Zhou Gu’s face changed color, feeling like his head was tainted with the scent of bugs.
He silently pulled out a handkerchief, intending to wipe away the smell of the bugs. But as he held it above his head, he theorized that in wiping the bug scent away, might he not also wipe away the touch of Su Rong’s hand?
He was somewhat unwilling, so after a moment’s hesitation, he ended up putting the handkerchief back in his pocket.
Su Rong turned to look at him, reminding him, "If you detest these bugs now, remember that when you leave the capital, there will be times when you will have no choice but to sleep on barren mountains or open fields. What will you do then? Will you not sleep?"
"I can sleep in a tree."
Su Rong nodded, "But bugs also crawl up trees, not all bugs live on the ground."
Zhou Gu: "..."
Su Rong critiqued him, "How can you be so delicate?"
Zhou Gu: "..."
He was a man, being called delicate wasn’t exactly a compliment, was it?
He promptly affirmed, "If it’s just one or two bugs, I’m not afraid. But seeing this many bugs crawling together, all at once... I need some time to adjust..."
Su Rong nodded, and pointedly instructed him, "Then take your time to adjust as you help me catch bugs."
Zhou Gu: "..."
Cursing his decision to have come so early, he reasoned that he should have waited another half an hour. By then, she would have mostly finished catching the bugs.
With a resigned sigh, he nodded in agreement, "Alright then!"
Imitating Su Rong, he clumsily approached the bugs. Closing his eyes, he quickly captured one then threw it into the jar. Suddenly he discovered that it wasn’t as difficult as he had anticipated, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Being a man, he couldn’t possibly be afraid of bugs.
Su Rong comfortably left him in charge of catching the bugs while instructing him which type of bug went into which jar. Zhou Gu nodded and proceeded accordingly. With this, Su Rong freed up her hands to start selecting herbs for the medicine.
After a tiring half a day, when all the insects were finally caught and bottled up, Zhou Gu heaved a large sigh of relief and went to wash his hands.
Su Rong shot him a quick glance and seeing that he was scrubbing his hands fervently with soap, she couldn’t help but chuckle. She deliberately asked, "Better adjusted now?"
Zhou Gu cleared his throat, "Almost, I suppose!"
In any case, he didn’t wish to touch the bugs anymore.
Nodding, Su Rong started preparing the herbal medicine in specific proportions while asking Zhou Gu, "I heard you had an audience with His Majesty today?"
Zhou Gu gave a grunt of affirmation.
"When are you leaving?"
"It was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but since you are preparing medicine for me, I can delay it by a day or two." Zhou Gu then stood next to Su Rong, "Is there anything else I can do?"
Su Rong pointed at the nearby medical stove, then at a book about medicine on the table, saying, "Help me relocate that stove. Then pick up that book and follow the instructions to select the herbs and allocate the doses."
Zhou Gu nodded, moved the stove to Su Rong, and picked up the book on the table. He flipped open the book and was startled, "Wh...where did this book come from? How is it so..."
"So precious?" Su Rong finished his sentence.
Looking at the first page of the book, which contained a recipe for making ’Jade Gel Balm’, Zhou Gu found the word he was looking for "Scarce."
Su Rong neither agreed nor disagreed. Wasn’t it scarce? The ’Jade Gel Balm’, which cost a thousand gold pieces per bottle, she could now make hundreds of bottles as long as she had enough herbs. However, the reason for the balm’s high price was justified as the ingredients were indeed hard to find. Given the herbs that Fen Ling had gathered for her, she could make a couple of bottles of antidotes for various poisons, some good medicines for injuries and perhaps five bottles of ’Jade Gel Balm’.
Zhou Gu leaned in closer to Su Rong, "You still haven’t said where this book came from?"
Su Rong did not hide it, "When we stayed at the Buddha Temple, Fen Ling and I borrowed the book from the Book Pavilion of the Buddha Temple."
Understanding dawned on Zhou Gu, as he looked at her, "Not borrowed, but stole, right?"
Su Rong shot him a look, "Fen Ling donated five thousand taels for lamp oil, it’s borrowed. I only borrowed it with my eyes, I didn’t take the original copy."
Zhou Gu coughed, musing, "Your eyes are quite useful. If only I also had a pair of eyes like yours. I’ve always wanted to borrow some precious books from the palace’s Book Pavilion, but I don’t have your ability to do so."
Su Rong paused in her work, recalling him mentioning this when they were in Jiangning County. She seemed to remember promising him something, so she said, "How about we take a stroll in the palace tomorrow?"
Zhou Gu blinked, "Is that possible?"
"It should be okay, His Majesty is ill, I should visit the palace to see him." Su Rong reasoned out, "After all, I am His Majesty’s niece. It wouldn’t be right not to pay a visit."
"What about me? I was in the palace today." He was trying to think of a reason to accompany Su Rong.
"You can stay here and prepare the medicine." Su Rong offered, "Tomorrow, Fen Ling will accompany me. We can coordinate better, you don’t need to be there."
Zhou Gu: "..."
He opened his mouth, "Me, preparing the medicine?"
"It’s simple. I will teach you. By the end of the night, you will definitely master it." Su Rong decided quickly, "Let that be settled then. Now, the medicines you brought along, you will have to put in some effort to prepare them yourself. You’ve already visited the Book Pavilion, so describe in detail where the rare books are located, what I should be mindful of. Tomorrow I will seek His Majesty’s permission under the guise of needing some medicinal ingredients and enter officially. Then I will try to ’borrow’ those books for you. You stay away and don’t mess things up."
Zhou Gu pondered his desire to go, but he could not think of a reason for accompanying Su Rong. Left with no choice, he agreed, "Alright then."
He then began to describe in detail the location of the precious books in the Book Pavilion and what to be aware of.
After hearing his description, Su Rong felt it shouldn’t be too difficult. Even if there were traps, they should resemble the traps in the Buddha Temple’s Book Pavilion. So, she started teaching Zhou Gu how to make the medicine.
Zhou Gu was quite an intelligent man. While he didn’t possess Su Rong’s extraordinary memory, he had his own brilliance. He was quick to grasp most things after just one read. Plus, he valued the opportunity to work alongside Su Rong, so he studied earnestly.
Su Rong stated, "I am giving you this book. You can carry it with you. In the case that the medicines that I prepared for you run out, you can now prepare it on your own."
Zhou Gu paused, "You’re giving this book to me?"
"Mmm, it’s yours now."
Zhou Gu looked at her and softly asked, "The book is written in your calligraphy. Won’t it be inappropriate for you to give such a thing to me?"
Su Rong didn’t meet his gaze, "If you feel it’s inappropriate, then wouldn’t you rather not take it?"
Zhou Gu immediately clutched the book tightly, "I still want it."
Su Rong shot him an annoyed glance, "Then why did you even bring it up?"
Zhou Gu fell silent.
The room was filled with the mixed fragrance of various medicines. Over the course of a whole night, Su Rong and Zhou Gu were busily preparing medicines. By dawn, they had produced more than a dozen bottles. Su Rong checked the end product satisfyingly and said: "Not bad."
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