Haisha Town, in the inner house of Chen Huaixiu's family.

"Mercury poisoning?!" The thick-browed couple exclaimed in unison, "How is that possible?"

Li Shizhen snorted in displeasure: "Why, do you doubt my diagnosis?"

"No, no," the thick-browed woman waved her hands and said, "But sir, can you let Master Teng take a closer look? We are all sailors on our island, and there is no one who makes alchemy or gilds. How could there be something like mercury?"

"Yes sir, there is no such thing on the island." The man with thick eyebrows affirmed.

Mrs. Shen bit her lip tightly and nodded, "Xiao Teng has never been exposed to this thing since he was a child."

"Whether you have been exposed or not is not up to you to decide. The symptoms are the final word." Li Shizhen was unmoved. He snorted and said, "No one knows more about mercury poisoning than me."

Zhao Hao nodded, thinking that this was true. Li Shizhen had been a health doctor for Emperor Jiajing, who was a heavy mercury lover...

Jiajing not only took heavy metals for a long time, but also often made elixirs himself, and gave the elixirs he made as rewards to his eunuchs and ministers.

This not only saves money, but also allows you to have someone test it for poison first. Only eat it if it is ok.

At that time, all the emperor's close ministers were equally affected and none of them stopped taking drugs.

For example, Lu Bing, the foster brother of Emperor Jiajing, was the man most trusted by the late emperor, so he naturally took the most drugs.

He practiced martial arts since he was young and had a strong physique. No matter how cold the weather was, he only wore a single piece of clothing and could easily climb over a wall more than ten feet high.

Even such a strong man could not withstand the years of heavy metal body training and died suddenly at the age of fifty, causing the Lu family to be destroyed.

The weak were even worse off. Grand Secretary Yuan Wei became seriously ill after only a few years of practice and died on his way home after asking for leave.

Another Grand Secretary, Yan Ne, was also in poor health. Seeing Yuan Wei's fate, he was so scared that he quickly begged for death. He went home and asked Li Shizhen to help him detoxify and recuperate, and only then did he survive.

As for Elder Yan and Elder Xu, I don't know if they are gifted or just cheating. They took a lot of drugs, but nothing serious happened.

However, during the last few years of his reign, Lord Yan acted inconsistently and repeatedly offended the emperor with his words; Lord Xu was ill in the past two years, which was probably due to mercury.

It is said that when Xu Jie retired and returned home, he specifically asked Yan Ne for a detoxification prescription when he passed by Changshu. It is not known whether it is true or not.

But Li Shizhen resigned from the Imperial Hospital in anger and returned to his hometown to write his "Compendium of Materia Medica" because he tried to persuade Jiajing to "treasure life and stay away from elixirs" in vain.

So he knew so much about mercury poisoning that it would not be an exaggeration to say that no one knew it better than him.

~~

Li Shizhen took out a pair of gold needles from the medicine box and injected the needles into the child's head.

He also asked Mrs. Shen to use moxa sticks to moxibustion Xiao Teng's Hegu acupoint to calm the mind, regulate qi and relieve pain.

After acupuncture treatment, the child finally regained consciousness and stopped crying. He lay in Chen Huaixiu's arms without moving.

"What a miracle doctor! He really is a miracle doctor." The thick-browed couple were completely convinced.

"Stop talking nonsense. We're just trying to calm him down. We haven't cured him yet." Li Shizhen didn't buy it.

"Let's take a look at the environment where the children live first." Master Zhao suggested in a deep voice.

"That's right." Li Shizhen nodded and said, "Looking at his condition, it's probably caused by long-term exposure to mercury."

"Oh, okay, please come this way, sir and gentleman." Mrs. Shen woke up as if from a dream and quickly invited the two to go into the east wing.

Before entering the house, Zhao Hao reminded: "Sir, you should take precautions first."

Li Shizhen said with admiration: "I didn't expect that you are also very knowledgeable."

The two men stopped again and asked Gao Wu to go to the boat to get the equipment.

While waiting for the equipment, Li Shizhen asked Chen Huaixiu, "He must have been ill for some time, right?"

"Yes, half a month ago, the child's temperament suddenly changed, and he started yelling and even had hallucinations and delusions." Chen Huaixiu sighed and recalled:

"At first I thought it was a haunting, so I asked a shaman to exorcise the evil spirit, and I also went to the Tianhou Temple of the Sea God Temple to burn incense and pray, but it was still useless."

"You just remembered to see a doctor now?" Li Shizhen snorted unhappily, and then said, "Then he should have shown signs of abnormality at least a month ago."

"It's true." The thick-browed woman exclaimed, "About a month ago, Master Teng started complaining of headaches, couldn't sleep at night, had no energy during the day, couldn't concentrate on reading, and didn't want to eat. Madam called a doctor, who prescribed him some medicine to calm his nerves and help him digest food, but it didn't work."

Then she added quietly, "That's why we asked the gods for help later."

"What kind of quacks are these?!" Li Shizhen always finds a way to scold people. "The whites of this child's eyes are red and his eye bags are blue. Can't they see that?"

"They said this is caused by long-term insomnia..." the woman with thick eyebrows muttered.

"You're such a little brat, and you still have insomnia?" Li Shizhen snorted, "The mercury lines on his teeth are so obvious, can't they see it?!"

"Mercury wire?" Chen Huaixiu and the other two looked puzzled.

"There is a thin blue-black line where his teeth and gums meet." Li Shizhen pointed to the child's mouth.

The child bared his teeth as if to bite someone, allowing everyone to see the blue line where his gums met.

"Hiss..." Everyone gasped and no longer dared to doubt Doctor Li's judgment.

"Does he usually live alone?" Li Shizhen asked.

"No, he has a wet nurse living with him." Chen Huaixiu replied.

"Where are the people?"

"I haven't been feeling well these past few days, so I asked for leave and went home to rest."

"Come and let me see her." Li Shizhen said in a deep voice.

"Okay." Chen Huaixiu ordered the woman with thick eyebrows to call someone.

~~

After a cup of tea, Gao Wu came back carrying a wooden box.

Chen Huaixiu and others stared in amazement as Master Zhao and Doctor Li put on large double-layer masks, protective goggles, rubber gloves, and full-body protective suits.

"What's this?" The man with thick eyebrows was frightened.

"Don't talk nonsense, go out and guard." Chen Huaixiu whispered, "No one is allowed to come in."

"Yes." The thick-browed man responded in a deep voice.

"Mrs. Shen, you'd better protect yourself." Zhao Hao pointed to the remaining set of protective equipment and said, "If there is any mercury left in the house, it will also harm your health."

Chen Huaixiu smiled bitterly, thinking that I had stayed in the house for a long time today. But she couldn't bear to reject the other party's kindness, so with the help of Zhao Hao, she also armed herself.

The three of them then went into the east wing.

It can be divided into two rooms, the outer room is where the young man studies and lives, it has a desk, bookshelves, and all the necessary study tools.

The inner room is his bedroom.

Li Shizhen began to examine it carefully.

Zhao Hao pretended to help look for a while, but then he lost his patience and turned the pages of the book on the table with tweezers. He asked Mrs. Shen, "Is it you who taught this child to read?"

Madam Shen shook her head and said, "It's the gang leader. Although I can read a few words, how dare I compete with a scholar for a student?"

"Oh?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but laugh, "You manage such a big gang, and you still have time to teach students?"

"When my late husband was alive, I asked Xiao Teng to be his disciple. This year, I also mentioned that we should find another teacher for Xiao Teng so that he would not delay the important work of the gang." Then Mrs. Shen replied, "But when Xiao Teng grows up, he will be the leader of the gang. Don't let those corrupt scholars teach him to be a nerd. It's better for him to teach himself."

"What a nice person." Mr. Zhao smiled and closed the book.

ps. The first of four consecutive updates. Please give me your monthly votes!