Seeking Truth with a Sword
Chapter 11: The Gathering

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: The Gathering

Yizhou City was neither too small nor too large. Yet, news quickly spread through casual conversations: a young Doctor had gone to the butcheries and purchased several hundred pig eyes.

The people of Yizhou never ate pig eyeballs, nor had anyone heard of someone specifically buying them. This in itself was a sensational oddity, let alone the Doctor’s claim that he would use the pig eyeballs to make medicine. He intended to treat over a hundred sick military horses at the City South Pasture Supervisory Office.

"Replying to sir," the household servant reported, "the front and courtyard doors of Security Hall are closed; I can’t see what’s going on inside. However, that Li Ang does leave the house every morning, taking his medicine chest, riding a borrowed horse, and heading to the Pasture Supervisory Office, returning home after an hour."

In the backyard of Jifu Hall pharmacy, the worker Yu Liu was reporting to Yu Miaoshui, "As of yesterday, it was the fourth day."

"Hmm..."

Yu Miaoshui frowned deeply. Having already considered Security Hall his, he didn’t want any unexpected complications. "What’s in his medicine chest?" he asked. "Did you find out?"

"No. Every time Li Risheng goes to the Pasture Supervisory Office, he has the stables locked and doesn’t allow outsiders to look."

Yu Liu hesitated, then answered, "I heard from the herdsmen at the Pasture Supervisory Office... that the sick horses’ temperament has improved quite a bit, and their eyes don’t seem as red as before."

Hearing this, Yu Miaoshui’s already dark face grew even gloomier, looking like the bottom of a pot. "Hmph."

"Sir, what shall we do?"

Yu Liu said, "Li Risheng announced yesterday that today, starting at the Chenzheng hour, he would cure all the military horses at once, right outside the Pasture Supervisory Office. By then, many people from the city will go to watch, overshadowing even the Cuju matches in popularity. If he really pulls it off, the Pasture Supervisory Office will pay him a hundred strings of coins."

"Even if he earns a hundred strings, he’ll still owe fifty, won’t he? Why panic?" Yu Miaoshui chastised his servant, though deep down, he too felt a little unsure.

He himself was a Fortune Doctor and knew very well how important a reputation was to a Doctor. If Li Ang really managed to cure over a hundred military horses in one go, would Security Hall ever have to worry about lacking customers in the future?

DONG! DONG! DONG!

The sound of the copper bell resonated throughout the city. The Chenzheng hour (8 a.m.) had arrived.

"Get the horse ready. I want to see what tricks that kid has up his sleeve."

Yu Miaoshui slapped the armrest of his wooden chair and stood up. At the same moment, many idle people in Yizhou City also began to make their way toward the City South Pasture Supervisory Office. Some carried bird cages, others had snacks, and some even brought their whole families to watch the spectacle.

---

"Young master, are you really sure there’s no problem?" Inside Security Hall, Chai Cuiqiao nervously adjusted Li Ang’s collar.

"There’s no problem."

Li Ang smiled and patted Chai Cuiqiao’s head, then crouched down to re-examine the contents of the wooden box. Inside, finely crushed ice lined the bottom, along with ten tightly sealed ceramic vessels the size of liquor bottles, two bottles of pure wine, and eleven copper syringes.

These eleven copper syringes were the ones he and Government Official Wang had ordered from the blacksmith shop. The barrels of the syringes were copper, while the hollow needle tips were made of a softer silver alloyed with a small amount of copper. During crafting, a solid tin needle was first placed inside. When heated by flame, the tin, having a lower melting point, melted away, creating the hollow tip.

Despite being crude and simplistic compared to modern syringes, they were at least usable, just a bit costly. The crafting cost for each needle tip was one string of coins. Seventeen were made, but only eleven were functional.

With all preparations complete, Li Ang smiled. He lifted his hand, gently pinched Chai Cuiqiao’s worried face, then shouldered the wooden box and walked towards the backyard’s wooden gate.

CREAK.

The wooden gate swung open just as Government Official Wang, who had been about to knock, found his hand hovering awkwardly in mid-air.

"Let’s go."

Li Ang, unconcerned, locked the wooden gate, mounted his horse, and headed south.

---

"Where are they? It’s a quarter past the Chenzheng hour, why haven’t they arrived? Don’t tell me they’re playing us for fools!"

"Wow, look at all those military horses! Their size, their coats—what a magnificent sight!"

"Biluo! Cherry Biluo! Pear Biluo! Apple Biluo..."

"Father, I want some Biluo!"

The street where the City South Pasture Supervisory Office was located bustled with Yizhou citizens, noisy and crowded like a marketplace. Over twenty government officials wielding Water and Fire Sticks stood before the crowd, holding the citizens back. Behind the officials were more than a hundred sick military horses. They were all tethered beneath the courtyard walls of the Pasture Supervisory Office, their eyes covered with blindfolds and their ears plugged with cotton balls to prevent them from panicking due to the crowd’s noise.

"They’re here! They’re finally here!"

"Is that the Doctor? Why does he look so young?"

Amidst the clamor, Li Ang rode his horse, following Government Official Wang through the crowd. He dismounted before the gates of the Pasture Supervisory Office.

Pasture Supervisor Xun had been waiting for some time. Upon seeing Li Ang, he quickly asked in a hushed tone, "Doctor Li, the items you requested are prepared. How confident are you about today?"

"Pasture Supervisor Xun, haven’t you seen the effects these past few days? Rest assured, I know what I’m doing," Li Ang said with a slight smile. For the past four days, he had come to the Pasture Supervisory Office daily to wash the conjunctival sacs of the sick military horses with the saline solution he had prepared, which had already alleviated the symptoms of conjunctivitis and keratitis.

Otherwise, Pasture Supervisor Xun would never have agreed to let him treat over a hundred military horses at once in such a bustling area.

Without further ado, Li Ang opened the wooden box, took out a bottle of pure wine, and handed it to Government Official Wang. "Please, Government Official Wang, pour some pure wine for me to wash my hands."

Under the puzzled gazes of the onlookers, Li Ang meticulously washed his hands with the alcohol. Then, he picked up a syringe and drew some clear liquid from a porcelain bottle.

PSST—

Li Ang pointed the syringe skyward and squeezed the plunger, expelling excess air and a little of the medicinal liquid.

A faint gasp rippled through the crowd upon seeing the intimidating-looking syringe. Yet, more astonishingly, Li Ang, holding the syringe, slowly advanced toward one of the military horses.

"Please, could you two hold the horse’s head and lift the blindfold slightly."

Li Ang calmly instructed two government officials to hold the horse’s head. Then, before anyone could react, he inserted the needle into the corner of the horse’s eye socket and steadily and smoothly pushed the plunger.

"AH!"

"HISS!"

"YIKES!"

As such a sharp needle pierced the edge of the horse’s eye socket, all the onlooking citizens gasped as if feeling the pain themselves. Some parents even covered their children’s eyes.

Li Ang paid no mind to the external sounds. He finished administering the injection, promptly withdrew the needle, and stepped back.

"The first one, done."

He sighed in relief. He placed the used syringe into pure wine, which the Pasture Supervisory Office had prepared beforehand, to rinse it. Then, he put it into an iron pot to be steamed over boiling water for sterilization.

"Now, for the second one."

Li Ang picked up a new syringe, drew the solution from the porcelain bottle, and calmly walked toward the next unsuspecting military horse.

The solution in the porcelain bottles was the only kind of eye drops known in this era: eye drops extracted from the tissue fluid of pig eyeballs.