Chapter 1893 — Beyond Expectation

As Bai Lingtou listened to Wei Zhao, the teasing glint in his eyes slowly hardened into something grave. He had tossed out that question on a whim, purely to make things difficult for Wei Zhao and keep him obediently tucked away at school. The boy had a knack for medicine, true, but there was still plenty he did not know. Yet Wei Zhao had rattled off the formula for the trauma salve as though reading from a page, and Bai Lingtou's eyes went wide with astonishment.

Wei Zhao had guessed right: Bai Lingtou had no designs on stealing any formula. He had no idea Wei Zhao was the one who had compounded the salve—otherwise he would never have set such a question. He had, in the past, tried to work out the formula himself, and with his abilities that was no difficult feat.

He had done it out of sheer curiosity, nothing more. Someone had managed to produce a trauma salve at so absurdly low a price! He had in his possession an ancient formula for wound medicine, and the salve Kang Shenyi Pharmaceutical had produced earlier had come from exactly that formula—but its ingredients were frightfully expensive. So Bai Lingtou was baffled: for Guan the physician's trauma salve to be so cheap, either the formula had been changed or the man was losing money for the sake of reputation. He had therefore studied and puzzled it out for himself, and the more he did, the more he marveled at whoever had devised the formula. What sort of person was so formidable, possessed of such solid pharmacological knowledge, as to wring the utmost effect from the most ordinary of herbs for bruises and sprains?

And yet even Bai Lingtou had needed many days of pondering before arriving at a complete formula. For him to recite it as swiftly as Wei Zhao had was simply beyond possibility.

So Bai Lingtou's expression shifted, and the way he looked at Wei Zhao took on a different shade.

"Well, Elder Bai—did I get it right?" Wei Zhao asked with a grin.

"You did..." Bai Lingtou shook his head as if dazed, then sighed. "You're missing one ingredient, but everything else is accurate—no, wait. You didn't even open the box. How did you judge?"

His shock had made him overlook an important detail: from first to last, Wei Zhao had merely recited the formula on his own, never once opening the box of salve. How, then, had he judged? Could it be that he already possessed this formula?

A flicker of surprise crossed Wei Zhao's eyes as well. Bai Lingtou actually knew he had left out an ingredient? Did that mean he already knew the formula for the trauma salve? Wei Zhao had that ability, but he was confident that even Old Man Wei was no match for him.

For Old Man Wei to distinguish things so finely, he too needed days of pondering and inference and analysis of each herb's properties before he could manage it. But Wei Zhao had grown up among piles of medicinal herbs and had a gift for it besides, which was why he could analyze a formula so swiftly—the products of Kang Shenyi Pharmaceutical, for instance...

Yet Bai Lingtou could do it too?

"Correct—it's missing a measure of chuanxiong. But how did you know?" Wei Zhao asked, a little uncertain.

"You know? You actually know?" Bai Lingtou's eyes went wide. "You had this formula before?"

"Naturally!" Wei Zhao nodded. But inwardly he was beginning to admire Bai Lingtou. Wei Zhao seldom admired anyone; even Guan Xuemin was merely a friend across the generations, with nothing about him to inspire Wei Zhao's respect. But for Bai Lingtou, Wei Zhao genuinely felt a measure of admiration.

"How do you come to have this formula?" Bai Lingtou asked, studying him strangely.

"If I told you I compounded this formula myself, would you believe me?" A thought stirred in Wei Zhao, and he asked.

Having revealed this much already, he might as well reveal a little more. Then when he skipped class at will in the future, Bai Lingtou would probably not interfere.

"You..." Bai Lingtou opened his mouth, regarded Wei Zhao with an odd expression, and after a long moment nodded. "I believe you!"

"Why?" Wei Zhao was puzzled. Why would Bai Lingtou believe him?

"A finished medicine made from a dozen-odd herbs—even instrument analysis couldn't produce a result. It relies entirely on a person's sense of smell to analyze. If you can name it, what doubt have I left? This formula is a secret." Bai Lingtou looked at Wei Zhao, and no one could say what he was thinking.

"All right, count that as me taking a shortcut. Elder Bai, set me another question?" Wei Zhao said.

"The problems with Kang Shenyi Pharmaceutical's deluxe wound salve and their weight-loss pills—you were the one who found them?" Bai Lingtou did not answer Wei Zhao's question, but instead asked one that seemed utterly unrelated!

This time it was Wei Zhao's turn to be astonished. Wasn't Bai Lingtou's leap of thought a little too formidable?

"Why do you ask?" Wei Zhao narrowed his eyes and looked at Bai Lingtou.

"Since you compounded this formula, you and Guan the physician's pharmaceutical business must share an uncommon connection. And the product problems at Kang Shenyi Pharmaceutical were also discovered by Guan's business. Then I fear all of it came from one pair of hands—and only someone capable of compounding this formula could have such skill!" Bai Lingtou said.

"Ha... your analysis is correct, Elder Bai. That was my discovery too." Wei Zhao nodded readily. It was not unreasonable that Bai Lingtou should have guessed the gist of it from that.

"Well, you have surprised me—far beyond anything I expected!" Bai Lingtou nodded slowly. "So, as for your proposal, I accept!"

"No more questions? Didn't you say that if I answered four questions correctly, I could graduate directly? So now that I've answered four, there won't be any more trouble in the future?" Wei Zhao asked.

"No more answering. If I guess rightly, the other products of Guan the physician's pharmaceutical business also come from your hands?" Bai Lingtou smiled. "If so, the questions I set are child's play to you. I'm rather regretting it now—I should have set something harder!"

"Something harder?" Wei Zhao frowned slightly.

"Forget it, let's not speak of that." Bai Lingtou waved a hand. "But although you are quite impressive, remember this: here, with me, you can learn knowledge you would never expect."

"What knowledge?" Wei Zhao asked, curious. It was not the first time he had heard Bai Lingtou say such a thing.

"That's hard to say for now. You'll know in time," Bai Lingtou said.

"All right. I suggest Bai Weituo be made class monitor, and Wang Xinyan vice monitor," Wei Zhao said.

For the fastest updates, read with no pop-ups, please.