Chapter 296 Major Breakthrough in Antibiotic Research!
At the pier in the early morning, the sea breeze carried a salty, fishy smell.
Su Yue reached out and carefully straightened the slightly crooked collar insignia on Gu Beichen's military uniform. Her movements were slow, her fingertips brushing against the stiff fabric, carrying a hint of lingering affection.
"Take good care of yourself over there," she said softly.
Gu Beichen pulled her into his arms, his strong arms holding her tightly, as if he wanted to meld her into his very bones.
He lowered his head, his hot breath spraying onto her ear.
"Take care of yourself and the children, and wait for me to come back."
A long, drawn-out whistle broke the tranquility of the dock.
The man released her, turned around, and without looking back, his broad back strode resolutely up the gangway leading to the warship.
Su Yue stood there until the gray steel behemoth disappeared where the sea met the sky before slowly turning around.
She carefully hid the sadness of parting deep in her heart.
After Gu Beichen left, Su Yue's life returned to normal.
She devoted more of her energy to preparing for the lab and her family life. However, this tranquility was soon shattered.
A new family moved into the military compound. They were the sister-in-law of Nurse Wang from the health station, and her name was Qian Fen.
Qian Fen seemed to be particularly "concerned" about the Gu family, always peeking out from under the grapevines in front of Su Yue's house.
That afternoon, seeing that the Gu family man was not there, Qian Fen carried an enamel basin and swaggered into the Gu family's courtyard.
“Aunt Chen, I see your yard is quite big, and the area around the fence is just sitting there empty. I was thinking, what do you think about putting up a small enclosure there and raising a few chickens? We can split the eggs half.”
Grandma Chen was picking vegetables in the yard when she heard this. She looked up and smiled kindly.
“Xiao Qian, this yard belongs to the military region, we can’t do whatever we want. Besides, raising chickens here smells bad, attracts mosquitoes, and affects neighborly harmony.”
Qian Fen's smile froze.
She thought that with the family man gone, only a group of elderly, weak, women and children would be left, and if she took advantage of her age to make a request, the other party would definitely be too embarrassed to refuse.
Unexpectedly, I was met with a cold shoulder.
She pursed her lips, said nothing more, and turned to leave.
After being rejected, Qian Fen harbored resentment.
Two days later, she saw Su Yue drying some strangely shaped herbs in the yard and immediately seized the opportunity.
She started spreading rumors in the yard, saying that Su Yue was doing all sorts of crooked and evil things, that those herbs were poisonous, and what if the powder floated out when they were dried and affected the health of the children in the yard?
For a moment, the way people in the courtyard looked at Su Yue became somewhat strange.
Su Yue was arranging the freshly dried herbs on the stone table, sorting them into different categories and packing them into brown paper bags.
Gu Ping'an, whose son is less than a year old, crawled out of the house at some point.
The little guy, with his chubby little face, climbed up quickly and went straight to the stone table. He stretched out his chubby little hand, accurately grabbed a dried "motherwort," and stuffed it into his mouth while making little noises.
Just as Su Yue was about to stop them, she noticed a strange phenomenon.
Next to the motherwort was a strychnine plant, which she used as a sample for toxicology experiments and which was slightly toxic.
Gu Ping'an's little hand approached the strychnos nux-vomica plant several times, but she pulled it back abruptly just before touching it, her little face even showing obvious disgust and resistance.
This scene stirred something within Su Yue.
The rumors intensified, and finally, an impatient military wife, urged on by Qian Fen, went to her husband's house.
"Comrade Su Yue, we're not trying to criticize you, but look at all this stuff you've dried. It's all black and smells weird. Aunt Qian is right, if it's poisonous, it's so dangerous for our kids running around in the yard!"
Faced with the accusations from the group, Su Yue was not angry. Instead, she stood up with a smile.
"My sisters-in-law are right; I hadn't considered things carefully."
She turned and went inside, and soon brought out a large tea mug, warmly pouring a bowl of tea for everyone.
"To express my apology, I specially brewed some herbal tea with these 'fruits of my labor' for my sisters-in-law to try. It's good for clearing heat and relieving internal fire, so please don't be shy."
Qian Fen and several other military wives looked at each other, staring at the amber-colored tea in their bowls, half-believing and half-doubting.
One of the bolder ones picked it up and smelled it, and was immediately greeted by a sweet and refreshing fragrance.
She tentatively took a small sip, and her eyes immediately lit up.
"Hey, this tea...it's actually quite delicious!"
With one person taking the lead, the others followed suit and quickly finished the bowl of herbal tea. They found it sweet and delicious, refreshing, and the autumn dampness dissipated considerably.
Seeing that they still seemed to want more, Su Yue slowly began to speak.
"This tea is made by brewing the honeysuckle, licorice, and mint leaves that I dried. They are all good for clearing heat and detoxifying."
She paused, then pointed to another pile of herbs on the stone table that she had placed separately.
"Of course, not all herbs can be used to make tea."
Her voice remained gentle, yet it made everyone present hold their breath.
"For example, that pile of strychnine next to you. Don't be fooled by its unassuming appearance; it is highly poisonous. If you accidentally ingest it, within half an hour, you will experience convulsions, respiratory paralysis, and eventually suffocate to death."
The words had barely left his mouth.
Qian Fen and the other military wives turned completely pale in an instant.
They stared in horror at the pile of "poisonous weeds" just a few steps away, feeling a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads. The sweetness of the herbal tea they had just enjoyed instantly turned into a deadly bitterness.
"I...I still have soup simmering at home!"
"Oh dear, I just remembered I haven't put my clothes in the laundry!"
The group could no longer stay still. They screamed and scrambled away from the Gu family courtyard, as if they were being chased by evil spirits.
Su Yue watched their disheveled figures disappear, having resolved the problem without bloodshed.
After this incident, no one in the compound dared to interfere with her yard anymore, and their gazes towards her were filled with deep awe.
That evening, after putting the children to sleep, Su Yue quietly returned to her study.
She took out the various herbs that had been drying during the day and placed them one by one in front of her son, Gu Ping'an, to test them.
Angelica, astragalus, ginseng... Xiao Ping'an would curiously grab these tonic herbs, smell them, and even put them in his mouth.
However, if the herbs are replaced with aconite, Sichuan aconite, or pinellia, which have varying degrees of toxicity, the little guy will immediately wrinkle his little face and push them away without hesitation, his face full of resistance.
Test after test, the results were remarkably consistent.
Su Yue's heart was pounding.
She was surprised to realize that her son, this little life with her blood flowing through his veins, seemed to have an extraordinary intuition and ability to distinguish the medicinal properties of these plants.
He may have inherited her extraordinary talent for medicine from the 22nd century!
Just as Su Yue was immersed in this great joy, her mother-in-law, Zhang Huilan, walked in quickly with a newspaper in hand.
A hint of solemnity crossed her face.
"Yueyue, look at this."
Su Yue took the newspaper and her gaze fell on a news article from within the province.
"Warmest congratulations to Comrade Fang Jianxing, a young scientist from our province, for winning the only recommendation spot in the Hainan Island Young Scientist Competition!"
Next to that headline was a black-and-white photo of a young man.
The man in the photo is wearing glasses, is fair-skinned and refined, and is facing the camera with a smug smile.
Su Yue's heart sank slightly.
Her gaze continued downwards, landing on the subtitle of the report.
That line of bold, black-and-white print was like a needle, piercing her eyes.
"Our province has achieved a major breakthrough in antibiotic research!"
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