Chapter 38: Good and Bad

Chapter 38: Good and Bad

Chapter 38: Good and Bad

Hua Changxi stood at the door of the bedroom, also looking at Eunuch Lu and Steward Leng. She was also surprised. She didn't expect Eunuch Lu to come in person.

Eunuch Lu personally delivered the medicine and supervised the preparation of the medicine. It seemed that he would personally check that the poisoned female servants had taken the medicine before leaving.

This made Hua Changxi certain of one thing: the prescription she gave was more valuable than she had imagined.

Yes, Lu Qingluo and her friends must have been poisoned by the preparation of medicinal materials many times in the First Department, but there was no way to completely detoxify them.

If Eunuch Lu could help the First Office solve this problem, he would probably receive a great favor from the First Office.

However, the poison in Lu Qingluo and others was not difficult to cure in Hua Changxi's opinion. He wondered whether the First Department could not afford a good doctor for treatment, or whether the Medical Bureau had not thoroughly studied the efficacy of these medicinal materials?

Soon, the medicine was ready.

Bowls of steaming medicinal soup were delivered to the twenty female servants who were poisoned due to improper preparation of medicinal materials. After taking the medicine, the female servants fell asleep quickly.

Steward Leng took the trouble to check on them one by one. After checking, he said to Eunuch Lu, "They are all asleep. They look very peaceful. They are not sweating and shaking like before."

Eunuch Lu's eyes flickered: "That's great."

Steward Leng suddenly shouted, "Eunuch Lu, you didn't sleep all night last night because of these female servants. You ran around all day today and begged many people to get these medicines. Now they are fine, you should go back and rest."

Eunuch Lu looked at Manager Leng with a smile, his eyes full of satisfaction with her: "They are all members of our family. Although this incident happened in the First Office, we cannot ignore it. As long as they can get better, it is not a big deal for us to bow our heads and beg for help."

As soon as these words were spoken, the three managers of the Sixth Bureau came forward to thank Eunuch Lu. The female servants in the yard did not dare to go over to talk to him, but they all looked at Eunuch Lu with moved expressions.

Eunuch Lu accepted everyone's gratitude and solemnly instructed Steward Leng: "We will not wait here, so as not to make you uncomfortable, but you have to keep an eye on it. If there is anything, no matter how late it is, you must tell us."

Steward Leng was moved and said, "Don't worry, Eunuch Lu. I will take good care of them."

Eunuch Lu did not stay any longer and left the Sixth Bureau. Before leaving, he glanced at Hua Changxi who was standing at the door of the dormitory, and gave a wink to Steward Leng.

After he left, Manager Leng asked everyone in the yard to go back to their rooms to rest, leaving Du Ruo alone.

"Go call Hua Changxi over."

Du Ruo glanced at Manager Leng, went into the room and called Hua Changxi out.

Steward Leng smiled at Hua Changxi and said, "You have been in the errand hall for more than three months, right?"

Hua Changxi said "hmm".

Manager Leng ignored her cold attitude and continued with a smile: "You have only been here for three months, so you are still a newcomer. However, your actions in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall do not act like a newcomer at all."

"Newbie, I'm not as bold as you."

"Not only did you hit someone in the sixth round, you also went to the warehouse to cause trouble and beat someone up. I heard that you even got into a fight at the Internal Affairs Office a few days ago. How can you be so courageous? Aren't you afraid that the Odds Hall will kick you out?"

Hua Changxi remained silent, with no change in expression.

When Steward Leng saw this, he raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "Of course, other newcomers are not as capable as you. You finished a task that would take a whole day in less than half a day."

"Speaking of this, Du Ruo, I have to criticize you a little."

Manager Leng suddenly turned the topic to Du Ruo, causing Du Ruo's expression to change.

Du Ruo was about to explain, but Manager Leng continued, "Such a capable person has come to our Sixth Division, why didn't you report it to me?"

As he said this, Manager Leng smiled at Hua Changxi again and said, "If I knew Changxi was so capable, I would definitely give her some more tasks so that she can earn more money."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi finally reacted.

Time is the most precious thing for her. If most of the day is spent on errands, then her time for cultivation and the time for going to the Qihuang Hall to make medicine will be greatly reduced.

"Butler Leng, I gave that prescription to Eunuch Lu as a gift. I make a living under Eunuch Lu, and I will abide by the rules."

Manager Leng talked so much, but it was just about the prescription.

Eunuch Lu not only wants profit, but also fame.

Steward Leng smiled and looked at Hua Changxi: "I knew it, if my sister could catch the eye of Eunuch Jia, how could she be a reckless young man?"

After getting Hua Changxi's approval, Manager Leng didn't want to stay outside in the cold weather, so he said to Hua Changxi and Du Ruo, "Okay, it's getting late. I'll go check on those people. You guys go back and rest."

After Manager Leng walked away, Du Ruo looked at Hua Changxi with a complicated expression.

Hua Changxi was too lazy to guess what she was thinking and asked directly, "Manager Du, is there anything else?"

Du Ruo was silent for a moment and said, "I thank you on behalf of those poisoned female servants." If Hua Changxi hadn't taken out the prescription, who knows what would have happened to those poisoned people in the end.

She had heard many times that the servants in the First and Second Offices were poisoned by improper preparation of medicinal materials. As a result of not receiving timely medical treatment, some became stupid, some lost their ability to move, and some died.

Hua Changxi smiled and said, "Manager Du, I am a doctor." After that, he turned around and went back to the dormitory.

Du Ruo was stunned. She understood what Hua Changxi said. The doctor saved people not for the sake of gratitude, but only for the heart of a doctor.

The next day after taking the medicine, Wang Yunchu and others were able to move freely, so everyone in the Sixth Bureau was grateful to Eunuch Lu.

After hearing this, Hua Changxi didn't say anything. After finishing his task, he was about to go to the Qihuang Hall to make medicine. However, he was stopped by Wang Yunchu on the way.

"Hua Changxi, thank you."

Hua Changxi gave the prescription to Du Ruo in front of her roommates, so Wang Yunchu and others knew that the poisoned female servant was saved thanks to her.

Now that Eunuch Lu had taken all the credit, they didn't dare say anything more, but Wang Yunchu felt that she should thank Hua Changxi in person.

Hua Changxi: “You’re welcome.”

Wang Yunchu saw that she was in a hurry to leave, and after a moment's hesitation, he explained, "Hua Changxi, I wasn't the one who spread those rumors about you."

"I know you must have thought that I was the one spreading gossip about you everywhere, but I swear, it was definitely not me."

"I admit that I didn't like you before, but I've suffered from a bad reputation before, so I won't maliciously smear someone else's reputation."

Hua Changxi watched her raise her hand to swear, and was silent for a moment: "Okay, I understand. Do you have anything else to say?"

Wang Yunchu hesitated to speak: "Are you going to Qihuang Hall to look for Eunuch Yu again?"

Hua Changxi did not deny it.

Wang Yunchu looked around and lowered his voice: "Be careful, there are people in the warehouse watching you. The reason why your affair with Eunuch Yu has spread to everyone is that someone is deliberately doing something bad behind the scenes."

Hearing this, Hua Changxi frowned.

The people in the warehouse were staring at her?
The only person she had offended in the warehouse was Mao Wei, whose molar teeth she knocked out. She hadn't seen him for a while. Yu Hui said that he had been transferred to the medicine store.

Wang Yunchu looked at her, looking as if he couldn't say anything.

Hua Changxi looked at her: "What do you want to say?"

Wang Yunchu: "Changxi, other female servants want to live a better life, so they get closer to the eunuchs. I can understand why they do this, but you are so capable and don't need to rely on anyone. Why do you want to be like them?"

Hua Changxi's eyelids twitched: "I'm just doing things for Eunuch Yu, it's not what you think."

Wang Yunchu let out an "ah".

Hua Changxi didn't care whether she believed it or not, and continued: "Thank you for what you just told me, I will pay attention to it, is there anything else?"

Wang Yunchu quickly shook his head.

Hua Changxi: "Okay, I'll get busy."

When they arrived at the Qihuang Hall and saw Yu Hui there, Hua Changxi told him what Wang Yunchu had just said, "The people in the warehouse were staring at her."

After hearing this, Yu Hui immediately said, "I will tell my godfather about this. Don't worry, I will find out who spread the rumors about you and my godfather."

Hua Changxi: "Rumors are secondary. I am worried about our cooperation in refining medicine. If this gets known, I am afraid it will cause trouble."

Yu Hui's expression became more serious: "I'll check it out right away, you can concentrate on refining the medicine."

As soon as he left, Hua Changxi devoted himself to refining medicine. It took three days for him to finish processing this batch of discarded medicinal materials.

After Wang Yunchu and the others were cured of the poison, Hua Changxi had already put an end to the prescription issue. Who would have thought that on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Manager Leng would find her again. "Let me go to the First Office to help?"

Hua Changxi was just about to upgrade the "Artillery Code" to perfection, and asked her to go to the First Office to help, which was exactly what she wanted, but she still put on a look of surprise and resistance.

After all, a few days ago, colleagues from the Sixth Bureau were poisoned in the First Office and were ruthlessly sent back.

Steward Leng smiled and said, "Eunuch Lu knows that you understand pharmacology and have good medical skills, so he gave you this opportunity."

Hua Changxi chuckled in his heart.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Steward Leng continued, "In order to prepare the medicinal materials before the New Year, the First Department also invited apprentices from the Apprentice Hall to help."

"I heard from Eunuch Lu that you applied for the Apprentice Hall before. I think you also want to enter the Apprentice Hall to learn medical skills and pharmacology. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you."

"Working with the people in the Apprentice Hall, you can ask them if you have any questions. Even if they are unwilling to teach you, you can still learn from them."

"The apprentices of the Medical Department are different from those of the medical clinics outside. They have real skills. Even if you only learn a little bit of their skills, it will be enough for you to benefit from for the rest of your life."

Hua Changxi didn't want to listen to her nonsense and waste his time, so he immediately said, "Manager Leng, I'll go."

Hearing this, Manager Leng smiled and nodded: "That's right, let's go, I'll take you to the first office."

Hua Changxi was surprised: "Go now?"

Manager Leng: "The First Office has a lot of work to do. Today is the Little New Year, and the New Year is just a few days away. Of course, we have to hurry up."

The first office is smaller than the third office, but there are just as many courtyards, and each courtyard is filled with various medicinal herbs drying in the sun.

To prepare medicinal materials, one needs to have a certain understanding of pharmacology and also know some preparation methods. Compared with the chores in the third department who are only responsible for cleaning medicinal materials, the chores in the first and second departments are considered technical personnel.

Manager Leng led Hua Changxi to a courtyard with two entrances.

"Eunuch Bao, this is Hua Changxi recommended by Eunuch Lu."

Manager Leng walked towards a eunuch in his twenties with a smile on his face. The two talked and laughed for a while before he turned his gaze to Hua Changxi.

Eunuch Bao looked at Hua Changxi and said, "Since he is recommended by Eunuch Lu, let's use him for the time being."

As he said this, he waved his hand and called a male steward over.

"Take her to concoct Tiemugen."

A few days ago, Wang Yunchu and others were poisoned when Tiemugen pierced their hands while they were preparing it.

Since this girl can cure Tiemugen's poison, she can probably also cook it.

The root of Ironwood is very difficult to prepare. It is covered with barbs and can easily cause injury if you are not careful.

In previous years, they could still barely supply Tiemugen, but a month ago, the director notified them to hurry up and prepare a batch of Tiemugen to be sent to Tianbu after the New Year.

The Medical Department was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Heaven. After the Ministry of Heaven issued an order, the Chief Secretary personally came to the First Office to urge them to prepare the medicinal materials.

He and Eunuch Lu are good friends. Eunuch Lu knows that he is under a lot of pressure and has a lot of tasks to do, and that he urgently needs an expert in preparing medicinal materials, so he recommended Hua Changxi, who has the antidote to the poison of Tiemu root.

After the male steward took Hua Changxi away, Steward Leng saw that Eunuch Bao looked worried, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Eunuch Bao, Hua Changxi was personally recruited into the Miscellaneous Services Hall by Eunuch Jia. It is said that he values ​​her ability to handle medicinal materials."

Eunuch Bao was a little surprised: "It was Eunuch Jia who hired him?" After thinking for a while, "Everything is fine here. Go back and thank Xiao Luzi for me. When I'm free, I'll go and have a drink with him."

After Steward Leng left, Eunuch Bao was still worried and went straight to the room where Tiemugen was being prepared.

On the other side, Hua Changxi followed the male steward into a steamy room. More than ten boilers were emitting flames in the room. The people inside were preparing medicinal materials by frying, roasting, calcining, or stewing.

The male steward, whose surname was Qin, led Hua Changxi to a boiler and pointed to a few baskets of herbs nearby and asked, "Do you know how to prepare ironwood root?"

Hua Changxi did not answer immediately, but stepped forward to check it out. Seeing that the basket was full of ironwood roots, he nodded and said, "Yes."

Manager Qin glanced at her and asked, "Do you need someone to help you?"

Hua Changxi looked at the other boilers in the room and found that there were four people in front of each boiler. Thinking that he would use the methods in the "Cannon Code", he said, "No, I can do it alone."

Hearing this, Manager Qin looked at Hua Changxi again and reminded him, "Although there is a certain margin of error in preparing medicinal materials, if too many medicinal materials are destroyed, you will also be held responsible."

Hua Changxi smiled and said, "Thank you for telling me, I will be careful."

Manager Qin said "hmm" and ignored her, going to supervise the others in the room in preparing the medicinal materials.

As soon as he left, Hua Changxi rolled up her sleeves and started working. She first adjusted the temperature, and when the boiler reached the temperature she wanted, she took ten ironwood roots at once and put them into the boiler to bake.

Eunuch Bao happened to walk in at this time. When he saw Hua Changxi's domineering handicraft, his eyelids twitched. The most skilled servant under his command could only prepare five ironwood roots at a time.

There is no way around it. Tiemu root has a strong medicinal property and is covered with fine thorns. The thorns are the part with the strongest medicinal property. You must be very careful during the preparation process. If you are not careful, you will get pricked, and then the "poison" of Tiemu root will penetrate into the body through the wound.

To ordinary people, Tiemugen is "poisonous", but to warriors above the seventh rank, Tiemugen is a precious medicine that can activate internal strength and transform it into Gangqi.

Not only ironwood root, but other medicinal herbs used by warriors are mostly poisonous to ordinary people because of their strong medicinal properties.

Eunuch Bao was worried that Hua Changxi would damage the ironwood root, so he walked over quickly and wanted to stop her. But when he got close, he saw that the originally brown ironwood root was gradually turning bright red.

The Second Street Pharmacist gave me a standard for the preparation of ironwood root. After the ironwood root is baked, it is best when it turns bright red all over.

Then, he saw Hua Changxi quickly use tongs to pick up pieces of completely burned charcoal, and then directly put the baked ironwood roots into the charcoal to calcine.

Eunuch Bao felt nervous, thinking that the operation was too rough. But not long after, he saw a grayish-white scab forming on the surface of the ironwood root.

Then, Hua Changxi picked up the ironwood root with gray-white scabs on its surface with pliers and sprinkled a few drops of water into the charcoal. In an instant, a burst of hot air evaporated above the charcoal.

Just as the steam came out, Hua Changxi put the ironwood root with grayish-white scabs on it to roast. In just a few seconds, the ironwood root turned bright red again.

When Eunuch Bao saw it, he could no longer bear it, and walked over quickly, staring at the ten prepared ironwood roots carefully.

Seeing that Eunuch Bao was just looking at her and had no intention of asking her any questions, Hua Changxi did not take the initiative to step forward to explain, but started to prepare the second pot.

A quarter of an hour later, Eunuch Bao was overjoyed to see that the ironwood root prepared by Hua Changxi remained bright red without changing color.

He had seen the ironwood root prepared by the pharmacist on Second Street, and it was like this.

No, the ironwood root prepared by Hua Changxi was even brighter red than the one prepared by the pharmacist, and the steps seemed to be simpler.

The other people in the room also gathered around. It was because they were also preparing ironwood roots. In order to avoid "poisoning", most of them could only prepare one plant at a time, and they needed help from others.

If no one took Hua Changxi seriously when she came in before, now everyone was staring at her as she prepared Tiemugen.

After Hua Changxi started practicing, he developed a habit, which was concentration.

Just like now, she was surrounded by people but she was not affected at all. There was only one thing in her mind, which was to prepare Tiemugen.

In the crowd, while everyone else was paying attention to Hua Changxi's steps and methods of concocting Tiemugen, Lu Qingling was looking at Hua Changxi himself.

Like Wang Yunchu, she couldn't understand why such a capable person would rely on her father-in-law, causing the entire servants' hall to spread rumors about her.

Soon, Hua Changxi prepared another ten ironwood roots.

She placed the prepared ironwood root into a special box and then looked up at the others.

Eunuch Bao looked at her with shining eyes: "Hua Changxi, can you teach the apprentices in the Apprentice Hall how to brew Tiemugen?"

Tiemugen was difficult to prepare, and all the servants from the Third Office who had come to help in the past few days had been "poisoned", so the ones preparing Tiemugen now were all apprentices that Eunuch Bao had invited from the Apprentice Hall.

Hua Changxi looked at Eunuch Bao, and based on the principle of friendship, he agreed without much hesitation: "Okay."

Lu Qingling was a little surprised to see her agree so readily.

What she learned from her sister about Hua Changxi was that he was not a helpful person.

Seeing Hua Changxi giving him face, Eunuch Bao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't treat you unfairly."

When Lu Qingling heard this and saw Hua Changxi's satisfied smile, she suddenly understood.

Hua Changxi is not unwilling to help others, but she is unwilling to help those who will not bring her any rewards.

This guy is so realistic!
(End of this chapter)