Chapter 6: Strange Request

  Lu Jinping took Ye Qingqing out of the gate and saw Zhang Tou and several others waiting in the alley. They were originally waiting to see the excitement, even if Old Man Gao didn't directly send Lu Jinping to the yamen, at least they would have let the house servants carry him out and throw him out the door. Unexpectedly, Old Man Gao personally sent him out of the gate, truly beyond their expectations. Zhang Tou and several others stared blankly as Lu Jinping and the little maid walked away, unable to speak for a long time.

  It was already noon at this time.

  As they passed by a small eatery, Lu Jiping stopped and said to Ye Qingqing: "Let's go in and have some beef noodles! I haven't had beef noodles for a long time, let's indulge today!"

  Ye Qingqing was shocked and said: "The money is for buying medicine, how can we afford to eat beef noodles?"

  "Don't worry, buying medicine won't cost that much. I intentionally said a bit more, the purpose is to reward our hard work first, let's go."

  Lu Jinping had been in the Tang Dynasty for half a year and knew that the general price of grabbing medicine was no more than ten cents. If his judgment was correct, then the treatment of Miss Gao's illness would only cost a few cents per prescription, and it didn't need to be so expensive.

  After the two of them sat down, Lu Jinping ordered two bowls of beef noodles. When the steaming hot beef noodles were placed in front of him, he couldn't hold back anymore and quickly grabbed his chopsticks to slurp it all up, finishing off the entire bowl in no time, even drinking the soup dry.

  He finally put down the bowl with a satisfied expression, patted his slightly bulging belly and said: "Wow! This is the first time I've ever had such deliciously sweet beef noodles!"

  Ye Qingqing burst out laughing: "That's because Master hasn't eaten noodles for a long time, actually the beef noodles in this house aren't that great, can only be considered so-so. Master, I have a small appetite, can't eat that much, I'll give you half." She picked up her bowl and was about to divide the noodles with Lu Jinping.

  "Have it yourself! I'm already full and can't eat another bite. You have to finish it, or else I'll get angry."

  Ye Qingqing stuck out her tongue and buried her head in eating noodles. It had been a long time since she had eaten meat, of course, just like Lu Jinping, she ate a bowl of noodles until it was empty.

  Lu Jinping paid for the noodles, a total of two bowls of noodles cost only six cents.

  Lu Jinping hummed as she walked back to the old mansion with Ye Qingqing after eating and drinking her fill.

  Lu Jinping took the small cup from Ye Qingqing and said, "I'll go inside to examine Miss Gao's illness. You watch the door."

  Until then, Ye Qingqing was puzzled and asked: "Master, when did you learn medicine? How come I didn't know?"

  "You don't know how many things you'll be surprised about later." Lu Jinping smiled and closed the door, locked it, took out her forensic evidence box, and brought out all the reagents, test tubes, burners, and alcohol lamps inside. She arranged them on the table, then picked up a small copper plate.

  He wants to use Miss Gao's vomit for an experiment called "Rein test".

  The experiment took about two hours in total. When he finished the entire experiment according to the procedure, the copper piece used for testing turned grayish black!

  The result of this hint was very consistent with Lu Jinping's speculation, but he still frowned, because the result was quite unexpected.

  He decided to conduct another experiment on the basis of this trial to further prove his conjecture, and this experiment was called "Guttzeit test".

  He first put the small piece of copper that had changed color in the previous experiment into a test tube, added several drops of concentrated sulfuric acid, and then added several zinc grains. He then plugged a small cotton ball soaked in lead acetate into the mouth of the test tube and covered it with a **test paper**. A few minutes later, the **test paper** turned yellowish-brown.

  The color change of the test paper proved his inference in mind. Now he knew how to treat Miss Gao's illness.

  He hummed a tune as he carefully put away all the experimental equipment and medicine, then pulled out the forensic investigation box.

  Outside the door, Ye Qing was still standing guard, even though there were only two of them inside the old house and no outsiders or thieves would come in, because they had sold everything that could be sold from their old house, except for the immovable walls and houses, so thieves would gain nothing if they came in.

  Ye Qingqing heard the door sound, turned her head towards Lu Jinping, and asked happily: "Master, how is it? Is there a result?"

  "I already know what illness Miss Gao has contracted. Let's go get the medicine, and I guarantee that she'll be cured once we administer it."

  Ye Qingqing was both surprised and delighted, and followed Lu Jinping out to find a pharmacy. This pharmacy had a resident doctor. Lu Jinping asked Ye Qingqing to wait outside the door while she went in to grab some medicine, and soon came out, saying: "Let's go back and decoct the medicine first, then send the medicinal soup over."

  Ye Qingqing was somewhat puzzled and hastily asked: "Why don't we just take the medicine to them, they can brew it themselves, why bother doing it ourselves?"

  Lu Jinping shook her head and said: "Of course not, we want to deliver the medicine, they will find a doctor to take a look and then know what kind of medicine it is, then we won't make any money."

  Ye Qingqing thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, indeed, the young master had thought of everything.

  Lu Jinping also said: "We still have to buy some white rice back and cook porridge, and send it to Miss Gao."

  Ye Qingqing asked strangely: "Why is that? They have white rice at home and can even add ginseng."

  "It's different, my porridge is different from theirs - at least in their eyes it is. Don't worry about it, just do as I say."

  After speaking, the two came to a rice shop, bought a small bowl of white rice, and returned to the old house.

  Ye Qingqing immediately started a fire to decoct the medicine, and at the same time, she took over the small bowl of white rice ready to pour it into the pot to cook congee, but was stopped by Lu Jinping who shook her head and said: "Just use half of it, leave the other half for us two to eat."

  "Ah, is this okay?"

  "Will you or won't you listen to me? - We've gone through great pains to save his daughter's life, so eating a bit of his white rice shouldn't be excessive, should it?"

  Ye Qingqing smiled and nodded: "Of course."

  When the white rice porridge and medicinal soup were all cooked, they were packed into two jars respectively. Ye Qingqing carried them, and the two of them went out the door to arrive at Old Man Gao's residence.

  The appointed time had arrived, and Old Man Gao had been waiting at the door. Seeing Lu Jinping and the others approaching from afar, he hastily went up to greet them with a bow, saying: "Young master, how was it? Were you able to figure out what's wrong with my daughter?"

  Lu Jinping nodded and said, "Of course I understand, and I've also prepared the medicine and sent it over. Here, in this jar, take it and have your daughter drink it. Also, there's something else I need to remind you of, you must do it, otherwise your daughter's illness won't get better."

  The old man took over the medicine jar and said hastily: "Young master, just say it, I will definitely follow."

  "This requirement is actually very simple, from now on, your daughter's diet will be my responsibility. Your family is not allowed to give her anything to eat, she can only eat what I send over, of course, water is okay to drink, do you understand?"

  The old man was taken aback for a moment, then hastily nodded in agreement. This request was very strange, but under the circumstances that all normal doctors couldn't cure his daughter's illness, he naturally hoped that a strange doctor could use a strange method to cure his daughter's illness. So, the stranger Lü Jǐnpíng's method was, the more he filled with hope, busily nodding.

  Lu Jinping said solemnly, "Remember what I just said. Call all your wives, concubines, maids and servants here, and instruct them clearly that if anyone secretly gives her something to eat, all my previous efforts will be in vain, and the effect of my medicine will be completely lost. If you can't cure your daughter's illness then, don't blame me."

  Previously, Old Man Gao was not very concerned, but now that Lu Jinping has spoken so solemnly, he realizes that this matter is no trivial thing. He hastily nods seriously and says: "I will immediately summon them and give orders. Whoever dares to disobey will be severely punished!"

  Lu Jinping nodded and said, "That's good. Also, feeding medicine and congee can only be done by yourself, don't let others do it for you, this is also a must, remember?"

  The old man nodded hastily in agreement.