’er poked her head out from behind her father, glaring angrily at Qi Yue.

Though she didn’t know what “little troublemaker” meant, she knew it wasn’t anything good.

“There are bacteria here. If you have wounds on your body and accidentally get infected, it would be terrible,” Qi Yue said seriously. “At worst, you’d die; at best, you’d have an arm or leg sawed off.”

These words frightened Wang Qiao’er until her face turned pale, and she turned and ran.

Wang Qian was also somewhat surprised.

“Isn’t Lady doing something very dangerous then?” he asked with some concern.

“Being a doctor is like being a soldier—both are marching and fighting, so naturally there’s danger,” Qi Yue smiled.

Wang Qian looked at her smile and shook his head.

“The body, hair, and skin are received from parents—one should be more cautious,” he said.

“Father!” Wang Qiao’er called from a distance, obviously unhappy that her father wasn’t following her.

“I came back this time and heard Lady was here, so I specially came to see,” Wang Qian ignored her and continued. “Since I’m here, I must fulfill my duty as host. I’ve prepared some modest wine, hoping Lady will accept it.”

Qi Yue smiled.

“However, I seem to have rented this place. So now, the one who should fulfill the duty of host should be me,” she said.

Wang Qian smiled and gestured.

“It’s better to obey than to be polite,” he said with a bow.

Qi Yue shook her head and smiled, looking at him with some scrutiny. Wang Tongye’s marriage proposal was later said to be for appearances and not real, but wasn’t this Wang Qian being a bit too…

“Master Wang, aren’t you busy with official duties? Don’t you officials from other places not get to go home except for holidays?” she said, taking the lead.

“I came back precisely for official business,” Wang Qian said, taking out a paper from his sleeve. “Thanks to Lady’s generous gift last time, after implementing it in my jurisdiction, everyone compiled some questions. They originally wanted to ask Lady personally, but I was afraid of disturbing you, so I organized and brought them back myself.”

Qi Yue was amazed and excited. She couldn’t care about being self-absorbed anymore.

“Really?” she asked happily.

With the joy of a child receiving praise.

Wang Qian smiled slightly and handed over the paper.

“Of course it’s real. Lady’s sincere intentions—how could everyone not see them?” he said.

Qi Yue smiled with squinted eyes, rarely blushing.

“This, this… it’s nothing much, nothing much. You’re too kind,” she smiled, so happy she didn’t know what to do with herself.

These matters had been coldly received in Yongqing Prefecture and even aroused hostility. Though Qi Yue didn’t say it, she was quite hurt inside. She hadn’t expected that when one door closes, another opens—Wang Qian had helped her implement them.

“Really, thank you,” she smiled and bowed to Wang Qian, sincerely. “You’ve worked hard.”

“As long as Lady is happy, that’s enough,” Wang Qian didn’t be polite but said directly.

Qi Yue looked at him with some wariness and scrutiny.

“Consider it compensation for my daughter damaging Lady’s precious item,” Wang Qian immediately smiled. “I’ve also settled a debt of the heart.”

Qi Yue immediately became joyful.

“Oh, your sincerity is really so genuine,” she laughed heartily, looking around and pretending to be careful while winking. “Much more skillful than your grandfather’s compensation.”

Wang Qian smiled without speaking.

A gentleman never talks about elders behind their backs.

Qi Yue praised him several times.

“This isn’t urgent. I’ll look at it later. Now I want to personally make a sincere meal for you,” she said, glancing at Wang Qiao’er who was glaring at her menacingly from not far away. “Of course, including this little troublemaker.”

Wherever there was Qianjin Hall, there was good food. This pharmaceutical factory was naturally no exception.

Soon by the pond outside the manor, Qi Yue had set up a barbecue rack and laid out ground mats. Wang Qian sat on the ground while Wang Qiao’er stood under a tree not far away.

“Father, I want to go home!” she shouted loudly.

Wang Qian ignored her and accepted a skewer of grilled meat from Qi Yue.

“Lemon juice grilled meat,” Qi Yue smiled. Because of the busy work, fine sweat appeared on her nose, glistening healthily in the dappled sunlight. After speaking, she grinned, “Actually it’s green orange juice. The taste is quite good.”

Wang Qian smiled and took a bite, nodding.

“Hey, is that child afraid to eat?” Qi Yue called out to Wang Qiao’er.

Wang Qiao’er came over, grabbed a grilled meat skewer from the plate, and ate it. After swallowing, her eyes lit up, but she quickly turned away and snorted.

“Don’t say you have a stomachache when you go back—no one will believe it. Things made by doctors only kill bacteria, they don’t cause illness,” Qi Yue smiled.

Wang Qiao’er, her little scheme exposed, snorted again without looking at her.

Wang Qian looked up and smiled at Qi Yue, who smiled back.

“Lady,” A’Ru’s voice came from the side.

A’Ru came? Qi Yue looked over happily.

“A’Ru, you came at the perfect time. Come join us…” she said with a smile, following the voice with her eyes. Then her words got stuck and she froze.

My goodness, was she seeing things?

Chang Yuncheng stood quietly beside A’Ru, looking over.