Volume 2 Chapter 29: Chao Ran Talks about the Properties of Medicines
Duanmu'er screamed in surprise, then looked down at Wan Xiu who was trying to hold back, and said, "My dear girl! You were so engrossed in play that you forgot about it and almost got roasted!" After that, he dragged Wan Xiu into the pavilion and closed the door with a bang.
Lin Jianlan was startled, not knowing what he was doing. He hesitated for a moment outside the door, gritted his teeth, pushed the door open, and ran in. He saw Wan Xiu lying flat on the bed in the inner room with his eyes closed and his hair wet. Duanmu'er was holding a small jar in his hand and applying it on Wan Xiu's arm. The ointment was not crystal clear and fragrant like the one Wan Xiu usually used, but instead was like black mud with an unpleasant smell.
Duanmu'er saw Lin Jianlan and said softly, "After being exposed to the sun, her wrist is in unbearable pain. I have pressed her sleeping point and asked her to rest here. We will talk outside."
Seeing that he looked serious and had no intention of joking, Lin Jianlan followed Duan Muer out, although he didn't understand why. Duan Muer opened the door and invited in the people who were waiting outside. After introducing them one by one, he sighed and said, "Brother Lin, I have no way to cure her disease."
Lin Jianlan had just sat down when he heard this and immediately stood up and asked in surprise: "Master? What about you just now?"
Duanmu Er said, "It was just a way to prolong her life, not to cure the disease. When I asked her about her condition just now, she said that although she used to feel inexplicable pain after being exposed to the sun, like a burn, she felt that her body was slightly stronger than before. To be honest, I don't know why."
Lin Jianlan exclaimed, "Ah!" He thought to himself, "No wonder she was so weak at home that day. Later, in order to let me know that she was covered in black veil all day, she got her palms sunburned. Since that day, her spirits have improved a little. I thought it was because of her mood." Thinking of this, he became a little confused and said, "Then why didn't she..."
Duanmu Er said, "Alas, you don't understand a girl's mind. In front of the person she loves, not only her appearance, but also her hands, must be perfect. If you see a pair of red, swollen and festering hands, you will feel uncomfortable, and her heart must be broken. So, she was determined not to go out just now, and I, the Taoist priest, had to drag her out."
Everyone was speechless. Lin Jianlan had never expected Wan Xiu to love him so deeply. His throat choked slightly, but he remained calm and said, "If that's the case, how many days will it take to recover after suffering like this?"
Duan Muer said, "Silly boy, do you think she can suffer whenever she wants? A burn will take at least ten days or half a month to heal. If the skin is completely healed, it will take one or two months. Her physical strength has barely improved, but it can only last for a few days. Therefore, I say that this method is really a drop in the bucket for her disease, it will only delay it."
Lin Jianlan was very sad when he heard this. He had come here hoping that Duan Muer would be able to help him, but to his surprise, there was still no solution. Duan Muer saw that he was sad and said, "You can also go and see other doctors. Maybe there is a way to cure it. But I'm not bragging. If I can't cure it, I'm afraid others may not have any ideas either."
Mo Dan shook his head and said, "Old man, the first half of your sentence is correct, why did you add the second half?"
Lin Jianlan forced a smile and said, "Master Duanmu is already very knowledgeable. He is kind-hearted and doesn't want to say some vague words of comfort that might cause misunderstandings among the younger generation."
Duanmu'er must have been extremely disappointed when he heard his low voice, and said dejectedly: "The way you talk makes it seem as if I, the Taoist priest, have done nothing." After saying that, he looked at the roof and sighed repeatedly, but from time to time he stole a glance at Lin Jianlan's expression.
Lin Jianlan couldn't help but smile and said, "Master, do you think I look like someone who is always frowning and sighing? Anyway, it is some progress."
Duanmuer jumped up and said, "Not bad, not bad, but Brother Lin, you still need to think about how to persuade her to accept this medical treatment."
Lin Jianlan said, "This junior will naturally try his best to convince her. Oh, there is one more thing!" At this point, he took out a small green bottle from his chest and handed it to Duanmu Er, saying, "Master, can you help me take a look? This is the medicine she brought with her for treating burns. Her parents got it for her from somewhere back then, and there is not much left now. Can you write a prescription based on this?"
Duanmu'er took the green bottle and opened the cap. Everyone around him could smell a faint fragrance. Duanmu'er murmured, "What a nice fragrance!" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath from the bottle mouth. He sometimes pondered and sometimes shook his head. After a while, he put the stopper back in and said proudly, "I can smell it. Although her recipe is fragrant and looks good, it is not as effective as the black mud prepared by the old Taoist priest!"
Lin Jianlan said happily: "Master, please be a good person and give me the recipe, please?"
Duan Mu Er said, "Come on, come on. There must be a condition. Why don't you say anything?"
Lin Jianlan smiled and said, "Master, don't you want to know why I extinguished the sandalwood as soon as I got up the mountain? I can tell you now."
Duan Muer hurriedly said, "Hurry up and tell me," but then he stopped talking and said solemnly, "I won't listen."
Lin Jianlan knew that he was obviously itching to have sex, but he was still pretending to be arrogant. He was quite amused in his heart, so he ignored him and just sat aside, telling him about how he came out of Wan Xiu's house and entered the temple and was inexplicably poisoned. Several people listened attentively. Nian Xiaoxia couldn't help but ask: "How did you get rid of the poison in the end?"
Lin Jianlan looked at Duanmu'er, but saw that he immediately sat up straight, looking straight ahead, and continued: "I already know a little about how to cure this poison. This poison was originally put on Miss Wan and spread through her, but I didn't feel anything strange when I was with her, because this poison needs sandalwood to trigger. As for why her mother knew that she was curing her daughter, but still poisoned her, it was because someone behind her was plotting against Taoist Duanmu."
Duanmuer heard this and said angrily, "It must be that Doctor Cheng, right? He is a skilled doctor, but he is so insidious as to poison me."
Lin Jianlan continued, "Taoist temples usually burn incense. If one smells the scent of Wan Xiu and sandalwood at the same time , one's bones and muscles will become weak and unable to move. This is what Doctor Cheng did. When we met Abbot Tanzong again, he was the only one who lost his internal strength. The other monks did not seem to be poisoned. I thought that they often smelled the scent of incense and candles in the temple, but later it was only Abbot Tanzong who felt the poison because he felt Miss Wan's pulse out of kindness. However, the poison was not that deep, and he could move without any problem. He just lost his internal strength."
Mo Dan tried his luck and said in surprise, "It's true! I've only been in the room for a short while and 20% of my internal energy has disappeared!"
Lin Jianlan said, "Is that so? It seems that the poison emitted by Miss Wan has become much weaker. That Wu Chang chased me because he had smelled the scent of sandalwood in the temple. The air in the woods was flowing, and when we fought, he unknowingly became like me, without any internal strength. Later, people from the Yukou Division were involved, and I had to take a risk in a hurry. I just hoped that everyone would have no internal strength, and maybe I could save this temporary crisis. But I didn't expect that the poison in Miss Wan was so strong. They all collapsed on the ground, and I was the only one who could move because I held my breath."
Mo Dan lost 20% of his internal energy, and became a little anxious. He asked, "Then how did you cure this poison?"
Lin Jianlan said, "All these people have collapsed, but Miss Wan is the same as usual. I was a little surprised. She is out and about, eating and drinking as she pleases, and her clothes are inevitably changed. I have also changed all the cars. Where can I get the antidote to keep her safe? Then a thought flashed through my mind, and I remembered the poetry collection she always kept in her hand. If this poetry collection had been soaked in the antidote, wouldn't it be just the right time for her to read it and detoxify?"
Duanmuer finally couldn't bear it anymore and said, "It's hard for Brother Lin to have such an idea in such an emergency. But to be honest, Doctor Cheng's plan is really clever. He just didn't expect you to go somewhere else first. If it was an ordinary place, it would be fine. There would be no burning of incense and candles. If it was a temple, female donors are generally not allowed to enter. You will come to Baiyun Temple sooner or later. His plan can be said to be foolproof. Who could have expected that you would enter the temple and trigger the poison in advance?"
Lin Jianlan said, "So it's still a coincidence. If I had come directly to Baiyun Temple, I would have made a big mistake. Fortunately, Miss Wan's mother was unwilling to use the poison on her daughter. Although the poison is strong, it is not life-threatening."
Duanmu'er laughed and said, "What kind of poison is this? This trick has been around for more than ten years!"
Lin Jianlan asked curiously: "Master, do you know what kind of poison this is?"
Duan Muer laughed so hard that he almost gasped for breath and said, "You know, since Madam Wan loves her daughter like her life, how could she be willing to use any poison on her precious daughter? This is not a poison at all, it is a drug that monks and Taoists used to seduce women!"
Lin Jianlan exclaimed, "But this... several masters have lost all their internal strength. Besides, since it is a drug, it should make people lose their minds, but this poison is not like that. And why is it so difficult to administer it?"
Duanmu Er said, "This is the unique feature of this drug. It originally had a name, called 'Morning and Dusk', also called 'Ten Days'. It has no smell and is not easy to detect. The key is to keep one's mind clear. It was originally made by a lustful monk. If there was a woman who needed to worship Buddha or hold a ritual, he would first go to the woman's house with incense and candles mixed with 'lead'. This 'lead' is the drug property of Miss Wan. Then he would use sweet words to trick the woman into going to the temple to burn incense. The woman would first smell the 'lead' and then go to the temple. If she smelled the sandalwood within ten days, she would feel tired even when walking and moving her arms and legs, let alone using her internal strength."
Lin Jianlan nodded and said, "No wonder I felt listless and weak on the way out of Ci'en Temple. This is the symptom."
Duanmu'er went on to say, "After being poisoned, the women lost their energy and allowed the monk to do whatever he wanted. They dared not speak out when they were insulted. The monk got away with it for more than a year. Finally, someone was so angry that he went to file a complaint. When he sent the complaint, he ran into a car and died in front of the government office. He was then arrested and brought to justice. After careful questioning, it was found that he had raped countless decent women. The monk was sentenced to death, but before he died, he wrote a book called "Xunfanglu". Somehow it got out. The book said that the women who occasionally burned incense did not have time to smell the 'lead' first, so they could only take the drug at the same time, becoming limp as mud and not enjoying themselves."
Hearing this, Lin Jianlan gritted his teeth and said, "This lecherous monk is so shameless!"
Duanmu Er said, "After the monk was tortured, his body was beaten to pieces, and his original appearance could not be seen. When you mentioned the poisoning of the people, I thought of this man."
Everyone was furious when they heard this. Duanmu Er said, "It's very easy to solve this drug, because the monk himself often comes into contact with incense and candles. If the antidote is too troublesome to prepare, it will not be convenient for him. His antidote only requires a few common herbs. Brother Lin, come here!"
Lin Jianlan leaned over and smiled as he listened. He then went out. After a while, he brought out a bowl of green, sticky liquid, in which you could vaguely see broken leaves and rotten branches. Mo Dan took a whiff, closed his eyes and stayed still for a while, then shouted, "What a strange smell! Hey, it's really healed!"
Everyone was delighted, but Duanmu'er said in silence, "But the temple was also burned down by the government at that time. I don't know how the recipe for the drug got to Doctor Cheng. Anyway, Brother Lin already knows the method of detoxification. There is no need to worry. When Miss Wan wakes up, we can go down the mountain." He looked straight at Nian Xiaoxia and said, "I can't accept this child as my apprentice."
Lin Jianlan and Nian Xiaoxia were both stunned. Before they could ask any questions, they heard Mo Dan say, "Hey, hey! You stinky old man, you have no humanity! If you don't accept it, I will!"
Duanmu'er blew his beard and said, "You are not allowed to accept one! I have a disciple at such a young age. If others tell others, they will laugh at me!"
Mo Dan said, "You haven't seen anyone in several lifetimes, so why are you afraid of being laughed at? If you don't accept him, Brother Lin and the others and I will laugh at you today, hahaha!" But he was hit on the head with a stick. Duan Mu'er held the whisk upside down with one hand and pinched his waist with the other hand and said, "He took the old man's surname Nian, so he is a disciple of the Beggar Gang. Naturally, I can't accept him as my apprentice!" Then he blinked his eyes and smiled happily, "But I can provide him with food and shelter, and teach him some kung fu!"
Lin Jianlan knew that he had good intentions. When Nian Xiaoxia grew up, if he still wanted to return to the Beggars' Sect, he would not stop him. He hurriedly pulled Nian Xiaoxia and said, "In that case, thank you, Taoist priest."
Duanmu Er said, "He is here. On the one hand, there is someone to take care of him. On the other hand, it is good for him to have a companion with Mo Tan. I am just afraid that he will be taught bad habits by my bad disciple."
Mo Dan said: "Old man, you said bad things about me, wait and see how I punish you tonight!"
Seeing that the two of them were always fighting like this, Lin Jianlan couldn't help but smile and said, "How else can you discipline him?"
Duanmu'er smacked his lips and said, "Don't mention it. I told him last time that the vegetables at night were like they were pickled with salt. He could only eat one leaf of vegetable with a bowl of rice, and it was so choking that I almost died."
After everyone laughed, the middle-aged man stood up and said respectfully, "I just saw the Taoist treating Miss Wan, and he mentioned the drug. The Taoist is really knowledgeable and well-versed in pathology. I wonder if I have the honor to ask the Taoist to come down the mountain and check my father's pulse."
Duanmu'er looked at it for a while and said, "The imperial dress that Miss Wan is wearing is not fake. I guess it was borrowed from you. Just now, Brother Lin said that your last name is Di. I also know who your father is. I shouldn't have refused."
