To test medicine on one's own body
In the following ten plus days, twenty people each day, hundreds of children were caught and put into small wooden houses for experimentation.
Only a few children barely passed, and it was considered good if one or two out of ten passed. Those who didn't pass either died or were poisoned and were expelled from the mansion. Only these passing children were kept in the medicine hall.
Only thirty or forty children who had not been given the medicine remained in the small courtyard.
These children, every evening, have a bowl of porridge and several steamed buns. Ye Qin is among them, he successfully hid for over ten days, dragging it out until now without going to take the medicine test. Now eating porridge and steamed buns, he has completely lost his sense of taste, every day thinking about how to delay time, trying to come up with a way to get past the medicine test.
The remaining children were almost all very agile and dodged with skills that were no less than those of Ye Qin.
That day, Ye Qin was tripped by a commoner child from the county town and fell to the ground. As a result, he was caught by a brocade-clad young man, dragged to the high platform, forced to sign the life-and-death contract in front of Zhang Da, and then thrown into a small wooden house.
The small wooden house was not big, with only one table, two stools, and a middle-aged man wearing a green robe. On the table there was a wooden tray, with exactly 100 different kinds of herbs arranged on it. There was also a large incense burner on the table, with many burnt-out incense ashes inside.
The middle-aged man sat on the stool, looking at him coldly.
"Kid, you should also know the rules for testing medicine, so I won't say more. Pick one and eat it. After finishing one, wait for a stick of incense time, then eat the second one, all the way until eating nine or more. If you take less than nine, you'll be poisoned, don't expect this doctor to save you, you'll be kicked out of the house directly. If you take nine or more and aren't poisoned, then you're a person from the Medicine Hall."
Ye Qin suddenly recognized the man in green clothes, who was actually Wang Caizhen, a medicinal herb master he had met at the gate of the Medicinal Herb Hall. He couldn't help but be shocked. Unexpectedly, it was this person himself supervising the trial of the medicine, and his heart was filled with resentment and some fear. He carefully stuck his buttocks to the stool, lowered his head, and looked at the medicinal herbs on the table.
His heart was already in a mess.
There are 100 medicinal herbs here, with 50 being poisonous, accounting for a full half. There are 30 ordinary non-toxic medicinal herbs and 20 detoxifying medicinal herbs.
It's likely that half of them are poisonous weeds.
Unless he can identify which herbs are poisonous and which are not.
But how could he possibly recognize these strange and unusual herbs?
If he accidentally eats a poisonous plant, the severe case will die immediately and be abandoned in the wilderness. In lighter cases, due to poisoning, he was expelled from the house, nor could he afford to go to the medical clinic or pharmacy in the county town for treatment.
Ye Qin's heart was inevitably filled with a sense of desolation and sorrow.
The great cow had not yet entered the medicine hall when, due to its leg injury, it was swept out of the door by Wang, the medicine master, and drifted into the county town with an uncertain fate.
He has now entered the Medicine Hall, but is facing a life-or-death crisis and is not far from death.
In his grief and indignation, Ye Qin gradually forgot his fear and instead calmed down, staring at the herbs in the wooden tray.
As for herbal medicine, Ye Qin was not completely ignorant.
He was born as a common hunter in the countryside, and at the age of eight or nine, he had already followed his old father to hunt in the mountains, serving as an assistant. In three years, he had entered the deep mountains and forests at least 20 times, each time staying for more than ten days, even one or two months. When hungry in the mountains, they would dig up wild vegetables to eat. If they accidentally suffered minor injuries, they would also find some hemostatic herbs to apply.
The old man wanted him to be a hunter in the future, so he taught him how to identify some medicinal herbs. If it weren't for this year's severe drought and the scarcity of game in the mountains, he would probably still be staying in the countryside as his little hunter.
Ye Qin widened his eyes and looked at the hundreds of herbs on the plate, carefully distinguishing them. His old father had taught him to identify these herbs before, but some were similar to those here, although it had been a long time and he had forgotten many of them.
Ye Qin racked his brains, recalling the herbal medicines he had tasted in the past, and found that several of them were actually the antidote herbs he had eaten before. He picked out the three flavors of antidote herbs he had eaten before and put them on this side closer to himself.
Wang Caizhen lit an incense stick and inserted it into the incense burner on the table, then ignited it. She watched Ye Qin's movements with a cold eye, not urging him to hurry up.
Ye Qin picked out the medicinal herbs he had eaten, and almost all of the remaining ones were unrecognizable. After hesitating for a moment, he began to categorize the remaining medicinal herbs. He didn't recognize most of them, but knew a little common sense.
The colorful herbs in the old forest, extremely fresh herbs, pungent and irritating herbs, smelly herbs, these types are likely to be poisonous weeds. Also, the most toxic thing in the deep forest is mushrooms, which can kill you the fastest, never eat if you don't recognize them.
Ye Qin put the plate away, with twenty or thirty stalks of herbs in bright colors, foul odor and fishy smell, including a few mushrooms, regardless of whether they were poisonous or not, carefully poked them to a place far away from himself for safety.
The remaining sixty or seventy herbs, he didn't dare guarantee that the rest were absolutely non-toxic. Because some of the herbs in the old forest, even if they were odorless and colorless, had severe toxicity. He desperately recalled the herbs he had seen before, picking out some ordinary non-toxic herbs that he had some impression of.
Wang Caizheng was somewhat surprised.
He has supervised over thirty or forty children taking medicine in the past ten days, many of whom closed their eyes and took a handful, putting it directly into their mouths, completely relying on luck to survive. A small number of children recognized some herbs and only picked ones they had seen before to eat, avoiding those they hadn't seen.
This kid is quite meticulous and serious about distinguishing between poisonous, antidote, and ordinary non-toxic herbs, which is not often seen. Although a large part of the herbs are classified incorrectly, the reason is probably that this kid doesn't recognize these herbs, rather than the classification method being wrong. This shows that his intelligence is above average, not comparable to ordinary children.
Wang Caizheng was secretly pleased.
The "trial medicine" test of the Medicine Hall, on the surface, tests whether one recognizes medicinal herbs, but in reality, it tests courage, wisdom, and calmness. The courage to face life and death, whether foolish or clever, when mistakenly ingesting poisonous plants, being poisoned, and falling into a desperate situation, can one still remain calm and clear-headed.
As a medicinal herb collector, one often has to venture alone into extremely dangerous terrain to collect precious herbs. In such a life-or-death solitary place, there is no one else to help them. Identifying the herbs is important, but mental clarity and calmness are even more crucial; if not calm enough, even if able to identify the herbs, panicking in desperate situations can lead to death.
Children who participate in the trial drug, as long as they occupy any one of bravery, wisdom and calmness, will be exempt from taking ten herbs.
As for those who recklessly stuff herbs into their mouths, not taking their own lives seriously, relying on luck and chance to get by, once they mistakenly ingest poisonous plants, they will psychologically collapse. Those children, even if they enter the pharmacy hall, are bound to die sooner or later.
After a while, Ye Qin picked out three therapeutic poisonous weeds and four ordinary weeds from the hundred medicinal herbs. He was quite sure that eating these seven would not poison him.
However, two more are still needed to make up nine.
Sweat began to appear on Ye Qin's forehead.
These two herbs, as long as one of them is highly toxic, it's enough to cost him his life.
"It's almost time for incense, eat one immediately!"
Wang Caizong's icy voice suddenly rang out, and he pointed at the incense burner.
Ye Qin suddenly looked up at the incense burner and saw that the incense was used to measure time. Unbeknownst to him, the incense stick in the burner had almost burned out and was about to extinguish.
He could only pick up a common herb that had been identified, and stuff it into his mouth. With a hint of fear in his heart, he prayed that he wouldn't mistakenly poison himself.
Jian Ye Qin ate a herb, and Wang Yao Shi immediately took out the second incense stick and lit it in the incense burner.
Smoke and mist swirled around him, and every time he smelled a fragrant incense stick, Ye Qin was forced to eat another medicinal herb.
Time is passing bit by bit.
In the blink of an eye, five incense sticks had burned out in the censer. Ye Qin had also eaten four ordinary herbs and one medicinal herb, leaving him with two more medicinal herbs in his hand. However, he was growing increasingly anxious because he still hadn't been able to pick out any non-toxic herbs that he felt confident about from the large pile of remaining herbs.
Ye Qin's heart was in a flurry.
What's wrong?
At this moment, Ye Qin suddenly stared blankly, looking at the two antidote herbs in his hand!
He remembered something, recalling that Zhang Dazong had once said that if he ate enough fifty to seventy herbs, he could directly worship under the deputy hall master.
But Zhang Dazong said that there are fifty poisonous weeds here, which can be poisoned. Then how is it possible to eat seventy herbs?
Ye Qin suddenly had a movement in his heart, could it be that the poisonous grass can also be eaten? The twenty strands of therapeutic grass medicine here can cure the poison of twenty strands of poisonous grass, adding up to seventy strands! Right, it must be so. Otherwise, it's impossible for someone to eat enough seventy strands of grass medicine and not die.
He shifted his gaze to the poisonous weeds he had pushed far away.
Ye Qin recognized the two antidote herbs in his hand, and naturally recognized the corresponding poisonous herbs. Poisonous herbs and antidote herbs are a pair, first recognize the poisonous herbs, then you can take the antidote herbs to treat the symptoms.
What's the use of just recognizing the antidote grass?
Ye Qin immediately reached out and took over the two poisonous weeds. These two poisonous weeds were actually common poisonous weeds in the countryside, and their toxicity was not severe. Occasionally, when livestock ate grass, they would eat them and get poisoned and sick. If people ate them, they would also be poisoned.
Wang Caizhen's expression changed slightly as she looked at Ye Qin with a profound meaning in her eyes.
Not too many nor too few, exactly nine plants.
Using poisonous weeds to counteract the poison of other poisonous weeds is permissible.
Eating one more will reach ten, which is the minimum requirement for entering the Medicine Pavilion and becoming a Medicine Gathering Disciple.
Whether this last one is poisonous or not is no longer important, Adopting Medicine Hall will cure it.
After eating more than one plant, the treatment in the medicine hall can be improved by a fraction.
In this trial, Ye Qin ate a total of eleven herbs. He was poisoned by the eleventh herb but couldn't find the corresponding antidote among the pile of therapeutic herbs. The trial was stopped by Wang Yao Shi who then administered an antidote to him.
Wang Cai, the pharmacist, said in a cold voice: "Well done. From now on, you are an apprentice of the Medicine Hall and also my disciple. After all the apprentices finish their medicine trial tomorrow, you and other successful apprentices will follow me for training."
"Yes!"
Ye Qin carefully concealed his resentment towards Wang Cai in his heart, very honestly nodded and retreated from the small wooden hut.
After all, he was just a teenager who used to be a hunter and had just passed through the Gate of Death into the Medicine Hall, becoming an apprentice. And Wang's status as a medicine master was revered, just from the respectful attitude of those gatekeepers and young men in brocade towards Wang, it could be seen that he couldn't pose any threat to Wang at all.
If you show even a hint of resentment, it's just looking for death, and there's no way to get any justice back for the big cow.
When he walked out of the small wooden house, Ye Qin only felt that his whole body was wet all over as if he had been splashed with water, and his feet were weak and floating. He didn't feel any joy now, but just wanted to find a place to sleep immediately and make up for the physical and mental strength consumed in these few hours.
A proud girl in brocade led him to a courtyard to rest.
The next child waiting for medication was caught by the young men in brocade clothes, and was sent to the small wooden house where Wang Yao Shi was trying out medicine amidst their terrified cries.
