Director Xiao saw Manbao insist, and could only cough lightly and say, "Imperial Doctor Lu, why don’t you go to the main hall to check on His Majesty?"
The Emperor’s condition had improved, Wei Zhi and State Duke Zhao had left the palace early in the morning to go ho and rest, so there was no need to specifically keep an imperial doctor in the main hall.
At this ti, asking Imperial Doctor Lu to go was entirely to send him away.
Imperial Doctor Lu flicked his sleeves and left angrily.
Manbao humd softly twice, causing Director Xiao and the other two to look down at her. If any other colleague acted like this, they would definitely be unable to contain their anger. But seeing the grumpy Zhou Man at this mont, they were not angry.
Director Xiao shook his head, sat down in the main seat, and finally asked, "Doctor Zhou Junior, have you been able to find out what nitrate is?"
"Yes," Manbao’s consciousness dived into the system’s inbox, glanced at Teacher Mo’s reply, and said, "Nitrate is the crystallization left after sea water is boiled dry, while mangxiao is re-extracted nitrate. There are too many impurities in it and it needs further purification."
Director Xiao and the other two were stunned. Imperial Doctor Liu hesitantly said, "So this so-called nitrate is just sea undried, and mangxiao is saltpeter?"
He looked uncertainly at Director Xiao and Imperial Doctor Fang.
Imperial Doctor Fang said, "...Isn’t it crude saltpeter? It’s used to treat intestinal abscesses and swelling pain, the pharmacy in the courtyard has it, doesn’t it?"
Director Xiao said, "According to what Imperial Doctor Zhou said, this should be an alias, but crude saltpeter is taken from salt lakes, not the sea. Imperial Doctor Zhou, why don’t you check if the effects are the sa?"
Manbao finally returned to her senses. She did know about crude saltpeter, why hadn’t she thought of it initially?
She was a bit annoyed, nodded, and decided to ask Teacher Mo about it again later. However, "Since we have crude saltpeter, why not try it first? While I research, you can experint here."
Because she wasn’t sure if Teacher Mo would know, ti changes brought changes to many dicine nas.
Director Xiao didn’t know about this point in ti but knew that the sa dicine had different nas in different places and with different doctors.
He didn’t know whether Zhou Man could find the commonality or difference between mangxiao and crude saltpeter. After considering it for a mont, he nodded, "It’s a good idea, let’s try it first."
Mangxiao may not always be available, but crude saltpeter is certain to be. This waterlon is hard to find outside, but it’s not too difficult in the palace, as it is grown in the imperial estate.
But since it’s an imported item, it might not be well-suited to the Central Plains climate. It doesn’t grow as sweet or as big as the imported ones, and its yield seems lower than those from abroad.
Director Xiao went to find Gu Zhong for a waterlon because, although the Imperial Hospital has its procurent channels, he believed asking Gu Zhong would be most practical at this mont.
When Gu Zhong heard it was for the Emperor’s dicine, he imdiately had soone retrieve it but was curious, "This cold lon and sweet lon are both cold cooling items, yet it isn’t as sweet as sweet lon. How do you use it for dicine?"
Gu Zhong almost didn’t say it plainly, that His Majesty fell ill from eating sweet lon, yet now he needs cold lon to cure the illness?
Director Xiao was worried that the Emperor would switch to eating waterlon in the future and quickly explained, "The Emperor’s illness isn’t because of eating sweet lon..."
He paused and then said, "It seems it could also be said to be because of eating sweet lon."
Gu Zhong: ...
Director Xiao couldn’t help but hit his forehead and said, "Oh, how should I explain this, the sweet lon His Majesty ate was iced, and earlier there were too many ice basins placed in the hall. In the midday, he went outside for a while. With hot air rising in his body, he then entered the hall again. The heat and cold stuck on the surface of his body, and when His Majesty ate the iced sweet lon, the cold air inside his body increased, and because there were ice basins in the hall, the hot air was hidden, so it wasn’t obvious."
Director Xiao was quite regretful and said, "If His Majesty had taken the dicine prescribed by Imperial Doctor Zhou at the ti, probably nothing would have happened."
But he didn’t listen, and then at night, he kicked off the quilt due to heat, and it got cold again in the deep night, alternating hot and cold caused a fever.
But it was not important, as it wasn’t very serious. Director Xiao and the others could treat it, as long as the weather stabilized.
Unfortunately, the weather has been very unstable these days, and the night before was particularly stuffy, which suddenly worsened the Emperor’s condition.
So the Emperor’s illness was half because of his own reasons and half because of the weather.
Gu Zhong listened, seemingly understanding part of it, but he grasped one key point, that the Emperor’s illness was not much related to the sweet lon, as long as the sweet lon wasn’t iced.
So normal sweet lon could still be eaten...
Gu Zhong was generous and directly had soone bring a basket of waterlons, but the Imperial Hospital didn’t have much crude saltpeter. Since it’s a dicine, no one would eat it like food, so Imperial Doctor Fang had people go out to buy it from a pharmacy.
The three of them squatted in front of the lons, looked at the prescription, glanced at the basket of lons, and asked, "So do we have to scoop out the lon flesh?"
Manbao rolled up her sleeves and said, "I’ll do it!"
Director Xiao said, "This is a whole basket, even if we only eat half, you can’t eat that much, can you?"
Manbao tried to secure benefits for her friends, "How about going to Chongwen Pavilion? Let Bai Shan and the others help."
Director Xiao directly vetoed, "Too much trouble, it’s better to do it here, find so palace maids and eunuchs to help."
This dicine, after all, involves His Majesty, so it’s better to have less connection with the Eastern Palace.
Manbao was slightly disappointed, but she quickly recovered. She picked out the biggest lon, asured it, and then used a knife to open a mouth on its top.
The lon flesh was already red, and Manbao found a spoon to scoop and eat it.
The palace maids and eunuchs who were called to help: ...
So their job was just to eat lon?
Director Xiao carefully studied the prescription and said to them, "Don’t eat too much, only about a third."
Manbao ate while saying, "Clearly, we could eat half."
Director Xiao: "...This is just in case, if the lon flesh is too little, where can I find another waterlon at short notice?"
Manbao thought about it and agreed, tilted her head to think for a mont, and then asked, "Director Xiao, can I go back to Chongwen Pavilion in the afternoon?"
Director Xiao thought about the Emperor’s condition and nodded.
Manbao then asked a palace maid for a large porcelain bowl, and when she found a particularly tasty piece, she scooped out a big chunk and put it into the bowl.
Director Xiao saw this, looked at the well-scooped lon in front of her, and then looked at the lon in the big basin in front of everyone else, and couldn’t help asking, "What are you planning to do?"
Manbao replied, "I’m going to take so back to Chongwen Pavilion."
She handed the scooped-out pieces to a palace maid she was more familiar with and asked her to put the bowl into an ice basin to chill it.
Director Xiao shook his head while watching, and since there was enough lon flesh, he didn’t mind.
In the side hall, scooping out lon flesh was quite enjoyable. At first, the palace maids and eunuchs didn’t dare to eat much, but once they realized they really could eat it, they started joining in.
However, they didn’t eat freely, so there was still quite a lot of scooped-out lon flesh left in the basin.
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