Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 208: Chapter 121: The Oblivious Changsheng in the Competition Chapter 208: Chapter 121: The Oblivious Changsheng in the Competition Completely disregarding the outside world’s comments, Gu Changsheng cheerfully picked medicinal herbs with a basket on his back.

“Panax Pseudoginseng, ah, those over three to seven years old are best for use in medicine, so I still have to be selective!”

As she searched and dug incessantly on this side, the corners of the surrounding pharmacists’ mouths began to twitch.

“What’s Lady Changsheng up to? Pretending to be a little girl picking mushrooms?”

As one basket filled up, she switched to another.

“Lady Changsheng wouldn’t think that whoever picks more herbs wins, right?”

“This…”

Under everyone’s sideways glances, Gu Changsheng indeed happily dug up Panax Pseudoginseng near Hu Bingzhi, just like a little girl picking mushrooms.

Break new ground? What a joke!

If you really want to beat someone, you have to make them lose thoroughly. Panax Pseudoginseng! Hu Bingzhi chose Panax Pseudoginseng, so she naturally chose it too!

To win without a fight wasn’t in Gu Changsheng’s life dictionary; there was no place for compromising!

Winning was just one word! That’s how clear-cut and straightforward it was!

Of course, the others didn’t know Gu Changsheng’s thoughts. At this moment, they unanimously believed that Gu Changsheng had water on the brain!

Hu Bingzhi chose to refine Panax Pseudoginseng, others couldn’t avoid it fast enough, yet she was rushing to join in like following up a beating with a stick!

Wasn’t this seeking punishment?

Everyone began to shake their heads in agreement; it seemed Lady Changsheng was doomed to lose for sure!

Before the competition of medicine refining even started, it seemed the outcome had already been decided.

“Alas, now it all depends on whether Imperial Doctor Hu can refine superior medicinal materials in one go. It’s been sixty years since Liuzhou Region has seen a superior medicine refiner…”

“Indeed, Lady Changsheng, I’m afraid she’s out of hope…”

Shaking their heads and sighing, there was no suspense in this contest. It was all about whether Hu Bingzhi could promote to a superior medicine refiner and gain fame known throughout the world!

“Haha… Gu Changsheng, you wouldn’t think that whoever picks more herbs wins, right? Is your brain waterlogged?” Obviously, sharing the same thoughts as the pharmacists was Jiao Fangyi, who ceased not to mock Gu Changsheng as he noticed her movements.

So what if they lost the drug appraisal contest? For the medicine refining contest, they had a winning hand!

A superior medicine refiner who hadn’t appeared for sixty years! They had a chance to try their luck!

Gu Changsheng, transforming into a little girl picking mushrooms, didn’t even bother responding to him, simply waving her hand in annoyance, as if shooing away a fly.

Damn it, find someplace cool and stay put, can’t you see that I’m busy?

Herb picking, that’s also a technical job!

Anything related to medicine must be done accurately and without error! This was the teaching Gu Changsheng had received from her master, so she naturally didn’t dare to slack off.

In the eyes of outsiders, she hopped around, digging here and there, but she was really being very careful, okay?

You had to pay attention to the age and growth of Panax Pseudoginseng, the size of the plants, and even whether they were in the shade or light, which all affected the medicinal content!

She had to be extremely cautious when digging; the medicinal spade couldn’t harm the roots of Panax Pseudoginseng. To save time, Gu Changsheng dug with big scoops, pulling out the plants with the soil and tossing them entirely into the basket.

The scene was such that dust filled the air, causing the onlookers to cover their faces with their hands and fan away the dust.

“Lady Changsheng is treating this as if playing house, look at the dust flying around like we’re in a battle,” a pharmacist complained as he waved away the dust flying towards his face.

Finally, Gu Changsheng raised her head, giving him a look of disdain after rolling her eyes at him.

Idiots, a bunch of ignoramuses!

Traveling from Baili Mountain to Yuelai Inn in Liuzhou City is no short distance, and even with the best baskets and most careful transport, the herbs would inevitably get bumped along the way. The dust clinging to the roots was a natural, pollution-free protective barrier. Not utilizing it was downright foolish!

Hu Bingzhi was certainly an example of such foolishness!

Keep digging! Continue digging! Amidst the onlookers’ judgmental glances, be a happy gopher!

Until Hu Bingzhi passed by with a basket of Panax Pseudoginseng on his way back, Gu Changsheng was still digging non-stop, her baskets already filled with three, and the fourth was nearly full!

“Hmph! Truly beyond help!” Disdainfully dropping this remark, Hu Bingzhi hurried toward Yuelai Inn in Liuzhou City under the watchful supervision of the pharmacists.

Meanwhile, the “beyond help” Gu Changsheng kept digging until she filled five large baskets. Then she stood up, clapped her hands contentedly.

In the midst of everyone twitching their mouths and speechless, she shouted, “That’s it for today! Time to go home for dinner!”

What time was it? She still had the appetite for dinner!

The condemning glances of the crowd were starkly naked, increasingly showing their lack of faith in her.

“What’s the matter? Does the competition stipulate that participants can’t even eat?” Gu Changsheng turned around, supporting her terribly sore back with bright eyes full of little fury, “Damn it, that’s just too cruel. Making medicine takes at least ten days. This isn’t a competition; it’s practically starving someone to death! Even the Emperor wouldn’t starve his soldiers, yet the pharmacists plot with such blatant malice and no one cares to manage it?”

The corners of everyone’s mouths twitched even more fiercely, trending towards facial paralysis.

Gu Changsheng’s words were only endorsed by one person, and that person was none other than her head chef, Dong Lei!

At this moment, Dong Lei was nodding incessantly like a pecking chicken, “Lady Changsheng is right, eating is more important than the Emperor, eating is most important!”

The world of foodies, so simple and clear-cut in its goals, no discussion!

“No one is stopping you from eating…” A pharmacist who was supervising Gu Changsheng couldn’t hold back any longer and eventually spoke up for the pharmacists, feeling that if he remained silent, he might very well confirm the crime of “scheming for medicine at the cost of lives.” Heaven have mercy, whom had they ever provoked?

Gu Changsheng was very pleased that nobody was stopping her from eating. She went back to the inn, threw the five big medicine baskets into the small courtyard prepared by the pharmacists, patted her butt, and headed back to her luxurious suite to eat.

“Lady… Lady Changsheng, shouldn’t you… clean the Panax Pseudoginseng before eating?” Hu Yihai watched Gu Changsheng, who even when wolfing down food, still managed to maintain an air of elegant richness, his mouth trembling as he struggled to speak.

Who has ever seen such a relaxed attitude in a competition? Who has ever seen someone eat so deliciously in such a relaxed competition?

It’s just too outrageous!

“What’s the rush? Didn’t you hear Xiao Lei say eating is more important than the Emperor? Wait until I’m full and rested before discussing!” Gu Changsheng, feeling satisfied, took a sip of the colorful frothy soup and nodded approvingly at Dong Lei.

“…” Hu Yihai was truly lost for words this time.

Fine, if the Emperor is not in a hurry, then his “eunuch” might as well die of anxiety, it would be useless!

At this moment, Gu Changsheng indeed was not in a hurry! The Panax Pseudoginseng she had picked was covered with so much soil, that even if left for three or five days, the Panax Pseudoginseng would not be dead, what was there for her to rush for!

Thus, Gu Changsheng, after having lunch, genuinely took a leisurely nap.

The crowd watching the competition was furious! The contestants from the other Four Continents were all busy as bees, whereas she, on the other hand, ate when it was time to eat, drank when it was time to drink, and even took a nap without any hesitation!

This was simply… simply unspeakable!

It must be because she’s aware that victory is hopeless and has adopted a ‘let it all go to ruins’ attitude!

Nodding, the crowd unanimously agreed on this point!

The members of the Liuzhou Medical Guild, led by Hu Yihai, were as pale as death, speechlessly looking up to the heavens, nearly in tears.

The judges from the pharmaceutical guild were very strict in supervising the medicinal processing courtyard. Only contestants themselves could enter, and they had to be searched before going in to ensure no smuggling was taking place!

Gu Changsheng, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after being searched, entered her own processing courtyard and started to get busy!

The Panax Pseudoginseng, once dug up, needed its stems, leaves, and tendrils removed, leaving behind the rhizome (referred to as “sheep intestine head”) and the root. Then, it had to be washed in a wooden basin filled with water to scrub off the mud clinging to each part and wipe away the tiny tendrils and residual leaves on the rhizome. After washing, they were sorted by size into large, medium, and small categories. Gu Changsheng sat alone beside a large wooden basin in the courtyard, methodically getting to work.

Scrub scrub, scrub scrub, scrub…

Right before dinner, Gu Changsheng was the first to walk out of the processing courtyard, coincidentally, Hu Bingzhi’s courtyard was right across from hers.

“Yo-ho, what a coincidence, we might as well call each other neighbors…” Lacking any tension of competition, Gu Changsheng was in an uncommonly good mood, even having the spirit to make jokes.

“Hmph!” Hu Bingzhi snorted coldly and hurried out, clutching his stomach.

“Ah dear, Imperial Doctor Hu, are you hungry? I suppose you didn’t even have time for lunch, did you? Heaven have mercy, an old man like you still has to suffer such hardship…” Taking pleasure in his misfortune, the one well-fed and well-watered stood and ridiculed without any back pain!

Hu Bingzhi, hearing this on an empty stomach, swiftly sped away. Right now, he couldn’t be bothered to argue with this hooligan of a Lady. He’d wait until he won the medicinal processing competition; that would be the moment for him to hold his head high and brag.

With unneighborly relations, Gu Changsheng didn’t mind in the slightest and hummed “scrub scrub” as she went back to have her meal.

“Lady Changsheng, how did this afternoon’s work go?” Hu Yihai, stationed at the entrance of the processing courtyard, promptly inquired.

“How did it go? I haven’t even finished scrubbing yet! Oh my, this is so much harder than doing the laundry, it’s all soil…” Complaining, her little hands were nearly swollen, she needed to get sheepskin gloves when she got home!

Hu Yihai: “…”

And so, the first day of the medicinal competition passed like that.

On the second day, Gu Changsheng barely managed to clean the medicinal materials.

On the third day, Gu Changsheng asked for a freshly made rattan mat, a must-have woven from reeds. The pharmacists naturally did not refuse and quickly prepared and sent it to her.

On the fourth day, Gu Changsheng didn’t even enter the processing courtyard; she stayed in her own small courtyard doing whatever she wanted, and for the next three days straight, Gu Changsheng did not even step foot at the door of the processing courtyard!

On the seventh day, Gu Changsheng asked for a pot and some firewood.

On the eighth day, Gu Changsheng asked for some oil.

On the ninth day, Gu Changsheng asked for some vinegar.

By this time, the courtyard across was already fragrant with medicinal aroma, while everyone looked towards Gu Changsheng’s tranquil courtyard with twitching mouths and sidelong glances.

“Is Lady Changsheng planning to cook? With firewood, rice, oil, and salt, she’s nearly got the whole package!”

“…” Distantly, the crowd was at a loss for words.

At noon on the tenth day, Hu Bingzhi’s door to the processing courtyard opened, and the onlooking crowd caught a whiff of a rich medicinal scent, then gathered round.