Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots
Chapter 1132 - 042 Dog Hole (Vote Request)_2

Chapter 1132: 042 Dog Hole (Vote Request)_2

"Just in time, the letter I wrote to your aunt and the others yesterday hasn’t been sent out yet. I’ll write another one later, and we can send them both together tomorrow."

Lady Liu pondered for a moment, and thinking of the near future when she would be reunited with her parents and siblings, her heart suddenly blossomed with joy. The more she thought about it, the more restless she became. She got up, took Lin Jiaxin by the arm, and headed toward the study, "Quick, write the letter for me. I wonder if parents will be able to come along this time. My younger sister-in-law should be showing by now, so it must be inconvenient for her to travel. Surely, parents wouldn’t let her go through the hardship of traveling to the Capital city."

Prattling on, Lady Liu and Lin Jiaxin had already left the living room.

Xiao Linshuang rubbed her belly with her eyes closed, when suddenly she heard Lao Fan ask, "Apprentice, what good things did you learn today?"

Without opening her eyes, Xiao Linshuang pouted and replied, "Didn’t learn much, just boiled medicine all day. Hey, smell this, smell this, I reek of nothing but the dregs!"

As she spoke, she brought her sleeve near Lao Fan’s nose.

To her surprise, Lao Fan actually wrinkled his nose and after a while, said, "Hmm, Angelica, Bai Zhi, Codonopsis, Astragalus, Panax notoginseng, Bupleurum, Scotch broom leaves..."

With every herb name Lao Fan mentioned, Xiao Linshuang’s face grew a shade darker; having been with her master for so long, this was the first time she found out he had such a skill! He could actually sniff the scent of the medicine dregs and name the herbs she had been decocting that day—it was unbelievable!

"Master, master, did you sneak off to Hall of Salvation today without telling me? Huh? How do you know what medicine I boiled today?" Xiao Linshuang’s eyes shimmered. After returning, she had gone to the trouble of changing clothes and washing her face; could there still be a lingering scent?

Lao Fan, looking smug, lifted his eyelids and said, "Did you wash your hair?"

Hair?

Xiao Linshuang had an epiphany—it was the smell lingering in her hair that gave it away!

Still, that was impressive. She didn’t know about others, but she certainly couldn’t do that.

Such an amazing skill had to be learned. Xiao Linshuang giggled, edged closer, and started to pester her master to teach her.

Lao Fan pushed her aside and began his lecture then and there, "I had you go to Hall of Salvation to study medicine not only to learn how to treat illnesses; you need to enhance your abilities in many aspects. Even this medicine boiling has its own profound subtleties. The degree of heat, the amount of water, and the exact point of decoction—all of these have their own significance. Of course, what’s even more important is these medicine dregs."

Xiao Linshuang nodded, listening intently.

"Don’t underestimate these dregs as mere leftovers from boiled medicines; the essence of the herbs is still in them. A medic with deep understanding can discern the medicine by the dregs. As a healer, you must also familiarize yourself with these dregs to determine if the medicine is truly the one you prescribed, to see if anybody has tampered with it. If they have, you need to figure out what they added, how much they added, or what they took out, and how much they took out. Of course, there’s also the act of replacing the real with the fake; many ill-intentioned people might substitute your herbs with similar-looking ones, but remember, similar appearance doesn’t mean similar efficacy, and many are actually counterproductive."

He paused. Lao Fan appeared to recall some painful memory, a flash of anguish crossing his face, then he continued, "If due to these alterations the person taking the medicine faces life-threatening risks, it becomes your responsibility as the medic. So, remember well to properly identify the dregs."

Xiao Linshuang nodded repeatedly and then stood up eagerly, calling for Du Ruo and Lian Qiao to go back to their room for some late-night studying.

Lao Fan too let out a soft sigh and left the living room.

Lin Yuan blinked and nudged Xia Zheng’s arm, whispering, "Did Lao Fan think of something sad? Why did he suddenly seem so off just now?"

Xia Zheng also leaned in, their heads touching, and whispered, "I heard that when he was young, he had a friend who was sentenced because someone secretly switched out his medicine. As for what happened to that friend afterward, I’m not too sure; that was many years ago, and everyone has long since forgotten."

Lin Yuan nodded but knew that even though everyone else may have forgotten, that incident was still a perpetual thorn in Lao Fan’s heart.

The weapon storage in the backyard had been remodeled in just a day. Thinking of the newly renovated wine cellar, Lin Yuan smiled and said, "This morning, I asked Uncle Zhou to move all the wine my aunt sent into the wine cellar. But that cellar is quite large, and it’s clearly not enough to just store those wines. Why don’t you accompany me out early tomorrow? I plan to buy some more fine wines for the cellar. Also, when I’m free, I need to make a trip back to Zhuma Town to transport the fine wines I’ve stashed at the Fuman Building to my cellar."