Chapter 359: Chapter 137 Hibiscus_4
Lu Tong let her snatch away the flower branches, and for a moment, she didn’t speak, just turned her head to look at the yard. Large swathes of crimson flower branches were stacked in the corner, and just by looking at them, one felt their dazzling beauty was captivating.
After watching for a while, she said, "Ah Xiu."
"What is it, Physician Lu?"
"Leave it to me."
Lu Tong bent down and picked up a flower branch.
"I’ll sort these flowers."
...
Three months passed, and the spring rain gradually began to fall.
The peach tree at the entrance of the Imperial Apothecary was destroyed overnight by the rain, and its flower branches were scattered all over the ground.
A few steps away, directly opposite the peach tree, Chief Physician Shi Changpu was standing on the steps, directing the medical workers to move the Hong Fang Xu delivered by the Medical Officer Institute into the storeroom.
Two young medical workers didn’t hold on firmly, causing a small bundle of Hong Fang Xu to roll off the cart, startling Shi Changpu into hurriedly raising his sleeves to cover his mouth and nose, shouting, "Be careful, this stuff is poisonous!"
The medical workers quickly wrapped the scattered Hong Fang Xu on the ground in coarse cloth and hurriedly moved it into the storeroom.
Shi Changpu turned around to look and then waved his hand several times in the air by his face, not stopping until he could no longer smell the flowers’ fragrant scent. Only then did he relax and let out a sigh of relief.
Hong Fang Xu was a medicinal herb sent by the Southern Pharmacy.
The Imperial Apothecary, under the jurisdiction of the imperial eunuch province, was responsible for authenticating secret prescriptions and preparing secret medicinal concoctions for the Emperor and the court’s use. Among the materials used for preparing medicinal herbs, part came from the medicinal gardens of the Southern Pharmacy.
Hong Fang Xu was one of these ingredients.
Although the flower had a lovely name, its toxicity was not light. Merely being around it could result in poisoning. However, Hong Fang Xu was the most important ingredient in the One Dream Pill required by Consort Rou to treat her insomnia. Therefore, no matter how much they dreaded it, at the end of March each year, the Imperial Apothecary still had to honestly accept this batch of Hong Fang Xu from the Southern Pharmacy, taking on the risk of processing the medicine.
This really wasn’t a good job.
When Hong Fang Xu was growing in the garden, its medicinal properties were most potent. After harvesting, the strength of its effects gradually diminished. To produce just one bottle of One Dream Pill, a lot of Hong Fang Xu was needed. Consort Rou was haughty and arrogant, never quite satisfied with the One Dream Pill they made. In the end, those who suffered and were scolded were still the people from the Imperial Apothecary.
Shi Changpu sighed and turned around. The two medical workers who had been transporting Hong Fang Xu had already come out of the storeroom.
"Chief Physician, you need not worry," said one of the young medical workers, noticing his clouded expression and assuming he was worried about the adequacy of the medicinal herbs. Seeking to ingratiate himself, he added, "This year we received more Hong Fang Xu than last; it filled up the small storeroom. We have enough for the One Dream Pill."
"Oh?" Shi Changpu was surprised. "That much?"
Because of its intense toxicity, Hong Fang Xu was difficult to harvest. Most of the people who picked it suffered greatly from its poison. There were only a few people in the Southern Pharmacy, and no one was willing to risk their lives to pick a poisonous flower. Although the amount of Hong Fang Xu they received each time was not large, Shi Changpu turned a blind eye.
After all, Consort Rou only suffered from a few nights of poor sleep. The medical workers who harvested Hong Fang Xu were risking their healthy bodies!
They were all servants; why make life difficult for one another?
That’s what Shi Changpu thought, but he didn’t expect that this year the quantity of Hong Fang Xu had suddenly increased.
The other medical worker scratched his head and said, "I heard that the Medical Officer Institute took in new people, and some went to the Southern Pharmacy. Maybe they added more hands for picking the flowers, so there’s quite a bit more of the medicinal herb."
"New people?"
Shi Changpu paused, then felt somewhat melancholic. It was unfortunate to be a new Imperial Medical Officer and end up in the Southern Pharmacy, tasked with picking Hong Fang Xu... one could only wonder whom they had offended to end up with a life confined there.
Being a servant was unpleasant in that respect; one’s life and death were in the hands of others, not oneself.
He paced, his hands behind his back, towards the storeroom and said, "Go and prepare the medicine. Let’s hope that this year’s One Dream Pill will satisfy Her Highness."