Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 199: Chapter 115: Responding to the Challenge of the Great Medicine Debate Chapter 199: Chapter 115: Responding to the Challenge of the Great Medicine Debate People are categorized into various classes, and medicinal materials are divided into superior, middle, and inferior grades.

The superior medicinal materials are worth a fortune, and superior medicine refiners are even rarer. In this world, there are only a few well-known pharmacist families who employ one or two at most!

“Cost price for purchasing medicinal materials… without limit…” Gu Changsheng’s eyes suddenly shone brightly, extremely luminous, “I wonder if the quota for the medicine refiners from Liuzhou has been set yet?”

“Er…” Hu Yihai was taken aback, glanced at Elder Xu, and had to tell the truth, “To be honest, in the Jiangnan Medical Debate Conference’s medicine making category, it has been decades since anyone has won the favor of the pharmacists, we originally planned to just invite any refiner to make an appearance, just to go through the motions.”

There are many masters capable of refining, but most are of inferior quality. How easy is it to truly pass the scrutiny of pharmacists’ Fiery Eyes?

“In that case, I will take it on, both medicine appraisal and medicine making I will participate in,” Gu Changsheng suddenly felt cheerful.

Unlimited quantities at cost price for medicinal materials were very tempting for her.

She needed medicinal materials, she needed to maintain her troops, where injuries were inevitable, making medicinal materials extremely crucial.

This was like finding what she had long sought without any effort, just as she was worrying about how to purchase large quantities of medicinal materials, this godsent opportunity was laid before her.

“Lady Changsheng, are you participating in the medicine making competition?” Elder Xu was taken aback.

“Of course.” Gu Changsheng smiled with a hooked lip.

“But…”

Elder Xu and Hu Yihai exchanged glances. They originally hoped that Gu Changsheng would participate in the medicine appraisal competition, it would already be great if she could just secure a victory, but as for medicine making…

There’s specialization in every trade, despite doctors having the capability to appraise medicine, that did not necessarily mean they understood how to refine medicinal materials.

The craft of refining is complicated, and the difficulty is profound, comparable to medical practice and medicine inquiry, it’s not at all inferior.

“But what? Is there a rule that one person cannot participate in two events simultaneously?” Gu Changsheng frowned, “If that’s the case, then I’ll just participate in the medicine making event.”

Only by winning in the medicine making competition could she receive additional rewards, medicine appraisal, she could easily give up.

As she spoke, Hu Yihai and Elder Xu disagreed.

They were very confident in Gu Changsheng’s medicine appraisal skills. Someone who could prescribe such medicinal recipes, if not deeply understanding the quality and nature of medicinal materials, it would absolutely be impossible to reach that level. However, they had never seen Lady Changsheng refining medicine before. If Lady Changsheng really only participated in the medicine making and lost, wouldn’t they lose out greatly?

No, absolutely not.

“Forget it, the medicine making is just a formality, whether you win or lose is not much of concern. If Lady Changsheng wishes to try, then let her try,” Hu Yihai nodded, making the decision.

Even if they failed in the medicine making, they could still win in medicine appraisal, it wouldn’t affect much.

After all, it had been decades since anyone had achieved something in medicine making.

Seeing them like this, Gu Changsheng did not point it out, and smiled, asked for the date of the Medical Debate Conference, and then let them go.

Of course, before leaving, Hu Yihai and Elder Xu were quite diligent in asking her if she needed any medicinal materials for practice, which Gu Changsheng waved off.

Practice?

Don’t they see that she is a patient!

The Medical Debate Conference was set for July 25, just three days later.

With only three days’ time, whether her back wound could heal properly was still in question, and they still wanted her to practice?

Forget it! Stop abusing her body!

Knowing the generally low quality of medicinal materials in this world, Gu Changsheng was still quite confident in herself, now she could indeed be fearless for once.

When it comes to medicine, that was her strongest suit, nothing to be afraid of at all.

Luckily, this session of the Medical Debate Conference was being held at the Liuzhou Medical Guild Hall in Liuzhou City. If it had been somewhere else, Gu Changsheng would really need to consider the necessity of participating.

If her wound broke open once, it was already difficult to heal. If she hurt herself further, no matter how large the temptation, she simply wouldn’t do it!

The pain is in her own body; only she knows how it feels.

“Sigh…” It really hurts.

Therefore, during these three days, every doctor in Liuzhou was exceptionally busy, delivering all sorts of medicinal materials to Gu Changsheng as if they were free of charge. They also had to attend to doctors who had rushed over from the Four Continents to participate in the competition. While they openly offered warm hospitality, they secretly competed fiercely with each other, refusing to admit defeat. As for the major pharmacists, money was the least of their concerns; they had already booked the largest Yuelai Inn in Liuzhou City, not even leaving a chance for anyone to fawn over or cozy up to them.

The roster for the competition had to be submitted a day in advance.

That day, on behalf of the Liuzhou Medical Guild, Hu Yihai submitted the registration form filled with Gu Changsheng’s name, along with representatives from other regional medical guilds.

“Gu Changsheng? Who is this?” Jiao Fangyi, the chief of the Taizhou Medical Guild, asked, frowning slightly as he looked at the posted registration form.

He had never even heard the name before.

“This is Lady Changsheng, our Liuzhou Medical Guild’s contestant for this session,” Hu Yihai replied with a glance, snorting through his nose.

Jiao Fangyi, the cunning old fox of the Taizhou Medical Guild, had won the last two Southern Medical Debate Conferences using disgraceful and underhanded tactics and had gone even further this time by directly inviting someone from the Imperial Medical Bureau to participate.

The Southern Medical Debate Conference had nothing to do with the Imperial Medical Bureau in the Capital City; was it necessary to be so despicable? This was no longer just a rivalry among the Jiangnan Five Prefectures; it had escalated into a battle for honor between the north and the south.

The other three prefectures were quite dissatisfied, but the Taizhou Medical Guild had already won two consecutive times, and their strength was evident. If they were to succeed again, these three prefectures would still have to grovel to the Taizhou Medical Guild for medicines while paying hefty amounts of silver. Hence, they could only seethe in silence.

“One person participating in two events, and an unknown woman at that? When has your Liuzhou Medical Guild fallen to such a state that you push a woman to the forefront? With that being said, even if we win, it would seem like a hollow victory,” Jiao Fangyi, over fifty years old, said, squinting his eyes and looking disdainfully at Hu Yihai, “Chief Hu sure is cunning. This way, even if your Liuzhou Medical Guild loses again, you’ll have a good excuse.”

“Jiao Fangyi, don’t look down on others!” Hu Tiandong, who was accompanying Hu Yihai, couldn’t tolerate such treatment toward his father and immediately retorted angrily, his face flushed red, “Lady Changsheng’s medical skills are unparalleled. This time, the championship of the conference is bound to be ours.”

“Ha, young man, you said the same thing during the last conference, but didn’t you still end up retreating in disgrace, shamelessly coming to our Taizhou Medical Guild to beg for medicine?” Jiao Fangyi derided, not taking Hu Tiandong’s retort seriously and lifting his head arrogantly.

“If it weren’t for your continuous use of dirty tricks, would our Liuzhou Medical Guild have lost? If you have real ability, let’s see a fair competition on the field,” Hu Yihai said, grabbing his son and frowning intensely, his heart filled with indignation.

Jiao Fangyi was truly overbearing. Before the last conference, he had even paid someone to injure Elder Xu in the street. Even though the government office had severely punished the driver, their hurried preparations still resulted in a disastrous defeat. This time with Lady Changsheng competing, he was determined to prevent any mishaps!

“What’s so difficult about that? Even with a fair competition this time, your Liuzhou Medical Guild is bound to lose!” Jiao Fangyi replied, shamelessly confident and laughing ostentatiously.

“Let’s make this a witness: if this guy plays any shady tricks again, don’t blame our Liuzhou Medical Guild for being ruthless. We’ll give as good as we get!” Hu Yihai, provoked, said in a stern tone.

“Ha, are you using your position as the host to bully the outsider?” Jiao Fangyi laughed arrogantly, mocking them.

“Our Liuzhou Medical Guild is not to be trifled with. If you dare to play any tricks again, our Liuzhou Medical Hall certainly won’t let it go easily,” Hu Yihai retorted, his face flushing with anger.

Jiao Fangyi disdainfully glanced at him, “Even if I don’t play any tricks, this time your Liuzhou Medical Guild is still undoubtedly going to lose.”

“This time our Liuzhou Medical Hall will surely not lose,” Hu Yihai declared resolutely, placing immense faith in Gu Changsheng, his words ringing with conviction.

“Then do you dare to bet with me? If the Liuzhou Medical Guild loses this time, then for the next five years, you will have to purchase medicine from our Taizhou Medical Guild at ten times the price. How about that?” Jiao Fangyi smirked greedily, extending his hand and flipping it twice to form an ‘X’.

“I…” Hu Yihai hesitated, unsure whether to accept the wager or not. The winning contestant of the debate could acquire sixty percent of the medicinal materials distributed to Jiangnan, while the other four prefectures could only share ten percent. Therefore, they would be forced to purchase medicine from the Taizhou Medical Guild at a high price. This was a matter concerning the medicinal prices in the Liuzhou Region for the next five years and, despite his full confidence in Lady Changsheng, he dared not act rashly and bet impulsively!

“What’s the matter? Got cold feet? Even after losing repeatedly, you still dare to boast in front of me, trying to punch above your weight!” Jiao Fangyi scoffed contemptuously.

The representatives from the other three precincts’ medical guilds, seeing this, dared not make a sound, as the issue involved the price of medicines, which was a significant matter; it was no wonder they refrained from helping.

“If your Taizhou Medical Guild loses, what then?” Yue Xilou, twirling his folding fan, walked through the crowd, making his entrance.

For a moment, everyone turned their heads to look.

This man, who seemed to have descended from the heavens, was so exceptionally beautiful and enchanting that it momentarily dazed them, leaving them unable to react.

Even Hu Yihai, who had seen Yue Xilou twice before, was somewhat distracted.

Why was this man here, the new martial arts master hired by Changsheng’s mother’s household?

Could it be that Lady Changsheng had sent him here?

Indeed, Hu Yihai’s guess wasn’t wrong; Yue Xilou was indeed sent by Gu Changsheng to spy on the enemy.

Under the guise of knowing the enemy to ensure victory in every battle, it was actually because Changsheng couldn’t stand his arrogance in front of her and had tasked him with this mission.

Coincidentally, it just so happened that he encountered someone looking down on his young lady.

Whenever there was a competition, it was natural for betting to occur. Even before the contestants were confirmed, the underground betting sites in the market had already opened bets on this pharmacological debate conference.

Yue Xilou certainly wouldn’t miss such an opportunity. Thinking of Gu Changsheng’s calm demeanor, he was filled with utmost confidence at this moment.