The Li siblings followed Er Shi into the Shi residence.

As an outsider, Zhen Niang couldn’t enter the birthing chamber. She handed the Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping Ink to Second Master Shi, along with a note detailing the medicine’s ingredients to help Physician Yao better utilize it.

The siblings were then led to a side hall to wait.

“Sister, will that ink work?” Li Dalang asked. Though the siblings sat drinking tea, their minds dwelled on the medicinal ink they had provided.

“As long as it’s not a life-or-death situation, it should be effective,” Zhen Niang replied.

Medicinal ink had long existed in folk medicine as a kind of home remedy. Later, when Li Shizhen wrote the Compendium of Materia Medica, medicinal ink was officially classified as a category of medicine.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, medicinal ink became essential for both home use and travel. The Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping formula had existed since the previous dynasty as pills, but with the popularity of medicinal ink during the Ming and Qing periods, some ink makers began combining traditional medicines with ink to create specialized products. These included the Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping Ink for hemorrhaging and difficult births, the Eight-Treasure Universal Tablet for infant convulsions, and the Eight-Treasure Five-Gallbladder Ink for treating various swellings and toxins.

These medicinal inks have proven their effectiveness through generations of use. Even in later times, century-old traditional pharmacies like Tong Ren Tang still sold medicinal inks.

Of course, the effectiveness of medicinal ink depended on the specific situation—it wasn’t a cure-all.

That’s why she had provided the ingredients list to Second Master Shi. Whether to use it and how to use it would be up to Physician Yao’s judgment.

As for sharing the ingredients, she wasn’t worried about others copying it. After all, the key to medicinal ink lay in the manufacturing process—knowing the ingredients alone wouldn’t be enough to produce high-quality medicinal ink.

Meanwhile, in the Shi residence’s birthing chamber.

Master Shi paced anxiously in the outer room while inside, Physician Yao was applying gold needles to stop Madam Shi’s bleeding.

The situation was not optimistic.

Physician Yao’s furrowed brow indicated Madam’s condition was quite serious. He typically used gold needles for severe bleeding, but today, although there was some improvement after applying the needles, the bleeding couldn’t be fully controlled and could worsen at any moment. The main concern was Madam Shi’s advanced age.

“Brother, how is Sister-in-law?” Second Master Shi rushed in, asking his elder brother in the outer room.

“Physician Yao is attending to her, but the situation isn’t good.” Master Shi took a deep breath. The physician had already told him to prepare for the worst. Despite decades of experience in the business world and facing countless dangerous situations, his heart was trembling now.

“Brother, I just met the Head Manager of Li Ink from Huizhou outside. She gave me a piece of medicinal ink, saying it’s especially effective for hemorrhaging and difficult births. Should we let Physician Yao take a look? Li Ink has quite a reputation in the Huizhou region. When I was in Huizhou, I heard that the daughter of Eunuch Yan from the Ink Bureau was cured of her ailment using medicinal ink.”

Upon hearing this, Master Shi immediately said, “Whether it works or not, let’s show it to Physician Yao first.”

Without concerning himself with propriety, he took the medicinal ink and the ingredients list from Second Master Shi and entered the inner chamber.

“Physician Yao, this is Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping Ink from Huizhou’s Li Ink. It’s specifically effective for hemorrhaging and difficult births. Here are the ingredients—can we use it?”

Though Physician Yao hadn’t heard of the Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping Ink, he knew of the Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping Pills, which were primarily used for blood stasis and hemorrhage control. He took the ink, first smelling it, then asked for an inkstone to grind some ink. He tasted a bit and reviewed the ingredients list before nodding, “Yes, we can use this.”

He administered the medicine according to the prescribed dosage and continued with the acupuncture treatment. With this dual approach, the hemorrhaging finally stopped.

Soon after, Madam Shi regained consciousness. Though still weak from childbirth, she had survived what felt like a brush with death.

“All right, with proper care from now on, she should be fine,” Physician Yao said after checking her pulse again.

“Thank you for your efforts, Physician Yao,” Master Shi expressed his gratitude.

“It’s simply my duty as a physician—nothing extraordinary. We were fortunate to have this medicinal ink today. With my gold needles alone, I’m afraid we might not have been able to stop the bleeding,” Physician Yao wiped his sweat. The summer heat combined with the intensive treatment had taken its toll.

Speaking of the medicinal ink, Master Shi quickly called for Second Master Shi and asked, “Where is Manager Li? We must properly thank her.”

“Ah, she’s still in the side hall.” Second Master Shi then explained their earlier encounter at the gate.

Upon hearing this, Master Shi gathered everyone to go to the side hall.

By then, the Li siblings had been sitting in the side hall for over half an hour when they heard approaching footsteps.

In the hall, Zhen Niang and Li Dalang stood to greet their hosts.

Second Master Shi made the introductions.

Master Shi recognized Li Dalang, who had been visiting almost daily lately, but Zhen Niang surprised him—he hadn’t expected the head of Huizhou’s Li Ink to be a young woman, which was rare in the business world.

However, this only made him more respectful. For a woman to manage such an enterprise, she must possess extraordinary capabilities.

After the introductions, Zhen Niang also greeted Physician Yao, who soon left, concerned about matters at his clinic.

Master Shi personally saw him to the door.

Upon returning, both parties sat down, and Master Shi expressed his profound gratitude. He understood that the Li siblings had come about the tung oil business, but business was business, regardless of personal favors. He couldn’t easily replace the Bai family’s tung oil.

“Brother Zhengliang, you said you could prove that the Bai family’s tung oil contains impurities. Please demonstrate,” Master Shi said.

“Could we have some of the Bai family’s tung oil?” Li Zhengliang asked formally. Though he had brought some Bai family oil purchased from the street, for the sake of fairness, it would be better to use oil from Master Shi’s stock.

Master Shi nodded and had someone fetch some Bai family tung oil.

Li Zhengliang conducted the test following Zhen Niang’s method from yesterday.

In comparison, the paper treated with the Li family’s oil showed more flexibility, while the paper with the Bai family’s oil was brittle and tore easily.

Then, Zhen Niang requested a flint from a servant. She first lit the paper treated with Li family oil, which produced the pure scent of tung oil. When she lit the other paper, sure enough, the Bai family’s oil produced a harsh odor mixed with the tung oil smell.

Master Shi’s expression darkened. By now, he clearly understood that the Bai family’s tung oil indeed contained impurities.

Yesterday, they had wrongly accused Li Zhengliang.

However, since he hadn’t yet discussed this with the Bai family, he wouldn’t make any definitive statements. But whether from a personal or business perspective, he wanted to secure Li’s family’s superior tung oil.

Li Zhengliang’s insistence on proving the Bai family’s oil contained impurities was merely to clear his name. The Bai family’s affairs didn’t concern him, and if not for their aggressive behavior yesterday, Li Zhengliang’s honest nature wouldn’t have led him to oppose them so directly.

Thus, both parties reached an agreement, and Master Shi immediately signed a tung oil purchase contract with the Li family.

Li Dalang was visibly pleased—the trip had been worthwhile. Not only had they achieved their goal, but they had also secured a tung oil purchase contract. Now he could focus solely on producing tung oil without worrying about sales.

Afterward, the Li siblings stayed for lunch, as it was already noon.

After the meal, Zhen Niang and her brother bid farewell and left the Shi residence.

Back home, Madam Huang and Madam Zhao were delighted to hear that the tung oil distribution had been secured.

Zhen Niang then went to check on the front ink shop’s business, as ink liquid sales had been declining recently. Everyone had been focusing on this product lately, and while ordinary people readily accepted the convenient and affordable ink liquid, scholars showed some resistance to this new product.

The ink liquid market had now reached saturation, and the response from other regions was slower, requiring gradual market development. Zhen Niang wasn’t worried about the sales slowdown, as it was inevitable.

Meanwhile, medium and high-grade ink sticks had begun to sell, albeit slowly, thanks to Li Ink’s donation to the academy.

“Miss Zhen, the medium and high-grade ink is moving too slowly,” Zheng Fuli came over with an abacus. They couldn’t continue like this—liquid ink wasn’t the mainstream product.

“Now that we’ve successfully trial-produced the Ancient Yu Deer Musk Ink, why don’t we hold an ink testing gathering to build our reputation?” Zheng Fuli suggested.

Zhen Niang shook her head. “It wouldn’t be very effective. The Li family has no reputation in Nanjing, so we couldn’t attract notable guests to an ink-testing gathering. It might harm the Ancient Yu Deer Musk Ink’s reputation—the cost would outweigh the benefit.”

She explained that the grand opening’s success was due to others returning favors, which couldn’t be repeated.

Zheng Fuli nodded at her words. Indeed, the Ancient Yu Deer Musk Ink’s reputation demanded testing by people of corresponding prestige—having unknown people test it would be counterproductive.

As they were discussing this, Physician Yao from the neighboring clinic entered: “Manager Li, I heard you have some Hundred-Herb Frost medicinal ink. I’d like to order some, along with the Eight-Treasure Blood-Stopping Ink we used today.”

“How much would you like, Physician Yao? I only make these medicinal inks as a hobby, so our stock is limited,” Zhen Niang asked.

“Let me start with one box of each,” Physician Yao replied.

Each Li family box contained four ink sticks.

The small quantity wasn’t a problem, so Zhen Niang went to the wooden building to fetch two boxes of medicinal ink to sell to Physician Yao.

To Zhen Niang’s surprise, over the next few days, many people came to buy medicinal ink. Various Li family medicinal inks were sought after, and with limited stock, they had to start taking pre-orders.

After some thought, Zhen Niang realized Master Shi must be helping to promote their products.

Thus, the Li family’s struggling medium and high-grade ink business found its breakthrough through medicinal ink—truly a case of “planted willows for shade, yet flowers bloom instead.”