It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

The female knight glanced at Newton, who had just been forced to bow and apologize by Li Cheng, by the bedside, and gave a subtle look: "No, it's better not to."

Li Cheng nodded in understanding.

As the saying goes, distance makes the heart grow fonder. Anyone who has seen her in person would find it hard to feel admiration for such a blonde little girl. What's more, Deedley suffered a severe psychological trauma as a result.

"Then forget it. By the way, could you tell me the details of the welcoming process? I'd like to be prepared."

"can."

For a short while afterward, Didrie began to explain in detail the work she was to undertake: "Professor Mitchell is a renowned professor at the University of London. He is knowledgeable, diligent, and hardworking. He was sent by the University of London to conduct academic exchanges with us."

Diligent and hardworking... Li Cheng recalled Mitchell's healthy daily routine: growing flowers, petting dogs, and sunbathing, and fell into deep thought.

He inexplicably thought of marriage alliances, specifically the simple three-step marriage alliances between Tang Dynasty emperors and foreign tribes.

1. He promised to marry a princess from a foreign tribe, and the two sides became friends.

2. Randomly choose a maid and bestow upon her the title of princess.

3. Marry the princess to him.

As for whether doing this would be discovered... well, in ancient times, news was scarce, and foreign tribes had no idea whether the woman they married was a princess whose first degree was a princess, or a maid who had worked hard (referring to drawing lots) and was eventually made a princess's maid.

Fortunately, the concept of "tenfold compensation for counterfeit goods" didn't exist back then.

Dideli continued to explain the background, saying, "Although many people at Lincoln University do not agree with the atomic theory that is currently popular at the University of London, they are very interested in discoveries related to mechanics."

"So my uncle, through his connections in London, tentatively inquired with the University of London about the possibility of exchanging professors for academic exchange... To my utter surprise, the University of London not only agreed, but also sent such a learned and renowned professor..."

“My uncle’s friend is really a good friend. He must have paid a high price to get the University of London to agree to this academic exchange program.

"okay."

Li Cheng interrupted Dideri's sigh and said with a subtle expression, "I have a general understanding of the situation. You should focus on getting better first."

......

Next, after letting the female knight rest, Li Cheng left the guest room and found the housekeeper, Lu Renjia, who was trying to hide herself, and asked her to personally take care of the female knight who had been brutally violated. This included, but was not limited to, giving her water, feeding her, wiping her sweat, changing her clothes, washing her face, and wiping her body...

Li Cheng instructed with a serious expression: "In short, treat her like your own mother is sick."

After thinking about how to take care of his mother, Lurenjia fell into deep confusion: "But my mother died when I was five years old."

Seeing this, Li Cheng was startled and quickly changed his words, saying, "Then let's pretend your daughter is sick. Imagine her suffering from a disease, experiencing immense physical and mental pain, while you, as the one who raised her from childhood..."

"Cough cough."

The unmarried housekeeper in her thirties lowered her head, interrupting shyly, "I'm not married yet..."

?

Sister, you're over thirty, right? And you've already become a housekeeper, how come you're still not married?

Li Cheng's lips twitched, and he could only change his mind again: "Then how about this, just treat her like your brother or sister—by the way, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, I'm the only one in my family right now."

Lurengar shook his head.

Luckily, I asked beforehand where this eccentric Newton came from... Li Cheng changed his tune with a bit of annoyance: "Well then, you'll treat Miss Dideri as Lord Newton, serve her, cherish her, respect her, and obey all her demands... Do you understand?"

"But......"

Lurengar wanted to say that the lord had always been taken care of by Freya, who was in charge of managing the manor and territory. It was only after Li Cheng came that she lost her job and started following the lord around as a lackey.

Li Cheng's forehead veins bulged, and he interrupted in a somewhat unfriendly tone, "Do you have any other questions?"

"No, no, I'll go right away."

Lurengar keenly sensed his impending unemployment crisis and immediately turned around, rushing straight towards the room where the female knight was.

......

Watching the sycophantic housekeeper leave, Li Cheng nodded and turned to head to the basement to look for the small results his servants had managed to achieve during this time.

Allicin!

Long ago, when Li Cheng first met his coughing elderly neighbor, he was young and naive, dreaming of having Lavoisier extract penicillin someday. But after his resurrection and receiving a wealth of essential knowledge for time travel from a certain man with a twisted sense of humor, he realized... just how naive his ideas were.

Leaving aside how to accurately screen out Penicillium from a bunch of similar molds, and the complicated and troublesome extraction process.

In terms of production alone, before British and American scientists pooled the resources of most of the pharmaceutical industry to cultivate and screen Penicillium strains in large quantities, and before using radiation methods to further improve and screen strains, the production of penicillin was so low that it was almost heartbreaking.

For example, the effective dose of penicillin in modern times would have required approximately the amount of a swimming pool to achieve the same effect when penicillin was first discovered.

Let alone pricking someone with a needle, you'd have to drink it for years.

Seeing that things were not going well, Li Cheng decisively abandoned the idea of ​​extracting penicillin and instead sought a substitute—allicin.

The allicin content is much higher than that of penicillin, approaching 0.2%, while the content of harmful substances is much lower. The extraction method is also very simple: just crush fresh garlic, let it stand in the air for an hour, and finally extract it with high-concentration alcohol.

Not only is it convenient and practical, but it also has antibacterial effects against fungal infections that are unresponsive to penicillin.

However, allicin also has two major problems.

1. Oral administration has little effect.

2. Powerful.

This is no ordinary amount of force. Imagine crushing dozens of kilograms of garlic and letting it react in the air, then soaking it in high-concentration alcohol... The finished product has an lingering aftertaste that lasts for three days, which is an understatement.

Oh, by the way, allicin is a veterinary drug in modern times, usually mixed into animal feed to improve the intestinal environment of animals... Just make do with it, what else can we do?

Back to the topic.

Because allicin processing is too intensive and the process is not complicated, Li Cheng outsourced the job to Freya. Since Freya is not a moon rabbit, she naturally couldn't do the garlic crushing herself, so she outsourced it again to the servants below.

But this candidate... is highly debatable.

It is said that a rumor circulated in the castle during those days that the head maid had invented a cruel torture called excrement torture, and that disobedient servants would be sent to the basement to undergo excrement torture reformation.

According to unidentified witnesses, everyone who went in came out in tears, and their clothes had some strange brown stains that smelled incredibly foul!

With such compelling evidence, the situation became uncontrollable, everyone was on edge, and some even asked for leave to go back to visit their families.

So much so that Li Cheng later had to come forward to clarify that he needed someone to pound garlic, but most people were still skeptical. The few individuals who were actually sent to pound garlic resolutely refused to say what happened that day.

After all, when something smells really bad, you can't even tell what it actually smells like anymore...

In short, the matter of the excrement punishment was barely over, but Deedley happened to have a cold, so the garlic extract that had just been prepared could finally be put to use. We could test how effective it was when taken orally, and have some expectations for the future.

"You're the one. Come with me to the basement."

On his way to the basement, Li Cheng randomly selected a lucky maid who was slacking off.

The young maid followed in a daze, not understanding what kind of hell awaited her. Instead, she had many unfounded fantasies and, somewhat frightened, held onto her skirt.

Is it possible that the rumored story of a nobleman playing with a maid is finally going to happen to me?

How to do?

If they use force, should I resist?

------

We'll skip Li Cheng's part for now.

The housekeeper, Lu Renjia, went straight to the guest room. The first thing she did upon entering was to follow Li Cheng's instructions and go straight to the bedside. She tightly grasped the hands of the female knight, Dideli, and said very sincerely, "I am very sorry. I did something very wrong to you before. I deeply regret my actions and apologize."

Even if you're a lackey, you should be a proper lackey.

Isn't it just about serving her, loving her, and respecting her? What's so difficult about that?

At this moment, Dideri had only closed her eyes for ten minutes and was in a state between sleep and wakefulness. When she was woken up, her anger flared up.

But when Didrie opened her eyes, she saw the tan-haired housekeeper who was unforgettable in every sense of the word, and that ordinary face that was firmly etched in her heart.

Ah, it's her?!

"It's okay."

Didier was startled, and her anger vanished. She then took the housekeeper's hands and comforted her, saying, "I know you were forced by the master, it wasn't your intention."

From an outsider's perspective, she should have felt a deep and unforgettable hatred for this villain who arbitrarily used the torture of laughter.

But in reality, Dideri didn't hate him at all; in fact, she even felt a little... fond aftertaste.

To use physical exercise as an example, it's like running a 10-kilometer race at full strength. At first, your body will be in extreme pain, your breathing will be rapid, your legs will feel heavy like lead, and the soles of your feet will feel like they are being pricked with needles.

But once you grit your teeth and endure it, passing a certain 'boundary,' a pleasant feeling will wash over you. The original pain will transform into a strange sensation of soreness and fullness...

A large portion of people who work out and lift weights have fallen in love with this kind of fast-paced, self-destructive activity.

There's so much joy to be had, how could there be hatred?

Thinking about all this, the female knight's gaze towards the housekeeper softened considerably...

Huh?

Upon hearing this answer, Lurengar exclaimed in surprise and asked incredulously, "You...you really don't blame me?"

"Of course it's not your fault."

Dideri, with an expression that said, "I understand," slowly said, "Although you used the 'laughing torture' on your own initiative, although you seemed to be having a lot of fun tickling the soles of my feet, although your face was grotesque when you rejected my pleas for mercy, although..."

This must be pure, unadulterated hatred, right?

Lu Renjiaer broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, hesitating whether to turn around and run away.

But at that moment, Dideri suddenly changed her tone and said loudly, "But I can tell that you don't really think that way! You've become like this because your master forced you!"

"You actually have a wonderful inner self!"

A beautiful inner self?!

Lurengar was visibly shaken, deeply moved by those five words.

Yes, although I am plain-looking, over thirty years old, unmarried, have poor work skills, and am always worried about being retired... I have a wonderful inner self!

Besides, if it weren't for the fear of being fired, the fear of not finding a job, or the fear of not being able to solve the problem of retirement... who would willingly be a lackey? Especially a lackey who could be sold by his master at any time.

Upon hearing that someone could understand him so profoundly, Lu Renjia was immediately moved to tears.

But she didn't know how to express the overwhelming emotions within her, so she could only nod repeatedly, becoming a broken record: "Well said, well said, well said..."

"Yeah, it's alright."

Didier interrupted her repetition, knowing full well the answer, and asked, "So you came here specifically to apologize to me?"