Resplendent – Chapter 482

Chapter 482: Submitting her Work

After finishing the Turtle Blood with Stir-Fried Hare’s Ear, it was finally time for lunch. Hua Hao took a pot of chicken soup from the ice-filled box beside her, set it on the stove to boil, then added a piece of fried noodles to cook briefly. She cracked in two eggs, added a few drops of sesame oil, and served the steaming bowl to the young lady.

Immediately, the aroma of medicine was overpowered by the rich fragrance of the chicken soup. The hungry pharmacists felt their stomachs grumble even more, and the dry rations they had brought suddenly seemed unappealing. Even the senior-level pharmacists on patrol couldn’t help but swallow hard. It smelled irresistible! None of them had ever experienced a simple bowl of chicken noodle soup stirring their appetites so keenly.

Gu Ye and her attendant, Hua Hao, sat beside their workbench and enjoyed a proper lunch.  This time, they were well-prepared, even bringing fruits for after the meal—chilled grapes, melon, and pear slices. The two of them sat cross-legged on a piece of cotton cloth, picking at the cool, refreshing fruit with toothpicks, making the scene feel more like a picnic than a rigorous exam.

“Hua Hao, what about the other two turtles?  Did you have my brothers send them back?” After sipping the chicken soup, Gu Ye had only eaten three or five pieces of the cold fruit, stopping before her stomach protested.  She didn’t want to miss the upcoming test. Her self-discipline remained intact.

Hua Hao smiled and said, “They’ve been sent back. Fifth Young Master even said he’ll stew them into a nourishing soup for you tonight—a real tonic!” 

Gu Ye nodded and said, “Aunt Yan’s ‘Farewell My Concubine’ tastes exquisite and is highly nutritious.  Three turtles are more than enough for the entire Duke’s Manor to enjoy.”

Previously, the household was small—just Grandpa, her, and her older brother. Now, with her parents and five older brothers, plus three little girls, the family had more than ten members. Every meal was lively and bustling. Especially watching the Chu family brothers eat—they devoured their food like a whirlwind, which somehow made everyone else hungrier. Seeing them eat like that even made her want an extra half bowl!

A patrolling pharmacist came over and warned them, “During the exam, no talking!”

Gu Ye pointed to her workbench, signaling that she was nearly finished and there was no cheating involved. The pharmacist nodded but said firmly, “Rules are rules. Save any conversation until the exam is over!”

Gu Ye shrugged and gestured to Hua Hao to zip her lips.

Luckily, the weather was favorable. By one or two in the afternoon, the clouds cleared, and the scorching sun shone directly down. With Hua Hao holding the umbrella for her, an ice-filled box nearby, and a cool autumn breeze blowing, it wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

By evening, her Turtle Blood with Hare’s Ear had completely dried, and she got ready to ‘submit her work.’ Because she had been delayed nearly an hour in the morning, many people had already finished the exam ahead of her, so she needed to queue for evaluation.

She looked around, chose a line that seemed shorter, and stood at the back of the group. In front of her was a tall, sturdy pharmacist who looked less like a pharmacist and more like a bodyguard. Standing behind him, Gu Ye only reached up to his armpits, making her appear even more petite.

Someone on the viewing platform saw this and couldn’t help but laugh: “Which pharmacist family’s daughter is that? She is so young, but she’s already taking the intermediate pharmacist exam. She must be really talented.”

“Indeed! Who knows, maybe in the future we’ll see another female ninth-level pharmacist!” said another family member of a participating pharmacist, a little envious.

Ninth-level pharmacists are difficult to train, and female ninth-level pharmacists are extremely rare. 

Why is that? The reason is simple. 

When girls reach fifteen or sixteen, and at the latest seventeen or eighteen, they are expected to marry. After marriage, most female pharmacists stay at home, raising children and managing the household, rarely continuing their studies. Even if the husband’s family allows her to keep practicing pharmacy, it’s difficult to concentrate all her energy as she could in her own quarters. After pregnancy and childbirth, there’s practically no hope of advancing to higher levels.

If a particularly talented girl reaches ninth-level pharmacist status at seventeen, eighteen, or even twenty, she has more autonomy and choice in her marriage prospects. However, in the records of the pharmacist world, there has been only one female ninth-level pharmacist in the past hundred years.

Having finished his evaluation early, Jiang Zhongtian, who had already returned to his family’s viewing platform to rest, saw Gu Ye and excitedly stood up. Next to the Jiang family sat the century-old pharmacist family, the Zhou family.

The eldest of the Zhou family was already an eighth-level pharmacist. Seeing Jiang Zhongtian so focused on the young girl, he teased, “What’s the matter?  Got your eye on her?  If you like her, then go after her!  Your father is a Grand Pharmacist. If you give the nod, how many girls wouldn’t be crying to marry you?  Would you still be afraid of being rejected?”

He expected to see Jiang Zhongtian’s face turn red with embarrassment. Instead, he got a big eye-roll. Jiang Zhongtian rolled his eyes back at him and said, “Brother Zhou, what kind of look is that? She’s my Little Aunt Master, the last disciple of Martial Grandfather! What are you imagining about?”

“What? The last disciple of the Sage Apothecary? Look at my loose mouth Brother Xiaotian, don’t take it to heart!” The eldest of the Zhou family hurriedly apologized.

Jiang Zhongtian ignored him and said to Madam Jiang beside him, “Mother, I’ll wait for my Aunt Master over there. Don’t wait for me to eat dinner tonight. I’m going to crash her celebration banquet!”

The eldest Zhou quickly said, “Your Aunt Master is so young, but is already able to pass the intermediate pharmacist exam. She definitely deserves a proper celebration.”

Jiang Zhongtian couldn’t help but say with a hint of pride, “The intermediate pharmacist exam is a piece of cake for her. As for me, I only performed so well in the exam because she mentored me for a while in the pharmaceutical factory. It really opened my eyes.”

The eldest Zhou looked at Jiang Zhongtian in his newly donned sixth-level pharmacist uniform. For a junior pharmacist with no prior ranking, to participate in only two exams and already earn the title of sixth-level pharmacist—that alone was astonishing and enviable.

He also heard that for over a year, Jiang Zhongtian hadn’t been by Grand Pharmacist Jiang’s side and had only returned shortly before the convention. He had assumed that this absence would affect the exam results, yet he had somehow, as if divinely aided, easily achieved the sixth-level pharmacist qualification.

Hearing Jiang Zhongtian speak this way, could it be that he spent all this time with the Sage Apothecary, learning alongside his Aunt Master? No wonder!

As for being mentored by his Aunt Master, the eldest Zhou simply ignored it. After all, a young girl of barely over ten or thirteen could only be so capable. It was just that she had high talent and grasped things quickly!

Finally, it was Gu Ye’s turn to have her pharmaceutical work evaluated. She submitted two kinds of Turtle Blood with Hare’s Ear, along with explanations of their differing effects. The evaluation was conducted by two ninth-level pharmacists: Pharmacist Fang and Pharmacist Li.

“So, the different preparation methods of Turtle Blood with Hare’s Ear produce such different effects!” Pharmacist Fang picked up the two differently prepared samples, turning them over and examining them carefully, muttering to himself.

Gu Ye thought this was part of a questioning or defense process, so she began explaining fluently: “Exactly. The purpose of preparing Turtle Blood with Hare’s Ear is to nourish yin and suppress excess heat while clearing the liver without depleting its yin. For liver disease, alcohol is harmful; therefore, Turtle Blood with Hare’s Ear mixed with water or blood cannot contain wine. Turtle Blood with Stir-Fried Hare’s Ear has…”