A crown princess who doesn't do infrastructure construction isn't a good doctor.

After leaving the bookstore, Qin Suiyou and Kong An boarded their respective carriages and headed towards the Prince An's residence.

Upon arriving at the Prince An's residence, the two sat down in the main hall of the front courtyard. Kong An first took a sip of tea, then said, "Now that you've finished touring the bookstore, you've achieved your goal. How should we proceed with our business?"

At first, Kong An didn't understand why Qin Suiyou wanted to invite him to visit the renovated bookstore first. But when he arrived at the door and heard some people on the street who recognized him whispering, he realized that Qin Suiyou wanted to use his reputation to attract customers indirectly.

After figuring it out, Kong An was surprised that he didn't feel any dissatisfaction. He just felt that Qin Suiyou was quite cunning. As expected, he was the kind of person who could gain the recognition and even the admiration of a large number of people in the Prince An's Mansion. Even the old fox Yu Chuan praised him highly. Kong An himself couldn't help but think of Qin Suiyou in the best possible light.

After gesturing for Beitang Yan, who had been following him, to produce a receipt with blank sections for quantity and amount, Qin Suiyou said, "It's actually not complicated. Once you confirm the order quantity, I will provide the corresponding price. If you can accept it, we can sign the contract now."

Upon hearing this, Kong An narrowed his eyes and said, "Then I'm in a very passive position."

Seeing Kong An's unusually serious expression, Qin Suiyou smiled.

"Are you still going to be so formal?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kong An stared at Qin Suiyou for a while before suddenly laughing.

"Hahaha, really, it must be tiring to pretend for so long."

Qin Suiyou smiled and remained silent. After teasing Kong An, he said, "I just looked at the stationery in the bookstore. It's very necessary to have the stationery that goes with the pencils. However, I don't know how well the students will accept new things, so for the first time, I'll round it up to thirty sets."

Qin Suiyou had learned that Kong An was purchasing new stationery not only to provide it to the students of Hongde Academy, but also to allow students from poor families at the Imperial College to use it. Thirty sets were actually very few compared to the existing student population, but he did not insist on it.

When Kong An first mentioned wanting to buy out the pencil-making method, Qin Suiyou had already considered this possibility. He predicted that after Kong An went back and thought about it carefully, he would regret his impulsive decision to spend several hundred taels of silver to buy out something that might result in a huge loss. Even if his initial intention was to help students from impoverished families, if the students couldn't get used to using pencils and the like, it would ultimately lead to a huge waste, which would still make him regret his decision.

Things are much better now. Qin Suiyou still has the production method and source, so he can make a profit. And after some thought, Kong An won't lose too much as a result.

The negotiation went very smoothly. Qin Suiyou's price was fair, and Kong An didn't need to haggle. After confirming the quantity and amount, the two wrote two copies of the contract on the spot. Qin Suiyou also provided a receipt with a unique anti-counterfeiting mark, which would be used for any other large orders in the future.

After finishing their business, Kong An instructed his servant to put away his copy of the contract, then looked thoughtful.

"How is Beitang Yan?"

Speaking of Beitang Yan, after the Emperor sent Physician Liu to visit, Qin Suiyou examined the so-called miraculous medicine and discovered that it was indeed a medicine only found in Zhongzhou City, used to treat migraines. Part of the process involved Qin Suiyou relying on the beautiful goddess from the secret realm who guided him. With a wave of her hand, she used the lotus seed that had transformed into a knowledge storage device to store all the modern knowledge from his previous life. When Zhongzhou had certain technological conditions, he selected the useful ones and, with the assistance of a group of newly trained researchers, created many machines that were extremely advanced for this era.

While Qin Suiyou was still wondering why a medicine for treating migraines would be called some kind of miracle drug, he discovered that the medicine was indeed problematic. After rubbing it in his hand a few times, fine white powder gradually fell off its originally smooth surface.

Qin Suiyou was very familiar with the medicine he had personally participated in making. It was originally developed to treat the mother of a fishery official in Zhongzhou City. The old lady was afraid of bitterness, so the surface of the medicine was coated with sugar. Later, the medicine was very effective and relieved headaches in general. So the production was increased. The production was made according to the original finished product. Because of the sugar coating, as long as it was not mixed with other medicines or damaged, there would be no powder or anything like that on the surface.

Upon discovering this, Qin Suiyou scraped off all the powder. After testing it, he learned that the powder was a poison that could affect the nerves in the human brain. It was a mixture of various poisonous insects and herbs. The amount attached to the surface of the pill was not enough to kill him, but it would turn Beitang Yan into a complete idiot due to the neurotoxin. The people who administered the drug may have thought that the exaggerated drug really had some effect and genuinely wanted to wake Beitang Yan up, but what they wanted was not the invincible and renowned Beitang Yan of the past.

Thus, Qin Suiyou and others also learned the true purpose of the Emperor's actions. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, on the third day after Physician Liu left, Prince An announced the good news in court, but also brought bad news—Beitang Yan had lost his memory.

Amnesia might not be the effect the drugger originally intended, but Qin Suiyou was unusually willful for a while. He didn't want Beitang Yan to appear as a fool to outsiders, when he was clearly so smart.

Getting back to the main point, when Kong An mentioned Beitang Yan, Qin Suiyou tacitly made a troubled expression.

"He has been awake for some time, but still can't remember anything from the past. It seems that he has injured something serious, and now even the simplest movements are very difficult. It is estimated that he will not be able to fight in the future."

Kong An understood and said regretfully, "Alas, what a pity. When I get back, I will talk to my colleagues about how he was seriously injured in the war for the court. We should write to His Majesty that he should reward the soldiers on the frontier even more and not let them feel disheartened."

This is to help spread the news. Regardless of whether Kong An really wants to join forces with his colleagues to plead for the frontier soldiers who are about to return to the capital, just helping to spread some false information that they want is enough for now.

After Qin Suiyou sincerely thanked him, Kong An jokingly scolded him, "What a pretentious act!" before staying for lunch before leaving.

When Qin Suiyou and Beitang Yan returned to Wutong Courtyard, Beitang Yan dropped his pretense and, urged by Qin Suiyou, lay back down on the couch in his main room, continuing to pretend to be a patient who was almost unable to walk.

Turning his head to look at Qin Suiyou, who was supposedly "attending to the sick," Beitang Yan felt slightly better, but he was still unhappy.

We clearly agreed that we would only stay here for one night, so how come it's turned into so many extra nights?