Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside Chapter 1613: Assault on the City, Eliminating Harm [5]

Xiao Ji helped out in the pharmacy of the pharmaceutical workshop, instinctively glancing at the window sill upon hearing this. Sure enough, there was a clay stove on the window sill, with a small iron pot on top bubbling with bean oil.

"Madam, you really are..." Xiao Ji wasn’t too scared by Gu Jinli’s commotion, thinking of those insects as cicada pupae, and opened them to show Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli looked at the insects in the box and said, "They’re quite plump."

Xiao Ji: "..."

Gu Jinli took a new long needle and poked at the poisonous insects in the box. Those insects moved quickly when prodded.

Gu Jinli said, "They’re very lively. In the human body, they live well, like mice entering a granary."

Xiao Ji: "...Madam, these are harmful things; can we not praise them?"

"You don’t understand." Gu Jinli looked at Qing Hui and said, "Bring some medicinal paste, two pottery bowls, a sieve for straining powder, and a bowl of clear water."

Xiao Ji listened and looked at the small oil pot beside the window sill and asked seriously, "Madam, are you really going to fry the insects?"

Why does it sound like the Young Master is going to cook?

Gu Jinli glanced at her and said, "You’ll understand later."

"Madam, the items are here." After Qing Hui brought the items one by one, she asked, "Do you need blood?"

Gu Jinli nodded, "Yes."

Without another word, Qing Hui, imitating Ye Jingzi, made a cut on her wrist and dripped fresh blood into an empty bowl, leaving Xiao Ji stunned—what on earth are you doing?

"Both bowls need blood." Gu Jinli instructed again.

"Alright." Qing Hui responded, dripping a bottom layer of fresh blood into both bowls before covering her wrist, continuing to fill three medicine bottles with her own blood.

Then she took the golden sore medicine to treat her wound and said to the dumbfounded Xiao Ji, "Madam said these poisonous insects are bloodthirsty; we need blood for the experiment. Store more blood so we don’t have to cut again later, or you’ll have to bleed."

She and Ye Jingzi had already bled, Nanny Tao was too old to bleed, Siqing was too young, Qing Pu’s medical skills were better, and her hands were precious, so she couldn’t cut herself. Xiao Ji was the best fit.

Xiao Ji swallowed and said, "The blood should be enough."

"Everyone back up one meter, watch the insects carefully, and don’t let them climb onto you." After the reminder, Gu Jinli placed the box next to the pottery bowl containing blood.

She also put a portion of medicinal paste into one of the pottery bowls.

On the ground now were two pottery bowls, one filled with fresh blood, and the other with blood and insect-attracting medicinal paste.

Strangely, though, the poisonous insects in the box didn’t crawl towards either pottery bowl.

Gu Jinli frowned deeply—was the old professor’s medicine ineffective?

Yet, back in Da Feng Village, villagers working in the fields had leeches burrow into their legs and crawl into blood vessels, using this very medicinal paste to lure the leeches out.

Even if these poisonous insects were stronger than leeches, they shouldn’t be completely unresponsive.

"Madam, Wujin’s breathing is still there, though weaker than before." Qing Pu periodically reported Wujin’s condition to Gu Jinli.

It’s worsening.

Gu Jinli’s heart sank; she knew Wujin didn’t have much time left, and said, "Go get the silk cocoon yellow powder and Tong Shuang Grass, grind them and add them to the medicinal paste."

Ye Jingzi was startled, "Madam, these two medicinal ingredients are toxic and have great harm to people."

In the past, when Madam and Doctor Wu made anti-parasitic medicine in the pharmaceutical workshop, they added these two ingredients, but their toxicity was too strong, causing abdominal pain and even vomiting blood when used by humans.

For safety, Doctor Wu removed these two ingredients.

Gu Jinli said, "The toxicity of these two ingredients can be resolved with a recipe. Now we need to use them to save lives first."

"Yes." Ye Jingzi hurried to the pharmacy to get the medicine.

When Ye Jingzi returned, Siqing had already taken the insects out of the box, washed off their smell and blood, cleaned them in clear water according to Gu Jinli’s instructions, and placed them in another empty bowl.

This time the insects went crazy, quickly twisting in the bowl and using small suckers at the bottom to crawl out of the pottery bowl.

The insects moved fast; within a few blinks, they crawled out of the empty bowl and headed towards the pottery bowl containing blood and medicinal paste.

Gu Jinli was thrilled to see this, "It works! Fresh blood with medicinal paste indeed can lure the insects... but the prerequisite is that the insects are clean. If they have a host and already reside in a place with fresh blood and flesh, the medicinal paste is hard to draw them out."

Xiao Ji suddenly realized, "Madam, you asked Siqing to clean the poisonous insects to wash off the blood on them."

Gu Jinli nodded and said to Ye Jingzi, "Make another bowl, adding the two poisonous medicines into the medicinal paste, then add fresh blood to see if that attracts the insects in the bowl."

The silk cocoon yellow powder and Tong Shuang Grass have strong insect-attracting properties.

"Alright." Ye Jingzi did as instructed.

Strangely, though, the insects still didn’t move and continued staying in the previous bowl, sucking the blood mixed with medicinal paste inside.

After absorbing the blood, the poisonous insects became plumper, but having consumed the insect-attracting medicine, their speed slowed, and they seemed dizzy.

Seeing this, Gu Jinli became anxious, "Why aren’t you crawling? Crawl!"

As she spoke, Ms. Gao Lei brought in Dr. Fang, "San Lang’s Wife, Dr. Fang is here, let him in to check."

Gu Jinli: "Xiao Ji, open the door."

Xiao Ji immediately went to open the door, letting Ms. Gao Lei and Dr. Fang in.

Behind Dr. Fang followed two other doctors, as Ms. Gao Lei introduced to Gu Jinli, "This is Doctor Qi from the government office, and this is Doctor Lu from the trading team I keep. There are more and more people getting sick in the city, so I thought we should gather the doctors to find a solution to deal with the poisonous insects."

Upon hearing this, Gu Jinli looked at Doctor Lu. She remembered there was no Doctor Lu in the Lei Family’s Trading Team.

But now was not the time to talk about that; Gu Jinli pointed at a few medicine bowls, explaining her experiment and the insect-attracting medicine.

Dr. Fang listened and was thrilled, "Insect-attracting medicine? Mrs. Qin has insect-attracting medicine? I’ve practiced medicine for forty years and only heard the Yuanzi Pharmacy released a worm-killing medicine last year capable of killing worms that cause bloating. There’s hearsay about the insect-attracting medicine, but it’s said to be fake. No pharmacies sell such medicine; I didn’t expect Mrs. Qin to have it."

Due to Ms. Gao Lei’s influence, the Lei Family’s Trading Team isn’t harsh on women, so Dr. Fang, hearing that Gu Jinli could make insect-attracting medicine, didn’t doubt it, especially since people said Mrs. Qin Gu could make medicine.

Ms. Gao Lei interrupted Dr. Fang, urging, "Stop saying these useless things. Hurry and check how the insects can be drawn out."

Elder Lei Wu told Ms. Gao Lei that the Gu Family had a pharmaceutical workshop co-founded with Doctor Wu.

They were aware of Doctor Wu’s background, having close connections with Yuanzi Pharmacy. But it’s not a topic to be publicized, better not to let too many people know about Doctor Wu’s ties with the Gu Family.