Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 439 - 309 Clawed Frog

As winter gave way to spring, the sixth year of Zaiqian in Yu Country unfolded to the roar of the Spiritual Energy Locomotive.

In Chang’an Jincheng Square, Li Ang, dressed in groomsmen’s attire, sat in a side hall of Song Shaoyuan’s house, leisurely sipping hangover soup.

During the day, he had participated in the wedding of Song Shaoyuan and You Xiao as one of the groomsmen. The wedding was graced by teachers from the Academic Palace such as Pu Liuxuan, fellow townsmen from Yizhou like Ji Linglang, and schoolmates like Li Wei and Yang Yu, who all attended in their finest attire.

Aunt Song, as the groom’s mother, had cried her eyes out—she alone knew the hardships she’d endured raising Song Shaoyuan by herself all these years. Fortunately, Li Ang managed to console Aunt Song just in time—since Song Shaoyuan’s academic performance at the Academic Palace was high-ranking, he was destined for an official career, and she could look forward to days of ease hereafter.

Having finally calmed Aunt Song down, the wedding ceremony concluded, and the guests went their separate ways. Li Ang and his friends remained in the side hall, using telekinesis and talismans to help tidy up the wedding scene.

As evening fell, Li Wei, Yang Yu, and Yong Hongzhong gathered to drink together, while Li Leqing was chatting with Qiu Feng and He Fanshuang. Chai Chai, having overindulged at the feast, lay sprawled on a recliner, sound asleep.

"So," Ji Linglang smiled as she approached and sat down next to Li Ang, "what do you think about my proposal?"

"Again?" Li Ang rolled his eyes, half resigned and half amused.

Ever since the news spread that he had taken Ouyang Shi as his disciple, many people had called on him, hoping Li Ang would take on more disciples. These included the youngest sons or nephews of Duke Yan from Yan Yundang’s family, Ji Linglang’s brother, and the sons and daughters of various doctors from the Academic Palace.

This was not only because of Li Ang’s reputation and status but also because evidence-based medicine had proven to be highly reliable. Nowadays, the sick house would record every detail of patients’ medical conditions, prescriptions, disease progression, and follow-up recovery, in search of patterns to consolidate experience and lessons learned. In this process, many folk remedies had been proven ineffective or even harmful. The efficacy of a prescription could no longer be casually asserted by doctors. The longstanding disdain and distrust toward doctors among the common folk was beginning to slowly diminish and turn around.

Li Ang asked, "Isn’t your brother trying for the Academic Palace?"

"No, he isn’t. Our senior brothers and sisters have already helped check, and he does not possess the Spiritual Vein Talent." Ji Linglang spread her hands, her tone devoid of much disappointment—Spiritual Vein Talent was, after all, something random and uncontrollable, and the Ji family, not being a thousand-year-old family with optimized bloodlines, was more than grateful that one out of three children had made it into the Academic Palace.

"He doesn’t like the Imperial College much either. He thinks that, over the years, the things that have transformed Yu Country, like artemisinin and the Spiritual Energy Locomotive, all originated from the Academic Palace. Students taught by the Imperial College seem to only focus their minds on the civil service." Ji Linglang added, curling her lip, "He is now a prospective member of the Chang’an Philosophy Society and has published several papers in natural science journals."

"Oh? Really?" Li Ang, who had previously heard Ji Linglang mention her somewhat unconventional brother, asked curiously, "What are the topics of the papers?"

"The effects of different alcohol concentrations on pathogens." Ji Linglang said, "He observed that a solution made of half alcohol and half water had a mediocre effect in killing pathogens under the microscope. A solution made of ninety percent alcohol and ten percent water could kill a large quantity of pathogens, but a few still remained. However, a solution with seventy-five percent alcohol concentration had the highest killing effect. He suspected that a solution with too high a concentration of alcohol would extract the water within the pathogens, causing their surface to dehydrate and form a shell, affecting the killing effect."

"Oh?" Li Ang’s eyes lit up. "What other papers are there?"

"Uh..." Ji Linglang thought for a moment then said, "He visited many customers in Chang’an City who had purchased spectacles and found that their eyesight didn’t suddenly worsen but gradually became nearsighted. Their commonality is that most are literati, fond of reading by the light of kerosene lamps at night, or holding books very close. Therefore, he suspects that nearsightedness is an eye condition caused by living habits."

Ji Linglang paused, somewhat embarrassed. "Additionally, he has a paper on verifying pregnancy. Hu Shang from the Western Regions claim that in their homeland, the urine of newlywed women is sprinkled on barley and wheat seeds. If the barley sprouts first, it means a boy will be born; if the wheat sprouts first, it indicates a girl will be born. People in Chang’an originally took this as a joke, but he actually conducted experiments and found that the urine of pregnant women could indeed make the seeds sprout. However, it doesn’t determine whether it’s a boy or a girl."

Ji Linglang rubbed her palms, her cheeks turning slightly red. Evidently, it wasn’t very dignified for an official’s son, who didn’t indulge in debauchery, to be experimenting with urine; it really wouldn’t sound good if word got out.

"Oh?" Li Ang rubbed his chin with interest. In fact, the estrogen in pregnant women’s urine can indeed promote seed germination. The accuracy rate for pregnancy testing is as high as seventy percent. Moreover, there is an even more bizarre method of pregnancy testing—injecting a small amount of human female urine into female claw frogs over a year old. If the claw frog lays a string of black and white eggs within 5-12 hours, it proves that it was stimulated by estrogen, thereby confirming the human female is indeed pregnant. It’s a low-cost method, doesn’t involve killing, and most terrifyingly, the claw frog can be reused after a few days of rest, making it a miraculous pregnancy testing device...

"Let him try to take the exam at the Imperial Medical Bureau first. If he gets in, I can accept him as a disciple," Li Ang said, collecting his wandering thoughts as he spoke to Ji Linglang.

"Okay." Ji Linglang quickly agreed, quietly breathing a sigh of relief. After all, her family was an official household. For the youngest son to not pursue a proper career and instead spend his days dabbling in... well, bodily waste and such, was truly unseemly. It would be far better for him to follow Li Ang and earnestly study medicine.

Having settled a concern, Ji Linglang felt cheerful and glanced at the glowing glass sphere hanging on the wall, casually asking, "Is this the latest talisman lamp?"

"Mhm." Li Ang nodded. He Fanshuang had indeed been more efficient than he had imagined; a little while ago, she had already created the first talisman plate with a micro light talisman function that could emit some light.

To outsiders, the talisman lamp seemed expensive. It wasn’t as bright as a large kerosene lamp, required connection to the Spiritual Energy Machine or a daily infusion of spiritual power, and thus appeared quite impractical. However, Li Ang was well aware that once the production costs of the Spiritual Energy Machine were reduced and the power of the talisman lamp increased slightly, there would be enough profit to commence mass production. By then, every household could have relatively inexpensive night-time lighting.

Spiritual Energy Locomotives, Spiritual Energy Ships, talisman lamps... the technology tree of this world had begun to evolve in another direction.