He Yanxiu suddenly felt that his brain seemed to be a little confused, but he immediately subconsciously moved back a little, “What?”

“There seems to be something quite hard on your body, pressing against my waist.” Su Yujin complained.

But but but…

He didn’t!

He Yanxiu’s mind went blank.

Seeing that He Yanxiu didn’t say anything, Su Yujin simply frowned and reached out to fumble around He Yanxiu’s waist. After a moment, she pulled out a dagger and said, “Here, this is it.”

“Second Master, can you keep it away?”

The dagger was so hard that it made her waist ache even though she was wearing quite a bit of clothing.

Su Yujin felt extremely displeased with the dagger at this moment.

The color on He Yanxiu’s face gradually returned. He heaved a sigh of relief and stretched out a hand to take the dagger. “So this is what you are talking about.”

“What else? What did Second Master think I was talking about?” Su Yujin tilted her head.

“No, nothing.” He Yanxiu paused, then shook the whip in his other hand, “I thought you were talking about this.”

“The road ahead is a little difficult to walk on, hold on tight to avoid falling off.”

He Yanxiu quickly changed the subject.

Seeing that the road ahead was a rather steep uphill, Su Yujin gripped the front of the saddle even harder as He Yanxiu had said.

After riding for another half an hour, the group arrived at the valley at the foot of the mine.

Because of this incident, the valley seemed to be shrouded in gloom. The faces of the people present were all very solemn. They were busy taking care of the weak patients, some of whom were even unconscious.

Two or three doctors arrived here earlier than He Yanxiu, Su Yujin, and others, and were taking the patient’s pulse, diagnosing the symptoms.

Su Yujin also began to check on the conditions of nearby patients.

After taking the patient’s pulse, looking at his pupils, checking the condition of his limbs, and asking about the number of times he vomited, Su Yujin checked the meals he had eaten.

After testing with a silver needle and carefully smelling the food and vomit, Su Yujin’s brows were furrowed.

“How?” He Yanxiu asked.

“It’s likely due to the consumption of copper sulfate,” Su Yujin explained. “Copper sulfate can be extracted from copper mines and is an excellent medicinal ingredient with properties such as removing decay and detoxification. However, it also has emetic effects. In small amounts, it causes only vomiting, but excessive consumption can lead to gastrointestinal erosion and severe pain. In serious cases, it can cause respiratory failure, severe liver and kidney damage, and even be life-threatening.”

“Fortunately, these people didn’t eat much, so their lives are not in danger for now. But we can’t delay any longer, and they need timely medical treatment. I’ll write down the prescription and go get the medicine and boil it as soon as possible.”

“Okay.” He Yanxiu hurriedly ordered someone to bring paper and a pen and told Qu Zhiwen to inform those who went down the mountain to buy medicinal herbs.

“It takes at least half a day to go down the mountain to get the herbs and boil them back. It’s really a waste of time. We can’t just wait now. It’s best to take something that can protect the stomach and intestines to prevent the toxins from spreading too much.” Su Yujin asked. “Do you know if there are eggs and soybeans here?”

“Yes.” Qu Zhiwen replied.

“This is the best.” Su Yujin said, “Egg white or soybean milk can protect the stomach and intestines after taking it, preventing the toxins from spreading further. You can take a little to see if it can have any effect.”

“I’ll arrange for someone to do it right away.” Qu Zhiwen hurriedly called people over to prepare egg whites and grind soy milk.

He also informed everyone that they had been poisoned by copper sulfate, but the antidote had already been prepared. He then sent someone to gather the herbs and brew the remedy.

The sudden vomiting and abdominal pain for unknown reasons made everyone panic. Now that the cause was clear and they knew that their lives were not in danger, they could rest assured.

As for Su Yujin, after arranging everything, she checked on a few more patients to confirm that it was indeed copper sulfate poisoning. Only then did she breathe a slight sigh of relief and went to observe the condition of the patients after the physicians fed them egg whites.

The series of actions and arrangements were smooth and there was nothing superfluous.

The most important thing was that after drinking the egg white, the complexions of those poisoned people all looked slightly better, which showed that Su Yujin’s judgment was very accurate.

Even the doctors who were invited to see the patient praised Su Yujin and expressed their affirmation.

It seemed that Su Yujin was indeed a person of outstanding medical skills.

No wonder He Yanxiu’s first reaction after hearing about the situation here was to bring Su Yujin along.

In this way, the reason why He Yanxiu doted on Su Yujin so much was probably because she was so outstanding.

Qu Zhiwen felt emotional, but he was also busy arranging the patients and taking care of some follow-up matters.

He Yanxiu on the side frowned.

Since this copper sulfate could be obtained from copper mines, and these people ended up like this because they consumed it…

Was it an accidental ingestion

Or was it done intentionally?

Qu Zhiwen said that before the meal, the cooks tasted the food and found nothing unusual, but when the meal actually started, something went wrong.

After wandering around twice, He Yanxiu’s gaze fell on the large pot. He waved to Su Yujin and said, “Come and check the food in this pot. Could it contain the copper sulfate you mentioned?”

Su Yujin followed He Yanxiu’s instructions and carefully checked the big pot with a lot of food left in it and the steamed buns in the steamer, and quickly came to a conclusion.

Neither the food in the pot nor the steamed buns in the basket contained any copper sulfate.

However, the food those people ate did contain copper sulfate.

In that case…

He Yanxiu asked, “Where are these bowls and chopsticks placed before the meal?”

“They are all placed in the room over there. They will be taken out before dinner time and served to everyone.” A cook answered.

“Take out the remaining dishes and chopsticks.”

After receiving He Yanxiu’s instructions, the cooks hurriedly moved several large baskets of bowls and chopsticks in front of him.

Su Yujin carefully examined the bowls and chopsticks once again and discovered that all of them were contaminated with copper sulfate to varying degrees.

“Copper sulfate is highly prone to weathering and is usually stored in sealed containers. The reason it ended up on the bowls and chopsticks is likely because the copper sulfate was first dissolved in water, and then the bowls were soaked in this solution. The copper sulfate wasn’t pure, containing many impurities, which made it lighter in color, so no one noticed.”

Su Yujin said, “But I’ve been somewhat puzzled since earlier. Copper sulfate has a bitter, astringent taste. Even though the amount in each bowl was small and the food might have masked it, the taste shouldn’t be pleasant. How come no one noticed anything unusual?”

“I have just inquired about this matter. They said that although the meals cooked in the four big pots today are different, they all contain braised pork, and the quantity is not small. I think it is because they had meat to eat today and they didn’t want to say that the taste is bad, so as to avoid not being able to eat it in the future.” Qu Zhiwen replied.

A/N The information regarding copper sulfate comes from Baidu, so the symptoms might not be entirely precise. Please bear with it~

(End of this chapter)

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