Chapter 162
Chapter 162
Several objects had been laid out before Qin Ying.
A few silver needles rested on a cloth, their tips stained blue.
Qin Ying was no healer, nor did she possess their benevolent heart. Just imagining what those needles might have been used to examine made her unwilling to touch them.
Besides the needles, an assortment of other items lay before her.
There was a waterskin made from a Monstrous Beast’s Stomach Sack, a piece of dry flatbread with two bites missing, and some dried meat.
There was also a flat copper wine flask about the size of her palm.
Avoiding the blue-tipped silver needles, Qin Ying picked up the waterskin first.
Because she bore the title of Shaman, the members of the Fengshan Elite Cavalry assumed she was an expert of some sort. Not one of them tried to stop her.
Qin Ying poured a little water into her palm and sniffed it lightly.
Unlike the water in the Kuxi Tribe, which reeked of rust, the water in the waterskin had no unusual odor at all.
A military physician with a few wisps of beard on his chin, wearing gloves made of white cloth, explained from the side, “We’ve already examined the water. It isn’t poisoned.”
Qin Ying acknowledged him, splashed the water in her palm onto the ground, then examined the tarnished copper flask.
It contained some wine that looked murky at a glance.
Although Great Xia had no shortage of Monstrous Beasts, most of the benefits they brought were enjoyed by those at the top and did little to improve the lives of the lower classes.
Farmers still relied on primitive cultivation methods, and the yield from their fields was pitifully low.
As a result, their grain-brewing methods were not particularly advanced. The cloudy wine in the copper flask had not been filtered properly and had already turned sour.
Before Qin Ying could set down the flask, the military physician beside her, who had been mixing the Rehydration Salts and Mengtuo stone powder she had brought while studying them, interrupted with uncertainty written all over his face.
“What are these two medicines called? And why are these two used?”
His desire to learn was genuine, but he did not dare administer the medicine to the two soldiers until he understood it.
Qin Ying organized her thoughts, then explained as best she could in terms they would understand while still fitting her identity as a Shaman healer.
“One is Mengtuo stone powder, and the other is…”
“Sugar-salt water.” She chose a name that was easier to understand.
“Have any of you ever observed the gerbils in the desert?
“If they eat something bad and suffer from unrelenting diarrhea, they’ll go to an ancient riverbed and lick the powder from a certain exposed rock. Their diarrhea soon stops.”
Gerbils were small creatures found throughout the desert. Aside from Sand Lizard tails, they were one of the Sand People’s regular sources of meat.
Qin Ying spoke calmly and evenly, making her fabrication sound remarkably convincing.
“After our ancestors discovered this, they found the mineral powder known as Mengtuo stone.”
When she finished, the military physician stroked his beard thoughtfully and nodded. “Mengtuo stone… Mengtuo stone. That certainly isn’t a name Great Xia would normally use.”
As expected of a military physician who had traveled far and wide with the Fengshan Elite Cavalry, he was well informed. He suddenly slapped his forehead and said, “The name Mengtuo sounds like it might come from somewhere in the Western Regions.”
“Mengtuo stone was indeed discovered in a dried-up riverbed called Mengtuo.” Qin Ying lied without batting an eye, then smoothly added a little flattery. “You truly are widely traveled and knowledgeable.”
Her words were pleasant and her attitude sincere. The military physician quickly waved his hands. “Oh, I’ve simply traveled to more places than most.”
“Then what about this?” He pointed to the Rehydration Salts that had been ground into powder. “Wouldn’t mixing salty and sweet harm the spleen and stomach?”
“The desert is scorching. After pack beasts sweat heavily on a long journey, they seek out salt flats and hunt for honeypot ants.
“Combining sweetness and salt with plenty of water quickly replaces lost bodily fluids. It’s more effective than drinking plain water alone.
“If someone grows thirsty after losing blood, they can also drink sugar-salt water to ease their condition.”
Her explanation was drawn entirely from observations of everyday life, making it highly persuasive.
The military physician had no reason to doubt her. His eyes lit up with excitement. “Are you saying this sugar-and-salt mixture can also help someone who has lost too much blood?”
Qin Ying gave a confirming hum.
While the army physician was still puzzling it over, Qin Ying picked up another piece of dried meat from the table.
It was gerbil jerky. No one knew how long it had been sitting around, but it was so hard and dry it could have been used as a dagger.
Qin Ying inspected it, then suddenly paused. There were several spots of mold on the meat.
Food did not mold easily in the desert, but that did not mean it was impossible.
Some of the gerbil meat the Kuxi Tribe stored in their cellars had gone moldy. With condensation caused by the drastic difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures, along with too little salt for proper curing, it would still mold when the conditions were right.
When Aman had asked if she wanted to try gerbil meat last night, Qin Ying had already spotted mold on some of the jerky.
Holding the moldy jerky in her left hand and a flatbread made from ground sea buckthorn seeds and camelthorn in her right, she felt she had found the answer.
During prolonged droughts, camelthorn secreted a highly concentrated sugar containing alkaloids.
Qin Ying had read about it in a science magazine.
The villagers had eaten it for years and developed a tolerance long ago. These two soldiers, however, had tried it for the first time out of gluttony.
Add the mold on the jerky and the weak wine that had gone sour in storage, and if those two did not suffer acute food poisoning, who would?
The mixture of so many substances had turned the tips of the silver needles blue. Meanwhile, severe dehydration had left the two men hallucinating about their dead great-grandmothers and babbling nonsense.
If the Jade Balance Army had not enhanced all its soldiers’ physiques, these two would probably have died already.
Qin Ying rose and carefully examined their fingertips.
Their grime-caked fingertips were indeed cyanotic.
Ordinary food poisoning worked through a different mechanism from poisoning caused by animal or plant toxins.
The Antidote administered by the army physicians did not address the actual cause, so naturally it had been useless.
Qin Ying turned around and gave the physicians a brief explanation. Then she said, “Whether you administer montmorillonite is for you to decide.”
After she finished, the physicians conferred for a while before sending a soldier to report the situation to their Superior Officer.
They wanted to ask whether they should catch a few gerbils and test the medicine on them first.
Meanwhile, they worked together to induce vomiting in the two soldiers.
The messenger left quickly and returned just as fast.
“General Chen says to test the medicines directly on them.”
To the Fengshan Elite Cavalry, two new medicines were obviously more important than two ordinary soldiers.
Besides, the two men were already at death’s door. They might as well make a last-ditch attempt to save them.
If they survived, it would clear the Kuxi Tribe’s Sand People of suspicion, and the soldiers would get their lives back as well.
Army physicians certainly acted swiftly. As for the gentleness of their hands… they were not much better than the baggage train’s veterinarians.
They pinned down the two soldiers, who had begun spasming from all the diarrhea, pressed the spout of a crane-necked pot against their tongues, and started pouring medicine down their throats.
Whenever they vomited, the physicians poured in more. Then they vomited again.
The scene was probably too revolting, and since Qin Ying was a woman, they sent her to wait in another tent.
Leaving altogether, of course, was out of the question.
Qin Ying sat quietly in the tent on an empty stomach. It was not until the afternoon that good news finally came from outside.
“They’re awake! They’re awake!”
Qin Ying, who had grown so bored she had begun pacing circles around the tent, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
A soldier entered, and even his attitude toward her had improved considerably.
After asking a few questions, Qin Ying learned that the two soldiers had endured quite an ordeal, but their diarrhea had stopped, as had their delirious rambling.
With their strong constitutions, they would probably be able to crawl out of bed and drink some porridge on their own by tomorrow.
After reporting on the two greedy, unlucky fools, the soldier gave Qin Ying a cupped-fist salute.
“The cavalry outside the Kuxi Tribe has withdrawn.”
“General Chen requests your presence.”
Qin Ying had thought the matter was settled, so his words caught her off guard. General Chen…
Was that not the Uncle Chen Han Lie had mentioned?
Why had the General suddenly decided to summon her?
Was it because of what had happened today?
Though puzzled, Qin Ying remained wary as she followed the soldier toward the largest command tent in the camp.