The Rise of a General's Daughter-in-Law Doctor

After packing their things at the inn, Li Muxia and her two apprentices prepared to set off. Before leaving, Li Muxia and Shangguan Jingye went to Wang the blacksmith to pick up the custom-made items.

As soon as Li Muxia stepped into the blacksmith's shop, she saw Wang the blacksmith busy at work. She eagerly asked, "Uncle Wang, we're here to pick up our things. Is it ready?"

Hearing the voice, Wang the blacksmith looked up and saw Li Muxia and the other person. He greeted them warmly, "It's finished! It was finished yesterday." As he spoke, he turned around and went into the house to get something. As he did so, he said, "You know what, it looks pretty good, but it used up a lot of my materials."

When Li Muxia saw what the blacksmith was holding, her eyes lit up instantly. It was exactly the same as the blueprint, and she was extremely satisfied.

Li Muxia carefully inspected the device. Seeing Li Muxia's expression, Wang the blacksmith knew he was satisfied and continued, "You don't know, this thing called a distiller took me three tries to make successfully, and it wasted a lot of my brass."

Hearing this, Li Muxia happily said thank you.

Wang the blacksmith continued, "And this knife and needle, I failed several times before I finally succeeded, wasting a lot of my fine iron."

Li Muxia took the thin, cicada-wing-like scalpel from Wang the blacksmith and became more and more satisfied with it. Indeed, the craftsmanship of ancient artisans was in no way inferior to modern industrial equipment.

Knowing that Wang the blacksmith had wasted a lot of good materials while making these things for her, Li Muxia immediately took out a hundred taels of silver and handed it to Wang the blacksmith.

The blacksmith Wang took the silver note, glanced at it, frowned, and said, "Young master, do you have any smaller silver notes? I don't have much loose silver here, so I can't make change."

Li Muxia said with a smile, "Uncle Wang, no need to look anymore. You used a lot of good materials to make these things for me, so consider the rest as compensation."

Upon hearing Li Muxia's words, Wang the blacksmith quickly returned the silver notes to him: "Young master, this is far too much. I already gave you a ten-tael deposit, and the price we agreed on was fifty taels. Forty more taels would be enough. Besides, only the first set wasted some materials; the second and third sets were basically flawless, succeeding on the first try. And the scraps can be used to make other things, so it's not a waste. You're giving me far too much."

Seeing that Wang the blacksmith was honest, Shangguan Jingye smiled and said, "Uncle, please accept it. Your craftsmanship is excellent. Please make five more sets for us. We'll come back to collect them after we've finished our business. Consider the extra fifty taels as a deposit."

He paused, then added, "There's one more thing I hope you can help me with, Uncle."

Seeing Shangguan Jingye's suddenly serious expression, Wang the carpenter also became serious. "Young master, please speak. I will do my best to do what I can."

Seeing that the blacksmith Wang had agreed, Shangguan Jingye said, "I hope that you can keep our creations a secret and not let anyone know about them."

Upon hearing this, Blacksmith Wang nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem, I will keep my mouth shut and will not let any third person see these things except for the two of you."

Hearing Wang the blacksmith's assurance, Li Muxia and Shangguan Jingye felt somewhat relieved and handed the silver notes back to him.

Seeing that the two of them no longer refused, Wang the blacksmith accepted the silver notes, packed the things up, and handed them to Li Muxia and Shangguan Jingye. The two of them carried the things, bid farewell, and went back to the inn to meet their master.

Back at the inn, in Bai Qingshi's room, the three of them looked around the distiller for a while. Bai Qingshi and Shangguan Jingye were very curious about how to use it, so they stopped rushing on their way and asked Li Muxia to demonstrate it to them.

Li Muxia also wanted to test the effect of the still, so she asked her senior brother to buy two jars of strong liquor from the shopkeeper and began experimenting.

The experiment was a great success. Bai Qingshi and Shangguan Jingye understood the working principle of the distiller by observing its operation and were overjoyed.

Although the still was successful, the alcohol content of the liquor was too low. Of the two large jars of liquor, only about half of them were purified into alcohol.

Bai Qingshi leaned in and smelled the purified alcohol. Although the smell was strong, it was somewhat pungent. It probably wasn't drinkable.

Seeing this, Li Muxia smiled and explained, "This is pure alcohol, you can't drink it, but you can use it for disinfection. However, you can't use it now because the purity is too high. You can't put it directly on your skin. It needs to be diluted."

As he spoke, he took out another distiller and began to make distilled water.

Once everything was ready, Li Muxia mixed alcohol and distilled water in a 1:3 ratio to obtain medical alcohol.

Bai Qingshi and Shangguan Jingye looked at the prepared medical alcohol and asked, "Is it ready now? Can we use it directly?"

Seeing their curious expressions, Li Muxia said, "It's okay now. You can use it directly for disinfection or apply it directly to the skin, but you can't ingest it."

Upon hearing Li Muxia's explanation, Bai Qingshi eagerly dabbed some into his hands. It felt cool to the touch and dried quickly after being rubbed onto his skin.

Li Muxia looked at the two people who were studying the alcohol: "Alcohol is highly volatile, so it feels cool when it comes into contact with the skin, which can be used to cool down. Remember to seal it after use."

Upon hearing this, Bai Qingshi quickly put the lid back on, afraid that the alcohol might evaporate completely.

Amused by their actions, Li Muxia said, "Although alcohol has a disinfecting effect, it's best not to use it on wounds."

Before Li Muxia could finish speaking, Shangguan Jingye next to him hissed in pain. He had accidentally touched his wound. Now Li Muxia didn't need to explain why; he personally felt the pain, which felt like being cut with a knife.

Bai Qingshi glanced at his second apprentice with sympathy. He quietly wiped the medical alcohol off his hands.

Then he picked up the surgical instruments and started looking at them. He had already heard Li Muxia talk about surgery before, but when he saw the various surgical instruments on the table, he still couldn't imagine how to use them.

Shangguan Jingye's gaze also fell upon the surgical instruments. He was also very curious, and then asked, "Mu Xia, how do you use this scalpel and these scissor-like things?"

Li Muxia looked at the two of them and explained the names and uses of the surgical instruments to them. Before they knew it, most of the day had passed, and it was getting dark. It seemed that they could not travel today, so they stayed at the inn for another night.

Dongfang Jincheng and his companion, after visiting the South District today, compiled their findings from the past few days into a written report and sent it to Kyoto. They didn't rest until well past midnight.

As Dongfang Jincheng lay in bed, he suddenly thought of Li Muxia. He was becoming more and more curious about Li Muxia.

Li Muxia's current behavior is completely different from the information he received. What exactly happened to cause such a big change in a person, making him seem like a completely different person?