How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

But soon, the wise king's expression changed, as if he had realized something, and he stepped forward to ask Yan Ruoyao:

"Yao'er, did you eat something just now?"

"Hmm, cough cough..."

Yan Ruoyao hesitated for a moment, then nodded gently, looking a little guilty, not daring to look directly into her father's eyes.

"Oh, Yao'er, have you forgotten the imperial physician's instructions that you should wait until you recover before eating? Aren't you going to waste all your efforts?"

The wise king could not help but stamp his feet and looked at his daughter helplessly. He was in a dilemma whether to be angry or not. He only had this precious daughter, and seeing her starving made him feel sad.

However, Yao'er's illness has lasted for several months. She has tried various methods but has not been able to cure it. Her condition has also gradually worsened.

Since there was really no other way, he accepted the advice of an imperial physician and used fasting therapy. As long as he skipped a few meals, his condition would naturally get better.

But Yao'er ate secretly without his knowledge, so she had been hungry in vain before. Seeing his daughter's miserable look, the wise king's heart almost broke.

"Ahem, I'm sorry, Daddy... Don't be angry, it's Yao'er's fault..."

Yan Ruoyao looked at her father with a guilty look on her face and spoke intermittently in a weak voice.

Every time she coughed, the wise king would feel extremely guilty. He once led an army of 100,000 to sweep across the Western Regions, and also assisted His Majesty in eliminating treacherous ministers.

But he was a man of great stature, but he was helpless against his daughter's illness, which was even more painful than killing him.

At this time, Xu Chengling walked in front of the virtuous king, gently pulled Yan Ruoyao's slender hand, protected her behind him, and said to the virtuous king:

"Xian Wang, you don't have to blame Yao'er too much. I asked her to eat."

"You, ah, how can I bear to watch Yao'er starve? She is my own flesh and blood, but other than fasting, I don't know what else to do."

The wise king couldn't help but sigh, his voice full of helplessness.

Xu Chengling looked at the dejected man in the python robe in front of him, pointed at him and said without hesitation:

"Wise King, you are not saving her at all, you are harming her."

"What, the king is harming Yao'er?"

When he was pointed at and said this, the wise king was actually a little at a loss for a moment.

"That's right, Yao'er's illness is not an ordinary cold, but whooping cough. Coupled with her weak body, the illness keeps coming back and can't be cured."

As he spoke, Xu Chengling looked at the frail-looking little princess behind him, then looked at the man in the python robe in front of him, and continued:

"Her body was already very weak, and now she's starving. She doesn't even have the strength to fight the disease. You're not saving her at all. You're trying to make her die faster."

"Yes, she looks so pitiful. She is the daughter of the prince, but she can't even afford to eat and has to go hungry. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to be hungry?"

Mo Li on the side also echoed and stood up for Yan Ruoyao. She was often hungry and naturally knew how uncomfortable it was.

So now she has to eat her fill every time, so that if there is nothing to eat one day, at least she can endure it for a few days.

"No, how could it be possible...why would I want to kill Yao'er...it's not like that..."

After hearing what Xu Chengling said, the wise king was stunned as if struck by a bolt from the blue. He kept talking to himself, and even his voice began to tremble.

"Cough cough..."

At this time, Yan Ruoyao's violent coughing sound was heard again, and her delicate little face became even paler, and her lips were bloodless.

She raised a slender hand, gently pulled Xu Chengling's sleeve, and said to him in a weak voice:

"Brother Xu, you don't have to blame Daddy... Ahem, he did this for my own good."

"Well, I don't want to say anything more, but Yao'er must eat. She can't be left hungry. If the Xianwang Mansion won't give her food, then I will take her back to the Xiangguo Mansion to eat."

Xu Chengling shrugged and said, of course he was just talking, as for whether Yan Ruoyao wanted to go with him, that was up to her.

At least in the Prime Minister's Mansion, he would not let Yan Ruoyao go hungry, and her illness was not incurable, she just needed some special medicine.

Moreover, Xu Chengling is currently researching this special medicine. If it can be developed, it may be able to greatly reduce the mortality rate of wild geese.

"But what should I do? I would rather bear this myself than watch Yaoer suffer every day."

Looking at the helpless Xian Wang, Xu Chengling frowned and thought for a while, then said to him:

"Actually, I do have a prescription that you can try on the princess. Of course, I can't guarantee that it will work, but at least it's more reliable than this fasting therapy."

Chapter 98: Traveler's Guide

"Prime Minister Xu, what is the prescription? As long as you can cure Yao'er's illness, you can let me work like a slave. I will never owe you this favor."

A gleam of light flashed in the virtuous king's turbid eyes, and he knelt in front of Xu Chengling on the spot.

In order to cure Yaoer's illness, he has tried various methods, and finally had no choice but to use fasting therapy.

As long as Yaoer's disease can be cured, he will pay any price.

He has already lost his beloved wife, and now only has Yaoer, and he cannot lose Yaoer again.

A man's knees are made of gold. A man who stands tall and upright is willing to kneel in front of others for the sake of his daughter.

"Wise King, you...quickly get up."

This scene moved Xu Chengling, no matter how cold-hearted he was. He did not feel ashamed of the virtuous king at all. Instead, he admired this man who could bend and stretch for his family.

This man is a good subject to His Majesty and a good father to his daughter, but he is not a good husband.

"My lord, rest assured. I will definitely cure the little princess. But before that, don't use the fasting therapy anymore. The little princess should eat when she is supposed to eat and drink when she is supposed to drink. Just wait for my next news."

Before leaving, Xu Chengling gave some instructions to the wise king, asking him not to let Yan Ruoyao go hungry again.

"Well, I will not let Yaoer go hungry. Then Prime Minister Xu, I will wait for your good news."

The wise king thanked him and promised that he would never use the fasting therapy again.

"Ahem... Brother Xu, goodbye."

Yan Ruoyao waved her hand to him and watched Xu Chengling and others leave Prince Xian's Mansion.

After Xu Chengling left, the virtuous king looked at his daughter, and said with a guilty look on his face:

"Yao'er, Daddy was sorry for you before, but Daddy is not angry with you. Go back to your room quickly and don't let yourself get cold. Ask the chef to make you something to eat. Daddy has other things to deal with, so I won't accompany you for now."

"Ah."

After Yan Ruoyao returned to the house, the smile on the virtuous king's face disappeared. A trace of murderous intent flashed across his deep eyes, and he said coldly to the man in black who appeared behind him:

"Someone, find the imperial physician who proposed the fasting therapy earlier, and take him away and execute him."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Also, send someone to inform Prince Yu to restrain himself, especially not to target the people around Prime Minister Xu."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The virtuous king looked at the direction where Xu Chengling and others left, his expression gradually became solemn, and he murmured:

"Prime Minister Xu, whether you are an enemy or a friend depends on whether you can cure Yao'er's illness."

……

On the way back to the Prime Minister's Mansion, Xu Chengling kept thinking about Yan Ruoyao.

I didn’t expect to have an unexpected gain today and meet the Eighth Wise Kings.

This Eighth Wise King was no simple person. Back then, the late emperor made a will to make the eldest princess the emperor. As you can imagine, there was an uproar in the court at that time, and voices of opposition were endless.

After making the will, the late emperor secretly assigned a task to the Eighth Wise King, and no one knew the specific content of this task.

All we know is that half a month later, all the voices opposing the empress disappeared inexplicably, and all the ministers who opposed the empress's ascension to the throne were found tragically dead in their palaces.

A certain minister was stabbed more than a dozen times in the back and was determined by the Astronomical Bureau to have committed suicide.

One can imagine the methods used by the Eighth Wise King, whom the late emperor trusted the most.

However, although the Eighth Wise Kings expressed their loyalty to the current empress on the surface, they were very low-key and basically did not care about state affairs.

But what is certain is that if the Eighth Wise King also has the ambition to seize power and usurp the throne, he is a prince who is both resourceful and very patient, then he will definitely be more difficult to deal with than Prince Jing and Prince Yu.

As for now, if Xu Chengling can cure Yan Ruoyao's illness, the Eighth Wise King will owe him a big favor. Moreover, the Eighth Wise King is the person His Majesty trusts the most, so it will be a great honor to win him over.

Even without this consideration, who could bear to sit idly by and watch such a lovely little princess suffer from illness and pain?

No matter what, Xu Chengling planned to give it a try. If successful, it would not only cure Yan Ruoyao's whooping cough, but also improve her immunity and make her less prone to illness.

After all, the reason why Yan Ruoyao is weak and sickly is because her natural immunity is too low.

This brings us to the fact that before he traveled through time, he once saw a time traveler's guide in a forum, which taught time travelers how to make a fortune after arriving in ancient times.

Liquor, perfume and glass are definitely the three things you need to make a fortune in ancient times.

Xu Chengling had never tried these.

Rather, what's the use of getting rich to him? There are so many people in Dayan who are richer than him that he can be counted on one hand. He is not short of money at all.

Moreover, compared to money, connections, and resources, these invisible things are the most valuable.

Among them, one thing caught Xu Chengling's attention.

That is penicillin, the miracle antibacterial drug that is hailed as having saved millions of lives.

He couldn't extract this at all.

The conditions for extracting penicillin are too harsh. The most important thing about penicillin is the strain, which is not easy to find, let alone isolate.

With the current medical level of Dayan, there is no condition to extract penicillin.

Obviously, the author of the time traveler's guide was very professional and had thought about this problem, so the guide mentioned a substance that could replace penicillin. Although the effect was not as good as penicillin, it was easier to extract.

That is, allicin.

The raw material used to extract allicin is naturally garlic.

According to Xu Chengling's observation, dayan had actually introduced garlic a long time ago, but it was called Hu garlic, and it is currently used as a traditional Chinese medicine for dispelling cold.

Since the geese already had ready-made garlic, Xu Chengling naturally didn't have to go through the trouble of looking for it.

As for the principle of extracting allicin, it is not difficult. It is to crush the garlic and extract the liquid of allicin by heating.

The only difficulty is the distillation apparatus.

He certainly couldn't make a distillation flask or a condenser, so he could only make a simple distillation device himself.

This is not difficult for Xu Chengling who has modern knowledge, but the effect of allicin extracted in this way may be slightly reduced.

If he had glass, he would be able to extract more pure allicin.

Wait…glass.

Xu Chengling seemed to have thought of something. Why didn't he make the glass himself?

You know, even in his world, glass was introduced very late.

In fact, the ancients mastered the firing technology very early, that is, porcelain. This kind of porcelain is not only beautiful in appearance, but also has good heat resistance and high practicality.

But porcelain and glass are like a fork in the road. The ancients strived for perfection in porcelain making, but forgot about the production of glass, which is really regrettable.

In fact, the firing methods of glass and porcelain are similar. By just slightly improving the method, more practical glass can be produced.

At this time, Xu Chengling brought Tongxin and Mo Li back to the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Arriving at the courtyard, Xu Chengling gave an order to Tong Xin beside him:

"Tong'er, go to the medicine store and buy two kilograms of garlic."

"Master, what do you want so much garlic for?"

"Don't worry, just go buy it."

"understood."

After Tong Xin left, Xu Chengling then said to Mo Li beside him:

"Ali, go call a few servants. I need to finish setting up the distillation equipment tonight."

Chapter 99: My medicine is very useful (Part 3)

That night, everyone was busy in the yard.