The little koi blew a bubble in the water and sank silently to the bottom.

.

"——Done!" Xue Ren put the last rolled pill into the winnowing basket.

Dozens of pills were neatly stacked in the winnowing basket. Ayi and Jingli carried the basket to the bamboo wall of the courtyard. Xue Ren instructed, "Dry it in the shade for two more days and store it in a medicine jar away from light. Take one pill a day. These pills should be enough for you for more than a month. After you finish them, we can see if you need to increase or decrease the dosage."

Qin Zhao bowed and saluted him: "Thank you for your help these days, sir."

"You're welcome." Xue Ren waved his hand. "If you can really get better, it means that all my efforts these days have not been in vain."

Qin Zhao asked, "Sir, are you leaving soon?"

"Yes." Xue Ren looked in Ayi's direction and sighed, "It's been nearly half a month since I came here. My dear grandson has to go back to take care of the medicine shop. I can't just stop doing business."

They could afford to rent a horse-drawn carriage, which was much faster than an ox-drawn carriage. By setting out from Linxi Village in the afternoon, they could return to the county town before sunset.

Qin Zhao said, "In that case, I have something else I'd like you to review."

Xue Ren followed Qin Zhao into the house.

Qin Zhao took out a few books from the bookshelf. He put bamboo leaves in the books as marks and wrote a lot of small words next to the pages.

Xue Ren flipped through a few pages and his expression changed: "This——"

"These are a few herbs I've discovered based on pharmacology these days. I've recorded the details, so you can look them up later," Qin Zhao said. "These herbs are more common in ordinary households and might be able to replace the rarer ones you used in the antidote."

Xue Ren carefully looked at the content that Qin Zhao had marked and asked, "Xiao Yu'er said that you've been reading medical books these days. Is this why?"

Qin Zhao: "Yes."

At first, he was just worried that the herbs in the incomplete prescription given by Xue Ren were too rare, and wanted to try to find more common alternative herbs in medical books.

Later, when Xue Ren asked him to help promote this prescription, his idea became even more determined.

Xue Ren was an imperial physician, so he naturally preferred the finest medicines, regardless of their value or rarity. However, considering the herbs used in this prescription, it would be difficult for ordinary people to find them, let alone use them.

What Qin Zhao wants is for everyone who needs it to be able to use this medicine, so that no one will encounter the same predicament as him.

Xue Ren closed the medical book in his hand and said leisurely, "You know, if ordinary herbs were used instead, the efficacy of this antidote would definitely be compromised."

"I understand," Qin Zhao said. "A prescription that can only save a few but leaves the majority of the people wanting it is far from enough. Compared to a slightly less potent decoction that everyone can take, I believe the latter is far easier to implement."

Xue Ren was stunned for a moment and smiled softly.

Qin Zhao: "What are you laughing at, sir?"

"I'm laughing because I finally understand why the imperial court would promote such a prescription for drug withdrawal." Xue Ren sighed. "In fact, the higher-ups may not be unaware of the hidden dangers of the decoction, but they have no choice."

"It's not difficult to promote a more precise decoction, but the challenge is making sure everyone who needs it can get it."

He scoffed: "...It seems that I have wronged him all these years."

Qin Zhao asked, "Sir, are you talking about the current emperor?"

"Your Majesty? No." Xue Ren said, "I'm talking about the person who promoted this recipe back then."

Qin Zhao frowned slightly: "Isn't this prescription promoted by the emperor?"

"Him?" Xue Ren seemed to have heard something funny. "The current emperor just came of age last year, so he's only a few years older than my grandson. Ten years ago, he was still a brat!"

Qin Zhao: "Then these ten years..."

"The new emperor is still young, so before his death, the late emperor ordered a prince of the opposite sex in the capital to serve as regent. He was responsible for destroying Chen Huan, promoting the antidote, and ordering the death of the Imperial Hospital." Xue Ren snorted coldly and said, "Even if the regent did nothing wrong in promoting the antidote, he can't clear himself from what he did over the years. The late emperor mistakenly trusted the bad guys back then!"