Chapter 18 Oxygen Generation

  After Fang Xuanling left, Zhao Cong of the Upper Chamber also returned. Li Shimin looked at Fang Yuyi with his head hung low and felt relieved. He said to Zhao Cong: "Zhao Cong, find a room for the Second Prince. For now, let him stay in the Bafu Hall. Without my order, he is not allowed to leave the Taiji Palace. Also, whatever he asks for, satisfy him unconditionally!"

  "Yes, your humble servant obeys!" Zhao Chong's obedience to Li Shimin's command was absolute. He bowed his hands and smiled at Fang Yiai, saying: "Second Master, please follow me!" Fang Yiai gave Zhao Chong a bitter smile and obediently followed the head of the guards out of Empress Longsun's palace.

  After Empress E left, Empress Changsun smiled gently and said: "Your Majesty, why must you be at odds with a young person?"

  "Huh, Guanyin, you've figured it out?" Li Shimin smiled slyly, and Empress Longsun sighed: "Your Majesty, after all these years of marriage, I still don't know you. I'm afraid it's Jun'er who has made you lose face."

  "Hmph, you're right, this kid actually dared to say I was wrong in front of so many people. This makes me lose face, but it's a good opportunity to vent my anger. However, I'm really getting angry now. You think all those imperial physicians are just eating for free? I've been supporting them for so long, and they can't even cure your illness. They're actually giving ridiculous advice. If Jun'er hadn't reminded me, I would have continued to overindulge you, and in the end, I would be the one responsible for killing you." Li Shimin got angry just thinking about it, but fortunately, he was still a rational person. If it were another emperor, those imperial physicians would have been banished back to their hometowns long ago.

  It was Empress Changsun who wanted to open up and grabbed Li Shimin's hand, saying: "This can't be blamed on those imperial physicians. When someone is ill, they need to take supplements, it's a normal thing for people to do. Besides, we still don't know if Jun'er is right or not."

  "Hmph, you're good at speaking for them. Don't worry, I won't vent my anger on those incompetent doctors. As for Jun'er's words, we don't need to bother with him. If his methods don't work, I'll make him stay in this Baifu Hall for the rest of his life." Li Shimin chuckled and said. Empress Changsun smiled and said: "Your Majesty, don't joke about it. By doing so, aren't you making Duke Xuanling feel disheartened?"

  "Haha, I was just joking, why take it seriously?" Li Shimin didn't plan to do anything to Fang Yili, he just couldn't help but tease this young man.

  The next day, Fang Yu Ai commanded a group of Imperial Guards to jump into the pond in the backyard and scoop up the goldfish algae. The palace guards were all drenched like drowned chickens, each holding a handful of goldfish algae. Zhao Chong shook his beard and said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Second Master, is this enough goldfish algae?"

  "Alright, now have these people send the oxygen-producing algae into my room, and also send over those glass containers and air sacs I wanted." Zhao Chong heard this and promptly carried out the orders. After Fang You returned to his small hut, he placed the glass containers on the table. Looking at the things in front of him, he felt a sense of discontent. In this Great Tang Dynasty, even getting oxygen was such a hassle. If it were later generations, they would only need to burn sodium oxide and that would be it. Now, they still had to deal with a bunch of algae.

  After arranging the glassware, Fang Yiai threw a handful of goldfish weed into the water-filled container and said to a guard, "Okay, now start heating it up!" The guard was obedient and threw some dry grass at the bottom and lit it on fire. Soon, bubbles appeared in the container. Fang Yiai happily held the deflated air bag and walked to the front of the container. Before he could collect the oxygen, he felt something was off - why were the bubbles rising so big? He looked down and almost fainted. It turned out that the guard thought the water was heating up too slowly and added more firewood, making the flames very fierce. Fang Yiai also knew it was his own fault for not instructing clearly, so he said to the guard, "Brother, can you please put out the fire first? If we continue burning, the water will boil!"

  "Second Master, aren't you eating goldfish moss?" The guard asked with a puzzled face. Fang Yiai almost collapsed and irritably said: "Big brother, have you ever seen anyone eat goldfish moss?"

  "Huh, it seems not yet, I thought the second young master knew how to eat goldfish moss and wanted to learn. This guard smiled with his eyes open, and Zhao Chong slapped him on the back of his head, scolding: "Li Ding, you're just a foodie, why don't you eat yourself to death? Hurry up and put out the fire for me, it's affecting the second young master's experiment, I won't forgive you!"

  Li Ding quietly extinguished the fire and muttered under his breath, "You're one to talk, you don't know what that experiment is either, pretending to understand." Zhao Chong didn't hear Li Ding's words, but Fang Yiai did and poked Li Ding's waist, whispering, "Be careful, if General Zhao hears you, he'll definitely make you go clean the latrines."

  When Li Ding heard this, he was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. It turned out that Zhao Chong didn't have any other skills, but one move was absolutely deadly - making the person who made a mistake go to the toilet, and they would squat for an hour, until the person who squatted couldn't even stand up anymore.

  The experiment was a failure, as all the guards had cooked the seaweed like cabbage. Fang Yi Ai seriously instructed: "Everyone, remember that when bubbles appear in the container, you should stop heating it and maintain this temperature. We are doing an experiment to collect something called oxygen, not cooking vegetables. Does everyone understand?"

  "Second Master, don't worry, we understand. We're doing an experiment, not cooking vegetables." A group of guards shouted loudly, Fang Yiai scratched his ear and didn't bother to explain to these rough men. If he had to explain what oxygen was, it would be even more troublesome, so it's better not to explain.

  After busy working for an entire afternoon, Fang Yiai finally extracted five bags of oxygen. Seeing the five bags that looked like balloons, Fang Yiai felt very proud. This is the first scientific experiment in the Tang Dynasty!

  Wiping away his sweat, Fang Yiai said to Zhao Chong: "General Zhao, let's go see Empress Longsun now." Zhao Chong nodded and the two of them went to Empress Longsun's residence.

  As soon as he entered the palace of Empress Changsun, he saw that Emperor Taizong had indeed not gone to attend to government affairs today and was sitting on a chair playing Go with Empress Changsun. Seeing Fang Yuyao enter, Emperor Taizong looked at those several airbags and raised an eyebrow, asking: "Jun'er, what did you bring these airbags for?"

  "Your Majesty, this contains oxygen, not the kind of air you usually blow up. Hmm, as for what oxygen is, it's hard to explain clearly, but it's basically something that makes the Empress breathe easily." Fang Yili slowly said, holding up the air bag in her hand. Li Shimin took an air bag and looked at it for a long time without seeing any difference. Fang Yili smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you can't see it, but this thing needs to be sucked through this small tube to feel its effect." Fang Yili then pulled out a section of cut reed from her sleeve. After seeing the reed, Li Shimin didn't say anything and took a pipe, inserted it into the air bag, and sucked it up. In a short while, an air bag was emptied. After sucking, Li Shimin stared with his eyes wide open and said in surprise, "Huh? I felt so comfortable when I sucked on the air bag just now! Jun'er, give me another one, let me try again!"

  House Yuai was so frightened that he took two steps back, damn it, this oxygen is really cool, you think it's carbon dioxide, seeing Li Shimin's eager eyes, House Yuai had to explain: "Your Majesty, this thing is hard to come by, it's used to save the Empress's life, really can't let you waste it again."

  Li Shimin was unhappy after hearing this. What's the point of being a great Tang Emperor if others don't even want to give him things? He didn't expect Zhao Chong to say such words. Li Shimin looked at Niu Yan with an unpleasant expression and asked, "Zhao Chong, is what this kid said true? Is this airbag not inflated?"

  Zhao Chong's face was very strange, and this emperor really dared to think that the imperial city guard could blow out five airbags in one day, which would make the sixteen guards of the Tang Dynasty laugh their teeth off. Zhao Chong scratched his head and sighed: "Your Majesty, these airbags are not blown up, they were inflated by the second prince through some experiment, today I led two teams of feathered forest guards to spend a whole day and only managed to get five airbags out, didn't expect Your Majesty to get rid of one in an instant."

  Li Shimin suddenly realized he had made a fool of himself again, and muttered: "Fang Jun, if that's the case, why didn't you say so earlier?" Fang Yilove could only despise Li Shimin in her heart, pretending to be so serious when just now it was him who rushed over. Fang Yilove also didn't bother with Li Shimin anymore and said to Empress Longsun: "Your Majesty, would you please follow the Emperor's actions from earlier and see how it feels?"

  Empress Changsun smiled quietly, took over an oxygen bag with a straw and sucked it up according to Li Shimin's method. She closed her eyes and savored the refreshing feeling, and only after a while did she say excitedly: "Jiuner, it's really amazing! I've never felt so comfortable before!"

  "Heh heh, as long as it's effective, that's all that matters. Your Majesty the Empress, you remember the method from earlier, right? In the future, if you encounter an emergency and have trouble breathing, just take a breath of oxygen, but don't use it when there's nothing wrong, or you might get dependent on it! Housekeeper Ai saw that the effect was quite good and felt a weight lift off her shoulders. As long as this oxygen is effective, Longsun Empress's life should be saved, unless something extremely severe happens."

  After settling the oxygen matter, Fang Yi'ai also made a good diet plan for Empress Zhangsun. She also eliminated the original various tonics, thinking of those supplements made Fang Yi'ai sad, she wanted to ask Li Shimin to send all the good things to the Fang Mansion, but unfortunately, this was something she didn't dare say out loud.

  "After helping Empress Changsun renovate the Baifu Hall, Fang Yili said to Empress Changsun: 'Your Majesty, you must remember that when there's nothing going on, go out for a walk often. Also, take good care of those flowers I helped you plant. This can also make your mood more pleasant. You should know that your illness and mood are closely related, so don't get angry easily. And if you feel uncomfortable, just inhale an air sac. If it's still not working, have someone call me, and I'll be there immediately.'"

  The Empress Dowager Changsun smiled happily and said, "Jun'er, don't worry, I know what to do. Are you thinking of returning to the Fang Mansion?"

  "Hehe, Empress, it's been four days since I've been stuck here, I should get going, and there's nothing else to do anyway." Fang Yiai brought up this matter and wanted to scold Li Shimin, this heartless emperor, who was simply a rascal, relying on his status to bully him, a young man. What kind of great ruler is that? Empress Changsun held Fang Yiai's hand and smiled: "Juni, I know the Emperor has been a bit out of line with this matter, but you shouldn't blame him, he did it for my own good."

  "Your Majesty, how dare I have an opinion about you? Don't let Your Majesty hear this, or I'll be in for a world of trouble." Fang Yiai was now afraid of what might happen next. Before she could finish speaking, the sound of Li Shimin's laughter came from outside the door: "You little scamp, why do you think I'm such a bad person?"

  "Ah, Your Majesty, how dare I? You are the one who is above all others, surpassing even the great emperors of old. Yao, Shun, Tang, and Wu cannot compare to you." Fang Yizhi hastily ran to Li Shimin's side, bowing and scraping, excessively flattering him. Li Shimin soon became somewhat arrogant and proudly said: "You have some insight, take this token, with it, you can come and go as you please in the imperial palace, no need to wait for me to summon you, and avoid any further trouble." He tossed a token to Fang Yizhi, who took it and saw that it was inscribed with "Imperial Guard, as if I were present". Fang Yizhi's face lit up with joy and he loudly exclaimed: "Your humble subject Fang Yizhi, thanks Your Majesty for the gracious gift, wishing you eternal prosperity and longevity, equal to that of Heaven!"

  Li Shimin listened to this sentence for a while, feeling uncomfortable, and scolded with a bad temper: "Alright, hurry up and get out of here, otherwise you'll think of some other way to frame me in your heart."

  Fang Yi Ai walked out of the Taiji Palace with a proud smile, feeling extremely pleased with himself. From now on, he was also a crab. In this great Tang Dynasty, just walking horizontally would be enough, who dared to block him? He would show off his waist card, this waist card was awesome, whoever saw it would surrender!

  Fang Yi Ai was very pleased with himself, but he didn't know that even the most powerful waist token couldn't withstand Lu Shi's claw-like hands.