Resplendent – Chapter 561

Chapter 561 — Evaluation

The final assessment spanned ten days, with conditions vastly superior to previous trials. Each pharmacist was assigned a courtyard equipped with an alchemy room, a rest area, and a small kitchen. 

Gu Ye couldn’t help but sigh with regret—if only she had brought Aunt Yan along!

Late autumn had arrived. Now that she had recovered from her summer ailments, she was once again a lively and energetic hero. Hua Hao, who had picked up some basic cooking skills from Aunt Yan, could now prepare quite tasty dishes under her young lady’s guidance. As long as she could eat well and sleep soundly, nothing else mattered much to Gu Ye.

Penicillin required incubating penicillium mold in culture medium for seven days, followed by complex processes like dissolution, filtration, and separation. Ten days felt painfully tight. There was no room for even the slightest error.

This time, no one emerged early. The Grand Pharmacist title was the lifelong pursuit of every pharmacist. Who would give up before the final moment?

Gu Ye was the last to submit her finished product for evaluation. All the Grand Pharmacists gathered together, their expressions intensely focused, their demeanor showing great importance. Of the nine participating apothecaries, only four had submitted finished products; the other five had clearly failed in their preparations.

Contestants were required to remain until the results were announced. With three entries still awaiting judgment, Gu Ye sat bored in a corner, leaning against Yue Yuan’s shoulder and feigning sleep.

Evaluating a new medicine was no simple task. It demanded precise assessment of its properties and clinical efficacy. After the Grand Pharmacists’ initial round of judging, two more contestants’ medicines were eliminated. 

One pharmacist’s so-called new medicine had negligible potency and little practical use. Another had merely repackaged a pill formula from the renowned Grand Pharmacist Baili. In essence, it was a counterfeit, a fake. Not only did it lack innovation, but its efficacy was also significantly diminished.

After the two pharmacists left with their heads bowed, Gu Ye opened her eyes just a crack. To her surprise, the remaining pharmacist was the one she had encountered at the entrance, the pharmacist from the Yan Kingdom. 

His expression gave nothing away, radiating a calm detachment, untroubled by external events. Yet, a subtle shift seemed to have occurred within him, a change she couldn’t quite name, but sensed was moving in a positive direction. Hmm… Perhaps it was the unique aura possessed by the grand pharmacists?

Gu Ye submitted a sealed, transparent glass vial containing a substance as clear as water. Visually and olfactorily, it was indistinguishable from plain water. The Grand Pharmacists were perplexed, some even suspecting the young girl was merely trying to attract attention by submitting plain water.

Baili Yunji picked up the small glass vial, gently swirling its contents, and asked, “Is this the penicillin that cures consumption and venereal disease?”

Gu Ye nodded. If the Grand Pharmacists demanded she prove on the spot that her submission wasn’t plain water, she’d be hard-pressed without a high-powered microscope. She’d have to resort to the crude method of clinical trials to prove it.

“Have you ever used this medicine before?” Both consumption and venereal disease were dreaded diseases. Even the esteemed Grand Pharmacist Jiang couldn’t help but furrow his brow as he asked cautiously.

Gu Ye nodded obediently, like a well-behaved child answering a teacher’s question. “While in Yan City, I cured a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis. This occurred during the smallpox vaccination trials, and my elder brother—Major General Chu—was aware of it. Oh, it was likely reported to the court, so His Majesty may also know. Shortly after arriving in the capital, I was asked to treat a patient in the third stage of syphilis. That too was cured with penicillin.”

Grand Pharmacist Huang scoffed coldly. “Consumption is a deadly contagious disease. Think carefully, and don’t jeopardize everyone just to rush for results!”

Gu Ye glanced up at him with a faint, mocking smile. “Grand Pharmacist Huang, might I ask what the criteria are for the Grand Pharmacist examination?”

“Naturally, it requires creating an entirely new medicine!” He retorted with a stern face, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “To not even know the standards for the Grand Pharmacist exam, yet dare to take the ultimate test? How utterly presumptuous!”

Grand Pharmacist Jiang frowned, about to speak, but Gu Ye cut him off. “Then, Grand Pharmacist Huang, may I ask what constitutes a new medicine?”

If he still didn’t grasp that this young girl had ulterior motives, he’d be a complete fool. Uncertain of the brat’s scheme, he carefully considered his words before replying, “Naturally, it’s a completely new medicine not found on the market.”

“Exactly. You said it yourself. A new medicine is one entirely absent from the market. So how do we determine its efficacy?” Gu Ye pressed without pause, “If you refuse to give me the chance to prove it, isn’t it a bit rash to accuse me of rushing to success or seeking attention?”

“True, both consumption and venereal disease are infectious illnesses that make people pale at the mention. But we can’t let fear paralyze us or throw the baby out with the bathwater. On the contrary, we should seek cures to relieve patients’ suffering! If we, as pharmacists, retreat in fear, who will save them?” Gu Ye argued eloquently.

Grand Pharmacist Huang was rendered speechless by her words.

Ultimately, after consultation with the Dongling Kingdom’s Apothecary Guild, several Grand Pharmacists located two cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and one case of venereal disease within the entire capital city.

Gu Ye took the pulses of the two patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. She discovered that one had a chronic condition triggered by pneumonia, exhibiting symptoms strikingly similar to tuberculosis. The other was a classic case of mid-to-late stage tuberculosis, emaciated and visibly weakened, with a listless expression.

The family member of one patient clung to the grand pharmacists as their last hope, kneeling on the ground and pleading desperately, “Please, divine healers, save my husband! I’ll kowtow to you…”

This woman, not yet thirty, looked particularly haggard. To treat her sick husband, she had sold nearly everything the family owned, desperate to buy back his life. Yet nearly every physician in the city had pronounced him beyond hope.

As the sole breadwinner, he supported a blind elderly mother and five hungry children. His death would shatter the family!

Just as despair consumed her, fortune unexpectedly struck. A messenger arrived, announcing that during the final examination of the Great Pharmacists Convention, someone had developed a cure for pulmonary tuberculosis. They needed a patient to participate in clinical testing and asked if the family would volunteer.

The woman agreed without hesitation. Like a drowning person suddenly grasping the last straw, even if the outcome proved disappointing, at least they had made their final effort.

Another consumptive patient, however, was not as fortunate as the woman’s husband. The moment his diagnosis was confirmed, his family cast him aside to a remote hamlet to fend for himself. Had it not been for a loyal servant who remained steadfast, tending to his daily meals, he likely would have starved to death before succumbing to the disease.

They say ‘When disaster strikes, even birds of a feather fly apart.’ He had hoped to believe in the saying ‘One day of married life breeds days of enduring affections,’ but reality dealt him a crushing blow.

He refused to accept it! He couldn’t just die like this, letting that ruthless woman reap the rewards for nothing! He had no son, and all the wealth he had fought so hard to build couldn’t simply fall into someone else’s hands! 

That was how he reminded himself when his coughing fit made his lungs feel like they were about to burst. That same conviction kept him going through the moments he nearly passed out, when he thought he couldn’t hold on any longer. He couldn’t die—he had to live!

The physician treating him, who shared some acquaintance with him, arrived at the estate in a flurry today bearing good news. His illness might yet be cured!

Why ‘might’? Because the Great Pharmacists Convention needed a patient to test a new remedy. Though bedridden and half-dead, he still followed the Apothecary Guild’s affairs. It seemed the convention had reached its final stage. Would a new Grand Pharmacist emerge this year?

Better to fight than wait for death. He was carried in. But unexpectedly, another consumptive patient had been brought as well. The other’s symptoms were clearly milder than his. What now? Would he be discarded again? Was his last glimmer of hope about to be extinguished?

In Gu Ye’s eyes, every patient deserved a chance at treatment and should never be abandoned. So when her Senior Brother Jiang, acting as representative, inquired about her decision, she declared with unwavering resolve: “Keep both! Don’t worry about medicine shortages. I’ll provide all the drugs needed for their subsequent treatments!”

One sentence, one decision, saved two lives and preserved two families.

Another patient suffering from venereal disease was also admitted.

Gu Ye instructed the Apothecary Guild to arrange separate courtyards for these two groups of patients. She meticulously educated the anxious nursing staff on basic infection control protocols. Only when the guild servants learned that infection could be avoided with simple daily precautions did they begin to relax. She herself and Yue Yuan, naturally, would remain as well.

Neither of these illnesses could be cured overnight. The pulmonary disease patients, in particular, required treatment and recovery periods lasting over half a year. Of course, the Grand Pharmacist’s evaluation wouldn’t take that long.

After a week, both the pulmonary tuberculosis patients and the venereal disease patient showed marked improvement in their symptoms. The patient with chronic pneumonia, especially, had stopped coughing and appeared more alert after a week of intravenous treatment, showing excellent signs of recovery.

In ancient times, all stubborn lung ailments were lumped together as consumption. Though some patients suffered merely from simple pneumonia. The patient’s wife, upon seeing Gu Ye, immediately addressed her as savior, nearly kneeling to kowtow to the young girl. In fact, she did just that, only to be stopped by Gu Ye.

For that patient with mid-to-late stage pulmonary tuberculosis, Gu Ye administered penicillin injections alongside other medications, resulting in noticeable improvement. The same held true for the venereal disease patients.

Finally, the final assessment results of this grand pharmaceutical gathering were announced. Remarkably, this event produced two Grand Pharmacists: one being the Yan Kingdom pharmacist who had received Gu Ye’s ‘guidance,’ and the other, naturally, Gu Ye herself!