Royal Gold Magistrate - Chapter 71

Fang Zheng walked up to the princess’s bedside again to observe for a while.

He found that apart from the fever, she just seemed to be coughing. He couldn’t see anything particularly unusual.

Hearing Doctor Hu say it was a lung disease, he couldn’t help feeling it seemed a bit like pneumonia. But after all, he wasn’t a professional medical student, so he had no way to be certain.

He could only turn to Li Yuanzhao and say, “Your Highness, let’s go. Staying here is of no use and will only disturb the princess’s rest.”

Li Yuanzhao nodded heavily.

The two walked to outside the palace hall. Li Yuanzhao leaned dejectedly against a pillar and said softly, “Old Fang, you know, Miaohan is my closest sister. We’ve been together since childhood. She’s just one month younger than me and has always been sickly.”

“Seeing her suffer like this today, my heart feels like it’s being cut with a knife. I wish I could immediately kill that quack!”

Fang Zheng stood silently to the side.

Li Yuanzhao continued sorrowfully, “I originally thought you were resourceful and would have a way to save her… I never imagined…”

“What will I do if she’s gone!”

The two were silent for a long time.

Li Yuanzhao suddenly looked up at Fang Zheng. “Old Fang, do you want a wife or not?”

“???”

Li Yuanzhao’s sudden question made Fang Zheng feel like the scene had changed too quickly. His heart couldn’t quite accept it.

“I just recalled there seems to be a folk method called ‘chong xi’. Why don’t I marry Miaohan to you and try to change her fortune!”

“There’s no other way. You’re the only one it would work with. I’d never agree even if I died if it was any other man!”

“Just say if you’re willing or not!”

Fang Zheng looked up at the sky speechlessly. The crown prince wants to marry the dying princess to me. Is this kindness or hatred?

He said with a wry smile, “Your Highness, those are just folk legends. If changing fortune could cure illness, there would be no more wars in this world…”

Hearing this, it seemed a string in Li Yuanzhao’s heart suddenly snapped!

He jumped up and forcefully grabbed Fang Zheng’s arms, roaring, “You tell me!! You tell me then!! What else can I do!!”

Fang Zheng immediately yanked Li Yuanzhao’s hands off with force and shouted, “Calm down!”

“The most important thing now is finding a way to save the princess. What’s the point of you yelling so loudly! Is it useful!?”

Being shouted at like this by Fang Zheng, Li Yuanzhao awoke with a start. He slumped to the ground dejectedly, muttering, “What else can be done… What else can be done…”

Seeing him looking so lost, Fang Zheng couldn’t help feeling empathy.

The crown prince was also a man of passion…

He said helplessly, “Perhaps… your subject has an idea… but the hope is extremely slim.”

Li Yuanzhao sprang up like grabbing a life-saving straw, saying excitedly, “Old Fang! I knew you’d have an idea! Quick, tell me!”

“There’s something called penicillin that may be able to cure the princess’s illness.”

Fang Zheng had also agonized for a long time before deciding to mention it. In his heart, he held no hope at all.

Penicillin was a panacea in later ages, soft gold during wartime.

It had extremely high safety and played an immeasurable role in antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.

Before Fang Zheng transmigrated, he happened to have watched a show that explained in detail how to produce penicillin using folk methods.

However, he only remembered the general idea. The details still needed more consideration.

But to ensure the procedure had no errors, the preparation environment was up to standard, and the knowledge from the TV show was reliable – for these three conditions to be simultaneously met… the success rate in his mind was basically zero.

Seeing the crown prince like this, he could only take desperate measures.

“I have a way to obtain this medicine, but before it succeeds, don’t spread the word. Also, preparing the drug requires time. Whether the princess can hold on until then depends on luck…”

Li Yuanzhao was overjoyed. “Good! Alright, Old Fang, tell me what to do! I’ll find people to help you!”

……………..

The two immediately hit it off and hurried back to the Eastern Palace. They ordered Liu Jin to bring several crates of oranges.

They placed all the oranges in a dark place to let mold grow. Over the course of several days, mold began to creep across the surface of the oranges.

Fang Zheng also had people bring rice and taro to boil into a juice, crudely making a culture medium.

Finally, he carefully selected the greenest mold strains from the orange peels and inoculated them into the culture medium.

After a week, the culture medium was nearly done. Vegetable oil was then added and stirred in.

Since penicillin is a water-soluble substance, this step was to further purify it.

Next, carbon powder was added and stirred to continue purifying.

For the following steps, Fang Zheng vaguely remembered using acidic water and alkaline water to further purify the penicillin.

He had no idea how to make acidic water, so he could only use vinegar. As for alkali, there was plenty in the Imperial Kitchen, although the purity was completely unguaranteed.

Several filtration steps were required in between. Filter paper didn’t exist, so Fang Zheng specially brought hand paper produced in Taoyuan County from home!

Taoyuan County Yamen’s exclusive hand paper was tough, soft, breathable, water-permeable, and had good density, much better than ordinary rice paper.

Due to the lack of disinfection methods, the hand paper was sun-dried on sunny days to kill bacteria.

All the experiments were proceeding in an orderly manner. Fang Zheng’s confidence also gradually built up with each experiment!

To ensure safety and rigor, Fang Zheng swapped the order of steps he was unsure of. All the experimental apparatus was boiled at high temperature. The acid-base ratios were also adjusted in groups. In the end, a total of twenty-seven experimental groups were set up!

The crown prince could only participate for a small part of the time because he was harshly reprimanded by Yan Guoan and Emperor Jing several times for skipping class.

Fang Zheng of course also got scolded along with him, but this couldn’t stop the two from continuing their experiments.

During the penicillin preparation process, the princess inexplicably fell ill again. Fortunately, she pulled through once more after a big scare.

Finally! After half a month, the penicillin for all the experimental groups was successfully prepared. Fang Zheng also compiled a thick notebook detailing the process for each group!

Fang Zheng looked at the twenty-seven small silver bowls with lids on the table, each containing a portion of penicillin. He couldn’t help feeling a hint of pride rise in his heart!

The first time personally doing an experiment since transmigrating, he had taken a great step in human history!

Li Yuanzhao looked at these silver bowls, his heart starting to waver.

He had never heard of treating illness like this, but Old Fang was an extraordinary man! He must have his reasons for doing this!

Have faith in him! Have faith in him!

“Old Fang! What should we do next?”

Fang Zheng said, “Whether this medicine can cure the illness, let’s put that aside for now. Our top priority is to verify the safety of penicillin. I need some death row prisoners. Leave the rest to you, Your Highness…”

Li Yuanzhao readily agreed.

Who knows what method he used, but early the next morning, a thick register of death row prisoners was delivered to Fang Zheng’s hands.

As Fang Zheng read through the register, his face turned more and more grim…

Each entry in the register recorded what crime the prisoner had committed. Things like murder and arson, or raping women, were just child’s play. There was no shortage of psychopaths who took pleasure in cannibalism and had a penchant for murder.

He had originally planned for twenty-seven people to participate in the experiment. As Fang Zheng made his selections, he checked off more than forty people.

He had wanted to cancel it… but considering the individual differences between people, he ultimately felt it was better to choose more subjects to obtain more accurate results. The princess was out of time, this had to succeed on the first try with no room for failure!

So he checked a few more to make it fifty-four people.

Three days later, in a dungeon in the capital.

The place had been converted into a huge cross-shaped prison. The dungeon was filled with oil lamps but still seemed a bit gloomy.

The center was partitioned with a cloth screen. Fang Zheng was worried the prisoners’ bodies were too dirty and their sneezes or breathing would spread bacteria, contaminating the test samples.

Because the crown prince was caught skipping class, only Fang Zheng was here to conduct the experiment today.

Over a dozen guards stood watch beside Fang Zheng. In front of him was a large table with exactly twenty-seven silver bowls placed on it.

Just like that, Fang Zheng silently drew the penicillin from the twenty-seven silver bowls into numbered silver syringes.

With all preparations complete, the cloth screen in the center of the dungeon was slowly pulled open.

The fifty-some death row inmates looked at the young man before them through the prison bars, all feeling a bit apprehensive. This was the first time experiencing such an unusual imprisonment.

Then they heard Fang Zheng slowly say, “Everyone, don’t be nervous. The reason you’ve all been gathered here today is to test a new drug for the warriors of Great Jing.”

“This drug can cure all poisons! It has extremely high safety, but we need you to describe your experience after using it.”

“The lucky prisoners participating in today’s trial will each receive a reward of twenty taels of silver, to be distributed in the autumn!”

“Once the trial succeeds, this official will also petition the court to spare you the death penalty and change it to life imprisonment!”

“Alright, I’ve said my piece. Any objections?”

As soon as Fang Zheng finished speaking, all the guards beside him placed their hands on their sword hilts.

Inwardly cursing endlessly, damn he’s really good at finding work for us to do!!

The prisoners also looked at each other.

Spent a lifetime as psychopaths, this time we’ve met a true psycho?

That drug of yours definitely has issues! And distributing reward money in the autumn, I can’t believe you fucking thought of that!

And life imprisonment, I’d rather die early and be done with it!

Seeing no objections, Fang Zheng was very satisfied.

“Good! Then let the trial begin. Go, bring them out in pairs!”

The guards opened the cell door and led out two death row prisoners. Then several men pressed one down on a chair. Fang Zheng picked up a syringe and slowly injected it into the prisoner’s blood vessel.

Giving someone an injection for the first time, cold sweat poured down Fang Zheng’s forehead. Fortunately, it was quickly over.

The second prisoner was pressed onto the table, pants pulled down, and given a shot in the butt. This was much easier!

After the two prisoners received their injections, a label was affixed to their arms and they were sent back.

Soon, all fifty-some people were subjected to the same process.

……………..

An hour later, Li Yuanzhao, dressed as a guard, rushed into the dungeon with a big fuss!

“Old Fang! Old Fang! How are those death row inmates! Did it succeed?”

Li Yuanzhao’s heart was extremely tense. Whether his sister could survive depended on him!

Fang Zheng had been standing facing the cloth screen. Hearing Li Yuanzhao’s shouts, he turned his head.

The candlelight in the dungeon flickered continuously, the changing light and shadow constantly playing across Fang Zheng’s chiseled face, making him look mysterious and inscrutable.

Facing Li Yuanzhao’s hopeful gaze, Fang Zheng slowly turned around and said in a deep voice:

“They all died!”