Li Shengjie was already panicking. After a pause, he said, "This is too inconvenient. Why don't I find a few sailors to help Dad carry it back to his room..."
Before he finished speaking, Li Zhi said in a trembling voice, "No, we are facing a powerful enemy. We don't know if there are other assassins on the ship. We can't let our brothers see me injured. Otherwise, the morale of the army will be shaken and it will be difficult to fight the enemy together. Master Qiu did a good job. Jie'er, you must listen to your master's instructions."
With Li Zhi's approval, Qiu Yizhi hurriedly asked He'er to tidy up Lin Shuhan's room. Together with Li Shengjie and Old Cai, they helped Li Zhi lie down on Lin Shuhan's bed. They also asked people to light candles everywhere. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and asked softly, "Old Captain, where are you injured? Stop the bleeding first."
Li Zhi said, "It's on the left leg. It seems to have been scratched by a sharp weapon. Old Cai, go get some medicine. Remember not to make any noise!"
Old Cai agreed and ran away.
Yuchi Jiming, who was standing by, whispered in Qiu Yizhi's ear: "Looking at the old captain's injuries, I'm afraid it's not just a simple scratch from a weapon..."
Qiu Yizhi's heart was in suspense again after hearing this. Seeing that Li Zhi's face was getting worse and worse, he asked Yuchi Jiming for a short knife, said "I'm sorry", and then leaned over to cut open Li Zhi's clothes at the injured part. When he took a closer look, he was shocked - it turned out that Li Zhi had a scratch on his right leg that was about a shoulder long. Although the wound was not deep, it had festered in just a few words. What flowed out of both sides of the wound was not bright red blood, but a mixture of red, white, purple, and green liquids, and there seemed to be a faint smell of fishy smell...
"The dart is poisonous!" Everyone present said these four words in unison, but they could do nothing about the wound which worsened in the blink of an eye, and they stood there at a loss.
At this moment, Old Cai came into the room with a few bottles of medicine. He pushed aside the crowd and saw that Li Zhi was so seriously injured. He immediately burst into tears. However, he could not cry out loud enough for the sailors outside to hear him. He could only sob almost suffocatingly.
Li Zhi raised his head with difficulty and said, "Old Cai, why are you crying? I am still alive. If you have tears, come to my grave and cry in thirty years!"
Li Zhi's words were humorous, causing Old Cai to burst out laughing. He then stopped laughing and said, "I have embarrassed the ship owner. I will apply medicine to him right away!"
"Wait a minute!" Lin Shuhan said, "You can't apply the medicine now!"
Everyone focused their eyes on Lin Shuhan's face, they were puzzled: Why did Lin Shuhan stop Old Cai from applying medicine to Li Zhi when Li Zhi was so seriously injured and poisoned so deeply that it was too late for immediate treatment
But Lin Shuhan asked, "Excuse me, old man, what is the formula of the medicine you use?"
Old Cai was really stumped by Lin Shuhan's question, and he just said, "I don't know about that, but what I brought were the best and most expensive!"
Lin Shuhan said, "The best and most expensive ones are not necessarily the most suitable. The key to wound medicine is to activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis. They all use things like ginseng, deer antlers, and cordyceps. The better the wound medicine, the more of these things are used. Captain Li is so seriously poisoned. If the poison is allowed to evaporate, wouldn't it be even more dangerous and counterproductive?"
Old Cai couldn't read a single word, so of course he didn't understand what Lin Shuhan said about the pharmacology. However, he didn't dare to use the medicine on his own, for fear that it would harm Li Zhi as Lin Shuhan said, and he would regret it then.
Li Zhi was more experienced. Although he was physically weak, his mind was not slow. He said, "Mr. Lin is right. We can't use medicine for injuries. Go and find out if there is any antidote for sea snake, jellyfish, or sea urchin poison on the ship. No matter if it is suitable for the disease or not, use it first!"
His words reminded Wen Lingjiao, and she quickly said, "Speaking of antidotes, I have a bottle with me. It was specially prepared for me by Gu Erniang before she caused trouble. She said that even if it can't cure all poisons, it can at least delay the onset of the poison, and at least leave time to find a famous doctor to detoxify it."
As Wen Lingjiao was talking, He'er had already taken out a pink porcelain bottle from her side and said, "We have never tried this medicine, so we don't know if it works."
Qiu Yizi reached out to take the medicine and gently opened the stopper blocking the bottle. The not-so-spacious cabin was immediately filled with a refreshing scent of mint, lemon, vanilla and other scents, which covered up the stench emanating from Li Zhi's wound and made people's tense nerves relax.
After the injured Li Zhi smelled the fragrance, he seemed to feel better and said, "Smelling this smell is like a good medicine. Please give it to me, Lord Qiu..." After that, he began to breathe heavily again.
Li Zhi said so, but Qiu Yizi had to be cautious. He held the bottle tightly in his hand and said to Li Shengjie, "The medicinal properties of this medicine have not been verified yet. How about this, the young captain should give the order and let the brothers find the hidden weapon with the poison and test it on a live dog. Only if it is really effective can it be used on the old captain!"
Li Shengjie was still a childish boy who had never experienced any major events. After hearing Qiu Yizi's method was inconvenient, it was the most appropriate one. He quickly instructed Old Cai to do the job, while he continued to stay by his father's side.
The old servant named Cai was indeed efficient and decisive in his work. After a while, he came over with a black dog and a black dart on a tray in his hand.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizi cut off a piece of tablecloth with a knife, wrapped it in her right hand, picked up the dart, and gently scratched a wound on the black dog's butt. The poison on the dart was indeed fierce, and the dog barked a few times after being poisoned, and then collapsed to the ground powerlessly, breathing air with its nostrils opening and closing.
When Qiu Yizi saw the dog, he suddenly remembered the white dog that had accompanied him since childhood and was still raised in the old house in Guangyang. He felt sorry for the dog and quickly poured out a little medicine from the bottle, placed it on the cotton cloth, and carefully wiped the wound of the injured dog.
As the antidote took hold, the dog's breathing became more stable, and although the wound had not healed, it was no longer getting worse. After a while, the dog was able to struggle to stand up - although it was still limping.
When everyone saw this, they all cheered in unison as if they were cheering for the dog being used for the experiment. Li Zhi, who was lying on the bed, endured the severe pain in his leg and said, "Master Qiu, this medicine seems to be quite useful..." He couldn't finish a sentence as he was already out of breath and couldn't continue.
Seeing that Li Zhi's condition had worsened, Qiu Yizi knew that she could not delay any longer, so she personally applied medicine to Li Zhi, just like she did during the test just now.
Li Zhi used the antidote prepared by the deceased Gu Er Niang, and his complexion immediately looked much better. The muscles on his face that were originally tense due to pain finally relaxed, and his complexion also looked much better.
So Li Zhi took a deep breath and said, "Master Qiu, this young lady's medicine is very effective. My injury seems to be healed now."
Before Qiu Yizi could reply, she heard Li Shengjie say happily: "That's good, that's good! Dad, take a rest first. When I find out who is behind this assassin, I will tear him into pieces to make Dad feel better!" He said with a smile.
Li Shengjie was naive, but Qiu Yizi, Lin Shuhan, Wen Lingjiao and even Old Cai beside him were all experienced people. Seeing the sweat still dripping down Li Zhi's face, they knew without a doubt that the poison in Li Zhi was only slightly under control and was far from being cured.
However, none of them wanted to say discouraging words to spoil Li Shengjie's mood, so they all kept silent with their heads down - the small cabin was completely enveloped by a depressing atmosphere.
After a long while, Qiu Yizhi said, "Old Captain, although Miss Wen's antidote is effective, it only delays the penetration of the poison. If you really need to detoxify, you have to prescribe the right medicine to eliminate the poison from the root."
Li Zhi nodded and said, "Master Qiu is really thoughtful."
Qiu Yizi replied, "I dare not. How about this, the old master can rest here or in his room first, and the affairs on the ship will be managed by the young master and Master Cai. If the old master trusts me, you can send a confidant to go with me to find a famous doctor nearby to diagnose the master's pulse and detoxify him. How about that?"
Li Zhi nodded as he listened. After Qiu Yizhi finished speaking, he added: "Old Cai, just say that I got up tonight without wearing enough clothes and caught a cold and need to stay in bed for a few days. Don't mess up the morale of the troops on the ship. Got it? You and Jie'er take some time to interrogate the assassin and find out who is behind him. When I get back, I will kill him myself..."
Lin Shuhan added, "It is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. The most urgent task now is to help the old captain detoxify him. The young captain should first ask the assassin what poison he used and how to detoxify him. This is what we need to do most urgently."
Although Lin Shuhan's tone was not harsh, every word was reasonable and convincing. Then He'er said, "I have a plan. If the assassin refuses to reveal the antidote, I will use his poison dart to injure him. I want to see if his mouth is made of iron!"
Li Shengjie felt relieved after hearing what He'er said, and praised: "Great! It's a good idea. I'll go interrogate the assassin right now!" Then he ran out in a hurry.
Qiu Yizhi and the others saw that Li Zhi had slowly closed his eyes and looked very peaceful, so they stopped disturbing him and asked Old Cai to take care of him while they went back to their rooms to rest. Since Lin Shuhan's room was occupied by Li Zhi, he slept on an empty bed with Qiu Yizhi's clothes on.
Three days passed like this. Although Li Zhi had used the antidote prepared by Gu Er Niang, his injuries kept recurring and sometimes got better and sometimes got worse. He never recovered. He just took advantage of the daytime when he was still in good spirits, dressed neatly, and walked around on the deck with the help of Li Shengjie to reassure the troops.
Li Shengjie interrogated the assassin but didn't get any clues.
It turned out that the assassin was a Japanese who did not speak Chinese. Li Shengjie called Zhang Ergou and several other people who knew a little Japanese to translate, but they only found out that the assassin was entrusted by someone with a clear goal, which was to assassinate Li Zhi. As for the antidote for the poison dart, they said that this was a unique poison in Japan and there was no antidote!
Since we know that the assassin came from Japan, it is most likely that the Oda family failed to get the assassin back and held a grudge against him, so they hired the assassin to kill Li Zhi.
If it were before, with Li Shengjie's temperament, he would have personally led his men to question the Japanese generals of the Oda family who boarded the ship during the day, and they might have started fighting now. However, after a day of ups and downs, he grew up five or six years in almost one day, became much calmer, and knew that the most important thing now was to save his father.
So Li Shengjie patiently asked about the antidote. Under torture, the assassin insisted that there was no antidote for the poison. The poisoned person could only wait quietly for death. At the shortest, he would die on the spot. Even a healthy person would only live for six or seven days. (To be continued)