Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

Chapter 101 Compendium of Materia Medica!

Li Lizhi ate the cream with a happy heart.

I really like this flavor, and I hope I can have cake and cream for my birthday in the future.

Every bite is a delight.

The food was delicious, and I'm very full.

But that doesn't stop me from eating some cake and cream now.

Such a good thing should naturally be brought back for others to try.

Especially Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun.

As night fell, Li Lizhi and the others began their journey back.

I just returned the flashlight to Xiao Ran, and now I have to borrow it again.

The two little princesses like to hold flashlights and shine them into the night sky.

Also brought back was a cake prepared in the name of Third Sister.

After everyone else left, Third Sister went to check on the gifts she had received.

Several outfits, all of good quality.

It's much better than the previous Third Sister.

The design is impeccable, after all, it was made in the palace, so the craftsmanship is naturally top-notch.

"So beautiful!" Third Sister said, holding the clothes in the room.

“I remember this was given to me by Si Zi.” Zhang Jinhe was not in a hurry to go back, and stayed in Zhang Er Ya and San Niang’s room.

"Yes, this was given to me by Sizi." Third Sister also remembered.

"These clothes are too expensive." Third Sister didn't know, nor had she thought about this, but Zhang Erya had to think about it.

I'm not happy with the gift, but I'll have to give a return gift later.

Zhang Jinhe could see Zhang Erya's worry, and said with a smile, "Second Aunt, don't worry too much. With the young master here, everything will be alright."

Zhang Jinhe felt that these things were nothing to Xiao Ran.

Zhang Erya nodded, no longer feeling embarrassed.

If you truly consider Xiao Ran family, then since you're family, there's no need to be polite.

At first, the siblings were very apprehensive, fearing that Xiao Ran would not agree.

Finding that Xiao Ran didn't reject them and treated the three siblings as family, Zhang Erya and San Niang naturally also treated Xiao Ran as family.

Third Sister, who usually goes to bed early, stayed up very late.

I'm so happy to celebrate my birthday today.

The gifts she received could make Third Sister excited for a long time.

When Li Lizhi and the others returned to Lizheng Hall, it was very late, but Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun were still waiting and did not rest.

A beam of light shone into the Lizheng Hall, and Li Shimin smiled, "Sizi and the others are back."

Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun knew that it was a flashlight; no one else had one, so it must have been Xiao Ran who gave it to the princesses.

"Hehe~ Mother~"

A cute and adorable voice drifted into the Rissei-den (Imperial Council Hall).

The little princess was very happy today, eating lots of delicious food. Her favorite things were cake and cream.

The group had eaten the cake Xiao Ran had given them before; it was also soft, chewy, and very sweet, but without cream.

It was the first time for both of them to try cream, and they were all amazed.

"Is this the food you brought back?" Li Shimin asked, looking at the food box.

"No, it's not duck!" the little princess quickly said, "It's cream!"

"So sweet~ It's so delicious~"

Li Lizhi and Princess Yuzhang spoke about it, and Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun also tasted the cake and cream.

"This tastes good." Li Shimin also liked sweets and sugar, and naturally he also liked cream.

"For future birthdays, please ask Xiao Ran to make one for you; this cream is delicious."

Li Shimin also liked it more and more as he ate it.

But as an elderly father, he didn't eat much, just a few bites.

The two little princesses like it and want to keep it for the two little girls.

There were three people and a dog by the pond in the morning.

Although Third Sister didn't know much about health preservation, she liked to make it for Xiao Ran.

The morning mist by the pool had not yet dissipated. Sun Simiao watched as Xiao Ran led San Niang in practicing that slow and leisurely "boxing" – though it was called boxing, it was more like willows swaying in the wind, with every movement exuding a gentle strength.

He stroked his white beard and waited for Xiao Ran to finish his movements before slowly speaking: "Young master, this set of 'slow fist' is indeed in line with the principles of health preservation."

"The old man sees things very clearly." Xiao Ran smiled and wiped his sweat. Third Aunt was already skipping and jumping to feed Xiao Hei breakfast.

Sun Simiao did not respond, but stared at the ripples in the pool in a daze. After a long while, he said, "This old man of mine has practiced medicine for seventy years and has seen too much birth, aging, sickness and death. I have come to understand some simple truths, which I will tell you today."

He paused, his gaze falling on Xiao Ran. "The human body is like an old tree; its roots are in the blood and qi, and its leaves are in the spirit."

“Your daily morning exercise is to activate your qi and blood – this is ‘movement’, but the movement must be done in the right way.”

"Like your punch, it may seem slow, but it is actually connected joint by joint. It is not brute force, nor is it holding your breath. This is how to cultivate strength, not just exhaust it."

"If you only pursue speed and intensity, even the best body cannot withstand the strain. Just like an ox working in the field, it will age easily if it doesn't work day and night."

Sun Simiao changed the subject, mentioning mindset, his tone becoming increasingly calm: "What's more important than training is mindset. I see that you always remain calm in the face of adversity, which is a good thing."

“When people are angry, their qi rises; when they are happy, their qi calms; when they are sad, their qi dissipates; when they are startled, their qi becomes disordered—when the seven emotions are excessive, they are more harmful than wind and cold.”

"Like porcelain, it looks hard, but if the heart breaks first, the body will eventually crack too." "And the food, you did a good job." Sun Simiao thought of the cake from last night, but didn't mention its sweetness. He only said, "Moderation in eating and drinking doesn't mean eating less, but knowing when you're hungry and full, and distinguishing between hot and cold. For example, drinking soup in winter and eating melons in summer, moving with the seasons, will make your spleen and stomach happy. If you are greedy and indulge, even the best ingredients will become poison, just like over-irrigating fertile fields, which will cause flooding."

As he spoke, Sun Simiao took out a thread-bound booklet from his sleeve. The pages were yellowed and it was handwritten. The cover had the words "Explanation of the Diagram of Taiji" written on it.

“This was taught to me by a Taoist priest when I was traveling in my early years. He said that this set of boxing can ‘overcome hardness with softness and control movement with stillness’. I think it is similar to your slow boxing. You should take it and practice it in your spare time. It is better than any tonic.”

Xiao Ran took the booklet, his fingertips touching the roughness of the paper, and suddenly realized something was wrong—Sun Simiao always talked only about medical principles, rarely gave gifts, and would never chatter about everyday matters like this.

Xiao Ran looked up at Sun Simiao and saw the white frost at his temples particularly noticeable in the morning light. His heart tightened: "Grandpa, what happened to you...?"

When Sun Simiao was caught out by his question, he smiled frankly, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening into deep furrows: "Yes, I'm leaving."

"Why?" Xiao Ran blurted out. After spending so much time together, he had already come to regard him as an elder.

They all liked Sun Simiao very much and treated him like family.

“Kaolao Village is peaceful, and the young man and the villagers treat me like family. I should have stayed longer.”

Sun Simiao gazed at the distant smoke rising from the chimneys, his tone filled with reluctance but without regret, "But although I can still move, I know my days are numbered. There are still too many places in this world lacking medical care and medicine, and I must go and see them while I can still walk."

"Furthermore, I have troubled you for so long and have already received too much kindness. Your new methods and ideas have enlightened my old mind, which is already a great benefit. If I stay any longer, it would seem greedy."

Sun Simiao patted Xiao Ran's shoulder lightly, but with a solemn tone, "You are a wise person. Whether it's health preservation or doing things, you have always adhered to the principle of 'harmony'. You will definitely be able to go far and steady in the future."

Xiao Ran knew that Sun Simiao wanted to leave because he wanted to continue practicing medicine and saving lives, traveling all over the world. His ambition was to benefit all living beings, not to be confined to one place.

Xiao Ran and the people of Kaolao Village treated Sun Simiao very well, and Xiao Ran's family was also very well-off.

But Sun Simiao was not a pleasure-seeking person. If he were naturally inclined to a life of ease, he would have settled in Chang'an long ago instead of wandering the world.

Xiao Ran knew that it was impossible to keep Sun Simiao indefinitely, but he wanted to keep him for as long as possible.

It's a very important matter; I'd like to ask Sun Simiao for help in researching gunpowder!
Xiao Ran looked at the white hair at Sun Simiao's temples, his throat moved, and his tone was full of respect: "I understand the old man's intentions. You have traveled the world all your life, saving countless families from suffering. I admire your compassion for the world very much, and I dare not force you to stay."

Xiao Ran's gaze was sincere, with a hint of pleading: "I have a favor to ask, sir. I would like to request that you stay a little longer. This matter is very important. I am not capable of doing it myself, and no one else can do it either. I can only trouble you, sir."

Sun Simiao also thought highly of Xiao Ran, feeling that Xiao Ran had been a great help. When Xiao Ran asked for his help, Sun Simiao really couldn't refuse.

"Young man, please speak freely. As long as it is within our power, we will definitely help."

Xiao Ran stepped forward, lowering his voice and speaking with a hint of caution: "It's like this. I accidentally obtained a fragment of an ancient recipe while wandering in the Western Regions. It says to combine saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal powder, and that 'when burned, it can crack rocks and make a sound.'"

“I tried it a few times, only daring to use a small amount, and I saw that the flames were very intense, with crackling sounds, just like the fierce bursts of bamboo shoots breaking through the soil.”

Xiao Ran deliberately avoided the word "gunpowder," only mentioning the raw materials and phenomena, and then steered the discussion towards medicine:

“I know that saltpeter can clear heat, sulfur can heal sores, and charcoal is an ordinary substance—but when these three are put together, their properties change, becoming frighteningly strong. The proportions on the tattered page are vague, only saying ‘more saltpeter, less sulfur, and half charcoal.’ I dare not touch it rashly, for fear of mixing it incorrectly and harming people, or wasting these things.”

"The old man has spent his life practicing medicine and alchemy, and he is very familiar with the properties of these minerals. I would like to ask you to take a look—how should these three be combined to ensure a safe combination?"

"In which situations would it be too intense, and in which too gentle? If we can figure that out, it will be useful when we are quarrying rocks in the future, and it will save the villagers some effort. Isn't that another kind of 'helping the world'?"

When Sun Simiao heard "saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal powder," he raised an eyebrow, paused in stroking his beard, and a knowing glint flashed in his eyes: "I did try this combination when I was refining elixirs in my younger days."

He gazed at the pool, as if recalling the past: "Back then, in order to refine the 'Fire-Subduing Pill,' I wanted to detoxify the sulfur poisoning, so I used saltpeter to make it, and then added charcoal powder to ignite it. I did see flames rise and make small popping sounds, which startled me. Later, I felt that this method was dangerous, and since it was mostly used externally to treat malignant sores, I didn't investigate it further."

Sun Simiao turned to look at Xiao Ran, his tone becoming more serious: "These three are all strong substances. Saltpeter is volatile, sulfur is flammable, and charcoal powder aids combustion—a slight difference in the ratio will result in a huge difference in their flammability."

"Since you say you have some fragments, why don't you bring them over? I'll try them with you. Let's start with a small amount and see how it burns, then gradually adjust it until we get the hang of it."

“There’s only one condition—” Sun Simiao’s gaze darkened. “If we’re going to try it, we must do it in an open area, far away from vegetation, people, and livestock, and prepare sand and soil to extinguish the fire. These things can help people, but they can also harm people. We need to get them ‘compliant’ before we can talk about their usefulness.”

Xiao Ran felt relieved when he saw him agree and quickly nodded, "I'll do whatever the old man says!"

In order to persuade Sun Simiao to stay longer, Xiao Ran thought of the Compendium of Materia Medica.

I just wonder if someone as skilled in medicine as Sun Simiao would be interested in such an encyclopedia.

"Grandpa, I have another book, I don't know if it will be of any use to you."

Sun Simiao was very interested in Xiao Ran's things.

"If the young master is willing, he can take a look first."

"Okay!" Xiao Ran and Sun Simiao walked towards the courtyard.

Xiao Ran returned to his room and found the Compendium of Materia Medica in the RV.

Xiao Ran carried the book back into the courtyard. "Grandpa, this is it. I don't know if it will work."

When Sun Simiao took the book, his fingertips first touched the four characters "Compendium of Materia Medica" on the cover, which exuded an aura of "distinguishing hundreds of medicines and grasping the essentials."

He squinted his old eyes, slowly turned the pages, and was greeted by dense annotations and hand-drawn illustrations of medicines on the yellowed pages. At first, he just stroked his beard and read them carefully, but gradually he couldn't sit still. He got up and went to the corridor in the morning light, turning the pages more and more eagerly in the light.

"Outline...outline..."

Sun Simiao murmured the book title repeatedly, his withered fingers pointing to the sections on "grass," "wood," and "stone." His eyes first flashed with surprise, then turned into an undisguised shock.

"Throughout history, herbal texts have either emphasized the properties and flavors or the place of origin, but no one has ever used such a method of 'using categories to classify types and types to classify species'!"

"This entry on 'saltpeter' first mentions its 'original text', then lists its 'separate records', and adds 'corrections' and 'explanations,' even clearly indicating the difference in the potency of saltpeter from Sichuan and Shanxi."

"This is not a book; it's as if it has dissected and laid bare the nature of all plants, trees, metals, and stones in the world!"

Turning to the "sulfur" page, one finds that the book not only includes "vaginal erosion of women" from the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica, but also includes folk remedies for treating stubborn skin diseases by mixing sulfur and lard into an ointment.

It is almost identical to the folk remedies that Sun Simiao collected in Qin in his early years, but it has the additional annotation of "avoiding ironware".

He suddenly stopped, letting out a low sigh: "In my seventy years of medical practice, I have collected only a little over a thousand folk remedies, yet this book contains over ten thousand, and I have marked each one with 'personally tested and effective' or 'rumored but need further verification'... Such meticulousness truly embodies the 'benevolent heart of a doctor' in every word."

Turning the page further, one finds a detailed explanation in the "Prescriptions" section regarding the use of "cicada molting and uncaria" in combination for infantile convulsions, with even the instruction to "take the medicine with warm rice water and avoid raw or cold foods" clearly stated.

Sun Simiao suddenly looked up at Xiao Ran, his eyes reddening slightly: "How many doctors have caused deaths by misidentifying a single herb due to the chaotic nature of the herbal classics? How many folk remedies have been lost because no one has compiled them and they have been passed down with the older generation? If this book can be passed down to future generations, doctors who have this copy will be like having a lamp in the dark, saving them from taking many detours and causing many deaths!"

Xiao Ran didn't understand it, nor was he interested in it.

I know this book is very good; that's the assessment from the textbook.

Xiao Ran genuinely didn't know exactly what made it so impressive.

Sun Simiao stroked the annotation for "calamine" in the "Stone Section"—"The best quality comes from Persia. After calcining and grinding it into powder, it can be used to treat eye diseases with miraculous effects."

Suddenly, he clapped his hands and said, "I once saw a Persian doctor in the Western Regions use this stone to treat an eye disease. I only knew its effects, but not its properties. This book even explains the 'calcination method' and 'combination'! This kind of comprehensive approach, combining Chinese and foreign knowledge with ancient and modern knowledge, is what a 'herbal classic' should be like."

(End of this chapter)