Huang Xining looked at Lin Yi's eager expression and smiled helplessly. "Yes, the biggest shortage now is suitable steel. I'll draw the blueprints for the steel pins and plates later. See if they can be made with the current craftsmanship. If you can really gather all of these, I will certainly give it my best try." His tone turned more serious. "After all, we're fellow disciples, and you care so much. I can't let a fellow villager down."
Done! Huang Xining was on board. Now everything was ready except for—Lin Yi whirled around to look at Gu Fang, her eyes immediately glistening with a pleading light. "Husband, let's try, okay?"
Gu Fang, who hadn't really understood terms like "steel pins" or "distillation" but had been listening quietly all along, met her pleading gaze. He was momentarily stunned, then let out a soft sigh.
"Alright," he said in a gentle voice tinged with indulgence. "Seeing Xiaoyi go to such lengths for me, how could I refuse?"
Yay! She knew it!
Lin Yi's eyes lit up, and she immediately pressed the advantage. "No time to waste. Brother Huang, please draw the blueprints now."
Huang Xining was straightforward. "Fine. Just give me a quiet room with paper and ink." He paused, then added, "Also, have someone find some willow bark, remove the rough outer layer, and sun-dry it for three days. I'll prepare aspirin on the side." Since he was determined to save, he would give it his all. For both public and private reasons, he was willing to go the extra mile for this general who guarded the border.
Lin Yi nodded repeatedly. "Great! Thank you, Brother Huang! By the way, why don't you stay in the mansion? It'll be more convenient for discussions."
Huang Xining nodded in agreement. A Fu immediately led him to the study to draw the blueprints and sent someone to quickly collect willow bark. The side chamber, which had been full of conversation moments ago, was now left with only Gu Fang and Lin Yi.
The sudden silence made the air inexplicably heavy.
"Husband," Lin Yi spoke first after a moment of silence. "You probably didn't understand a lot of what was said just now. Let me explain it to you slowly, okay?"
Sensing the worry in Lin Yi's voice, Gu Fang gently took her hand, wrapping his palm around her fingers, and looked at her with soft eyes. "Alright, Xiaoyi, speak, and I'll listen."
"What Brother Huang means by surgery is... he needs to cut open the flesh of your right leg until he can see the bone." Lin Yi paused, her voice unconsciously tightening. "Then he'll use a special steel plate to fix the broken bones together so they can slowly grow back and heal. And..." she lowered her head, speaking slower and slower, "once the bone is healed, that steel plate will probably have to be taken out. When that happens, it will likely need to be cut open again."
Her voice grew softer, and she almost dared not look at Gu Fang's expression. Such a bloody, unheard-of procedure would be seen by people of this era as akin to scraping bones and cutting out hearts—almost sorcery. Would Gu Fang be scared? Would he think she had gone mad?
But Gu Fang just listened quietly, his expression unchanged. Only after she finished speaking did he slowly say, "I already understood the surgery part. What I didn't understand were the things you mentioned later—'sulfonamide,' 'distillation,' 'aspirin,' and so on."
Lin Yi was startled and abruptly looked up. "So you... as soon as you understood what the surgery was, you were willing to agree?"
"Yes," Gu Fang said, a faint smile appearing in his eyes. "From your discussion, I could tell it's extremely difficult to gather all these conditions. Since Xiaoyi is going to such lengths for me, how could I hold you back? Besides, this is my own body. When everyone said there was no hope, now someone has stepped forward and said it might be curable, and laid it out logically—naturally, I'm willing to try."
Gu Fang squeezed Lin Yi's hand, his tone gentle and earnest. "So, Xiaoyi, can you tell me now what those things are?"
"Mm!" Lin Yi's heart warmed, and she nodded vigorously. "Actually, they're all related. I'll explain together. There are countless tiny invisible things around us called bacteria. People get sick because these bacteria get into the body. When performing surgery, cutting open the flesh makes it easy for bacteria to enter, so we need to kill them beforehand."
She explained slowly, her pace gradually steadying. "A sterile room is a room with as few bacteria as possible. All the instruments, including the steel plates and pins that will go into your bones, must be thoroughly wiped and disinfected with alcohol."
Gu Fang pondered for a moment and suddenly asked, "Is this alcohol related to liquor?"
Lin Yi nodded. "Yes, alcohol is the essence distilled from liquor. Liquor makes people drunk because it contains ethanol, but the liquor we usually drink has very little ethanol. Distillation is a method of purification. Distill once, you get very aromatic and strong liquor; distill three times repeatedly, you get extremely high-concentration ethanol, which is alcohol. This stuff absolutely cannot be ingested; even a little can harm you, but applied to skin or objects, it can kill bacteria."
"Applied to the skin..." Gu Fang's brow furrowed slightly as if thinking. "So if soldiers are injured, applying alcohol to the wound could prevent bacteria from entering?"
"Uh, yes."
Lin Yi hadn't expected him to immediately think of the battlefield; she was startled before replying. "But alcohol is very strong. It causes intense pain when it touches a wound. Most people can't bear it."
Gu Fang was silent for a moment, but didn't dwell on that point. Instead, he asked, "And what about anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics?"
Seeing his keen gaze, Lin Yi knew he was taking it to heart, so she explained in detail. "Inflammation is a common reaction when the body is damaged. For example, an injury will swell, turn red, feel hot, and hurt—that's inflammation. Anti-inflammatory drugs are medications that calm these reactions, reducing fever and pain. As for antibiotics, they specifically target bacteria, directly killing or inhibiting them. The sulfonamide Brother Huang made is such a drug. Aspirin focuses on anti-inflammation, while allicin has antibacterial and bacteriostatic effects. Each has its use."
After listening, Gu Fang's eyes brightened. "According to what you say, if these medicines were used on the battlefield, wouldn't most of the wounded soldiers be able to survive?"
Hearing this question, Lin Yi was stunned for a moment before coming back to her senses. "With these medicines, the survival chances of wounded soldiers on the battlefield can indeed be greatly increased. But I'm not sure if Brother Huang's sulfonamide and aspirin can be mass-produced. If they can't, everything is just talk." She paused, then continued, "As for alcohol and allicin, alcohol requires a large amount of liquor to distill, but the process requires very low technical skill, so mass production isn't difficult. However, allicin is extremely hard to store; two pecks of garlic only yield about a fingernail-sized amount, and it doesn't keep long. That's why I said I'll prepare it fresh for your surgery."
Lin Yi had thought Gu Fang was asking these questions to confirm the surgery's safety, but she hadn't expected his thoughts had already flown to the Northern Frontier battlefield and the soldiers who had fought and bled alongside him. Such a magnanimous heart; no wonder he was regarded as a bright moon by the people of Great Qian.
After hearing this, Gu Fang didn't show disappointment. Instead, he nodded calmly. "Having alcohol alone is already good. I do have some family resources, and this money is useless to me. If alcohol can be made, could I trouble Xiaoyi to prepare extra? I want to send it to the Northern Frontier army."
Lin Yi was taken aback.
"Some family resources"? She recalled the simple furnishings of the General's Mansion, then thought of the elaborately decorated home of the Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, who held a much lower rank than Gu Fang. Even his home was far more luxurious than the General's Mansion. No matter how she looked at it, it didn't seem like just "some resources."
"Husband, where do your resources come from?" Lin Yi couldn't help blurting out.
Gu Fang was momentarily caught off guard by her question, then answered frankly. "My mother was born into a merchant family and had a talent for business. After she married into the mansion, she not only managed the existing properties to flourish but also used the surplus to purchase many well-located storefronts and rented them out. Although my mother has passed away, these properties are managed by experienced shopkeepers. I don't bother with them day-to-day; I just collect the rent on time."
Lin Yi asked out of curiosity, "So how much rent do you collect each month?"
Gu Fang thought for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly, "About five thousand taels or so."
How much?!
Five thousand taels?!
Lin Yi's mind quickly did the conversion—in modern terms, that would be over twenty million per month?!
Her eyes went wide as she stared at the general before her, whose brows and eyes were as calm as still water. For a moment, she was speechless.
So it turned out she hadn't just married a war god, but also a top-tier, understated landlord?
"Five thousand taels... five thousand taels..." Lin Yi repeated dazedly, then suddenly grabbed Gu Fang's hand, her eyes sparkling like stars. "With this amount coming in every month, what's there to worry about for mass-producing medicine! Husband, this isn't just 'some family resources'; this is absolute confidence!"
Hearing this, Gu Fang's eyes flickered slightly. "You mean those medicines can be mass-produced?"
Lin Yi regained her composure but shook her head. "Allicin is hard to preserve with current technology; it can't be mass-produced. Alcohol is definitely no problem. As for Brother Huang's medicines, I'll ask him then."
Hearing Lin Yi say that at least alcohol could be made, Gu Fang's brows relaxed and a faint smile curved at the corners of his mouth. "Then on behalf of the Northern Frontier soldiers, I thank Xiaoyi in advance."
"Don't, don't say that," Lin Yi quickly waved her hands. "This is just what should be done. Why aren't you concerned about yourself first? These things will be used on you first when the time comes."
But Gu Fang smiled, his tone placid. "Xiaoyi doesn't need to worry. I know you've all done your utmost, and I trust you. Since you've tried your best, regardless of the outcome, there will be no regrets."
Alright. Maybe she really was too anxious. "Husband," Lin Yi composed herself and asked the most practical question, "Does Great Qian currently have steelmaking techniques?"
Gu Fang looked at Lin Yi with a smile. "Of course there are. But I don't know what level of quality you need for this steel. However," he suddenly leaned in close, lowering his voice so that his warm breath brushed her ear, "does Xiaoyi know that iron smelting and steelmaking are all state-run? Private smelting is equivalent to rebellion."
Lin Yi's pupils contracted, and her whole body stiffened for a moment.
That's right—how could she forget this most fundamental point? In this era, salt and iron were government monopolies, let alone steel that could be used to make weapons. This was bad. Was it really going to get stuck at this step?
Author's Note:
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Here's a note to fellow transmigrators who've had bad luck: In ancient times, never try to make penicillin. There are currently about 100,000 known types of mold, and the vast majority cannot produce penicillin. So if you try to handcraft penicillin without professional equipment, you'll probably just end up with a mixed-bacteria gift pack.