Chapter 247 A Piece of Waste Paper
"No need, I can go back by myself." Ye Wanning shook her head. "Lord Pei, thank you for your help this time."
"But I don't want to owe you too many favors."
Pei Zhi looked at her and remained silent for a long time before saying, "I never intended for you to pay me back."
After he finished speaking, he turned to the guards and ordered, "Take these three people back, keep them under strict guard, and interrogate them carefully."
Pei Zhi escorted Ye Wanning to her room door: "Rest well, and don't get your wound wet."
Ye Wanning hummed in agreement and turned to walk into the room.
The moment she closed the door, she leaned against it and took a deep breath, her heart pounding.
The tingling sensation that Pei Zhi felt when he touched her pulse just now spread all the way to the bottom of his heart.
She knew that her feelings for Pei Zhi had long since transcended those of ordinary allies and friends.
However, their social statuses were vastly different—he was the prime minister of the court, while she was just a commoner doctor.
They also had a lot of trouble with the heritage center and the female doctor training program, so it seemed impossible for them to have a happy ending.
The next morning, Ye Wanning led Liu Ruyan and two masked men into the palace.
He told the emperor the whole story.
The emperor was furious and ordered the three men to be severely punished, while also issuing an edict to thoroughly investigate the remaining members of the Wei family.
Sun Chengzong never expected such a reversal. His face turned pale and then red, and he dared not say another word.
Ye Wanning presented the "Secret Essentials of the Green Bag" to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the importance of this manuscript lies not only in the prescriptions."
"There is also the cinnabar mark left by my mother, which only I can understand and use to distinguish the authenticity of the prescription and its usage."
"Even if Liu Ruyan gets the manuscript, if she doesn't recognize the hidden markings, it will be a piece of waste paper in the hands of the remnants of the Wei family."
She opened the manuscript and pointed to a corner of a page: "For example, here, it looks like just a red dot."
"In fact, users need to take this prescription with licorice, otherwise there will be side effects."
The emperor nodded, trusting Ye Wanning even more: "Ye Wanning, you are not only highly skilled in medicine, but also so meticulous in your thinking."
"I have decided that you will continue revising the National Medical Classic, and the special training program for female doctors will continue as usual."
Ye Wanning thanked the emperor and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Upon returning to the Heritage Hall, Liu Ruyan was expelled from her master's school and barred from practicing medicine for life.
After Su Ning was exonerated, she became even more loyal to Ye Wanning, staying by her side day and night to study medicine, making rapid progress.
Ye Wanning looked at the female apprentices diligently studying medicine in the courtyard and felt a great sense of accomplishment.
She would only occasionally recall the way Pei Zhi bandaged her in the dilapidated temple, the warmth of his fingertips, and his reddened ears.
My heart couldn't help but flutter.
Before long, the threshold of the heritage center was almost worn down by the crowds—not those seeking medical help, but those coming to file complaints.
"Dr. Ye, what medicine did you prescribe for my mother? It hasn't helped at all, and she keeps coughing!"
A burly man stormed in, clutching a bag of medicine, followed by a dozen or so villagers who had come to watch the commotion.
"I heard you're using fake medicine! It's all moldy grass roots and tree bark!"
"No wonder my child's fever wouldn't go down after taking the medicine; it turns out you guys are heartless!"
"Shut up! Stop exploiting the people!"
Ye Wanning stood in the middle of the hall, her gray-blue robe slightly wrinkled from being squeezed, but her back was ramrod straight.
She took the medicine packet from the burly man, opened it, smelled it, and frowned: "This is not medicine from the Heritage Hall."
"The licorice in the medicine packet smelled musty, and the bupleurum was infested with insects."
"I personally oversee the quality of all the medicinal herbs in our heritage center. The licorice is sweet and the bupleurum is dry and flawless."
“Brother, the seal on your medicine packet doesn’t belong to the Heritage Hall at all.” Ye Wanning’s voice was calm but firm.
“Our seals are red and have the ‘Lin’ character mark left by my mother.”
"Your seal is white and has no markings whatsoever; it's obvious it's been switched."
The burly man was taken aback. He looked down at the medicine packet, his face showing some unease: "Impossible! I clearly got my medicine from you!"
"Whether it's been switched or not, we'll know soon enough by asking." Ye Wanning turned to the pharmacist, "Wang, when this gentleman came to get his medicine yesterday..."
What kind of medicine did you give me?
Wang, the shop assistant, nodded quickly: "Master, yesterday he prescribed a remedy for coughs."
"I gave you the middle section of licorice root, which has absolutely no musty smell, and the Bupleurum root is also intact, without any insects."
“There were several guests in the hall at the time who can testify to this.”
Several patients waiting nearby nodded in agreement: "Yes, we all saw it. Mr. Wang was very careful in administering the medication."
The burly man's face flushed red: "But my mother didn't get better even after taking the medicine..."
"That's because the medicine you have is fake. It won't cure your illness and will only delay your treatment." Ye Wanning walked up to him.
"Brother, how is your mother now? If it's convenient, I can go with you to see her and provide free treatment."
The burly man hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Ye Wanning instructed Su Ning to keep an eye on the heritage hall, and then followed the burly man home.
The strong man's mother was indeed coughing badly, and she was almost exhausted.
After taking her pulse, Ye Wanning determined that it was a case of wind-cold entering the lungs, which was not serious in itself, but the condition was aggravated by taking fake medicine.
She wrote out a prescription on the spot and told the strong man to go to the heritage center to get the medicine.
He also left some ready-made cough ointment and instructed him to apply it to his mother regularly.
"Dr. Ye, thank you so much! It's all my fault for being so foolish, listening to the rumors and causing trouble." The burly man was extremely grateful.
"It's alright." Ye Wanning smiled. "Rumors stop with the wise. Everyone should be more careful in the future."
"Naturally, I won't fall for the tricks of bad people."
But these inexplicable disturbances keep happening again and again.
Some people say they vomited and had diarrhea after taking the medicine from the Heritage Center, while others say the Heritage Center killed people.
Some people even brought medicinal herbs that had been adulterated with sand to demand compensation, claiming that the heritage center was deliberately harming people.
Ye Wanning knew perfectly well that the Jiangnan Medicine Gang was behind all of this.
The female medical students were all anxious and restless, and Su Ning was so anxious that she developed large blisters on her lips.
"Master, this can't go on! We're almost out of medicinal herbs."
"Even if someone believes in us, without the medicinal herbs, we can't treat their illnesses!"
Soon, the people Ye Wanning sent to the capital to buy medicine returned, but they hadn't managed to buy much.
Those pharmacies either claimed they were out of stock or charged exorbitant prices, acting as if the goods were "rare commodities."
Ye Wanning understood that these pharmacies had been pressured by the Jiangnan Medicine Gang.
The Jiangnan Medicine Gang is backed by the Jiangnan Prince, a powerful force that controls most of the medicinal herb trade in Jiangnan.
Sun Chengzong colluded with the princes of Jiangnan in an attempt to force her to close her shop and prevent her from revising the National Medical Classic.
For a moment, Ye Wanning was at a loss.
Late at night, there was a gentle knock on the back door of the heritage center.
Ye Wanning thought they were there to cause trouble, so she opened the door warily.
A middle-aged man, whom I didn't recognize, was standing at the door, leading a horse-drawn carriage loaded with medicinal herbs.
"Dr. Ye, I've been asked to bring you medicinal herbs." The middle-aged man spoke respectfully.
"Entrusted by someone? Who is it?" Ye Wanning was full of doubts.
“The medicinal herbs are all the kinds you urgently need, but I can’t reveal the client’s name,” the middle-aged man replied.
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