Seeking Truth with a Sword

The celebration for the housewarming feast did not last very long, as Cheng Juxiu and his three fellow Academic Palace Disciples were swamped with a myriad of matters and had their own affairs to handle. Yang Yu, Yong Hongzhong, Ji Linlang, and the others also needed to prepare for their future life at the Academic Palace.

The Yang family held a six-day-long open banquet where anyone who came and exclaimed, "Yang Qilang's talent towers high," "Yang Qilang is brimming with scholarly wisdom," or "Yang Qilang is eager and studious," could eat and drink for free. Even so, the Yang family felt that their banquet scene was more subdued compared to a few other households in Chang'an City that also had children who passed the examinations for the Academic Palace.

Yong Hongzhong and Ji Linlang needed to write back home to inform their parents of the good news, so their families would not worry.

In addition, Ji Linlang shared a funny story with Li Ang—the Fortune Doctor Yu Miaoshui of Yizhou City, who became famous for selling mung beans, had also been eagerly inquiring about this year's Academic Palace examinations. When the news that Li Ang ranked second in the preliminary examination reached Yizhou City, Yu Miaoshui turned ashen and closed his shop. When the news that Li Ang ranked first in the re-examination reached Yizhou City, Yu Miaoshui's doors were tightly shut, and continuous sobbing could be heard from his yard. When the news that Xi Yangyu had determined Li Ang to be unable to pursue Cultivation for life returned, Yu Miaoshui was overjoyed, and the crying in his yard stopped.

However, when the dust settled and the news that Li Ang had become Yizhou's first Academic Palace Top Scholar reached home, Yu Miaoshui sat at home all day long, neither eating nor drinking. The next day, he looked haggard, as if he had aged decades. He voluntarily took his family to Lansheng Building at the head of Yizhou Bridge to find Song Shaoyuan's mother, Aunt Song. Kneeling and pleading, he begged to sell the Yu Family's pharmacy enterprise and residences in Yizhou City to Aunt Song at a low price—his demeanor was such that if Aunt Song truly refused, he would have jumped into the river.

Left with no choice, Aunt Song reluctantly bought the properties at a low price, and Yu Miaoshui then gratefully took his family and left Yizhou for other lands.

The letter sent the next day from Yizhou to Chang'an detailed these events. In her letter, Aunt Song first expressed her apologies to Li Ang for making decisions on her own and included a banknote for one-third of the Yu Family's properties sold at market price, totaling one thousand five hundred strings of coins—she would send the rest after the remaining houses were sold. Then Aunt Song asked Li Ang to console Song Shaoyuan in the letter, advising him not to be disheartened by his failure to be admitted to the Academic Palace, and to spend another half a year in Chang'an to take part in the imperial examination the following February.

Heartache and sorrow...

Reading the letter, Li Ang thought of Song Shaoyuan, who was deeply in love with You Douzhi. He found the whole situation rather peculiar.

Next year, if Aunt Song were to visit Chang'an, she might even find herself with a grandson. What a mess all this was.

Li Ang shook his head and set aside the letter. Song Shaoyuan was quite diligent in his studies, and with You Douzhi's own literary talents being quite remarkable, his prospects for the imperial examinations were still quite good.

Yu Miaoshui's incident was just a small interlude, and Li Ang casually pocketed the one thousand five hundred strings of coins. During this period, he was mainly busy with two matters.

The first was meeting with people from the Ministry of War, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Rites, and the Imperial Medical Bureau. The Ministry of War needed Li Ang's assistance in addressing potential issues related to malaria if Yu Country decided to deploy troops southward, such as developing mosquito prevention and extermination strategies for military camps. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites sought Li Ang's consultation on matters concerning obstetric forceps. This included publishing articles in Academic Palace publications explaining the usage methods and key considerations for forceps. Additionally, they wanted the Imperial Medical Bureau's doctors in each state to gather local midwives to promote the use of forceps. Meanwhile, Li Ang also wrote down key points for childbirth and postpartum care, such as midwives washing their hands, disinfecting forceps and beds, strengthening maternal prenatal care, maintaining a balanced diet, and improving physical fitness.

This was a case of letting things fall where they may. The matter of malaria was relatively sensitive, and it wasn't advisable to publicize Li Ang's name. The forceps, however, did not have this taboo. According to the officials from the two ministries, the Emperor and the Empress both planned to properly promote Li Ang's achievements, and the moniker "Gynecology Saint" was sure to stick.

Since that was the case, he might as well do a good job promoting the care of women in childbirth. This could save more lives—the mortality rate for women during delivery and postpartum care in some of Yu Country's most backward areas reached as high as 1.5 percent, largely due to outdated hygiene practices.

The Ministry of Industry's visit concerned mosquito prevention efforts in Chang'an. Even though Tantai Leshan, Master of the Academic Palace, along with his students, had revised the construction plans for Chang'an's water channels, they still sought Li Ang's consultation for specific mosquito prevention strategies. These included how to make mosquito nets, what plants to use for repelling mosquitoes, and which type of fish would be best for raising in water channels to consume mosquito larvae.

Owing to the bustling crowds and gossip in Chang'an, word that insects cause disease had already begun to circulate through the workshops, somehow, even before the Ministry of Industry's specific policies were formulated. Large households hurriedly hung silk mosquito nets in their halls and bedrooms, and even the lower-quality hemp cloth nets sold out, causing the price of fabric in Chang'an to soar on the spot.

Such matters were handled by professionals. Li Ang wasn't too concerned. He shut himself in his residence, claiming to the outside world that he wanted to study the medical texts sent by the Imperial Medical Bureau. In truth, he had used those one thousand five hundred strings of coins to purchase gold, silver, and other precious metals from the gold shops in Chang'an West Market, continuing his research on Mo Si.

Feeding precious metals to Mo Si did indeed increase its strength, enhance bodily functions, and optimize Spirit Vein conductivity, all without impacting its volume or weight. So far, Li Ang had consumed about one hundred fifty taels of Gold and five hundred taels of pure Silver. This enhanced his Spirit Veins from the six and a half present during the Skull-interrupted Sword incident to a level equivalent to roughly ten Spirit Veins. If he could consume more Gold and Silver, the strength of the Spirit Veins could even reach thirteen or fourteen, gradually approaching the concept of a genius in the Academic Palace.

"It's said that Pei Jing's Spiritual Vein Talent is fourteen veins, a kind of innate talent found only in one in ten thousand people. And Willow Leaf Eyebrow is definitely not inferior. Chasing and even surpassing their innate talents will require even more money..."

In the room, Li Ang shook his head and quipped, "Is this what you call 'throwing money at happiness'?"

The faster the Mo Si grew, the more Gold and Silver it consumed. The price of Gold in Chang'an was seventeen strings and five hundred coins per tael.

With 1,500 strings of coins, he couldn't even afford a hundred taels of Gold. He needed to develop new sources of wealth.

Aside from contemplating ways to amass wealth, Li Ang was also paying attention to news from the garrison. The disappearance of Jiao Cheng had just begun to ripple through Pingkang Square and the gangs of Chang'an when someone from above moved to quell it. Jiao Cheng was a tool for certain powerful individuals to amass wealth, and no one wished for his death to receive wide attention. Hence, it wasn't long before Pingkang Square welcomed a new Steward. The building where Jiao Cheng used to live was also consumed by a great fire—reportedly, this was the most convenient way to dispose of the compromising materials Jiao Cheng held on the powerful figures of Chang'an.

As for whether the garrison continued the investigation, whether it unearthed more clues from the underground palace, linking them to the disappearance of Jiao Cheng or even to him... He couldn't ascertain such information and could only secretly search for clues, continuing to wait.

「Half a month passed in a flash, and at last, the day the Academic Palace started the new term arrived.」